5459. “我是敬畏神的, 你们这么做就可以存活” 表若它们要拥有来自神性的生命, 事情就得这样. 这从 “这么做”, “存活” 和 “我敬畏神” 的含义清楚可知: “这么做” 是指事情就得这样; “存活” 是指它们, 即在此由 “雅各的儿子们” 所表示的真理要拥有生命; “我敬畏神” 是指来自神性. 因为 “约瑟” 代表来自神性的真理方面的主, 来自神性的真理和属灵层的属天层是一样的, 因此就至高意义而言, 此处的 “我” 表示来自神性的真理, 而 “神” 是指存在于属灵层的属天层里面, 或存在于真理里面的神性本身. 就至高意义而言, 当论及主时, “敬畏” 并非表示害怕, 而是表示爱; 此外, 在圣言各处所提到的 “敬畏神” 表示对神的爱. 因为对神之爱的性质取决于它的对象; 在那些处于没有内在的外在敬拜之人当中, 这爱成了害怕; 在那些处于属灵敬拜的人当中, 它变成神圣的敬畏; 在那些处于属天敬拜的人当中, 它则变成含有神圣敬畏感的爱; 但主里面并没有敬畏, 只有纯粹的爱. 由此可见 “我敬畏神” 在论及主时, 表示神性之爱, 因而表示神性.

In general, birth order in the Bible reflects the progression of spiritual states, but the specifics of those states depends greatly on context: who the people in question are, and whether we’re talking about spiritual states as they flow to us from the Lord, or spiritual states as we advance through them to approach the Lord. For example, Esau was older than Jacob (by minutes, but it mattered), and as the elder represents a more internal spiritual state: the desire for good, and the ideas that flow from that desire. Jacob represents a more external state: the understanding of ideas that lead to good. The switched blessing, with Jacob getting the blessing Isaac meant for Esau, shows that to progress in life we need to put our understanding first for a while, though ultimately our loves will catch up and ultimately determine our true character. A similar thing happens when Jacob crosses his hands to give Ephraim, the younger of Joseph’s sons, the primary blessing over his older brother Manasseh. Both those cases describe blessings coming from the Lord, with the highest states coming from Him and extending down through lower states to get to us. There is a sort of opposite dynamic in the story of Leah and Rachel. There Jacob (representing the Lord himself, as a human, in His childhood) is advancing from more external states to more internal ones. In this case, then, the older daughter, Leah, represents a more external state which He had to work through to reach the more internal state represented by Rachael.