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Genesis 39

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1 Da Josef var bragt ned til Ægypten, blev han af Ismaeliterne, der havde bragt ham derned, solgt til Faraos Hofmand Potifar, Livvagtens Øverste, en Ægypter.

2 Men HE EN var med Josef, så Lykken fulgte ham. Han var i sin Herre Ægypterens Hus;

3 og hans Herre så, at HE EN var med ham, og at HE EN lod alt, hvad han foretog sig, lykkes for ham.

4 Således fandt Josef Nåde for hans Øjne og kom til at gå ham til Hånde; og han satte ham over sit Hus og gav alt, hvad han ejede, i hans Hånd;

5 og fra det Øjeblik han satte ham over sit Hus og alt, hvad han ejede, velsignede HE EN Ægypterens Hus for Josefs Skyld, og HE ENs Velsignelse hvilede over alt, hvad han ejede, både inde og ude;

6 og han betroede alt, hvad han ejede, til Josef, og selv bekymrede han sig ikke om andet end den Mad, han spiste. Men Josef havde en smuk Skikkelse og så godt ud.

7 Nu hændte det nogen Tid derefter, at hans Herres Hustru kastede sine Øjne på Josef og sagde: "Kom og lig hos mig!"

8 Men han vægrede sig og sagde til sin Herres Hustru: "Se, min Herre bekymrer sig ikke om noget i Huset, men alt, hvad han ejer, har han givet i min Hånd;

9 han har ikke større Magt i Huset end jeg, og han har ikke unddraget mig noget som helst undtagen dig, fordi du er hans Hustru hvor skulde jeg da kunne øve denne store Misgerning og synde mod Gud!"

10 Og skønt hun Dag efter Dag talte Josef til, vilde han dog ikke føje hende i at ligge hos hende og have med hende at gøre.

11 Men en Dag han kom ind i Huset for at gøre sin Gerning, og ingen af Husfolkene var til Stede i Huset,

12 greb hun fat i hans Kappe og sagde: "Kom og lig hos mig!" Men han lod Kappen blive i hendes Hånd og flygtede ud af Huset.

13 Da hun nu så, at han havde ladet hende beholde Kappen og var flygtet ud af Huset,

14 kaldte hun på sine Husfolk og sagde til dem: "Her kan I se! Han har bragt os en Hebræer til at drive Spot med os! Han kom ind til mig og vilde ligge hos mig, men jeg råbte af alle Kræfter,

15 og da han hørte, at jeg gav mig til at råbe, lod han sin Kappe blive hos mig og flygtede ud af Huset!"

16 Så lod hun Kappen blive liggende hos sig, indtil hans Herre kom hjem,

17 og sagde så det samme til ham: "Den hebraiske Træl, du bragte os til at drive Spot med os, kom ind til mig;

18 men da jeg gav mig til at råbe, lod han sin Kappe blive hos mig og flygtede ud af Huset."

19 Da hans Herre hørte sin Hustrus Ord: "Således har din Træl behandlet mig!" blussede Vreden op i ham;

20 og Josefs Herre tog ham og kastede ham i Fængsel der, hvor Kongens Fanger sad fængslet. Således kom Josef i Fængsel.

21 Men HE EN var med Josef og skaffede ham Yndest og lod ham finde Nåde hos Fængselets Overopsynsmand,

22 så at han gav ham Opsyn over alle Fangerne i Fængselet, og han sørgede for alt, hvad der skulde gøres der.

23 Fængselets Overopsynsmand førte ikke Tilsyn med noget som helst af, hvad der var lagt i Josefs Hånd, eftersom HE EN var med ham og lod alt, hvad han foretog sig, lykkes.

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

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Arcana Coelestia # 5025

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5025. 'Saying, The Hebrew slave whom you have brought to us came to me' means that servile thing. This is clear from what has been stated above in 5013. Here 'that servile thing' is used to mean spiritual truth and good, which at this particular point is represented by 'Joseph'. This truth and good is seen by the unspiritual natural man as something servile. For example, the desire on the part of spiritual truth and good is that a person's delight should lie not at all in eminent positions or any kind of superiority over others but in the services rendered by him to his country and to communities corporately and individually, thus that a person's delight should lie in the purpose that positions of importance are meant to serve. The merely natural man is entirely ignorant of what this delight is and denies the existence of it. Although he too can in a hypocritical manner say much the same thing, he nevertheless makes 'a lord' out of the delight received from important positions existing for his own benefit and 'a slave' out of such positions existing for the benefit of communities corporately and individually. For in every single thing he does he regards himself first and communities only after himself, promoting their welfare only insofar as they promote his.

[2] Take another example. If one says that the purpose and end in view determine whether something is spiritual or unspiritual - spiritual when the purpose and end have the common good, the Church, and God's kingdom in view, but unspiritual when the purpose and end have, preponderating over these, oneself and one's own family and friends in view - the natural man is indeed able to affirm this with his lips but not in his heart. He can do so with his lips because of the instruction received by his understanding, but he cannot do so in his heart because his understanding has been ruined by evil desires. Consequently he makes 'a lord' out of the purpose and end that has himself in view, and 'a slave' out of the purpose and end that has the common good, the Church, and God's kingdom in view. Indeed he says in his heart, How can anyone possibly be any different from this?

[3] In short, everything that the natural man regards as being separated from himself is considered utterly worthless by him and is cast aside; and everything that he regards as being linked to himself is considered by him to be valuable and acceptable. The natural man neither knows nor wishes to know about any spiritual way of thinking in which a person sees himself linked to everyone who is governed by good, whether or not he is actually acquainted with him, and separated from everyone who is governed by evil, whether or not he is actually acquainted with him. For when this is a person s way of thinking he is linked to those in heaven and cut off from those in hell. But since the natural man does not experience any delight in that spiritual attitude, for the reason that he does not entertain any spiritual influence, he therefore looks upon it as something utterly base and servile, thus something worthless compared with the delight he experiences, coming to him through his physical senses and through the desires of his selfish and worldly love. But this delight is a dead one because it originates in hell, whereas the delight brought by a spiritual influence is living, since this delight, which comes by way of heaven, begins in the Lord.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.