Bible

 

Genesis 31

Studie

   

1 And he heard the words of Laban's sons, saying, Jacob has taken away all that was our father's, and of what was our father's he has acquired all this glory.

2 And Jacob saw the countenance of Laban, and behold, it was not toward him as previously.

3 And Jehovah said to Jacob, Return into the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee.

4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the fields to his flock,

5 and said to them, I see your father's countenance, that it is not toward me as previously; but the God of my father has been with me.

6 And you know that with all my power I have served your father.

7 And your father has mocked me, and has changed my wages ten times; but God suffered him not to hurt me.

8 If he said thus; The speckled shall be thy hire, then all the flocks bore speckled; and if he said thus: The ringstraked shall be thy hire, then all the flocks bore ringstraked.

9 And God has taken away the cattle of your father, and given [them] to me.

10 And it came to pass at the time of the ardour of the flocks, that I lifted up mine eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold, the rams that leaped upon the flocks were ringstraked, speckled, and spotted.

11 And the Angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob! And I said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lift up now thine eyes, and see: all the rams that leap upon the flock are ringstraked, speckled, and spotted; for I have seen all that Laban does to thee.

13 I am the ùGod of Bethel, where thou anointedst the pillar, where thou vowedst a vow to me. Now arise, depart out of this land, and return to the land of thy kindred.

14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father's house?

15 Are we not reckoned of him strangers? for he has sold us, and has even constantly devoured our money.

16 For all the wealth that God has taken from our father is ours and our children's; and now whatever God has said to thee do.

17 And Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his wives upon camels,

18 and carried away all his cattle, and all his property that he had acquired -- the cattle of his possessions that he had acquired in Padan-Aram, to go to Isaac his father, into the land of Canaan.

19 And Laban had gone to shear his sheep. And Rachel stole the teraphim that [belonged] to her father.

20 And Jacob deceived Laban the Syrian, in that he did not tell him that he fled.

21 And he fled with all that he had; and he rose up and passed over the river, and set his face [toward] mount Gilead.

22 And it was told Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled.

23 And he took his brethren with him, and pursued after him seven days' journey, and overtook him on mount Gilead.

24 And God came to Laban the Syrian in a dream by night, and said to him, Take care thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

25 And Laban came up with Jacob; and Jacob had pitched his tent on the mountain; Laban also with his brethren pitched on mount Gilead.

26 And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast deceived me, and hast carried away my daughters as captives of war?

27 Why didst thou flee away covertly, and steal away from me, and didst not tell me, that I might have conducted thee with mirth and with songs, with tambour and with harp;

28 and hast not suffered me to kiss my sons and my daughters? Now thou hast acted foolishly.

29 It would be in the power of my hand to do you hurt; but the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, Take care that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.

30 And now that thou must needs be gone, because thou greatly longedst after thy father's house, why hast thou stolen my gods?

31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, I was afraid; for I said, Lest thou shouldest take by force thy daughters from me.

32 With whomsoever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live. Before our brethren discern what is thine with me, and take [it] to thee. But Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.

33 And Laban went into Jacob's tent, and into Leah's tent, and into the two handmaids' tents, and found nothing; and he went out of Leah's tent, and entered into Rachel's tent.

34 Now Rachel had taken the teraphim and put them under the camel's saddle; and she sat upon them. And Laban explored all the tent, but found nothing.

35 And she said to her father, Let it not be an occasion of anger in the eyes of my lord that I cannot rise up before thee, for it is with me after the manner of women. And he searched carefully, but did not find the teraphim.

36 And Jacob was angry, and he disputed with Laban. And Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my fault, what my sin, that thou hast so hotly pursued after me?

37 Whereas thou hast explored all my baggage, what hast thou found of all thy household stuff? Set [it] here before my brethren and thy brethren, and let them decide between us both.

38 These twenty years have I been with thee: thy ewes and thy she-goats have not cast their young, and the rams of thy flock I have not eaten.

39 What was torn I have not brought to thee; I had to bear the loss of it: of my hand hast thou required it, [whether] stolen by day or stolen by night.

40 Thus it was with me: in the day the heat consumed me, and the frost by night; and my sleep fled from mine eyes.

41 I have been these twenty years in thy house: I have served thee fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock; and thou hast changed my wages ten times.

42 Had not the God of my father, the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, been with me, it is certain thou wouldest have sent me away now empty. God has looked upon my affliction and the labour of my hands, and has judged last night.

43 And Laban answered and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flock is my flock, and all that thou seest is mine; but as for my daughters, what can I do this day to them, or to their sons whom they have brought forth?

44 And now, come, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be a witness between me and thee.

45 And Jacob took a stone, and set it up [for] a pillar.

46 And Jacob said to his brethren, Gather stones. And they took stones, and made a heap, and ate there upon the heap.

47 And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

48 And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee this day. Therefore was the name of it called Galeed,

49 -- and Mizpah; for he said, Let Jehovah watch between me and thee, when we shall be hidden one from another:

50 if thou shouldest afflict my daughters, or if thou shouldest take wives besides my daughters, -- no man is with us; see, God is witness between me and thee!

51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have set up between me and thee:

52 [let] this heap be witness, and the pillar a witness, that neither I pass this heap [to go] to thee, nor thou pass this heap and this pillar [to come] to me, for harm.

53 The God of Abraham, and the God of Nahor, the God of their father, judge between us! And Jacob swore by the fear of his father Isaac.

54 And Jacob offered a sacrifice upon the mountain, and invited his brethren to eat bread: and they ate bread, and lodged on the mountain.

55 And Laban rose early in the morning, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them; and Laban went and returned to his place.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 3727

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

3727. In regard to the signification of a “pillar,” as being a holy boundary, thus the ultimate of order, this comes from the fact that in the most ancient times stones were placed at the boundaries, which marked the possession or inheritance of one person from that of another, and were for a sign and a witness that the boundaries were at that place. The most ancient people, who in every object, and in every pillar, thought of something celestial and spiritual (n. 1977, 2995), in these stones also which they set up, thought from them concerning the ultimates in man, and thus concerning the ultimate of order, which is truth in the natural man. The ancients who were after the flood received this from the most ancient people who were before the flood (n. 920, 1409, 2179, 2896, 2897), and began to account those stones holy which were set up in the boundaries, because as before said, they signified holy truth which is in the ultimate of order. They also called those stones “pillars;” and thus it came to pass that pillars were introduced into worship, and that they erected them in the places where they had their groves, and afterwards where they had their temples, and also that they anointed them with oil, concerning which something shall be said in what follows. For the worship of the Ancient Church consisted in the perceptives and significatives of the most ancient people who were before the flood, as is manifest from the sections just cited. As the most ancient people spoke with angels and were together with them while on earth, they were instructed from heaven that stones signify truth, and that wood signifies good (see above, n. 3720). This is the reason why “pillars” signify a holy boundary, thus the truth which is the ultimate of order in man; for the good that inflows through the internal man from the Lord is terminated in the external man, in the truth therein. Man’s thought, speech, and action, which are the ultimates of order, are nothing else than truths from good, being the images or forms of good; for they belong to man’s intellectual part, while the good which is in them, and from which they are, belongs to his will part.

[2] That pillars were erected for a sign and for a witness, and also for worship; and that in the internal sense they signify a holy boundary, or the truth in man’s natural which is the ultimate of order, may be seen from other passages in the Word-as from the following, concerning the covenant between Laban and Jacob:

Come now, let us make a covenant, I and thou; and let it be for a witness between me and thee. And Jacob took a stone, and set it up for a pillar. And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have set up between me and thee; this heap be witness, and the pillar be witness, that I will not pass over this heap to thee, and that thou shalt not pass over this heap to me, and this pillar, for evil (Genesis 31:44-45, 51-52).

That in this passage a “pillar” signifies truth, will be seen in the explication of the passage.

[3] In Isaiah:

In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak with the lips of Canaan, and swear to Jehovah Zebaoth. In that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the boundary thereof to Jehovah; which shall be for a sign and for a witness unto Jehovah Zebaoth in the land of Egypt (Isaiah 19:18-20);

“Egypt” denotes the memory-knowledges that belong to the natural man; an “altar,” Divine worship in general, for in the second Ancient Church, which began from Eber, the altar was made the primary representative of worship (n. 921, 1343, 2777, 2811); the “midst of the land of Egypt” denotes what is primary and inmost of worship (n. 2940, 2973, 3436); a “pillar,” the truth which is the ultimate of order in the natural. That this is in the boundary for a sign and for a witness is manifest.

[4] In Moses:

Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning and builded an altar near Mount Sinai, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel (Exodus 24:4); where in like manner an “altar” was representative of all worship, and indeed of good in worship; while the twelve pillars were a representative of the truth which is from good in worship. (That “twelve” denotes all things of truth in one complex may be seen above, n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272; and that the “twelve tribes” in like manner signify all things of the truth of the church, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown in the following chapter.)

[5] Inasmuch as altars were representative of all the good of worship, and as the Jewish Church was instituted in order that it might represent the celestial church which acknowledged no other truth than that which is from good, which is called celestial truth-for it was not in the least willing to separate truth from good, insomuch that it was not willing to mention anything of faith or truth unless it was thinking of good, and this from good, n. 202, 337, 2069, 2715, 2718, 3246—therefore there was a representative of truth by means of the stones of the altar, and it was forbidden to represent it by pillars, lest thereby truth should be separated from good, and should be representatively worshiped instead of good. For this reason it is written in Moses:

Thou shalt not plant thee a grove of any tree beside the altar of Jehovah thy God which thou shalt make thee; and thou shalt not set thee up a pillar, which Jehovah thy God hateth (Deuteronomy 16:21-22);

for to worship truth separate from good, or faith separate from charity, is contrary to the Divine, because contrary to order, and this is signified by the prohibition, “thou shalt not set thee up a pillar, which Jehovah thy God hateth.”

[6] Nevertheless that they did set up pillars, and thereby represented those things which are contrary to order, is evident in Hosea:

Israel according to the multiplying of his fruit, multiplies his altars; according to the good of their land they make goodly pillars; but He shall overturn their altars; He shall lay waste their pillars (Hos. 10:1-2).

In the first book of Kings:

Judah did that which was evil in the eyes of Jehovah; they also built them high places, and pillars, and groves, on every high hill, and under every green tree (1 Kings 14:22-23).

In the second book of Kings:

The sons of Israel set them up pillars and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree (2 Kings 17:10).

Hezekiah removed the high places, and he brake the pillars and cut down the grove and ground to pieces the brazen serpent that Moses had made, for they did burn incense to it (2 Kings 18:4).

[7] Inasmuch as the Gentiles also had by tradition the belief that the holy of worship was represented by altars and by pillars, and yet were in evil and falsity, therefore by “altars” among the gentiles are signified evils of worship, and by “pillars,” falsities; for which reason it was commanded that they should be destroyed. As in Moses:

Ye shall overthrow their altars, and break in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their groves (Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5; 12:3).

Thou shalt not bow to their gods, nor worship them, nor do after their works; because destroying thou shalt destroy them, and breaking thou shalt break in pieces their pillars (Exodus 23:24).

The “gods” of the nations denote falsities; their “works,” evils; to “break in pieces their pillars” denotes to destroy worship from falsity.

[8] In Jeremiah:

Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon shall break in pieces the pillars of the house of the sun that is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of Egypt shall he burn with fire (Jeremiah 43:13).

In Ezekiel:

Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon with the hoofs of his horses shall tread down all thy streets; he shall slay the people with the sword, and shall cause the pillars of thy strength to go down to the earth (Ezekiel 26:11);

speaking of Tyre. “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon” denotes that which causes vastation (n. 1327); the “hoofs of the horses” denote the lowest intellectual things, such as are memory-knowledges from mere things of sense; that “hoofs” are the lowest things will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be confirmed elsewhere; “horses” denote intellectual things (n. 2760-2762); “streets,” truths, and in the opposite sense, falsities (n. 2336); to “tread them down” is to destroy the knowledges of truth, which are signified by “Tyre” (that “Tyre,” which is the subject here referred to, signifies the knowledges of truth, may be seen above, n. 1201); to “slay the people with the sword” denotes to destroy truths by that which is false. (That “people” is predicated of truth, may be seen above, n. 1259, 1260,(3295),3581; and that a “sword” signifies falsity combating, n. 2799.) From all this we see what is meant by “causing the pillars of strength to come down to the earth.” That “strength” is predicated of what is true and of what is false, is also evident from the Word.

  
/ 10837  
  

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