Bible

 

Genesis 50

Studie

   

1 And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.

2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. And the physicians embalmed Israel.

3 And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those who are embalmed. And the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

4 And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found favour in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,

5 My father made me swear, saying, Behold, I die; in my grave which I have dug myself in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. And now, let me go up, I pray thee, that I may bury my father; and I will come again.

6 And Pharaoh said, Go up and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.

7 And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the bondmen of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

8 and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house; only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.

9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and the camp was very great.

10 And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan; and there they lamented with a great and very grievous lamentation; and he made a mourning for his father of seven days.

11 And the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing-floor of Atad, and they said, This is a grievous mourning of the Egyptians. Therefore the name of it was called Abel-Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

12 And his sons did to him according as he had commanded them;

13 and his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah which Abraham had bought along with the field, for a possession of a sepulchre, of Ephron the Hittite, opposite to Mamre.

14 And, after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brethren, and all that had gone up with him to bury his father.

15 And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, If now Joseph should be hostile to us, and should indeed requite us all the evil that we did to him!

16 And they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, Thy father commanded before he died, saying,

17 Thus shall ye speak to Joseph: Oh forgive, I pray thee, the transgression of thy brethren, and their sin! for they did evil to thee. And now, we pray thee, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

18 And his brethren also went and fell down before his face, and said, Behold, we are thy bondmen.

19 And Joseph said to them, Fear not: am I then in the place of God?

20 Ye indeed meant evil against me: God meant it for good, in order that he might do as [it is] this day, to save a great people alive.

21 And now, fear not: I will maintain you and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spoke consolingly to them.

22 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's house; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years.

23 And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third [generation]; the sons also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born on Joseph's knees.

24 And Joseph said to his brethren, I die; and God will certainly visit you, and bring you up out of this land, into the land that he swore unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

25 And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will certainly visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones hence.

26 And Joseph died, a hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him; and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 6534

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

6534. 'And horsemen' means intellectual concepts. This is clear from the meaning of 'horsemen' as things connected with the understanding; for 'a horse' means the power of understanding, 2760-2761, 3217, 5321, 6125. The meaning of 'horsemen' as things connected with the understanding becomes clear in addition from the following places: In Moses,

Jehovah alone led him; He caused him to ride over the heights of the land. Deuteronomy 32:12, 17.

This refers to the Ancient Church. 'Causing to ride over the heights of the land' stands for endowing with superior understanding.

[2] In David,

In your majesty 1 climb into [your chariot], and ride on the word of truth and meekness and righteousness, and your right arm will teach you marvellous things. Psalms 45:4.

This refers to the Lord. 'Riding on the word of truth' stands for having a genuine understanding of truth. In the same author,

Sing to God, praise His name; exalt Him who rides on the clouds by His name Jah. Psalms 68:4.

This too refers to the Lord. 'The clouds' stands for the literal sense of the Word, preface to Genesis 18, and 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343 (end); 'riding on them' stands for being in command of the internal sense, in which truth resides with all the intelligence and wisdom it can bring.

[3] In Zechariah,

On that day I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness; and on the house of Judah I will open My eye. But every horse of the peoples I will strike with blindness. Zechariah 12:4.

'Horse' stands for the power of understanding, and 'rider' or 'horseman' for the intellect. Does anyone not see that 'horse' here does not mean a horse, or that 'rider' does not mean rider, but that something else such as can be struck with panic and madness, and also with blindness, is meant? That something else, it is evident, is the understanding or intellect.

[4] By 'horses and horsemen' intellectual concepts are meant, and in the contrary sense reasonings and consequent falsities, as may be seen in John,

I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; to him a crown was given; he went out conquering. Then there came out another horse, fiery-red; and it was granted to him who sat on it that he should take peace away from the earth, and that men should slay one another. Therefore to him was given a great sword. I saw, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it held a balance in his hand. I saw therefore, and behold, a pale horse and he who sat on it, whose name was death. Revelation 6:2, 4-5, 8.

Here, as is evident from the details of the description, the horses and those seated on them mean things connected with an understanding consisting of truth, and in the contrary sense an understanding consisting of falsity. 'The white horse and he who sat on it' stands for an understanding consisting of truth gained from the Word; the one seated on the white horse is, as explicitly stated in Revelation 19:11, 13, 16, the Lord as to the Word. 'The fiery-red horse and he who sat on it' stands for reasonings resulting from desires for evil, which do violence to truths from the Word. 'The black horse and he who sat on it' stands for a destroyed ability to understand the truth, while 'the pale horse and he who sat on it' stands for damnation resulting from such destruction.

[5] 'Horses and horsemen' in the contrary sense stands for a perverted understanding and the falsities it produces, in Ezekiel also,

Oholah committed whoredom under Me and doted on her lovers - governors and leaders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. Her sister Oholibah was in love with the sons of Asshur - governors and leaders, her neighbours, clothed in perfect adornment, horsemen riding on horses, all of them desirable young men. Ezekiel 23:5-6, 12.

'Oholah' stands for the perverted spiritual Church, which is Samaria, and 'Oholibah' for the perverted celestial Church, which is Jerusalem; for the Israelites who belonged to Samaria represented the spiritual Church, but the Jews who belonged to Jerusalem represented the celestial Church. 'The Assyrians' and 'the sons of Asshur' stand for reasoning against the truths of faith, 1186, 'horsemen riding on horses' for a perverted understanding, from which falsities are produced.

[6] In Habakkuk,

I am rousing the Chaldeans, a bitter and headstrong nation, marching into the breadth of the earth, to inherit habitations that are not its own Its horses are swifter than leopards, sharper than the evening wolves, so that its horsemen spread out, and therefore its horsemen come from afar. Habakkuk 1:6, 8.

'The Chaldeans' stands for those governed by falsities, though to outward appearances they are governed by truths; thus 'the Chaldeans' stands for the profanation of truth, whereas 'Babel' stands for the profanation of good, 1182, 1368. 'Marching into the breadth of the earth' stands for destroying truths - 'the breadth of the earth' meaning truth, see 3433, 3434, 4482. From this it is evident that 'the horsemen who spread out and who arrive from afar' are things connected with a perverted understanding, which are therefore falsities.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, honour

  
/ 10837  
  

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