Bible

 

Genesis 19

Studie

   

1 And the two angels came to Sodom ii in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of the city. And seeing them, he rose up and went to meet them: and worshipped prostrate to the ground,

2 And said: I beseech you, my lords, turn in to the house of your servant, and lodge there: wash your feet, and in the morning you shall go on your way. And they said: No, but we will abide in the street.

3 He pressed them very much to turn in unto him: and when they were come in to his house, he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread and they ate:

4 But before they went to bed, the men of the city beset the house both young and old, all the people together.

5 And they called Lot, and said to him: Where are the men that came in to thee at night? bring them out hither that we may know them:

6 Lot went out to them, and shut the door after him, and said:

7 no not so, I beseech you, my brethren, do not commit this evil.

8 I have two daughters who as yet have not known man : I will bring them out to you, and abuse you them as it shall please you, so that you do no evil to these men, because they are come in under the shadow of my roof.

9 But they said: Get thee back thither. And again: Thou camest in, said they, as a, stranger, was it to be a judge? therefore we will afflict thee more than them. 0 And they pressed very violently upon Lot: and they were even at the point of breaking open the doors.

10 And behold the men put out their hand, and drew in Lot unto them, and shut the door:

11 And them that were without, p they struck with blindness from the least to the greatest, so that they could not find the door.

12 And they said to Lot: Hast thou here ally of thine? son in law, or sons, or daughters, all that are thine bring them out of this city:

13 For we will destroy this place, because their cry is grown loud before the Lord, who hath sent us to destroy them.

14 So Lot went out, and spoke to his sons in law that were to have his daughters, and said : Arise : get you out of this place, because the Lord will destroy this city. And he seemed to them to speak as it were in jest.

15 And when it was- morning, the angels pressed him, saying: Arise, take thy wife, and the two daughters which thou hast: lest thou also perish in the wickedness of the city.

16 And as he lingered, they took his hand, and the hand of his wife, and of his two daughters, because the Lord spared him.

17 And they brought him forth, and set him without the city: and there they spoke to him, saying : Save thy life : look not back, neither stay thou in all the country about: but Save thyself in the mountain, lest thou be also consumed.

18 And Lot said to them: I beseech thee my Lord,

19 Because thy servant hath found grace before thee, and thou hast magnified thy mercy, which thou hast shewn to me, in saving my life, and I cannot escape to the mountain, lest some evil seize me, and I die :

20 There is this city here at hand, to which I may flee, it is a little one, and I shall be saved in it: is it not a little one, and my soul shall live?

21 And he said to him: Behold also in this, I have heard thy prayers, not to destroy the city for which thou hast spoken.

22 Make haste and be saved there, because I cannot do any thing till thou go in thither. Therefore the name of that city was called Segor.

23 The sun was risen upon the earth, and Lot entered into Segor.

24 And the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrha brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven.

25 And he destroyed these cities, and all the country about, all the inhabitants of the cities, and all things that spring from the earth.

26 And his wife looking behind her, was turned into a statue of salt.

27 And Abraham got up early in the morning and in the place where he had stood before with the Lord, U

28 He looked towards Sodom and Gomorrha, and the whole land of that country: and he saw the ashes rise up from the earth as the smoke of a furnace.

29 Now when God destroyed the cities of that country, remembering Abraham, he delivered Lot out of the destruction of the cities wherein he had dwelt.

30 And Lot went up out of Segor, and abode in the mountain, and his two daughters with him, (for he was afraid to stay in Segor,) and he dwelt in a cave, he and his two daughters with him.

31 And the elder said to the younger Our father is old, and there is no man left on the earth, to come in unto us after the manner of the whole earth.

32 Come, let us make him drunk with wine, and let us lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.

33 And they made their father drink wine that night: and the elder went in and lay with her father : but he perceived not neither when his daughter lay down, nor when she rose up.

34 And the next day the elder said to the younger : Behold I lay last night with my father, let us make him drink wine also to night, and thou shalt lie with him, that we may save seed of our father.

35 They made their father drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went in, and lay with him: and neither then did he perceive when she lay down, nor when she rose up.

36 the two daughters of Lot were with child by their father.

37 And the elder bore a son, and called his name Moab: he is the father of the Moabites unto this day.

38 The younger also bore a son, and called his name Ammon, that is, the son of my people: he is the father of the Ammonites unto this day.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 2360

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

2360. That Lot calls them “brethren” because it is from good that he exhorts them, is evident from the signification of a “brother.” In the Word “brother” signifies the same as “neighbor,” for the reason that everyone ought to love his neighbor as himself; thus brethren were so called from love; or what is the same, from good. This manner of naming and addressing the neighbor comes from the fact that in heaven the Lord is the Father of all and loves all as His children; and thus that love is spiritual conjunction. From this the universal heaven resembles as it were one family derived from love and charity (n. 685, 917).

[2] Therefore as all the sons of Israel represented the Lord’s heavenly kingdom, that is, the kingdom of love and charity; among each other they were called “brethren,” and also “companions;” but the latter, that is, “companions,” not from the good of love, but from the truth of faith; as in Isaiah:

They help every man his companion, and he saith to his brother, Be of good courage (Isaiah 41:6).

In Jeremiah:

Thus shall ye say every man to his companion, and every man to his brother, What hath Jehovah answered? and what hath Jehovah spoken? (Jeremiah 23:35).

In David:

For my brethren and companions’ sakes I will say, Peace be within thee (Psalms 122:8).

In Moses:

He shall not press upon his companion or his brother, because the release of Jehovah hath been proclaimed (Deuteronomy 15:2-3).

In Isaiah:

I will confound Egypt with Egypt, and they shall fight every man against his brother, and every man against his companion (Isaiah 19:2).

In Jeremiah:

Beware every man of his companion, and trust ye not in any brother; for every brother will utterly supplant, and every companion will slander (Jeremiah 9:4).

[3] That all who were of that church were called by the one name “brethren,” see in Isaiah:

They shall bring all your brethren out of all the nations for an offering unto Jehovah, upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to the mountain of My holiness, Jerusalem (Isaiah 66:20).

They who know nothing beyond the sense of the letter, as was the case with the Jews, believe that no others are signified than the posterity of Jacob; thus that they will be brought back to Jerusalem upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, by those whom they call the Gentiles. But by the “brethren” are meant all who are in good; and by the “horses,” “chariots,” and “litters,” the things which are of truth and good; and by “Jerusalem” the Lord’s kingdom.

[4] In Moses:

When there shall be among thee a needy one of one of thy brethren, in one of thy gates, thou shalt not harden thy heart, and shalt not shut thy hand from thy needy brother (Deuteronomy 15:7, 11).

Again:

From among thy brethren thou shalt set a King over thee; thou mayest not put over thee a foreigner, who is not thy brother, and his heart shall not be lifted up above his brethren (Deuteronomy 17:15, 20).

Again:

A prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me, Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee; him shall ye obey (Deuteronomy 18:15, 18).

[5] From all this it is evident that the Jews and Israelites all called one another brethren; but those united by covenant they called companions. Yet as they understood nothing beyond the historical and worldly things of the Word, they believed that they called one another brethren because they were all sons of one father, or of Abraham; yet they were not called “brethren” in the Word from this circumstance, but from the good which they represented. “Abraham” also, in the internal sense, denotes nothing else than love itself, that is, the the Lord, (n. 1893, 1965, 1989, 2011), whose sons, consequently those who are “brethren,” are those who are in good, in fact all those who are called the neighbor; as the Lord teaches in Matthew:

One is your Master, Christ; all ye are brethren (Matthew 23:8).

[6] Again:

Whosoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the judgment; whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council. If thou offer a gift upon the altar, and there remember that thy brother hath aught against thee, leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way, first be reconciled to thy brother (Matthew 5:22-24).

Again:

Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye? How wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me cast out the mote out of thine eye (Matthew 7:2-4)?

Again:

If thy brother sin against thee, go and show him his fault between thee and him alone; if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother (Matthew 18:15).

Again:

Peter coming to Him said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? (Matthew 18:21).

Again:

So also will My heavenly Father do unto you, if ye from the heart forgive not everyone his brother their trespasses (Matthew 18:35).

[7] It is clear from these teachings that all in the universe who are the neighbor are called “brethren,” and this because everyone ought to love his neighbor as himself, thus they are so called from love or good. And as the Lord is good itself, and regards all from good, and is Himself the Neighbor in the highest sense, He also calls them “brethren,” as in John:

Jesus said to Mary, Go to My brethren (John 20:17).

And in Matthew:

The King answering shall say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me (Matthew 25:40).

Thus it is evident that “brother” is a term of love.

  
/ 10837  
  

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