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Genesis 35

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1 In the meantime God said to Jacob: Arise, and go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared to thee when thou didst flee from Esau thy brother.

2 And Jacob having called together all his household, said: Cast away the strange gods that are among you, and be cleansed and change your garments.

3 Arise, and let us go up to Bethel, that we may make there an altar to God: who heard me in the day of my affliction, and accompanied me in my journey.

4 So they gave him all the strange gods they had, and the earrings which were in their ears: and he buried them under the turpentine tree, that is behind the city of Sichem.

5 And when they were departed, the terror of God fell upon all the cities round about, and they durst not pursue after them as they went away.

6 And Jacob came to Luza, which is in the land of Chanaan, surnamed Bethel: he and all the people that were with him.

7 And he built there an altar, and called the name of that place, The house of God: for there God appeared to him when he fled from his brother.

8 At the same time Debora the nurse of Rebecca died, and was buried at the foot of Bethel under an oak: and the name of that place was called, The oak of weeping.

9 And God appeared again to Jacob, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria, and he blessed him,

10 Saying: Thou shalt not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called him Israel.

11 And said to him: I am God Almighty, increase thou and be multiplied. Nations and peoples of Nations shall be from thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.

12 And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to thee, and to thy seed after thee.

13 And he departed from him.

14 But he set up a monument of stone, in the place where God had spoken to him: pouring drink offerings upon it, and pouring oil thereon:

15 And calling the name of that place Bethel.

16 And going forth from thence, he came in the springtime to the land which leadeth to Ephrata: wherein when Rachel was in travail,

17 By reason of her hard labor she began to be in danger, and the midwife said to her: Fear not, for thou shalt have this son also.

18 And when her soul was departing for pain, and death was now at hand, she called the name of her son Benoni, that is, The son of my pain: but his father called him Benjamin, that is, The son of the right hand.

19 So Rachel died, and was buried in the highway that leadeth to Ephrata, that is Bethlehem.

20 And Jacob erected a pillar over her sepulcher: this is the pillar of Rachel's monument, to this day.

21 Departing thence, he pitched his tent beyond the Flock tower.

22 And when he dwelt in that country, Ruben went, and slept with Bala, the concubine of his father: which he was not ignorant of. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.

23 The sons of Lia: Ruben the firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Juda, and Issachar, and Zebulon.

24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

25 The sons of Bala, Rachel's handmaid: Dan and Naphthali.

26 The sons of Zelpha, Lia's handmaid: Gad and Aser: these are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Mesopotamia of Syria.

27 And he came to Isaac his father in Mambre, the city of Arbee, this is Hebron: Wherein Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

28 And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years.

29 And being spent with age he died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 4560

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4560. 'For there the gods were revealed to him' means holy truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'the gods' as holy truths, dealt with in 4402; and the alliance of these to the good represented by 'Jacob' is meant by the revelation of the gods to him there. Jacob's calling the place El Bethel, when yet previously he called it Bethel, Genesis 28:19, and again calls it this in verse 15 below; also, the addition of the phrase here, 'for there the gods (plural) were revealed to him' but in verse 15 below of the phrase, 'where God (singular) spoke to him', is an arcanum. And that arcanum, it is evident, cannot be known except from the internal sense. There are even more arcana lying concealed within these details, but it is not possible for them to be disclosed.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 4353

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4353. 'And kissed him' means an interior joining together brought about by love. This is clear from the meaning of 'kissing' as a joining together brought about by love, dealt with in 3573, 3574, 4215, in this case an interior joining together. The present verse deals with the joining of Divine Natural Good, meant by 'Esau', to Natural Truth, meant by 'Jacob'. It deals with this in general, whereas the verses which follow deal more specifically with that joining together. As regards the actual joining together, it is that which brings about a person's regeneration, for he is regenerated through the joining of the truths he knows to the good he cherishes, that is, through the joining of matters of faith to the deeds of charity. The process of that joining together is described fully in this verse and in those that follow. The subject, it is true, is the Lord - how He made His Natural Divine and therefore how He united Divine Good to Truth within the Natural; but because the regeneration of man is an image of the glorification of the Lord, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, that regeneration too is at the same time the subject in the internal sense. And because man can get an idea of regeneration more easily than he can of the Lord's glorification, let His glorification be illustrated by means of man's regeneration.

[2] It is evident from the explanations which have been given that the joining together of good and truths which leads to regeneration is a process that grows more and more interior; that is, truths are joined step by step more interiorly to good. For the object of regeneration is that the internal man may be joined to the external, and so the spiritual man be joined to the natural through the rational. Unless the two are joined together no regeneration is accomplished. Nor can that joining together be effected until good has first been joined to the truths within the natural; for the natural has to exist as the underlying groundwork, and things within the natural have to exist in correspondence with those above them. This is the reason why, when the natural is being regenerated, the joining together of good and truths becomes step by step more interior; for the spiritual first joins itself to the things that are inmost in the natural, and after that through these to those that are more exterior. Nor can man's internal join itself to his external unless the truth within that external becomes the good of truth, that is, becomes truth in will and action, 4337. Only then can they be joined together, for the Lord flows into a person through his internal man, especially through the good there. The good there is able to be joined to the good in the external man, but not directly to the truth.

[3] From this it becomes clear that the truth residing with man must first of all become truth in will and action, that is, become the good of truth, before the joining together of the rational and the natural, or of the internal man and the external, can come about. But in what way truth becomes the good of truth may be clear to anyone who gives his attention to it. Every Divine truth is related to the following two commandments: Love God above all things, and love your neighbour as yourself. These two commandments are the base from which truths are derived, the reason why truths exist, and the end to which truths lead - immediately or remotely. Therefore when truths are translated into action they are introduced step by step into their beginning and into their end, that is to say, into charity towards the neighbour and love to the Lord, and as a consequence truth becomes the good which is called the good of truth. Once truth becomes such it is able to be joined to the internal man, a conjunction which becomes step by step more interior as truths that are more interior are implanted within that good. Action comes first, then the desire for it in the person's will follows. For when a person is led by his understanding to carry out any action, he is at length led by his will to do it, till at last he has taken it on as an action performed habitually. When this point is reached it is introduced into the rational or internal man; and once it has been introduced, truth is no longer that which motivates him when he does a good action but good. For now he begins to feel within it something of what is blessed and so to speak of heaven. This remains with him after death, and by means of it the Lord raises him up to heaven.

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