Bible

 

Genesis 11

Studie

   

1 And all the earth was of one lip*, and their words one.

2 And it was when they journeyed from the east, that they found a vale in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there.

3 And they said, a man to his companion, Come, let us make bricks*, and let us fire them for a firing*. And they had brick for stone, and they had tar` for clay.

4 And they said, Come, let us build for ourselves a city and a tower, and its head in the heavens; and let us make for ourselves a name, lest perhaps* we be scattered on the faces of all the earth.

5 And Jehovah came·​·down to see the city and the tower which the sons of man were building.

6 And Jehovah said, Behold, the people are one, and all of them have one lip, and this is what they begin to do; and now there will not be held·​·back from them anything which they scheme to do.

7 Come, let us go·​·down, and there confuse their lip, that they hear not, a man the lip of his companion.

8 And Jehovah scattered them from thence on the faces of all the earth; and they stopped building the city.

9 Therefore He called the name of it Babel, for there did Jehovah confuse* the lip of all the earth; and from thence did Jehovah scatter them on the faces of all the earth.

10 These are the births of Shem: Shem was a son of a hundred years, and begot Arpachshad, two·​·years after the flood.

11 And Shem lived after he begot Arpachshad five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

12 And Arpachshad lived five and thirty years, and begot Shelach.

13 And Arpachshad lived after he begot Shelach three years and four hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

14 And Shelach lived thirty years, and begot Eber.

15 And Shelach lived after he begot Eber three years and four hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begot Peleg.

17 And Eber lived after he begot Peleg thirty years and four hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

19 And Peleg lived after he begot Reu nine years and two·​·hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begot Serug.

21 And Reu lived after he begot Serug seven years and two·​·hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor.

23 And Serug lived after he begot Nahor two·​·hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begot Terah.

25 And Nahor lived after he begot Terah nineteen years and a hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 And these are the births of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begot Lot.

28 And Haran died upon the faces of Terah, his father*, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans.

29 And Abram and Nahor took to themselves wives; the name of Abram’s wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor’s wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.

30 And Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 And Terah took Abram his son; and Lot the son of Haran, the son of his son; and Sarai his daughter-in-law, the wife of Abram his son; and they went·​·out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came even to Haran, and dwelt there.

32 And the days of Terah were five years and two·​·hundred years; and Terah died in Haran.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 1296

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

1296. That 'come, let us make bricks' means the falsities which they fashioned for themselves is clear from the meaning of 'brick'. 'Stone' in the Word means truth, and therefore 'brick', being man-made, means falsity, for brick is artificial stone. That 'brick' has this meaning becomes clear also from the following places: In Isaiah,

I have spread out My hands all the day to a rebellious people. walking in a way that is not good, after their own thoughts, sacrificing in gardens and burning incense upon bricks. Isaiah 65:2-3.

'Burning incense upon bricks' stands for worship based on fabrications and falsities; and this is why these people are referred to as 'walking after their own thoughts'. In the same prophet,

On account of the pace and arrogance of heart of Ephraim, and of the inhabitants of Samaria, saying, The bricks have fallen but we will build from hewn stone. Isaiah 9:9-10.

'Ephraim' stands for one who, having become intelligent, has then lapsed into wrong, who calls or makes falsities, or 'bricks', his truths. 'Hewn stone' stands for what is a fabrication. In Nahum,

Draw yourself water for the siege, strengthen your fortifications; go into the mud and tread the clay; renew the brick-kiln. There the fire will devour you. and the sword cut you off. Nahum 3:14-15.

Here 'treading the clay' stands for falsities, 'renewing the brick-kiln' for worship based on them. 'Fire' is the punishment of evil desires, 'sword' the punishment of falsities. In Ezekiel,

Take a brick and lay it before you, and on it carve the city of Jerusalem. Ezekiel 4:1.

This text contains the command to besiege it, a prophecy implying that worship was falsified. The fact that 'brick' means falsity becomes clearer still from the meaning of 'stone' as truth, to be dealt with in what follows shortly.

  
/ 10837  
  

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