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 # 1311

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

1311. That 'Jehovah came down' means judgement on them is clear from the meaning of the previous verses, and of those that follow, and also from the meaning of 'coming down' when used of Jehovah. Previous verses dealt with building a city and the tower of Babel, those that follow deal with the confounding of lips and with dispersion, while 'coming down' when used of Jehovah has reference to the time when judgement takes place. Jehovah or the Lord is present everywhere and knows everything from eternity. Consequently it cannot be said of Him that 'He comes down to see' except in the literal sense where things are stated as they appear to man to be. But this is not the case in the internal sense. In that sense a matter is presented not according to appearances but as it is in itself. Consequently 'coming down to see' in this verse means judgement.

[2] Judgment is used of the time when evil has reached its furthest limit, which in the Word is called coming to a close or the time when iniquity has come to a close. For the fact of the matter is that every evil has its limits to which it is allowed to extend. When it is carried beyond those limits it incurs the punishment of evil. This applies both in particular and in general. The punishment of evil is what is then termed judgement. And since it seems at first as though the Lord does not see or notice the existence of evil - for when someone commits evil without getting punished he imagines that the Lord does not care, but when he does suffer punishment he supposes that this is when the Lord sees for the first time, and indeed that it is the Lord who is punishing him - these are the appearances which lead to the use of the expression 'Jehovah came down to see'.

[3] 'Coming down' is used of Jehovah because 'the most high', or His being 'in the highest', are phrases used of Him This too is phraseology based on appearances, for He dwells not in the highest but in inmost places, and therefore in the Word most high and inmost are identical in meaning. Judgement itself, or the punishment of evil, takes place at a lower or the lowest level. This is why He is spoken of as 'coming down', as He also is in David,

O Jehovah, bow Your heavens and come down. 1 Touch the mountains and they will smoke; send out lightning and scatter them. Psalms 144:5-6.

This too stands for the punishment of evil, which is judgement. In Isaiah,

Jehovah Zebaoth will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. Isaiah 31:4.

In the same prophet, You will come down, the mountains will dissolve at Your presence. Isaiah 64:3.

Here likewise 'coming down' stands for the punishment of evil, that is, for judgement. In Micah,

Jehovah came forth out of His place, and He came down and trod upon the lofty places of the earth; and the mountains melted beneath Him. Micah 1:3-4.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The first Latin edition adds three words which mean and I will speak with You, but no phrase such as this occurs at this point in the Psalm quoted.

  
/ 10837  
  

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