Bible

 

Genesis 25

Studie

   

1 And Abraham added, and took a woman, and her name was Keturah.

2 And for him she gave·​·birth·​·to Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuach.

3 And Jokshan begot Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim,* and Letushim, and Leummim.

4 And the sons of Midian: Ephah, and Epher, and Enoch, and Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah.

5 And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.

6 And to the sons of the concubines that Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts; and he sent· them ·away from being by Isaac his son, when he was still living, eastward to the land of the east.

7 And these are the days of the years of the lives of Abraham which he lived; a hundred years, and seventy years, and five years.

8 And Abraham expired and died with good gray·​·hairs, old and sated of days*, and was gathered to his peoples.

9 And Isaac and Ishmael his sons buried him in the cave of Machpelah, in the field of Ephron the son of Zohar the Hittite, which is by the face of Mamre;

10 the field which Abraham bought from the sons of Heth; there was Abraham buried, and Sarah his wife.

11 And it was, after the death of Abraham that God blessed Isaac his son; and Isaac dwelt at Beer-lahai-roi.

12 And these are the births of Ishmael the son of Abraham, whom Hagar the Egyptian, Sarah’s handmaid, gave·​·birth for Abraham.

13 And these are the names of the sons of Ishmael, by their names, according·​·to their births: the firstborn of Ishmael, Nebaioth; and Kedar, and Adhbeel, and Mibsam;

14 and Mishma, and Dumah, and Massa;

15 Chadad, and Tema, Jetur, Naphish, and Kedemah;

16 these are they, the sons of Ishmael, and these are their names, in their villages and in their castles; twelve chiefs for their peoples.

17 And these are the years of the life of Ishmael, a hundred years, and thirty years, and seven years; and he expired and died, and was gathered to his peoples.

18 And they resided from Havilah even·​·to Shur, who is upon the faces of Egypt, in coming toward Assyria; he settled* against the faces of all his brothers.

19 And these are the births of Isaac, the son of Abraham; Abraham begot Isaac.

20 And Isaac was a son of forty years when he took Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean, of Paddan-aram, the sister of Laban the Aramean, to himself for a woman.

21 And Isaac supplicated to Jehovah on account of his woman, for she was barren, and Jehovah was supplicated for him, and Rebekah his woman conceived.

22 And the sons clashed·​·with·​·each·​·other in the midst·​·of her; and she said, If so, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of Jehovah.

23 And Jehovah said to her, Two nations are in thy belly, and Two peoples shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one people shall prevail above the other people, and the greater shall serve the lesser.

24 And her days were·​·fulfilled to give·​·birth, and behold twins were in her belly.

25 And the first came·​·out all of him ruddy as a mantle of hair, and they called his name Esau.

26 And after that came·​·forth his brother, and his hand seized on Esau’s heel*, and he called his name Jacob*; and Isaac was a son of sixty years when she gave·​·birth to them.

27 And the lads grew·​·up; and Esau was a man knowing hunting, a man of the field; and Jacob was a perfect man, dwelling in tents.

28 And Isaac loved Esau, for his hunting was in his mouth; and Rebekah loved Jacob.

29 And Jacob stewed a stew, and Esau came from the field, and he was faint.

30 And Esau said to Jacob, Let me sup, I pray, of the red, this red, for I am faint; therefore he called his name Edom.

31 And Jacob said, Sell as·​·it·​·were today* thy birthright to me.

32 And Esau said, Behold I am going to die, and for what is this birthright to me?

33 And Jacob said, Promise to me as·​·it·​·were today; and he promised to him, and he sold his birthright to Jacob.

34 And Jacob gave Esau bread and stew of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose·​·up and went; and Esau despised the birthright.

   


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

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 4292

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

4292. In the internal historical sense 'he said, Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel' means that they could not as [the descendants of] Jacob play the representative part, except by virtue of the new nature that was imparted to them. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'Jacob' in the Word as his descendants, dealt with above in 4281, and from the meaning of 'name' as the essential nature, dealt with immediately above in 4291. The new nature itself is meant by 'Israel' in the internal sense, for 'Israel' is the celestial-spiritual man and consequently the internal man, 4286. And since 'Israel' means the celestial-spiritual man, and so the internal man, 'Israel' also means the internal spiritual Church. For whether you use the expression spiritual man or spiritual Church, it amounts to the same thing because any spiritual person in particular is the Church, even as many are in general. If the individual person in particular were not the Church, no Church in general could exist. The expression Church is used in everyday language to describe a congregation in general; but each member of the congregation must be a Church if that greater Church is to exist. Every general whole incorporates parts that are like that whole.

[2] The implications of this particular matter - the inability of [the descendants on Jacob to play the representative part, except by virtue of the new nature imparted to them, meant by 'Israel' - are as follows: It was specifically Jacob's descendants who were to represent the Church but not specifically Isaac's since Isaac's descended not only through Jacob but also through Esau. Still less was it specifically Abraham's, for Abraham's descended not only through Jacob but also through Esau, and likewise through Ishmael, as well as through his sons by his second wife Keturah, who were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, Shuah, and the sons of these, see Genesis 25:1-4. Now because Jacob's descendants insisted that they should be representative, as shown just above in 4290, they could not represent as Jacob, or as Isaac, or as Abraham. The reason why they could not do so as Jacob was that 'Jacob' represented the external aspect of the Church, but not the internal. And they could not do so as Isaac at the same time or as Abraham at the same time for the reason advanced immediately above.

[3] So that they could represent the Church therefore, a new name had inevitably to be given to Jacob, and through that name a new nature, which new nature was to be a sign of the internal spiritual man, or what amounts to the same, of the internal spiritual Church. That new nature is meant by 'Israel'. Every Church of the Lord is internal and external, as has been shown several times already, the internal Church being that which is represented, the external that which represents. The internal Church is also either spiritual or else celestial, the internal spiritual Church being represented by 'Israel', but the internal celestial Church at a later time by 'Judah'. Therefore a division also took place, and the Israelites became a kingdom on their own and the Jews another on their own. But these matters will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on. From this it is evident that 'Jacob', that is, Jacob's descendants, could not represent the Church as Jacob, for that would have been to represent solely the external aspect of the Church. They had to do so as Israel as well because 'Israel' is the internal aspect.

[4] It has been shown in various places already that it is the internal which is represented and the external which represents, as may also be seen in the human being. A person's speech represents his thought, and a person's action represents his will. Speech and action are the external aspects of the person, thought and will the internal. In addition the various looks seen on a person's face represent both, that is to say, both his thought and his will. It is well known to everyone that the looks on a person's face are representative, for the looks on the faces of people who are sincere enable their interior states to be seen. In short, every part of the body represents some facet of a person's inclination (animus) and mind (mens).

[5] It is similar with the external aspects of the Church, for these are like the body, while its internal aspects are like the soul. There were, for example, the altars and the sacrifices on them, which, as is well known, were external things. There was likewise the bread of the presence, also the lampstand with its lamps, as well as the fire that was kept burning all the time. Anyone can recognize that these external things represented internal ones, as likewise did everything else of a ritual nature. The fact that these external things could not represent anything external, only what was internal, becomes clear from the considerations introduced already. So 'Jacob' could not represent as Jacob, because 'Jacob' means the external aspect of the Church, but he could do so as Israel because 'Israel' means its internal aspect. This is what is meant by a new nature being imparted to enable the descendants of Jacob to play the representative part.

  
/ 10837  
  

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