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Genesis 31

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1 And he heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob has taken all that was our father’s; and from that which was our father’s has he made all this glory.

2 And Jacob saw the faces of Laban, and behold he was not at all with him as yesterday and the day before*.

3 And Jehovah said to Jacob, Return to the land of thy fathers, and to thy birth place, and I will be with thee.

4 And Jacob sent, and called Rachel and Leah to the field to his flock.

5 And he said to them, I see your father’s faces, that he is not at all toward me as yesterday and the day before; and the God of my father has been with·​·me.

6 And you know that with all my power I have served your father.

7 And your father has deluded me, and has changed my wages ten ways, and God has not given him to do·​·evil with·​·me.

8 If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wage, then all the flock gave·​·birth·​·to speckled; and if he said thus, The mottled shall be thy wage, then all the flock gave·​·birth mottled.

9 And God has rescued the livestock of your father, and has given it to me.

10 And it was at the time that the flock grew·​·warm, that I lifted my eyes, and saw in a dream, and behold the he-goats which went·​·up upon the flock were mottled, speckled, and dappled.

11 And the angel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob; and I said, Behold me!

12 And he said, Lift, I pray, thine eyes, and see all the he-goats going·​·up upon the flock, mottled, speckled, and dappled; for I have seen all that Laban does to thee.

13 I am the God of Bethel, where thou anointedst a pillar, where thou didst vow a vow to me; now arise, go·​·out from this land, and return to the land of thy birth.

14 And Rachel and Leah answered and said to him, Have we any·​·more a part and inheritance in our father’s house?

15 Are we not reckoned as foreigners to him? For he has sold us, and eating·​·up he has even eaten·​·up our silver.

16 For all the riches which God has rescued from our father, they are for us and for our sons; and now all that God has said to thee, do.

17 And Jacob arose, and lifted his sons and his women upon the camels.

18 And he drove all his livestock, and all his acquisition which he had acquired, the livestock which he had bought, which he had acquired in Paddan-aram, to come to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.

19 And Laban went to shear his flock; and Rachel stole the teraphim which her father had.

20 And Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Aramean, by not telling him that he was running·​·away.

21 And he ran·​·away, he and all that he had; and he arose and crossed·​·over the river, and set his face toward the mountain of Gilead.

22 And it was·​·told Laban on the third day, that Jacob had run·​·away.

23 And he took his brothers with him, and pursued after him a way of seven days, and joined him in the mountain of Gilead.

24 And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night, and said to him, Take·​·heed to thyself lest thou speak with Jacob from good even·​·to evil.

25 And Laban overtook Jacob, and Jacob pitched his tent on the mountain; and Laban pitched with his brothers on the mountain of Gilead.

26 And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen my heart, and hast driven my daughters as captives of the sword?

27 Why didst thou hide·​·thyself to run·​·away, and didst steal me,* and hast· not ·told me? And I would have sent· thee ·away with gladness, and with songs, with timbrel, and with harp.

28 And thou hast not allowed me to kiss my sons and my daughters; now thou hast been·​·senseless in so doing.

29 Let my hand be to God to do you evil! And the God of your father said to me last·​·night, saying, Take·​·heed to thyself that thou speak not with Jacob from good even·​·to evil.

30 And now going thou hast gone, for being·​·eager thou wast·​·eager for the house of thy father; why hast thou stolen my gods?

31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was fearful, for I said, Perhaps thou wilt take· thy daughters ·by·​·robbery from me.

32 With whomever thou findest thy gods, he shall not live in·​·front·​·of our brothers; recognize thou what is with·​·me, and take it to thee. And Jacob knew not that Rachel had stolen them.

33 And Laban came·​·into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two maidservants, and found them not; and he went·​·out of Leah’s tent, and came·​·into Rachel’s tent.

34 And Rachel had taken the teraphim, and set them in the straw of the camel, and sat upon them; and Laban felt· all ·around the tent, and found them not.

35 And she said to her father, Let there not be fierceness in the eyes of my lord, that I am· not ·able rise·​·up before thee, for the way of women is upon me. And he searched and found not the teraphim.

36 And Jacob was·​·incensed, and strove with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my transgression? What is my sin, that thou hast chased after me?

37 Whereas thou hast felt·​·around all my vessels, what hast thou found of all the vessels of thy house? Set it thus in·​·front·​·of my brothers and thy brothers, and let them judge between the two of us.

38 These twenty years have I been with thee, thy ewes and thy she-goats have not miscarried, and the rams of thy flock I have not eaten.

39 The torn I brought not to thee, I bear·​·the·​·loss of it, from my hand didst thou seek it, whether stolen by day or stolen by night.

40 Thus I was; in the day the heat devoured me, and the frost in the night, and my sleep has fled·​·away from my eyes.

41 These twenty years I have served thee in thy house, fourteen years for thy two daughters, and six years for thy flock, and thou hast changed my wages ten ways.

42 Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Dread* of Isaac, had been with me, surely now thou would have sent· me ·away empty. God has seen my affliction and the toil of my hands, and reproved thee last·​·night.

43 And Laban answered, and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flock is my flock, and all that thou seest, it is mine; and what will I do today for these my daughters, or for their sons whom they have brought·​·forth?

44 And now go, let us cut a covenant, I and thou, and let it be for a witness between me and thee.

45 And Jacob took a stone, and made· it ·high for a pillar.

46 And Jacob said to his brothers, Collect stones; and they took stones, and made a heap, and they did eat there upon the heap.

47 And Laban called it Jegar-sahadutha, and Jacob called it Galeed.

48 And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and thee today; therefore he called the name of it Galeed;

49 and Mizpah; for he said, Jehovah watch between me and thee, for we shall be hidden a man from his companion.

50 If thou shalt afflict my daughters, and if thou shalt take women over my daughters, there is no man with us; see God is witness between me and thee.

51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have set up* between me and thee.

52 This heap be a witness, and the pillar be a witness, that· I ·should not pass·​·by this heap to thee, and that· thou ·shouldst not pass·​·by this heap to me, and this pillar, for evil.

53 The God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us, the God of their father; and Jacob promised by the Dread of his father Isaac.

54 And Jacob sacrificed a sacrifice in the mountain, and called his brothers to eat bread; and they did eat bread, and passed·​·the·​·night in the mountain.

55 32:1 And in the morning Laban got·​·up·​·early, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them; and Laban went and returned to his place.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 4104

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4104. 'And set his sons and his womenfolk on camels' means a raising up of truths and of affections for these, and the arrangement of them within things that are general. This is clear from the meaning of 'sons' as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623; from the meaning of 'womenfolk', who in this case are Rachel and Leah, and also their servant-girls, as affections for truth, for cognitions, and for facts, dealt with already; and from the meaning of 'camels' as general facts within the natural, dealt with in 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145.

[2] Anyone who does not have some knowledge of representations and correspondences is incapable of believing that the words 'he set his sons and his womenfolk on camels' mean such things. To him they seem too remote to incorporate and contain within them that which is spiritual; for he thinks about sons, womenfolk, and camels. But the angels, who see and perceive all such things in a spiritual manner, do not think of sons but of truths when 'sons' are mentioned; they do not think of womenfolk but of affections for truth, cognitions, and facts when 'womenfolk' are mentioned; nor do they think of camels but of things that are general within the natural when these are mentioned. For such is the correspondence between the one thing and the other, and such is the way in which angels think. And what is remarkable, it is also the way in which the internal spiritual man thinks while living in the body, though the external man is totally unaware of it. For the same reason when a person who has been regenerated dies he enters into a similar manner of thinking and is able to think with and talk to angels. And this he does without being taught to do so, something that would never have been possible if his interior thought had not been such. The fact that it is such is due to the correspondence of natural things with spiritual. From this it may be seen that although the literal sense of the Word is natural it nevertheless contains spiritual things within it, and in every single part, that is, it contains the kind of things that belong to thought and therefore to interior or spiritual language, such as angels employ.

[3] With regard to the raising up of truths and of the affections for these, and the arrangement of them within things that are general, truths and affections are raised up when the things of eternal life and of the Lord's kingdom are thought to be more important than those of life in the body and of the kingdom of this world. When a person acknowledges the former to be first and foremost, and the latter to be secondary and subordinate, the truths he knows and his affections for them are raised up. For as is his acknowledgement so in the same measure is that person conveyed into the light of heaven, which light holds intelligence and wisdom within it, and so also in the same measure do things belonging to the light of this world become for him images and so to speak mirrors in which he sees the things belonging to the light of heaven. The contrary takes place when he thinks the things of the life of the body and of the kingdom of this world to be more important than those of eternal life and of the Lord's kingdom. He does this when he believes that the latter do not exist because he does not see them and because nobody has come from there and given an account of them - or if he does believe that they may exist, nothing worse will happen to him than to others - and in so believing confirms himself in these ideas, leads a worldly life, and despises charity and faith altogether. With such a person truths and the affections for them are not raised up but are either smothered, or rejected, or perverted. For he dwells in natural light into which no heavenly light at all flows in. This shows what is meant by a raising up of truths and of affections for them.

[4] As for the arrangement of these truths and affections within things that are general, this is the inevitable consequence; for insofar as a person thinks heavenly things are more important than worldly ones, things within his natural are arranged into an order in keeping with the state of heaven. As a result they are seen in the natural, as has been stated, as images and mirrors of heavenly things, for they are representatives that correspond. It is the ends in view which effect the arranging, that is, the Lord effects it by means of the ends which the person has in view. For there are three things which follow in order ends, causes, and effects. Ends bring about causes, and by means of causes bring about effects. As is the nature of the ends therefore so is that of the emanating causes, and from these that of the effects. Ends constitute the inmost things with man; causes constitute the intermediate things and are called the intermediate ends; and effects constitute the ultimate things and are called the ultimate ends. Effects also constitute the things which are termed general. From this one may see what is meant by an arrangement within things that are general, namely this: When anyone has the things of eternal life and of the Lord's kingdom as his end in view, then all intermediate ends, which are causes, and all ultimate ends, which are effects, are arranged in accordance with the end itself. And this is situated within the natural because that is where effects reside, or what amounts to the same, where things that are general reside.

[5] Every adult person possessing any judgement at all can recognize, if he gives the matter any consideration, that he is living in two kingdoms, the spiritual kingdom and the natural one. He can recognize that the spiritual kingdom is interior and the natural exterior, and consequently that he is able to think one more important than the other, that is, to have one rather than the other in view, and therefore that with him the one which he has as his end in view or makes more important is predominant. If therefore he has the spiritual kingdom, that is, the things which constitute that kingdom, as his end and thinks the spiritual kingdom more important than the natural one, then he acknowledges as being first and foremost love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and consequently all ideas that reinforce love and charity, and are called the truths of faith; for these belong to that kingdom. When this is the situation in a person, everything within his natural is distributed and arranged in keeping with the things of that kingdom so as to be subservient and obedient. But when he has the natural kingdom, that is, the things that exist there, as his end in view, and makes that more important, he annihilates all love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and all faith. Indeed he goes so far as to set no value at all on these things, but makes love of the world and self-love, and the things which go with these, all important. When this is the case everything within his natural is arranged in keeping with those ends, and so is entirely at odds with the things of heaven. In this way he brings about hell within himself. Having something as the end in view consists in loving it, for every end exists as the object of a person's love because that which he loves he has as his end in view.

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