Bible

 

Genesis 31

Studie

   

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.

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 4402

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

4402. 'And he called it El Elohe Israel' means that it, that is to say, interior worship, originated in the Divine Spiritual. This is clear from the meaning of 'El Elohe', dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'Israel' as the spiritual, dealt with in 4286, 4292. The things stated so far in this chapter from verse 17 onwards appear there because the subject in the highest sense of the chapter is how the Lord made His Natural Divine. But since things in the highest sense which are concerned with the Lord are beyond the range of ideas present in a person's thought because such things are Divine, let them be illustrated by means of the kind of things that do fall more immediately within the range of a person's ideas. That is to say, let those things that are Divine be illustrated by means of the way in which the Lord regenerates man's natural. Indeed the regeneration of man, that is, of his natural, is also the subject here in the internal sense; for the regeneration of man is a model of the glorification of the Lord, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490. In fact the Lord glorified Himself, that is, made Himself Divine, according to Divine order, according to which same order He also regenerates man, that is, makes him celestial and spiritual. Here the way in which He makes him spiritual is dealt with, for 'Israel' means that spiritual man.

[2] The spiritual man is not the interior rational man but the interior natural. The interior rational man is that which is called celestial. How the spiritual man and the celestial differ from each other has often been stated already. A person becomes spiritual through the joining of the truths residing with him to good, that is, through the joining of matters of faith to those of charity, a joining together which takes place within his natural. There exterior truths first are joined to good, and after that interior truths. The joining of exterior truths within the natural has been dealt with in verses 1-16 of this chapter, the joining of interior truths to good in verses 17-end. Interior truths are not joined to good except by means of an enlightenment entering through the internal man into the external. That enlightenment makes Divine truths visible in a purely general way, as when, to use a comparison, countless objects are seen by the eye as an obscure single whole devoid of any distinguishable features. This enlightenment making truths visible in a purely general way was meant by Esau's words to Jacob, 'Let me now place with you some of the people who are with me', and by Jacob's reply, 'Why so? Let me find favour in your eyes', dealt with in 4385, 4386.

[3] On the point that the spiritual man, compared with the celestial, dwells in obscurity, see 2708, 2715, 2716, 2718, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3246, 3833. It is this spiritual man that is represented by 'Israel', 4286. The expression spiritual man is used because the light of heaven, which holds intelligence and wisdom within it, flows into those things with man which belong to the light of the world and causes those which belong to the light of heaven to be represented in those belonging to the light of the world, and in this way causes them to correspond. For regarded in itself the spiritual is the Divine Light itself which comes from the Lord, and therefore consists in intelligence which essentially is truth and as a consequence is wisdom. With the spiritual man however that light falls on things which are matters of faith with him and which he believes to be true, whereas with the celestial man it falls on the good of love. But although these considerations are clear to those who dwell in the light of heaven they are nevertheless obscure to those who dwell in the light of the world, and so to the majority at the present day. They are perhaps so obscure as to be barely intelligible. All the same, since they constitute the subject in the internal sense and are by nature as described, the exposition of them must not be left out. The time will come when people will be enlightened

[4] The reason why the altar was called El Elohe Israel and why interior worship originating in the Divine Spiritual was meant by it is that in the highest sense El Elohe is identical with the Divine Spiritual; as also is Israel. For 'Israel' means the Lord's Divine Spiritual, and in the representative sense the Lord's spiritual Church, or what amounts to the same, a person like that, see 4286, 4292. In the original language El Elohe means 'God God', and also, to be strictly literal, 'God of gods'. 1 In the Word Jehovah, or the Lord, is referred to in very many places by the singular name 'El', or else 'Eloah', as well as by the plural name 'Elohim'. Both names are sometimes used within the same verse or in the same section. A person who is not acquainted with the internal sense of the Word cannot know the reason why. Anyone may conclude that 'El' implies one thing, 'Eloah' another, and 'Elohim' another, from the consideration that the Word is Divine, that is, has its origin in the Divine, and that it is for that reason inspired as to every word, indeed as to the smallest part of every letter.

[5] What the name 'El' implies when it is used, or the name 'Elohim', may be seen from what has been shown in various places above, namely that El or Elohim - that is, God - is used when truth is the subject, see 709, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921 (end), 4287. This is why in the highest sense El and Elohim mean the Divine Spiritual, this being the same as Divine Truth. The two names differ however in that 'El' means truth in will and action, which is the same as the good of truth, 4337, 4353, 4390. The plural form Elohim exists for the reason that by Divine truth is meant all the truths which come from the Lord. This is also the reason why in the Word angels are sometimes called elohim or gods, 4295, as will be further evident from places in the Word that are quoted below. Now because El and Elohim in the highest sense mean the Lord as regards truth, they also mean Him as regards power; for truth is the entity to which power is attributed. Indeed when exercising power good acts by means of truth, 3091, 4015. Therefore when in the Word reference is made to the power received from truth, the Lord is called El and Elohim, that is, God. Hence also it is that El in the original language means one who is powerful.

[6] The fact that the names El and Elohim, or God, are used in the Word where the Divine Spiritual is the subject, or what amounts to the same, Divine Truth, and Divine Power received from this, may be seen in addition from the following places,

God spoke to Israel in visions in the night. I am the God of gods (El Elohe) of your father, do not be afraid of going down into Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. Genesis 46:2-3.

Since these words are addressed to Israel, whom He is going 'to make into a great nation', and so the subject is truth and the power this possesses, El Elohe is used, which in the proximate sense means the God of gods. The fact that in the proximate sense Elohim means gods because it has reference to truths and to the power received from them, is also evident in the same author,

There Jacob built an altar, and called the place El Beth El, for there the Elohim were revealed to him, when he was fleeing from before his brother. Genesis 35:7.

And elsewhere in the same author,

Jehovah your God, He is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the God (El) who is great, powerful, and fearful. Deuteronomy 10:17.

Here 'God of gods' is expressed by Elohe Elohim, and after that 'God' by El, to whom greatness and power are attributed

[7] In David,

A great God (El) is Jehovah, and a great King above all gods (elohim), in whose hand are the deep places 2 of the earth; and the strength 3 of the mountains are His. Psalms 95:3-4.

The name 'God' or El is used here because reference is made to Divine Truth and the Power received from this, and also 'gods' because reference is made to subordinate truths. For in the internal sense 'a king' means truth, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670. From this it is clear what 'a great King above all gods' implies. 'The deep places of the earth' too means the truths of the Church, which are called 'the strength of the mountains' from power rooted in good. In the same author,

Who in heaven will compare himself to Jehovah? Who will be likened to Jehovah among the sons of gods (elim)? God (El) mighty in the secret place of the holy ones, O Jehovah God Zebaoth, who is strong as You are, O Jah? Psalms 89:6-8.

Here 'sons of gods (or of elim)' stands for Divine truths, to which, it is evident, power is attributed, since it is said 'God (El) mighty, Jehovah God of hosts, who is strong as You are?'

[8] Similarly elsewhere in the same author,

Give to Jehovah, O sons of gods, give to Jehovah glory and strength. Psalms 29:1.

In Moses,

They fell on their faces, and said, O God of gods (El elohe) of the spirits of all flesh. Numbers 16:22.

In David,

I said, You are gods (elohim), and sons of the Most High, all of you. Psalms 82:6; John 10:34.

Here they are called 'gods' from truths, for 'sons' means truths, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2628, 3373, 3704. In the same author,

Confess the God of gods (Elohe elohim), confess the Lord of lords. Psalms 136:2-3.

In Daniel,

The king will act according to his own pleasure, and will uplift himself, and exalt himself above every god (el), and will speak astonishing things above the God of gods (El elohim). Daniel 11:36.

These quotations show that in the proximate sense El elohe means God of gods, and that in the internal sense 'gods' is used in reference to truths which come from the Lord.

[9] The fact that the singular name El or God is used where the power which comes from Divine Truth is the subject, or what amounts to the same, from the Lord's Divine Spiritual, becomes clear from the following places: In Moses,

Let my hand be for God (El) to do you evil! Genesis 31:29.

And elsewhere,

Nor is there a hand for God (El). Deuteronomy 28:32.

And in Micah,

Let there be a hand for God (El). Micah 2:1.

'Let there be a hand for God' means, let there be power. For 'hand' means power, see 878, 3387, and 'hand' is used in reference to truth, 3091. In David,

I will set His hand in the sea, and His right hand in the rivers. He will cry to Me, You are My Father, My God (El), the Rock of My Salvation. Psalms 89:25-26.

This refers to power from truths. In the same author,

The wicked says in his heart, God (El) has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He never sees. Arise, O Jehovah God (El); lift up Your hand. For what reason does the wicked despise God (Elohim)? Psalms 10:11-13.

Here the meaning is similar.

[10] In the same author,

Jehovah is my rock (petra) and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God (El), my rock (rupes). Psalms 18:2.

This refers to power. In Isaiah, A residue will return, the residue of Jacob, to the God (El) of power. Isaiah 10:21.

In the same prophet,

To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given, the government upon His shoulder; He will call His name, Wonderful, Counsellor, God (El), the Powerful One, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6.

In the same prophet,

Behold the God (El) of my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for He is my strength. Isaiah 12:2.

In the same prophet,

I am God (El) even from today; I am He, and nobody delivers from My hand; I work, and who will reverse it? Isaiah 43:12-13.

This refers to power. In Jeremiah, Great and powerful God (El), whose name is Jehovah of hosts. Jeremiah 32:18.

In the second Book of Samuel,

With my God (El) I will leap over the wall. God (El) is perfect in His way; the word of Jehovah is pure. Who is God (El) besides Jehovah? Who is a rock besides our God (Elohim)? God (El) is the strength of my refuge. 2 Samuel 22:30-33.

In Moses,

God (El) is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not act? Or has He spoken, and will He not carry it out? He brought them out of Egypt; He has so to speak the strength of a unicorn. At that time it will be said to Jacob and to Israel, What has God (El) been doing? Numbers 23:19, 22-23.

This in the internal sense refers to power and to truth.

[11] And in the same author,

God (El) who brought him out of Egypt has as it were the strength of a unicorn. He will consume the nations, his enemies, and will break their bones, and smash their weapons. Numbers 24:8.

'Horns' and 'the strength of a unicorn' mean the power of truth that springs from good, see 2832. And there are many other places besides all these. Since most things in the Word also have a contrary sense, no less do 'god' and 'gods', names which are used when the subject is falsity and power from falsity, as in Ezekiel,

The gods (elim) of the mighty will speak to him in the midst of hell. Ezekiel 32:21.

In Isaiah,

You inflamed yourselves among the gods (elim) under every green tree. Isaiah 57:5.

Here the name 'gods' is used on account of falsities. Similar examples exist in other places.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. 'El Elohe Israel may be understood in two different ways - 'God, the God of Israel' or 'Israel's God of gods'. Most English versions of the Bible prefer the first of these (e.g. in Genesis 46:3; Deuteronomy 10:17).

2. literally, the searchings

3. literally, the strengths

  
/ 10837  
  

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