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Genesis 32

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1 2 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God came·​·upon him.

2 3 And Jacob said when he saw them, This is the camp of God; and he called the name of that place Mahanaim*.

3 4 And Jacob sent messengers before him, to Esau his brother to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.

4 5 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall you say to my lord Esau, Thus says thy servant Jacob: I have sojourned with Laban, and have delayed until now.

5 6 And I had ox and donkey, flock and manservant and handmaid; and I send to tell my lord, to find grace in thine eyes.

6 7 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to thy brother, to Esau, and he even walks to meet thee, and four hundred men with him.

7 8 And Jacob feared exceedingly, and was·​·distressed; and he halved the people that was with him, and the flock, and the herd, and the camels, into two camps.

8 9 And he said, If Esau come to the one camp and smite it, then there will be a camp left to escape.

9 10 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who says to me, Return to thy land, and to thy birth place, and I will do·​·well with thee;

10 11 I am·​·smaller than all the mercies and all the truth which Thou hast done with Thy servant; for with my stick I crossed·​·over this Jordan, and now I am in two camps.

11 12 Rescue me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear him, lest he come and smite me, the mother above the sons*.

12 13 And Thou saidst, Doing·​·well I will do·​·well with thee, and I will make* thy seed as the sand of the sea, which is not numbered for multitude.

13 14 And in that night he passed·​·the·​·night there, and he took of that which came into his hand a gift for Esau his brother:

14 15 two·​·hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two·​·hundred ewes and twenty rams;

15 16 the nursing camels and their young were thirty; forty she·​·calves and ten bullocks, twenty she·​·donkeys and ten colts.

16 17 And he gave into the hand of his servants each drove alone, and said to his servants, Pass·​·on before me, and put a space between drove and drove.

17 18 And he commanded the first, saying, When Esau my brother encounters thee, and asks thee, saying, Whose art thou? And whither goest thou? And whose are these before thee?

18 19 Then thou shalt say, Thy servant Jacob’s; this is a gift sent to my lord Esau, and behold, he also is behind us.

19 20 And he commanded also the second, also the third, also all that went after the droves, saying, According·​·to this word shall you speak to Esau, when you find him.

20 21 And you shall also say, Behold, thy servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will make·​·atonement to his faces with a gift·​·offering that goes before me, and afterwards I will see his faces; perhaps he will accept my faces.

21 22 And the gift·​·offering passed·​·on before him, and in that night he lodged in the camp.

22 23 And he rose·​·up in the night, and took his two women, and his two handmaids, and his eleven children, and crossed·​·over the fords of Jabbok.

23 24 And he took them, and caused them to cross·​·over the brook, and caused to pass what he had.

24 25 And Jacob remained alone, and a man wrestled with him until the dawn came·​·up.

25 26 And he saw that he prevailed not over him, and he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of the thigh of Jacob was disjointed in his wrestling with him.

26 27 And he said, Let· me ·go, for the dawn comes·​·up. And he said, I will not let· thee ·go, unless thou bless me.

27 28 And he said to him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob.

28 29 And he said, Thy name shall no more be said to be Jacob, but Israel; for as·​·a·​·prince thou hast contended with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

29 30 And Jacob asked and said, Tell, I pray, thy name. And he said, Why is this that thou dost ask as·​·to my name? And he blessed him there.

30 31 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel; for I have seen God faces to faces, and my soul is rescued.

31 32 And the sun rose to him as he crossed·​·over Penuel, and he limped upon his thigh.

32 33 Therefore the sons of Israel eat not the sinew of that which was displaced, which is on the hollow of the thigh, even·​·to this day, for he touched in the hollow of Jacob’s thigh the sinew of that which was displaced.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 4249

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4249. 'And Jacob was exceedingly afraid, and was distressed' means the state when it is being changed. This is clear from the fact that fear and distress are the first stage in temptations, and that they are precursors to the turning round or the change taking place within a state. The arcana which lie deeper still within these details - that is to say, Esau's coming to meet Jacob with four hundred men, and Jacob's consequent fear and distress - cannot be explained easily and intelligibly since they are rather more internal ones. Let just this one be brought forward here. When good takes up the first position and subordinates truths to itself, as happens when a person undergoes spiritual temptations, the good which flows in from the interior is accompanied by very many truths which have been stored away in the person's interior man. Those truths cannot come into focus and be seen by him until good is playing the leading role, for when this happens the natural starts to receive light from good, and it is apparent to him which things in the natural agree and which ones do not. And this is what gives rise to the fear and distress that are the precursors to spiritual temptation. For spiritual temptation acts upon the conscience, which is an attribute of the interior man, and therefore when entering such temptation a person does not know the origin of his fear and distress. But the angels present with him know it full well. Indeed temptation has its origin in angels' maintenance of the person in goods and truths, while evil spirits maintain him in evils and falsities.

[2] The things that occur among the spirits and angels present with a person are perceived by him purely as things going on within himself. For while he lives in the body and does not believe that everything within him flows in from somewhere other than himself, he imagines that the causes of the things that go on within him do not lie outside himself but that all causes lie within him and are his own - which is not in fact the case. For whatever a person thinks and what he wills, that is, all his thought and all his affection, originate either in hell or in heaven. When he thinks and wills anything evil and as a consequence takes delight in falsities, let him realize that his thoughts and affections originate in hell; but when he thinks and wills anything good and as a consequence takes delight in truths, let him realize that these originate in heaven, that is, in the Lord by way of heaven. But the person's thoughts and affections more often than not take on a different outward appearance. A conflict between evil spirits and angels, for example, arising from the things in one who is to be regenerated, takes on the different outward appearance of fear and distress, and of temptation.

[3] These matters are bound to seem paradoxes to man, for almost every member of the Church at the present day believes that all the truth he thinks, and the good he wills and does, originate in himself, even though he says something other than that when speaking from doctrine taught by faith. Indeed his nature is such that if anyone told him that spirits from hell exist who flow into his thought and will when he thinks and wills anything evil, and angels from heaven when he thinks and wills anything good, he would be dumbfounded at anyone putting forward such an idea, for he would say that he can feel the life within himself and that he thinks from himself and wills from himself. His belief is based on that feeling and not on what doctrine teaches. Yet that doctrine is true and such feeling deceptive. This I have been allowed to know from almost uninterrupted experience lasting several years now, and to know it in such a way as to leave me in no doubt whatsoever.

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