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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 # 4295

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4295. 'And Jacob asked and said, Tell me, I pray, your name' means the angelic heaven and the nature of that heaven. This becomes clear from the representation of Jacob' as the Lord's Divine Natural, dealt with already, and from the meaning of 'God' whose name he asked for, and also of 'men', with whom he contended as a prince and prevailed, as truths and goods, and so as those who are governed by truths and goods, dealt with above in 4287. And since the angelic heaven is heaven by virtue of truths and goods it is that heaven specifically which is meant by God and men with whom the Lord prevailed. Angels are also sometimes called 'gods' in the Word, it being by virtue of truths and goods that they are called such, as in David,

God stands in the assembly of God, in the midst of the gods will He judge. I said, You are gods, and sons of the Most High, all of you. Psalms 82:1, 6.

Here it is quite plain that 'the assembly of God' and 'the gods' are the angelic heaven. In the same author,

Who in the sky will be compared to Jehovah? Who will be likened to Jehovah among the sons of gods? Psalms 89:6.

In the same author,

Confess the God of gods; confess the Lord of lords Psalms 136:2-3.

From these quotations it is evident - as it is also from the fact that no one can contend as a prince with God and prevail, and likewise from the fact that the one who is called a god was unwilling to reveal his name - that it was the angelic heaven with which the Lord fought. It is quite plain from the actual words themselves 'Why is it that you ask my name?' that an arcanum lies within them, for if he had been Jehovah God he would not have concealed his name. Nor would Jacob have asked 'What is your name?' for asking the name implies some person or persons other than God Himself.

[2] The truth that the Lord at length fought with actual angels, indeed with the whole angelic heaven, is an arcanum which has not been disclosed up to now. But the implications of this are as follows: Angels do indeed possess supreme wisdom and intelligence, yet all their wisdom and intelligence comes to them from the Lord's Divine. They have no wisdom or intelligence at all that originates in themselves, that is, in their proprium. Therefore it is only insofar as they are governed by truths and goods received from the Lord's Divine that they are wise and intelligent. The fact that angels have no wisdom or intelligence at all originating in themselves they themselves openly confess. Indeed they are also quite angry if anyone attributes to them any wisdom or intelligence at all, for they know and perceive that it would be taking away from the Divine that which is His and it would be claiming for themselves that which is not theirs, and so would be engaging in the crime of spiritual theft. Angels also say that their entire proprium consists in evil and falsity, both because of their heredity and also because of their own conduct in the world when they were men, 1880. Nor, they say, is evil or falsity separated - that is, wiped away - from them, whereby they are made righteous; rather, the whole of it remains with them, though the Lord withholds them from that evil and falsity and keeps them in good and truth, 1581. These things are confessed by every angel, and no one is allowed into heaven if he does not know and believe them. For otherwise they cannot dwell in the light of wisdom and intelligence coming from the Lord, nor consequently in good and truth. From this one can also know how the words in Job 15:15 stating that heaven is not pure in the eyes of God are to be understood.

[3] This being so, in order that the Lord might bring the whole of heaven into proper heavenly order, He even allowed angels into Himself to tempt Him, who, insofar as they acted from their proprium, did not do so from good and truth. These temptations are the inmost of all, for they go to work solely on the ends one has in view and with a subtlety such as can by no means be detected. But insofar as angels do not act from their proprium they act from good and truth and are unable to tempt anyone. What is more, angels are being perfected constantly by the Lord, and yet their perfection cannot ever reach the point when their wisdom and intelligence can be compared with the Lord's Divine wisdom and intelligence, since they are finite whereas the Lord is Infinite, and no comparison of finite with Infinite is possible. From all this one may now see what 'God with whom Jacob contended as a prince' is used to mean, and also why he was unwilling to reveal his name.

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