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Genesis 33

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1 And Jacob lifted·​·up his eyes, and saw, and behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he halved the children over to Leah, and over to Rachel, and over to the two handmaids.

2 And he set the handmaids and their children first, and Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph behind.

3 And he himself passed·​·on before them, and bowed· himself ·down to the earth seven times, until he approached, even·​·to his brother.

4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept.

5 And he lifted·​·up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, Who are these to thee? And he said, The children with whom God has graced thy servant.

6 And the handmaids approached, they and their children, and they bowed· themselves ·down.

7 And Leah also and her children approached, and they bowed· themselves ·down; and afterwards Joseph and Rachel approached, and bowed· themselves ·down.

8 And he said, Who to thee are all these camps whom I encounter? And he said, To find grace in the eyes of my lord.

9 And Esau said, I have much, my brother; be to thee what is to thee.

10 And Jacob said, No, I pray, if, I pray, I have found grace in thine eyes, then take my gift from my hand; for because that I have seen thy faces as seeing the faces of God, and thou hast been·​·well·​·pleased with me.

11 Take, I pray, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God has been·​·gracious·​·to me, and because I have all. And he urged him, and he took it.

12 And he said, Let us journey and go, and I will go in·​·front·​·of thee.

13 And he said to him, My lord knows that the children are tender, and that the flock and the herd with me are sucklings, and if they push· them ·on in one day, then all the flock will·​·die.

14 Let my lord, I pray, cross·​·over before his servant, and I will proceed* slowly as·​·to the foot steps of the work* that is before me, and to the foot steps of the children, until I come to my lord to Seir.

15 And Esau said, Let me now place with thee some from the people who are with me. And he said, Why is this? Let me find grace in the eyes of my lord.

16 And Esau returned in that day to his way, to Seir.

17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built for himself a house, and made shelters for his livestock; therefore he called the name of the place Succoth.

18 And Jacob came to Salem*, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, in his coming from Paddan-aram, and encamped to the faces of the city.

19 And he bought the part of the field, where he had stretched·​·out his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, Shechem’s father, for a hundred kesitah.

20 And he set·​·up there an altar, and he called it El-Elohe-Israel.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 2157

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2157. 'If now I have found grace in your eyes' means the respectful regard that became a feature of the Lord's state when He took notice of that perception. This becomes clear from the affection that produces the state of humility which these actual words imply and also those that follow immediately after, 'Do not, I beg of you, pass from over your servant', which also imply a state of humility. Within every individual part of the Word there are both affection and subject matter. Celestial angels perceive the Word as it exists in the internal sense as to the affection there, whereas spiritual angels perceive it as it exists in the internal sense as to the subject matter there. Those who perceive the Word in the internal sense as to the affection there do not pay any attention at all to the words, which are expressions of the subject matter, but instead form ideas for themselves from the affection and the consecutive details of that affection, and do so with endless variety. Here, for example, when they come to the words, 'If now I have found grace in your eyes, do not, I beg of you, pass from over your servant', they perceive the Lord's state of humiliation in the Human, yet only the affection that produces humility. From that affection - in a manner, variety, and profusion beyond words - they form celestial ideas for themselves which can hardly be called ideas. Rather they should be called so many 'lights' engendered by affections and perceptions - which follow one another in a continuous sequence according to the chain of affection that runs through the things present in the Word that is being read.

[2] From this it becomes clear that the perception, thought, and speech of celestial angels are more indescribable and far richer than the perception, thought, and speech of spiritual angels, the latter being limited to the subject matter, according with the sequence of expressions that are used. (That the nature of the speech of celestial angels is such, see Volume One, in 1647.) This explains why these words, 'If now I have found grace in your eyes', mean in the celestial sense the respectful regard that became a feature of the Lord's state when He took notice of that perception. What is more, 'finding grace in your eyes' was a customary phrase used in every expression of respect, as becomes clear from the respect offered by Laban to Jacob,

Laban said to him, If now I have found grace in your eyes. Genesis 30:27.

And from that offered by Jacob to Esau,

Jacob said, No, I beg of you; if now, I have found grace in your eyes. Genesis 33:10.

And similar examples occur elsewhere in the Word.

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