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Genesis 41

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1 And it was, from the end of two·​·years of days, and Pharaoh dreamed, and behold, he stood by the river.

2 And behold, from the river there came·​·up seven cows, beautiful in appearance and nourished in flesh; and they pastured in the sedge.

3 And behold, seven other cows came·​·up after them out·​·of the river, evil of appearance and thin in flesh, and stood beside the cows upon the lip of the river.

4 And the cows, bad of appearance and thin in flesh, did eat up the seven cows, beautiful of appearance and nourished. And Pharaoh awoke.

5 And he slept and dreamed a second time, and behold, seven ears of grain came·​·up upon one reed, nourished and good.

6 And behold, seven ears thin and scorched by the east·​·wind grew after them.

7 And the thin ears swallowed·​·up the seven nourished and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

8 And it was, in the morning, and his spirit was disquieted; and he sent and called all the magicians of Egypt, and all her wise men; and Pharaoh told· them ·of his dream; and no·​·one interpreted these things to Pharaoh.

9 And spoke the prince of the cupbearers with Pharaoh, saying, I do remember my sins today.

10 Pharaoh was·​·enraged against his servants, and put me under guard in the house of the prince of the guards, me and the prince of the bakers;

11 and we dreamed a dream in one night, I and he; we dreamed a man according·​·to the interpretation of his dream.

12 And there was with us there a Hebrew lad, servant to the prince of the guards; and we recounted to him, and he interpreted to us our dreams; to a man according·​·to his dream he did interpret.

13 And it was, as he interpreted to us, so it was; me he returned to my position, and him he hanged.

14 And Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they hurried him* from the pit; and he trimmed his hair, and changed his raiment, and came to Pharaoh.

15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is no interpreter of it; and I have heard concerning thee, saying, thou hearest a dream to interpret it.

16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, Not to me; God shall answer peace to Pharaoh.

17 And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, In my dream behold, I stood on the lip of the river;

18 and behold, from the river there came·​·up seven cows, nourished in flesh and beautiful of form; and they pastured in the sedge.

19 and behold, seven other cows came·​·up afterwards, poor and very bad in form, and slender in flesh; they were as I have not seen in all the land of Egypt for badness;

20 and the slender and bad cows did eat·​·up the first seven nourished cows;

21 and they came·​·in to their inward·​·parts, and it was not known that they had come·​·in to their inward·​·parts; and their appearance was bad, as in the beginning. And I awoke.

22 And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears came·​·up upon one reed, full and good;

23 and behold, seven ears, shriveled, thin, and scorched by the east·​·wind, grew up after them;

24 and the thin ears swallowed·​·up the seven good ears; and I say it to the magicians; and no·​·one tells it to me.

25 And Joseph said to Pharaoh, The dream of Pharaoh, it is one; what God is doing He has told to Pharaoh.

26 The seven good cows, they are seven years, and the seven good ears, they are seven years; the dream, it is one.

27 And the seven slender and evil cows that came·​·up after them, they are seven years, and the seven empty ears scorched with the east·​·wind shall be seven years of famine.

28 This is the word*, that I spoke to Pharaoh; what God does He has caused Pharaoh to see.

29 Behold, there come seven years of great plenty in all the land of Egypt;

30 and there shall arise after them seven years of famine; and all the plenty shall be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine shall consume·​·all the land;

31 and the plenty shall not ·be known in the land from the faces of that famine after it, for it shall be very heavy.

32 And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh two·​·times, for the word is established by God, and God is hastening to do it.

33 And now let Pharaoh see a man with understanding and wisdom, and put him over the land of Egypt.

34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take the fifth of the land of Egypt in the seven years of plenty.

35 And let them bring·​·together all the food of those good years that come, and pile·​·up grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them guard it.

36 And the food shall be for a deposit for the land for the seven years of the famine that shall be in the land of Egypt; and the land shall not be cut·​·off in the famine.

37 And the word was·​·good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants.

38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, Shall we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God?

39 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Since God has caused thee to know all this, there is no·​·one so with understanding and wisdom as thou.

40 Thou shalt be over my house, and upon thy mouth shall all my people kiss; only in the throne will I be·​·greater than thou.

41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have put thee over all the land of Egypt.

42 And Pharaoh removed his ring from upon his hand, and put it upon the hand of Joseph, and clothed him in garments of fine·​·linen, and set a necklace of gold upon his neck;

43 and he had him ride in the second chariot that he had; and they proclaimed before him, Abrech*; and he put him over all the land of Egypt.

44 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and besides thee shall no man lift·​·high his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.

45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneach; and he gave him Asenath the daughter of Potiphera priest of On for a woman; and Joseph went·​·out over the land of Egypt.

46 And Joseph was a son of thirty years when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went·​·out from before Pharaoh, and passed into all the land of Egypt.

47 And the land made a gathering* by handfuls in the seven years of plenty.

48 And he brought·​·together all the food of the seven years that were in the land of Egypt, and put the food in cities; the food of the field of the city, that which was all around her, he put in the midst of her.

49 And Joseph piled·​·up grain as the sand of the sea, multiplying it exceedingly, until he stopped numbering, for it had no number.

50 And to Joseph was·​·born* two sons before the year of famine came, to whom Asenath the daughter of Potiphera priest of On gave·​·birth for him.

51 And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh; For God has made me forget all my labor, and all the house of my father.

52 And the name of the second called he Ephraim; For God has made· me ·fruitful in the land of my affliction.

53 And the seven years of plenty, which was in the land of Egypt, were completed.

54 And the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said; and there was famine in all the lands; and in all the land of Egypt there was bread.

55 And all the land of Egypt was·​·hungry, and the people cried to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all Egypt, Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do.

56 And the famine was on all the faces of the land; and Joseph opened all that was in them*, and rationed to Egypt; and the famine held·​·firm in the land of Egypt.

57 And all the land came to Egypt to purchase, to Joseph; for the famine held·​·firm in all the land.

   


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

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Apocalypse Explained # 655

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655. Where also our Lord was crucified, signifies by which, namely, by the evils and the falsities therefrom springing from infernal love, He was rejected and condemned. This is evident from this, that evils themselves and their falsities springing from infernal love are what reject and condemn the Lord. These evils and the falsities thence are signified by "Sodom and Egypt," therefore it is said of the city Jerusalem that it is thus "called spiritually," for "to be called spiritually Sodom and Egypt" signifies evil itself, and the falsity therefrom.

[2] The hells are divided into two kingdoms, over against the two kingdoms in the heavens; the kingdom over against the celestial kingdom is at the back, and those who are in it are called genii; this kingdom is what is meant in the Word by "devil;" but the kingdom that is over against the spiritual kingdom is in front, and those who are in it are called evil spirits; this kingdom is what is meant in the Word by "Satan." These hells, or these two kingdoms into which the hells are divided, are meant by "Sodom and Egypt." Whether it is said evils and the falsities therefrom, or these hells, it is the same, since from these all evils and all falsities therefrom ascend.

[3] That the Jews who were at Jerusalem crucified the Lord means that He was crucified by the evils and falsities therefrom which they loved; for all things recorded in the Word respecting the Lord's passion represented the perverted state of the church with that nation. For although they accounted the Word holy, yet by their traditions they perverted all things therein until there was no longer any Divine good or truth remaining with them, and when Divine good and Divine truth, which are in the Word, no longer remain, evils and falsities from infernal love succeed in their place, and these are what crucify the Lord. (That such things are signified by the Lord's passion may be seen above, n. 83, 195, 627. That the Lord is said "to be slain" signifies that he was rejected and denied, see above, n. 328; and that the Jews were such, see above, n. 122, 433, 619; and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n.248.)

[4] As it is here said "where our Lord was crucified," it shall be told what "crucifixion" (or hanging upon wood) signified with the Jews. They had two modes of capital punishment, crucifixion and stoning; and "crucifixion" signified a condemnation and curse because of the destruction of good in the church, and "stoning" signified a condemnation and curse because of the destruction of truth in the church. "Crucifixion" signified a condemnation and curse because of the destruction of good in the church, for the reason that "wood," upon which they were hung, signified good, and in the contrary sense evil, both pertaining to the will; and "stoning" signified a condemnation and curse because of the destruction of truth in the church, for the reason that "the stone," with which they were stoned, signified truth, and in the contrary sense falsity, both pertaining to the understanding; for all things instituted with the Israelitish and Jewish nation were representative, and thence significative. (That "wood" signifies good, and in the contrary sense evil, and that a "stone" signifies truth, and in the contrary sense falsity, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 643[1-4], 3720, 8354.) But as it has not been known heretofore why the Jews and Israelites had the punishment of the cross and the punishment of stoning, and it is important that it should be known, I will cite some confirmations from the Word to show that these two punishments were representative.

[5] That "hanging upon wood" or "crucifixion" was inflicted because of the destruction of good in the church, and that it thus represented the evil of infernal love, whence arises a condemnation and curse, can be seen from the following passages. In Moses:

If there be a stubborn and rebellious son, obeying not the voice of his father or mother, all the men of the city shall stone him with stones that he may die. And if there be in a man a crime and judgment of death, and he be put to death, thou shalt hang him upon wood; his carcass shall not remain overnight upon the wood, but burying thou shalt bury him the same day; for he that is hanged is a curse of God, and thou shalt not defile thy land (Deuteronomy 21:18, 20-23).

"Not obeying the voice of father or mother" signifies in the spiritual sense to live contrary to the precepts and truths of the church, therefore the penalty for it was stoning; "the men of the city who were to stone him" signify those who are in the doctrine of the church, "city" signifying doctrine. "If there be in a man a crime, a judgment of death, thou shalt hang him upon wood" signifies if one has done evil against the good of the Word and of the church; because this was a capital crime he was to be hung upon wood, for in the Word "wood" signifies good, and in the contrary sense evil; "his carcass shall not remain overnight upon the wood, but thou shalt bury him the same day," signifies lest there be a representative of eternal damnation; "thou shalt not defile thy land" signifies that this would be a cause of offense to the church.

[6] In Lamentations:

Our skins are become black like an oven because of the tempests of famine; they ravished the women in Zion, the virgins in the cities of Judah; their princes were hanged up by the hand, the faces of the elders are not honored, the young men they have led away to grind, and the boys stumble under the wood (Lamentations 5:10-13).

"Zion" means the celestial church, which is in the good of love to the Lord, which church the Jewish nation represented; "the virgins in the cities of Judah" signify the affections of truth from the good of love; "their princes were hanged up by the hand" signifies that truths from good were destroyed by falsities from evil; "the faces of the elders that were not honored" signify the goods of wisdom; "the young men who were led away to grind" signify the truths from good, "to grind" signifying to acquire falsities and to confirm them from the Word; "the boys stumble under the wood" signifies newborn goods perishing through evils.

[7] A "baker" as also "bread" signifies the good of love, and a "butler" as also "wine," the truth of doctrine, therefore:

The baker was hanged on account of his crime against king Pharaoh (Genesis 40:19-22; 41:13).

This may be seen explained in the Arcana Coelestia 5139-5169). Because "Moab" means those who adulterate the goods of the church, and "Baal-peor" signifies the adulteration of good, it came to pass that:

All the chiefs of the people were hung up before the sun, because the people committed whoredom with the daughters of Moab and bowed themselves down to their gods, and joined themselves to Baal-peor (Numbers 25:1-4).

"To commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab" signifies to adulterate the goods of the church; and "to be hung up before the sun" signifies a condemnation and curse because of the destruction of the good of the church.

[8] Because "Ai" signifies the knowledges of good, and in the contrary sense the confirmations of evil:

The king of Ai was hanged on wood, and afterwards thrown down at the entrance of the gate of the city, and the city itself was burned (Joshua 8:26-29).

And because "the five kings of the Amorites" signified evils and falsities therefrom destroying the goods and truths of the church,

Those kings were hanged by Joshua, and afterwards cast into the cave of Makkedah (Joshua 10:26, 27);

"the cave of Makkedah" signifying direful falsity from evil.

[9] Again, "to be hung upon wood or to be crucified" signifies the punishment of evil that destroys the good of the church, in Matthew:

Jesus said, I send unto you prophets, wise men, and scribes; and some of them shall ye kill, crucify, and scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city (Matthew 23:34).

All things the Lord spoke He spoke from the Divine, but the Divine things from which he spoke fell into the ideas of natural thought and consequent expressions according to correspondences, like these here and elsewhere in the Gospels; and as all the words have a spiritual sense, so in that sense prophets, wise men, and scribes, are not here meant, but instead of them the truth and good of doctrine and of the Word; for spiritual thought and speech therefrom, like that of angels, is without the idea of person; so a "prophet" signifies the truth of doctrine, "wise men" the good of doctrine, and "scribes" the Word from which is doctrine; from this it follows that "to kill" has reference to the truth of the doctrine of the church, which is meant by a "prophet;" "to crucify" has reference to the good of doctrine, which is meant by "a wise man," and "to scourge" has reference to the Word, which is meant by a "scribe;" thus "to kill" signifies to extinguish, "to crucify" to destroy, and "to scourge" to pervert. That they will wander from one falsity of doctrine into another is signified by "persecuting them from city to city," "city" signifying doctrine. This is the spiritual sense of these words.

[10] In the same:

Jesus said to the disciples that He must suffer at Jerusalem, and that the Son of man shall be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they shall condemn Him, and deliver Him up to the Gentiles to be mocked, to be scourged, and to be crucified; and the third day He shall rise again (Matthew 20:18, 19; Mark 10:32-34).

The spiritual sense of these words is that Divine truth, in the church where mere falsities of doctrine and evils of life reign, shall be blasphemed, its truth shall be perverted, and its good destroyed. "The Son of man" signifies Divine truth, which is the Word, and "Jerusalem" signifies the church where mere falsities and evils reign; "the chief priests and scribes" signify the adulterations of good and the falsifications of truth, both from infernal love; "to condemn Him and deliver Him to the Gentiles" signifies to assign Divine truth and Divine good to hell and to deliver them to the evils and falsities that are from hell, the "Gentiles" signifying the evils that are from hell and that destroy the goods of the church; "to be mocked, to be scourged, and to be crucified," signifies to blaspheme, falsify and pervert the truth, and to adulterate and destroy the good of the church and of the Word (as above); "and the third day He shall rise again" signifies the complete glorification of the Lord's Human.

[11] From this it can be seen what is signified in the spiritual sense by the Lord's crucifixion, also what is signified by the various mockings then connected with it, as that "they put a crown of thorns on His head," that "they smote Him with a reed," and also that "they spat in His face," with many other things related in the Gospels, this signifying that the Jewish nation treated Divine truth and good itself, which was the Lord, in a like heinous manner; for the Lord suffered the heinous state of that church to be represented in Himself; and this was also signified by:

His bearing their iniquities (Isaiah 53:11).

For it was a common thing for a prophet to take upon himself a representation of the heinous things of the church; thus the prophet Isaiah was commanded to go naked and barefoot three years, to represent the church as destitute of good and truth (Isaiah 20:3, 4); the prophet Ezekiel, bound in cords, laid siege to a tile on which Jerusalem was depicted, and ate a cake of barley made with the dung of an ox, to represent that the truth and good of the church was thus besieged by falsities and polluted by evils (Ezekiel 4:1-13); the prophet Hosea was commanded to take a harlot to himself for a woman, and children of whoredoms, to represent what the quality of the church was at that time (Hosea 1:1-11); with other like things. That this was "bearing the iniquities of the house of Israel" or the church is plainly declared in Ezekiel 4:5, 6. From this it can be seen that all things recorded concerning the passion of the Lord were representative of the state of the church at that time with the Jewish nation.

[12] Thus much respecting the punishment of "hanging upon wood or crucifixion." This is not the place to confirm from the Word that the other punishment, which was "stoning," signified a condemnation and curse because of the destroyed truth of the church, but it can be seen from the passages where "stoning" is mentioned (as in Exodus 21:28-33; Leviticus 24:10-17, 23; Numbers 15:32-37; Deuteronomy 13:10; 17:5-7; 22:20, 21, 24; Ezekiel 16:39-41; 23:45-47; Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34; 20:6; John 8:7; 10:31, 32; and elsewhere).

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.