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Genesis 44

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1 And he commanded him that was over his house, saying, Fill the men’s bags with food, as much they can bear, and put a man’s silver in his bag’s mouth.

2 And set my goblet, the silver goblet, in the bag’s mouth of the youngest, and the silver of his rations. And he did according·​·to the word of Joseph that he had spoken.

3 The morning gave·​·light, and the men were sent·​·away, they and their donkeys.

4 They were gone·​·out of the city, not yet far·​·away, and Joseph said to him who was over his house, Arise, pursue after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say to them, Why do you repay evil in·​·return·​·for good?

5 Is not this it in which my lord drinks, and in which foretelling he foretells? You have done·​·evil in what you have done.

6 And he overtook them, and he spoke to them these words.

7 And they said to him, Why does my lord speak according·​·to these words? Far·​·be·​·it from thy servants to do according·​·to this word.

8 Behold, the silver which we found in our bag’s mouth we returned to thee out ·of the land of Canaan; and how should we steal out ·of thy lord’s house silver or gold?

9 And with whomever of thy servants it be·​·found, let him die, and we also will be to my lord for servants.

10 And he said, Even now according·​·to your words so shall it be; he with whom it is found shall be to me a servant, and you shall be innocent.

11 And they hastened, and they made each·​·man his bag come·​·down to the earth, and opened each·​·man his bag.

12 And he searched; he began at the eldest, and completed at the youngest; and the goblet was found in the bag of Benjamin.

13 And they rent their raiment, and loaded up each man his donkey, and they returned to the city.

14 And Judah and his brothers came·​·into Joseph’s house, and he was yet there; and they fell before him to the earth.

15 And Joseph said to them, What is this deed that you have done? Knew you not that a man who is such·​·as I, foretelling foretells?

16 And Judah said, What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? And how shall we be justified? God has found out the iniquity of thy servants; behold, we are servants to my lord, both we, and he in whose hand the goblet was found.

17 And he said, Far·​·be·​·it from me to do this; the man in whose hand the goblet was found, he shall be a servant to me; and you, go· ye ·up in peace to your father.

18 And Judah approached him, and said, By·​·me*, my lord, I pray, let thy servant speak a word in the ears of my lord, and let not thine anger be·​·fierce against thy servant; for as Pharaoh, so art thou.

19 My lord asked his servants, saying, Have you a father, or a brother?

20 And we said to my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old·​·age, the youngest; and his brother is dead, and he alone remains of his mother, and his father loves him.

21 And thou saidst to thy servants, Make him come·​·down to me, and I will set my eye upon him.

22 And we said to my lord, The lad is· not ·able to leave his father; and should he leave his father, then he will die.

23 And thou saidst to thy servants, If your youngest brother come· not ·down with you, you shall not add to see my faces.

24 And it was, when we came·​·up to thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

25 And our father said, Return ye, purchase a·​·little food for us.

26 And we said, We are· not ·able to go·​·down; if our youngest brother is·​·there with us, then will we go·​·down; for we are· not ·able to see the face of the man, and our youngest brother be not with us.

27 And thy servant my father said to us, You know that my wife gave·​·birth·​·to two sons for me.

28 And the one went·​·out from me, and I said, Surely, being·​·torn he is·​·torn apart; and I have not seen him until now.

29 And you will take this also from my faces, and harm may befall him, and you will make my gray·​·hairs go·​·down in evil to the underworld.

30 And now, as I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us, and his soul is tied into his soul,

31 and it shall be when he sees that the lad is not, that he will·​·die; and thy servants will cause the gray·​·hairs of thy servant our father go·​·down in sorrow to the underworld.

32 For thy servant was·​·surety for the lad from being with my father, saying, If I bring him not back to thee I shall sin to my father all the days.

33 And now, I pray, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a servant to my lord, and let the lad go·​·up with his brothers.

34 For how shall I go·​·up to my father and the lad be not with me? Perhaps I shall see the evil that shall be found upon my father.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 5798

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5798. 'And do not let your anger burn against your servant' means lest he turn away. This is clear from the meaning of 'anger' as a turning away or aversion, dealt with in 5034; for one who is angry turns away. He does not think as the other person does; rather, in the state he is in, his thought is contrary to the other's. This meaning of 'anger' as a turning away is evident from many places in the Word, especially from those where anger or wrath, meaning a turning away, is attributed to Jehovah or the Lord. Not that Jehovah or the Lord ever turns away but that man does so; and when man turns away it appears to him as if the Lord does so since he is not heard. The Word speaks in keeping with the appearance. In addition, since 'anger' is a turning away, it is also a hostility towards what is good and true on the part of those who have turned away. On the part however of those who have not turned away 'anger' is not hostility but repugnance, because it is an aversion to what is evil and false.

[2] As regards 'anger' meaning hostility, this has been shown in 3614. It also means a turning away, and punishment too, when people are hostile towards what is good and true, as is evident from the following places: In Isaiah,

Woe to those decreeing decrees of iniquity. They will fall beneath the bound and beneath the slain; but in all this His anger will not be turned back. Woe to Asshur, the rod of My anger. Against a hypocritical nation I will send him, and against the people of [My] wrath I will command him. He does not think what is right and his heart does not consider what is right. Isaiah 10:1, 4-7.

'Anger' and 'wrath' stand for a turning away and hostility on man's side, a condition in which punishment and not being heard seem to him like anger. And as these exist on man's side, the words 'woe to those decreeing decrees of iniquity', 'he does not think what is right and his heart does not consider what is right' are used.

[3] In the same prophet,

Jehovah together with the vessels of His anger [comes] to destroy the whole land. Behold, the day of Jehovah 1 comes - cruel, with indignation, wrath, and anger - to make the earth a ruin, so that He may destroy its sinners from it. I will make heaven quake, and the earth will quake out of its place, at the wrath of Jehovah

Zebaoth and in the day of His fierce anger. Isaiah 13:5, 9, 13.

'Heaven' and 'the earth' here stand for the Church, which had turned away from truth and goodness. Because it had done this a description of the laying waste and destruction of it owing to the indignation, anger, and wrath of Jehovah appears here, though the truth of the matter is the complete opposite. That is to say, the person ruled by evil is the one who is filled with indignation, anger, and wrath, in addition to which he sets himself against what is good and true. The attribution to Jehovah of punishment which comes as a result of evil is due to the appearance. Various places elsewhere in the Word call the final period of the Church and its destruction 'the day of Jehovah's anger'.

[4] In the same prophet,

Jehovah has broken the rod of the wicked, the stick of those who have dominion. He will strike the peoples in a rage, with an incurable stroke, He who with anger rules the nations. Isaiah 14:5-6.

Much the same applies here. It is like a criminal punished by the law; he attributes the evil of a punishment to the king or judge, not to himself. In the same prophet,

Jacob and Israel, because these were unwilling to walk in Jehovah's ways and did not hear His law, He poured out upon him the wrath of His anger, and the violence of battle. Isaiah 42:24-25.

In Jeremiah,

I Myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, and in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation. Lest My fury go forth like fire, and burn and fail to be quenched because of the wickedness of your works.

Here 'fury', 'anger', and 'great indignation' are nothing other than the evils of a punishment because of a turning away from and a hostility towards what is good and true.

[5] It is in origin a Divine law that all evil carries punishment with it; and surprising though it may be, in, the next life evil and punishment are inseparable. For as soon as a hellish spirit does anything exceptionally bad other spirits, ones who administer punishments, become present and punish him without their having been alerted by anyone else. The fact that the evil of a punishment is caused by turning away is self-evident, for the expression 'because of the wickedness of your works' is used. In David,

He let loose on them the wrath of His anger, indignation, and rage, and distress, and a mission of evil angels. He opened a way for His anger, He did not spare their soul from death. Psalms 78:49-50.

See also Isaiah 30:27, 30; Isaiah 34:2; 47:3, 6; 54:8; 57:17; 63:6; 66:15; Jeremiah 4:8; 7:20; 15:14; 33:5; Ezekiel 5:13, 17; Deuteronomy 9:11-19; 29:20-24; Revelation 14:9-10; 15:7. In these places too 'wrath', 'anger', 'indignation', and 'rage' stand for a turning away, hostility, and consequent punishment.

[6] The reason why punishment due to a turning away and hostility is attributed to Jehovah or the Lord and is called anger, wrath, and rage residing with Him is that the nation descended from Jacob had to be confined solely to the external representatives of the Church. They could not be confined to these except through fear and dread of Jehovah and unless they had believed that in His anger and wrath He would do evil to them. People who are concerned solely with external things and nothing internal cannot be led in any other way to perform external observances, since no sense of obligation is present with them interiorly. This is also the situation with simple persons in the Church. The only idea they can grasp, based on the appearance, is that God is angry when someone does what is evil. Yet anyone may see, if he stops to reflect, that no anger at all, still less any rage, resides with Jehovah or the Lord, since He is mercy itself, is goodness itself, and is infinitely beyond wishing evil on anyone. Neither does a person possessing charity towards the neighbour do evil to anyone; and as this is true of every angel, how much more must it be true of the Lord Himself? But the situation in the next life is as follows: Because of the newcomers there the Lord is constantly reordering heaven and its communities, imparting bliss and happiness to them.

[7] But when that bliss and happiness passes into the communities opposite (for in the next life all the communities of heaven have communities opposite them in hell, which is what provides equilibrium) and those communities feel a change taking place from heaven's presence, they are filled with anger and wrath. They rush into doing evil and at the same time bring on themselves the evils of their punishment. Furthermore, when evil spirits or genii come near the light of heaven they start to experience pain and torment, 4225, 4226. This they attribute to heaven, and consequently to the Lord; but in actual fact they bring the torment on themselves since evil suffers torment whenever it comes near good. From all this it is evident that the Lord is the source of nothing but good and that all evil originates in those people themselves who turn away, stand in opposition, and attack. This arcanum enables one to see what the situation really is.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The Latin means Jehovah but the Hebrew means the day of Jehovah, which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse.

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