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Genesis 47

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1 And Joseph came and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brothers, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, have come out·​·of the land of Canaan; and behold they are in the land of Goshen.

2 And from a part* of his brothers he took five men, and placed them before Pharaoh.

3 And Pharaoh said to his brothers, What are your deeds? And they said to Pharaoh, Thy servants are a shepherd of the flock, both we and our fathers.

4 And they said to Pharaoh, To sojourn in the land have we come; for there is no pasture for the flock which belongs to thy servants; for the famine is heavy in the land of Canaan; and now, we pray, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.

5 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brothers have come to thee;

6 the land of Egypt, it is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and thy brothers dwell; let them dwell in the land of Goshen; and if thou knowest, and there·​·be among them, men of force, then set them as princes over the livestock that belong to me.

7 And Joseph brought Jacob his father, and stood him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, How·​·many are the days of the years of thy life?

9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my sojournings are thirty and a hundred years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojournings.

10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went·​·out from before Pharaoh.

11 And Joseph had his father and his brothers dwell, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

12 And Joseph sustained his father, and his brothers, and all the house of his father, with bread, according·​·to the mouth of the infant.

13 And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very heavy, and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan labored in the faces of the famine.

14 And Joseph collected all the silver that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the purchase which they purchased; and Joseph brought the silver to the house of Pharaoh.

15 And the silver was finished from the land of Egypt, and from the land of Canaan, and all Egypt came to Joseph, saying, Give us bread, for why should we die in·​·front·​·of thee for the silver is·​·gone?

16 And Joseph said, Give your livestock; and I will Give you for your livestock, if silver be·​·gone.

17 And they brought their livestock to Joseph; and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the livestock of the flock, and for the livestock of the herd, and for the donkeys; and he provided* them with bread in exchange for all their livestock in this year.

18 And when this year finished, they came to him in the second year, and said to him, We will not conceal from my lord that the silver is finished; and the livestock of the beast is to my lord; nothing is·​·left before my lord except our body and our ground.

19 Why should· we ·die before thine eyes, both we and our ground? buy us and our ground with bread, and we shall be, and our ground, servants to Pharaoh; and give seed, that we may live, and not die, and the ground be· not ·desolate.

20 And Joseph bought all the ground of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was strengthened upon them; and the land was Pharaoh’s.

21 And the people, he had them cross to the cities, from the edge of the border of Egypt even·​·to its other edge.

22 Only the ground of the priests bought he not; for a stated portion was for the priests from Pharaoh, and they ate their stated portion which Pharaoh had given to them; Therefore they sold not their ground.

23 And Joseph said to the people, Behold I have bought you this day and your ground for Pharaoh; behold here is seed for you, and you shall sow the ground.

24 And it shall be in the increase and you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts* shall be for you, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for those in your houses, and for food for your infants.

25 And they said, Thou hast made us live; let us find grace in the eyes of my lord, and we will be servants of Pharaoh.

26 And Joseph set it for a statute even·​·to this day, concerning the ground of Egypt, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the ground of the priests, theirs alone was not for Pharaoh.

27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they had· a ·possession in it, and were·​·fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.

28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; and it was that the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were seven years and forty and a hundred years.

29 And the days of Israel came·​·near to die; and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, If, I pray, I have found grace in thine eyes, set, I pray, thy hand under my thigh, and do mercy and truth with·​·me; bury me not, I pray, in Egypt.

30 And I will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out·​·of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place. And he said, I will do according·​·to thy word.

31 And he said, Promise to me; and he promised to him. Israel bowed· himself ·down on the head of the bed.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 2916

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2916. That 'give me possession of a grave among you' means that they were able to be regenerated is clear from the meaning of 'a grave'. In the internal sense of the Word 'a grave' means life, which is heaven, and in the contrary sense death, which is hell. The reason it means life or heaven is that angels, who possess the internal sense of the Word, have no other concept of a grave, because they have no other concept of death. Consequently instead of a grave they perceive nothing else than the continuation of life, and so resurrection. For man rises again as to the spirit and is buried as to the body, see 1854. Now because 'burial' means resurrection, it also means regeneration, since regeneration is the primary resurrection of man, for when regenerated he dies as regards his former self and rises again as regards the new. It is through regeneration that from being a dead man he becomes a living man, and it is from this that the meaning of 'a grave' is derived in the internal sense. When the idea of a grave presents itself the idea of regeneration comes to mind with angels, as is also evident from what has been told about young children in 2299.

[2] The reason 'a grave' in the contrary sense means death or hell is that the evil do not rise again to life but to death. When therefore the evil are referred to and a grave is mentioned, no other idea comes to mind with angels than that of hell; and this also is the reason why hell in the Word is called the grave.

[3] That 'a grave' means resurrection and also regeneration is evident in Ezekiel,

Therefore prophesy and say to them, Thus says the Lord Jehovih, Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people, and I will bring you to the land of Israel, and you will know that I am Jehovah when I open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people. And I will put My spirit within you and you will live, and I will place you on your own land. Ezekiel 37:12-14.

Here the prophet refers to bones that have been made to live, and in the internal sense to regeneration. Its being a reference to regeneration is quite evident, for it is said, 'when I will put My spirit within you and you will live, and I will place you on your own land'. Here 'graves' stands for the former self and its evils and falsities, while the opening of them and the coming up from them means being regenerated. Thus the idea of a grave perishes and so to speak is discarded when the idea of regeneration or new life enters instead.

[4] The description in Matthew 27:52-53, about graves being opened and many bodies of the saints who were sleeping being raised, coming out of their graves after the Lord's resurrection, entering the holy city, and appearing to many, embodies the same idea, that is to say, a resurrection taking place as a result of the Lord's resurrection, and in the inner sense every individual resurrection. The Lord's raising of Lazarus from the dead, John 11:1 and following verses, likewise embodies the re-establishment of the Church from among gentiles; for all the miracles that the Lord performed, because they were Divine, embodied the states of His Church. Something similar is also meant by the man who, having been cast into the grave of Elisha, came to life again on touching the prophet's bones, 2 Kings 13:20-21, for Elisha represented the Lord.

[5] As 'burial' meant resurrection in general and every individual resurrection, the ancients were therefore particularly concerned about their burials and about the places where they were to be buried - Abraham, for example, was to be buried in Hebron in the land of Canaan, as were Isaac and Jacob, together with their wives, Genesis 47:29-31; 49:30-32; Joseph's bones were to be carried up out of Egypt into the land of Canaan, Genesis 50:25; Exodus 13:19; Joshua 24:32; David and subsequent kings were to be buried in Zion, 1 Kings 2:10; 11:43; 14:31; 15:8, 24; 22:50; 2 Kings 8:24; 12:21; 14:20; 15:7, 38; 16:20, the reason being that the land of Canaan and also Zion represented and meant the Lord's kingdom, while burial meant resurrection. But it may become clear to anyone that the place itself does not contribute anything towards resurrection.

[6] The truth that 'burial' means resurrection to life is also evident from other representatives, such as the requirement that the wicked were not to be lamented or buried, but cast aside, Jeremiah 8:2; 14:16; 16:4, 6; 20:6; 22:19; 25:33; 2 Kings 9:10; Revelation 11:9; and that the wicked buried already were to be cast out of their graves, Jeremiah 8:1-2; 2 Kings 23:16-18. But as regards 'a grave' in the contrary sense meaning death or hell, see Isaiah 14:19-21; Ezekiel 32:21-23, 25-26; Psalms 88:4-5, 10-11; Numbers 19:16, 18-19.

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