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Genesis 11

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1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter.

4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.

5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.

6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.

7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.

9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

10 These are the generations of Shem: Shem was an hundred years old, and begat Arphaxad two years after the flood:

11 And Shem lived after he begat Arphaxad five hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

12 And Arphaxad lived five and thirty years, and begat Salah:

13 And Arphaxad lived after he begat Salah four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

14 And Salah lived thirty years, and begat Eber:

15 And Salah lived after he begat Eber four hundred and three years, and begat sons and daughters.

16 And Eber lived four and thirty years, and begat Peleg:

17 And Eber lived after he begat Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begat sons and daughters.

18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begat Reu:

19 And Peleg lived after he begat Reu two hundred and nine years, and begat sons and daughters.

20 And Reu lived two and thirty years, and begat Serug:

21 And Reu lived after he begat Serug two hundred and seven years, and begat sons and daughters.

22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begat Nahor:

23 And Serug lived after he begat Nahor two hundred years, and begat sons and daughters.

24 And Nahor lived nine and twenty years, and begat Terah:

25 And Nahor lived after he begat Terah an hundred and nineteen years, and begat sons and daughters.

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 Now these are the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.

28 And Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.

29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.

30 But Sarai was barren; she had no child.

31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there.

32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 1366

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1366. And Haran died upon the faces of Terah his father, in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees. That this signifies that interior worship was blotted out and became merely idolatrous, is evident from the signification of “Haran,” of “Terah,” of “nativity,” and of “Ur of the Chaldees;” and also from its being said that he “died upon the faces of Terah his father.” As regards the fact that interior worship was blotted out, or that there came to be none, the case is this. The church cannot come forth anew among any nation until it has been so vastated that nothing of evil and falsity remains in its internal worship. So long as there is evil in its internal worship, the things that are good and true, which constitute its internal worship, are impeded; for so long as evils and falsities are present, goods and truths cannot be received. This may be seen from the fact that they who have been born in any heresy, and have so confirmed themselves in its falsities that they are entirely persuaded, can with difficulty, if ever, be brought to receive the truths which are contrary to their falsities. But with Gentiles who do not know what is the truth of faith, and yet live in charity, the case is different. This was the reason why the Lord’s church could not be restored among the Jews, but among Gentiles who had no knowledges of faith. The former, by their falsities, entirely darken and thus extinguish the light of truth; but the Gentiles not so much, for they do not know what is the truth of faith; and what they do not know they cannot darken and extinguish.

[2] As a new church was now to be restored, 1 those were taken to form it with whom goods and truths could be implanted, being those with whom all knowledge of the good and of the truth of faith had been blotted out, and who, like the Gentiles, had become external idolaters. As regards Terah and Abram, it has been shown above that they were of this character, that is to say, they worshiped other gods, and had no knowledge of Jehovah, nor consequently of what is the good and the truth of faith. They had thus become better fitted to receive the seed of truth than others in Syria among whom knowledges as yet remained. That they did remain with some is evident from Balaam, who was from Syria, and who not only worshiped Jehovah, but also offered sacrifice, and was at the same time a prophet. These therefore are the things contained in this verse, namely, that interior worship had been blotted out and had become merely idolatrous.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. As Swedenborg all through his theological Writings speaks of “restoring” (restaurare) and “renewing” (instaurare) a new church, he may have had a special reason for this seeming solecism. [REVISER.]

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