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Genesis 37

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1 And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.

2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.

6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:

7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.

8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

12 And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.

13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.

14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?

16 And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.

17 And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.

18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.

19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.

20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.

22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;

24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.

25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.

26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?

27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.

28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.

30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?

31 And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;

32 And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.

33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.

34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 4689

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4689. 'And bowed down to my sheaf' means worship. This is clear from the meaning of 'bowing down' as the expression of humility, dealt with in 2153, and therefore as worship; and from the meaning of 'Joseph's sheaf' here as the teaching concerning the Lord's Divine Human, dealt with in 4687, and so means the Divine Human which those in the more internal part of the Church worshipped. But those who are more external, that is, the adherents to faith separated from charity, do anything but worship it. Faith separated from charity leads to this lack of worship because, as stated above, the Lord is present within charity but not within faith except through charity, for charity is the means by which a joining together is effected. What is truth without good, and what is the understanding without the will? So what can faith be without charity, or what can confidence be without the essence of it?

[2] The fact that adherents to faith separated from charity do anything but worship the Lord's Divine Human has been proved to me quite clearly from this kind of people entering the next life from the Christian world, many of whom I have spoken to. For in that life it is not their lips that speak, as in the world, but people's hearts. Everyone's thoughts there are communicated far more perfectly than by the use of any speech in the world; nor are those there allowed to say anything other than what they think, and so what they believe. Many of those who have also preached the Lord in the world deny Him altogether in the next life. If one asks what end or purpose they had in view when they preached Him and also worshipped Him outwardly with reverence, one learns that they did so because the office they held required them to do so and because they thereby acquired important positions and wealth. And those who did not preach Him but did nevertheless confess Him did so because they were born inside the Church and would have earned themselves a bad reputation if they had spoken out against religion. Not a single person from the Christian world knows that the Lord's Human is Divine, and scarcely any that He alone rules heaven and the whole world, let alone that His Divine Human is the all in heaven. The truth of this could not have been plainly revealed because the Lord foresaw that the Christian Church would turn aside from charity to faith, thereby separating itself from Him, and so would not only cast aside but would also profane the holiness proceeding from His Divine Human. For faith separated from charity cannot do anything other than this.

[3] Faith is clearly separated from charity at the present day. For doctrinal reasons one Church separates itself from another, and any individual who believes something different from what official doctrine teaches is excommunicated and also vilified. But anyone who acts like a robber, mercilessly depriving others of their goods, provided he does not do so openly, or who practices deceit against his neighbour, or infects the works of charity with dishonour, or commits adultery, is for all that called a Christian, provided that he attends church services and utters what doctrine teaches. From this it is evident that at the present day doctrine constitutes the Church, not life, and that the fruits which people link with faith reside merely in doctrine and have no place at all in their minds.

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