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സംഖ്യാപുസ്തകം 3:48

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48 അവരുടെ എണ്ണത്തെ കവിയുന്നവരുടെ വീണ്ടെടുപ്പുവില അഹരോന്നും അവന്റെ മക്കള്‍ക്കും കൊടുക്കേണം.

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Arcana Coelestia # 10287

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10287. 'And he who puts any of it on a foreigner' means a joining together for those who do not acknowledge the Lord, and so who are subject to evils and to the falsities of evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'putting it on someone' - when the subject is Divine Truths, meant by the sweet-smelling ointment - as a joining together; and from the meaning of 'a foreigner' as those who do not belong to the Church, thus those who do not acknowledge the Lord, consequently who are subject to evils and falsities. Anyone who does not acknowledge the Lord does not belong to the Church; and anyone who rejects the Lord is subject to evils and falsities. For goodness and truth come from no other source than Him. The fact that such people are meant by 'foreigners' will be clear from the places in the Word which will follow below. But first something must be stated regarding the joining of Divine Truth among those who do not acknowledge the Lord. Such a joining together constitutes profanation, for profanation is a joining of Divine Truth to falsities arising from evil. The joining together that constitutes profanation is something which cannot happen with any at all except those who have first acknowledged the things which are the Church's, and especially the Lord, but subsequently reject them. For acknowledgement of the Church's truths and of the Lord leads to contact with the heavens, and consequently to an opening of a person's interiors towards heaven; and a subsequent rejection of them leads to a joining of the same truths to falsities arising from evil. For everything a person acknowledges remains implanted in him; nothing present with a person which has entered through acknowledgement is destroyed.

[2] The state of a person with whom profanation exists is one in which he is in contact with the heavens and at the same time with the hells, through truths with the heavens and through the falsities of evil with the hells. As a result of this, in the next life a tearing apart takes place with such people, which destroys the whole of their inner life. After the tearing apart they hardly look like human beings any longer; they look like bones that have been scorched and have little life in them. See what has been stated and shown previously regarding profanation in the following places,

Profaners are those who have first acknowledged God's truths but subsequently reject them, 1001, 1010, 1059, 2051, 3398, 4289, 4601, 6348, 6959, 6963, 6971, 8394.

People who have rejected them since early childhood, such as Jews and others, are not profaners, 593, 1001, 1010, 1059, 3398, 3489, 6963.

The Lord takes the greatest care to guard against the occurrence of profanation with a person, 301-303, 1327, 1328, 2426, 3398, 3402, 3489, 6595.

[3] But it should be realized that the genera of profanation are very many, and the species composing those genera are very many. For there are those who profane the Church's forms of good and those who profane its truths; there are those who profane greatly and those who profane slightly; there are those who profane on a more internal level and those who profane on increasingly external levels; there are those who profane through belief contrary to the Church's truths and forms of good, there are those who profane through the life they lead, and those who profane through their worship. Consequently there exist very many hells of profaners, which are distinct and separate from one another, in accord with their different kinds of profanation. The hells of those who profane good are behind one's back, whereas the hells of profanation of truth are underfoot and to the sides. They are deeper than the hells of all other evils and are rarely opened.

[4] Those who do not acknowledge the Lord and refuse to do so, whether they are outside the Church or inside it, thus those who are subject to evils and to the falsities of evil, are meant by 'foreigners'; and in the abstract sense, without reference to actual persons, evils and the falsities of evil are meant. This is clear from very many places in the Word. The reason for saying 'those who do not acknowledge the Lord, thus those who are subject to evils and the falsities of evil' is that people who do not acknowledge the Lord are inevitably subject to evils and the falsities of evil; for the Lord is the source of all good and of all the truth of good. Those therefore who reject the Lord are subject to evils and the falsities of evil, as accords with the Lord's words in John,

Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8:24.

[5] The fact that such people are meant by 'foreigners' is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Your land will be a lonely place, your cities have been burned with fire; foreigners will devour your ground before you, and it will be a lonely place, as if overturned by foreigners 1 . Isaiah 1:7.

Here land should not be understood by 'land', nor cities and ground by 'cities' and 'ground'. Instead the Church should be understood by 'land' and likewise by 'ground', and by 'cities' the Church's truths, called its doctrinal teachings, which are said to have been 'burned with fire' when they have been destroyed by the evils of self-love and love of the world. From this it is evident what is meant by 'foreigners will devour your ground', namely evils and the falsities of evil destroying the Church, and by 'your land will be a lonely place' and 'your cities have been burned with fire'.

'Land' or earth means the Church, see in the places referred to in 9325, and 'ground' likewise, 566, 1068.

'Cities' are the Church's doctrinal teachings, thus its truths, 2268, 2451, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493.

'Fire' means the evil of self-love and love of the world, 1297, 1861, 2446, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7575, 9141.

[6] In Jeremiah,

Shame covered our faces when foreigners came against the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house. Jeremiah 51:51.

'Foreigners coming against the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house' are evils and the falsities of evil that go against the Church's truths and forms of good. The word 'foreigners' was used to mean members of the gentile nations who were slaves in the Jewish Church, and the gentile nations of that land also mean evil and falsities, 9320. In the same prophet,

You say, There is no hope, no; but I will love foreigners, and after them I will go. Jeremiah 2:25.

'Loving foreigners and going after them' means loving evils and the falsities of evil, and worshipping them.

[7] In Ezekiel,

I will bring a sword upon you, and will give you into the hand of foreigners. Ezekiel 11:8-9.

'Bringing a sword upon' means falsities arising from evil set in conflict against truths springing from good. 'Giving into the hand of foreigners' means to the end that they may believe and serve those falsities. For the meaning of 'a sword' as truth engaged in conflict against falsities, and in the contrary sense falsity engaged in conflict against truths, see 2799, 6353, 7102, 8294.

[8] In the same prophet,

You will die the deaths of the uncircumcised in the hand of foreigners. Ezekiel 28:10.

'The uncircumcised' are those who, for all the religious teachings they know, lead lives steeped in foul loves and the desires that go with them, 2049, 3412, 3413, 4462, 7045, 7225, the death they die being spiritual death. 'In the hand of foreigners' means subject to evils themselves and the falsities of evil.

[9] In the same prophet,

Jerusalem, an adulterous woman, takes foreigners instead of her husband. Ezekiel 16:32.

'Jerusalem, an adulterous woman' stands for the Church in which good has been adulterated; 'taking foreigners' stands for its acceptance, in life and doctrine, of evils and the falsities of evil. In Joel,

Jerusalem will be holy, and foreigners will not pass through her any longer. Joel 3:17.

Here also 'Jerusalem' stands for the Church, but one in which people acknowledge the Lord, lead good lives, and believe truths coming from the Lord. 'Foreigners will not pass through her any longer' means that evils and the falsities of evil coming from hell will not enter it.

[10] In David,

Foreigners have risen up against me, and violent ones have sought my soul. Psalms 54:3.

Here also 'foreigners' stands for evils and the falsities of evil, and 'violent ones' for these same evils and falsities acting violently against forms of good and truths. Those who see solely the literal sense of the Word take 'foreigners' to mean nothing more than those outside the Church who were rising up against David. But no ideas of actual persons enter the thinking of those in heaven, only the realities meant by them, 8343, 8985, 9007, so that they think not of people but things that are foreign or alien, that is, those which are alienated from the Church, thus evils and the falsities of evil which destroy the Church. And by 'David', against whom the foreigners were rising up, those in heaven understand the Lord, 1888, 9954.

[11] In Moses,

He forsook the God who made him, and despised the Rock of his salvation. They provoked Him to jealousy through foreign [gods]. Deuteronomy 32:15-16.

'Forsaking God' and 'despising the Rock of salvation' stand for rejecting the Lord, 'provoking through foreign [gods]' for doing so through evils and the falsities of evil, 'the Rock of salvation' being the Lord in respect of the truths of faith, see 8581. In addition to all this there are other places in which 'foreigners' stands for evils and falsities, such as Isaiah 25:2, 4-5; Jeremiah 30:8; Ezekiel 31:11-12.

[12] Since 'foreigners' meant those who are subject to evils and the falsities of evil, and consequently in the abstract sense meant evils and the falsities of evil, it was forbidden for a foreigner to eat that which was holy, Leviticus 22:10; no foreigner was permitted to come near and perform the priestly function or guard the sanctuary; and any who did come near was to be put to death, Numbers 1:51; 3:10, 38; 18:7;

[13] furthermore no incense was to be offered on foreign 2 fire, and because Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu did offer incense on it they were devoured by fire from heaven, Leviticus 10:1-2. For holy fire which was taken from the altar was a sign of love derived from God, whereas foreign fire was a sign of love coming from hell, and therefore also of evils and the desires that go with them, see 1297, 1861, 2446, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7575, 9141.

[14] Mention is also made in the Word of those who are foreign-born, a different word being used in the original language from that rendered 'foreigners', and by them falsities themselves are meant, as in Lamentations,

O Jehovah, look upon our shame. Our inheritance has been turned over to foreigners, and our houses to the foreign-born. Lamentations 5:1-2.

In Obadiah,

Foreigners led his strength 3 captive, and the foreign-born entered his gates and cast 4 lots for Jerusalem. Obad. verse 11.

'Casting lots for Jerusalem' stands for destroying the Church and scattering its truths.

[15] In Zephaniah,

I will punish 5 the princes and the king's sons, and all clothed with the clothing of him who is foreign-born. Zephaniah 1:8.

Those 'clothed with the clothing of him who is foreign-born' stand for people subject to falsities; for 'the princes' and 'the king's sons' who are to undergo punishment mean leading truths and in the contrary sense leading falsities. For this meaning of 'princes', see 1482, 2089, 5044, and for that of 'kings' as truths themselves and in the contrary sense falsities themselves, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148, so that 'the king's sons' means things derived from those truths or falsities.

[16] In David,

Deliver me, and rescue me from the hands of the sons of him who is foreign-born, whose mouths speak vanity, and whose right hands are the right hands of falsehood. Psalms 144:7-8, 11.

'The sons of him who is foreign-born', it is plainly evident, means those subject to falsities, and so means falsities themselves, for it says, 'Whose mouths speak vanity, and whose right hands are right hands of falsehood', 'vanity' meaning false ideas composing doctrine, and 'falsehood' false ways of life, 9248.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 3490

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3490. Genesis 27

1. And so it was, that Isaac was old and his eyes were becoming dark so that he could not see; and he called Esau his elder son and said to him, My son; and he said to him, Here I am.

2. And he said, Behold now, I am old; I do not know the day of my death.

3. And now take, I beg you, your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field and hunt venison for me.

4. And make me savoury food such as I love, and bring it to me, and I will eat, so that my soul may bless you before I die.

5. And Rebekah was listening to Isaac while he spoke to Esau his son. And Esau went to the field to hunt for venison, to bring it [home].

6. And Rebekah said to Jacob her son - she said - Behold, I listened to your father speaking to Esau your brother, saying,

7. Bring me venison, and make me savoury food, and I will eat, and I will bless you before Jehovah, before my death.

8. And now, my son, hearken to my voice, to what I command you.

9. Go now to the flock, and take for me from there two good kids of the she-goats, and I will make them into savoury food for your father, such as he loves.

10. And bring it to your father, and let him eat, so that he may bless you before his death.

11. And Jacob said to Rebekah his mother, Behold, Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man.

12. Perhaps my father will feel me, and I shall be in his eyes as one who misleads, and I shall bring upon myself a curse and not a blessing.

13. And his mother said to him, Upon me be your curse, my son; only hearken to my voice, and go, take them for me.

14. And he went and took them, and brought them to his mother; and his mother made savoury food such as his father loved.

15. And Rebekah took the best clothes 1 of Esau her elder son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob her younger son.

16. And she put the skins of the kids of the she-goats on his hands and on the smooth of his neck.

17. And she gave the savoury food and the bread which she had made into the hand of Jacob her son.

18. And he went to his father, and said, My father. And he said, Behold, here I am; who are you, my son?

19. And Jacob said to his father, I am Esau your firstborn; I have done what you told me. Rise up now; sit, and eat from my venison, so that your soul may bless me.

20. And Isaac said to his son, Why have you found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because Jehovah your God caused it to come before my face.

21. And Isaac said to Jacob, Come near now, and I will feel you, my son, whether you are my son Esau, or not.

22. And Jacob came near to Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob's voice, and the hands Esau's hands.

23. And he did not recognize him because his hands were hairy like the hands of Esau his brother; and he blessed him.

24. And he said, Are you my very son Esau? And he said, I am.

25. And he said, Bring it to me, and I will eat from my son's venison, so that my soul may bless you. And he brought it to him, and he ate; and he brought him wine, and he drank.

26. And Isaac his father said to him, Come near now, and kiss me, my son.

27. And he came near and kissed him. And he smelled the odour of his clothes, and he blessed him, and he said, See, the odour of my son, like the odour of the field that Jehovah has blessed.

28. And God will give to you of the dew of heaven, and of the fatness of the land, and abundance of grain and of new wine.

29. Peoples will serve you, and peoples will bow down to you. Be lord over your brothers, and your mother's sons will bow down to you. Cursed are those cursing you, and blessed those blessing you.

30. And so it was, as soon as Isaac had finished blessing Jacob, and Jacob had only just gone out from the presence of Isaac his father, that Esau his brother came in from his hunting.

31. And he too made savoury food, and brought it to his father; and he said to his father, Let my father arise, and eat from his son's venison, so that your soul may bless me.

32. And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.

33. And Isaac trembled very greatly, and he said, Who then is he who has hunted venison and brought it to me, and I have eaten from all of it before you came in, and have blessed him? Indeed, he will be blessed!

34. Even as Esau heard his father's words, he cried out with a great and exceedingly bitter cry, and said to his father, Bless me, me also, my father.

35. And he said, Your brother came in deceitfully, and has taken away your blessing.

36. And he said, Does he not call his name Jacob? And he has supplanted me these two times. He took away my birthright, and behold, now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not reserved a blessing for me?

37. And Isaac answered, and said to Esau, Behold, I have made him lord over you, and have given all his brothers to him as servants, and I have sustained him with grain and new wine. And for you therefore, what shall I do, my son?

38. And Esau said to his father, Have you but one blessing, my father? Bless me, me also, my father. And Esau raised his voice, and wept.

39. And Isaac his father answered, and said to him, Behold, of the fatness of the land will be your dwelling, and of the dew of heaven from above.

40. And by your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother; and it will be when you have dominion over him, that you will break his yoke from above your neck.

41. And Esau hated Jacob because of the blessing with which his father had blessed him; and Esau said in his heart, The days of mourning for my father are approaching, and I will kill Jacob my brother.

42. And the words of Esau her elder son were pointed out to Rebekah, and she sent and summoned Jacob her younger son, and said to him, Behold, Esau your brother is consoling himself concerning you [by planning] to kill you.

43. And now, my son, hearken to my voice, and arise, flee to Laban my brother, to Haran.

44. And stay with him for a few days, until your brother's wrath turns back,

45. Until your brother's anger turns back from you, and he forgets what you have done to him, and I send and fetch you from there. Why should I be bereft of you both in one day?

46. And Rebekah said to Isaac, I loathe my life on account of the daughters of Heth. If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth, like these of the daughters of the land, what would life hold for me?

CONTENTS

Previously, where Isaac and Rebekah were the subject, the internal sense dealt with the Rational and how the Lord had made it Divine within Himself. The internal sense now deals with the Natural and how the Lord made that Divine within Himself. Esau is the good, Jacob the truth, of the Natural, for while He was in the world the Lord did indeed make Divine within Himself His entire Human, both that which is interior, namely the Rational, and that which is exterior, namely the Natural, and the Bodily as well. He did so according to Divine order. According to the same order also the Lord renews or regenerates man, and this is why the representative sense here deals with a person's regeneration as regards his natural. In that sense also Esau is the good of the natural, and Jacob its truth. Nevertheless both are Divine because all good and truth that a regenerate person has come from the Lord.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, clothes of desires

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