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Génesis 32:26

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26 Y dijo: Déjame, que raya el alba. Y él dijo: No te dejaré, si no me bendices.

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 4298

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4298. 'And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel' means a state of temptations. This is clear from the train of thought, for in former times names were given to places where some special incident took place, and those names served to mean that incident which took place there, and the state associated with it, 340, 2643, 3422. To this place a name was given which meant a state of temptations, because it is a state of temptations that is described here by Jacob's wrestling and contending. In the original language 'Peniel' means 'the face of God', and the fact that 'seeing the face of God' means suffering the severest temptations will be explained in what follows immediately below.

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

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Face

  
Photo by Caleb Kerr

“The eyes are the windows of the soul.” That's a sentiment with roots somewhere in murky antiquity, but one that has become hopelessly cliché because it is both poetic and obviously true. We feel that if we can look in someone's eyes, we can truly know what they are inside. And it's not just the eyes; really it is the face as a whole that conveys this. As Swedenborg puts it, the face is “man's spiritual world presented in his natural world” (Heaven and Hell, No. 91). Our faces reveal our interior thoughts and feelings in myriad ways, which is why psychologists, poker players and criminal investigators spend so much time studying them. It makes sense, then, that people's faces in the Bible represent their interiors, the thoughts, loves and desires they hold most deeply. We turn our faces to the ground to show humility when we bow in worship; we turn them to the mountains when seeking inspiration; we turn them toward our enemies when we are ready to battle temptation. When things are hard, we need to “face facts,” or accept them internally. When the topic is the Lord's face, it represents the Lord's interiors, which are perfect love and perfect mercy. And when people turn away from the Lord and refuse his love, it is described as the Lord “hiding his face.”

(Odkazy: Heaven and Hell 91)