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Génesis 32

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1 Y Jacob siguió su camino, y le salieron al encuentro ángeles de Dios.

2 Y dijo Jacob cuando los vio: El campamento de Dios es éste; y llamó el nombre de aquel lugar Mahanaim.

3 Y envió Jacob mensajeros delante de sí a Esaú su hermano, a la tierra de Seir, campo de Edom.

4 Y les mandó diciendo: Así diréis a mí señor Esaú: Así dice tu siervo Jacob: Con Labán he morado, y me he detenido hasta ahora;

5 y tengo vacas, y asnos, y ovejas, y siervos y siervas; y envío a decirlo a mi señor, por hallar gracia en tus ojos.

6 Y los mensajeros volvieron a Jacob, diciendo: Vinimos a tu hermano Esaú, y él también viene a recibirte, y cuatrocientos hombres con él.

7 Entonces Jacob tuvo gran temor, y se angustió; y partió el pueblo que tenía consigo, y las ovejas y las vacas y los camellos, en dos cuadrillas;

8 y dijo: Si viniere Esaú a una cuadrilla y la hiriere, la otra cuadrilla escapará.

9 Y dijo Jacob: Dios de mi padre Abraham, y Dios de mi padre Isaac, el SEÑOR, que me dijiste: Vuélvete a tu tierra y a tu natural, y yo te haré bien.

10 Menor soy que todas las misericordias, y que toda la verdad que has hecho con tu siervo; que con mi bordón pasé este Jordán, y ahora estoy sobre dos cuadrillas.

11 Líbrame ahora de la mano de mi hermano, de la mano de Esaú, porque le temo; que por ventura no venga, y me hiera, la madre con los hijos.

12 Y tú has dicho: Yo te haré bien, y pondré tu simiente como la arena del mar, que no se puede contar por la multitud.

13 Y durmió allí aquella noche, y tomó de lo que le vino a la mano un presente para su hermano Esaú.

14 Doscientas cabras y veinte machos cabríos, doscientas ovejas y veinte carneros,

15 Treinta camellas paridas, con sus hijos, cuarenta vacas y diez novillos, veinte asnas y diez borricos.

16 Y lo entregó en mano de sus siervos, cada manada de por sí; y dijo a sus siervos: Pasad delante de mí, y poned espacio entre manada y manada.

17 Y mandó al primero, diciendo: Si Esaú mi hermano te encontrare, y te preguntare, diciendo: ¿De quién eres? ¿Y adónde vas? ¿Y para quién es esto que llevas delante de ti?

18 Entonces dirás: Presente es de tu siervo Jacob, que envía a mi señor Esaú; y he aquí también él viene tras nosotros.

19 Y mandó también al segundo, y al tercero, y a todos los que iban tras aquellas manadas, diciendo: Conforme a esto hablaréis a Esaú, cuando le hallareis.

20 Y diréis también: He aquí tu siervo Jacob viene tras nosotros. Porque dijo: Apaciguaré su ira con el presente que va delante de mí, y después veré su rostro; por ventura le seré acepto.

21 Y pasó el presente delante de él; y él durmió aquella noche en el real.

22 Y se levantó aquella noche, y tomó sus dos mujeres, y sus dos siervas, y sus once hijos, y pasó el vado de Jaboc.

23 Los tomó, pues , y los pasó el arroyo, y pasó lo que tenía.

24 Y se quedó Jacob solo, y luchó con él un varón, hasta que el alba subía.

25 Y cuando el varón vio que no podía con él, tocó la palma de su anca, la palma del anca de Jacob se descoyuntó luchando con él.

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

27 Y él le dijo: ¿Cómo es tu nombre? Y él respondió: Jacob.

28 Y él dijo: No se dirá más tu nombre Jacob, sino Israel; porque has peleado con Dios y con los hombres, y has vencido.

29 Entonces Jacob le preguntó, y dijo: Declárame ahora tu nombre. Y él respondió: ¿Por qué preguntas por mi nombre? Y lo bendijo allí.

30 Y llamó Jacob el nombre de aquel lugar Peniel; porque vi a Dios cara a cara, y fue librada mi alma.

31 Y le salió el sol cuando pasaba a Peniel; y cojeaba de su anca.

32 Por esto no comen los hijos de Israel, hasta hoy día, del tendón que se contrajo, el cual está en la palma del anca; porque tocó a la palma del anca de Jacob en el tendón que se contrajo.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 4364

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4364. 'He said, What do you mean by all this camp which I met?' means the specific things which came from the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'camp' here as things that are specific, for these are meant by the animals mentioned in verses 14, 15 of the previous chapter - two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats, two hundred sheep and twenty rams, thirty milking camels and their colts, forty young cows and ten young bulls, twenty she-asses and ten foals. By these are meant the goods and truths together with the things that are subservient, by means of which the instillation was to be effected, see 4263, 4264, and so mean those that are specific. The specific ones meant here are nothing other than those which serve to prove that truths really are truths and forms of good really are forms of good. They support a person's thoughts and affections - that is, the things he knows and the things he loves - which lead him to favour an idea and maintain that it is true. The gifts which in the Church of old were made to kings and to priests also held the same meaning It is well known that another is led to one's own way of thinking - that is, to the things which one says are good and true - both by the use of rational arguments and by the appeal to affections. It is the actual supporting proofs to which the term 'specific' applies and that are meant at this point by 'this camp'. This is the reason why the words 'to find favour in the eyes of my lord' appear, explaining why 'the camp' was sent, and after that, 'If now I have found favour in your eyes, then take my gift from my hand'.

[2] It is similar with spiritual things or matters of faith, when these are being joined to the good of charity. People believe that goods and truths flow in immediately from heaven, and so without any intermediate agents in man; but in this they are much mistaken. The Lord leads everyone through the agency of his affections and in so doing bends him by means of a Providence working silently; for He leads people by means of their freedom, 1937, 1947. All freedom entails a person's affection or love, see 2870, 2873. Consequently every joining together of good and truth takes place in freedom and not under compulsion, 2875-2878, 2881, 3145, 3146, 3158, 4031. When therefore a person has been brought in freedom to good, truths find acceptance and are implanted. That person also starts to be stirred by an affection for them and is in this manner introduced little by little into heavenly freedom. One who is regenerate, that is, who loves the neighbour - more so one who loves the Lord - will discover, if he reflects on his life before then, that he has been led to that point by many ideas present in his thought and many impulses of his affection.

[3] What exactly is meant here by the things which came from the good of truth may be seen more easily from examples. Let truth which has to be introduced into good be exemplified by the truth that man has life after death. Unless this is supported by specific truths, it does not find acceptance, that is, not unless it is supported by the following: Man is able to think not only about the things he sees and perceives with the senses but also about those which he does not see or perceive with the senses. Also his affection can be stirred by them; and through his affection he can become linked to them and therefore to heaven, indeed to the Lord Himself. And those who are able to be linked to the Divine can never die. These and many more like them are the specific truths which present themselves before that truth is instilled into good, that is, before it is believed fully. That truth does indeed submit itself first, yet these specific truths nevertheless cause it to find acceptance.

[4] Take as another example the truth that man is a spirit and that he is clothed with a body while he lives in the world. This also is a truth that has to be instilled into good, for if it is not instilled he has no concern for heaven, in which case he looks on himself in the same way as he does on animals. But this truth cannot be instilled except by means of specific ones such as the following: The body which a person carries around ministers to uses in the world; that is to say, it enables him by means of material eyes to see things that are in the world, and to perform actions by means of material muscles, which give him power that is sufficient to lift heavy objects. Nevertheless some more interior part of him exists which thinks and wills, and for which the body is the instrumental or material organ. Also his spirit is his true self, or the person himself, who performs actions and has sensory perception through these organic forms. And there are many other personal experiences by which he can prove that truth to be so once he believes it. All of these are specific truths which are put forward first and which cause that truth itself to be instilled into good and also to come from it. It is these and other things like them that are meant here by 'a camp'.

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