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Genesis 4

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1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bore Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.

2 And she again bore his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.

3 And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD.

4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect to Abel, and to his offering:

5 But to Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

6 And the LORD said to Cain, Why art thou wroth? and Why is thy countenance fallen?

7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And to thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

8 And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him.

9 And the LORD said to Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the ground.

11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood from thy hand;

12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield to thee its strength: A fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.

13 And Cain said to the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear.

14 Behold, thou hast driven me this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it will come to pass, that every one that findeth me will slay me.

15 And the LORD said to him, Therefore whoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him seven-fold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.

16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden.

17 And Cain knew his wife, and she conceived, and bore Enoch: and he built a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son Enoch.

18 And to Enoch was born Irad: and Irad begat Mehujael: and Mehujael begat Methusael: and Methusael begat Lamech.

19 And Lamech took to him two wives: the name of the one was Adah, and the name of the other Zillah.

20 And Adah bore Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle.

21 And his brother's name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ.

22 And Zillah, she also bore Tubalcain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.

23 And Lamech said to his wives, Adah and Zillah, Hear my voice, ye wives of Lamech, hearken to my speech: for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.

24 If Cain shall be avenged seven-fold, truly Lamech seventy and seven-fold.

25 And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.

26 And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

   

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'To open,' as in Revelation 9, signifies communication and conjunction.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Explained 537)

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The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Teachings # 6

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6. I need to explain briefly what "Jerusalem" means in the spiritual meaning of the Word. "Jerusalem" means the essential church, with a focus on its body of teaching. This is because there in the land of Canaan and nowhere else were the Temple and the altar, there and nowhere else were sacrifices offered and consequently was actual worship of God performed. That is why the three annual festivals 1 were held there, and every male in the whole land was obliged to attend. That is why Jerusalem now, spiritually understood, means the church in regard to its worship or to its body of teaching-which amounts to the same thing, because its worship is defined by its body of teaching and performed as that body of teaching prescribes.

The reason it says "the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven" is that in the spiritual meaning of the Word "a city" means a body of teaching, and "a holy city" means a body of teaching based on divine truth. This is because divine truth is what the Word refers to as "holy. " It says "the New Jerusalem" for much the same reason that it refers to the earth as new. That is, as just noted [§5], "the earth" means the church and Jerusalem means that church in regard to its body of teaching. It is described as coming down from God out of heaven because all the divine truth that gives rise to a body of teaching comes down out of heaven from God.

It is obvious that "Jerusalem" does not mean a city (even though it looked like a city), because it says that its height was the same as its length and breadth, twelve thousand stadia (verse 16); that the measure of its wall, one hundred and forty-four cubits, was the measure of a human being, that is, of an angel (verse 17); that it was prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (verse 2); and that later "The angel said, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. ' And he showed me the holy city Jerusalem" (verses 9, 10). It is the church that is called the Lord's bride and wife in the Word, his "bride" before they have been joined together and his "wife" afterward-see Secrets of Heaven 3103, 3105, 3164, 3165, 3207, 7022, 9182.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The Festival of Unleavened Bread (Passover), the Festival of First Fruits (also known as the Festival of Harvest and the Festival of Weeks), and the Festival of Tabernacles (also known as the Festival of the Ingathering, Festival of the Booths, Sukkoth, Succoth, or Sukkot) were three major sacred holidays in the ancient Jewish calendar. For the biblical description of these events as originally instituted, see Exodus 23:14-17; 34:18-24; Leviticus 23:4-21, 33-43; Deuteronomy 16:1-17. For Swedenborg's explanation of their inner meaning, see Secrets of Heaven 9286-9287, 9294-9296. [JSR]

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