Bible

 

Genesis 4

Studie

   

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.

   

Komentář

 

Revenge

  

'To be avenged seventy and seven fold' denotes damnation.

In Genesis 4:15, vengeance signifies a sacrilege, and condemnation for it. (Arcana Coelestia 392)

In Deuteronomy 32:35, this signifies the genuine truth that the Lord is love and mercy itself. (Doctrine Regarding Sacred Scripture 94)

In Psalm 94:1, this signifies judgment on the Jews because they had destroyed the church. (The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms 344)

In Psalm 99:8, this signifies that the Lord is the Redeemer although it appears that He punishes. (The Inner Meaning of the Prophets and Psalms 349; Doctrine Regarding Sacred Scripture 94)

In Isaiah 59:17, this signifies the truths by which the Lord fought with the hells. (Apocalypse Explained 395[13])

In Isaiah 34:8, this signifies the Last Judgment and the condemnation of people who, by falsities and evils, have destroyed the truths of the church. (Apocalypse Explained 850[16])

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 432-444, Genesis 4:24)

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 716

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

716. 'Sevens of each' means that they are holy. This is clear from what has been stated already in 84-87 about the seventh day or sabbath. That is to say, the Lord is the Seventh Day and from Him derives every celestial Church or man, and indeed, the celestial itself which, because it is the Lord's alone, is most holy. Consequently seven in the Word means holy; indeed in the internal sense, as here, absolutely nothing is obtained from the number itself. For people who possess the internal sense, as angels and angelic spirits do, have no concept at all of what a number is, and so do not know what seven is. Therefore the idea that they were to take seven pairs of all the clean beasts, or that the ratio of the good to the evil was to be seven to two, is not at all the meaning here. Rather it is this: Things of the will with which this member of the Church was supplied were the goods which are holy, through which, as stated already, he was capable of being regenerated.

[2] That 'seven' means that which is holy, or things that are holy, becomes clear from the rituals in the representative Church, where the number seven occurs time and again, for example, being sprinkled seven times with blood and oil, as in Leviticus,

Moses took the anointing oil and anointed the Tabernacle and everything that was in it and made them holy. And he sprinkled some of it over the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its vessels to make them holy. Leviticus 8:10-11.

Here 'seven times' would be utterly devoid of meaning if that which is holy was not being represented in this way. 'Oil' there means the holiness of love. And elsewhere in Leviticus, when Aaron entered the Holy Place,

He shall take some of the blood of the young bull, and shall sprinkle it with his finger over the face 1 of the mercy-seat towards the east, and he shall sprinkle the face 1 of the mercy-seat seven times with some of the blood with his finger.

Similarly with the altar,

He shall sprinkle over it some of the blood with his finger seven times, and shall cleanse it, and make it holy. Leviticus 16:14, 19.

Here every single detail means the Lord Himself, and therefore the holiness of love - that is to say, 'the blood' and also 'the mercy-seat', 'the altar' too, 'the east in which direction the blood was to be sprinkled', and so 'seven' as well, all mean the Lord.

[3] In sacrifices it is similar, about which the following is said in Leviticus,

If a soul has sinned inadvertently, and if the anointed priest has sinned, thus making the people guilty, he shall slaughter the young bull in Jehovah's presence. And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle some of the blood seven times in Jehovah's presence towards the veil of the Holy Place. Leviticus 4:2-4, 6.

Here similarly 'seven' means that which is holy, for the subject is atonement, and therefore the Lord, since atonement is the Lord's alone. Similar instructions were also given concerning the cleansing of leprosy, about which the following is said in Leviticus,

[Taking some] of the bird's blood, the cedar-wood, the double-dyed scarlet, and the hyssop, the priest shall sprinkle over the one who is to be cleansed from leprosy seven times, and shall cleanse him. In a similar way some of the oil which is in his left palm, seven times in Jehovah's presence. In a similar way in a house where there is leprosy, [he shall take some] of the cedar-wood, and the hyssop, and the double-dyed scarlet, and shall sprinkle some of the bird's blood seven times. Leviticus 14:6-7, 27, 51.

Anyone may see that here cedar-wood, double-dyed scarlet, hyssop, oil, and blood of a bird, and so the number seven, would be utterly meaningless if things that are holy were not being represented by them. If you take away from them holy things, what is left is something dead, or something unholy and idolatrous. When however they do mean holy things the worship they contain in that case is a Divine worship which is internal and simply represented by things that are external. The Jews however were incapable of knowing what these meant; and neither does anyone today know what cedar-wood, hyssop, double-dyed scarlet, and the bird all mean. Yet if only they had been willing to think that these did embody holy things which they did not actually know, and so had worshipped the Lord - who was the Messiah to come who would heal them from their leprosy, that is, from profaning what is holy - they could have been saved. For people who do think and believe in this manner straightaway receive instruction in the next life, if they desire it, as to what every single detail represented.

[4] Similarly where 'the red heifer' is the subject it is said that the priest was to take some of its blood on his finger, and sprinkle some of its blood towards the face 1 of the tent of meeting seven times, Numbers 19:4. Because 'the seventh day' or sabbath meant the Lord, and from Him meant the celestial man and the celestial itself, the seventh day in the Jewish Church was the holiest of all its religious observances. For this reason there was a sabbath year 2 every seventh year, Leviticus 25:4. Also a jubilee was to be proclaimed after seven sabbaths of years, that is, after seven times seven years, Leviticus 25:8-9. In the highest sense the number seven means the Lord, and from this the holiness of love. This becomes clear also from the golden lampstand with its seven lamps, mentioned in Exodus 25:31-33, 37; 37:17-19, 23; Numbers 8:2-3; Zechariah 4:2. And in John it is spoken of as follows,

Seven golden lampstands; in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man. Revelation 1:12-13.

Here it is absolutely clear that 'a lampstand with seven lamps' means the Lord, and that 'the lamps' are the holy things of love, which comprise celestial things, which also is why there were seven of them.

[5] In the same author,

From the throne there were coming forth seven fiery torches burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. Revelation 4:5.

Here 'the seven torches which came forth from the Lord's throne' are seven lamps. The same applies to the number seven when it occurs in the Prophets, as in Isaiah,

The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, on the day when Jehovah will bind up the hurt of His people. Isaiah 30:26.

Here 'sevenfold light as the light of seven days' does not at all mean sevenfold but the holiness of love meant by the sun. See also what has been stated and shown already at Genesis 4:15 concerning the number seven. From these quotations it is also quite clear that all numbers used in the Word never have a numerical value [in the internal sense], as has also been shown already at Genesis 6:3.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, the faces

2. literally, sabbath of a sabbath

  
/ 10837  
  

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