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Genesis 36

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1 And these [are] births of Esau, who [is] Edom.

2 Esau hath taken his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Aholibamah daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon the Hivite,

3 and Bashemath daughter of Ishmael, sister of Nebajoth.

4 And Adah beareth to Esau, Eliphaz; and Bashemath hath born Reuel;

5 and Aholibamah hath born Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah. These [are] sons of Esau, who were born to him in the land of Canaan.

6 And Esau taketh his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the persons of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his substance which he hath acquired in the land of Canaan, and goeth into the country from the face of Jacob his brother;

7 for their substance was more abundant than to dwell together, and the land of their sojournings was not able to bear them because of their cattle;

8 and Esau dwelleth in mount Seir: Esau is Edom.

9 And these [are] births of Esau, father of Edom, in mount Seir.

10 These [are] the names of the sons of Esau: Eliphaz son of Adah, wife of Esau; Reuel son of Bashemath, wife of Esau.

11 And the sons of Eliphaz are Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz;

12 and Timnath hath been concubine to Eliphaz son of Esau, and she beareth to Eliphaz, Amalek; these [are] sons of Adah wife of Esau.

13 And these [are] sons of Reuel: Nahath and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah; these were sons of Bashemath wife of Esau.

14 And these have been the sons of Aholibamah daughter of Anah, daughter of Zibeon, wife of Esau; and she beareth to Esau, Jeush and Jaalam and Korah.

15 These [are] chiefs of the sons of Esau: sons of Eliphaz, first-born of Esau: chief Teman, chief Omar, chief Zepho, chief Kenaz,

16 chief Korah, chief Gatam, chief Amalek; these [are] chiefs of Eliphaz, in the land of Edom; these [are] sons of Adah.

17 And these [are] sons of Reuel son of Esau: chief Nahath, chief Zerah, chief Shammah, chief Mizzah; these [are] chiefs of Reuel, in the land of Edom; these [are] sons of Bashemath wife of Esau.

18 And these [are] sons of Aholibamah wife of Esau: chief Jeush, chief Jaalam, chief Korah; these [are] chiefs of Aholibamah daughter of Anah, wife of Esau.

19 These [are] sons of Esau (who [is] Edom), and these their chiefs.

20 These [are] sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah,

21 and Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan; these [are] chiefs of the Horites, sons of Seir, in the land of Edom.

22 And the sons of Lotan are Hori and Heman; and a sister of Lotan [is] Timna.

23 And these [are] sons of Shobal: Alvan and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho and Onam.

24 And these [are] sons of Zibeon, both Ajah and Anah: it [is] Anah that hath found the Imim in the wilderness, in his feeding the asses of Zibeon his father.

25 And these [are] sons of Anah: Dishon, and Aholibamah daughter of Anah.

26 And these [are] sons of Dishon: Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran.

27 These [are] sons of Ezer: Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Akan.

28 These [are] sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.

29 These [are] chiefs of the Horite: chief Lotan, chief Shobal, chief Zibeon, chief Anah,

30 chief Dishon, chief Ezer, chief Dishan: these [are] chiefs of the Horite in reference to their chiefs in the land of Seir.

31 And these [are] the kings who have reigned in the land of Edom before the reigning of a king over the sons of Israel.

32 And Bela son of Beor reigneth in Edom, and the name of his city [is] Dinhabah;

33 and Bela dieth, and reign in his stead doth Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah;

34 and Jobab dieth, and reign in his stead doth Husham from the land of the Temanite.

35 And Husham dieth, and reign in his stead doth Hadad son of Bedad (who smiteth Midian in the field of Moab), and the name of his city [is] Avith;

36 and Hadad dieth, and reign in his stead doth Samlah of Masrekah;

37 and Samlah dieth, and reign in his stead doth Saul from Rehoboth of the River;

38 and Saul dieth, and reign in his stead doth Baal-hanan son of Achbor;

39 and Baal-hanan son of Achbor dieth, and reign in his stead doth Hadar, and the name of his city [is] Pau; and his wife's name [is] Mehetabel daughter of Matred, daughter of Me-zahab.

40 And these [are] the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their families, according to their places, by their names: chief Timnah, chief Alvah, chief Jetheth,

41 chief Aholibamah, chief Elah, chief Pinon,

42 chief Kenaz, chief Teman, chief Mibzar,

43 chief Magdiel, chief Iram: these [are] chiefs of Edom, in reference to their dwellings, in the land of their possession; he [is] Esau father of Edom.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 4542

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4542. 'When you fled from before Esau your brother' means when truth was placed above good. This is clear from the representation of 'Esau' as the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Natural, dealt with in 3322, 3494, 3504, 3576, 3599. This meaning - when truth was placed above good - may be seen from the explanations - given at Chapter 27 of Genesis - of the events which led to Jacob's flight from Esau. The reason he fled from him was that Jacob had stolen the birthright from Esau, by which action truth's placing itself above good is meant; for in that chapter Jacob represents the truth, and Esau the good, of the Lord's Natural. The reason why truth placed itself above good was that while a person is being regenerated truth seemingly occupies the first place, but once he is regenerated good occupies the first place and truth the last, for which see 3324, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3610, 3701, 4243, 4244, 4247, 4337. This explains why 'when you fled from before Esau your brother' means when truth was placed above good.

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

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Bethlehem

  
Joseph and Mary arrive in Bethlehem, by William Brassey Hole

There is a strong relationship between Ephrath and Bethlehem in the Bible; they might be two different names for the same town, or it’s possible Ephrath describes a district which includes Bethlehem.

Whatever the case, they play key roles in the Bible. Bethlehem is well-known as the birthplace of Jesus, of course, but was also the birthplace of David and of Benjamin, and Benjamin’s mother Rachel was buried there. The reason for this is that Ephrath and Bethlehem (and Benjamin, incidentally) represent a key element of our spiritual wiring, an element that makes it possible for us to have a spiritual life.

At the deepest levels, our identity, our humanity, is a matter of love – what we love makes us who and what we are. But that love is locked away inside us; it’s not something we can share with others directly. To share it, we have to give it a form – and giving it a form means we are actually turning it into ideas, into truth. As truth it can be shared, and if we’re lucky the people receiving it will be able to run the process in reverse, feeling and internalizing the love contained in that truth.

This process, however, involves two sort of “quantum leaps.” Love is an internal thing, and truth is an external thing (or as Swedenborg puts it, love is celestial in nature and truth is spiritual in nature), and internal things and external things are separate, on two different planes of existence. To express love as truth takes a special process, and to receive love from truth does as well. That’s where Bethlehem comes in.

Bethlehem (and Ephrath and Benjamin) represent what Swedenborg calls “the spiritual of the celestial.” This is where the celestial element – love – can push toward taking a form, can become as “truth-like” as possible. It is matched by something called “the celestial of the spiritual,” where the spiritual element – truth – can become as “love-like” as possible. Through these intermediaries love can jump the gap, kind of like nerve impulses crossing synapses, or like magnetic fields drawing two magnets together. It is the only way we can get love into useful forms, and only way we can share it.

This explains why Joseph could not reveal himself to his brothers in Egypt until Benjamin was with them – Joseph represents the celestial of the spiritual, and needed to be paired with the spiritual of the celestial to communicate. It also explains why the Lord had to be born in Bethlehem: He came in human form so that His perfect, infinite, divine love could be put in form as truth and shared with us. That had to be done by putting an internal, celestial thing – His love – into an external, spiritual form – His truth. That could only happen through the spiritual of the celestial, which is Bethlehem.