Die Bibel

 

創世記 32

Lernen

   

1 雅各仍舊行的使者遇見他。

2 雅各見他們就:這是的軍兵,於是給那地方起名瑪哈念(就是二軍兵的意思)。

3 雅各打發人先往西珥去,就是以東,見他哥哥以掃

4 吩咐他們:你們對我以掃:你的僕人雅各這樣:我在拉班那裡寄居,直到如今。

5 我有牛、羊群、僕婢,現在打發人來報告我,為要在你眼前蒙恩。

6 所打發的回到雅各那裡,:我們到了你哥哥以掃那裡,他帶著,正迎著你

7 雅各就甚懼,而且愁煩,便把那與他同在的人口和羊群牛群駱駝分做兩隊,

8 以掃擊殺這隊,剩下的那隊還可以逃避。

9 雅各耶和華─我祖亞伯拉罕的,我父親以撒的阿,你曾對我:回你本本族去,我要厚待你。

10 你向僕人所施的一切慈愛和誠實,我一點也不配得;我先前只拿著我的杖過這約但河,如今我卻成了兩隊了。

11 求你我脫離我哥哥以掃;因為我怕他殺我,連妻子帶兒女一同殺了。

12 你曾:我必定厚待你,使你的後裔如同邊的沙,多得不可勝

13 當夜,雅各在那裡住宿,就從他所有的物中拿禮物要送給他哥哥以掃

14 山羊隻,公山羊二十隻,母綿隻,公綿二十隻,

15 奶崽子的駱駝三十隻─各帶著崽子,母四十隻,公隻,母二十匹,匹;

16 每樣各分一群,交在僕人下,就對僕人:你們要在我前頭過去,使群群相離,有空閒的地方;

17 又吩咐儘先走的:我哥哥以掃遇見你的時候,問你:你是那家的人?要往那裡去?你前頭?這些是誰的?

18 你就:是你僕人雅各的,是送給我以掃禮物;他自己也在我們邊?。

19 又吩咐第二、第三,和一切趕群畜的人:你們遇見以掃的時候也要這樣對他

20 並且你們要:你僕人雅各我們邊。因雅各心裡:我藉著在我前頭去的禮物解他的恨,然再見他的面,或者他容納我。

21 於是禮物先過去了;那夜,雅各在隊中住宿。

22 他夜間起來,帶著兩個妻子,兩個使女,並十一個兒子,過了雅博渡口,

23 先打發他們過,又打發所有的都過去,

24 雅各。有一個來和他摔跤,直到黎明。

25 那人見自己勝不過他,就將他的大腿窩摸了一把,雅各大腿窩正在摔跤的時候就扭了。

26 那人:天黎明了,容我去罷!雅各:你不給我祝福,我就不容你去。

27 那人:你名叫甚麼?他:我名叫雅各

28 那人:你的名不要再叫雅各,要叫以色列;因為你與與人較力,都得了勝。

29 雅各問他:請將你的名告訴我。那人:何必問我的名?於是在那裡給雅各祝福

30 雅各便給那地方起名毘努伊勒(就是之面的意思),意思:我面對面見了,我的性命仍得保全。

31 日頭剛出來的時候,雅各經過毘努伊勒,他的大腿就瘸了。

32 故此,以色列人大腿窩的,直到今日,因為那人摸了雅各大腿窩的

   

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #4280

studieren Sie diesen Abschnitt

  
/ 10837  
  

4280. In that lower sense the words 'he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh' mean where conjugial love is joined to natural good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the hollow of the thigh' as the place where conjugial love is linked to it, see above in 4277. The reason why the place where it is linked to natural good is meant is that it is the place where the thigh is joined to the feet. 'The feet' in the internal sense means natural good, see 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986.

[2] As regards 'the thigh' meaning conjugial love and 'the feet' natural good, that is one of those realities known in the past which have grown old and died. The Ancient Church, which existed in an age of representatives and meaningful signs, was extremely well acquainted with these meanings, such knowledge of them constituting their intelligence and wisdom. Indeed it constituted the intelligence and wisdom not only of those who belonged to the Church but also of those outside the Church, as becomes clear from the oldest books written by gentiles and from the stories in them which are nowadays called myths - for meaningful signs and representatives spread from the Ancient Church to those gentiles. With these also 'the thighs and loins' meant that which belonged to marriage, and 'the feet' things that were natural. The origin of this meaning of 'the thighs and the feet' lies in the correspondences of all the members, organs, and viscera of the human being with the Grand Man, which - that is to say, such correspondences - are being dealt with now at the ends of chapters. The correspondences with the thigh and the feet will be discussed again further on, where actual experience will be used to corroborate that their meaning is as indicated above.

[3] These things are bound to seem like enigmas at the present day because, as has been stated, that knowledge has grown very old indeed and died. Yet how far that knowledge excels other types of knowledge becomes clear from the consideration that the internal sense of the Word cannot possibly be known without that knowledge, as well as for the reason that the angels present with man perceive the Word according to that sense. It becomes clear also from the consideration that by means of that knowledge man is provided with communication with heaven. And what is unbelievable, the internal man himself does not think in any other way; for when the external man understands the Word according to the letter the internal man does so according to the internal sense, though while living in the body a person is not at all conscious of doing so. This becomes particularly clear from the fact that when anyone enters the next life and becomes an angel he has no need to learn the internal sense but knows it instinctively, so to speak.

[4] What conjugial love is which is meant by 'the thighs' and also by 'the loins', see 995, 1123, 2727-2759; and conjugial love is the basic love of all loves, 686, 3021. Consequently people who have genuine conjugial love in them also have celestial love, which is love to the Lord, and spiritual love, which is charity towards the neighbour. For this reason the expression 'conjugial love' is used to mean not only that love itself but also all celestial and spiritual love. These kinds of love are said to be joined to natural good when the internal man is joined to the external, that is, the spiritual man to the natural - that joining together of them being meant by 'the hollow of the thigh'. The fact that with Jacob and his descendants in general no such conjunction existed will be evident from what follows, for this is the subject dealt with here in the internal historical sense.

  
/ 10837  
  

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

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #978

studieren Sie diesen Abschnitt

  
/ 10837  
  

978. What the internal man is and what the external, few if any know nowadays. They imagine that these are one and the same, the chief reason being their belief that they do what is good and think what is true from their proprium; for the proprium carries such belief within itself. But the internal man is as different from the external as heaven from earth. When the learned as well as the unlearned reflect on the matter, they have no other concept of the internal man than of thought, seeing that it is something inward; and no other concept of the external man than of the body and its ability to perceive with the senses and to experience pleasure, seeing that it is something outward. But thought, which they imagine to belong to the internal man, does not in fact belong to the internal; for with the internal man resides nothing but goods and truths which are the Lord's, and in the interior man conscience has been implanted by the Lord. Even the evil, indeed the most evil, possess thought, and people who are devoid of conscience have it too. From this it is clear that man's thought belongs not to the internal man but to the external. And the fact that the body, and its ability to perceive with the senses and to experience pleasure, is not the external man is clear from the consideration that spirits likewise, who do not possess the [physical] body such as they had while living in the world, still have an external man.

[2] But what the internal man is and what the external nobody can possibly know unless he knows that in everyone there is a celestial and spiritual degree corresponding to the angelic heaven, a rational degree corresponding to the heaven of angelic spirits, and the interior sensory degree corresponding to the heaven of spirits. There are indeed three heavens, the same number as there are degrees with man. These heavens are quite distinct and separate from one another, which is why after death the person who has conscience is first of all in the heaven of spirits; after that he is raised by the Lord into the heaven of angelic spirits, and finally into the angelic heaven. This could not possibly take place if there were not the same number of heavens to which, and to the state of which, he is capable of corresponding. This has made clear to me what constitutes the internal man and what the external. Celestial and spiritual things form the internal man, rational things the inner or middle, and sensory things - not those of the body but those derived from bodily things - the external. And this applies not only to man but also to a spirit.

[3] Let me speak in terms used by the learned. These three are like end, cause, and effect. It is well known that no effect can possibly exist unless there is a cause, nor any cause unless there is an end. Effect, cause, and end are as distinct and separate from one another as exterior, interior, and inmost are. Strictly speaking the sensory man, that is, the one whose thought is based on sensory evidence, is the external man, while the spiritual and celestial man strictly speaking is the internal man. But the rational man comes in the middle between the two, and by way of this man - the rational - communication takes place between the internal man and the external. I know that few can grasp these ideas, the reason being that they live among, and think from, external things. This is why some equate themselves with animals and believe that when their bodies die they will be altogether dead. Yet it is when they die that they first start to live. In the next life people who are good lead first a sensory life in the world or heaven of spirits, then a more interior sensory life in the heaven of angelic spirits, and finally an inmostly sensory life in the angelic heaven. This latter or angelic life is the life of the internal man, about which hardly anything can be said that man is capable of grasping.

[4] The regenerate can know of the existence of that internal life only if they reflect on the nature of good and truth and of conflict. Actually that life is the Lord's life with man, for the Lord by way of the internal man works the good of charity and the truth of faith within the external man. That which from this is perceived in his thought and affection is something general, containing countless details which come from the internal man but which a person does not perceive at all before entering the angelic heaven. Concerning the nature of this general something, see what has been told from experience in 545. These matters that have been stated concerning the internal man however, since they lie beyond the grasp of most people, are not vital for their salvation provided they know of the existence of the internal man and of the external, and acknowledge and believe that everything good and true comes from the Lord.

  
/ 10837  
  

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