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Genesis 34

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1 Da Dina, den Datter, Jakob havde med Lea, engang gik ud for at besøge Landets Døtre,

2 Sikem, en Søn af Egnens Høvding, Hivviten Hamor, hende og greb hende og lå hos hende; og han krænkede hende;

3 men hans Hjerte hang ved Jakobs Datter Dina, og han elskede Pigen og talte godt for hende;

4 og Sikem sagde til sin Fader Hamor: "Skaf mig den Pige til Hustru!"

5 Jakob hørte, at han havde skændet hans Datter Dina; men da hans Sønner dengang var med hans Kvæg på Marken, tav han, til de kom hjem.

6 Sikems Fader Hamor gik nu til Jakob for at tale med ham.

7 Men da Jakobs Sønner hørte det, kom de hjem fra Marken; og Mændene græmmede sig og var såre opbragte, fordi han havde øvet Skændselsdåd i Israel ved at ligge hos Jakobs Datter; thi sligt bør ikke ske.

8 Og Hamor talte med dem og sagde: "Min Søn Sikems Hjerte hænger ved eders Datter; giv ham hende til Hustru

9 og indgå Svogerskab med os; giv os eders Døtre og gift eder med vore Døtre;

10 tag Ophold hos os, og Landet skal stå eder åbent; slå eder ned og drag frit omkring og saml eder Ejendom der!"

11 Og Sikem sagde til hendes Fader og Brødre: "Måtte jeg finde Nåde for eders Øjne! Alt, hvad I kræver, vil jeg give

12 forlang så høj en Brudesum og Gave, I vil; jeg giver, hvad I kræver, når I blot vil give mig Pigen til Hustru!"

13 Da gav Jakobs Sønner Sikem og hans Fader Hamor et listigt Svar, fordi. han havde skændet deres Søster Dina,

14 og sagde til dem: "Vi er ikke i Stand til at give vor Søster til en uomskåren Mand, thi det holder vi for en Skændsel.

15 Kun på det Vilkår vil vi føje eder, at I bliver som vi og lader alle af Mandkøn iblandt eder omskære;

16 i så Fald vil vi give eder vore Døtre og ægte eders Døtre og bosætte os iblandt eder, så vi bliver eet Folk;

17 men hvis I ikke vil høre os og lade eder omskære, så tager vi vor Datter og drager bort"

18 Deres Tale tyktes Hamor og Sikem, Hamors Søn, god;

19 og den unge Mand tøvede ikke med at gøre således, thi han var indtaget i Jakobs Datter, og han var den, der havde mest at sige i sin Faders Hus

20 og Harnor og hans Søn Siken gik til deres Bys Port og sagde til, Mændene i deres By:

21 "Disse Mænd er os velsindede; lad dem bosætte sig og drage frit om her i Landet, der er jo Plads nok til dem i Landet; deres Døtre vil vi tage til Hustruer og give dem vore Døtre til Hustruer!

22 Men kun på det Vilkår vil Mændene føje os og bosætte sig hos os, så vi kan blive eet Folk, at alle af Mandkøn hos os lader sig omskære, således som de er omskårne.

23 Deres Hjorde og deres Gods og alt deres Kvæg bliver jo dog vort; lad os derfor føje dem, så de kan blive boende hos os!"

24 Så adlød de Hamor og hans Søn Sikem, så mange som færdedes i hans Bys Port, og alle af Mandkøn, alle, som færdedes i hans Bys Port, lod sig omskære.

25 Men Tredjedagen, da de havde Sårfeber, tog Jakobs to Sønner Simeon og Levi, Dinas Brødre, hver sit Sværd, trængte ind i Byen, uden at nogen anede Uråd, og slog alle Mændene ihjel

26 og dræbte Hamor og hans Søn Sikem med Sværdet, tog Dina ud af Sikems Hus og drog bort.

27 Så kastede Jakobs Sønner sig over de faldne og plyndrede Byen, fordi de havde skændet deres Søster;

28 deres Småkvæg, Hornkvæg og Æsler, både hvad der var i Byen og på Markerne, tog de med sig,

29 og al deres Ejendom og alle deres Børn og Kvinder førte de bort som Bytte, og de udplyndrede Byen for alt, hvad der var der.

30 Men Jakob sagde til Simeon og Levi: "I styrter mig i Ulykke ved at lægge mig for Had hos Landets Indbyggere, Kana'anæerne og Perizziterne; thi jeg råder kun over få Folk; samler de sig mod mig og slår mig, så er det ude med mig og mit Hus!"

31 Men de svarede: "Skal han behandle vor Søster som en Skøge!"

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #4462

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4462. To give our sister to a man that hath a foreskin. That this signifies unless they made the truth and good of the church to consist in representatives, and would recede from the things which these signify, is evident from the signification of the “foreskin,” as being an external representative-a sign that they were of the church; and therefore it was usual to speak of circumcision and the foreskin when a distinction was to be made between those who were of the church and those who were not. For “circumcision” signifies recession from filthy loves, namely, from the love of self and of the world, and accession to heavenly loves, which are love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, thus accession to the church. Hence it is that by these words is signified accession to their religiosity, and consequently that like them they should make the truth and good of the church consist in representatives by receding from the internal things which are signified, for otherwise they would not be like them, according to the words that follow: “In this will we consent to you, if ye be as we.” (That circumcision is a sign of purification from filthy loves, see n. 2039, 2632; and that they who are in these loves were called “uncircumcised,” n. 2049, 3412, 3413.)

[2] Scarcely anyone at this day knows what is the specific signification of circumcision, and therefore this must be told. The genitals in both sexes signify the things which belong to the conjunction of good and truth; nor do they merely signify these things, but also actually correspond to them. It has been shown at the end of the chapters that all man’s organs and members have a correspondence with spiritual things in heaven, and consequently so have the organs and members allotted to generation. These correspond to the marriage of good and truth; and from this marriage descends conjugial love (see n. 2618, 2727-2729, 2803, 3132, 4434). As the foreskin covers the genital, in the Most Ancient Church it corresponded to the obscuration of good and truth, but in the Ancient Church to their defilement. For with the man of the Most Ancient Church, who was an internal man, good and truth could be obscured but not defiled; whereas with the man of the Ancient Church, being a comparatively external man, good and truth could be defiled, because it is external things—that is, external loves—which defile. For this reason they who were of the Most Ancient Church knew nothing of circumcision, but only they who were of the Ancient Church.

[3] From this church circumcision spread to many nations; and it was not enjoined upon Abraham and his descendants as anything new, but merely as a discontinued rite that was to be restored; and it became to his posterity a sign that they were of the church. But that nation neither knew nor desired to know what this rite signified, for they made their religiosity consist in mere representatives, which are external matters, and therefore they included all the uncircumcised in one general condemnation, although circumcision was only a sign representative of purification from the love of self and of the world. Those who are purified from this love are the spiritually circumcised, and are said to be “circumcised in heart,” as in Moses:

Jehovah thy God will circumcise thy heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love Jehovah thy God in all thy heart, and in all thy soul (Deuteronomy 30:6).

In the same:

Ye shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and shall no longer harden your neck (Deuteronomy 10:16).

And in Jeremiah:

Break up your fallow ground, and take away the foreskin of your heart (Jeremiah 4:3-4).

[4] But they who are in the loves of self and of the world are called “the uncircumcised,” in spite of the fact that they had been circumcised; as in Jeremiah:

Behold the days come in which I will visit upon everyone that is circumcised in the foreskin, upon Egypt, and upon Judah, and upon Edom, and upon the sons of Ammon, and upon Moab, and upon all that are cut off at the corner, that dwell in the wilderness; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart (Jeremiah 9:25-26);

this passage shows that many other nations were circumcised, for it is said, “I will visit upon everyone that is circumcised in the foreskin,” so that as already stated this was not a new rite, or restricted to the descendants of Jacob as a mark of distinction. The Philistines were not circumcised, and therefore it is they who are usually meant by “the uncircumcised” (1 Samuel 14:6; 17:26, 36; 31:4; 2 Samuel 1:20, and in other places).

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