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Genesis 11

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1 And the whole earth had one language, and the same words.

2 And it came to pass as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and dwelt there.

3 And they said one to another, Come on, let us make bricks, and burn [them] thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar.

4 And they said, Come on, let us build ourselves a city and a tower, the top of which [may reach] to the heavens; and let us make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered over the face of the whole earth.

5 And Jehovah came down to see the city and the tower which the children of men built.

6 And Jehovah said, Behold, the people is one, and have all one language; and this have they begun to do. And now will they be hindered in nothing that they meditate doing.

7 Come, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech.

8 And Jehovah scattered them thence over the face of the whole earth. And they left off building the city.

9 Therefore was its name called Babel; because Jehovah there confounded the language of the whole earth. And Jehovah scattered them thence over the face of the whole earth.

10 These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old, and begot Arphaxad two years after the flood.

11 And Shem lived after he had begotten Arphaxad five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

12 And Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Shelah.

13 And Arphaxad lived after he had begotten Shelah four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

14 And Shelah lived thirty years, and begot Eber.

15 And Shelah lived after he had begotten Eber four hundred and three years, and begot sons and daughters.

16 And Eber lived thirty-four years, and begot Peleg.

17 And Eber lived after he had begotten Peleg four hundred and thirty years, and begot sons and daughters.

18 And Peleg lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

19 And Peleg lived after he had begotten Reu two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.

20 And Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Serug.

21 And Reu lived after he had begotten Serug two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

22 And Serug lived thirty years, and begot Nahor.

23 And Serug lived after he had begotten Nahor two hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

24 And Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and begot Terah.

25 And Nahor lived after he had begotten Terah a hundred and nineteen years, and begot sons and daughters.

26 And Terah lived seventy years, and begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 And these are the generations of Terah: Terah begot Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begot Lot.

28 And Haran died before the face of his father Terah in the land of his nativity at Ur of the Chaldeans.

29 And Abram and Nahor took wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, a daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and the father of Iscah.

30 And Sarai was barren: she had no child.

31 And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth together out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to go into the land of Canaan, and came as far as Haran, and dwelt there.

32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years; and Terah died in Haran.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #1311

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1311. And Jehovah came down. That this signifies judgment upon them, is evident from what has gone before and from what follows, and also from the signification of “coming down,” when predicated of Jehovah; from what has gone before, in that the subject has been the building of the city and tower of Babel; from what follows, in that the subject is the confusion of lips and of dispersion; from the signification of “coming down,” when predicated of Jehovah, in that this is said when judgment takes place. Jehovah or the Lord is everywhere present and knows all things from eternity; and therefore it cannot be said of Him that He came down to see, except in the literal sense, where it is so said according to the appearances with man. But in the internal sense it is not so, for in this sense the subject is presented as it is in itself, and not according to the appearances; so that in the passage before us “to come down to see” signifies judgment.

[2] Judgment is predicated of a state when evil has reached its highest, or, as it is termed in the Word, when it is “consummated,” or when “iniquity is consummated.” For the case herein is that all evil has its limits as far as which it is permitted to go; but when it goes beyond these limits, it incurs the penalty of the evil. This is so both in particular and in general. The punishment of evil is what is then called a judgment. And because it appears at first as if the Lord did not see or observe that the evil exists-for when a man does evil without punishment, he supposes that the Lord troubles not Himself about the matter, but when he undergoes the penalty he begins to think that the Lord sees, and even that the Lord inflicts the punishment-it is therefore said, in accordance with these appearances, that Jehovah came down to see.

[3] To “come down” is predicated of Jehovah, because “the highest” is predicated of Him, that is, He is said to be in the highest, and this too according to the appearance, for He is not in things highest but in things inmost, and this is the reason why in the Word what is highest and what is inmost have the same signification. On the other hand, judgment or the penalty of evil takes place in lower and lowest things. This explains why He is said to “come down;” as also in David:

O Jehovah, bow Thy heavens and come down; touch the mountains and they shall smoke; cast forth lightning and scatter them (Psalms 144:5-6),

where the punishment of evil, or judgment, is signified.

In Isaiah:

Jehovah of Armies shall come down to fight upon Mount Zion, and upon the hill thereof (Isaiah 31:4).

And again:

O that Thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at Thy presence (Isaiah 64:1).

Here in like manner to “come down” denotes the penalty, or judgment, inflicted upon evil.

In Micah:

Jehovah cometh forth out of His place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth, and the mountains shall be molten under Him (Micah 1:3-4).

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