Die Bibel

 

Genesis 33:1

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1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. And he distributed the children to Leah, and to Rachel, and to the two maidservants:

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Arcana Coelestia #4338

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4338. Verses 1-3. And Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. And he divided the sons over towards Leah, and over towards Rachel, and over towards the two servant-girls. And he put the servant-girls and their sons first, and Leah and her sons further back, and Rachel and Joseph even further back. And he himself passed over in front of them, and bowed to the ground seven times, until he came right up to his brother.

'Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw' means the perception and the attention of the good of truth, meant by 'Jacob'. 'And behold, Esau was coming' means Divine Natural Good. 'And four hundred men with him' means a state. 'And he divided the sons over towards Leah' means the deployment of external truths beneath their own specific affection. 'And over towards Rachel' means the deployment of interior truths beneath their own specific affection. 'And over towards the two servant-girls' means beneath the affection for the things that serve those two affections. 'And he put the servant-girls and their sons first, and Leah and her sons further back, and Rachel and Joseph even further back' means an ordering beginning with general things in which all else is included. 'And he himself passed over in front of them' means that which is universal, and so means all things. 'And bowed to the ground seven times' means the submission of all things. 'Until he came right up to his brother' means a joining on the part of good that develops from truth, meant by 'Jacob'.

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

Kommentar

 

Eyes

  
Photo courtesy of [http://www.flickr.com/people/14541549@N06 couscouschocolat]

It's common to say “I see” when we understand something. And indeed, “seeing” in the Bible represents grasping and understanding spiritual things. So it makes sense that the eyes, which allow us to see, represent the intellect, which allows us to understand spiritual things. This can also be used in the negative, of course; the Bible speaks of people having eyes and refusing to see, and the Lord when He was in the world advised plucking out an offending eye. These represent a refusal to acknowledge truth, or being misled by falsity.