Die Bibel

 

Genesis 33:15

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15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee [some] of the people that are with me. And he said, What need? Let me find favour in the eyes of my lord.

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Arcana Coelestia #4339

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4339. 'Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw' means the perception and the attention of the good of truth, meant by 'Jacob'. This is clear from the meaning of 'lifting up the eyes and seeing' as perception and attention. For 'lifting up the eyes' is an external action which corresponds to a raising of the mind, an internal activity, and so corresponds to perception, while 'seeing' corresponds to consequent attention. Also, 'Jacob' at this point represents the good of truth, see just above in 4337.

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

Kommentar

 

Fall

  
Dempsey and Firpo, by Bellows.

Most of the time, falling means a lowering in spiritual state, from one closer to the Lord to one further. But, as with other common verbs, the meaning of "fall" is highly dependent on context in regular language, and in the spiritual sense as well. People fall on their faces in prayer, fall in battle, fall on others to attack them and fall on each other's necks in greeting. Stars fall from the sky, mountains fall on people, cities fall, and even faces fall. There's a lot of falling, in very different circumstances. When people fall on their faces in prayer -- it shows humility, and an acknowledgement of their own low state and need for the Lord's help. When they fall on each other's necks, it means a communication between the two spiritual states. At the other end of the scale, it illustrates complete spiritual destruction in the fall of a city.