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Genesis 23

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1 En het leven van Sara was honderd zeven en twintig jaren; dit waren de jaren des levens van Sara.

2 En Sara stierf te Kiriath-Arba, dat is Hebron, in het land Kanaan; en Abraham kwam om Sara te beklagen, en haar te bewenen.

3 Daarna stond Abraham op van het aangezicht van zijner dode, en hij sprak tot de zonen Heths, zeggende:

4 Ik ben een vreemdeling en inwoner bij u; geef mij een erfbegrafenis bij u, opdat ik mijn dode van voor mijn aangezicht begrave.

5 En de zonen Heths antwoordden Abraham, zeggende tot hem:

6 Hoor ons, mijn heer! gij zijt een vorst Gods in het midden van ons; begraaf uw dode in de keure onzer graven; niemand van ons zal zijn graf voor u weren, dat gij uw dode niet zoudt begraven.

7 Toen stond Abraham op, en boog zich neder voor het volk des lands, voor de zonen Heths;

8 En hij sprak met hen, zeggende: Is het met uw wil, dat ik mijn dode begrave van voor mijn aangezicht; zo hoort mij, en spreekt voor mij bij Efron, den zoon van Zohar,

9 Dat hij mij geve de spelonk van Machpela, die hij heeft, die in het einde van zijn akker is, dat hij dezelve mij om het volle geld geve, tot een erfbegrafenis in het midden van u.

10 Efron nu zat in het midden van de zonen Heths; en Efron de Hethiet antwoordde Abraham, voor de oren van de zonen Heths, van al degenen, die ter poorte zijner stad ingingen, zeggende:

11 Neen, mijn heer! hoor mij; den akker geef ik u; ook de spelonk, die daarin is, die geef ik u; voor de ogen van de zonen mijns volks geef ik u die; begraaf uw dode.

12 Toen boog zich Abraham neder voor het aangezicht van het volk des lands;

13 En hij sprak tot Efron, voor de oren van het volk des lands, zeggende: Trouwens, zijt gij het? lieve, hoor mij; ik zal het geld des akkers geven; neem het van mij, zo zal ik mijn dode aldaar begraven.

14 En Efron antwoordde Abraham, zeggende tot hem:

15 Mijn heer! hoor mij; een land van vierhonderd sikkelen zilvers, wat is dat tussen mij en tussen u? begraaf slechts uw dode.

16 En Abraham luisterde naar Efron; en Abraham woog Efron het geld, waarvan hij gesproken had voor de oren van de zonen Heths, vierhonderd sikkelen zilvers, onder den koopman gangbaar.

17 Alzo werd de akker van Efron, die in Machpela was, dat tegenover Mamre lag, de akker en de spelonk, die daarin was, en al het geboomte, dat op den akker stond, dat rondom in zijn ganse landpale was gevestigd,

18 Aan Abraham tot een bezitting, voor de ogen van de zonen Heths, bij allen, die tot zijn stadspoort ingingen.

19 En daarna begroef Abraham zijn huisvrouw Sara in de spelonk des akkers van Machpela, tegenover Mamre, hetwelk is Hebron, in het land Kanaan.

20 Alzo werd die akker, en de spelonk die daarin was, aan Abraham gevestigd tot een erfbegrafenis van de zonen Heths.

   

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #2959

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2959. 'The land [is worth] four hundred shekels of silver' means the price of redemption by means of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'four hundred shekels', dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'silver' as truth, dealt with in 1551, 2048, 2937. The reason 'four hundred shekels' means the price of redemption is that 'four hundred' means vastation and 'a shekel' price. What vastation is, see 2455 (end), 2682, 2694, 2699, 2702, 2704, where it is shown that there are two types of vastation. The first takes place when the Church altogether ceases to exist, that is, when there is no longer any charity or faith. At that point the Church is said to be vastated or laid waste. The second takes place when those who belong to the Church are reduced to a state of ignorance and also of temptation, for the reason that the evils and falsities residing with them are to be set apart and so to speak dissipated. Those who emerge from this vastation are those who are specifically called the redeemed, for at that point they are taught the goods and truths of faith, and are reformed and regenerated by the Lord, as shown in the paragraphs quoted. Now since the number four hundred, when used to specify a period of time - such as four hundred years - means the duration and also the state of vastation, so that same number, when used to specify the number of shekels, means the price of redemption; and when the word 'silver' is mentioned together with this number, the price of redemption by means of truth is meant.

[2] That 'four hundred years' means the duration and the state of vastation becomes clear also from what Abraham was told,

Jehovah said to Abraham, 1 Know for sure that your seed will be strangers in a land not theirs. And they will serve them, and these will afflict them for four hundred years. Genesis 15:13.

There it may be seen that 'four hundred years' is used to mean the duration of the stay of the children of Israel in Egypt. Yet it is not the duration of their stay in Egypt that is meant but something that is not evident to anyone except from the internal sense. This becomes clear from the fact that the duration of the stay of the children of Israel in Egypt was no more than half the stated period, as becomes quite clear from the descendants of Jacob down to Moses. For the facts are that Levi was descended from Jacob, Kohath from Levi, Amram from Kohath, and Aaron and Moses from Amram, Exodus 6:16-20; Levi and his son Kohath went down to Egypt together with Jacob, Genesis 46:11; and Moses came two generations later, and was eighty years old when he spoke to Pharaoh, Exodus 7:7. These facts show that the period of time from Jacob's entry into Egypt until his sons' departure from that land was approximately two hundred and fifteen years.

[3] That 'four hundred' is used in the Word to mean something other than its numerical value in the historical sense is clearer still from its being said that

The length of time that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years, and at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it happened on that same day, that all the armies of Jehovah went out of the land of Egypt. Exodus 12:40-41.

The duration of the stay of the children of Israel in that land was in fact only half that number of years; but it was from Abraham's entry into Egypt that the four hundred and thirty years were measured. Consequently what is said at this point in Exodus is for the sake of the internal sense Lying within those words. In the internal sense the sojourn of the sons of Jacob in Egypt represents and means the vastation of the Church, the state and duration of which are described by the number four hundred and thirty years. Thirty describes the state of vastation of the sons of Jacob as being no vastation at all, for they were such as could not be reformed through any state of vastation (for the meaning of the number thirty, see 2276); and 'four hundred years' represents the general state of vastation of those who belonged to the Church.

[4] Those therefore who come out of that vastation are referred to as the redeemed, as is also evident from the words addressed to Moses,

Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from beneath the burdens of Egypt, and I will rescue you from their slavery, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgements. Exodus 6:6.

And elsewhere,

Jehovah has brought you out by means of a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slaves, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Deuteronomy 7:8; 13:5.

And elsewhere,

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, but Jehovah your God redeemed you. Deuteronomy 15:15; 24:18.

In Samuel,

Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt. 2 Samuel 7:23.

Since those who emerge from the state of vastation are referred to as the redeemed, 'four hundred shekels' therefore means the price of redemption.

[5] As regards 'a shekel' meaning the price or valuation, this is clear from the following places in the Word: In Moses,

All your valuations shall be according to the shekel of holiness. Leviticus 27:25.

And elsewhere,

If a soul commits a trespass and has sinned inadvertently in the holy things of Jehovah, he shall bring his guilt offering to Jehovah, a ram without blemish out of the flock, according to your valuation in silver shekels, according to the shekel of holiness. Leviticus 5:15.

From this it is evident that 'a shekel' means the price or valuation. It is called 'the shekel of holiness' because the price or valuation has regard to truth and good from the Lord - truth and good from the Lord being, within the Church, holiness itself. Consequently it is called 'the shekel of holiness' many times elsewhere, as in Exodus 30:24; Leviticus 27:3; Numbers 3:47, 50; 7:13, 19, 25, 31, 37, 43, 49, 55, 61, 67, 73; 18:16.

[6] That 'a shekel' is the price of what is holy is quite evident in Ezekiel when the holy land and the holy city are the subject. There the shekel is referred to as follows,

The shekel there shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh (pound). Ezekiel 45:12.

Anyone may see that here 'shekel', 'pound', and the numbers mentioned mean holy things, that is, good and truth, for the holy land and the holy city or new Jerusalem, which are the subject there, mean nothing else than the Lord's kingdom where neither shekel, nor gerahs, nor pound, nor the numbering of them occurs. But the number itself, from the meaning it has in the internal sense, determines the valuation or price of good and truth.

[7] In Moses it is said that every man (vir) should give a ransom for his soul, so that there would be no plague. He had to give half a shekel, according to the shekel of holiness, a shekel being twenty gerahs. Half a shekel was to be the thruma (offering) to Jehovah, Exodus 30:12-13. Here ten gerahs, which make half a shekel, are remnants which are received from the Lord. Remnants are goods and truths stored away with a person - such remnants, being meant by 'ten', see 576, 1738, 1906, 2284. That remnants are goods and truths from the Lord that are stored away with a person, see 1906, 2284. Consequently they are also called 'the thruma (or offering) to Jehovah', and it is said that by means of this a soul will be redeemed. The reason it is stated several times that a shekel was twenty gerahs, as in these verses from Exodus, and also in Leviticus 27:25; Numbers 3:47; 18:16; and elsewhere, is that the shekel of twenty gerahs means the valuation of the good preserved in remnants - twenty meaning the good preserved in remnants, see 2280. Also therefore a shekel was a weight according to which the price of both gold and silver was determined, Genesis 24:22; Exodus 38:24; Ezekiel 4:10; 45:12 - the price of gold because 'gold' means good, 113, 1551, 1552, and the price of silver because 'silver' means truth, 1551, 2048. From this it is now evident that 'the land [is worth] four hundred shekels of silver' means the price of redemption by means of truth. The reason it is called 'the land' is that the spiritual Church is the subject, which is reformed and regenerated by means of truth received from the Lord, 2954. That 'the land' means the Church, see 662, 1066, 1068, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end).

Fußnoten:

1. In Genesis 15 the patriarch's name is still Abram.

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

Die Bibel

 

Exodus 12

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1 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

2 "This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household;

4 and if the household is too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls; according to what everyone can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.

5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:

6 and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening.

7 They shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they shall eat it.

8 They shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs.

9 Don't eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire; with its head, its legs and its inner parts.

10 You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.

11 This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is Yahweh's Passover.

12 For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Yahweh.

13 The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be on you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

14 This day shall be to you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to Yahweh: throughout your generations you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.

15 "'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

16 In the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no kind of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you.

17 You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this same day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.

18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at evening.

19 Seven days shall there be no yeast found in your houses, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a foreigner, or one who is born in the land.

20 You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.'"

21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, "Draw out, and take lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover.

22 You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.

23 For Yahweh will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two doorposts, Yahweh will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you.

24 You shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever.

25 It shall happen when you have come to the land which Yahweh will give you, according as he has promised, that you shall keep this service.

26 It will happen, when your children ask you, 'What do you mean by this service?'

27 that you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of Yahweh's Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, and spared our houses.'" The people bowed their heads and worshiped.

28 The children of Israel went and did so; as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

29 It happened at midnight, that Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of livestock.

30 Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

31 He called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, "Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel; and go, serve Yahweh, as you have said!

32 Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also!"

33 The Egyptians were urgent with the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, "We are all dead men."

34 The people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes on their shoulders.

35 The children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing.

36 Yahweh gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. They despoiled the Egyptians.

37 The children of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot who were men, besides children.

38 A mixed multitude went up also with them, with flocks, herds, and even very much livestock.

39 They baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt; for it wasn't leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt, and couldn't wait, neither had they prepared for themselves any food.

40 Now the time that the children of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years.

41 It happened at the end of four hundred thirty years, even the same day it happened, that all the armies of Yahweh went out from the land of Egypt.

42 It is a night to be much observed to Yahweh for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of Yahweh, to be much observed of all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

43 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it,

44 but every man's servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat of it.

45 A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat of it.

46 In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth anything of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall you break a bone of it.

47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.

48 When a stranger shall live as a foreigner with you, and will keep the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one who is born in the land: but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.

49 One law shall be to him who is born at home, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you."

50 All the children of Israel did so. As Yahweh commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

51 It happened the same day, that Yahweh brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.

   

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