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Genesis 33

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1 En Jakob hief zijn ogen op en zag; en ziet, Ezau kwam, en vierhonderd mannen met hem. Toen verdeelde hij de kinderen onder Lea, en onder Rachel, en onder de twee dienstmaagden.

2 En hij stelde de dienstmaagden en haar kinderen vooraan; en Lea en haar kinderen meer achterwaarts; maar Rachel en Jozef de achterste.

3 En hij ging voorbij hun aangezicht heen, en hij boog zich zeven malen ter aarde, totdat hij bij zijn broeder kwam.

4 Toen liep Ezau hem tegemoet, en nam hem in den arm, en viel hem aan den hals, en kuste hem; en zij weenden.

5 Daarna hief hij zijn ogen op, en zag die vrouwen en die kinderen, en zeide: Wie zijn deze bij u? En hij zeide: De kinderen, die God aan uw knecht genadiglijk verleend heeft.

6 Toen traden de dienstmaagden toe, zij en haar kinderen, en zij bogen zich neder.

7 En Lea trad ook toe, met haar kinderen, en zij bogen zich neder; en daarna trad Jozef toe en Rachel, en zij bogen zich neder.

8 En hij zeide: Voor wien is u al dit heir, dat ik ontmoet heb? En hij zeide: Om genade te vinden in de ogen mijns heren!

9 Maar Ezau zeide: Ik heb veel, mijn broeder! het zij het uwe, wat gij hebt!

10 Toen zeide Jakob: Och neen! indien ik nu genade in uw ogen gevonden heb, zo neem mijn geschenk van mijn hand; daarom, omdat ik uw aangezicht gezien heb, als had ik Gods aangezicht gezien, en gij welgevallen aan mij genomen hebt.

11 Neem toch mijn zegen, die u tegemoet gebracht is, dewijl het God mij genadiglijk verleend heeft, en dewijl ik alles heb; en hij hield bij hem aan, zodat hij het nam.

12 En hij zeide: Laat ons reizen en voorttrekken; en ik zal voor u trekken.

13 Maar hij zeide tot hem: Mijn heer weet, dat deze kinderen teder zijn, en dat ik zogende schapen en koeien bij mij heb; indien men dezelve maar een dag afdrijft, zo zal de gehele kudde sterven.

14 Mijn heer trekke toch voorbij, voor het aangezicht van zijn knecht; en ik zal mij op mijn gemak als leidsman voegen, naar den gang van het werk, hetwelk voor mijn aangezicht is, en naar den gang dezer kinderen, totdat ik bij mijn heer te Seir kome.

15 En Ezau zeide: Laat mij toch van dit volk, dat met mij is, u bijstellen. En hij zeide: Waartoe dat? laat mij genade vinden in mijns heren ogen!

16 Alzo keerde Ezau dien dag wederom zijns weegs naar Seir toe.

17 Maar Jakob reisde naar Sukkoth, en bouwde een huis voor zich, en maakte hutten voor zijn vee; daarom noemde hij den naam dier plaats Sukkoth.

18 En Jakob kwam behouden tot de stad Sichem, welke is in het land Kanaan, als hij kwam van Paddan-Aram; en hij legerde zich in het gezicht der stad.

19 En hij kocht een deel des velds, waarop hij zijn tent gespannen had, van de hand der zonen van Hemor, den vader van Sichem, voor honderd stukken gelds.

20 En hij richte aldaar een altaar op, en noemde het: De God Israels is God!

   

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #6306

studieren Sie diesen Abschnitt

  
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6306. 'Which I took out of the hand of the Amorite' means because of the victory over evil. This is clear from the representation of 'the Amorite' as evil, dealt with in 1857; and from the meaning of 'taking out of the hand' as acquiring through victory. As regards 'the Amorites', it should be recognized that they mean evil, just as 'the Canaanites' and all the other nations in the land that are mentioned in the Word mean various kinds of evil and also of falsity. Such things were represented by the nations when the children of Israel were taking possession of the land of Canaan. The reason for this was that whenever the children of Israel represented the things of heaven those nations represented the things of hell; thus the land of Canaan represented every state that exists in the next life. Also, because the nations represented the things of hell they were utterly destroyed; and entrance into any treaty with those who might remain was forbidden.

[2] The action of the children of Israel, of their taking possession of and dwelling in the land of those who represented the hells, was representative. It represented what happened around the time of the Lord's Coming, when spirits from hell had possession of a large part of heaven but He, by coming into the world and making the human within Himself Divine, cast them out of there and down into hell, and thereby delivered heaven from them, which He then gave as an inheritance to those who belonged to His spiritual kingdom.

[3] The representation of the Amorite nation as evil in general is evident from the places where it is referred to, as in Ezekiel, Thus said the Lord Jehovih to Jerusalem, 1 Your tradings and your births are of the land of the Canaanite. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. Ezekiel 16:3, 45.

'Father' in the internal sense means the Church's good, or in the contrary sense evil, and 'mother' means the Church's truth, or in the contrary sense falsity; and this is why it is said, 'Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite'.

[4] In Amos,

I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and whose strength was like the oaks. I led you in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. Amos 2:9-10.

Here also 'the Amorite' stands for evil, for the evil of self-love is described by 'the height of the cedars' and 'the strength of an oak'. The reason why 'the Amorite' means evil in general is that the entire land of Canaan was called 'the land of the Amorite'; for it says, 'I led you in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite'. In addition the second Book of Kings says,

Manasseh king of Judah did what was evil, greater than all the evil which the Amorites did, who were before him. 2 Kings 21:11.

[5] 'With my sword' means through truth engaged in conflict. This is clear from the meaning of 'sword' as truth engaged in conflict, dealt with in 2799, 4499.

'And my bow' means received from doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of 'bow' as doctrine, dealt with in 2686, 2709.

[6] The words used here, 'the portion which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow' were, it is quite evident, uttered by Israel on account of the internal sense; for Jacob did not take that portion from the Amorite with sword or bow. He bought it from the sons of Hamor, as is evident from Genesis 33, where these words occur, Jacob came to Salem, the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, as he was coming from Paddan Aram; and he encamped towards the face of the city. And he bought the portion of the field where he had stretched his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs. Genesis 33:18-19.

The fact that this field was the portion he gave to Joseph is clear in Joshua,

The bones of Joseph which the children of Israel caused to be brought up out of Egypt they buried in Shechem, in the part of the field which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs; and they had become an inheritance for the children of Joseph. Joshua 24:32.

From this it is evident that the portion had been bought, and that this is what was given to Joseph. Nor was the city of Shechem nearby meant, the city in which Simeon and Levi killed every male and which they took with the sword, Genesis 34. This is made clear by the fact that Jacob detested what they did and for that reason cursed Simeon and Levi, completely dissociating himself from the crime. He said,

Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of violence are their swords. Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, and in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was hard. 2 I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. Genesis 49:5-7.

From all this it may now be seen that the words 'the portion which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow' were uttered by him, when the spirit of prophecy rested on him, for the sake of the internal sense.

Fußnoten:

1. The Latin means O Jerusalem but the Hebrew means to Jerusalem, which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse (and possibly in his rough draft here).

2. i.e. cruel

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