Die Bibel

 

Genesis 35

Lernen

   

1 Daarna zeide God tot Jakob: Maak u op, trek op naar Beth-El, en woon aldaar; en maak daar een altaar dien God, Die u verscheen, toen gij vluchttet voor het aangezicht van uw broeder Ezau.

2 Toen zeide Jakob tot zijn huisgezin, en tot allen, die bij hem waren: Doet weg de vreemde goden, die in het midden van u zijn, en reinigt u, en verandert uw klederen;

3 En laat ons ons opmaken, en optrekken naar Beth-El; en ik zal daar een altaar maken dien God, Die mij antwoordt ten dage mijner benauwdheid, en met mij geweest is op den weg, die ik gewandeld heb.

4 Toen gaven zij Jakob al die vreemde goden, die in hun hand waren, en de oorsierselen, die aan hun oren waren, en Jakob verborg ze onder den eikeboom, die bij Sichem is.

5 En zij reisden heen; en Gods verschrikking was over de steden, die rondom hen waren, zodat zij de zonen van Jakob niet achterna jaagden.

6 Alzo kwam Jakob te Luz, hetwelk is in het land Kanaan (dat is Beth-El), hij en al het volk, dat bij hem was.

7 En hij bouwde aldaar een altaar, en noemde die plaats El Beth-El; want God was hem aldaar geopenbaard geweest, als hij voor zijns broeders aangezicht vlood.

8 En Debora, de voedster van Rebekka, stierf, en zij werd begraven onder aan Beth-El; onder dien eik, welks naam hij noemde Allon-Bachuth.

9 En God verscheen Jakob wederom, als hij van Paddan-Aram gekomen was; en Hij zegende hem.

10 En God zeide tot hem: Uw naam is Jakob, uw naam zal voortaan niet Jakob genoemd worden, maar Israel zal uw naam zijn; en Hij noemde zijn naam Israel.

11 Voorts zeide God tot hem: Ik ben God de Almachtige! wees vruchtbaar, en vermenigvuldig! Een volk, ja, een hoop der volken zal uit u worden, en koningen zullen uit uw lenden voortkomen.

12 En dit land, dat Ik aan Abraham en Izak gegeven heb, dat zal Ik u geven; en aan uw zaad na u zal Ik dit land geven.

13 Toen voer God van hem op in die plaats, waar Hij met hem gesproken had.

14 En Jakob stelde een opgericht teken op in die plaats, waar Hij met hem gesproken had, een stenen opgericht teken; en hij stortte daarop drankoffer, en goot olie daarover.

15 En Jakob noemde den naam dier plaats, alwaar God met hem gesproken had, Beth-El.

16 En zij reisden van Beth-El; en er was nog een kleine streek lands om tot Efrath te komen; en Rachel baarde, en zij had het hard in haar baren.

17 En het geschiedde, als zij het hard had in haar baren, zo zeide de vroedvrouw tot haar: Vrees niet; want deze zoon zult gij ook hebben!

18 En het geschiedde, als haar ziel uitging (want zij stierf), dat zij zijn naam noemde Ben-oni; maar zijn vader noemde hem Benjamin.

19 Alzo stierf Rachel; en zij werd begraven aan den weg naar Efrath, hetwelk is Bethlehem.

20 En Jakob richtte een gedenkteken op boven haar graf, dit is het gedenkteken van Rachels graf tot op dezen dag.

21 Toen verreisde Israel, en hij spande zijn tent op gene zijde van Migdal-Eder.

22 En het geschiedde, als Israel in dat land woonde, dat Ruben heenging, en lag bij Bilha, zijns vaders bijwijf; en Israel hoorde het. En de zonen van Jakob waren twaalf.

23 De zonen van Lea waren: Ruben, Jakobs eerstgeborene, daarna Simeon, en Levi, en Juda, en Issaschar, en Zebulon.

24 De zonen van Rachel: Jozef en Benjamin.

25 En de zonen van Bilha, Rachels dienstmaagd: Dan en Nafthali.

26 En de zonen van Zilpa, Lea's dienstmaagd: Gad en Aser. Deze zijn de zonen van Jakob, die hem geboren zijn in Paddan-Aram.

27 En Jakob kwam tot Izak, zijn vader, in Mamre, te Kirjath-Arba, hetwelk is Hebron, waar Abraham als vreemdeling had verkeerd, en Izak.

28 En de dagen van Izak waren honderd jaren, en tachtig jaren.

29 En Izak gaf den geest en stierf, en werd verzameld tot zijn volken, oud en zat van dagen; en zijn zonen Ezau en Jakob begroeven hem.

   

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #4545

studieren Sie diesen Abschnitt

  
/ 10837  
  

4545. 'And be purified, and change your garments' means the holiness that was to be put on. This is clear from the meaning of 'being purified' or being cleansed as being made holy, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'changing one's garments' as putting on, in this case putting on holy truths, for in the internal sense of the Word truths are meant by 'garments'. It is quite evident that 'changing one's garments' was an accepted representative within the Church, but what that custom represented no one can know unless he knows what 'garments' means in the internal sense - namely truths, see 2576. Because in the internal sense the casting aside of falsities and the arrangement by good of truths within the natural is the subject here, it is therefore recorded that Jacob commanded them to change their garments.

[2] 'Changing their garments' was representative of the need to put on holy truths, as may also be seen from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion, put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city, for there will no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Isaiah 52:1.

Since 'Zion' means the celestial Church and 'Jerusalem' the spiritual Church, and the celestial Church is that which dwells in good by virtue of its love to the Lord, and the spiritual Church in truth by virtue of its faith and charity, 'strength' is therefore used in reference to Zion, and 'garments' in reference to Jerusalem. And when clothed with these the two are 'clean'.

[3] In Zechariah,

Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and so stood before the angel. And [the angel] answered and said to those standing before him - he said - Remove the filthy garments from upon him. And he said to him, See, I have caused your iniquity to pass away from upon you, by putting on you a change of garments Zechariah 3:3-4.

From this place too it is evident that 'removing garments' and 'putting on a change of garments' represented purification from falsities, for the words 'I have caused your iniquity to pass away from upon you' are used. This also explains why people had changes of garments - which they called simply 'changes', an expression occurring in various places in the Word - because different representations were set forth by means of those changes.

[4] Because the kinds of things mentioned here were represented by changes of garments it is therefore said in Ezekiel, in the description of the new Temple, which in the internal sense means a new Church,

When the priests enter they shall not go out of the holy place to the outer court, but there shall lay aside their garments in which they have ministered, for these are holy, 1 and they shall put on other garments and go near the things which are for the people. Ezekiel 42:14.

And in the same prophet,

When they go out to the outer court, to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, and they shall not sanctify the people in their own garments. 2 Ezekiel 44:19.

[5] Anyone may see that a new temple and the holy city and land which are referred to by the prophet in this chapter, and in the chapters before and after it, are not used to mean any new temple, new city, or new land. For reference is made to sacrifices and religious ceremonies being introduced anew, when in fact these had to be brought to an end; and mention is also made of how the tribes of Israel, referred to by name, were to divide the land among themselves into inheritances, when in fact they were dispersed and never returned to the land. From this it is evident that the religious ceremonies referred to in those chapters mean the spiritual and celestial things constituting the Church. Much the same is meant by Aaron's change of garments when he was going to minister, to offer a burnt offering; in Moses,

He shall put on his linen robe, and linen breeches. He shall place the ashes at the side of the altar. After he takes off his own garments and puts on other garments he shall carry away the ashes to a clean place outside the camp. Leviticus 6:9-12.

This was what he had to do when offering the burnt offering.

[6] As regards 'being cleansed' meaning being made holy, this may be seen from the cleansings that were commanded, such as the command to wash their flesh and their garments, and the command to be sprinkled with the waters of separation. Everyone who knows anything about the spiritual man may also recognize that nobody is made holy by carrying out commands such as these. For what does iniquity or sin have to do with the garments a person is wearing? Yet it is stated several times that after people had cleansed themselves they would be holy. From this it is also evident that such rituals which the Israelites were commanded to carry out were in no way holy except by virtue of their representation of holy things, and that as a consequence people who served as representers did not on that account become holy persons. It was the holiness they represented, quite apart from them as actual persons, that stirred the affections of the spirits present with them, and through these the affections of the angels in heaven, 4307.

[7] For in order that the human race may be kept in being, human beings must of necessity live in communication with heaven; and that communication is effected through the Church. Otherwise human beings would become like animals, lacking any restraints internally or externally, so that all would plunge unchecked into the destruction of others and would annihilate one another. And because in the time of the Israelites no communication through any Church was possible, the Lord therefore provided in an amazing way for a communication to be effected by means of representatives. It is evident from many places in the Word that being made holy was represented by the ritual observance of washing and cleansing, as when Jehovah came down on Mount Sinai and then said to Moses,

Make them holy today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready on the third day. Exodus 19:10-11.

In Ezekiel,

I will sprinkle clean water over you, and you will be cleansed from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I give in the midst of you. Ezekiel 36:25-26.

Here it is plain that 'sprinkling clean water' represented purification of the heart, so that 'being cleansed' means being made holy.

Fußnoten:

1. literally, holiness

2. The Latin means they shall sanctify the people in other garments, but the Hebrew means they shall not sanctify the people in their own garments, which Swedenborg has in another place where he quotes this verse.

  
/ 10837  
  

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