Die Bibel

 

1 Mose 28

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1 Und Isaak rief Jakob und segnete ihn; und er gebot ihm und sprach zu ihm: Du sollst nicht ein Weib nehmen von den Töchtern Kanaans.

2 Mache dich auf, gehe nach Paddan-Aram, (Siehe die Anmerkung zu Kap. 25,20) zum Hause Bethuels, des Vaters deiner Mutter; und nimm dir von dort ein Weib von den Töchtern Labans, des Bruders deiner Mutter.

3 Und Gott, (El) der Allmächtige, segne dich und mache dich fruchtbar und mehre dich, daß du zu einer Schar von Völkern werdest;

4 und er gebe dir den Segen Abrahams, dir und deinem Samen mit dir, auf daß du besitzest das Land deiner Fremdlingschaft, das Gott dem Abraham gegeben hat!

5 Und Isaak entließ Jakob; und er ging nach Paddan-Aram zu Laban, dem Sohne Bethuels, des Aramäers, dem Bruder ebekkas, der Mutter Jakobs und Esaus. -

6 Und als Esau sah, daß Isaak den Jakob gesegnet und ihn nach Paddan-Aram entlassen hatte, um sich von dort ein Weib zu nehmen, indem er ihn segnete und ihm gebot und sprach: Du sollst nicht ein Weib nehmen von den Töchtern Kanaans,

7 und daß Jakob seinem Vater und seiner Mutter gehorcht hatte und nach Paddan-Aram gegangen war:

8 als Esau sah, daß die Töchter Kanaans übel waren in den Augen seines Vaters Isaak,

9 da ging Esau hin zu Ismael und nahm sich zum Weibe Machalath, die Tochter Ismaels, des Sohnes Abrahams, die Schwester Nebajoths, zu seinen anderen Weibern hinzu.

10 Und Jakob zog aus von Beerseba und ging nach Haran.

11 Und er gelangte an einen Ort und übernachtete daselbst; denn die Sonne war untergegangen. Und er nahm einen von den Steinen des Ortes und legte ihn zu seinen Häupten und legte sich nieder an selbigem Orte.

12 Und er träumte: und siehe, eine Leiter war auf die Erde gestellt, und ihre Spitze rührte an den Himmel; und siehe, Engel Gottes stiegen auf und nieder an ihr.

13 Und siehe, Jehova stand über ihr und sprach: Ich bin Jehova, der Gott Abrahams, deines Vaters, und der Gott Isaaks; das Land, auf welchem du liegst, dir will ich es geben und deinem Samen.

14 Und dein Same soll werden wie der Staub der Erde, und du wirst dich ausbreiten nach Westen und nach Osten und nach Norden und nach Süden hin; und in dir und in deinem Samen sollen gesegnet werden alle Geschlechter der Erde.

15 Und siehe, ich bin mit dir, und ich will dich behüten überall, wohin du gehst, und dich zurückbringen in dieses Land; denn ich werde dich nicht verlassen, bis ich getan was ich zu dir geredet habe.

16 Und Jakob erwachte von seinem Schlafe und sprach: Fürwahr, Jehova ist an diesem Orte, und ich wußte es nicht!

17 Und er fürchtete sich und sprach: Wie furchtbar ist dieser Ort! Dies ist nichts anderes als Gottes Haus, und dies die Pforte des Himmels.

18 Und Jakob stand des Morgens früh auf und nahm den Stein, den er zu seinen Häupten gelegt hatte, und stellte ihn auf als Denkmal und goß Öl auf seine Spitze.

19 Und er gab selbigem Orte den Namen Bethel; (Haus Gottes) aber im Anfang war Lus der Name der Stadt.

20 Und Jakob tat ein Gelübde und sprach: Wenn Gott mit mir ist und mich behütet auf diesem Wege, den ich gehe, und mir Brot zu essen gibt und Kleider anzuziehen,

21 und ich in Frieden zurückkehre zum Hause meines Vaters, so soll Jehova mein Gott (Eig. mir zum Gott sein) sein.

22 Und dieser Stein, den ich als Denkmal aufgestellt habe, soll ein Haus Gottes sein; und von allem, was du mir geben wirst, werde ich dir gewißlich den Zehnten geben.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #4835

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4835. 'Come [in] to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her' means that this - that representative of the Church - might be continued. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming (or going in) to a brother's wife and performing the duty of a husband's brother to her' as preserving and continuing that which constitutes the Church. The requirement laid down in the Mosaic Law, that if a man died without issue his brother was to marry his widow and raise up seed for his brother, and that the firstborn was to receive his dead brother's name, whereas all other sons were to be his own, was called the duty of a brother-in-law. The fact that this directive was nothing new in the Jewish Church but a practice already in existence is clear from the words used here; and the same goes for many other directives given to the Israelites through Moses, such as the law forbidding them to take wives from the daughters of the Canaanites and requiring them to marry within their own families, Genesis 24:3-4; 28:1-2. From these and many other examples it is evident that a Church had existed previously in which the same kind of practices were followed as those at a later time which were declared to and demanded of the sons of Jacob. Altars and sacrifices likewise had been in use since ancient times, as is evident from Genesis 8:20-21; 22:3, 7-8. From this it is plain that the Jewish Church was not a new Church but a revival of the Ancient Church which had perished.

[2] What the law regarding the duty of a brother-in-law had been is clear in Moses,

If brothers dwell together but one of them dies, and has no son, the wife of the dead one shall not marry a stranger outside [the family]; her brother-in-law shall go in to her, and take her to himself as his wife, and so perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her. Then it will happen, that the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, so that his name is not wiped out from Israel. But if the man is unwilling to take his sister-in-law, his sister-in-law shall go up to the gate to the elders, and she shall say, My brother-in-law refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me. Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him; and if he stands and says, I do not desire to take her, his sister-in-law shall go up to him in the sight of the elders, and she shall remove his shoe from upon his foot and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, So will it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house. Therefore his name will be called in Israel, The house of him who has his shoe taken off. Deuteronomy 25:5-10.

[3] Anyone who does not know what the duty of a brother-in-law represents inevitably believes that the practice existed solely for the sake of preserving a name and consequently an inheritance. But the preservation of a name and an inheritance was not in itself a great enough reason why a brother should have been required to enter into a marriage with his sister-in-law. Rather, the practice was ordained so that the preservation and continuation of the Church might be represented through it. For a marriage represented the marriage of good and truth, which is the heavenly marriage. It therefore represented the Church too, for the Church is a Church by virtue of the marriage of good and truth, and when this marriage exists within it the Church makes one with heaven, which is the true heavenly marriage. And because a marriage represented these things, 'sons and daughters' were therefore representations and also meaningful signs of truths and goods. This being so, 'being without issue' meant a lack of good and truth, and so meant that no representative of the Church existed in that house any longer, and that as a consequence it was not in communion with the Church. In addition 'brother' represented a kindred good to which the truth represented by a widow might be joined. For to be the kind of truth that has life, produces fruit, and thereby continues that which constitutes the Church, truth cannot be joined to any other good but that which is its own and a kindred one. This was how those in heaven perceived the duty of a brother-in-law.

[4] The meaning of this practice - of a sister-in-law removing the shoe from upon the foot of the man who refused to do the duty of a brother-in-law, and of her spitting in his face - was this: Anyone devoid of good and truth, external and internal, would destroy those things that constitute the Church; for 'the shoe' means that which is external, 1748, and 'the face' that which is internal, 1999, 2434, 3527, 4066, 4796. From this it is evident that 'the duty of a brother-in-law' represented the preservation and continuation of the Church. But when through the Lord's Coming representatives of internal things came to an end, that particular law was done away with. It is like a person's soul or spirit in relation to his body. A person's soul or spirit is the internal part of him and his body the external; or what amounts to the same, the soul or spirit is the true likeness of the person, whereas the body is merely a representative image of him. When a person rises again his representative image or that which is external, namely his body, is cast aside, for he is now conscious in that which is internal, namely the true likeness of him. It is also like a person who is in darkness and from there looks at things belonging to light; or what amounts to the same, like one who is in the light of the world and from there looks at things belonging to the light of heaven. For the light of the world in comparison with the light of heaven is as darkness. Within that darkness, that is, within the light of the world, things belonging to the light of heaven as they exist essentially cannot be seen, but are seen so to speak within a representative image, even as the human mind is seen in a person's face. Therefore when the light of heaven is seen in its own essential brightness, the darkness of representative images is dispelled. This was effected through the Lord's Coming.

[4835a] 'And raise up seed for your brother' means so that the Church does not perish. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as truth derived from good, or faith grounded in charity, dealt with in 1025, 1447, 16110, 1940, 2848, 3310, 3373, 3671. The same is also meant by the firstborn who was to succeed to the name of the dead brother, 352, 367, 2435, 3325, 3494. 'Raising up seed for a brother' means continuing that which constitutes the Church, in line with what has been stated just above in 4834, and thus means so that the Church does not perish.

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