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Genesi 11

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1 Or tutta la terra parlava la stessa lingua e usava le stesse parole.

2 E avvenne che, essendo partiti verso l’Oriente, gli uomini trovarono una pianura nel paese di Scinear, e quivi si stanziarono.

3 E dissero l’uno all’altro: "Orsù, facciamo dei mattoni e cociamoli col fuoco!" E si valsero di mattoni invece di pietre, e di bitume invece di calcina.

4 E dissero: "Orsù, edifichiamoci una città ed una torre di cui la cima giunga fino al cielo, e acquistiamoci fama, onde non siamo dispersi sulla faccia di tutta la terra".

5 E l’Eterno discese per vedere la città e la torre che i figliuoli degli uomini edificavano.

6 E l’Eterno disse: "Ecco, essi sono un solo popolo e hanno tutti il medesimo linguaggio; e questo è il principio del loro lavoro; ora nulla li impedirà di condurre a termine ciò che disegnano di fare.

7 Orsù, scendiamo e confondiamo quivi il loro linguaggio, sicché l’uno non capisca il parlare dell’altro!"

8 Così l’Eterno li disperse di la sulla faccia di tutta la terra, ed essi cessarono di edificare la città.

9 Perciò a questa fu dato il nome di Babel perché l’Eterno confuse quivi il linguaggio di tutta la terra, e di la l’Eterno li disperse sulla faccia di tutta la terra.

10 Questa è la posterità di Sem. Sem, all’età di cent’anni, generò Arpacshad, due anni dopo il diluvio.

11 E Sem, dopo ch’ebbe generato Arpacshad, visse cinquecento anni e generò figliuoli e figliuole.

12 Arpacshad visse trentacinque anni e generò Scelah; e Arpacshad, dopo aver generato Scelah,

13 visse quattrocento anni e generò figliuoli e figliuole.

14 Scelah visse trent’anni e generò Eber;

15 e Scelah, dopo aver generato Eber, visse quattrocentotre anni e generò figliuoli e figliuole.

16 Eber visse trentaquattro anni e generò Peleg;

17 ed Eber, dopo aver generato Peleg, visse quattrocento trenta anni e generò figliuoli e figliuole.

18 Peleg visse trent’anni e generò Reu;

19 e Peleg, dopo aver generato Reu, visse duecentonove anni e generò figliuoli e figliuole.

20 Reu visse trentadue anni e generò Serug;

21 e Reu, dopo aver generato Serug, visse duecentosette anni e generò figliuoli e figliuole.

22 Serug visse trent’anni e generò Nahor;

23 e Serug, dopo aver generato Nahor, visse duecento anni e generò figliuoli e figliuole.

24 Nahor visse ventinove anni e generò Terah;

25 e Nahor, dopo aver generato Terah, visse centodiciannove anni e generò figliuoli e figliuole.

26 Terah visse settant’anni e generò Abramo, Nahor e Haran.

27 E questa è la posterità di Terah. Terah generò Abramo, Nahor e Haran; e Haran generò Lot.

28 Haran morì in presenza di Terah suo padre, nel suo paese nativo, in Ur de’ Caldei.

29 E Abramo e Nahor si presero delle mogli; il nome della moglie d’Abramo era Sarai; e il nome della moglie di Nahor, Milca, ch’era figliuola di Haran, padre di Milca e padre di Isca.

30 E Sarai era sterile; non aveva figliuoli.

31 E Terah prese Abramo, suo figliuolo, e Lot, figliuolo di Haran, cioè figliuolo del suo figliuolo, e Sarai sua nuora, moglie d’Abramo suo figliuolo, e uscirono insieme da Ur de’ Caldei per andare nel paese di Canaan; e, giunti a Charan, dimorarono quivi.

32 E il tempo che Terah visse fu duecentocinque anni; poi Terah morì in Charan.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #1326

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1326. Therefore He called the name of it Babel. That this signifies such worship, that is, the kind of worship signified by “Babel,” is evident from what has been said hitherto; that is to say, worship in which interiorly there is the love of self, and therefore all that is filthy and profane. The love of self is nothing else than man’s Own; and how filthy and profane this is may be seen from what has been shown before concerning man’s Own, n. 210, 215). From self-love [philautia], that is, the love of self, or man’s Own, all evils flow, such as hatreds, revenges, cruelties, adulteries, deceits, hypocrisies, impiety; and therefore when the love of self, or man’s Own, is in the worship, such evils are in it, according to the difference and degree of quantity and quality that are from that love. Hence comes all the profanation of worship. In point of fact, in proportion as anything from the love of self, or from man’s Own, is introduced into worship, in the same proportion internal worship departs, that is, it comes to pass that there is no internal worship. Internal worship consists in the affection of good and the acknowledgment of truth, and in proportion as the love of self, that is, in proportion as man’s Own, makes its approach, or enters in, the affection of good and the acknowledgment of truth depart, or go out. The holy can never be with the profane, just as heaven cannot be with hell, but the one must take its departure from the other. Such is the state and order in the Lord’s kingdom. This is the reason why there is no internal worship among such men as those whose worship is called “Babel,” but only a kind of dead thing, and in fact one inwardly cadaverous, that is worshiped. From this it is evident what must be the quality of the external worship that contains such an internal within it.

[2] That such worship is “Babel,” is evident from the Word in various places where Babel is described, as in Daniel, where the image that Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon 1 saw in a dream-the head of which was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, and the feet part of iron and part of clay-signifies that from true worship there finally comes such worship as is called “Babel;” and therefore a stone cut out of the rock broke in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold (Daniel 2:31-33, 44-45). The image of gold that Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon set up, and which they worshiped, was nothing else (Daniel 3:1 to the end). The like is signified by the king of Babylon with his lords drinking wine out of the vessels of gold that had been brought from the temple at Jerusalem, and praising the gods of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, and of stone, on which account there appeared the writing upon the wall (Daniel 5:1 to the end). The like is signified also by Darius the Mede commanding that he should be adored as a god (Daniel 6:7); and likewise by the beasts seen by Daniel in a dream (Daniel 7:1 to the end) and the beasts and the Babylon described by John in the Revelation.

[3] That such worship was signified and represented is very evident, not only in Daniel and John, but also in the Prophets. As in Isaiah:

Their faces are faces of flames. The stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shine not with their light; the sun is darkened in his going forth, and the moon doth not cause her light to shine. There do the Ziim couch, and their houses are filled with the Ochim; and the daughters of the night owl dwell there, and satyrs dance there, and Iim answer in her palaces, and dragons in the buildings of pleasure (Isaiah 13:8, 10, 21-22).

This is said of Babylon, and the internal of such worship is described by “faces of flames,” which are cupidities; by “the stars,” which are truths of faith, “not giving their light;” by “the sun,” which is holy love, being “darkened;” by “the moon,” which is the truth of faith, “not shining;” by “the Ziim,” “Ochim,” “daughters of the owl,” “satyrs,” “Iim,” and “dragons,” as being the interiors of their worship; for such things are of the love of self, that is, of man’s Own. And therefore also Babylon is called in John “the mother of whoredoms and abominations” (Revelation 17:5); and also “a habitation of dragons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird” (Revelation 18:2); from all which it is evident that with such things within, there cannot be anything of good, or of the truth of faith; and that insofar as the goods of affection and the truths of faith depart, such things enter in. The same are called also “the graven images of the gods of Babylon” (Isaiah 21:9).

[4] That it is the love of self, or the Own of man, that is in such worship, or that it is the worship of self, is very evident in Isaiah:

Prophesy this parable upon the king of Babylon: Thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the cloud, I will become like the Most High. Yet thou shalt be cast down to hell (Isaiah 14:4, 13-15).

Here it is manifest that “Babylon” denotes one who desires to be worshiped as a god; that is, that it is the worship of self.

[5] Again:

Come down, and sit on the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon; sit in the earth, without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans; thou hath trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said, None seeth me; thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath averted thee; thou hast said in thine heart, I, and there is none else besides like me (Isaiah 47:1, 10).

In Jeremiah:

Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, that destroyeth all the earth; and I will stretch out My hand upon thee, and will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee into a mountain of burning. Though Babylon should mount up to the heavens, and though she should fortify the height of her strength, yet from Me shall they that lay waste come to her (Jeremiah 51:25, 53).

From this passage also it is evident that “Babylon” is the worship of self.

[6] That such persons have no light of truth, but total darkness; that is, that they have no truth of faith, is described in Jeremiah:

The word that Jehovah spoke against Babylon, against the land of the Chaldeans. Out of the north there shall ascend upon her a nation that shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell therein; from man even to beast they shall move asunder, they shall be gone (Jeremiah 50:1, 3);

“the north” denotes thick darkness, or no truth; “no man and no beast,” no good. (See further concerning Babel, below, at verse 28, where Chaldea is treated of.)

Fußnoten:

1. In the original Latin “Babel” and “Babylon” are the same, namely, “Babel.” “Babylon” is the Greek form of the word. [Reviser.]

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