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Genesis 22

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1 And it came to pass after these things, that God tempted Abraham, and said to him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am.

2 And he said, Take now thy son, thy only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and go into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering upon one of the mountains which I will name to thee.

3 And Abraham rose early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and cleft the wood for the burnt-offering, and rose and went to the place which God had named to him.

4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

5 And Abraham said to his young men, Abide you here with the ass, and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and return to you.

6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt-offering, and laid it upon Isaac his son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife: and they went both of them together.

7 And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father, and said, My father: and he said, here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt-offering?

8 And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt-offering: so they went both of them together.

9 And they came to the place which God had named to him; and Abraham built an altar there, and laid the wood in order; and bound Isaac his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

10 And Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son.

11 And the angel of the LORD called to him from heaven, and said, Abraham, Abraham. And he said, Here am I.

12 And he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing to him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld from me thy son, thy only son.

13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: And Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him for a burnt-offering in the stead of his son.

14 And Abraham called the name of that place Jehovah-jireh: as it is said to this day, In the mount of the LORD it will be seen.

15 And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven the second time,

16 And said, By myself have I sworn, saith the LORD, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thy only son:

17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is on the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed: because thou hast obeyed my voice.

19 So Abraham returned to his young men, and they rose and went together to Beer-sheba; and Abraham dwelt at Beer-sheba.

20 And it came to pass after these things, that it was told to Abraham, saying, Behold, Milcah, she hath also borne children to thy brother Nahor;

21 Huz his first-born, and Buz his brother, and Kemuel the father of Aram,

22 And Chesed, and Hazo, and Pildash, and Jidlaph, and Bethuel.

23 And Bethuel begat Rebekah: these eight Milcah bore to Nahor Abraham's brother.

24 And his concubine, whose name was Reumah, she bore also Tebah, and Gaham, and Thahash, and Maachah.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #921

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921. And Noah builded an altar unto Jehovah. That this signifies a representative of the Lord, is evident from what has just been said. All the rites of the Ancient Church were representative of the Lord, as also the rites of the Jewish Church. But the principal representative in later times was the altar, and also the burnt-offering, which being made of clean beasts and clean birds, had its representation according to their signification, clean beasts signifying the goods of charity, and clean birds the truths of faith. When men of the Ancient Church offered these, they signified that they offered gifts of these goods and truths to the Lord. Nothing else can be offered to the Lord that will be grateful to Him. But their posterity, as the Gentiles and also the Jews, perverted these things, not even knowing that they had such a signification, and making their worship consist in the externals only.

[2] That the altar was the principal representative of the Lord, is evident from the fact that there were altars, even among Gentiles, before other rites were instituted, and before the ark was constructed, and before the temple was built. This is evident from Abram, as that when he came upon the mountain on the east of Bethel he raised an altar and called upon the name of Jehovah (Genesis 12:8); and afterwards he was commanded to offer Isaac for a burnt-offering on an altar (Genesis 22:2, 9). So Jacob built an altar at Luz, or Bethel (Genesis 35:6-7); and Moses built an altar under Mount Sinai, and sacrificed (Exodus 24:4-6). All this was before the [Jewish] sacrifices were instituted, and before the ark was constructed at which worship was afterwards performed in the wilderness. That there were altars likewise among the Gentiles, is evident from Balaam, who said to Balak that he should build seven altars and prepare seven bullocks and seven rams (Numbers 23:1-7, 14-18, 29-30); and also from its being commanded that the altars of the nations should be destroyed (Deuteronomy 7:5; Judges 2:2). Thus Divine worship by altars and sacrifices was not a new thing instituted with the Jews. Indeed altars were built before men had any idea of slaying oxen and sheep upon them, but as memorials.

[3] That altars signify a representative of the Lord, and burnt-offerings the worship of Him thereby, is plainly evident in the Prophets, as also in Moses when it is said of Levi, to whom the priesthood belonged:

They shall teach Jacob Thy judgments, and Israel Thy law; they shall put incense in Thy nostrils, and whole burnt-offering upon Thine altar (Deuteronomy 33:10),

meaning all worship; for “to teach Jacob judgments, and Israel the law” denotes internal worship; and “to put incense in Thy nostrils, and whole burnt-offering on Thine altar” denotes corresponding external worship.

In Isaiah:

In that day shall a man look unto his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel; and he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hand (Isaiah 17:7-8),

where “looking to the altars” plainly signifies representative worship in general, which was to be abolished. Again:

In that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to Jehovah (Isaiah 19:19),

where also “an altar” stands for external worship.

[4] In Jeremiah:

The Lord hath cast off His altar, He hath abhorred His sanctuary (Lamentations 2:7);

“altar” denoting representative worship which had become idolatrous.

In Hosea:

Because Ephraim hath multiplied altars to sin, altars have been unto him to sin (Hosea 8:11);

“altars” denote here all representative worship separate from internal, thus what is idolatrous. Again:

The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed; the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars (Hosea 10:8), where “altars” denote idolatrous worship.

In Amos:

In the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar shall be cut off (Amos 3:14),

where again “altars” denote representative worship become idolatrous.

[5] In David:

Let them bring me unto the mountain of Thy holiness, and to Thy tabernacles. And I will go unto the altar of God, unto God the gladness of my joy (Psalms 43:3-4), where “altar” manifestly denotes the Lord.

Thus the building of an altar in the Ancient and in the Jewish Church was for a representative of the Lord. As the worship of the Lord was performed principally by burnt-offerings and sacrifices, and thus these things signified principally representative worship, it is evident that the altar itself signifies this representative worship itself.

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