Die Bibel

 

Genesis 28

Lernen

   

1 And Isaac calleth unto Jacob, and blesseth him, and commandeth him, and saith to him, `Thou dost not take a wife of the daughters of Caanan;

2 rise, go to Padan-Aram, to the house of Bethuel, thy mother's father, and take for thyself from thence a wife, of the daughters of Laban, thy mother's brother;

3 and God Almighty doth bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and thou hast become an assembly of peoples;

4 and He doth give to thee the blessing of Abraham, to thee and to thy seed with thee, to cause thee to possess the land of thy sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.'

5 And Isaac sendeth away Jacob, and he goeth to Padan-Aram, unto Laban, son of Bethuel the Aramaean, brother of Rebekah, mother of Jacob and Esau.

6 And Esau seeth that Isaac hath blessed Jacob, and hath sent him to Padan-Aram to take to himself from thence a wife -- in his blessing him that he layeth a charge upon him, saying, Thou dost not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan --

7 that Jacob hearkeneth unto his father and unto his mother, and goeth to Padan-Aram --

8 and Esau seeth that the daughters of Canaan are evil in the eyes of Isaac his father,

9 and Esau goeth unto Ishmael, and taketh Mahalath, daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, sister of Nebajoth, unto his wives, to himself, for a wife.

10 And Jacob goeth out from Beer-Sheba, and goeth toward Haran,

11 and he toucheth at a [certain] place, and lodgeth there, for the sun hath gone in, and he taketh of the stones of the place, and maketh [them] his pillows, and lieth down in that place.

12 And he dreameth, and lo, a ladder set up on the earth, and its head is touching the heavens; and lo, messengers of God are going up and coming down by it;

13 and lo, Jehovah is standing upon it, and He saith, `I [am] Jehovah, God of Abraham thy father, and God of Isaac; the land on which thou art lying, to thee I give it, and to thy seed;

14 and thy seed hath been as the dust of the land, and thou hast broken forth westward, and eastward, and northward, and southward, and all families of the ground have been blessed in thee and in thy seed.

15 `And lo, I [am] with thee, and have kept thee whithersoever thou goest, and have caused thee to turn back unto this ground; for I leave thee not till that I have surely done that which I have spoken to thee.'

16 And Jacob awaketh out of his sleep, and saith, `Surely Jehovah is in this place, and I knew not;'

17 and he feareth, and saith, `How fearful [is] this place; this is nothing but a house of God, and this a gate of the heavens.'

18 And Jacob riseth early in the morning, and taketh the stone which he hath made his pillows, and maketh it a standing pillar, and poureth oil upon its top,

19 and he calleth the name of that place Bethel, [house of God,] and yet, Luz [is] the name of the city at the first.

20 And Jacob voweth a vow, saying, `Seeing God is with me, and hath kept me in this way which I am going, and hath given to me bread to eat, and a garment to put on --

21 when I have turned back in peace unto the house of my father, and Jehovah hath become my God,

22 then this stone which I have made a standing pillar is a house of God, and all that Thou dost give to me -- tithing I tithe to Thee.'

   

Aus Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #3696

studieren Sie diesen Abschnitt

  
/ 10837  
  

3696. And lay down in that place. That this signifies the tranquillity of the state, is evident from the signification of “lying down,” as being to be in a state of tranquillity; for “lying down” and “sleeping” signify nothing else. That in the internal sense this is the signification of “lying down,” may also be seen from other passages in the Word, concerning which just below. With those who are to be regenerated, who are here treated of in the internal representative sense, the case is that first of all they are in a state of tranquillity, or in a state of external peace (for external peace, or peace in externals, is called “tranquillity”); and the same is produced from the Divine state of peace that is inmostly within it; and it comes forth into the externals through the removal of cupidities and falsities; for these are what cause all unrest. Moreover at the beginning of his life, that is, during his infancy, every man is in a state of tranquillity; but as he advances in life, that is, grows up to manhood, he removes himself from this state, because he gives himself up to worldly cares, and consequently to anxieties caused by the cupidities of the love of self and of the world, and the derivative falsities.

[2] The case is almost the same with the new life in the man who is being regenerated: at first he is in a state of tranquillity; but as he passes into a new life, he also passes at the same time into an untranquil state; for the evils and falsities with which he had before become imbued emerge and come forth, and disturb him, and this at last to such a degree that he is in temptations and vexations inflicted by the diabolical crew, who are continually striving to destroy the state of his new life. Yet inmostly the man is in a state of peace, for unless this were with him inmostly, he would not combat, for in his battlings he is continually looking to this state as the end, and unless he had such an end, he would in no wise have power and strength to combat. This moreover is the reason why he overcomes; and because this is the end in view, he also comes into this state after the combats or temptations. This is like the state of spring, which succeeds the state of autumn and winter; or it is like the state of dawn, which succeeds evening and night. (That a state of peace in spiritual things is like spring and dawn in natural things, may be seen above, n. 1726, 2780; and that peace is from good and truth, and unrest from what is evil and false, n. 3170)

[3] That in the Word “to lie down” signifies a state of tranquillity, may be seen from the following passages.

In Moses:

If ye walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments and do them, I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; and I will cause the evil wild beast to cease out of the land, neither shall the sword pass through your land (Leviticus 26:3, 6); where “lying down” is manifestly predicated of a state of peace and tranquillity; “evil beasts” denote the cupidities of evil (n. 45, 46, 908), which shall “cease;” the “sword” denotes, falsity fighting against truth (n. 2799), which shall not “pass through;” all which shows that peace and the tranquillity of peace are from good and truth, and that the destruction thereof is from evils and falsities.

[4] In Isaiah:

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together (Isaiah 11:6-7); where the Lord is treated of, and the state of peace in His kingdom; that they shall “lie down together” signifies that they cannot be infested by any evil and falsity.

In Hosea:

In that day will I make a covenant for them with the wild beast of the field, and with the fowl of the heavens, and with the creeping thing of the earth; and I will break the bow and the sword and war out of the land, and will make them to lie down in confidence (Hos. 2:18); where in like manner “to lie down” signifies a state of tranquillity on the removal of falsities and evils, which occasion unrest.

[5] In David:

I will lay me down and sleep; and I will awake, for Jehovah sustaineth me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of the people that have set themselves against me round about (Psalms 3:5-6); where “to lie down and sleep” signifies a state of tranquillity and security. Again:

In peace I will both lay me down and sleep; for Thou, Jehovah alone, makest me to dwell in confidence (Psalms 4:8).

And again:

He will make me to lie down in green pastures; He will lead me to the waters of rest; He will restore my soul (Psalms 23:2-3).

From these passages it is evident that a state of peace and tranquillity is signified by “lying down;” and that by “lying down in that place” is signified the tranquillity of the state, for in the internal sense “place” signifies state (n. 3692).

  
/ 10837  
  

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