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Genesis 34

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1 And Dinah, daughter of Leah, whom she hath borne to Jacob, goeth out to look on the daughters of the land,

2 and Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the land, seeth her, and taketh her, and lieth with her, and humbleth her;

3 and his soul cleaveth to Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and he loveth the young person, and speaketh unto the heart of the young person.

4 And Shechem speaketh unto Hamor his father, saying, `Take for me this damsel for a wife.'

5 And Jacob hath heard that he hath defiled Dinah his daughter, and his sons were with his cattle in the field, and Jacob kept silent till their coming.

6 And Hamor, father of Shechem, goeth out unto Jacob to speak with him;

7 and the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard, and the men grieve themselves, and it [is] very displeasing to them, for folly he hath done against Israel, to lie with the daughter of Jacob -- and so it is not done.

8 And Hamor speaketh with them, saying, `Shechem, my son, his soul hath cleaved to your daughter; give her, I pray you, to him for a wife,

9 and join ye in marriage with us; your daughters ye give to us, and our daughters ye take to yourselves,

10 and with us ye dwell, and the land is before you; dwell ye and trade [in] it, and have possessions in it.'

11 And Shechem saith unto her father, and unto her brethren, `Let me find grace in your eyes, and that which ye say unto me, I give;

12 multiply on me exceedingly dowry and gift, and I give as ye say unto me, and give to me the young person for a wife.'

13 And the sons of Jacob answer Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and they speak (because he defiled Dinah their sister),

14 and say unto them, `We are not able to do this thing, to give our sister to one who hath a foreskin: for it [is] a reproach to us.

15 `Only for this we consent to you; if ye be as we, to have every male of you circumcised,

16 then we have given our daughters to you, and your daughters we take to ourselves, and we have dwelt with you, and have become one people;

17 and if ye hearken not unto us to be circumcised, then we have taken our daughter, and have gone.'

18 And their words are good in the eyes of Hamor, and in the eyes of Shechem, Hamor's son;

19 and the young man delayed not to do the thing, for he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he is honourable above all the house of his father.

20 And Hamor cometh -- Shechem his son also -- unto the gate of their city, and they speak unto the men of their city, saying,

21 `These men are peaceable with us; then let them dwell in the land, and trade [in] it; and the land, lo, [is] wide before them; their daughters let us take to ourselves for wives, and our daughters give to them.

22 `Only for this do the men consent to us, to dwell with us, to become one people, in every male of us being circumcised, as they are circumcised;

23 their cattle, and their substance, and all their beasts -- are they not ours? only let us consent to them, and they dwell with us.'

24 And unto Hamor, and unto Shechem his son, hearken do all those going out of the gate of his city, and every male is circumcised, all those going out of the gate of his city.

25 And it cometh to pass, on the third day, in their being pained, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, take each his sword, and come in against the city confidently, and slay every male;

26 and Hamor, and Shechem his son, they have slain by the mouth of the sword, and they take Dinah out of Shechem's house, and go out.

27 Jacob's sons have come in upon the wounded, and they spoil the city, because they had defiled their sister;

28 their flock and their herd, and their asses, and that which [is] in the city, and that which [is] in the field, have they taken;

29 and all their wealth, and all their infants, and their wives they have taken captive, and they spoil also all that [is] in the house.

30 And Jacob saith unto Simeon and unto Levi, `Ye have troubled me, by causing me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanite, and among the Perizzite: and I [am] few in number, and they have been gathered against me, and have smitten me, and I have been destroyed, I and my house.'

31 And they say, `As a harlot doth he make our sister?'

   

Commentaire

 

Spreading themselves

  

'Spreading themselves on the earth,' as in Genesis 8:17, signifies the internal self operating on the external.

(références: Arcana Coelestia 913)

Des oeuvres de Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #875

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875. 'The dove found no rest for the sole of its foot' means that no good and truth of faith at all had as yet been able to take root. This is clear from the meaning of 'a dove' as the truth of faith, and also from the meaning of 'rest for the sole of the foot' as taking root. The reason why they cannot take root is stated further on, namely that falsities were still there to overflowing. But nobody can begin to understand what all this means unless he knows how the regeneration of the spiritual man is accomplished.

[2] With this man the cognitions of faith drawn from the Word of the Lord - that is, matters of doctrine drawn from that source, which the Ancient Church had from what had been revealed to the Most Ancient Church - had to be planted in his memory, and in this way the understanding part of his mind received instruction. But as long as falsities dwell there to overflowing, truths of faith cannot take root, even though they have been planted there. They remain solely on the surface, or in the memory. Nor, as stated already, does the ground become suitable until falsities have been so dispersed that they do not reappear.

[3] The ground itself with this person is made ready in the understanding part of his mind, and when it has been made ready good that stems from charity is planted in it by the Lord, and through charity conscience from which he then acts, that is, by means of which the Lord produces in him the good and truth of faith. Thus the Lord separates in this man things belonging to his understanding from those belonging to his will in such a manner that they are in no way united. For if they were united he would inevitably and eternally perish.

[4] With the member of the Most Ancient Church things of the will had been united to those of the understanding, as they are with celestial angels too. But with the member of this Church they were not united, nor are they united with the spiritual man. It still seems as though the good of charity which he does is the product of his will, but that is solely an appearance and illusion. All the good of charity which he does is the Lord's alone, coming not by way of the will but of conscience. If the Lord were to let up only slightly and allow a person to act from his own will, he would, from hatred, revenge, and cruelty, perform evil instead of good.

[5] The same applies to the truth which a spiritual man thinks and speaks. Unless he thought and spoke from conscience, and so from good that is the Lord's, he could no more think and speak what is true than the devil's crew when impersonating angels of light. This is perfectly obvious in the next life. From these considerations it is clear how regeneration is accomplished and what the regeneration of a spiritual man is. It is the separation of the understanding part of his mind from the will part by means of conscience, which is formed by the Lord in that understanding part. What is performed in this manner seemingly springs from his own will, but in fact it does so from the Lord.

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