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Genesis 22

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1 Pärast neid sündmusi pani Jumal Aabrahami proovile ning ütles temale: 'Aabraham!' Ja ta vastas: 'Siin ma olen!'

2 Ja tema ütles: 'Võta nüüd Iisak, oma ainus poeg, keda sa armastad, ja mine Morijamaale ning ohverda ta seal põletusohvriks ühel neist mägedest, mis ma sulle nimetan!'

3 Ja Aabraham tõusis hommikul vara, saduldas oma eesli, võttis enesega kaasa kaks noort meest ja oma poja Iisaki, lõhkus põletusohvri puud, seadis minekule ja läks paika, millest Jumal temale oli rääkinud.

4 Kolmandal päeval tõstis Aabraham oma silmad üles ja nägi seda paika kaugelt.

5 Ja Aabraham ütles oma noortele meestele: 'Jääge teie eesliga siia! Mina ja poiss läheme sinna, kummardame ja tuleme siis tagasi teie juurde.'

6 Ja Aabraham võttis põletusohvri puud, pani need oma pojale Iisakile õlale, võttis enda kätte tule ja noa ning mõlemad läksid üheskoos.

7 Ja Iisak rääkis oma isa Aabrahamiga ning ütles: 'isa!' Ja tema vastas: 'Siin ma olen, mu poeg!' Siis ta ütles: 'Näe, siin on tuli ja puud, aga kus on ohvritall?'

8 Ja Aabraham vastas: 'Küllap Jumal vaatab enesele ohvritalle, mu poeg!' Nõnda läksid mõlemad üheskoos.

9 Ja kui nad jõudsid paika, millest Jumal temale oli rääkinud, ehitas Aabraham sinna altari, ladus puud, sidus kinni oma poja Iisaki ja pani ta altarile puude peale.

10 Ja Aabraham sirutas käe ja võttis noa, et tappa oma poeg.

11 Aga Issanda ingel hüüdis teda taevast ja ütles: 'Aabraham, Aabraham!' Ja tema vastas: 'Siin ma olen!'

12 Siis ta ütles: 'Ära pane kätt poisi külge ja ära tee temale midagi, sest nüüd ma tean, et sa kardad Jumalat ega keela mulle oma ainsat poega!'

13 Ja Aabraham tõstis oma silmad üles, vaatas, ja ennäe, üks jäär oli rägastikus sarvipidi kinni. Ja Aabraham läks ning võttis jäära ja ohverdas selle põletusohvriks oma poja asemel.

14 Ja Aabraham pani sellele paigale nimeks 'Issand näeb'. Seepärast öeldakse tänapäevalgi: 'Issanda mäel ta näitab end.'

15 Ja Issanda ingel hüüdis Aabrahami teist korda taevast

16 ning ütles temale: 'Ma vannun iseenese juures, ütleb Issand: sellepärast et sa seda tegid ega keelanud mulle oma ainsat poega,

17 ma õnnistan sind tõesti ja teen su soo väga paljuks - nagu tähti taevas ja nagu liiva mere ääres - ja su sugu vallutab oma vaenlaste väravad!

18 Ja sinu soo nimel õnnistavad endid kõik maailma rahvad, sellepärast et sa võtsid kuulda mu häält!'

19 Siis Aabraham läks tagasi oma noorte meeste juurde, ja nad tõusid ning läksid üheskoos Beer-Sebasse. Ja Aabraham jäi elama Beer-Sebasse.

20 Ja pärast neid sündmusi teatati Aabrahamile ja öeldi: 'Vaata, Milka on ka su vennale Naahorile poegi ilmale toonud:

21 Uusi, tema esmasündinu, Buusi, selle venna, Kemueli, Arami isa,

22 Kesedi, Haso, Pildase, Jidlafi ja Betueli.'

23 Ja Betuelile sündis Rebeka. Need kaheksa tõi Milka ilmale Naahorile, Aabrahami vennale.

24 Ja tema liignaine, Reuma nimi, sünnitas ka - Teba, Gahami, Tahase ja Maaka.

   

Bibliorum

 

Genesis 24:11

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11 Seal laskis ta õhtul kaamelid põlvili heita väljaspool linna veekaevu juures sel ajal, kui veeviijad välja tulid,

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #922

Studere hoc loco

  
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922. 'He took from every clean beast, and from every clean bird' means goods that stem from charity, and the truths of faith. This has been shown already; 'beast' means goods that stem from charity, 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 'bird' the truths of faith, 40, 776. Burnt offerings were made from cattle, from lambs and goats, and from turtle doves and young pigeons, Leviticus 1:2-17; Numbers 15:2-15; 28:1-end. These were clean beasts, each one of them meaning some particular heavenly quality. And because they meant these things in the Ancient Church, and in subsequent Churches represented them, it is clear that burnt offerings and sacrifices were nothing else than representatives that go with internal worship, and that when they had been divorced from internal worship they became idolatrous. This any mentally normal person can see, for what is an altar but merely something made of stone? And what is a burnt offering and a sacrifice but the slaughtering of an animal? For worship to be Divine it has to represent some heavenly quality which the worshippers know and acknowledge and from which they worship the One they are representing.

[2] Nobody except the person who does not wish to understand anything at all about the Lord can be ignorant of the fact that these things were representatives of the Lord. It is the internal things, namely charity and faith deriving from charity, through which the One who is being represented has to be seen, acknowledged, and believed, as is quite clear in the Prophets, for example in Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel, Add your burnt offerings on to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. I did not speak with your fathers and I did not command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt on the matters of burnt offering and sacrifice. But this matter I commanded them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God. Jeremiah 7:21-23.

Hearing or obeying His voice is obeying the law, the whole of which focuses on the one command that men should love God above everything else and their neighbour as themselves, for on these depend the Law and the Prophets, Matthew 22:37-40; 7:12. In David,

O Jehovah, sacrifice and offering You have not desired; burnt offering and sin-sacrifice You host not sought. I have delighted to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart. 1 Psalms 40:6, 8.

[3] In Samuel, who said to Saul,

Has Jehovah as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to hearken than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22.

What obeying His voice involves is apparent in Micah,

Shall I come before Jehovah with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does Jehovah require of you but to carry out judgement and the love of mercy, and to humble yourself by walking with your God. Micah 6:6-8.

These are the things that burnt offerings and sacrifices of clean beasts and birds mean. In Amos,

Though you offer Me your burnt offerings and gifts, I will not accept them, and the peace offering of your fatted ones I will not look upon. Let judgement flow like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Amos 5:22, 24.

'Judgement' means truth, and 'righteousness' good. Both stem from charity and are the burnt offerings and sacrifices of the internal man. In Hosea,

I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6.

From all these quotations the nature of sacrifices and burnt offerings when charity and faith are not present is clear. It is also clear from them that because 'clean beasts and clean birds' meant the goods that stem from charity and faith they also represented them.

V:

1. literally, in the midst of my viscera

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