Bibliorum

 

1 Mosebok 33

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1 Da Jakob så op, fikk han se Esau som kom med fire hundre mann. Da delte han barna mellem Lea og akel og begge trælkvinnene,

2 og han satte trælkvinnene med sine barn fremst og Lea med sine barn bakenfor dem og akel med Josef bakerst.

3 Og selv gikk han foran dem og bøide sig syv ganger til jorden, inntil han kom frem til sin bror.

4 Men Esau løp ham i møte og omfavnet ham og falt ham om halsen og kysset ham, og de gråt.

5 Da han så op, fikk han øie på kvinnene og barna; da sa han: Hvem er det du har der? Han svarte: Det er de barn som Gud har unt din tjener.

6 Så gikk trælkvinnene frem med sine barn og bøide sig,

7 og Lea gikk også frem med sine barn, og de bøide sig, og derefter gikk Josef og akel frem og bøide sig.

8 Da sa han: Hvad vilde du med hele den leir som jeg møtte? Han svarte: Jeg vilde finne nåde for min herres øine.

9 Da sa Esau: Jeg har nok; ha du selv, min bror, det som ditt er!

10 Jakob svarte: Nei, kjære! Dersom jeg har funnet nåde for dine øine, så ta imot min gave! For da jeg så ditt ansikt, var det som om jeg så Guds ansikt, siden du var så vennlig mot mig.

11 Kjære, ta imot gaven som jeg sendte dig! For Gud har vært mig nådig, og jeg har nok av alle ting. Og han nødde ham til han tok imot det.

12 Da sa Esau: La oss bryte op og dra videre, og la mig dra side om side med dig!

13 Men han svarte ham: Min herre vet at barna er svake, og småfeet og storfeet har nylig båret hos mig; og driver en dem bare en eneste dag for sterkt, så dør alt småfeet.

14 Vil ikke min herre dra foran. sin tjener, så vil jeg dra langsomt efter, som det kan passe for buskapen som drives foran mig, og for barna, inntil jeg kommer til min herre i Se'ir.

15 Da sa Esau: Så vil jeg få lov til å la nogen av de folk jeg har med, bli hos dig. Men han svarte: Hvorfor det? La mig bare finne nåde for min herres øine!

16 Så drog Esau samme dag sin vei tilbake til Se'ir

17 Og Jakob drog til Sukkot og bygget sig et hus og gjorde løvhytter til sin buskap; derfor kalte de stedet Sukkot*. / {* hytter.}

18 Og Jakob kom lykkelig frem til byen Sikem, som ligger i Kana'ans land, da han kom fra Mesopotamia; og han slo leir utenfor byen.

19 Og det stykke mark hvor han hadde slått op sitt telt, kjøpte han av sønnene til Hemor, Sikems far, for hundre kesitter*. / {* en viss vekt sølv eller gull.}

20 Der reiste han et alter og kalte det El Elohe Israel*. / {* d.e. Israels Gud er Gud.}

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #4502

Studere hoc loco

  
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4502. 'And they took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went away' means that they took away the affection for truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Dinah' as the affection for truth, dealt with above in 4498. The meaning according to the internal proximate sense is that they took away the affection for truth from those who were part of the remnants of the Most Ancient Church, for the phrase 'from Shechem's house' is used and by 'Shechem's house' is meant the good of truth of that Church. But as the subject here is the utter destruction of truth and good among those descended from Jacob, who are meant here by Jacob's sons, and as every detail mentioned has a specific application to the particular subject that is under discussion, 'Shechem's house' therefore means here simply the good of truth, like that which had existed with the member of the Most Ancient Church. Thus the meaning is that this good was wiped out among the nation descended from Jacob. For in the internal sense of the Word every expression or name means some aspect of the subject to which it belongs. At the same time the extinction of good and truth among Hamor and Shechem and his family is meant, because they accepted external usages, as shown in 4493.

[2] The truth of what has been explained so far regarding Simeon and Levi becomes clear from the prophetical utterances of Jacob before he died, where the following occurs,

Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of violence are their swords. Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is severe. I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel. Genesis 49:5-7.

'Simeon and Levi' means the truth of faith which among the descendants of Jacob was turned into falsity, and the good of charity into evil, as above in 4499, 4500. They are called 'brothers' because good is the brother of truth, or charity is the brother of faith, 4498. 'Instruments of violence are their swords' means that falsities and evils did violence to truths and goods, 4499. 'Into their secret place let my soul not come, in their congregation let not my glory be united' means severance as regards life and doctrine, for in the Word 'soul' is used to refer to life, 1000, 1040, 1742, 3299, and 'glory' to doctrine. 'For in their anger they killed a man, in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox' means that with evil intent they annihilated the truth of the Church and the good of the Church, 'a man' meaning the truth of the Church, 3134, and 'an ox' its good, 2180, 2566, 2781. 'Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is severe' means the punishment incurred for turning away from truth and good - 'cursing' meaning turning oneself away and also being punished on that account, 245, 379, 1423, 3530, 3584, while anger means the departure from good, and 'fury' the departure from truth, 357, 3614. 'I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel' means that goods and truths will exist no longer within either the external or the internal aspect of their Church - 'dividing' and 'scattering' meaning separating and completely removing from them, 4424, 'Jacob' being the external aspect of the Church and 'Israel' the internal, 4286.

[3] These things are said about Simeon and Levi in this prophetical utterance because those two mean in general the truth and good of the Church, and when these cease to exist, and more so when falsities and evils take their place, the Church has been wiped out. Nothing other than this is contained in these prophetical words, as may be seen from the fact that neither the tribe of Simeon nor the tribe of Levi was cursed more than any other tribe. For the tribe of Levi was selected for the priesthood, and the tribe of Simeon existed as one of the rest of the tribes of Israel.

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

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #3299

Studere hoc loco

  
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3299. 'And behold, there were twins in her womb' means that the two were conceived simultaneously. This is clear from the meaning of 'twins' as the two, that is to say, good represented by 'Esau' and truth represented by Jacob', and from the meaning of 'in the womb' as conception, dealt with above in 3293. With regard to the two, that is to say, the good and the truth of the natural, being conceived simultaneously, the situation is that anything that is born owes its being (esse) to the father but its manifestation (existere) to the mother. Both are necessary if anything is to come into existence. As regards good the natural is conceived from the good of the rational as the father, and as regards truth from the truth of the rational as the mother, 3286, 3288. It is good that confers life, but it does so through truth. Though both are called the soul good is nevertheless primarily the soul, while truth clothes it in a kind of thin casing or body, so that the good resides within the truth. This is what is meant by 'twins in her womb'.

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