Bibliorum

 

Бытие 28

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1 И призвал Исаак Иакова и благословил его, и заповедал ему и сказал: не бери себе жены из дочерей Ханаанских;

2 встань, пойди в Месопотамию, в дом Вафуила, отца матери твоей, и возьми себе жену оттуда, из дочерей Лавана, брата матери твоей;

3 Бог же Всемогущий да благословит тебя, да расплодит тебя и да размножит тебя, и да будет от тебя множество народов,

4 и да даст тебе благословение Авраама, тебе и потомству твоему с тобою, чтобы тебе наследовать землю странствования твоего, которую Бог дал Аврааму!

5 И отпустил Исаак Иакова, и он пошел в Месопотамию к Лавану, сыну Вафуила Арамеянина, к брату Ревекки, матери Иакова и Исава.

6 Исав увидел, что Исаак благословил Иакова и благословляя послал его в Месопотамию, взять себе жену оттуда, и заповедал ему, сказав: не бери жены из дочерей Ханаанских;

7 и что Иаков послушался отца своего и матери своей и пошел в Месопотамию.

8 И увидел Исав, что дочери Ханаанские не угодны Исааку, отцу его;

9 и пошел Исав к Измаилу и взял себе жену Махалафу, дочь Измаила, сына Авраамова, сестру Наваиофову, сверх других жен своих.

10 Иаков же вышел из Вирсавии и пошел в Харран,

11 и пришел на одно место, и остался там ночевать, потому что зашло солнце. И взял один из камней того места, и положил себе изголовьем, и лег на том месте.

12 И увидел во сне: вот, лестница стоит на земле, а верх ее касается неба; и вот, Ангелы Божии восходят и нисходят по ней.

13 И вот, Господь стоит на ней и говорит: Я Господь, Бог Авраама, отца твоего, и Бог Исаака. Землю, на которой ты лежишь, Я дам тебе и потомствутвоему;

14 и будет потомство твое, как песок земной; и распространишься к морю и к востоку, и ксеверу и к полудню; и благословятся в тебе и в семени твоем все племена земные;

15 и вот Я с тобою, и сохраню тебя везде, куда ты ни пойдешь; и возвращу тебя в сию землю, ибо Я не оставлю тебя, доколе не исполню того, что Я сказал тебе.

16 Иаков пробудился от сна своего и сказал: истинно Господь присутствует на месте сем; а я не знал!

17 И убоялся и сказал: как страшно сие место! это не иное что, как дом Божий, это врата небесные.

18 И встал Иаков рано утром, и взял камень, который он положил себе изголовьем, и поставил его памятником, и возлил елей на верх его.

19 И нарек имя месту тому: Вефиль, а прежнее имя того города было: Луз.

20 И положил Иаков обет, сказав: если Бог будет со мною и сохранит меня в пути сем, в который я иду, и даст мне хлеб есть и одежду одеться,

21 и я в мире возвращусь в дом отца моего, и будет Господь моим Богом, –

22 то этот камень, который я поставил памятником, будет домом Божиим; и из всего, что Ты, Боже , даруешь мне, я дам Тебе десятую часть.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #3699

Studere hoc loco

  
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3699. 'And behold, a stairway set up on the earth' means a communication of lowest truth and of good derived from this truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'a stairway' as communication, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'the earth' as what is lowest, for immediately after this it is stated that its top reached to heaven, which is the highest point. From this it is evident that a stairway between earth and heaven, or what is lowest and what is highest, is communication. For it is the communication of lowest truth and of good derived from this truth that is meant by 'a stairway set up on the earth', as is evident from the fact that that degree of truth and of good derived from it, which 'Jacob' represents here, is the subject at this point in the internal sense.

[2] In the original language the word for a stairway is derived from a word meaning a pathway or highway, which is used in reference to truth, see 627, 2333. Furthermore when angels are discussing truth their discussion manifests itself representatively in the world of spirits as pathways, see 189, 3477. From this it is evident what 'a stairway' means, one end of which is set up on the earth while the other reaches up to heaven. That is to say, it means a communication of truth in the lowest place with truth in the highest place, a communication dealt with below. For there are lowest truths and goods and highest truths and goods, and degrees of them in between like a stairway, see 3691.

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

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #2333

Studere hoc loco

  
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2333. 'And in the morning you may rise up and go your way' means being strengthened in this way in good and truth. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'rising up in the morning', and also from the meaning of 'going on one's way'. In the Word 'the morning' means the Lord's kingdom and whatever belongs to the Lord's kingdom, and so primarily the good that flows from love and charity. This will be confirmed from the Word at verse 15. 'Way' however means truth, see 627. From this it follows that after they had been in his house and spent the night there, which meant that they dwelt in the good of charity with him, 'they rose up in the morning and went their way', which means that in this way they were confirmed in good and truth.

[2] These phrases, as do all the rest, show how far removed the internal sense is from the sense of the letter and therefore how hidden from view it is, especially in the historical parts of the Word. They show that this sense is not discernible unless individual expressions are explained according to the meaning they have all through the Word. Consequently when ideas are confined to the sense of the letter, the internal sense is seen as something altogether dark and obscure. Conversely when ideas are confined to the internal sense, the sense of the letter in a similar way is seen as something obscure. Indeed angels see it as nothing, for angels no longer have worldly and bodily ideas as man does, but spiritual and celestial ones, into which the expressions of the sense of the letter are marvellously converted when the Word which man is reading rises up to the sphere in which angels dwell, that is, up to heaven. This happens because of the correspondence of spiritual things with worldly, and of celestial with bodily, a correspondence which is absolutely consistent but whose nature has not been disclosed until now in the explanation of expressions, names, and numbers in the Word as to their internal sense.

[3] So that the nature of that correspondence may be known, or what amounts to the same, how worldly and bodily ideas pass over into corresponding spiritual and celestial ideas when they are raised towards heaven, let 'the morning' and 'way' be taken as examples: When a person reads of 'the morning', as in the phrase here 'rising up in the morning', angels do not conceive the idea of the start to a new day but the idea which 'morning' has in the spiritual sense. The idea they conceive is similar to the statement in Samuel,

The Rock of Israel . . . He is like morning light, when the sun rises on a cloudless morning. 2 Samuel 23:3-4.

And in Daniel,

The Holy One said to me, Up to the evening when it is becoming morning, two thousand three hundred times. Daniel 8:14, 26.

Thus instead of 'the morning' angels perceive the Lord, or His kingdom, or celestial things of love and charity. This they do varyingly according to the train of thought in the Word which a person is reading.

[4] Similarly where a person reads of 'a way', as in 'going on your way' here, they cannot have any idea of a way, but a spiritual or a celestial idea, that is to say, like that in John, when the Lord said,

I am the way and the truth. John 14:6.

Also the idea in David,

Make Your ways known to me, O Jehovah, guide my way in truth. Psalms 25:4-5.

And in Isaiah,

He made him know the way of understanding. Isaiah 40:14.

Thus instead of 'a way' angels perceive truth. They do so in the historical as well as the prophetical sections of the Word; in fact angels no longer have any interest in matters of history as these are not at all in keeping with the ideas they have. Consequently in place of historical details they perceive such things as belong to the Lord and His kingdom, which also follow on one after another in marvellous array and perfect sequence in the internal sense. For this reason, so that the Word may serve angels as well, all historical details there are representative, and each expression serves to mean such things. This special feature is what makes the Word different from all other literature.

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