The Bible

 

Genesis 35

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1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Beth-el, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the foreign gods that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments:

3 and let us arise, and go up to Beth-el; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.

4 And they gave unto Jacob all the foreign gods which were in their hand, and the rings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

5 And they journeyed: and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan (the same is Beth-el), he and all the people that were with him.

7 And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el; because there God was revealed unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

8 And Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried below Beth-el under the oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bacuth.

9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him.

10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

12 and the land which I gave unto Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

13 And God went up from him in the place where he spake with him.

14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he spake with him, a pillar of stone: and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil thereon.

15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Beth-el.

16 And they journeyed from Beth-el; and there was still some distance to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor.

17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard labor, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; for now thou shalt have another son.

18 And it came to pass, as her soul was departing (for she died), that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin.

19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem).

20 And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave: the same is the Pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.

21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

22 And it came to pass, while Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:

23 The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's first-born, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun;

24 the sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin;

25 and the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid: Dan and Naphtali;

26 and the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid: Gad and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Paddan-aram.

27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his father to Mamre, to Kiriath-arba (the same is Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

28 And the days of Isaac were a hundred and fourscore years.

29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, old and full of days: and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4670

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4670. 'A son of seventeen years' means His state. This is clear from the ages measured in years of people mentioned in the Word - spiritual realities and states are meant by them, as these are by all other numbers. For all numbers in the Word have spiritual realities and states as their meaning, see 575, 647, 648, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, as also do years, 487, 488, 493, 893.

[2] It does indeed seem as though numbers of years, or ages measured in years, mean nothing else than numbers of years. This is because these numbers more than any others have so to speak a more specific historical application. But these numbers too include spiritual realities and states within them, as is clear from the applications given at Genesis 5 and from what has been stated at Genesis 17:1 and Genesis 25:7 about Abraham's age and at Genesis 35:28 about Isaac's. The same is clear in addition from the fact that no historical detail exists anywhere in the Word which does not include within it something heavenly into which it is also changed when it passes from the thought of the reader to the angels present with him, and through those angels into heaven where the spiritual sense rises up out of every historical reference in the Word.

[3] But what is meant by Joseph's being seventeen years old may be seen from the meaning which this number has elsewhere, namely a beginning, in this case the beginning of the representation through Joseph. As to its meaning a beginning and that which is new, see 755, 853. What is more, this number includes within itself in a general way, and so to speak potentially, all the things that are represented by 'Joseph' - 'seven' meaning that which is holy and 'ten' remnants. For 'seven' when used in the Word adds holiness to any meaning, see 881, while 'ten' means remnants, 576, 1906, 2284. The remnants present in the Lord were Divine and His own, and by means of them He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, 1906.

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