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.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #4593

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4593. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath. That this signifies the end of the former affection of interior truth, is evident from the signification of “dying,” as being to cease to be such (see n. 494), thus the end; from the representation of Rachel, as being the affection of interior truth (n. 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819); from the signification of “to be buried,” as being the rejection of a former state, and the resuscitation of a new one (n. 2916, 2917, 3256); and from the signification of “Ephrath,” as being the spiritual of the celestial in a former state (n. 4585). From all this it is evident that by Rachel’s dying and being buried in the way to Ephrath is signified the end of the former state of the affection of interior truth and the resuscitation of a new state which is “Bethlehem,” the explication of which follows.

[2] In the genuine sense by Rachel’s dying and being buried in the way to Ephrath is signified that which is hereditary, in that by means of temptations it was expelled forever, and which was the human affection of interior truth, which the Divine affection expelled. It was for this reason that this son was called by his mother “Benoni,” or “son of sorrow,” but by his father “Benjamin,” or “son of the right hand.” In the human affection from the mother there is a heredity in which is evil, but in the Divine affection there is nothing but good; for in the human affection there is the glory of self and of the world as an end for the sake of self; but in the Divine affection there is an end for the sake of self that it may be from self to save the human race, according to the Lord’s words in John:

I pray for those whom Thou hast given Me, for all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, but I am glorified in them; that they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us. The glory which Thou gavest Me I have given them, that they may be one as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me (John 17:9-10, 21-23).

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