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Genesis 27

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1 Now when Isaac was old and his eyes had become clouded so that he was not able to see, he sent for Esau, his first son, and said to him, My son: and he said, Here am I.

2 And he said, See now, I am old, and my death may take place at any time:

3 So take your arrows and your bow and go out to the field and get meat for me;

4 And make me food, good to the taste, such as is pleasing to me, and put it before me, so that I may have a meal and give you my blessing before death comes to me.

5 Now Isaac's words to his son were said in Rebekah's hearing. Then Esau went out to get the meat.

6 And Rebekah said to Jacob, her son, Your father said to your brother Esau in my hearing,

7 Go and get some roe's meat and make me a good meal, so that I may be full, and give you my blessing before the Lord before my death.

8 Now, my son, do what I say.

9 Go to the flock and get me two fat young goats; and I will make of them a meal to your father's taste:

10 And you will take it to him, so that he may have a good meal and give you his blessing before his death.

11 And Jacob said to Rebekah, his mother, But Esau my brother is covered with hair, while I am smooth:

12 If by chance my father puts his hand on me, it will seem to him that I am tricking him, and he will put a curse on me in place of a blessing.

13 And his mother said, Let the curse be on me, my son: only do as I say, and go and get them for me.

14 So he went and got them and took them to his mother: and she made a meal to his father's taste.

15 And Rebekah took the fair robes of her oldest son, which were with her in the house, and put them on Jacob, her younger son:

16 And she put the skins of the young goats on his hands and on the smooth part of his neck:

17 And she gave into the hand of Jacob, her son, the meat and the bread which she had made ready.

18 And he came to his father, and said, My father: and he said, Here am I: who are you, my son?

19 And Jacob said, I am Esau, your oldest son; I have done as you said: come now, be seated and take of my meat, so that you may give me a blessing.

20 And Isaac said, How is it that you have got it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord your God made it come my way.

21 And Isaac said, Come near so that I may put my hand on you, my son, and see if you are truly my son Esau or not.

22 And Jacob went near his father Isaac: and he put his hands on him; and he said, The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau.

23 And he did not make out who he was, because his hands were covered with hair like his brother Esau's hands: so he gave him a blessing.

24 And he said, Are you truly my son Esau? And he said, I am.

25 And he said, Put it before me and I will take of my son's meat, so that I may give you a blessing. And he Put it before him and he took it; and he gave him wine, and he had a drink.

26 And his father Isaac said to him, Come near now, my son, and give me a kiss.

27 And he came near and gave him a kiss; and smelling the smell of his clothing, he gave him a blessing, and said, See, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field on which the blessing of the Lord has come:

28 May God give you the dew of heaven, and the good things of the earth, and grain and wine in full measure:

29 Let peoples be your servants, and nations go down before you: be lord over your brothers, and let your mother's sons go down before you: a curse be on everyone by whom you are cursed, and a blessing on those who give you a blessing.

30 And when Isaac had come to the end of blessing Jacob, and Jacob had not long gone away from Isaac his father, Esau came in from the field.

31 And he made ready a meal, good to the taste, and took it to his father, and said to him, Let my father get up and take of his son's meat, so that you may give me a blessing.

32 And Isaac his father said to him, Who are you? And he said, I am your oldest son, Esau.

33 And in great fear Isaac said, Who then is he who got meat and put it before me, and I took it all before you came, and gave him a blessing, and his it will be?

34 And hearing the words of his father, Esau gave a great and bitter cry, and said to his father, Give a blessing to me, even to me, O my father!

35 And he said, Your brother came with deceit, and took away your blessing.

36 And he said, Is it because he is named Jacob that he has twice taken my place? for he took away my birthright, and now he has taken away my blessing. And he said, Have you not kept a blessing for me?

37 And Isaac answering said, But I have made him your master, and have given him all his brothers for servants; I have made him strong with grain and wine: what then am I to do for you, my son?

38 And Esau said to his father, Is that the only blessing you have, my father? give a blessing to me, even me! And Esau was overcome with weeping.

39 Then Isaac his father made answer and said to him, Far from the fertile places of the earth, and far from the dew of heaven on high will your living-place be:

40 By your sword will you get your living and you will be your brother's servant; but when your power is increased his yoke will be broken from off your neck.

41 So Esau was full of hate for Jacob because of his father's blessing; and he said in his heart, The days of weeping for my father are near; then I will put my brother Jacob to death.

42 Then Rebekah, hearing what Esau had said, sent for Jacob, her younger son, and said to him, It seems that your brother Esau is purposing to put you to death.

43 So now, my son, do what I say: go quickly to Haran, to my brother Laban;

44 And be there with him for a little time, till your brother's wrath is turned away;

45 Till the memory of what you have done to him is past and he is no longer angry: then I will send word for you to come back; are the two of you to be taken from me in one day?

46 Then Rebekah said to Isaac, My life is a weariness to me because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob takes a wife from among the daughters of Heth, such as these, the women of this land, of what use will my life be to me?

   

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Arcana Coelestia #3614

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3614. Until thy brother’s wrath turn away. That this signifies until the state turns thereto; and that “until thy brother’s anger turn away from thee” signifies what is successive of the state with natural good, is evident from the signification of “wrath” and “anger,” as being states which are repugnant, as will be shown in what follows. When these states become such that they are no longer repugnant, but begin to conjoin themselves, it is then said that “wrath turns away,” and that “anger turns away;” hence it is that “until thy brother’s wrath turns away” signifies until the state turns thereto; and that “until thy brother’s anger turn away” signifies what is successive of the state with natural good. That “wrath” involves one thing, and “anger” another, may be seen from the words being in other respects alike, and that otherwise there would be an idle repetition, namely, “until thy brother’s wrath turn away” and “until thy brother’s anger turn away.” What is implied in each expression is manifest from the general explication, and also from the predication of wrath and the predication of anger; for “wrath” is predicated of truth, here of the truth of good, which is represented by Esau; whereas “anger” is predicated of this good itself.

[2] “Wrath” and “anger” are frequently mentioned in the Word, but in the internal sense they do not signify wrath and anger, but repugnance, and this for the reason that whatever is repugnant to any affection produces wrath or anger, so that in the internal sense they are only repugnances; but the repugnance of truth is called “wrath,” and the repugnance of good is called “anger;” and in the opposite sense “wrath” is the repugnance of falsity or its affection, that is, of the principles of falsity; and “anger” is the repugnance of evil or its cupidity, that is, of the love of self and the love of the world. In this sense “wrath” is properly wrath, and “anger” is anger; but when they are predicted of good and truth, “wrath” and “anger” are zeal; which zeal, because in external form it appears like wrath and anger, therefore in the sense of the letter is also so called.

[3] That in the internal sense “wrath” and “anger” are merely repugnances, may be seen from the following passages in the Word.

In Isaiah:

Jehovah hath heat against all the nations, and wrath against all their army (Isaiah 34:2).

The “heat of Jehovah against the nations” denotes repugnance against evil (that “nations” are evils, see above, n. 1259-1260, 1849, 1868, 2588); “wrath against all their army” denotes repugnance against the derivative falsities (that the “stars,” which are called the “army of the heavens,” are knowledges, and thus truths and in the opposite sense falsities, may be seen above, n. 1128,, 1808, 2120, 2495, 2849). Again:

Who gave Jacob for a prey, and Israel to the spoilers? Did not Jehovah? He against whom we have sinned? Therefore He poured upon him the wrath, of His anger (Isaiah 42:24-25).

The “wrath, of anger” denotes repugnance against the falsity of evil; “Jacob,” those who are in evil; and “Israel,” those who are in falsity.

[4] Again:

I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the peoples there was no man with Me; and I have trodden them in Mine anger, and destroyed them in My wrath; and I trampled the peoples in Mine anger, and made them drunk in My wrath (Isaiah 63:3, 6); where the Lord is treated of and his victories in temptations; to “tread and trample in anger” denotes victories over evils; and to “destroy and make drunk in wrath,” victories over falsities; to “trample upon,” in the Word, is predicated of evil; and to “make drunken,” of falsity.

In Jeremiah:

Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, Behold, Mine anger and My wrath shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the tree of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn and shall not be quenched (Jeremiah 7:20); where mention is made of both “anger” and “wrath,” because both evil and falsity are treated of.

[5] It is usual with the Prophets in speaking of evil to speak also of falsity, as in speaking of good to speak also of truth, and this because of the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of good and truth, in everything of the Word (see n. 683, 793, 801, 2173, 2516, 2712); hence also both “anger” and “wrath” are mentioned; otherwise one term would have been sufficient. In the same prophet:

I myself will fight with you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in wrath, and in great heat; and I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast (Jeremiah 21:5-6).

Here in like manner “anger” is predicated of the punishment of evil, and “wrath” of the punishment of falsity, and “heat” of the punishment of both; “anger” and “wrath,” because they denote repugnance, also denote punishment; for things which are repugnant come into collision, and then evil and falsity are punished; for in evil there is repugnance to good, and in falsity there is repugnance to truth; and because there is repugnance, there is also collision; that from this comes punishment may be seen above (n. 696, 967).

[6] In Ezekiel:

Thus shall Mine anger be consummated, and I will make My wrath to rest upon them, and I will comfort Myself, and they shall know that I Jehovah have spoken in My zeal when I have consummated My wrath upon them, when I shall do judgments in thee in anger and in wrath and in the reproofs of wrath (Ezekiel 5:13, 15); where also “anger” denotes the punishment of evil; “wrath,” the punishment of falsity, from its repugnance and consequent attack.

In Moses:

It shall not please Jehovah to pardon him, because then the anger of Jehovah and his zeal shall smoke against that man. And Jehovah shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel. The whole land thereof shall be brimstone and salt, and a burning; it shall not be sown, and shall not bud, neither shall therein any herb come up; like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim, which Jehovah overthrew in His anger and in His wrath; and all the nations shall say, Wherefore hath Jehovah done thus unto this land? What meaneth the heat of this great anger? (Deuteronomy 29:20-24).

Inasmuch as “Sodom” denotes evil, and “Gomorrah” the derivative falsity (n. 2220, 2246, 2322), and the nation of which Moses here speaks is compared thereto in respect to evil and falsity, therefore “anger” is spoken of in respect to evil, and “wrath” in respect to falsity, and “heat of anger” in respect to both. That such things are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord is according to the appearance, because it so appears to man when he runs into evil and the evil punishes him (see n. 245, 592, 696, 1093, 1683, 1874, 2395, 2447, 3235, 3605).

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