The Bible

 

創世記 19

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1 那兩個天使晚上到了所多瑪;羅得正所多瑪門口見他們,就起來迎接,臉伏於下拜,

2 :我阿,請你們到僕人家裡,住一夜,清起來再走。他們:不!我們要在街上過夜。

3 羅得切切的請他們,他們這才進去,到他裡。羅得為他們預備筵席,無酵餅,他們就吃了

4 他們還沒有躺下,所多瑪城裡各處的人,連老帶少,都來圍住那房子,

5 呼叫羅得:今日晚上到你這裡的人在那裡呢?把他們,任我們所為。

6 羅得出來,把上,到眾人那裡,

7 :眾弟兄,請你們不要作這惡事。

8 我有兩個女兒,還是處女,容我領出,任憑你們的心願而行;只是這兩個既然到我舍,不要向他們作甚麼。

9 :退去罷!又:這個寄居,還想要作官哪!現在我們要害你比害他們更甚。眾就向前擁擠羅得,要攻

10 只是那二人伸出來,將羅得拉進去,把上,

11 並且使外的人,無論老少,眼都昏迷;他們摸來摸去,總尋不著房

12 二人對羅得:你這裡還有甚麼人麼?無論是女婿是兒女,和這城中一切屬你的人,你都要將他們從這地方帶出去。

13 我們要毀滅這地方;因為城內罪惡的聲音在耶和華面前甚大,耶和華我們來,要毀滅這地方

14 羅得就出去,告訴娶了(或作將要娶)他女兒的女婿們:你們起來離開這地方,因為耶和華要毀滅這城。他女婿們卻以為他的是戲言。

15 天明了,天使催逼羅得說:起來!帶著你的妻子和你在這裡的兩個女兒出去,免得你因這城裡的罪惡同被剿滅。

16 但羅得遲延不走。人因為耶和華憐恤羅得,就拉著他的和他妻子的,並他兩個女兒,把他們領出來,安置在城外;

17 領他們出來以,就:逃命罷!不可回頭,也不可在平原站住。要往上逃跑,免得你被剿滅。

18 羅得對他們:我阿,不要如此!

19 僕人已經在你眼前蒙恩;你又向我顯出莫大的慈愛,我的性命。我不能逃到上去,恐怕這災禍臨到我,我便死了

20 看哪,這座城又小又近,容易逃到,這不是一個小的麼?求你容我逃到那裡,我的性命就得存活。

21 天使對他:這事我也應允你;我不傾覆你所的這城。

22 你要速速地逃到那城;因為你還沒有到那裡,我不能作甚麼。因此那城名瑣珥(就是小的意思)。

23 羅得到了瑣珥,日頭已經出來了

24 當時,耶和華硫磺耶和華那裡降與所多瑪和蛾摩拉,

25 把那些城和全平原,並城裡所有的居民,連地上生長的,都毀滅了。

26 羅得的妻子邊回頭一看,就變成了一根柱。

27 亞伯拉罕起來,到了他從前站在耶和華面前的地方

28 所多瑪和蛾摩拉與平原的全,不料,那方煙氣上騰,如同燒窯一般。

29 毀滅平原諸城的時候,他記念亞伯拉罕,正在傾覆羅得所之城的時候,就打發羅得從傾覆之中出來。

30 羅得因為在瑣珥,就同他兩個女兒從瑣珥上去,裡;他和兩個女兒在一個洞裡。

31 大女兒對小女兒我們父親老了,上又無按著世上的常規進到我們這裡。

32 來!我們可以叫父親喝酒,與他同寢。這樣,我們好從他存留後裔。

33 於是,那夜他們叫父親喝酒,大女兒就進去和他父親同寢;他幾時躺下,幾時起來父親都不知道

34 第二天,大女兒對小女兒:我昨夜與父親同寢。今夜我們再叫他喝酒,你可以進去與他同寢。這樣,我們好從父親存留後裔。

35 於是,那夜他們又叫父親喝酒,小女兒起來與他父親同寢;他幾時躺下,幾時起來父親都不知道

36 這樣,羅得的兩個女兒從他父親懷了孕。

37 大女兒生了兒子,給他起名摩押,就是現今摩押人的始祖。

38 小女兒也生了兒子,給他起名便亞米,就是現今亞捫人的始祖。

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2567

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2567. And menservants and maidservants. That this signifies that it was enriched also with rational truths and natural truths, as well as with the affections of them, is evident from the signification of “menservants and maidservants.” These are frequently mentioned in the Word, and by them are signified in the internal sense things that are relatively lower and of less value, such as are rational and natural things in comparison with spiritual and celestial things. By natural truths are meant memory-knowledges of every kind, for these are natural. That in the Word these are signified by “menservants and maidservants,” is manifest from the internal sense of the words where they are mentioned, as in Isaiah:

Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and will set them upon their own ground; and the sojourner shall cleave unto them, and shall join themselves unto the house of Jacob; and the peoples shall take them, and shall bring them to their own place; and the house of Israel shall possess them for themselves upon the ground of Jehovah for menservants and for maidservants (Isaiah 14:1-2),

[2] where “Jacob” denotes the external church; “Israel,” the internal; “sojourners,” those who are being instructed in truths and goods (see n. 1463, 2025); “menservants and maidservants,” natural and rational truths together with the affections of them, which are to serve the church meant by “Jacob and Israel.” It is evident that Jacob and Israel are not meant here, nor the Jews and Israelites, for the latter when dispersed among the Gentiles became Gentiles. The Jews still cherish this prophecy and expect its fulfillment, even according to the letter, namely, that sojourners will cleave to them, that the people will bring them to their place, and will be to them for menservants and maidservants; when yet not even the smallest thing is to be understood of the Jews and Israelites in the prophecies of the Word where these are mentioned; as must be evident even to themselves from the fact that it is often said of Israel equally as of Judah that they shall be brought back.

[3] Again in the same Prophet:

Behold, Jehovah maketh the earth empty, and emptieth it out, and will disfigure the face of it, and scatter the inhabitants thereof; and it shall be, as the people, so the priest; as the servant, so his master; as the maidservant, so her mistress (Isaiah 24:1-2).

Here the “earth” denotes the church (n. 662, 1066, 1068, 1850), which is made empty and is emptied out, and its face is disfigured, and its inhabitants scattered, when there are no longer any interior truths and goods, which are the “people and the priest,” nor any exterior truths and goods, which are the “servant” and the “maidservant,” as comes to pass when external things rule over internal things.

[4] Again:

I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountain, and My chosen shall possess it, and My servants shall dwell there (Isaiah 65:9),

where “Jacob” denotes the external church; “Judah,” the internal celestial church; the “chosen,” its goods; and the “servants,” its truths.

[5] In Joel:

I will pour out My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy; also upon the servants and the maidservants will I pour out My spirit in those days (Joel 2:28-29); where the Lord’s kingdom is treated of; “to prophesy” denotes to teach (n. 2534); “sons,” truths themselves (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147) “daughters,” goods themselves (n. 489-491) “servants” and “maidservants,” lower truths and goods, upon which the spirit is said to be poured out when they accede and confirm. That such things are signified by “menservants and maidservants” here and elsewhere, does not so appear, by reason both of the common idea respecting menservants and maidservants, and of the apparent history.

[6] In John:

I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all, both of free and bond, both of small and great (Revelation 19:17-18). It is here evident that it is not the flesh of kings, of captains, of mighty men, of horses, of those who sit on them, of the free and of the bond, which they should eat; but that it is the truths of the church, both internal and external, that were made “flesh” for them.

[7] That “menservants” signify truths, and “maidservants” goods, which are subservient to and thus serve spiritual and celestial truths and goods, is more clearly evident from the laws enjoined in the Representative Church in regard to menservants and maidservants; which laws all have regard to the state of the church and of the Lord’s kingdom in general and in particular; and to the way in which lower truths and goods, or those which are natural and rational, are to serve those which are spiritual and celestial, and thereby those which are Divine. For example: The Hebrew manservant and the Hebrew maidservant were to be free in the seventh year, and were then to be endowed from the flock, the threshing-floor, and the wine-press (Exodus 21:2, 6; Deuteronomy 15:12-15; Jeremiah 34:9-14): The servant’s wife was to be free if she entered into service with him; but if the master gave him his wife, the wife and children were to be the master’s (Exodus 21:3-4): A poor brother who had been purchased was not to serve as a bondservant, but as a hired servant and a sojourner; at the jubilee he was to go out together with his children (Leviticus 25:39-43): If a brother were bought by a foreign sojourner, he might be redeemed, and was to go out in the year of the jubilee (Leviticus 25:47, etc.): Menservants and maidservants might be bought of the nations around, and of the sons of foreign sojourners, and they were to be their perpetual possession, whom they might rule absolutely, but not the sons of Israel (Leviticus 25:44-46): If a manservant did not desire to go out of service, his ear was to be pierced with an awl, at the door, and he was to be a perpetual servant; and the same with a maidservant (Exodus 21:6; Deuteronomy 15:16-17): If anyone smote his manservant or his maidservant with a rod, so that he died, vengeance was to be taken on him; but if he survived a day or more, he was to be free, because he was his money (Exodus 21:20-21): If he should smite a servant’s eye or tooth, he was to go forth free (Exodus 21:26-27): If an ox should gore a manservant or a maidservant so that he died, the owner was to pay thirty shekels to his master, and the ox was to be stoned (Exodus 21:32): A servant who had escaped from his master was not to be placed in confinement, but should dwell in the place where he chose, and was not to be afflicted (Deuteronomy 23:15-16): A servant bought with silver, and circumcised, was to eat of the Passover (Exodus 12:44): Anyone’s daughter that was bought was not to go out of service like the manservants; if she were evil, her master was not to sell her to a stranger; if she were betrothed to his son, she was to be as a daughter; if he took another, he was not to diminish her food, her raiment, nor her duty of marriage; if these things were not done, she was to go out of service without price (Exodus 21:7-12).

[8] All these laws have their origin from the laws of truth and good in heaven, and in the internal sense have reference to them; partly by correspondences, partly by representatives, and partly by significatives. But after the representatives and significatives of the church (which were the most external and lowest things of worship) had been abolished, the necessity for these laws ceased also. Now if these laws were to be unfolded from the laws of order of truth and good, and from representatives and significatives, it would be plain that nothing else was meant by “menservants” than rational and memory truths [vera rationalia et scientifica], which are lower truths, and therefore ought to serve spiritual truths; and that by “maidservants” were signified the goods of these, which being also lower, ought to serve indeed, but in another manner; and therefore certain of the laws laid down respecting maidservants differ from those laid down respecting menservants; for regarded in themselves truths are more fully servants than their goods are.

[9] By the “king’s right,” in Samuel, nothing else is signified in the internal sense than the “right” of truth, and likewise the “right” of falsity when it begins to rule over truth and over good; as is evident from the explication of the words by which this is described:

This will be the right of the king that shall reign over you: he will take your sons and appoint them to him over his chariots and for his horsemen, and they shall run before his chariots; he will take your daughters for perfumers, and for cooks, and for bakers; your menservants and your maidservants and your goodliest young men and your asses will he take and put them to his work; he will take the tenth of your flock; and ye shall be for servants. And ye shall cry out in that day because of your king whom ye have chosen for you, and Jehovah will not answer you in that day (1 Samuel 8:11, 13, 16-18).

[10] That by a “king” is signified truths, may be seen above (n. 1672, 2015, 2069); thus in the opposite sense things that are not true, that is, falsities. By the “sons whom he would appoint for himself over his chariots and for his horsemen,” are signified the truths of doctrine, which should be subservient to principles of falsity, which are the “chariots and horsemen.” By the “daughters whom he should take for perfumers, cooks, and bakers,” are signified the goods of doctrine, by which those falsities would be filled with delight; and which would be made to favor the falsities.

By the “menservants and maidservants, the young men, and the asses, by which he would do his work,” are signified the things of reason and of memory-knowledge, by which those falsities would be confirmed. By the “flock of which he will take a tenth” are signified the remains of good that he would do violence to. And by their “being servants” is signified that it would come to pass that the celestial and spiritual things of the Word and of doctrine, instead of ruling, would be subservient to the confirmation of the falsities of his principles, and the evils of his cupidities. For there is nothing that cannot be injected into principles of falsity as confirmatory of them, either by a false application, by a wrong interpretation, by perversion, or by a rejection of those things which do not favor; and therefore it is added: “if ye cry out in that day because of your king whom ye have chosen for you, Jehovah will not answer in that day.”

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1260

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1260. Because in the Most Ancient and in the Ancient Church, nations signified goods, or good men, therefore in the opposite sense they signify evils, or evil men. In like manner peoples, because they signified truths, in the opposite sense signify falsities. For in a depraved church good is turned into evil, and truth into falsity. Hence comes the signification of “nations” and of “peoples” in this opposite sense in many places in the Word, as in Isaiah 13:4; 14:6; 18:2, 7; 30:28; 34:1-2; Ezekiel 20:32.

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