The Bible

 

Postanak 34

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1 Dina, kći koju je Lea rodila Jakovu, iziđe da posjeti neke žene onoga kraja.

2 Opazi je Hivijac Šekem, sin Hamora, poglavice kraja, pa je pograbi i na silu s njom leže.

3 Njegovo srce prione za Dinu, Jakovljevu kćer, i on se u djevojku zaljubi. Nastojao je pridobiti djevojčino srce.

4 Šekem je govorio i svom ocu Hamoru: "Onu mi djevojku uzmi za ženu!"

5 Jakov sazna da je Šekem obeščastio njegovu kćer Dinu. Ali kako su njegovi sinovi bili uz blago na polju, Jakov nije poduzimao ništa dok oni ne dođu.

6 Uto dođe k Jakovu Šekemov otac Hamor da se s njim sporazumije,

7 upravo kad su se Jakovljevi sinovi vraćali iz polja. Kad su čuli vijest, ljudi su bili ojađeni i vrlo ljuti. Što je Šekem učinio - legavši s Jakovljevom kćeri - u Izraelu je bila sramota. To se nije smjelo trpjeti.

8 Hamor im reče. "Moj se sin Šekem svom dušom zaljubio u vašu kćer. Dajte mu je za ženu!

9 Oprijateljite se s nama: dajite nam svoje kćeri, a naše kćeri uzimajte sebi!

10 Tako možete živjeti među nama; zemlja je pred vama da se naselite, u njoj se slobodno krećete i stječete imovinu!"

11 Potom Šekem reče njezinu ocu i njezinoj braći: "Da nađem milost u vašim očima, dat ću vam što zatražite.

12 Tražite od mene koliko hoćete: sve što god zapitate dat ću, samo mi dajte djevojku za ženu."

13 Jakovljevi sinovi odgovore Šekemu i njegovu ocu Hamoru - govorili su s prijevarom jer je obeščastio njihovu sestru Dinu -

14 te im rekoše: "Ne možemo pristati da svoju sestru damo čovjeku koji nije obrezan, jer bi to za nas bila sramota.

15 Jedino ćemo je dati ako postanete kao i mi, ako obrežete sve svoje muškarce.

16 Onda vam možemo davati svoje kćeri i uzimati vaše sebi, s vama se naseliti i biti jedan rod.

17 A ako ne pristajete na obrezanje, uzet ćemo svoju kćer i otići."

18 Hamoru i Šekemu, Hamorovu sinu, njihov se zahtjev učini povoljan.

19 Mladić nije časio da zahtjev izvrši, jer je čeznuo za Jakovljevom kćeri; a bio je najuvaženiji od svih u očevu domu.

20 Tako Hamor i njegov sin Šekem dođu u svoje gradsko vijeće i obrate se svojim sugrađanima ovako:

21 "Ovaj je svijet prijazan; neka se među nama u zemlji nasele; neka se po njoj slobodno kreću; ima dosta prostora u zemlji za njih; možemo uzimati njihove kćeri sebi za žene, a njima davati svoje.

22 No ljudi će pristati da među nama žive i s nama budu jedan rod samo ako se svi naši muškarci obrežu kao što su oni obrezani.

23 Zar tako ne bi stoka koju su stekli, sve njihovo blago - bilo naše? Pristanimo, pa neka se među nama nasele!"

24 Svi odrasli muškarci koji imaju pravo izaći na gradska vrata poslušaše Hamora i njegova sina Šekema, pa bude obrezan svaki muškarac - svaki koji ima pravo izaći na gradska vrata.

25 A trećega dana, dok su oni još bili u bolovima, dva Jakovljeva sina, Šimun i Levi, Dinina braća, pograbe svaki svoj mač i nesmetano dođu u grad te poubijaju sve muškarce.

26 Sasijeku mačem Hamora i njegova sina Šekema, uzmu Dinu iz Šekemove kuće i odu.

27 Ostali Jakovljevi sinovi dođu na ubijene i opustoše grad što je njihova sestra bila obeščašćena.

28 Što je bilo krupne i sitne stoke i magaradi, u gradu i u polju, otjeraju;

29 opljačkaju sva njihova dobra, a svu im djecu i žene - sve što je bilo po kućama - odvedu u roblje.

30 Jakov reče Šimunu i Leviju: "Uveli ste me u nepriliku omrazivši me stanovnicima zemlje, Kanaancima i Perižanima. Ako se ujedine protiv mene i napadnu me, dok je nas ovako malo na broj, istrijebit će me s mojim domom."

31 Oni odgovore: "Zar da prema našoj sestri postupaju kao prema kakvoj bludnici?"

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4447

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4447. And Hamor spoke with them, saying. That this signifies the good of the Church among the Ancients, is evident from the representation of Hamor, as being what is from the ancients (see n. 4431), that is, the good of the church which was among them. For the good of the church is father, and the derivative truth (“Shechem”) is son; and therefore by “father” in the Word is signified good, and by “son” truth. It is here said “the good of the Church among the Ancients,” but not “the good of the Ancient Church,” for the reason that by the “Church among the Ancients” is meant the church that was derived from the Most Ancient Church which existed before the flood, and by the “Ancient Church” is meant the church that existed after the flood. These two churches have sometimes been treated of in the preceding pages, and it has been shown that the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood was celestial, but the Ancient Church which was after the flood was spiritual, and the difference between them has often been treated of.

[2] The remains of the Most Ancient Church which was celestial still existed in the land of Canaan, especially among those called Hittites and Hivites. The reason why these remains did not exist anywhere else was that the Most Ancient Church called “Man” or “Adam” (n. 478, 479) was in the land of Canaan, and therefore the “garden of Eden,” by which was signified the intelligence and wisdom of the men of that church (n. 100, 1588), and by the trees in it their perception, (n. 103, 2163, 2722, 2972), was in that land. And because intelligence and wisdom were signified by this “garden” or paradise, the church itself was meant by it; and because the church was meant, so also was heaven; and because heaven, so also in the supreme sense, was the Lord; and therefore in this sense the “land of Canaan” itself signifies the Lord, in the relative sense heaven and also the church, and in the individual sense the man of the church (n. 1413, 1437, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705); and therefore also the term “land” or “earth” when mentioned alone in the Word has a like signification (n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1413, 1607, 3355); the “new heaven and new earth” being a new church in respect to its internal and its external (n. 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355). That the Most Ancient Church was in the land of Canaan may be seen in n. 567; and the result of this was that the places there became representative, and for this reason Abram was commanded to go there, and the land was given to his descendants the sons of Jacob in order that the representatives of the places in accordance with which the Word was to be written, might be retained. (See n. 3686 and that for the same reason all the places there, as well as the mountains and rivers, and all the borders round about, became representative, n. 1585, 1866, 4240.)

[3] All this shows what is here meant by the “Church among the Ancients,” namely, remains from the Most Ancient Church. And as these remains existed among the Hittites and Hivites, therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, together with their wives, obtained a place of burial with the Hittites in their land (Genesis 23:1-20; 49:29-32; 50:13); and Joseph with the Hivites (Josh. 24:32). Hamor the father of Shechem represented the remains of this Church, and therefore by him is signified the good of the Church among the Ancients, and consequently the origin of interior truth from a Divine stock (n. 4399). (What the distinction is between the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood, and the Ancient Church which was after the flood, may be seen above, n. 597, 607, 608, 640, 641, 765, 784, 895, 920, 1114-1128, 1238, 1327, 2896, 2897.)

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