The Bible

 

Genesis 35

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1 Derpå sagde Gud til Jakob: "Drag op til Betel og bliv der og byg der et Alter for Gud, som åbenbarede sig for dig, da du flygtede for din Broder Esau!"

2 Jakob sagde da til sit Hus og alle sine Folk: "Skaf de fremmede Guder, der findes hos eder, bort, rens eder og skift Klæder,

3 og lad os drage op til Betel, for at jeg der kan bygge et Alter for Gud, der bønhørte mig i min Trængselstid og var med mig på den Vej, jeg vandrede!"

4 De gav så Jakob alle de fremmede Guder, de førte med sig, og alle de inge, de havde i Ørene, og han gravede dem ned under Egen ved Sikem.

5 Derpå brød de op; og en Guds ædsel kom over alle Byerne rundt om, så de ikke forfulgte Jakobs Sønner.

6 Og Jakob kom med alle sine Folk til Luz i Kana'ans Land, det er Betel;

7 og han byggede et Alter der og kaldte Stedet: Betels Gud, thi der havde Gud åbenbaret sig for ham, da han flygtede for sin Broder.

8 døde ebekkas Amme Debora, og hun blev jordet neden for Betel under Egen; derfor kaldte han den Grædeegen.

9 Gud åbenbarede sig atter for Jakob efter hans Hjemkomst fra Paddan Aram og velsignede ham;

10 og Gud sagde til ham: "Dit Navn er Jakob; men herefter skal du ikke mere hedde Jakob; Israel skal være dit Navn!" Og han gav ham Navnet Israel.

11 Derpå sagde Gud til ham: "Jeg er Gud den Almægtige! Bliv frugtbar og mangfoldig! Et Folk,ja Folk i Hobetal skal nedstamme fra dig, og.Konger skal udgå af din Lænd;

12 det Land, jeg gav Abraham og Isak, giver jeg dig, og dit Afkom efter dig giver jeg Landet!"

13 Derpå for Gud op fra ham på det Sted, hvor han havde talet med ham;

14 og Jakob rejste en Støtte på det Sted, hvor han havde talet med ham, en Stenstøtte, og hældte et Drikofer over den og udgød Olie på den.

15 Og Jakob kaldte det Sted, hvor Gud havde talet med ham, Betel.

16 Derpå brød de op fra Betel, Da de endnu var et Stykke Vej fra Efrat, skulde akel føde, og hendes Fødselsveer var hårde.

17 Midt under hendes hårde Fødselsveer sagde Jordemoderen til hende: "Frygt ikke, thi også denne Gang får du en Søn!"

18 Men da hun droges med Døden thi det kostede hende Livet gav hun ham Navnet Ben'oni; men Faderen kaldte ham Benjamin".

19 døde akel og blev jordet på Vejen til Efrat, det er Betlehem;

20 og Jakob rejste en Stenstøtte på hendes Grav; det er akels Gravstøtte, som står endnu den Dag i Dag.

21 Derpå brød Israel op og opslog sit Telt hinsides Migdal Eder.

22 Men medens Israel boede i den Egn, gik uben hen og lå hos sin Faders Medhustru Bilha; og det kom Israel for Øre. Jakobs Sønner var tolv i Tal;

23 Leas Sønner: uben, Jakobs førstefødte, Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issakar og Zebulon;

24 akels Sønner: Josef og Benjamin;

25 akels Trælkvinde Bilhas Sønner: Dan og Naftali;

26 Leas Trælkvinde Zilpas Sønner: Gad og Aser. Det var Jakobs Sønner, der fødtes ham i Paddan Aram.

27 Og Jakob kom til sin Fader Isak i Mamre i Kirjat Arba, det er Hebron, hvor Abraham og Isak havde levet som fremmede.

28 Isaks Leveår var 180;

29 så gik Isak bort; han døde og samledes til sin Slægt, gammel og mæt af Dage. Og hans Sønner Esau og Jakob jordede ham,

   


The Project Gutenberg Association at Carnegie Mellon University

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #6306

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6306. 'Which I took out of the hand of the Amorite' means because of the victory over evil. This is clear from the representation of 'the Amorite' as evil, dealt with in 1857; and from the meaning of 'taking out of the hand' as acquiring through victory. As regards 'the Amorites', it should be recognized that they mean evil, just as 'the Canaanites' and all the other nations in the land that are mentioned in the Word mean various kinds of evil and also of falsity. Such things were represented by the nations when the children of Israel were taking possession of the land of Canaan. The reason for this was that whenever the children of Israel represented the things of heaven those nations represented the things of hell; thus the land of Canaan represented every state that exists in the next life. Also, because the nations represented the things of hell they were utterly destroyed; and entrance into any treaty with those who might remain was forbidden.

[2] The action of the children of Israel, of their taking possession of and dwelling in the land of those who represented the hells, was representative. It represented what happened around the time of the Lord's Coming, when spirits from hell had possession of a large part of heaven but He, by coming into the world and making the human within Himself Divine, cast them out of there and down into hell, and thereby delivered heaven from them, which He then gave as an inheritance to those who belonged to His spiritual kingdom.

[3] The representation of the Amorite nation as evil in general is evident from the places where it is referred to, as in Ezekiel, Thus said the Lord Jehovih to Jerusalem, 1 Your tradings and your births are of the land of the Canaanite. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. Ezekiel 16:3, 45.

'Father' in the internal sense means the Church's good, or in the contrary sense evil, and 'mother' means the Church's truth, or in the contrary sense falsity; and this is why it is said, 'Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite'.

[4] In Amos,

I destroyed the Amorite before them, whose height was like the height of the cedars, and whose strength was like the oaks. I led you in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite. Amos 2:9-10.

Here also 'the Amorite' stands for evil, for the evil of self-love is described by 'the height of the cedars' and 'the strength of an oak'. The reason why 'the Amorite' means evil in general is that the entire land of Canaan was called 'the land of the Amorite'; for it says, 'I led you in the wilderness, to possess the land of the Amorite'. In addition the second Book of Kings says,

Manasseh king of Judah did what was evil, greater than all the evil which the Amorites did, who were before him. 2 Kings 21:11.

[5] 'With my sword' means through truth engaged in conflict. This is clear from the meaning of 'sword' as truth engaged in conflict, dealt with in 2799, 4499.

'And my bow' means received from doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of 'bow' as doctrine, dealt with in 2686, 2709.

[6] The words used here, 'the portion which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow' were, it is quite evident, uttered by Israel on account of the internal sense; for Jacob did not take that portion from the Amorite with sword or bow. He bought it from the sons of Hamor, as is evident from Genesis 33, where these words occur, Jacob came to Salem, the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, as he was coming from Paddan Aram; and he encamped towards the face of the city. And he bought the portion of the field where he had stretched his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs. Genesis 33:18-19.

The fact that this field was the portion he gave to Joseph is clear in Joshua,

The bones of Joseph which the children of Israel caused to be brought up out of Egypt they buried in Shechem, in the part of the field which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs; and they had become an inheritance for the children of Joseph. Joshua 24:32.

From this it is evident that the portion had been bought, and that this is what was given to Joseph. Nor was the city of Shechem nearby meant, the city in which Simeon and Levi killed every male and which they took with the sword, Genesis 34. This is made clear by the fact that Jacob detested what they did and for that reason cursed Simeon and Levi, completely dissociating himself from the crime. He said,

Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of violence are their swords. Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, and in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was hard. 2 I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. Genesis 49:5-7.

From all this it may now be seen that the words 'the portion which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow' were uttered by him, when the spirit of prophecy rested on him, for the sake of the internal sense.

Footnotes:

1. The Latin means O Jerusalem but the Hebrew means to Jerusalem, which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse (and possibly in his rough draft here).

2. i.e. cruel

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