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 #9327

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9327. 'I will send My terror before you' means the terror felt, on account of truths springing from good, by those immersed in evils arising from falsity. This is clear from the meaning of 'terror' as the terror felt by those immersed in evils that arise from falsity; and from the meaning of 'the children of Israel', before whom the terror would be sent, as those governed by spiritual good, which is truth springing from good, dealt with in 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833, 7957, 8234, 8805. The nations in the land of Canaan who would feel terror on account of the children of Israel mean evils arising from falsity and falsities arising from evil, see 1413, 1437, 1573, 1574, 1607, 1868, 4517, 6306, 8054, 8317. So it is that 'I will send My terror before you' means the terror felt by those immersed in evils arising from falsity, on account of truths springing from good. The implications of all this are that all power in the spiritual world is provided by truths that spring from good, thus by truths that emanate from the Lord.

[2] This is made perfectly clear by the consideration that the Lord arranges into order all things in heaven and all things in hell, as well as all things in the world, by means of truths coming from Him. For Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is the actual means by which all things are brought into being and by which all things are kept in being. This is incomprehensible to those who think on solely a material level, as those people do who attribute the origin and continued existence of all things to natural forces. These people cannot have any other idea about truths than this, that truths do not possess any power because they are solely objects of thought, and thought is not seen by them to be an essential entity, still less something substantial, 1 even though they know that thought controls the whole body and causes individual parts to move in exact accord with its own disposition. Nor also do they see that in the whole of creation nothing exists which lacks connection with truth that springs from good. Regarding truth, that it holds all power within it and is a supreme essential entity, see 8200. From all this it is evident that angels possess power which they receive from God's truth that emanates from the Lord, and that this is why they are called 'powers'. As regards the nature of truths that spring from good, that is, of truths coming from the Lord, see my experience involving the arm which corresponds to such truth, spoken of in 4932-4935.

[3] Since all power belongs to truth it follows that no power whatever resides in falsity arising from evil, since it is an absence of truth springing from good, and so is an absence of power. Therefore also those in hell, since all there are steeped in falsities arising from evil, have absolutely no power at all. This being so, thousands of them can be rebuffed, thrown down, and dispelled by a single angel, almost exactly as fluff in the air can be by a puff from the mouth. From this one may see the reason for the terror felt by those steeped in falsities arising from evil on account of truths springing from good. This terror is called 'the terror of God' in Genesis 35:5; Job 13:21; and in Ezekiel,

I will put My terror in the land of the living, when he had been made to lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those slain by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude. Ezekiel 32:32.

And in Moses,

If you despise My statutes, and if your soul abhors My judgements, so that you do not do all My commandments, I will inject dismay into their heart, that the sound of a driven leaf may pursue them, and they may flee, like flight from the sword, and they may fall without [anyone] pursuing. Leviticus 26:15, 36.

This describes the terror experienced by those who despise and reject statutes, judgements, and commandments, thus that felt by those who are immersed in evils arising from falsity and in falsities arising from evil. It says that 'the sound of a leaf will pursue them, and they will flee, like flight from the sword'; and the reason why it says this is that 'a leaf' means truth, 885, and 'the sword' truth engaged in conflict against falsity arising from evil, 2799, 6353, 8294. The fact that those people possess absolutely no power at all against truth is meant by 'they will fall without [anyone] pursuing'.

Footnotes:

1. i.e. having real existence in a higher dimension

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