The Bible

 

Genesis 11

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1 And the earth was of one tongue, and of the same speech.

2 And when they removed from the east, they found a plain in the land of Sennaar, and dwelt in it.

3 And each one said to his neighbour: Come, let us make brick, and bake them of stones, and slime instead of mortar.

4 And they said: Come, let us make a city and a tower, the top whereof may reach to heaven: and let us make our name famous before we be scattered abroad into all lands.

5 And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of Adam were building.

6 And he said: Behold, it is one people, and all have one tongue: and they have begun to do this, neither will they leave off from their designs, till they accomplish them in deed.

7 Come ye, therefore, let us go down, and there may not understand one another's speech.

8 And so the Lord scattered them from that place into all lands, and they ceased to build the city.

9 And therefore the name thereof was called Babel, because there the language of the whole earth was confounded: and from thence the Lord scattered them abroad upon the face of all countries.

10 These are the generations of Sem: Sem was a hundred years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years old when he begot Arphaxad, two years after the flood.

11 And Sem lived after he begot Arphaxad, five hundred years, and begot sons and daughters.

12 And Arphaxad lived thirty-five years, and begot Sale.

13 And Arphaxad lived after he begot Sale, three hundred and three years; and begot sons and daughters.

14 Sale also lived thirty years, and begot Heber.

15 And Sale lived after he begot Heber, four hundred and three years; and begot sons and daughters.

16 And Heber lived thirty-four years, and begot Phaleg.

17 And Heber lived after he begot Phaleg, four hundred and thirty years: and begot sons and daughters.

18 Phaleg also lived thirty years, and begot Reu.

19 And Phaleg lived after he begot Reu, two hundred and nine years, and begot sons and daughters.

20 And Reu lived thirty-two years, and begot Sarug.

21 And Reu lived after he begot Sarug, two hundred and seven years, and begot sons and daughters.

22 And Sarug lived thirty years, and begot Nachor.

23 And Sarug lived after he begot Nachor, two hundred years: and begot sons and daughters.

24 And Nachor lived nine and twenty years, and begot Thare.

25 And Nachor lived after he begot Thare, a hundred and nineteen years: and begot sons and daughters.

26 And Thare lived seventy years, and begot Abram, and Nachor, and Aran.

27 And these are the generations of Thare: Thare begot Abram, Nachor, and Aran. And Aran begot Lot.

28 And Aran died before Thare his father, in the land of his nativity in Ur of the Chaldees.

29 And Abram and Nachor married wives: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai: and the name of Nachor's wife, Melcha, the daughter of Aran, father of Melcha, and father of Jescha.

30 And Sarai was barren, and had no children.

31 And Thare took Abram, his son, and Lot the son of Aran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, the wife of Abram his son, and brought them out of Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Chanaan: and they came as far as Haran, and dwelt there.

32 And the days of Thare were tow hundred and five years, and he died in Haran.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #1292

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1292. That they found a valley in the land of Shinar. That this signifies that their worship became more unclean and profane, is evident from the signification of “a valley,” and of “the land of Shinar.” In the Word, “mountains” signify love or charity, because these are the highest, or, what is the same, the inmost things in worship, as before shown in n. 795, since “a valley” signifies what is beneath the mountains, that is, what is lower in worship, which is the same as what is exterior therein; and “the land of Shinar,” signifies external worship wherein is what is profane, as before shown n. 1183). And so in this passage, their having found a valley in the land of Shinar signifies that their worship became more unclean and profane.

[2] In the first verse it is said of the church that it was of one lip and that its words were one, which means that it had one doctrine in general and in particular. But in this verse the decline of the church is treated of, in that it is said that they journeyed from the east, that is, they began to go back from charity; for insofar as the church, or a man of the church, goes back from charity, so far his worship goes back from what is holy, or in other words, so far his worship approaches what is unclean and profane. That their having found a valley in the land of Shinar signifies the decline of the church, or of worship, to what is profane, is because a valley is a low place between mountains, by which are signified the holy things of love or of charity in worship, as before said. This may also be seen from the signification of “a valley” in the Word, where valleys are designated, in the original language, by certain terms which signify, when used in that sense, what is more or less profane in worship.

[3] That “valleys” have such a signification is evident in Isaiah:

The burden of the valley of vision. For it is a day of tumult, and of treading down, and of perplexity, to the Lord Jehovih of Armies, in the valley of vision (Isaiah 22:1, 5).

“The valley of vision” denotes phantasies and reasonings, whereby worship is falsified and at last profaned.

In Jeremiah:

How sayest thou I am not defiled, I have not walked after the Baalim? see thy way in the valley (Jeremiah 2:23).

“The valley” denotes unclean worship. Again:

They have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom; wherefore behold the days come, saith Jehovah, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter (Jeremiah 7:31-32; 19:6).

“The valley of Hinnom” denotes hell, and also the profanation of truth and good.

[4] In Ezekiel:

Thus hath said the Lord Jehovih to the mountains and to the hills, to the watercourses and to the valleys, Behold Me, I bring a sword upon you, and I will destroy your high places (Ezekiel 6:3).

Again:

I will give unto Gog a place there for burial in Israel, the valley of them that pass through toward the east of the sea, and they shall call it the valley of the multitude of Gog (Ezekiel 39:11, 15).

This is said of worship in externals; “a valley” denotes such worship. But when the worship has not yet become so profane, this is expressed by the Hebrew word for valley that is used in the verse before us (Genesis 11:2); and also in Isaiah:

I will open rivers upon the slopes, and I will make fountains in the midst of the valleys, the wilderness a pool of waters, and the dry land springs of waters (Isaiah 41:18).

This is said of those who are in ignorance, or who are beyond the knowledges of faith and of charity, and yet are in charity. “Valley” as used here denotes these. In like manner does “valley” in Ezekiel 37:1. 1

Footnotes:

1. The Hebrew word for “valley” in Ezekiel 6 and Ezekiel 39 means merely a “low, flat place,” even if in a gorge; whereas in Genesis 11, Isaiah 41, and Ezekiel 37 the Hebrew word used for “valley” means a valley as opposed to mountains, even if it be a plain. [Reviser.]

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