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Genesis 35

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1 Daarna zeide God tot Jakob: Maak u op, trek op naar Beth-El, en woon aldaar; en maak daar een altaar dien God, Die u verscheen, toen gij vluchttet voor het aangezicht van uw broeder Ezau.

2 Toen zeide Jakob tot zijn huisgezin, en tot allen, die bij hem waren: Doet weg de vreemde goden, die in het midden van u zijn, en reinigt u, en verandert uw klederen;

3 En laat ons ons opmaken, en optrekken naar Beth-El; en ik zal daar een altaar maken dien God, Die mij antwoordt ten dage mijner benauwdheid, en met mij geweest is op den weg, die ik gewandeld heb.

4 Toen gaven zij Jakob al die vreemde goden, die in hun hand waren, en de oorsierselen, die aan hun oren waren, en Jakob verborg ze onder den eikeboom, die bij Sichem is.

5 En zij reisden heen; en Gods verschrikking was over de steden, die rondom hen waren, zodat zij de zonen van Jakob niet achterna jaagden.

6 Alzo kwam Jakob te Luz, hetwelk is in het land Kanaan (dat is Beth-El), hij en al het volk, dat bij hem was.

7 En hij bouwde aldaar een altaar, en noemde die plaats El Beth-El; want God was hem aldaar geopenbaard geweest, als hij voor zijns broeders aangezicht vlood.

8 En Debora, de voedster van Rebekka, stierf, en zij werd begraven onder aan Beth-El; onder dien eik, welks naam hij noemde Allon-Bachuth.

9 En God verscheen Jakob wederom, als hij van Paddan-Aram gekomen was; en Hij zegende hem.

10 En God zeide tot hem: Uw naam is Jakob, uw naam zal voortaan niet Jakob genoemd worden, maar Israel zal uw naam zijn; en Hij noemde zijn naam Israel.

11 Voorts zeide God tot hem: Ik ben God de Almachtige! wees vruchtbaar, en vermenigvuldig! Een volk, ja, een hoop der volken zal uit u worden, en koningen zullen uit uw lenden voortkomen.

12 En dit land, dat Ik aan Abraham en Izak gegeven heb, dat zal Ik u geven; en aan uw zaad na u zal Ik dit land geven.

13 Toen voer God van hem op in die plaats, waar Hij met hem gesproken had.

14 En Jakob stelde een opgericht teken op in die plaats, waar Hij met hem gesproken had, een stenen opgericht teken; en hij stortte daarop drankoffer, en goot olie daarover.

15 En Jakob noemde den naam dier plaats, alwaar God met hem gesproken had, Beth-El.

16 En zij reisden van Beth-El; en er was nog een kleine streek lands om tot Efrath te komen; en Rachel baarde, en zij had het hard in haar baren.

17 En het geschiedde, als zij het hard had in haar baren, zo zeide de vroedvrouw tot haar: Vrees niet; want deze zoon zult gij ook hebben!

18 En het geschiedde, als haar ziel uitging (want zij stierf), dat zij zijn naam noemde Ben-oni; maar zijn vader noemde hem Benjamin.

19 Alzo stierf Rachel; en zij werd begraven aan den weg naar Efrath, hetwelk is Bethlehem.

20 En Jakob richtte een gedenkteken op boven haar graf, dit is het gedenkteken van Rachels graf tot op dezen dag.

21 Toen verreisde Israel, en hij spande zijn tent op gene zijde van Migdal-Eder.

22 En het geschiedde, als Israel in dat land woonde, dat Ruben heenging, en lag bij Bilha, zijns vaders bijwijf; en Israel hoorde het. En de zonen van Jakob waren twaalf.

23 De zonen van Lea waren: Ruben, Jakobs eerstgeborene, daarna Simeon, en Levi, en Juda, en Issaschar, en Zebulon.

24 De zonen van Rachel: Jozef en Benjamin.

25 En de zonen van Bilha, Rachels dienstmaagd: Dan en Nafthali.

26 En de zonen van Zilpa, Lea's dienstmaagd: Gad en Aser. Deze zijn de zonen van Jakob, die hem geboren zijn in Paddan-Aram.

27 En Jakob kwam tot Izak, zijn vader, in Mamre, te Kirjath-Arba, hetwelk is Hebron, waar Abraham als vreemdeling had verkeerd, en Izak.

28 En de dagen van Izak waren honderd jaren, en tachtig jaren.

29 En Izak gaf den geest en stierf, en werd verzameld tot zijn volken, oud en zat van dagen; en zijn zonen Ezau en Jakob begroeven hem.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9594

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9594. 'And you shall make the dwelling-place' means the second or middle heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'the dwelling-place', when it refers to the Divine, as heaven - the middle or second heaven, strictly speaking. It is well known that there are three heavens, namely the inmost, middle, and lowest, or third, second, and first. All these heavens were represented by the tabernacle; the inmost or third heaven was represented by the ark where the Testimony was, the middle or second heaven by the dwelling-place where the table for the loaves of the Presence and the lampstand were, and the lowest or first heaven by the court. The reason why there are three heavens is that there are three degrees of life with the human being. (Human beings, who become angels after death, constitute heaven; angels have no other beginning, and the heavens spring from no other source.) The inmost degree of his life exists for the inmost heaven, the middle degree of life for the middle heaven, and the lowest for the lowest heaven. And because the human being is like this, or has been so formed, and heaven springs from the human race, there are three heavens.

[2] These degrees of life with a person are opened up in successive stages. The first degree is opened up by a life led in accord with what is right and fair, the second degree by a life in accord with the truths of faith drawn from the Word and with forms of the good of charity towards the neighbour that follow on from those truths, and the third degree by a life in accord with the good of mutual love and the good of love to the Lord. These virtues are the means by which those three degrees of life with a person, and so the three heavens with him, are opened up in successive stages. But it should be recognized that to the extent that a person departs from good in life and moves towards evil in life those degrees are closed, that is, the heavens with him are closed; for just as good in life opens them, so evil in life closes them. This being so, all who are steeped in evil are outside heaven, thus are in hell. It should also be recognized that with some people - since the heavens with a person are opened up in successive stages according to the good present in his life, as stated above - the first heaven and not the second is opened up; that with some others the second heaven and not the third is opened up; but that the third heaven is opened up solely with those governed by good in life springing from love to the Lord. For the human being is heaven in its smallest form, and has been created so as to conform to an image of heaven and of the world, see the places referred to in 9279.

[3] There is therefore an inmost heaven, represented by the ark of the Testimony, which was the subject in the previous chapter; a middle heaven, represented by the dwelling-place, which is the subject in the present chapter; and a lowest heaven, represented by the court, which is the subject in the next chapter. Heaven is called God's dwelling-place because what is Divine and the Lord's dwells there; for Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good is what makes heaven, indeed gives life to the angels there. And since the Lord dwells with angels in that which comes from Him, 9338 (end), heaven is called God's dwelling-place, and the actual Divine Truths emanating from Divine Good, which angels or angelic communities are recipients of, are called dwellings, as in David,

Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me, let them lead me to [Your] holy mountain and to Your dwellings, that I may go in to the altar of God, to God ... Psalms 43:3-4.

In the same author,

There is a river whose streams will make glad the city of God, the holy place of the dwellings of the Most High. Psalms 46:4.

In the same author,

Down to the ground 1 they have profaned the dwelling-place of Your name. Psalms 74:7.

In the same author,

How lovely are Your dwellings, O Jehovah! Psalms 84:1.

[4] The fact that the Divine realities which emanate from the Lord's Divine Human are what are rightly called 'dwellings', as a result of which heaven itself is called 'the dwelling-place', is also clear in David,

He swore to Jehovah, he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob, Surely I will not give sleep to my eyes, until I find a place for Jehovah, the dwelling-places for the Mighty One of Jacob. Behold, we heard of Him in Ephrathah, we found Him in the fields of the wood. We will enter His dwelling-places. Psalms 132:2, 4-7.

'The Mighty One of Jacob' is the Lord's Divine Human, 6425. 'Ephrathah', where He was to be found, is Bethlehem where He was born, Genesis 35:19; 48:7; Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:5-6. 'The fields of the wood' are the forms of good composing the Church among gentiles.

[5] In Ezekiel,

They will dwell in the land which I gave to My servant Jacob. They will dwell in it, they [and their sons] and their sons' sons forever. And David My servant will be their prince forever. I will make with them a covenant of peace; it will be an eternal covenant with them. And I will set My sanctuary in their midst forever; so shall My dwelling-place be among them. Ezekiel 37:25-27.

'David, who will be their prince forever' stands for the Lord, 1888; 'the sanctuary' (sanctuarium) stands for the Lord's Divine Human, since He is the source of all holiness (sanctum), 3210, 9229, so that 'dwelling-place' stands for heaven and for the Church, where the Lord is.

[6] In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Behold, I will bring back the captivity 2 of the tents of Jacob, and will have compassion on his dwellings, that the city may be built upon its mound. Jeremiah 30:18.

'Bringing back the captivity of the tents of Jacob' stands for restoring the external Church's forms of good and truths which had been destroyed, 'having compassion on his dwellings' for restoring the internal Church's truths, 'the city which was to be built upon its mound' for doctrinal teachings about the truth, 2449, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493.

[7] How the Lord dwells in the heavens may be seen from what has been shown previously regarding the Lord, that is to say, where it has been shown that the Lord's Divine Human is the Sun, the source of heat and light in the heavens. The heat radiating from the Lord as the Sun is love, while the light is faith. The Lord therefore dwells with those who receive from Him the good of love and the truth of faith, which are the heat and light of life; and how fully He is present depends on their degree of receptivity.

Footnotes:

1. literally, Into the earth or land

2. i.e. restore the fortunes

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