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Genezo 34

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1 Dina, la filino de Lea, kiun sxi naskis al Jakob, eliris, por vidi la filinojn de la lando.

2 Kaj vidis sxin SXehxem, filo de HXamor la HXivido, princo de la lando, kaj li prenis sxin kaj kusxis kun sxi kaj faris al sxi perfortajxon.

3 Kaj algluigxis lia animo al Dina, la filino de Jakob, kaj li ekamis la junulinon kaj parolis al la koro de la junulino.

4 Kaj SXehxem diris al sia patro HXamor jene: Prenu por mi cxi tiun knabinon kiel edzinon.

5 Jakob auxdis, ke li senhonorigis lian filinon Dina; sed liaj filoj estis kun liaj brutoj sur la kampo, tial Jakob silentis gxis ilia veno.

6 Kaj HXamor, la patro de SXehxem, eliris al Jakob, por paroli kun li.

7 Sed la filoj de Jakob venis de la kampo. Kiam ili auxdis, la viroj cxagrenigxis kaj forte kolerigxis, ke li faris malnoblajxon en Izrael, kusxinte kun la filino de Jakob, kio ne devis esti farata.

8 HXamor ekparolis al ili, dirante: SXehxem, mia filo, deziregas per sia animo vian filinon; donu sxin al li kiel edzinon.

9 Kaj boparencigxu kun ni: viajn filinojn donu al ni, kaj niajn filinojn prenu al vi.

10 Kaj logxu kun ni, kaj la lando estos antaux vi; logxu kaj faru negocojn kaj akiru posedajxojn en gxi.

11 Kaj SXehxem diris al sxia patro kaj al sxiaj fratoj: Estu favoraj al mi; kaj kion vi diros al mi, mi donos.

12 Postulu de mi tre grandan doton kaj donacojn, kaj mi donos, kion vi diros al mi; nur donu al mi la junulinon kiel edzinon.

13 Kaj la filoj de Jakob respondis al SXehxem kaj al lia patro HXamor ruze, kaj parolis tiel pro tio, ke li senhonorigis ilian fratinon Dina;

14 kaj ili diris al ili: Ni ne povas fari tion kaj doni nian fratinon al viro, kiu ne estas cirkumcidita; cxar tio estus por Ni hontindajxo.

15 Nur tiam ni donos al vi nian konsenton, se vi estos kiel ni kaj cirkumcidos cxe vi cxiun virseksulon.

16 Tiam ni donos niajn filinojn al vi kaj viajn filinojn ni prenos al ni, kaj ni logxos kun vi, kaj ni estos unu popolo.

17 Sed se vi ne konsentos lasi cirkumcidi vin, tiam ni prenos nian filinon kaj foriros.

18 Ilia parolo placxis al HXamor, kaj al SXehxem, la filo de HXamor.

19 Kaj la junulo ne prokrastis fari la aferon, cxar li deziris la filinon de Jakob; kaj li estis la plej honorata inter cxiuj domanoj de sia patro.

20 Kaj HXamor kaj lia filo SXehxem venis al la pordego de sia urbo, kaj ekparolis al la logxantoj de sia urbo, dirante:

21 Tiuj homoj estas pacaj kun ni; tial ili logxu en la lando kaj faru en gxi negocojn; la lando estas ja grandspaca por ili. Iliajn filinojn ni prenu al ni kiel edzinojn, kaj niajn filinojn ni donu al ili.

22 Sed nur en tia okazo tiuj homoj konsentas logxi kun ni kaj esti unu popolo, se ni cirkumcidos cxe ni cxiun virseksulon, kiel ili estas cirkumciditaj.

23 Ilia akiritajxo kaj havajxo kaj cxiuj iliaj brutoj farigxos ja niaj, se ni nur donos al ili nian konsenton kaj ili logxos kun ni.

24 Kaj obeis al HXamor kaj al lia filo SXehxem cxiuj elirantaj el la pordego de lia urbo; kaj cirkumcidigxis cxiuj virseksuloj, cxiuj elirantaj el la pordego de lia urbo.

25 En la tria tago, kiam ili estis malsanaj, du filoj de Jakob, Simeon kaj Levi, fratoj de Dina, prenis cxiu sian glavon kaj venis sentime en la urbon kaj mortigis cxiujn virseksulojn.

26 Kaj HXamoron kaj lian filon SXehxem ili mortigis per glavo, kaj prenis Dinan el la domo de SXehxem kaj eliris.

27 La filoj de Jakob venis al la mortigitoj, kaj prirabis la urbon pro tio, ke ili senhonorigis ilian fratinon.

28 Iliajn sxafojn kaj iliajn bovojn kaj iliajn azenojn, kaj cxion, kio estis en la urbo, kaj tion, kio estis sur la kampo, ili prenis.

29 Kaj ilian tutan ricxon kaj cxiujn iliajn infanojn kaj iliajn edzinojn ili malliberigis, kaj rabis cxion, kio estis en la domoj.

30 Tiam Jakob diris al Simeon kaj al Levi: Vi afliktis min kaj faris min malaminda por la logxantoj de la lando, por la Kanaanidoj kaj Perizidoj. Mi havas ja malmulte da homoj; kiam ili kolektigxos kontraux mi kaj venkobatos min, tiam estos ekstermita mi kaj mia domo.

31 Sed ili diris: CXu estas permesite agi kun nia fratino kiel kun publikulino?

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4493

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4493. 'And they circumcised every male, all who went out of the gate of his city' means the acceptance of externalities. This is clear from the meaning of 'circumcising every male' as being introduced into the representatives and meaningful signs of that people (that is, into those of Jacob's descendants) - solely into the external observances involved in these, dealt with in 4486; and from the meaning of 'going out of the gate of the city' as departing from the doctrine of the Church among the Ancients, dealt with immediately above in 4492. And as the departure from doctrine and the acceptance of externalities is meant, the expression 'those who went out of the gate of his city' occurs twice, without any reference at the same time, as is so elsewhere, to those who went into it. For 'going in' means an acceptance of doctrine and a departure from externalities; but the reverse of this is described here.

[2] The implications of this must now be stated. Members of the Most Ancient Church, the remnants of which Hamor and Shechem with their families were a part, had an entirely different mental constitution and different disposition from adherents to the Ancient Church. The will in the case of the members of the Most Ancient Church contained that which was whole; but this was not so with adherents to the Ancient Church. Because of this the Lord was able with members of the Most Ancient Church to flow in through the will, and therefore by an internal way, but not so with adherents to the Ancient Church, since in these the will had been destroyed. But the Lord flowed into their understanding, and so not by an internal way but by an external one, as stated above in 4489. Flowing in through the will involves flowing in through the good of love, for all good belongs to the will part of the mind, whereas flowing in through the understanding involves flowing in through the truth of faith, for all truth belongs to the understanding part. Within the latter - the understanding - the Lord formed, in the case of adherents to the Ancient Church, a new will when He regenerated them. For goods and truths were implanted in the will part of the mind of members of the Most Ancient Church, see 895, 927, but in the understanding part of that of adherents to the Ancient Church, 863, 875, 895, 927, 2124, 2256, 4328. The new will is formed within the understanding part of the mind, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 4328. A parallelism exists between the Lord and the good residing with man, but not between Him and the truth there, 1831, 1832, 2718, 3514. As a consequence adherents to the Ancient Church dwelt in obscurity compared with members of the Most Ancient, 2708, 2715, 2935, 2937, 3246, 3833. From all this it may be seen that members of the Most Ancient Church had an entirely different mental constitution and different disposition from adherents to the Ancient Church.

[3] It was for this reason that those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church were internal people and had no external forms of worship, while those who belonged to the Ancient Church were external people and did have them. For the former saw external things in the light of internal ones, as if by the light of the sun in the daytime, whereas the latter saw internal things in the light of external ones, as if by the light of the moon or stars at night. This also explains why the Lord is seen by the former in heaven as the Sun, but by the latter as the Moon, 1521, 1529-1531, 2441, 2495, 4060. The former are those who in explanations above are called celestial, the latter those who are called spiritual.

[4] To illustrate the essential difference between the two let an example be taken. If a member of the Most Ancient Church had read the Word, the historical or the prophetical, he would have seen its internal sense without prior instruction or any explanation. He would have seen it so perfectly that the celestial and spiritual things belonging to the internal sense would have instantly met his eyes, and scarcely anything belonging to the sense of the letter. Thus the internal sense would have been for him in brightness, but the sense of the letter in obscurity. He would be like someone listening to a person speaking, and taking in only the sense and paying no attention to the words used by the speaker. But if a member of the Ancient Church had read the Word he would not have been able, without prior instruction or explanation, to see its internal sense, and so the internal sense would have been for him in obscurity but the sense of the letter in brightness. He would be like someone listening to a person speaking and in thought hanging on to the words used by him, all the while paying no attention to the sense of them, which would therefore be lost on him. But when a member of the Jewish Church reads the Word he does not understand anything beyond the sense of the letter. He does not know of and also denies the existence of any internal sense. And it is similar with the member of the Christian Church at the present day.

[5] These considerations show the essential difference between those represented here by Hamor and Shechem who, being part of the remnants of the Most Ancient Church, were interested in internal things and not in external ones, and those meant by the sons of Jacob who were interested in external things and not in internal ones. Those considerations show in addition that Hamor and Shechem could not have acceded to external things and accepted those which existed among the sons of Jacob unless their internals were closed. But if these had been closed they would have perished for ever.

[6] This is the hidden reason why Hamor and Shechem with their families were slain, a deed that would not otherwise have been allowed. Not that this absolves the sons of Jacob from blame for having committed that hideous crime. They had no knowledge of that hidden reason, nor did they have that as their end in view. Everyone is judged according to the end he has in view, that is, his intention; and it is plainly stated in verse 13 that their intention was deceitful. When the Lord allows any such crime as this it is carried out by the evil and by those in hell who instigate it. But all evil which the evil intend and do to the good the Lord converts into good, as is the case here in that Hamor and Shechem with their families were [eternally] saved.

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