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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 #4502

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4502. 'And they took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went away' means that they took away the affection for truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Dinah' as the affection for truth, dealt with above in 4498. The meaning according to the internal proximate sense is that they took away the affection for truth from those who were part of the remnants of the Most Ancient Church, for the phrase 'from Shechem's house' is used and by 'Shechem's house' is meant the good of truth of that Church. But as the subject here is the utter destruction of truth and good among those descended from Jacob, who are meant here by Jacob's sons, and as every detail mentioned has a specific application to the particular subject that is under discussion, 'Shechem's house' therefore means here simply the good of truth, like that which had existed with the member of the Most Ancient Church. Thus the meaning is that this good was wiped out among the nation descended from Jacob. For in the internal sense of the Word every expression or name means some aspect of the subject to which it belongs. At the same time the extinction of good and truth among Hamor and Shechem and his family is meant, because they accepted external usages, as shown in 4493.

[2] The truth of what has been explained so far regarding Simeon and Levi becomes clear from the prophetical utterances of Jacob before he died, where the following occurs,

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, in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is severe. I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel. Genesis 49:5-7.

'Simeon and Levi' means the truth of faith which among the descendants of Jacob was turned into falsity, and the good of charity into evil, as above in 4499, 4500. They are called 'brothers' because good is the brother of truth, or charity is the brother of faith, 4498. 'Instruments of violence are their swords' means that falsities and evils did violence to truths and goods, 4499. 'Into their secret place let my soul not come, in their congregation let not my glory be united' means severance as regards life and doctrine, for in the Word 'soul' is used to refer to life, 1000, 1040, 1742, 3299, and 'glory' to doctrine. 'For in their anger they killed a man, in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox' means that with evil intent they annihilated the truth of the Church and the good of the Church, 'a man' meaning the truth of the Church, 3134, and 'an ox' its good, 2180, 2566, 2781. 'Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is severe' means the punishment incurred for turning away from truth and good - 'cursing' meaning turning oneself away and also being punished on that account, 245, 379, 1423, 3530, 3584, while anger means the departure from good, and 'fury' the departure from truth, 357, 3614. 'I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel' means that goods and truths will exist no longer within either the external or the internal aspect of their Church - 'dividing' and 'scattering' meaning separating and completely removing from them, 4424, 'Jacob' being the external aspect of the Church and 'Israel' the internal, 4286.

[3] These things are said about Simeon and Levi in this prophetical utterance because those two mean in general the truth and good of the Church, and when these cease to exist, and more so when falsities and evils take their place, the Church has been wiped out. Nothing other than this is contained in these prophetical words, as may be seen from the fact that neither the tribe of Simeon nor the tribe of Levi was cursed more than any other tribe. For the tribe of Levi was selected for the priesthood, and the tribe of Simeon existed as one of the rest of the tribes of Israel.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4317

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4317. In the internal historical sense 'because he touched, in the hollow of Jacob's thigh, the sinew of that which was displaced' means because of their heredity which could not be rooted out through regeneration because they would not allow that to happen. This is clear from the meaning of 'the thigh' as conjugial love, and consequently all celestial and spiritual love, dealt with in 4280, and 'the hollow of the thigh' as the place where conjugial love, and also all celestial and spiritual love, is joined to natural good, 4277, 4280. Consequently 'touching it', that is, so damaging it that limping results, means destroying the good that flows from those loves. And since it was Jacob in whom this was done, that among his descendants which had come down from him, and so was hereditary, is meant. 'The sinew of that which was displaced' means falsity, see 4303, in this case falsity which stems from hereditary evil. The fact that this heredity could not be rooted out through regeneration because they would not allow that to happen follows from this and from the whole train of thought.

[2] The possession of such a heredity and their inability to be regenerated is quite clear from all that is recorded in the Word about them, and especially from the following in Moses,

Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, You yourselves saw all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants, and to all his land; and Jehovah has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, even to this day. Deuteronomy 29:2, 4.

In the same author,

I know the people's imagination, which they are performing today, before I bring them into the land which I have sworn [to give them]. Deuteronomy 31:21.

And further on,

I will hide My face from them; I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, sons with no truth in them. I would scatter them far, I would make the memory of them cease from mankind, except that I feared the wrath of the enemy. For they are a nation from whose counsel is perishing and in whom there is no intelligence. For from the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah their grapes; they have grapes of hemlock, clusters that are bitter. The poison of dragons is their wine, and the cruel head of asps. Is not this stored up with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? Deuteronomy 32:20, 26-34.

The same things are said in many other places, in particular in Jeremiah.

[3] Further evidence that their heredity is meant by the touching of Jacob's thigh and his consequently having a limp may be seen in Hosea,

The controversy of Jehovah with Judah: He will make a visitation on Jacob over his ways, and will render to him according to his deeds. In the womb he supplanted his brother; in his grief he contended with God, and contended against the angel and prevailed; he wept and appealed to him. Hosea 12:2-4.

Here 'contending with God' means, in the internal historical sense, their insistence that a representative of the Church should exist with them, 4290, 4293. From this it is evident that the kind of heredity they possessed had been derived from Jacob himself, as may be shown from further places still but must be passed over for the time being.

[4] As regards heredity specifically, the belief at the present day in the Church is that all hereditary evil is derived from the first parent and that all are therefore condemned in respect of that evil. But this is untrue. The origin of hereditary evil in everyone lies with his parents and parents' parents, that is, with successive generations of ancestors. Every evil which each of these has acquired to himself by his own actions in life, inasmuch as it becomes so to speak part of his character through regular practice or habit, is passed on to his children and becomes hereditary in them; and that evil accompanies what has been implanted in parents from grandparents and ancestors. Hereditary evil coming from the father is more internal, and hereditary evil from the mother more external. That coming from the father cannot be rooted out easily whereas that from the mother can. When a person is being regenerated the deeply-implanted hereditary evil that is received from immediate forbears is rooted out; but with those who are not being regenerated, or who are unable to be, it remains. This then is hereditary evil; see also 313, 494, 2122, 2910, 3518, 3701. This matter is also plain to anyone who reflects, as well as from the fact that every family has some evil or good characteristic by which it is distinguished from other families; and that characteristic, as is well known, is inherited from parents and ancestors. The same applies to the Jewish nation which is still in existence. It is clearly different from all other nations and may be recognized not only from its particular disposition but also from its customs, speech, and facial characteristics.

[5] But few people know what hereditary evil is. It is believed to consist in the doing of evil, when in fact it consists in the willing and therefore thinking of it. It is within the will itself and therefore within thought that hereditary evil dwells. It is the actual inclination to evil which is within them and which attaches itself even when the person does what is good. It is recognized through the kind of delight which enters in when evil befalls another. This root lies hidden deep down, for the interior form itself receiving good and truth from heaven, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven, is perverted and so to speak twisted out of shape, with the result that when good and truth flow in from the Lord these are either cast back or perverted or smothered. This is why no perception of what is good and true exists at the present day, but instead, in the case of the regenerate, conscience which acknowledges as good and true that which has been learned from parents and teachers. Hereditary evil leads to loving oneself more than others, willing evil on another if he does not promote oneself to honour, and taking delight in acts of revenge. It also leads to loving the world more than heaven and to all evil desires or evil affections, which spring from the same source. Man does not know that such things exist within him, still less that they are the opposite of heavenly affections. In the next life however he is shown plainly how much evil, hereditary in origin, he has drawn to himself through his own actions in life, and also how far he has removed himself from heaven through evil affections from the same source.

[6] The fact that hereditary evil in Jacob's descendants could not be rooted out through regeneration because they would not allow that to happen is also evident from the historical descriptions in the Word - in all their temptations in the desert they gave in, as described in Moses, which they also did subsequently in the land of Canaan as often as they did not see miracles taking place. Those temptations however were external ones, and not internal or spiritual. In spiritual things they were incapable of being tempted because they had no knowledge of internal truths nor any possession of internal goods, as shown already; and nobody is able to be tempted except in what he knows or possesses. Temptations are the actual means by which regeneration is accomplished. This is what is meant by them not allowing regeneration to happen. Concerning their state and fate in the next life, see 939-941, 3481.

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