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Genesis 31

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1 Aga ta kuulis Laabani poegade kõnelusi, kes ütlesid: 'Jaakob on ära võtnud kõik, mis oli meie isa päralt. Sellest, mis oli meie isa päralt, on ta enesele soetanud kõik selle rikkuse.'

2 Ja Jaakob nägi Laabani palet, ja vaata, see ei olnud enam ta vastu nagu enne.

3 Siis Issand ütles Jaakobile: 'Mine tagasi oma isade maale ja oma sugulaste seltsi. Mina olen sinuga!'

4 Ja Jaakob läkitas sõna ning käskis kutsuda oma karja juurde väljale Raaheli ja Lea

5 ning ütles neile: 'Ma näen teie isa palgest, et ta ei ole enam mu vastu nagu enne. Aga mu isa Jumal oli mu juures.

6 Te ju teate, et ma olen teeninud teie isa kõigest väest.

7 Kuid teie isa narritas mind ja muutis mu palka kümme korda. Jumal aga ei ole lubanud teda mulle kurja teha.

8 Kui ta ütles nõnda: Tähnilised saagu sinule palgaks, siis kõik lambad ja kitsed poegisid tähnilisi. Ja kui ta ütles nõnda: Vöödilised saagu sinule palgaks, siis kõik loomad poegisid vöödilisi.

9 Nõnda võttis Jumal teie isa karja ja andis mulle.

10 Lammaste ja kitsede innaajal tõstsin ma oma silmad üles ja nägin unes, vaata, et isased, kes kargasid emaseid, olid vöödilised, tähnilised ja laigulised.

11 Ja Jumala ingel ütles mulle unes: Jaakob! Ja ma vastasin: Siin ma olen!

12 Siis ta ütles: Tõsta ometi oma silmad üles ja vaata: kõik isased, kes kargavad emaseid, on vöödilised, tähnilised ja laigulised, sest ma olen näinud kõike, mis Laaban sulle teeb!

13 Mina olen Peeteli Jumal, kus sa võidsid samba, kus sa andsid mulle tõotuse. Võta nüüd kätte, lahku siit maalt ja mine tagasi oma sünnimaale!'

14 Siis Raahel ja Lea vastasid ning ütlesid temale: 'Kas meil ongi enam osa või omandit meie isakojas?

15 Eks ta ole pidanud meid võõraks, kuna ta meid müüs ja ise muidugi ka meie hinna ära sõi!

16 Jah, kõik see rikkus, mille Jumal meie isalt ära võttis, on meie ja meie laste oma. Ja nüüd tee kõik, mis Jumal sulle on öelnud!'

17 Ja Jaakob võttis kätte, tõstis oma lapsed ja naised kaamelite selga

18 ja saatis teele kogu oma karja ja kõik oma varanduse, mis ta oli kogunud, oma karjavaranduse, mis ta Mesopotaamias oli soetanud, et minna oma isa Iisaki juurde Kaananimaale.

19 Aga Laaban oli läinud lambaid niitma. Ja Raahel varastas oma isa teeravikujud.

20 Jaakob kasutas süürlase Laabani teadmatust ega andnud temale märku, et ta põgeneb.

21 Nõnda ta siis põgenes koos kõigega, mis tal oli, võttis kätte ja läks üle jõe ning siirdus Gileadi mäestiku poole.

22 Aga kolmandal päeval anti Laabanile teada, et Jaakob oli põgenenud.

23 Tema võttis siis enesega kaasa oma suguvennad ja ajas teda taga seitse päevateekonda ning jõudis Gileadi mäestikus temale järele.

24 Kuid Jumal tuli süürlase Laabani juurde öösel unes ja ütles temale: 'Hoia, et sa Jaakobile ei ütle head ega halba!'

25 Kui Laaban Jaakobile järele jõudis, oli Jaakob mäestikus telgi üles löönud, ja Laabangi suguvendadega lõi telgi üles Gileadi mäestikku.

26 Ja Laaban ütles Jaakobile: 'Mis sa oled teinud? Sa kasutasid mu teadmatust ja viisid ära mu tütred, nagu oleksid nad olnud mõõga abil vangistatud.

27 Miks sa põgenesid salaja ja vargsel viisil ega teatanud mulle, et oleksin saanud sind rõõmsasti ära saata laulude, trummi ja kandlega?

28 Sa ei lasknud mind suudelda oma poegi ja tütreid! Sa oled nüüd talitanud mõistmatult.

29 Mul oleks meelevald teha teile kurja. Aga teie isa Jumal rääkis minuga eile öösel, öeldes: Hoia, et sa Jaakobile ei ütle head ega halba!

30 Nüüd oled sa küll läinud oma teed, sellepärast et sa igatsesid nii väga oma isakoja järele. Aga mispärast sa varastasid mu jumalad?'

31 Ja Jaakob vastas ning ütles Laabanile: 'Sellepärast et ma kartsin. Sest ma mõtlesin, et sa röövid minult oma tütred.

32 See, kelle juurest sa leiad oma jumalad, ärgu jäägu elama! Meie suguvendade ees otsi läbi, mis mul kaasas on, ja võta ära, mis on sinu!' Aga Jaakob ei teadnud, et Raahel oli need varastanud.

33 Ja Laaban läks Jaakobi telki ja Lea telki ja mõlema teenija telki, aga ei leidnud midagi; ja Lea telgist välja tulnud, läks ta Raaheli telki.

34 Kuid Raahel oli võtnud teeravid ja oli pannud need kaameli sadula tasku ning istus ise nende peal. Ja Laaban kompas läbi kogu telgi, aga ei leidnud midagi.

35 Ja Raahel ütles oma isale: 'Ärgu süttigu viha mu isanda silmis, et ma ei saa su ees üles tõusta, sest mul on naiste asjad!' Nõnda ta otsis läbi, aga teeraveid ta ei leidnud.

36 Siis Jaakob vihastus ja riidles Laabaniga. Ja Jaakob kostis ning ütles Laabanile: 'Milles seisneb mu üleastumine? Mis on mu patt, et oled mind nii tulisi jalu taga ajanud?

37 Kuna sa oled läbi otsinud kogu mu kraami, siis missuguse oma koja riista oled sa leidnud? Pane siia minu suguvendade ja oma suguvendade ette, et nad võiksid õigust mõista meie mõlema vahel!

38 Ma olin sinu juures kakskümmend aastat. Su lambad ja kitsed ei heitnud loodet ja jäärasid su karjast ma ei söönud.

39 Murtut ma sulle ei toonud, ma pidin selle hüvitama. Sa nõudsid minult niihästi päeval kui öösel varastatut.

40 Päeval piinas mind palavus ja öösel külm, ja uni põgenes mu silmist.

41 Nüüd ma olen olnud su kojas kakskümmend aastat. Neliteist aastat ma teenisin sind su kahe tütre pärast ja kuus aastat lammaste ja kitsede pärast, ja sa muutsid mu palka kümme korda.

42 Kui minuga ei oleks olnud mu isa Jumal, Aabrahami Jumal, Iisaki Kartus, siis oleksid sa mind nüüd tühje käsi ära saatnud. Jumal on näinud mu häda ja mu kätevaeva ja on eile öösel teinud otsuse.'

43 Siis Laaban kostis ja ütles Jaakobile: 'Tütred on minu Tütred ja pojad on minu pojad ja kari on minu kari, ja kõik, mis sa näed, on minu! Aga mida ma saaksin praegu teha oma tütarde heaks või nende poegade heaks, keda nad on ilmale toonud?

44 Aga tule nüüd, tehkem leping, mina ja sina, ja see olgu tunnistajaks minu ja sinu vahel!'

45 Siis Jaakob võttis ühe kivi ja pani sambaks püsti.

46 Ja Jaakob ütles oma suguvendadele: 'Korjake kive!' Ja need võtsid kive ning kuhjasid kivikangru; ja nad sõid seal kivikangru peal.

47 Ja Laaban pani sellele nimeks Jegar-Sahaduuta; Jaakob aga nimetas selle Galeediks.

48 Ja Laaban ütles: 'See kivikangur olgu täna tunnistajaks minu ja sinu vahel!' Seepärast ta pani sellele nimeks Galeed

49 ja Mispa, sest ta ütles: 'Issand valvab minu ja sinu vahel, kui me teineteist enam ei näe.

50 Kui sa kohtled mu tütreid halvasti või võtad mu tütarde kõrvale teisi naisi, ilma et ükski inimene oleks meie juures, vaata, siis on Jumal ometi tunnistajaks minu ja sinu vahel.'

51 Siis ütles Laaban Jaakobile: 'Vaata, see kivikangur, ja vaata, see sammas, mille ma püstitasin enese ja sinu vahele, -

52 see kivikangur olgu tunnistajaks, samuti olgu see sammas tunnistajaks, et mina ei tohi tulla sellest kivikangrust mööda sinu juurde ja et sina ei tohi tulla sellest kivikangrust ja sambast mööda minu juurde kurja tegema!

53 Aabrahami Jumal ja Naahori Jumal, nende vanemate Jumal, see mõistku kohut meie vahel!' Ja Jaakob vandus oma isa Iisaki Kartuse juures.

54 Ja Jaakob ohverdas mäe peal tapaohvri ning kutsus oma suguvennad leiba võtma. Ja nad võtsid leiba ning jäid ööseks mäele.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3957

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3957. 'And she called his name Issachar' means the essential nature of it. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling the name' as the essential nature, as above in 3923, 3935. For he was given the name Issachar from the word 'reward', a name which therefore embodies the things stated above concerning 'reward', and at the same time the things meant by the rest of the words uttered by Leah. Since 'Issachar' means reward, and 'reward' in the external sense is mutual love and in the internal sense the joining together of good and truth, let it be said that very few nowadays in the Christian world know that 'reward' has such a meaning. And the reason why they do not know is that they do not know what mutual love is, still less that good has to be joined to truth if the heavenly marriage is to exist in a person. I have been allowed in the next life to talk about this to very many who were from the Christian world, including the more learned. But what is surprising, scarcely any one of those I talked to knew anything about it, even though they could have come to know much about those matters for themselves if only they had been willing to use their reason. But because they were not concerned about life after death, only about life in the world, they were not interested in such matters. The things they could have known for themselves if only, as has been stated, they had been willing to use their reason were the following:

[2] a When a person is stripped of the body he has a far more enlightened power of understanding than when he is living in the body, the reason being that when he is in the body worldly and bodily interests occupy his thoughts and bring obscurity there. But once he has been stripped of the body those worldly and bodily interests do not get in the way, but through the removal of his mind from sensory experiences of external things he is like those whose thought is more interior. From this consideration they could have known that in the state after death a person is far more clear-sighted and enlightened than in the state before death, and that when a person dies he passes from shade into that which, in comparison with it, is light, because he passes from the things which belong to the world to those which belong to heaven, and from those which belong to the body to those which belong to the spirit. But what is amazing, although people have the ability to understand these things they still think the contrary. That is to say, they think it is in the state of life within the body that a person enjoys clear-sightedness, as compared with the state of life after being stripped of the body, which to them is a state of obscurity.

[3] b They are able to know, if only they use their reason, that the life which a person acquires to himself in the world follows him when he dies, that is, his life is the same after death. For they are able to know that nobody can cast aside the life he has acquired to himself since earliest childhood except by death itself, and that that life cannot be transformed in a moment into any other life, let alone into a contrary life. For example: Someone who has acquired to himself a life of deceit and finds the delight of his life in that deceit cannot cast aside the life of deceit but goes on with that life after death. Or to take another example, people who are governed by self-love and consequently by forms of hatred and revenge against those who are not subservient, or by other similar traits, continue to be governed by these after the life of the body, for they are the things which they love and which constitute the delights of their life and so their very life itself. Such traits cannot therefore be taken away from them unless everything making up their life is wiped out at the same time. And the same applies to all other kinds of life that people have acquired.

[4] c A person is able to know for himself that when he passes into the next life he leaves many things behind him. He knows - since they have no place there - that he leaves behind, for example, anxious cares over food, clothing, accommodation, and the acquisition of money and wealth, as well as anxious cares about his promotion to positions of importance - matters to which a person gives so much thought during the life of the body. Indeed he knows that other things which do not belong to the earthly kingdom take the place of these.

[5] d From this he is able to know that anyone who in the world has thought about nothing else than worldly things such as these, so much so that they have taken a complete hold on him, and who has acquired a delight of life in those things alone, is not suited to be among those who delight to think of heavenly matters, that is, of things of heaven.

[6] e From this in turn he is able to know that if the external things of the body and of the world are taken away from those people, the individual is in that case such as he has been inwardly, that is to say, he thinks and wills as he did previously. If the thoughts within had at that time been deceits, schemings, aspirations after positions of importance, gain, and reputation on account of these; if hatred and revenge and similar passions have been present within, he goes on thinking such things, and so thinking the things of hell, though to achieve those ends he has concealed his thoughts from other people and to outward appearance has seemed honourable and produced in others the conviction that he was not turning such thoughts over in his mind. Knowledge that such outward appearance or presence at being honourable is removed in the next life may also be had from the fact that outward things are cast aside along with the body and have no further use. From this anyone can decide for himself that a person's real character will then be visible to the angels.

[7] f A person is also able to know that heaven, or the Lord by means of heaven, is constantly at work, flowing in with good and truth. But if there is not within a person's interior man that lives after death of the body some solid surface or some plane so to speak to receive good and truth, these cannot be received at all when they flow in. Therefore while a person is living in the world he ought to be anxious to obtain such an interior plane within himself. But he cannot obtain this unless he thinks of good towards his neighbour, desires for him that which is good, and consequently does this for him, and so acquires to himself the delight of life in such actions. This plane is acquired by means of charity towards the neighbour, that is, by mutual love; and it is what is called conscience. Into this plane good and truth from the Lord are able to flow in and be received there. But where charity does not exist, and so conscience does not exist, good and truth flowing in pass through and are converted into evil and falsity.

[8] g A person is able to know for himself that love to God and love towards the neighbour are what make a person a human being, different from animals, and that those things constitute heavenly life or heaven itself and their opposites hellish life or hell itself. But these things are not known by a person because, for one thing, he has no wish to know them since he is leading a life to the contrary; for another, he does not believe in the existence of life after death; and for yet another, ideas about faith but none about charity have taken hold of him, and therefore he believes, as many teach, that if there is a life after death he can be saved by faith, no matter what kind of life he has led, and that he can be saved if faith is received by him only in his last hour when he is dying.

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