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Genesis 32

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1 Aga Laaban tõusis hommikul vara, suudles oma poegi ja tütreid ning õnnistas neid; siis Laaban läks teele ja pöördus tagasi koju.

2 Ka Jaakob läks oma teed. Aga temale tulid vastu Jumala inglid.

3 Ja Jaakob ütles, kui ta neid nägi: 'See on Jumala leer!' Ja ta pani sellele paigale nimeks Mahanaim.

4 Siis Jaakob läkitas käskjalad enese eel oma venna Eesavi juurde Seirimaale Edomi väljadele

5 ja andis neile käsu, öeldes nõnda: 'Öelge mu isandale Eesavile: Nõnda ütleb su sulane Jaakob: Ma olen tänini Laabani juures võõrana elanud ja viibinud.

6 Mul on härgi ja eesleid, lambaid ja kitsi, sulaseid ja teenijaid, ja ma läkitan seda teatama oma isandale, et su silmis armu leida.'

7 Käskjalad tulid tagasi Jaakobi juurde ja ütlesid: 'Me jõudsime su venna Eesavi juurde. Ta juba tulebki sulle vastu koos neljasaja mehega.'

8 Siis Jaakob kartis väga ja tal oli kitsas käes; ja ta jaotas rahva, kes koos temaga oli, samuti lambad ja kitsed, veised ja kaamelid, kahte leeri,

9 sest ta mõtles: Kui Eesav tuleb ühe leeri kallale ja lööb selle maha, siis teine leer pääseb.

10 Ja Jaakob ütles: 'Mu isa Aabrahami Jumal ja mu isa Iisaki Jumal, Issand, kes mulle ütlesid: Mine tagasi oma maale ja oma sugulaste seltsi, siis ma teen sulle head!

11 Mina pole väärt kõiki neid heategusid ja kõike seda truudust, mida sa oma sulasele oled osutanud. Sest kepp käes läksin ma üle Jordani, aga nüüd on mul kaks leeri.

12 Päästa mind ometi mu venna Eesavi käest, sest ma kardan, et ta tuleb ja lööb mind maha koos emade ja lastega!

13 Sina ise aga oled öelnud: Ma teen sulle tõesti head ja lasen su soo saada mereliiva sarnaseks, mida ei saa ära lugeda selle rohkuse pärast!'

14 Ja ta jäi selleks ööks sinna ning võttis sellest, mis oli saanud tema omaks, oma vennale Eesavile kingituseks

15 kakssada kitse ja kakskümmend sikku, kakssada emalammast ja kakskümmend jäära,

16 kolmkümmend imetajat kaamelit ja nende varssa, nelikümmend lehma ja kümme härjavärssi, kakskümmend emaeeslit ja kümme eeslitäkku.

17 Ja ta andis need oma sulaste kätte, iga karja eraldi, ja ütles oma sulastele: 'Minge minu eel ja jätke vahemaa iga karja vahele!'

18 Ja ta käskis esimest, öeldes: 'Kui mu vend Eesav tuleb sulle vastu, küsib sinult ja ütleb: Kelle oma sa oled ja kuhu sa lähed, ja kelle omad on need, kes su ees on?,

19 siis vasta: Need on su sulase Jaakobi omad, kingitus, mis läkitatakse mu isandale Eesavile, ja vaata, ka tema ise tuleb meie taga!'

20 Ja ta käskis ka teist ja kolmandat ja kõiki muid, kes karjade järel käisid, öeldes: 'Te peate Eesavile ütlema sedasama, kui te teda kohtate!

21 Ja öelge ka: Vaata, su sulane Jaakob tuleb meie taga!' Sest ta mõtles: Ma lepitan teda kingitusega, mis mu eel läheb. Alles pärast seda ilmun ma ise tema ette, vahest võtab ta mind siis armulikult vastu.

22 Nõnda läks kingitus tema eel, aga ta ise jäi selleks ööks leeri.

23 Kuid veel selsamal ööl ta tõusis üles ja võttis oma mõlemad naised ja mõlemad teenijad ja oma üksteist poega ja läks läbi Jabboki koolme.

24 Ta võttis nad ja viis üle jõe, samuti viis ta üle, mis tal oli.

25 Aga Jaakob ise jäi üksinda maha. Siis heitles üks mees temaga, kuni hakkas koitma.

26 Aga kui see nägi, et ta ei saanud võimust tema üle, siis ta lõi tema puusaliigest; ja Jaakobi puusaliiges nihkus paigast, kui ta heitles temaga.

27 Ja mees ütles: 'Lase mind lahti, sest juba koidab!' Aga tema vastas: 'Ei ma lase sind mitte, kui sa mind ei õnnista!'

28 Siis ta küsis temalt: 'Mis su nimi on?' Ja ta vastas: 'Jaakob.'

29 Seepeale ütles tema: 'Su nimi ärgu olgu enam Jaakob, vaid olgu Iisrael, sest sa oled võidelnud Jumala ja inimestega ja oled võitnud!'

30 Siis küsis Jaakob ja ütles: 'Ütle nüüd mulle oma nimi!' Aga ta vastas: 'Miks sa mu nime küsid?' Ja ta õnnistas teda seal.

31 Ja Jaakob pani sellele paigale nimeks Penuel, sest ta ütles: 'Kuigi ma nägin Jumalat palgest palgesse, pääses siiski mu hing!'

32 Päike tõusis, kui ta puusast longates Penuelist edasi läks.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2838

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2838. 'As it is said today' means that which is perpetual. This is clear from the meaning of 'today' in the Word, dealt with below. One frequently reads in the Word the phrase 'even to this day (or today)', as in what has gone before,

He is the father of Moab even to this day, and the father of Ammon even to this day. Genesis 19:37-38; and in what appears later on,

The name of the city is Beersheba even to this day. Genesis 26:33; also,

The children of Israel do not eat the sinew of that which was displaced, which is on the hollow of the thigh, even to this day. Genesis 32:32; as well as,

This is the pillar of Rachel's grave even to [this] day. Genesis 35:20.

Joseph made it a statute even to this day. Genesis 47:26.

In the historical sense 'to this day' and 'today' refer to the time when Moses was alive, but in the internal sense these expressions mean perpetuity and eternity of state. 'Day' means state, see 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, and so therefore does 'today', which is the present time. That which in the world is temporal is in heaven eternal. To give the meaning of that which is eternal, the expression today or else to this day has been added, though to those who are aware only of the historical sense it does not appear to embody anything further. Similar usages of these expressions occur elsewhere in the Word, such as Joshua 4:9; 6:25; 7:26; Judges 1:21, 26; and in other places.

[2] That 'today' means that which is perpetual and eternal may be seen in David,

I will tell of the statute: Jehovah has said to me, You are My Son; today I have begotten You. Psalms 2:7.

Here 'today' plainly stands for that which is eternal. In the same author,

For ever, O Jehovah, Your Word is fixed in the heavens, Your truth to generation after generation. You have established the earth and it stands. As for Your judgements they stand [even] today. Psalms 119:89-91.

Here also 'today' plainly stands for that which is eternal. In Jeremiah,

Before I formed you in the belly, I knew you, and before you came out of the womb I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations. I have set you this day (today) over nations and over kingdoms; and I have made you today into a fortified city, and into a pillar of iron, and into walls of bronze. Jeremiah 1:5, 10, 18.

This refers in the sense of the letter to Jeremiah, but in the internal sense the Lord is meant. 'I have set you this day (or today) over nations and over kingdoms, and I have made you today into a fortified city' means from eternity. In regard to the Lord one can only speak of that which is eternal.

[3] In Moses,

You are standing today, all of you, before Jehovah your God, so that you may enter into the covenant of Jehovah your God, and into His oath, which Jehovah your God is making with you today, that He may establish you today as a people for Himself, and that He will be God to you. Not indeed with you alone [do I make it], but with those who stand with us here today before Jehovah our God, and with those who are not with us today. Deuteronomy 29:10, 12-15.

Here in the sense of the letter 'today' means that present time when

Moses addressed the people. Yet it is clear that it nevertheless implies subsequent times and what is perpetual; for making a covenant with anyone, and with those who were there and with those who were not, implies that which is perpetual. Perpetuity itself is what is meant in the internal sense.

[4] That 'daily' and 'today' mean that which is perpetual is clear also from the sacrifice that was offered each day. This sacrifice, because of what is meant by day, daily, and today, was called the continual, or perpetual, sacrifice, Numbers 28:3, 23; Daniel 8:13; 11:31; 12:11. This may be even more plainly evident from the manna which rained from heaven, spoken of in Moses as follows,

Behold, I am causing bread to rain from heaven, and the people shall go out and gather a portion day by day. And they shall not leave any of it until the morning. That which they did leave until the morning bred worms and went rotten, except that gathered on the day before the Sabbath. Exodus 16:4, 19-20, 23.

This happened because 'the manna' meant the Lord's Divine Human, John 6:31-32, 49-50, 58, and because the Lord's Divine Human meant heavenly food, which is nothing other than love and charity, together with the goods and truths of faith. In heaven the Lord imparts this food to angels moment by moment, thus perpetually and eternally, see 2193. This is also what is meant in the Lord's Prayer by the petition, Give us today our daily bread, Matthew 6:11; Luke 11:3, that is, in every moment for evermore.

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