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Genesis 35

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1 Ja Jumal ütles Jaakobile: 'Võta kätte, mine üles Peetelisse, ela seal ja tee sinna altar Jumalale, kes sulle ennast ilmutas, kui sa põgenesid oma venna Eesavi eest!'

2 Ja Jaakob ütles oma perele ja kõigile, kes olid koos temaga: 'Kõrvaldage võõrad jumalad, kes teie keskel on, ja puhastage endid ning vahetage riided!

3 Ja me võtame kätte ning läheme üles Peetelisse ja teeme sinna altari Jumalale, kes mind kuulis mu ahastuse ajal ja oli minuga teel, mida käisin.'

4 Siis nad andsid Jaakobile kõik nende käes olevad võõrad jumalad ja kõrvarõngad, mis neil kõrvus olid, ja Jaakob mattis need maha Sekemi ligidal oleva tamme alla.

5 Ja nad läksid teele; aga hirm Jumala ees lasus ümberkaudseil linnadel ja need ei ajanud taga Jaakobi poegi.

6 Ja Jaakob jõudis Luusi, see on Peetelisse Kaananimaal, tema ja kogu rahvas, kes oli koos temaga.

7 Ja ta ehitas sinna altari ning pani sellele paigale nimeks 'Peeteli Jumal', sest seal oli Jumal ennast temale ilmutanud, kui ta põgenes oma venna eest.

8 Aga Deboora, Rebeka imetaja, suri, ja ta maeti ühe tamme alla allpool Peetelit, ja sellele pandi nimeks Nututamm.

9 Ja Jumal ilmutas ennast taas Jaakobile, kui see Mesopotaamiast tuli, ja õnnistas teda.

10 Ja Jumal ütles temale: 'Jaakob on su nimi. Ärgu hüütagu su nime enam Jaakobiks, vaid su nimi olgu Iisrael!' Ja ta pani temale nimeks Iisrael.

11 Ja Jumal ütles temale: 'Mina olen Kõigeväeline Jumal. Ole viljakas ja paljune! Sinust saab rahvas, jah, rahvaste hulk, ja sinu niudeist tulevad kuningad.

12 Ja maa, mille ma andsin Aabrahamile ja Iisakile, ma annan sinule; ka sinu soole pärast sind ma annan selle maa.'

13 Ja Jumal läks tema juurest üles paigast, kus ta temaga oli rääkinud.

14 Ja Jaakob püstitas samba sinna paika, kus ta temaga oli rääkinud, kivisamba, ja kallas selle peale joogiohvri ning valas õli.

15 Ja Jaakob nimetas paiga, kus Jumal temaga oli rääkinud, Peeteliks.

16 Siis nad läksid Peetelist teele. Aga kui veel tükk maad oli minna Efratani, pidi Raahel sünnitama, ja tal oli raske sünnitus.

17 Tema raske sünnituse ajal ütles aitajanaine temale: 'Ära karda, sest ka seekord on sul poeg!'

18 Ja kui ta hing oli välja minemas, sest varsti ta surigi, pani ta temale nimeks Ben-Ooni; aga tema isa kutsus teda Benjaminiks.

19 Ja Raahel suri ning ta maeti Efrata tee äärde, see on Petlemma.

20 Ja Jaakob püstitas tema hauale samba; see Raaheli hauasammas on alles tänapäevani.

21 Ja Iisrael läks teele ning lõi oma telgi üles teisele poole Karjatorni.

22 Ja kui Iisrael elas seal maal, juhtus, et Ruuben läks ja magas oma isa liignaise Billa juures. Ja Iisrael sai sellest kuulda ja see oli paha tema silmis.

23 Jaakobil oli kaksteist poega; Lea pojad: Ruuben, Jaakobi esmasündinu, Siimeon, Leevi, Juuda, Issaskar ja Sebulon;

24 Raaheli pojad: Joosep ja Benjamin;

25 Billa, Raaheli teenija pojad: Daan ja Naftali;

26 Silpa, Lea teenija pojad: Gaad ja Aaser. Need olid Jaakobi pojad, kes sündisid temale Mesopotaamias.

27 Ja Jaakob jõudis oma isa Iisaki juurde Mamresse, Kirjat-Arbasse, see on Hebronisse, kus Aabraham ja Iisak olid võõrastena elanud.

28 Ja Iisaki elupäevi oli sada kaheksakümmend aastat.

29 Siis Iisak heitis hinge ja suri; ta koristati oma rahva juurde, vana ja elatanud; ta pojad Eesav ja Jaakob matsid tema.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4539

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4539. 'Rise up, go up to Bethel' means concerning the Divine Natural, that is to say, the perception concerning this. This is clear from the meaning of 'rising up' as implying some kind of raising up, dealt with in 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171, 4103, here a raising up of the Natural towards the Divine; from the meaning of 'going up' as doing so towards aspects even more interior, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'Bethel' as the Divine within the natural, that is, within the ultimate degree of order, dealt with in 4089. In the original language Bethel means the house of God, and since 'the house of God' is a place where the cognitions of good and truth exist, 'Bethel' accordingly means, in the proximate sense, those cognitions, as shown in 1453. But because interior degrees are enveloped by and terminate in the parts which constitute the ultimate degree of order where they come together and so to speak inhabit the same house, and because man's natural is the ultimate degree, enveloping interior ones, 'Bethel' or the house of God therefore means, strictly speaking, the Natural, 3729, 4089, and in particular the good there. For 'a house' in the internal sense means good, 2233, 2234, 3720, 3729. It is also within the natural or the ultimate degree of order that cognitions exist.

[2] The reason why 'going up' means a raising up towards more interior aspects is that things which are interior are spoken of as those that are higher, 2148, and therefore when the subject in the internal sense is an advance towards things that are more interior the expression 'going up' is used. Examples of this usage are, going up from Egypt to the land of Canaan; going up into the interior parts of the land of Canaan itself; going up from any part there to Jerusalem; and when in Jerusalem itself, going up to the house of God there. Going up from Egypt to the land of Canaan is referred to in Moses,

Pharaoh said to Joseph, Go up and bury your father. And Joseph went up. And there went up with him all Pharaoh's servants. And there went up with him chariot and horseman. Genesis 50:6-9.

And in the Book of Judges,

The angel of Jehovah went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and he said, I caused you to go up out of Egypt. Judges 2:1.

In the internal sense 'Egypt' means factual knowledge which helps people to have some conception of things belonging to the Lord's kingdom, while 'the land of Canaan' means the Lord's kingdom. And because facts are lower, or what amounts to the same, exterior, while things belonging to the Lord's kingdom are higher, or what amounts to the same, interior, the Word therefore speaks of 'going up' from Egypt to the land of Canaan, or - when travelling in the opposite direction - of 'going down' from the land of Canaan to Egypt, as in Genesis 42:2-3; 43:4-5, 15; and elsewhere.

[3] Going up into the interior parts of the land of Canaan itself is spoken of in Joshua,

Joshua said, Go up and spy out the land. And the men went up and spied out Ai, and they resumed to Joshua and said to him, Do not let all the people go up; let about 2000 men or about 3000 men go up. Therefore there went up of the people about 3000 men. Joshua 7:2-4.

Because 'the land of Canaan' means the Lord's kingdom, parts further in from its border regions meant things that are interior; hence the use in this quotation of the verb 'to go up'. The same is true of Jerusalem in relation to all the regions surrounding it, and of the house of God in relation to Jerusalem within which it stood, 1 Kings 12:27-28; 2 Kings 20:5, 8; Matthew 20:18; Mark 10:33; Luke 18:31; and in many other places besides these. For Jerusalem was the inmost part of the land because the Lord's spiritual kingdom was meant by it, and the house of God was the inmost part of Jerusalem because the Lord's celestial kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself were meant by it. This is why one speaks of 'going up' to these places. From all this one can see what is meant by 'rise up, go up to Bethel', namely that 'going up' means an advance towards things that are more interior, the subject dealt with in the present chapter, [see] 4536.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3720

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3720. 'This is nothing other than the house of God' means the Lord's kingdom as it exists in the ultimate degree of order. This is clear from the meaning of 'the house of God'. In the Word 'the house of God' is referred to in many places, and in the external sense, that is, literally, it means a building where holy worship takes place. But in the internal sense it means the Church, in the more universal sense it means heaven, and in the most universal the Lord's kingdom. In the highest sense however it means the Lord Himself as regards the Divine Human. But in the Word sometimes the expression 'House of God' is used and sometimes 'Temple'. The two are similar in meaning, the difference being that the expression 'House of God' is used when the subject is good but 'temple' when the subject is truth. From this it is evident that 'the House of God' means the Lord's celestial Church, and in the more universal sense the heaven of celestial angels, in the most universal the Lord's celestial kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord as regards Divine Good; whereas 'the Temple' means the Lord's spiritual Church, and in the more universal sense the heaven of spiritual angels, in the most universal the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and in the highest the Lord as regards Divine Truth, see 2048. The reason why 'the House of God' means that which is celestial and the dwelling-place of good, while 'the Temple' means that which is spiritual and the dwelling-place of truth, is that 'a house' in the Word means good, see 710, 2233, 2559, 3128, 3652, and among the most ancient people used to be built of pieces of wood for the reason that 'wood' meant good, 643, 1110, 2784, 2812, whereas 'the Temple' means truth because it was built of stones - 'stones' meaning truths, see 643, 1296, 1298.

[2] These meanings that 'pieces of wood' and 'stones' possess are clear not only from the Word where they are mentioned but also from representatives in the next life. For people who assume that merit lies in good works seem to themselves to be cutting wood, and those who assume that it lies in truths, that is to say, people who have believed that they knew more truths than anybody else and yet have lived wickedly, seem to themselves to be breaking up stones. I have often seen such people wood-cutting or stone-breaking, from which the meaning of 'wood' and of 'stone' was made clear to me - that good is meant by 'wood' and truth by 'stone'. It has in like manner been made clear to me from the fact that when I have seen a wooden house the concept of good has instantly presented itself, and when I have seen a stone house the concept of truth has done so. And I have also learned from angels about this matter. This is why, when in the Word 'the House of God' is mentioned, the concept of good presents itself to angels, the kind of good depending on the nature of the subject that is being dealt with. And when 'the Temple' is mentioned, the concept of truth presents itself, the kind of truth depending on the subject that is being dealt with. From this one may also deduce how deeply and inwardly concealed the heavenly arcana lie in the Word.

[3] The reason 'the House of God' here means the Lord's kingdom as it exists in the ultimate degree of order is that the subject is Jacob who, as often shown already, represents the Lord's Divine Natural. The natural exists in the ultimate degree of order, for the natural encompasses all interior degrees and includes them all together within itself. And since they are included all together within the natural, and so countless things are beheld as a single whole, obscurity exists there compared with other degrees. This obscurity too has been dealt with frequently.

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