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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 #4594

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4594. 'That is, Bethlehem' means a new spiritual of the celestial raised up in place of it. This is clear from the meaning of 'Bethlehem' as the spiritual of the celestial within the new state, for 'Ephrath' is the spiritual of the celestial within the initial state, 4585, while her burial there means the raising up of a new state, 4593. The fact that Bethlehem was the place where Rachel gave birth to her second son, Benjamin, and died in giving birth to him, also the place where David was born and where he was anointed king, and finally the place where the Lord was born, involves an arcanum which has not yet been revealed. Nor could it have been revealed to anyone who did not know what was meant by 'Ephrath' and by 'Bethlehem', and what was represented by 'Benjamin' and also by 'David'. Least of all could it have been revealed to anyone who did not know what the spiritual of the celestial was; for this is what was meant spiritually by those places and what was represented by those personages.

[2] The reason the Lord was born there and nowhere else was that He alone has been born a spiritual-celestial man. Everyone else has been born a natural man with the ability or capacity to become, through regeneration by the Lord, either celestial or spiritual. The Lord was born a spiritual-celestial man to the end that He might make His Human Divine, doing so according to order from the lowest degree to the highest, and so would bring order to everything in the heavens and everything in the hells. For the spiritual of the celestial is an intermediate part between the natural or external man and the rational or internal man, see above in 4585, 4592, so that below it there was the natural or external, and above it the rational or internal.

[3] Until he can grasp these things no one will ever come to understand in the light of any revelation at all why the Lord was born in Bethlehem. From most ancient times 'Ephrath' meant the spiritual of the celestial, as therefore did 'Bethlehem' subsequently. This now explains why the following words occur in David,

He swore to Jehovah, he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob, If I enter the tent of my house, if I go up onto the couch of my bed, if I give sleep to my eyes, slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for Jehovah, dwelling-places for the Mighty One of Jacob. Behold, we heard of Him in Ephrath, we found Him in the fields of the forest; we will enter His dwelling-places, and bow down at His footstool. Psalms 132:2-7.

It is quite evident that these words are used to refer to the Lord. In the original language the pronoun 'Him' in 'we have heard of Him' and in 'we have found Him' is expressed by a letter added to the end of the verb - by the letter H, taken from the name Jehovah.

[4] And in Micah,

You, Bethlehem Ephrath, it is little that you are among the thousands of Judah; from you will come forth for Me one who will be ruler in Israel; and His origins are from of old, from the days of eternity Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:6.

From these prophecies it was well known to the Jewish people that the Messiah or Christ was to be born in Bethlehem, as is clear in Matthew,

Assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people Herod inquired of them where the Christ (the Messiah) was to be born. They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea. Matthew 2:4-5.

And in John,

The Jews said, Does not the Scripture say that the Christ (the Messiah) is going to come from the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the city where David was? John 7:42.

His birth did in fact take place there, see Matthew 2:1; Luke 2:4-7. For this reason also, and because He was descended from David, the Lord is called 'a shoot from the stem of Jesse', and 'the root of Jesse', Isaiah 11:1, 10. For Jesse, David's father, was a Bethlehemite, and David was born there and also anointed king there, 1 Samuel 16:1-14; 17:12, for which reason Bethlehem was called the city of David, Luke 2:4, 11; John 7:42. David in particular represents the Lord's kingship or Divine Truth, 1888.

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