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synty 27

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1 Kun Iisak oli tullut vanhaksi ja hänen silmänsä olivat hämärtyneet, niin ettei hän enää voinut nähdä, kutsui hän Eesaun, vanhemman poikansa, ja sanoi hänelle: "Poikani!" Tämä vastasi hänelle: "Tässä olen".

2 Niin hän sanoi: "Katso, minä olen tullut vanhaksi enkä tiedä, milloin kuolen.

3 Ota siis aseesi, viinesi ja jousesi, ja mene kedolle ja pyydystä minulle riistaa.

4 Ja laita minulle herkkuruoka, minun mieliruokani, ja tuo se syödäkseni, että minä siunaisin sinut, ennenkuin kuolen."

5 Mutta Rebekka kuuli, kuinka Iisak puhui pojallensa Eesaulle. Ja kun Eesau oli lähtenyt kedolle pyydystämään riistaa, tuodakseen isällensä,

6 puhui Rebekka pojalleen Jaakobille sanoen: "Katso, minä kuulin sinun isäsi puhuvan veljellesi Eesaulle ja sanovan:

7 'Tuo minulle riistaa ja laita minulle herkkuruoka syödäkseni, että siunaisin sinut Herran edessä, ennenkuin kuolen'.

8 Kuule siis, poikani, mitä sanon, ja tee, mitä minä käsken:

9 mene laumaan ja ota sieltä minulle kaksi hyvää vohlaa laittaakseni niistä isällesi herkkuruuan, hänen mieliruokansa.

10 Ja sinun on vietävä se isäsi syödä, että hän siunaisi sinut, ennenkuin kuolee."

11 Mutta Jaakob sanoi äidillensä Rebekalle: "Katso, veljeni Eesau on karvainen, mutta minä olen sileäihoinen.

12 Entä jos isäni tunnustelee minua? Silloin minä joudun hänen silmissään pilkkaajaksi ja hankin itselleni kirouksen enkä siunausta."

13 Hänen äitinsä sanoi hänelle: "Kohdatkoon se kirous minua, poikani; kuule vain, mitä minä sanon, mene ja nouda".

14 Niin hän meni noutamaan ne ja toi ne äidilleen; ja hänen äitinsä laittoi herkkuruuan, hänen isänsä mieliruuan.

15 Ja Rebekka otti vanhemman poikansa Eesaun parhaat vaatteet, jotka olivat hänen hallussaan talossa, ja puki ne nuoremman poikansa Jaakobin ylle.

16 Mutta vohlain nahat hän kääri hänen käsiinsä ja paljaaseen kaulaansa.

17 Sitten hän antoi herkkuruuan ynnä leipomansa leivän poikansa Jaakobin käteen.

18 Ja Jaakob meni isänsä luo ja sanoi: "Isäni!" Hän vastasi: "Tässä olen; kuka sinä olet, poikani?"

19 Jaakob sanoi isällensä: "Minä olen Eesau, esikoisesi. Olen tehnyt, niinkuin käskit minun tehdä; nouse istumaan ja syö riistaani, siunataksesi minut."

20 Mutta Iisak sanoi pojalleen: "Kuinka olet, poikani, niin pian löytänyt?" Hän vastasi: "Herra, sinun Jumalasi, johdatti sen minun eteeni".

21 Niin Iisak sanoi Jaakobille: "Tulehan lähemmä, poikani, tunnustellakseni, oletko sinä poikani Eesau vai etkö".

22 Ja Jaakob astui isänsä Iisakin luo, ja tämä tunnusteli häntä ja sanoi: "Ääni on Jaakobin Ääni, mutta kädet ovat Eesaun kädet".

23 Eikä Iisak tuntenut häntä, sillä hänen kätensä olivat karvaiset, niinkuin hänen veljensä Eesaun kädet, ja hän siunasi hänet.

24 Vielä hän kysyi: "Oletko sinä todella minun poikani Eesau?" Hän vastasi: "Olen".

25 Silloin hän sanoi: "Tuo ruoka minulle, syödäkseni poikani riistaa, että siunaisin sinut". Niin hän toi hänelle sen, ja hän söi; ja hän tarjosi hänelle viiniä, ja hän joi.

26 Senjälkeen hänen isänsä Iisak sanoi hänelle: "Tule tänne ja suutele minua, poikani".

27 Hän astui hänen luokseen ja suuteli häntä. Niin Iisak tunsi hänen vaatteidensa hajun ja siunasi hänet, sanoen: "Katso, minun poikani tuoksu on kuin kedon tuoksu, jonka Herra on siunannut.

28 Jumala antakoon sinulle taivaan kastetta ja maan lihavuutta, jyviä ja viiniä yllin kyllin.

29 Kansat palvelkoot sinua, kansakunnat sinua kumartakoot. Ole veljiesi herra, ja äitisi pojat kumartakoot sinua. Kirottu olkoon, joka sinua kiroaa, siunattu, joka sinua siunaa."

30 Kun Iisak oli ehtinyt siunata Jaakobin ja tämä juuri oli lähtenyt isänsä Iisakin luota, niin hänen veljensä Eesau tuli kotiin metsästämästä.

31 Ja hänkin laittoi herkkuruuan, vei sen isälleen ja sanoi isälleen: "Nouse, isäni, ja syö poikasi riistaa, siunataksesi minut".

32 Hänen isänsä Iisak kysyi häneltä: "Kuka olet?" Hän vastasi: "Minä olen poikasi Eesau, sinun esikoisesi".

33 Silloin Iisak säikähtyi kovin ja sanoi: "Kuka sitten oli se metsästäjä, joka toi minulle riistaa, niin että minä, ennenkuin sinä tulit, söin kaikkea ja siunasin hänet? Siunattu hän myös on oleva."

34 Kun Eesau kuuli isänsä sanat, puhkesi hän valittamaan äänekkäästi ja haikeasti ja sanoi isälleen: "Siunaa minutkin, isäni!"

35 Mutta hän vastasi: "Veljesi tuli kavalasti ja riisti sinulta siunauksen".

36 Niin hän sanoi: "Oikeinpa häntä kutsutaankin Jaakobiksi. Sillä hän on nyt kahdesti minut pettänyt: esikoisuuteni hän on minulta vienyt, ja katso, nyt hän riisti minulta myöskin siunauksen." Ja hän kysyi: "Eikö sinulla ole mitään siunausta minun varalleni?"

37 Ja Iisak vastasi ja sanoi Eesaulle: "Katso, minä olen asettanut hänet sinun herraksesi ja antanut kaikki hänen veljensä hänelle palvelijoiksi sekä varustanut hänet jyvillä ja viinillä; mitä voisin enää tehdä sinun hyväksesi, poikani?"

38 Eesau sanoi isällensä: "Tuo yksi ainoa siunausko sinulla vain onkin, isäni? Siunaa myöskin minut, isäni!" Ja Eesau korotti äänensä ja itki.

39 Niin hänen isänsä Iisak vastasi ja sanoi hänelle: "Katso, sinun asuinsijasi on oleva kaukana lihavasta maasta ja vailla taivaan kastetta ylhäältä.

40 Miekkasi varassa sinä olet elävä ja palveleva veljeäsi. Mutta valtoimena kierrellen sinä riisut hänen ikeensä niskaltasi."

41 Ja Eesau alkoi vihata Jaakobia siunauksen tähden, jolla hänen isänsä oli hänet siunannut; ja Eesau ajatteli itsekseen: "Pian tulee aika, jolloin suremme isäämme; silloin minä tapan veljeni Jaakobin".

42 Mutta Rebekalle ilmoitettiin hänen vanhemman poikansa Eesaun aikeista; ja hän kutsutti luokseen nuoremman poikansa Jaakobin ja sanoi hänelle: "Katso, veljesi Eesau uhkaa kostaa sinulle ja tappaa sinut.

43 Kuule siis, mitä sanon, poikani: nouse ja pakene minun veljeni Laabanin luo Harraniin

44 ja jää hänen luokseen joksikin aikaa, kunnes veljesi kiukku asettuu,

45 kunnes veljesi lakkaa sinua vihaamasta ja unhottaa, mitä olet hänelle tehnyt. Sitten minä lähetän noutamaan sinut sieltä. Minkätähden menettäisin teidät molemmat samana päivänä!"

46 Ja Rebekka sanoi Iisakille: "Minä olen kyllästynyt elämääni Heetin tyttärien tähden. Jos Jaakobkin ottaa vaimon Heetin tyttäristä, tässä maassa syntyneen, sellaisen kuin nämä, niin mitä varten minä enää elän?"

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3519

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3519. 'And take for me from there two good kids of the she-goats' means truths born from that good. This is clear from the meaning of 'kids of the she-goats' as truths born from good, dealt with below. The reason for having 'two' was that as in the rational so in the natural there are things of the will and those of the understanding. Things in the natural that belong to the will are delights, while those that belong to the understanding are facts. These two have to be joined together if they are to be anything at all.

[2] As regards 'kids of the she-goats' meaning truths born from good, this becomes clear from those places in the Word where kids and she-goats are mentioned. It should be recognized that all gentle and useful beasts mentioned in the Word mean in the genuine sense celestial things, which are forms of good, and spiritual things, which are forms of truth, see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776, 2179, 2180, 2781, 3218. And since there are various genera of celestial things or forms of good, and consequently there are various genera of spiritual things or forms of truth, one beast has a different meaning from another; that is to say, a lamb has one meaning, a kid another, and a sheep, she-goat, ram, he-goat, young bull, or ox another, while a horse or a camel has yet another meaning. Birds have a different meaning again, as also do beasts of the sea, such as sea monsters, and fish. The genera of celestial and spiritual things, and consequently of forms of good and truth, are more than anyone can number, even though when that which is celestial or good is mentioned, and also when that which is spiritual or truth, this is not envisaged as being anything complex, consisting of many parts, but as a single entity. Yet how complex both of these are, that is, how countless the genera are of which they consist, may be seen from what has been stated about heaven in 3241, to the effect that it is distinguished into countless separate communities, according to the genera of celestial and spiritual things, that is, of goods of love and of derivative truths of faith. Furthermore each genus of good and each genus of truth has countless species into which the communities of each genus are separated. And each species in a similar way has separate sub-species.

[3] The commonest genera of good and truth are what the living creatures offered as burnt offerings and sacrifices represented. And because the genera are quite distinct and separate, people were explicitly commanded to use those living creatures and no others, that is to say, in some sacrifices lambs and ewe-lambs, and also kids and female kids of she-goats were to be used, in other sacrifices rams and sheep, and also he-goats, were to be used, while in other sacrifices again, calves, young bulls, and oxen, or else pigeons and doves, were to be used, see 992, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3218. What kids and she-goats meant however becomes clear both from the sacrifices in which they used to be offered and from other places in the Word. These show that lambs and ewe-lambs meant innocence belonging to the internal or rational man, and kids and she-goats innocence belonging to the external or natural man, and so the truth and the good of the latter.

[4] The fact that truth and good present in the innocence that belongs to the external or natural man is meant by a kid and a she-goat is clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,

The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, the calf also and the young lion and the sheep together; and a little child will lead them. Isaiah 11:6.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom and to the state there in which people have no fear of evil, that is, no dread of hell, because they are with the Lord. 'The lamb' and 'the kid' stand for people who have innocence within them, and who, being the most secure of all, are mentioned first.

[5] When all the firstborn of Egypt were smitten the people were commanded to kill from among the lambs or among the kids a male without blemish, and to put some of the blood on the doorposts and on the lintel of their houses; and so the destroyer would not strike them with the plague, Exodus 12:5, 7, 13. 'The firstborn of Egypt' means the good of love and charity that was wiped out, 3325. 'The lambs' and 'the kids' are states of innocence, in which those with whom these exist are secure from evil. Indeed all in heaven are kept secure by the Lord through states of innocence. That security was represented by the killing of the lamb or kid, and putting the blood on the doorposts and on the lintel of the houses. .

[6] To avert his own death when a person saw Jehovah manifested as an angel he would sacrifice 'a kid of the she-goats', as Gideon did when he saw Him, Judges 6:19, and also Manoah, Judges 13:15-16, 19. The reason they offered a kid was that Jehovah or the Lord cannot appear to anybody, not even to an angel, unless the one to whom He appears is in a state of innocence. Therefore as soon as the Lord is present people are brought into a state of innocence, for the Lord enters in by way of innocence, even with angels in heaven. Consequently no one is able to enter heaven unless he has a measure of innocence, according to the Lord's words recorded in Matthew 18:3; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17. Regarding people's belief that they would die when Jehovah appeared to them if they did not offer such a burnt offering, see Judges 13:22-23.

[7] Since genuine conjugial love is innocence itself, 2736, it was customary in the representative Church for a man to go to his wife with the gift of a kid of the she-goats, as one reads of Samson in Judges 15:1, and also of Judah when he visited Tamar, Genesis 38:17, 20, 23. The fact that 'a kid' and 'a she-goat' meant innocence is also evident from the sacrifices made as guilt offerings that a person would offer if he had sinned through error, Leviticus 1:10; 4:28; 5:6. Sinning through error is sinning through ignorance that has innocence within it. The same is evident from the following Divine command in Moses,

You shall bring the first of the firstfruits of your land to the house of Jehovah your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. Exodus 23:19; 34:26.

Here the requirement 'to bring the firstfruits of the land to the house of Jehovah' means the state of innocence which exists in early childhood; and 'not boiling a kid in its mother's milk' means that they were not to destroy the innocence of early childhood. This being their meaning, the one command, in both places referred to, follows directly after the other. In the literal sense there seems to be no connection at all between them as there is in the internal sense.

[8] Because kids and she-goats, as has been stated, meant innocence it was also required that the curtains over the tabernacle should be made from she-goat hair, Exodus 25:4; 26:7; 35:5-6, 23, 26; 36:14, as a sign that all the holy things represented in it depended for their very being on innocence. 'She-goat hair' means the last or outermost degree of innocence present in ignorance, such as exists with gentiles who in the internal sense are meant by the curtains of the tabernacle. These considerations now show what truths born of good are, and what the nature of these is, meant by the two good kids of the she-goats which Rebekah his mother spoke about to Jacob. That is to say, they are truths belonging to innocence or early childhood, meant also by the things which Esau was to bring to Isaac his father, dealt with in 3501, 3508. They were not in fact such truths, but initially they appeared to be. Thus it was that Jacob pretended by means of them to be Esau.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1001

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1001. 'Blood' means charity, as becomes clear from many considerations, and so means the new will part which a regenerate spiritual person receives from the Lord. This new will part is identical with charity, for it is from charity that the new will takes form. Indeed charity, or love, is the essential element or the life of the will, for nobody can possibly say he wills something unless he takes delight in it or loves it. When people say they have something in mind this does not imply that they will it, unless will is implicit in thought. This new will which is one of charity is 'the blood' here. It is not the person's own but the Lord's residing with him. And because it is the Lord's it must never be mixed together with things that belong to the person's own will which, as stated, is so foul. This was the reason why in the representative Church people were commanded not to eat flesh with its soul, that is, not to eat the blood. That is to say, they were not to mix the one with the other. Because 'blood' meant charity it meant that which was holy, and because 'flesh' meant what belonged to the merely human will, it meant that which was unholy. And because these, being opposites, were quite separate, people were forbidden to eat blood. For in those times 'the eating of flesh together with the blood' was representative in heaven of profanation, or the mixing together of holy and unholy - which representation in heaven could do nothing else than strike the angels with horror. For at that period of time all things that took place among members of the Church were converted among angels - according to the meaning such things had in the internal sense - into corresponding spiritual representations.

[2] Since the nature of everything depends on that of the person to whom it refers, the same holds true with regard to the meaning of blood. When it refers to a regenerate spiritual person 'blood' means charity or love towards the neighbour. When it refers to a regenerate celestial person it means love to the Lord. But when it refers to the Lord it means the whole of His Human Essence, and so Love itself, which is His mercy towards the human race. Consequently since 'blood' in general means love and what belongs to love, it means heavenly things that are the Lord's alone, and so in reference to man it means the heavenly things a person receives from the Lord. The heavenly things that a regenerate spiritual person receives from the Lord are celestial-spiritual. These in the Lord's Divine mercy will be dealt with elsewhere.

[3] That 'blood' means heavenly things, and in the highest sense meant the Lord's Human Essence, and so Love itself, which is His mercy towards the human race, becomes clear from the sacredness that the Jewish representative Church was required to attach to blood. For this reason blood was called 'the blood of the covenant'. It was sprinkled over the people, and also, together with the anointing oil, over Aaron and his sons. And [the blood] of every burnt offering and sacrifice was sprinkled over and around the altar. For these details, see Exodus 12:7, 13, 22-23; 24:6, 8; Leviticus 1:5, 11, 15; 4:6-7, 17-18, 25, 30, 34; 5:9; 16:12-15; 18, 19; Numbers 18:17; Deuteronomy 12:27.

[4] Because blood was held to be so holy, and what belonged to the merely human will was so unholy, they were strictly forbidden to eat blood because this represented the profanation of what is holy, as in Moses,

It shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations, in all your dwelling-places, that you shall not eat any fat or any blood. Leviticus 3:17.

'Fat' stands for celestial life, and 'blood' in this instance for celestial-spiritual life. The celestial-spiritual is that which is spiritual having a celestial origin, as with the Most Ancient Church. With them love to the Lord was the celestial because this had been implanted in their will, while that which was celestial-spiritual with them was faith flowing from it, dealt with in 30-38, 337, 793, 398. But with a spiritual person the celestial does not exist, only the celestial-spiritual, because charity is implanted in the understanding part of his mind.

In the same author,

As for anyone from the house of Israel or from the sojourner sojourning among them who eats any blood, I will set My face 1 against the soul eating blood and will cut him off from among his people, for the soul of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon the altar, to make atonement for your souls, for the blood itself will make atonement by reason of the soul. The soul of all flesh is the blood of it; everyone eating it shall be cut off. Leviticus 17:10-11, 14.

Here it is plainly stated that the soul of the flesh is in the blood and that the soul of [all] flesh is the blood, or that which is celestial, that is, that which is holy and is the Lord's.

[5] In the same author,

Be sure that you do not eat blood, for the blood is the soul and you shall not eat the soul with the flesh. Deuteronomy 12:23-25.

From these words similarly it is clear that the blood is called the soul, that is, celestial life, or that which is celestial, and was represented by the burnt offerings and sacrifices of that Church. In a similar way, it was the requirement not to mingle that which was celestial - the Lord's Proprium, which alone is celestial and holy - with man's proprium, which is unholy, that was represented also by their being forbidden to make a sacrifice of, that is, to offer, the blood of the sacrifice with anything leavened, Exodus 23:18; 34:25. That which was 'leavened' meant that which was corrupt and filthy.

[6] The reason Why 'blood' is called the soul and means the holiness of charity, and why the holiness of love was represented in the Jewish Church by 'blood', is that the life of the body lies in the blood. And because the life of the body lies in the blood it is its ultimate soul, so that the blood therefore may be called the bodily soul, or the place where a person's bodily life resides. And because in representative Churches internal things were represented by external, the soul or celestial life was therefore represented by 'the blood'.

Footnotes:

1. literally, faces

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