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1 Mose 33

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1 Und Jakob hob seine Augen auf und sah: und siehe, Esau kam und mit ihm vierhundert Mann. Und er verteilte die Kinder zu Lea und zu ahel und zu den beiden Mägden;

2 und er stellte die Mägde und ihre Kinder vornan und Lea und ihre Kinder dahinter und ahel und Joseph zuletzt.

3 Er aber ging vor ihnen her und beugte sich siebenmal zur Erde nieder, bis er nahe zu seinem Bruder kam.

4 Und Esau lief ihm entgegen und umarmte ihn und fiel ihm um den Hals und küßte ihn; und sie weinten.

5 Und er hob seine Augen auf und sah die Weiber und die Kinder und sprach: Wer sind diese bei dir? Und er sprach: Die Kinder, die Gott deinem Knechte beschert hat.

6 Und die Mägde traten herzu, sie und ihre Kinder, und verneigten sich.

7 Und auch Lea trat herzu und ihre Kinder, und sie verneigten sich. Und danach traten Joseph und ahel herzu und verneigten sich.

8 Und er sprach: Was willst du mit diesem ganzen Zug, dem ich begegnet bin? Und er sprach: Um Gnade zu finden in den Augen meines Herrn.

9 Da sprach Esau: Ich habe genug, mein Bruder; es sei dein was du hast.

10 Und Jakob sprach: Nicht doch; wenn ich anders Gnade gefunden habe in deinen Augen, so nimm mein Geschenk von meiner Hand, da ich nun einmal dein Angesicht gesehen habe, (O. denn darum habe ich) als hätte ich Gottes Angesicht gesehen, und du Wohlgefallen an mir gehabt hast.

11 Nimm doch mein Geschenk, (Eig. meinen Segen, wie 1. Sam. 25,27) das dir überbracht worden ist; denn Gott hat es mir beschert, (O. hat mir Gnade erwiesen) und ich habe alles. Und er drang in ihn, und er nahm es.

12 Und Esau (W. er) sprach: Laß uns aufbrechen und weiterziehen, und ich will vor (O. neben) dir herziehen.

13 Und er sprach zu ihm: Mein Herr weiß, daß die Kinder zart sind und daß ich säugende Schafe (Eig. Kleinvieh) und Kühe bei mir habe; wenn man sie nur einen Tag übertriebe, so würde die ganze Herde sterben.

14 Mein Herr ziehe doch vor seinem Knechte hin, und ich will einherziehen nach meiner Gemächlichkeit, nach dem Gange des Viehes, das vor mir ist, und nach dem Gange der Kinder, bis ich zu meinem Herrn komme nach Seir.

15 Und Esau sprach: Ich will doch von dem Volke bei dir zurücklassen, das bei mir ist. Und er sprach: Wozu das? Möchte ich Gnade finden in den Augen meines Herrn!

16 Und Esau kehrte an selbigem Tage seines Weges nach Seir zurück.

17 Und Jakob brach auf nach Sukkoth und baute sich ein Haus, und seinem Vieh machte er Hütten; darum gab er dem Orte den Namen Sukkoth. (Hütten)

18 Und Jakob kam wohlbehalten nach der Stadt Sichem, die im Lande Kanaan ist, als er aus Paddan-Aram kam, und lagerte vor der Stadt.

19 Und er kaufte das Stück Feld, wo er sein Zelt aufgeschlagen hatte, von der Hand der Söhne Hemors, des Vaters Sichems, um hundert Kesita.

20 Und er richtete daselbst einen Altar auf und nannte ihn: Gott, (El) der Gott Israels.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4395

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4395. 'As he was coming from Paddan Aram' means that which happened after the previous state. This is clear from the meaning of 'as he was coming' as that which happened after, and from the meaning of 'Paddan Aram' as cognitions of good and truth, dealt with in 3664, 4107, 4112, though exterior cognitions which serve in the introduction of genuine goods and truths; for Laban dwelt there, and he represents the affection for that kind of good, see 3612, 3665, 3778, 3974, 3982, 3986 (end), 4063, 4189, 4206. Consequently the words 'as he was coming from Paddan Aram' are used because the point was reached when external truths and goods gave way to interior, and so when the previous state gave way to the present one.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3974

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3974. 'Give me my womenfolk' means that the affections for truth belonged to that natural, 'and my children' means as did the truths born from those affections. This is clear from the meaning of 'womenfolk' or 'wives' as affections for truth - his wife 'Leah' meaning the affection for external truth, and 'Rachel' the affection for internal truth, both dealt with often above; and from the meaning of 'children' as truths born from those affections. For 'sons' means truths, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373, and the children born of the womenfolk truths that spring from those affections.

It was a regulation among the Ancients that women given to slaves belonged to the master with whom they served, and so did the children born from them, as may be seen in Moses,

If you buy a Hebrew slave he shall serve for six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If his master has given him a wife and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out by himself. 1 Exodus 21:2, 4.

It was because this was also a regulation in the Ancient Church and was therefore well known to Laban that he laid claim to Jacob's wives and children, as is evident in the next chapter,

Laban said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flock is my flock, and all that you see belongs to me. Genesis 31:43.

And because Jacob knows this he says to Laban, 'Give me my womenfolk and my children'. But this regulation as stated in Moses in the verses quoted above represented the right of the internal or rational man to the goods and truths of the external or natural man which the latter has obtained for itself. For a slave represented the truth of the natural man as that truth exists at first before genuine truths are instilled. The truth which is present at first is not truth but the outward appearance of it. Nevertheless it serves as the means by which genuine truths and goods are introduced, as has been shown already. For this reason once goods and truths have been instilled through that truth present at first, that is, through the service it renders, it is dispensed with, but the genuine truths obtained in that way are retained. It was for the sake of this representation that this law about slaves was laid down.

[2] But as for Jacob, he was not a slave who had been purchased, but a man from a more distinguished family than Laban. He himself - that is to say, Jacob - purchased Laban's daughters, and so also the children by them, through the service he rendered; for they were his instead of wages. Consequently Laban's assumptions concerning them were not correct. Furthermore 'a Hebrew slave' means the truth which serves to introduce genuine goods and truths, and his wife the affection for natural good. But Jacob's position was different from that of a slave. He represented the good of natural truth, and his wives the affections for truth. Nor does Laban have the same representation as the master in the law that has been quoted relating to a Hebrew slave. That is to say, he does not represent the rational, but a parallel good, 3612, 3665, 3778, which is such that it is not genuine good but the outward appearance of the genuine, serving to introduce truths, 3665, 3690, which were accordingly 'Jacob's'.

[3] These details which have been presented are indeed such as fall within the mental grasp of none but a very few, for most people do not know what the truth and good of the natural are, and that these are different from the truth and good of the rational. Still less do they know that goods and truths which are not genuine but only so to external appearance serve to introduce genuine truths and goods, especially at the outset of regeneration. All the same, as these details are contained in the internal sense of these words, and also in the internal sense of those that follow concerning Laban's flock from which Jacob obtained a flock for himself, they ought not to be passed over in silence. There will perhaps be some who grasp them. Any who have a strong desire to know such things, that is, who are stirred by an affection for spiritual good and truth, receive enlightenment in such matters.

Footnotes:

1. literally, with his own body

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