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1 Mose 28

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1 Da rief Isaak seinen Sohn Jakob und segnete ihn und gebot ihm und sprach zu ihm: Nimm nicht ein Weib von den Töchtern Kanaans;

2 sondern mache dich auf und ziehe nach Mesopotamien zum Hause Bethuels, des Vaters deiner Mutter, und nimm dir ein Weib daselbst von den Töchtern Labans, des Bruders deiner Mutter.

3 Aber der allmächtige Gott segne dich und mache dich fruchtbar und mehre dich, daß du werdest ein Haufe Völker,

4 und gebe dir den Segen Abrahams, dir und deinem Samen mit dir, daß du besitzest das Land, darin du ein Fremdling bist, das Gott Abraham gegeben hat.

5 Also fertigte Isaak den Jakob ab, daß er nach Mesopotamien zog zu Laban, Bethuels Sohn, in Syrien, dem Bruder Rebekkas, seiner und Esaus Mutter.

6 Als nun Esau sah, daß Isaak Jakob gesegnet hatte und abgefertigt nach Mesopotamien, daß er daselbst ein Weib nähme, und daß er, indem er ihn segnete, ihm gebot und sprach: Du sollst nicht ein Weib nehmen von den Töchtern Kanaans,

7 und daß Jakob seinem Vater und seiner Mutter gehorchte und nach Mesopotamien zog,

8 sah auch, daß Isaak, sein Vater, nicht gerne sah die Töchter Kanaans:

9 ging er hin zu Ismael und nahm zu den Weibern, die er zuvor hatte, Mahalath, die Tochter Ismaels, des Sohnes Abrahams, die Schwester Nebajoths, zum Weibe.

10 Aber Jakob zog aus von Beer-Seba und reiste gen Haran

11 und kam an einen Ort, da blieb er über Nacht; denn die Sonne war untergegangen. Und er nahm einen Stein des Orts und legte ihn zu seinen Häupten und legte sich an dem Ort schlafen.

12 Und ihm träumte; und siehe, eine Leiter stand auf der Erde, die rührte mit der Spitze an den Himmel, und siehe, die Engel Gottes stiegen daran auf und nieder;

13 und der HERR stand obendarauf und sprach: Ich bin der HERR, Abrahams, deines Vaters, Gott und Isaaks Gott; das Land darauf du liegst, will ich dir und deinem Samen geben.

14 Und dein Same soll werden wie der Staub auf Erden, und du sollst ausgebreitet werden gegen Abend, Morgen, Mitternacht und Mittag; und durch dich und deinen Samen sollen alle Geschlechter auf Erden gesegnet werden.

15 Und siehe, ich bin mit dir und will dich behüten, wo du hin ziehst, und will dich wieder herbringen in dies Land. Denn ich will dich nicht lassen, bis daß ich tue alles, was ich dir geredet habe.

16 Da nun Jakob von seinem Schlaf aufwachte, sprach er: Gewiß ist der HERR an diesem Ort, und ich wußte es nicht;

17 und fürchtete sich und sprach: Wie heilig ist diese Stätte! Hier ist nichts anderes als Gottes Haus, und hier ist die Pforte des Himmels.

18 Und Jakob stand des Morgens früh auf und nahm den Stein, den er zu seinen Häupten gelegt hatte, und richtete ihn auf zu einem Mal und goß Öl obendarauf

19 und hieß die Stätte Beth-El; zuvor aber hieß die Stadt Lus.

20 Und Jakob tat ein Gelübde und sprach: So Gott wird mit mir sein und mich behüten auf dem Wege, den ich reise, und mir Brot zu essen geben und Kleider anzuziehen

21 und mich in Frieden wieder heim zu meinem Vater bringen, so soll der HERR mein Gott sein;

22 und dieser Stein, den ich aufgerichtet habe zu einem Mal, soll ein Gotteshaus werden; und von allem, was du mir gibst, will ich dir den Zehnten geben.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #3690

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3690. And Jacob went out from Beersheba. That this signifies life more remote from Divine doctrinal things, is evident from the signification of “going,” as being to live (see n. 3335, 3685); thus “going out” signifies living more remotely; and from the signification of “Beersheba” as being Divine doctrine (see n. 2723, 2858, 2859, 3466); hence it is evident that by “Jacob went out from Beersheba” is signified life more remote from Divine doctrinal things. Life is said to be more remote when it is in external truths, and is lived according to them, as is the life of the infancy and childhood of those who are being regenerated (concerning whom see above, n. 3688).

[2] In order to show further what this life is, and what its quality, it may be expedient to add a few words. All the histories of the Word are truths more remote from essential Divine doctrinal things, but still are of service to little children and older children, in order that thereby they may be by degrees introduced into the interior doctrinal matters of truth and good; and at last to Divine things themselves; for within them, in their inmost, is the Divine. While children are reading them and are affected by them from innocence, the angels who are with them are in a happy celestial state, being affected from the Lord with the internal sense, consequently with those things which the historical facts represent and signify; and it is the celestial happiness of the angels that flows in and causes the delight with the children. In order that this first state may exist, that is, the first state of infancy and childhood of those to be regenerated, the histories of the Word were given, and were so written that all things therein both in general and in particular contain within them things Divine.

[3] How far removed these historical matters are from Divine doctrinal things can be seen from the following example from them. When anyone first knows only that God descended on Mount Sinai, and gave tables to Moses, on which were written the Ten Commandments, and that Moses broke those tables, and that God wrote like commandments on other tables; while delighted solely with this history, he is in the life of external truth remote from Divine doctrinal things; but afterwards when he begins to be delighted and affected with the commandments or precepts themselves therein contained, and lives according to them, he is then in the life of truth, yet still remote from the Divine doctrinal things themselves. For a life according to the commandments is only a moral life, the precepts whereof are known to all who live in human society, from civil life itself and the laws thereof-as that the Deity is to be worshiped, and parents honored; and that murder, adultery, and theft must not be committed.

[4] But he who is being regenerated is led by degrees from this more remote life (that is, moral life), into a life nearer to Divine doctrinal things; that is, into spiritual life. When this comes to pass the man begins to wonder why such commandments or precepts were sent down from heaven in so miraculous a manner, and written on tables by the finger of God, when yet they are known to every people, and are also written in the laws of those who have never heard anything from the Word. If when he comes into this state of thought he is among those who are capable of being regenerated, he is brought by the Lord into a still more interior state, namely, into a state of thinking that deeper things lie concealed therein, with which as yet he is unacquainted; and when he reads the Word in this state, he finds everywhere in the Prophets, and especially in the Evangelists, that each one of these precepts contains within it things still more heavenly.

[5] For example, in respect to the honoring of parents, he now sees that when men are born anew, that is, when being regenerated, they receive another Father, and then become His sons, and that it is He who is to be honored; thus that this is the sense that lies hidden within this precept. And by degrees he learns that this new Father is the Lord; and at last that He is to be honored by being worshiped, and that He is worshiped when He is loved. When one who is being regenerated is in this truth, and in a life according to it, he is in Divine doctrine, and is then in an angelic state, and from this state looks at the things he before knew as following on in order, and as flowing from the Divine as it were according to the steps of a ladder, above which is Jehovah or the Lord; and on the steps whereof are His angels ascending and descending; thus he sees the things with which he had previously been delighted as more remote from him according to degrees. The case is the same with the other precepts of the Decalogue (see n. 2609). From this it is now evident what is meant by a life more remote from Divine doctrinal things, which is here signified by “Jacob went out from Beersheba.”

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