The Bible

 

1 Mose 34

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1 Dina aber, Leas Tochter, die sie Jakob geboren hatte, ging heraus, die Töchter des Landes zu sehen.

2 Da die sah Sichem, Hemors Sohn, des Heviters, der des Landes Herr war, nahm er sie und lag bei ihr und schwächte sie.

3 Und sein Herz hing an ihr, und er hatte die Dirne lieb und redete freundlich mit ihr.

4 Und Sichem sprach zu seinem Vater Hemor: Nimm mir das Mägdlein zum Weibe.

5 Und Jakob erfuhr, daß seine Tochter Dina geschändet war; und seine Söhne waren mit dem Vieh auf dem Felde, und Jakob schwieg bis daß sie kamen.

6 Da ging Hemor, Sichems Vater, heraus zu Jakob, mit ihm zu reden.

7 Indes kamen die Söhne Jakobs vom Felde. Und da sie es hörten, verdroß es die Männer, und sie wurden sehr zornig, daß er eine Torheit an Israel begangen und bei Jakobs Tochter gelegen hatte, denn so sollte es nicht sein.

8 Da redete Hemor mit ihnen und sprach: Meines Sohnes Sichem Herz sehnt sich nach eurer Tochter; gebt sie ihm doch zum Weibe.

9 Befreundet euch mit uns; gebt uns eure Töchter und nehmt ihr unsere Töchter

10 und wohnt bei uns. Das Land soll euch offen sein; wohnt und werbet und gewinnet darin.

11 Und Sichem sprach zu ihrem Vater und ihren Brüdern: Laßt uns Gnade bei euch finden; was ihr mir sagt, das will ich euch geben.

12 Fordert nur getrost von mir Morgengabe und Geschenk, ich will's geben, wie ihr heischt; gebt mir nur die Dirne zum Weibe.

13 Da antworteten Jakobs Söhne dem Sichem und seinem Vater Hemor betrüglich, darum daß ihre Schwester Dina geschändet war,

14 und sprachen zu ihnen: Wir können das nicht tun, daß wir unsere Schwester einem unbeschnittenem Mann geben; denn das wäre uns eine Schande.

15 Doch dann wollen wir euch zu Willen sein, so ihr uns gleich werdet und alles, was männlich unter euch ist, beschnitten werde;

16 dann wollen wir unsere Töchter euch geben und eure Töchter uns nehmen und bei euch wohnen und ein Volk sein.

17 Wo ihr aber nicht darein willigen wollt, euch zu beschneiden, so wollen wir unsere Tochter nehmen und davonziehen.

18 Die Rede gefiel Hemor und seinem Sohn wohl.

19 Und der Jüngling verzog nicht, solches zu tun; denn er hatte Lust zu der Tochter Jakobs. Und er war herrlich gehalten über alle in seines Vaters Hause.

20 Da kamen sie nun, Hemor und sein Sohn Sichem, unter der Stadt Tor und redeten mit den Bürgern der Stadt und sprachen:

21 Diese Leute sind friedsam bei uns und wollen im Lande wohnen und werben; so ist nun das Land weit genug für sie. Wir wollen uns ihre Töchter zu Weibern nehmen und ihnen unser Töchter geben.

22 Aber dann wollen sie uns zu Willen sein, daß sie bei uns wohnen und ein Volk mit uns werden, wo wir alles, was männlich unter uns ist, beschneiden, gleich wie sie beschnitten sind.

23 Ihr Vieh und ihre Güter und alles, was sie haben, wird unser sein, so wir nur ihnen zu Willen werden, daß sie bei uns wohnen.

24 Und sie gehorchten dem Hemor und Sichem, seinem Sohn, alle, die zu seiner Stadt Tor aus und ein gingen, und beschnitten alles, was männlich war, das zu dieser Stadt aus und ein ging.

25 Und am dritten Tage, da sie Schmerzen hatten, nahmen die zwei Söhne Jakobs, Simeon und Levi, der Dina Brüder, ein jeglicher sein Schwert und gingen kühn in die Stadt und erwürgten alles, was männlich war.

26 und erwürgten auch Hemor und seinen Sohn Sichem mit der Schärfe des Schwerts und nahmen ihre Schwester Dina aus dem Hause Sichems und gingen davon.

27 Da kamen die Söhne Jakobs über die erschlagenen und plünderten die Stadt, darum daß sie hatten ihre Schwester geschändet.

28 Und nahmen ihre Schafe, Rinder, Esel und was in der Stadt und auf dem Felde war

29 und alle ihre Habe; alle Kinder und Weiber nahmen sie gefangen, und plünderten alles, was in den Häusern war.

30 Und Jakob sprach zu Simeon und Levi: Ihr habt mir Unglück zugerichtet und mich stinkend gemacht vor den Einwohnern dieses Landes, den Kanaanitern und Pheresitern; und ich bin ein geringer Haufe. Wenn sie sich nun versammeln über mich, so werden sie mich schlagen. Also werde ich vertilgt samt meinem Hause.

31 Sie antworteten aber: Sollten sie denn mit unsrer Schwester wie mit einer Hure handeln?

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4449

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4449. 'His soul longs for your daughter; give her, I beg you, to him for a wife' means a longing to be joined to this new Church which in outward appearance was similar to the Ancient Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the soul's longing' as a longing; from the representation of Dinah, to whom 'daughter' refers here, as the affection for truth, and therefore as the Church, for a Church is a Church by virtue of its affection for truth - such a Church being meant here by a new Church; and from the meaning of 'giving her for a wife' as a joining together, dealt with in 4434.

[2] As regards that new Church which was established among the descendants of Jacob being in outward appearance similar to the Ancient Church, it should be realized that the statutes, judgements, and laws which were prescribed through Moses for the Israelite and Jewish nation were no different from the statutes, judgements, and laws which existed in the Ancient Church, such as those concerning betrothals and marriages, concerning slaves, concerning the living creatures which were suitable for food and those which were not suitable, concerning cleansings, festivals, tabernacles, the perpetual fire, and many other things; also concerning altars, burnt offerings, sacrifices, libations, that had been received in the second Ancient Church which began with Eber. The fact that all of these were known before they were prescribed for that nation is quite evident from the historical descriptions of the Word.

[3] Take merely altars, burnt offerings, and sacrifices. Of Balaam it is recorded that he ordered them to build seven altars and to offer on them burnt offerings and sacrifices of young bulls and rams, Numbers 23:1-2, 14-15, 29. Besides this, it is said of the nations in many places, that their altars were to be destroyed; and of the prophets of Baal whom Elijah slew, that they offered sacrifices. These facts make it clear that sacrifices which were prescribed for the descendants of Jacob were not new; nor were the rest of the statutes, judgements, and laws. But because these things became idolatrous among the nations - in particular through their use of those things to worship some profane god, which resulted in them turning representatives of Divine things to what is of hell, in addition to the many: practices which they added to these - those same things were reinstated so that the representative worship of the Ancient Church might be restored. From this it becomes clear that this new Church which was established among Jacob's descendants was in outward appearance similar to the Ancient Church.

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

The Bible

 

Numbers 23

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1 Balaam said to Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams."

2 Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bull and a ram.

3 Balaam said to Balak, "Stand by your burnt offering, and I will go: perhaps Yahweh will come to meet me; and whatever he shows me I will tell you." He went to a bare height.

4 God met Balaam: and he said to him, "I have prepared the seven altars, and I have offered up a bull and a ram on every altar."

5 Yahweh put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and thus you shall speak."

6 He returned to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, he, and all the princes of Moab.

7 He took up his parable, and said, "From Aram has Balak brought me, the king of Moab from the mountains of the East. Come, curse Jacob for me. Come, defy Israel.

8 How shall I curse whom God has not cursed? How shall I defy whom Yahweh has not defied?

9 For from the top of the rocks I see him. From the hills I see him. Behold, it is a people that dwells alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, or number the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous! Let my last end be like his!"

11 Balak said to Balaam, "What have you done to me? I took you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them altogether."

12 He answered and said, "Must I not take heed to speak that which Yahweh puts in my mouth?"

13 Balak said to him, "Please come with me to another place, where you may see them; you shall see but the utmost part of them, and shall not see them all: and curse me them from there."

14 He took him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.

15 He said to Balak, "Stand here by your burnt offering, while I meet [Yahweh] yonder."

16 Yahweh met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, "Return to Balak, and say this."

17 He came to him, and behold, he was standing by his burnt offering, and the princes of Moab with him. Balak said to him, "What has Yahweh spoken?"

18 He took up his parable, and said, "Rise up, Balak, and hear! Listen to me, you son of Zippor.

19 God is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?

20 Behold, I have received a command to bless. He has blessed, and I can't reverse it.

21 He has not seen iniquity in Jacob. Neither has he seen perverseness in Israel. Yahweh his God is with him. The shout of a king is among them.

22 God brings them out of Egypt. He has as it were the strength of the wild ox.

23 Surely there is no enchantment with Jacob; Neither is there any divination with Israel. Now it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God done!

24 Behold, the people rises up as a lioness, As a lion he lifts himself up. He shall not lie down until he eat of the prey, and drinks the blood of the slain."

25 Balak said to Balaam, "Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all."

26 But Balaam answered Balak, "Didn't I tell you, saying, 'All that Yahweh speaks, that I must do?'"

27 Balak said to Balaam, "Come now, I will take you to another place; perhaps it will please God that you may curse me them from there."

28 Balak took Balaam to the top of Peor, that looks down on the desert.

29 Balaam said to Balak, "Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bulls and seven rams."

30 Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered up a bull and a ram on every altar.