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Génesis 34

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1 Y salió Dina la hija de Lea, la cual ésta había dado a luz a Jacob, a ver las doncellas de la tierra.

2 Y la vio Siquem, hijo de Hamor, el heveo, príncipe de aquella tierra, y la tomó, y se acostó con ella, y la deshonró.

3 Mas su alma se apegó a Dina la hija de Lea, y se enamoró de la joven, y habló al corazón de ella.

4 Y habló Siquem a Hamor su padre, diciendo: Tómame por mujer a esta joven.

5 Y oyó Jacob que Siquem había mancillado a Dina su hija; y estando sus hijos con su ganado en el campo, calló Jacob hasta que ellos viniesen.

6 Y salió Hamor padre de Siquem a Jacob, para hablar con él.

7 Y los hijos de Jacob vinieron del campo cuando lo supieron; y se entristecieron los varones, y se ensañaron mucho, porque hizo vileza en Israel acostándose con la hija de Jacob, lo que no se debía haber hecho.

8 Y Hamor habló con ellos, diciendo: El alma de mi hijo Siquem se ha apegado con vuestra hija; os ruego que se la deis por mujer.

9 Y emparentad con nosotros; dadnos vuestras hijas, y tomad vosotros las nuestras.

10 Y habitad con nosotros; porque la tierra estará delante de vosotros; morad y negociad en ella, y tomad en ella posesión.

11 Siquem también dijo a su padre y a sus hermanos: Halle yo gracia en vuestros ojos, y daré lo que me dijereis.

12 Aumentad a cargo mío mucha dote y dones, que yo daré cuanto me dijereis, y dadme la joven por mujer.

13 Y respondieron los hijos de Jacob a Siquem y a Hamor su padre con engaño; y hablaron, por cuanto había mancillado a Dina su hermana.

14 Y les dijeron: No podemos hacer esto de dar nuestra hermana a hombre que tiene prepucio; porque entre nosotros es abominación.

15 Mas con esta condición os haremos placer; si habéis de ser como nosotros, que se circuncide entre vosotros todo varón;

16 entonces os daremos nuestras hijas, y tomaremos nosotros las vuestras; y habitaremos con vosotros, y seremos un pueblo.

17 Mas si no nos prestareis oído para circuncidaros, tomaremos nuestra hija, y nos iremos.

18 Y parecieron bien sus palabras a Hamor y a Siquem, hijo de Hamor.

19 Y no dilató el joven en hacer aquello, porque la hija de Jacob le había agradado; y él era el más honrado de toda la casa de su padre.

20 Entonces Hamor y Siquem su hijo vinieron a la puerta de su ciudad, y hablaron a los varones de su ciudad, diciendo:

21 Estos varones son pacíficos con nosotros, y habitarán en la tierra, y traficarán en ella; pues he aquí la tierra es bastante ancha para ellos; nosotros tomaremos sus hijas por mujeres, y les daremos las nuestras.

22 Mas con esta condición nos harán estos hombres el placer de habitar con nosotros, para que seamos un pueblo: si se circuncidare en nosotros todo varón, así como ellos son circuncidados.

23 Sus ganados, y su hacienda y todas sus bestias, serán nuestras; solamente convengamos con ellos, y habitarán con nosotros.

24 Y escucharon a Hamor y a Siquem su hijo todos los que salían por la puerta de la ciudad, y circuncidaron a todo varón, a cuantos salían por la puerta de su ciudad.

25 Y sucedió que al tercer día, cuando sentían ellos el mayor dolor, los dos hijos de Jacob, Simeón y Leví, hermanos de Dina, tomaron cada uno su espada, y vinieron contra la ciudad animosamente, y mataron a todo varón.

26 Y a Hamor y a Siquem su hijo los mataron a filo de espada; y tomaron a Dina de casa de Siquem, y se fueron.

27 Y los hijos de Jacob vinieron a los muertos y saquearon la ciudad; por cuanto habían amancillado a su hermana.

28 Tomaron sus ovejas y vacas y sus asnos, y lo que había en la ciudad y en el campo,

29 y toda su hacienda; se llevaron cautivos a todos sus niños y sus mujeres, y robaron todo lo que había en casa.

30 Entonces dijo Jacob a Simeón y a Leví: Me habéis turbado con hacerme abominable a los moradores de esta tierra, el cananeo y el ferezeo; y teniendo yo pocos hombres, se juntarán contra mí, y me herirán, y seré destruido yo y mi casa.

31 Y ellos respondieron: ¿Había él de tratar a nuestra hermana como a una ramera?

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4493

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4493. 'And they circumcised every male, all who went out of the gate of his city' means the acceptance of externalities. This is clear from the meaning of 'circumcising every male' as being introduced into the representatives and meaningful signs of that people (that is, into those of Jacob's descendants) - solely into the external observances involved in these, dealt with in 4486; and from the meaning of 'going out of the gate of the city' as departing from the doctrine of the Church among the Ancients, dealt with immediately above in 4492. And as the departure from doctrine and the acceptance of externalities is meant, the expression 'those who went out of the gate of his city' occurs twice, without any reference at the same time, as is so elsewhere, to those who went into it. For 'going in' means an acceptance of doctrine and a departure from externalities; but the reverse of this is described here.

[2] The implications of this must now be stated. Members of the Most Ancient Church, the remnants of which Hamor and Shechem with their families were a part, had an entirely different mental constitution and different disposition from adherents to the Ancient Church. The will in the case of the members of the Most Ancient Church contained that which was whole; but this was not so with adherents to the Ancient Church. Because of this the Lord was able with members of the Most Ancient Church to flow in through the will, and therefore by an internal way, but not so with adherents to the Ancient Church, since in these the will had been destroyed. But the Lord flowed into their understanding, and so not by an internal way but by an external one, as stated above in 4489. Flowing in through the will involves flowing in through the good of love, for all good belongs to the will part of the mind, whereas flowing in through the understanding involves flowing in through the truth of faith, for all truth belongs to the understanding part. Within the latter - the understanding - the Lord formed, in the case of adherents to the Ancient Church, a new will when He regenerated them. For goods and truths were implanted in the will part of the mind of members of the Most Ancient Church, see 895, 927, but in the understanding part of that of adherents to the Ancient Church, 863, 875, 895, 927, 2124, 2256, 4328. The new will is formed within the understanding part of the mind, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 4328. A parallelism exists between the Lord and the good residing with man, but not between Him and the truth there, 1831, 1832, 2718, 3514. As a consequence adherents to the Ancient Church dwelt in obscurity compared with members of the Most Ancient, 2708, 2715, 2935, 2937, 3246, 3833. From all this it may be seen that members of the Most Ancient Church had an entirely different mental constitution and different disposition from adherents to the Ancient Church.

[3] It was for this reason that those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church were internal people and had no external forms of worship, while those who belonged to the Ancient Church were external people and did have them. For the former saw external things in the light of internal ones, as if by the light of the sun in the daytime, whereas the latter saw internal things in the light of external ones, as if by the light of the moon or stars at night. This also explains why the Lord is seen by the former in heaven as the Sun, but by the latter as the Moon, 1521, 1529-1531, 2441, 2495, 4060. The former are those who in explanations above are called celestial, the latter those who are called spiritual.

[4] To illustrate the essential difference between the two let an example be taken. If a member of the Most Ancient Church had read the Word, the historical or the prophetical, he would have seen its internal sense without prior instruction or any explanation. He would have seen it so perfectly that the celestial and spiritual things belonging to the internal sense would have instantly met his eyes, and scarcely anything belonging to the sense of the letter. Thus the internal sense would have been for him in brightness, but the sense of the letter in obscurity. He would be like someone listening to a person speaking, and taking in only the sense and paying no attention to the words used by the speaker. But if a member of the Ancient Church had read the Word he would not have been able, without prior instruction or explanation, to see its internal sense, and so the internal sense would have been for him in obscurity but the sense of the letter in brightness. He would be like someone listening to a person speaking and in thought hanging on to the words used by him, all the while paying no attention to the sense of them, which would therefore be lost on him. But when a member of the Jewish Church reads the Word he does not understand anything beyond the sense of the letter. He does not know of and also denies the existence of any internal sense. And it is similar with the member of the Christian Church at the present day.

[5] These considerations show the essential difference between those represented here by Hamor and Shechem who, being part of the remnants of the Most Ancient Church, were interested in internal things and not in external ones, and those meant by the sons of Jacob who were interested in external things and not in internal ones. Those considerations show in addition that Hamor and Shechem could not have acceded to external things and accepted those which existed among the sons of Jacob unless their internals were closed. But if these had been closed they would have perished for ever.

[6] This is the hidden reason why Hamor and Shechem with their families were slain, a deed that would not otherwise have been allowed. Not that this absolves the sons of Jacob from blame for having committed that hideous crime. They had no knowledge of that hidden reason, nor did they have that as their end in view. Everyone is judged according to the end he has in view, that is, his intention; and it is plainly stated in verse 13 that their intention was deceitful. When the Lord allows any such crime as this it is carried out by the evil and by those in hell who instigate it. But all evil which the evil intend and do to the good the Lord converts into good, as is the case here in that Hamor and Shechem with their families were [eternally] saved.

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