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Genesis 33

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1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau came, and with him four hundred men. And he divided the children to Leah, and to Rachel, and to the two handmaids.

2 And he put the handmaids and their children foremost, and Leah and her children after, and Rachel and Joseph hindermost.

3 And he passed on before them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, till he came near to his brother.

4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept.

5 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children, and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given to thy servant.

6 Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves.

7 And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves; and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.

8 And he said, What meanest thou by all this drove which I met? And he said, these are to find grace in the sight of my lord.

9 And Esau said, I have enough, my brother; keep what thou hast to thyself.

10 And Jacob said, Nay, I pray thee, if now I have found grace in thy sight, then receive my present at my hand: for therefore I have seen thy face, as though I had seen the face of God, and thou hast been pleased with me.

11 Take, I pray thee, my blessing that is brought to thee; because God hath dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough: and he urged him, and he took it.

12 And he said, Let us take our journey, and let us go, and I will go before thee.

13 And he said to him, My lord knoweth that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with young are with me, and if men should over-drive them one day, all the flock will die.

14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant: and I will lead on slowly, according as the cattle that go before me, and the children are able to endure; until I come to my lord to Seir.

15 And Esau said, Let me now leave with thee some of the people that are with me: And he said, What needeth it? Let me find grace in the sight of my lord.

16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir.

17 And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him a house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth.

18 And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Padan-aram; and pitched his tent before the city.

19 And he bought a part of a field, where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of money.

20 And he erected there an altar, and called it El-elohe-Israel.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4301

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4301. 'As he passed over Penuel' means a state of truth within good. This is clear from the meaning of 'Penuel' as a state of truth within good. It was the Jabbok that Jacob passed over first when he entered the land of Canaan, by which the first instillation of the affections for truth is meant, see 4270, 4271, whereas it is Penuel which he passes over now. Hence 'Penuel' means a state of truth that has been instilled into good. The subject is also the joining of the one kind of good to the other; but good is not good unless it has truth within it, for good derives its specific nature as well as its form from truth' so much so that good cannot with anyone be called good unless truth is present within it. But truth acquires its essence and consequently its life from good. This being so and the joining of the one kind of good to the other being the subject, the state of truth within good is dealt with too.

[2] As for the state of truth within good, this can indeed be described but no one can grasp what it is except those who have celestial perception. People who do not have this perception cannot even have any concept of the joining of truth to good, since for them truth lies in obscurity. Indeed they call the truth that which they have learned from matters of doctrine, and they call good that which is done in accordance with that truth. But those who do have perception have an understanding or mental sight that dwells in heavenly light, and they take delight in truths which are joined to good, just as the eye or physical sight takes delight in flowers growing in gardens and meadows in springtime. And people who have interior perception take delight so to speak in the lovely scent coming from them. Such is the angelic state, and therefore those angels perceive all the differences and all the variations that go with the instillation of truth into good and the joining together of them one within the other. So they perceive immeasurably more than man does, for man does not even know of any such instillation and joining together and that it is in this way that man becomes spiritual.

[3] But so that people may have some concept of this matter a brief statement must be made about it. There are two things which constitute the internal man - understanding and will. To the understanding truths belong and to the will goods, for that which a person knows and understands to be true he calls the truth, and that which he does from the will, and so that which he wills, he calls good. These two abilities must constitute a single unit. This may be illustrated by comparison with the sight of the eye and with the pleasure and delight which is experienced through the use of this sight. When the eye beholds objects it takes pleasure and delight in their form and colour and the resulting beauty which these bring to the objects as a whole and to the individual parts; in short it takes delight in the order or patterns in these. That pleasure and delight does not belong to the eye but to the mind (animus) and its affection. And insofar as a person has any affection for them he beholds them and retains them in his memory. But things which the eye beholds without any affection for them slip away and are not sown in the memory and so made part of it.

[4] From this it is evident that the objects of external sight are implanted insofar as there exists the pleasure and delight that go with affections for them, and that those objects are present in that pleasure and delight. For whenever much the same pleasure or delight occurs such objects return with them; and likewise whenever much the same objects are seen again such pleasure and delight returns with them, though with variations that depend on the states involved. A similar situation exists with the understanding, which is internal sight. The objects of that sight am spiritual and are called truths, for the field in which those objects are active is the memory, and the pleasure and delight associated with that sight is good. So it is good in which truths are sown and implanted. From this one may gain some idea of what the instillation of truth into good is and the joining together of them one within the other, also some idea of what that good is which is the subject here, a kind of good about which angels perceive countless things, whereas man perceives scarcely anything.

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