The Bible

 

Genesis 28

Study

   

1 Isaac called Jacob, blessed him, and commanded him, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan.

2 Arise, go to Paddan Aram, to the house of Bethuel your mother's father. Take a wife from there from the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother.

3 May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples,

4 and give you the blessing of Abraham, to you, and to your seed with you, that you may inherit the land where you travel, which God gave to Abraham."

5 Isaac sent Jacob away. He went to Paddan Aram to Laban, son of Bethuel the Syrian, Rebekah's brother, Jacob's and Esau's mother.

6 Now Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him away to Paddan Aram, to take him a wife from there, and that as he blessed him he gave him a command, saying, "You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan,"

7 and that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and was gone to Paddan Aram.

8 Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan didn't please Isaac, his father.

9 Esau went to Ishmael, and took, besides the wives that he had, Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham's son, the sister of Nebaioth, to be his wife.

10 Jacob went out from Beersheba, and went toward Haran.

11 He came to a certain place, and stayed there all night, because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of the place, and put it under his head, and lay down in that place to sleep.

12 He dreamed. Behold, a stairway set upon the earth, and its top reached to heaven. Behold, the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

13 Behold, Yahweh stood above it, and said, "I am Yahweh, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac. The land whereon you lie, to you will I give it, and to your seed.

14 Your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. In you and in your seed will all the families of the earth be blessed.

15 Behold, I am with you, and will keep you, wherever you go, and will bring you again into this land. For I will not leave you, until I have done that which I have spoken of to you."

16 Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, "Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn't know it."

17 He was afraid, and said, "How dreadful is this place! This is none other than God's house, and this is the gate of heaven."

18 Jacob rose up early in the morning, and took the stone that he had put under his head, and set it up for a pillar, and poured oil on its top.

19 He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.

20 Jacob vowed a vow, saying, "If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and clothing to put on,

21 so that I come again to my father's house in peace, and Yahweh will be my God,

22 then this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, will be God's house. Of all that you will give me I will surely give the tenth to you."

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3671

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

3671. To thee and to thy seed with thee. That this signifies with the good and its derivative truth, is evident from the representation of Jacob, who is here meant by “thee,” as being the good of truth, or the good which is from truth (concerning which see above); and from the signification of “seed,” as being the good and truth of faith (n. 1025, 1447, 1610, 2848, 3373). “With thee” signifies that it was adjoined to the good of truth which is “Jacob.” With good and truth the case is the same as with seeds and the ground; interior good is as the seed which brings forth, but only in good ground; exterior good and truth are as the ground in which the seed brings forth; this seed (that is, interior good and truth) cannot otherwise be rooted. For this reason man’s rational is first of all regenerated, for therein are seeds, and afterwards the natural, in order that it may serve as ground (n. 3286, 3288, 3321, 3368, 3493, 3576, 3620, 3623); and since the natural is as ground, good and truth are capable of being made fruitful and multiplying in the rational, which could not be the case unless they had ground somewhere, in which they might take root like seed. From this comparison it may be seen as in a mirror how the case is with regeneration and with many of its arcana.

[2] To understand good and truth and to will them is of the rational; the perceptions of good and truth therefrom are as seed; but to know them and bring them into act is of the natural. The very memory-knowledges and works are like ground, and when man is affected with the memory-knowledges which confirm good and truth; and especially when he feels a delight in bringing them into act, the seeds are therein, and grow as in their ground. By this means good is made fruitful, and truth is multiplied, and they continually ascend from this ground into the rational, and perfect it. The case is otherwise when man understands good and truth, and also inwardly perceives some inclination of will thereto, but yet does not love to know them, and still less to do them. In this case good cannot be made fruitful nor truth be multiplied, in the rational.

  
/ 10837  
  

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