The Bible

 

Genesis 10

Study

   

1 And these [are] births of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth; and born to them are sons after the deluge.

2 `Sons of Japheth [are] Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

3 And sons of Gomer [are] Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

4 And sons of Javan [are] Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

5 By these have the isles of the nations been parted in their lands, each by his tongue, by their families, in their nations.

6 And sons of Ham [are] Cush, and Mitzraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

7 And sons of Cush [are] Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah; and sons of Raamah [are] Sheba and Dedan.

8 And Cush hath begotten Nimrod;

9 he hath begun to be a hero in the land; he hath been a hero in hunting before Jehovah; therefore it is said, `As Nimrod the hero [in] hunting before Jehovah.'

10 And the first part of his kingdom is Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar;

11 from that land he hath gone out to Asshur, and buildeth Nineveh, even the broad places of the city, and Calah,

12 and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah; it [is] the great city.

13 And Mitzraim hath begotten the Ludim, and the Anamim, and the Lehabim, and the Naphtuhim,

14 and the Pathrusim, and the Casluhim, (whence have come out Philistim,) and the Caphtorim.

15 And Canaan hath begotten Sidon his first-born, and Heth,

16 and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgashite,

17 and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite,

18 and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite; and afterwards have the families of the Canaanite been scattered.

19 And the border of the Canaanite is from Sidon, [in] thy coming towards Gerar, unto Gaza; [in] thy coming towards Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, unto Lasha.

20 These [are] sons of Ham, by their families, by their tongues, in their lands, in their nations.

21 As to Shem, father of all sons of Eber, brother of Japheth the elder, he hath also begotten:

22 Sons of Shem [are] Elam, and Asshur, and Arphaxad, and Lud, and Aram.

23 And sons of Aram [are] Uz, and Hul, and Gether, and Mash.

24 And Arphaxad hath begotten Salah, and Salah hath begotten Eber.

25 And to Eber have two sons been born; the name of the one [is] Peleg (for in his days hath the earth been divided,) and his brother's name [is] Joktan.

26 And Joktan hath begotten Almodad, and Sheleph, and Hazarmaveth, and Jerah,

27 and Hadoram, and Uzal, and Diklah,

28 and Obal, and Abimael, and Sheba,

29 and Ophir, and Havilah, and Jobab; all these [are] sons of Joktan;

30 and their dwelling is from Mesha, [in] thy coming towards Sephar, a mount of the east.

31 These [are] sons of Shem, by their families, by their tongues, in their lands, by their nations.

32 These [are] families of the sons of Noah, by their births, in their nations, and by these have the nations been parted in the earth after the deluge.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #1200

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

1200. That “Canaan” signifies external worship in which there is nothing internal, was shown before where Canaan was treated of. The external worship which is called “Canaan” is such as was that of the Jews, both before and after the coming of the Lord. They had an external worship which they strictly observed, but yet were so ignorant of what is internal that they supposed that they lived only with the body. Of the nature of the soul, of faith, of the Lord, of spiritual and celestial life, of the life after death, they were entirely ignorant. And therefore in the time of the Lord very many of them denied the resurrection-as is evident in Matthew 22:22-33; Mark 12:18-28; Luke 20:27-41. When a man is such that he does not believe that he will live after death, he also disbelieves that there is anything internal which is spiritual and celestial; and such are they who live in mere cupidities, because they live a mere life of the body and of the world; especially those who are immersed in loathsome avarice. They nevertheless have worship, attend their synagogues, or their churches, and observe the ceremonies, some very strictly; but as they do not believe that there is a life after death, their worship cannot be other than external worship wherein is nothing internal-like a shell without a kernel, or a tree whereon is no fruit, and not even leaves. It is such external worship that is signified by “Canaan.” The other kinds of external worship, 1 treated of above, were worships that had internal things within.

Footnotes:

1. The Latin here, by a manifest slip, says “internal worship.” [Reviser.]

  
/ 10837  
  

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