The Bible

 

Genesis 33

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1 And Jacob lifteth up his eyes, and looketh, and lo, Esau is coming, and with him four hundred men; and he divideth the children unto Leah, and unto Rachel, and unto the two maid-servants;

2 and he setteth the maid-servants and their children first, and Leah and her children behind, and Rachel and Joseph last.

3 And he himself passed over before them, and boweth himself to the earth seven times, until his drawing nigh unto his brother,

4 and Esau runneth to meet him, and embraceth him, and falleth on his neck, and kisseth him, and they weep;

5 and he lifteth up his eyes, and seeth the women and the children, and saith, `What [are] these to thee?' And he saith, `The children with whom God hath favoured thy servant.'

6 And the maid-servants draw nigh, they and their children, and bow themselves;

7 and Leah also draweth nigh, and her children, and they bow themselves; and afterwards Joseph hath drawn nigh with Rachel, and they bow themselves.

8 And he saith, `What to thee [is] all this camp which I have met?' and he saith, `To find grace in the eyes of my lord.'

9 And Esau saith, `I have abundance, my brother, let it be to thyself that which thou hast.'

10 And Jacob saith, `Nay, I pray thee, if, I pray thee, I have found grace in thine eyes, then thou hast received my present from my hand, because that I have seen thy face, as the seeing of the face of God, and thou art pleased with me;

11 receive, I pray thee, my blessing, which is brought to thee, because God hath favoured me, and because I have all [things];' and he presseth on him, and he receiveth,

12 and saith, `Let us journey and go on, and I go on before thee.'

13 And he saith unto him, `My lord knoweth that the children [are] tender, and the suckling flock and the herd [are] with me; when they have beaten them one day, then hath all the flock died.

14 Let my lord, I pray thee, pass over before his servant, and I -- I lead on gently, according to the foot of the work which [is] before me, and to the foot of the children, until that I come unto my lord, to Seir.'

15 And Esau saith, `Let me, I pray thee, place with thee some of the people who [are] with me;' and he said, `Why [is] this? I find grace in the eyes of my lord.'

16 And turn back on that day doth Esau on his way to Seir;

17 and Jacob hath journeyed to Succoth, and buildeth to himself a house, and for his cattle hath made booths, therefore hath he called the name of the place Succoth.

18 And Jacob cometh in to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which [is] in the land of Canaan, in his coming from Padan-Aram, and encampeth before the city,

19 and he buyeth the portion of the field where he hath stretched out his tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitah;

20 and he setteth up there an altar, and proclaimeth at it God -- the God of Israel.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4397

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4397. And he bought the portion of the field. That this signifies the appropriation of good from that truth, is evident from the signification of “buying,” as being to appropriate to one’s self; and from the signification of the “portion of the field,” as being the good which is from that truth. (That a “field” denotes the church as to good, thus good, see n. 2971, 3196, 3317, 3500, 3508, 3766)

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3508

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3508. And Esau went to the field to hunt for a hunting, to bring it. That this signifies the endeavor of the affection of good to procure truth which might be conjoined with the Divine rational, is evident from the representation of Esau, as being the good of the natural (concerning which see above); hence comes the affection of good of the rational in the natural, for the good which is in the natural is not of the natural, but is of the rational in the natural (n. 3498); and from the signification of “going to the field to hunt for a hunting, to bring it,” as being the endeavor to procure truth for itself; for a “field” is where there is good ground (n. 3500); a “hunting” is truth which is from good (n. 3501); and “to bring it,” is to procure it, thus to adjoin it to the Divine rational. As before said, in the supreme sense the glorification of the Lord’s natural is here treated of; and in the representative sense the regeneration of the natural in man (n. 3490). It is according to order that this should be accomplished through truth, that is, through the knowledges of good and truth, for without these the natural cannot be enlightened by the rational, or through the rational; thus it cannot be regenerated, knowledges being the vessels recipient of the good and truth flowing in from the rational; and according to the quality and quantity which the vessels receive, such is the enlightenment. The vessels which receive good and truth from the rational are the very truths of the natural, which are nothing else than memory-knowledges, knowledges, and doctrinal things. Goods come from the order of the things which flow in, and from the order among themselves of the things which are there; hence comes the good of the natural.

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