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Genesis 34

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1 And Dinah, daughter of Leah, whom she hath borne to Jacob, goeth out to look on the daughters of the land,

2 and Shechem, son of Hamor the Hivite, a prince of the land, seeth her, and taketh her, and lieth with her, and humbleth her;

3 and his soul cleaveth to Dinah, daughter of Jacob, and he loveth the young person, and speaketh unto the heart of the young person.

4 And Shechem speaketh unto Hamor his father, saying, `Take for me this damsel for a wife.'

5 And Jacob hath heard that he hath defiled Dinah his daughter, and his sons were with his cattle in the field, and Jacob kept silent till their coming.

6 And Hamor, father of Shechem, goeth out unto Jacob to speak with him;

7 and the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard, and the men grieve themselves, and it [is] very displeasing to them, for folly he hath done against Israel, to lie with the daughter of Jacob -- and so it is not done.

8 And Hamor speaketh with them, saying, `Shechem, my son, his soul hath cleaved to your daughter; give her, I pray you, to him for a wife,

9 and join ye in marriage with us; your daughters ye give to us, and our daughters ye take to yourselves,

10 and with us ye dwell, and the land is before you; dwell ye and trade [in] it, and have possessions in it.'

11 And Shechem saith unto her father, and unto her brethren, `Let me find grace in your eyes, and that which ye say unto me, I give;

12 multiply on me exceedingly dowry and gift, and I give as ye say unto me, and give to me the young person for a wife.'

13 And the sons of Jacob answer Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and they speak (because he defiled Dinah their sister),

14 and say unto them, `We are not able to do this thing, to give our sister to one who hath a foreskin: for it [is] a reproach to us.

15 `Only for this we consent to you; if ye be as we, to have every male of you circumcised,

16 then we have given our daughters to you, and your daughters we take to ourselves, and we have dwelt with you, and have become one people;

17 and if ye hearken not unto us to be circumcised, then we have taken our daughter, and have gone.'

18 And their words are good in the eyes of Hamor, and in the eyes of Shechem, Hamor's son;

19 and the young man delayed not to do the thing, for he had delight in Jacob's daughter, and he is honourable above all the house of his father.

20 And Hamor cometh -- Shechem his son also -- unto the gate of their city, and they speak unto the men of their city, saying,

21 `These men are peaceable with us; then let them dwell in the land, and trade [in] it; and the land, lo, [is] wide before them; their daughters let us take to ourselves for wives, and our daughters give to them.

22 `Only for this do the men consent to us, to dwell with us, to become one people, in every male of us being circumcised, as they are circumcised;

23 their cattle, and their substance, and all their beasts -- are they not ours? only let us consent to them, and they dwell with us.'

24 And unto Hamor, and unto Shechem his son, hearken do all those going out of the gate of his city, and every male is circumcised, all those going out of the gate of his city.

25 And it cometh to pass, on the third day, in their being pained, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, take each his sword, and come in against the city confidently, and slay every male;

26 and Hamor, and Shechem his son, they have slain by the mouth of the sword, and they take Dinah out of Shechem's house, and go out.

27 Jacob's sons have come in upon the wounded, and they spoil the city, because they had defiled their sister;

28 their flock and their herd, and their asses, and that which [is] in the city, and that which [is] in the field, have they taken;

29 and all their wealth, and all their infants, and their wives they have taken captive, and they spoil also all that [is] in the house.

30 And Jacob saith unto Simeon and unto Levi, `Ye have troubled me, by causing me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanite, and among the Perizzite: and I [am] few in number, and they have been gathered against me, and have smitten me, and I have been destroyed, I and my house.'

31 And they say, `As a harlot doth he make our sister?'

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4449

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4449. His soul longs for your daughter, give her I pray to him for a woman. That by this is signified a desire for conjunction with this new church which appears in outward form like the Ancient Church, is evident from the signification of the “soul longing for,” as being a desire; from the representation of Dinah who here is the “daughter,” as being the affection of truth, and consequently the church, for the church is the church from the affection of truth, and this is here meant by the “new church;” and from the signification of “giving her for a woman,” as being conjunction (see n. 4434).

[2] As regards the fact that the new church set up among the descendants of Jacob appeared in the outward form like the Ancient Church, be it known that the statutes, judgments, and laws commanded to the Israelitish and Jewish nation through Moses, were not foreign to the statutes, judgments, and laws that existed in the Ancient Church, such as those relating to betrothals and marriages, to servants, to the animals that were good for eating and those which were not, to cleansings, festivals, the tabernacles, the perpetual fire, and many other things; and also those concerning altars, burnt-offerings, sacrifices, and libations, which were received in the second Ancient Church which was from Eber. That these were known before they were commanded that nation, is very evident from the historicals of the Word, as for example the altars, burnt-offerings, and sacrifices.

[3] It is said of Balaam that he ordered seven altars to be built, and burnt-offerings and sacrifices of bullocks and rams to be offered upon them (Numbers 23:1-2, 14-15, 29). And it is also related of the nations in many places that their altars were destroyed; and also of the prophets of Baal whom Elijah slew, that these offered sacrifices. From all this it is evident that the sacrifices commanded to the people of Jacob were not new, and so neither were the rest of their statutes, judgments, and laws. But because these things had become idolatrous among the nations, especially in that by such things they worshiped some profane god, and thus turned to what is infernal the representatives of Divine things, not to mention their addition of other representatives, therefore in order that the representative worship of the Ancient Church might be restored, the same things were recalled. Hence it is evident that this new church, instituted among the descendants of Jacob, appeared in the outward form like the Ancient Church.

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