The Bible

 

Genesis 35

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1 And God saith unto Jacob, `Rise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared unto thee in thy fleeing from the face of Esau thy brother.'

2 And Jacob saith unto his household, and unto all who [are] with him, `Turn aside the gods of the stranger which [are] in your midst, and cleanse yourselves, and change your garments;

3 and we rise, and go up to Bethel, and I make there an altar to God, who is answering me in the day of my distress, and is with me in the way that I have gone.'

4 And they give unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger that [are] in their hand, and the rings that [are] in their ears, and Jacob hideth them under the oak which [is] by Shechem;

5 and they journey, and the terror of God is on the cities which [are] round about them, and they have not pursued after the sons of Jacob.

6 And Jacob cometh in to Luz which [is] in the land of Canaan (it [is] Bethel), he and all the people who [are] with him,

7 and he buildeth there an altar, and proclaimeth at the place the God of Bethel: for there had God been revealed unto him, in his fleeing from the face of his brother.

8 And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, dieth, and she is buried at the lower part of Bethel, under the oak, and he calleth its name `Oak of weeping.'

9 And God appeareth unto Jacob again, in his coming from Padan-Aram, and blesseth him;

10 and God saith to him, `Thy name [is] Jacob: thy name is no more called Jacob, but Israel is thy name;' and He calleth his name Israel.

11 And God saith to him, `I [am] God Almighty; be fruitful and multiply, a nation and an assembly of nations is from thee, and kings from thy loins go out;

12 and the land which I have given to Abraham and to Isaac -- to thee I give it, yea to thy seed after thee I give the land.'

13 And God goeth up from him, in the place where He hath spoken with him.

14 And Jacob setteth up a standing pillar in the place where He hath spoken with him, a standing pillar of stone, and he poureth on it an oblation, and he poureth on it oil;

15 and Jacob calleth the name of the place where God spake with him Bethel.

16 And they journey from Bethel, and there is yet a kibrath of land before entering Ephratha, and Rachel beareth, and is sharply pained in her bearing;

17 and it cometh to pass, in her being sharply pained in her bearing, that the midwife saith to her, `Fear not, for this also [is] a son for thee.'

18 And it cometh to pass in the going out of her soul (for she died), that she calleth his name Ben-Oni; and his father called him Benjamin;

19 and Rachel dieth, and is buried in the way to Ephratha, which [is] Bethlehem,

20 and Jacob setteth up a standing pillar over her grave; which [is] the standing pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.

21 And Israel journeyeth, and stretcheth out his tent beyond the tower of Edar;

22 and it cometh to pass in Israel's dwelling in that land, that Reuben goeth, and lieth with Bilhah his father's concubine; and Israel heareth.

23 And the sons of Jacob are twelve. Sons of Leah: Jacob's first-born Reuben, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.

24 Sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

25 And sons of Bilhah, Rachel's maid-servant: Dan and Naphtali.

26 And sons of Zilpah, Leah's maid-servant: Gad and Asher. These [are] sons of Jacob, who have been born to him in Padan-Aram.

27 And Jacob cometh unto Isaac his father, at Mamre, the city of Arba (which [is] Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac have sojourned.

28 And the days of Isaac are a hundred and eighty years,

29 and Isaac expireth, and dieth, and is gathered unto his people, aged and satisfied with days; and bury him do Esau and Jacob his sons.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #5628

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5628. 'And may God Shaddai' means the comfort that follows hardships. This is clear from the meaning of 'Shaddai' as temptation, also the comfort that follows temptation, dealt with in 1992, 4572, here therefore the comfort which followed all the hardships they experienced in Egypt. The meaning here - the comfort that follows severe sufferings - is also evident from the words 'grant you mercy before the man' which immediately follow. The reason why 'Shaddai' means temptation, also the comfort that follows temptation, is that the ancients gave the one and only God various illustrious names which were descriptive of the various things that came from Him; and because they believed that even temptations came from Him they called Him 'God Shaddai'. They did not understand some other God by this name but the one and only God so far as temptations were concerned. When however the Ancient Church went downhill they began to worship as many gods as there were names of the one and only God; indeed they increased the number of them with many more which they themselves invented. This trend continued until at length each family had its own god whom that family kept quite distinct and separate from all other gods worshipped by other families.

[2] The family of Terah, which Abraham came from, worshipped Shaddai as its particular god, see 1356, 1992, 2559, 3667. Consequently not only Abraham but Jacob too recognized Shaddai as their god; and they did so in the land of Canaan. But to avoid any compulsion of them to forsake the form of religion they had - for no one is compelled to forsake what for him is holy - they were allowed to keep to it. However, because the ancients had meant Jehovah Himself or the Lord by the name Shaddai, which they used when they underwent temptations, Jehovah or the Lord took this name in His dealings with Abraham, as is evident from Genesis 17:1, and-also in His dealings with Jacob, Genesis 35:11.

[3] The reason why not only temptation but also comfort is meant by 'Shaddai' is that comfort follows all spiritual temptations, as I have been allowed to know from experience in the next life. When anyone there is subjected to hardships at the hands of evil spirits, who attack him, incite him to evil practices, and persuade him to accept falsities, he is subsequently received by angels, once the evil spirits have been turned away, and he is brought into a state of consolation by means of some delight in keeping with his character.

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