A Bíblia

 

Ծննդոց 30:41

Estude

       

41 Երբ գալիս էր մաքիների զուգաւորուելով յղիանալու ժամանակը, Յակոբը գաւազանները դնում էր մաքիների դիմաց, գուռերի մէջ, որպէսզի նրանք բեղմնաւորուեն գաւազանների մօտ,

Das Obras de Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia # 3906

Estudar Esta Passagem

  
/ 10837  
  

3906. 'And Rachel was jealous of her sister' means indignation that it was not being acknowledged as external truth was. This is clear from 'being jealous' as an expression of indignation - indignation because she was not bearing as Leah was; from the representation of 'Rachel' as interior truth, dealt with immediately above in 3905; and from the meaning of 'a sister', who in this case is Leah, as external truth - for 'Leah' means external truth, see 3793, 3819. The experience of those who are being regenerated is as follows: They come to know what internal truth is, but at first they do not acknowledge it with the kind of faith that results in their living according to it. For internal truths are joined to spiritual affection, and this cannot flow in until external truths are ready to correspond to internal truths.

[2] Take for example the internal truth that all good comes from the Lord and that no good exists which springs from man's proprium. This truth can be known when regeneration begins, but it cannot as yet be acknowledged in action as well as in faith since the acknowledgement of it in faith and action involves a discernment in the mind that that truth is indeed a truth and a desire in the heart for it to be a truth; and this is the situation whenever good is put into action. That acknowledgement also involves the discernment that good springing from the proprium inevitably entails self-regard, thus putting self before others, and as a consequence contempt for others and above all thoughts of merit for the good that one does. These faults are present in external truth before internal truth has been joined to it, and the two cannot be joined together until self-regard starts to wane and a regard for the neighbour begins to be felt. From this one may see what is meant by indignation that internal truth was not yet being acknowledged as external truth was.

  
/ 10837  
  

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

Das Obras de Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia # 3905

Estudar Esta Passagem

  
/ 10837  
  

3905. 'Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob [any children]' means that interior truth was not yet acknowledged. This is clear from the representation of 'Rachel' as the affection for interior truth, or as interior truth itself, dealt with in 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819; from the meaning of 'bearing' as acknowledging in action as well as in faith, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Jacob' as the good of natural truth, dealt with in 3669, 3677, 3829, and in the whole of the previous chapter. The reason why 'bearing' means acknowledging in action as well as in faith is that births in the Word mean spiritual births, 1145, 1255, 3860, 3868. Spiritual birth is the acknowledgement of and faith in truth and good, in this verse acknowledgement in action as well as in faith, that is to say, an acknowledgement of the interior truth represented by 'Rachel'. Since something is not acknowledged in faith until a person is living according to it the phrase 'acknowledgement in action as well as in faith' is therefore used. Truths of faith which are not learned for the sake of putting them into action but solely for the sake of knowing them attach themselves to affections for evil and falsity, and as a consequence are not the truths of faith with the person who learns them but within him go against faith.

  
/ 10837  
  

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