5461. “可以留你们中间的一个兄弟囚在那看守所屋子里” 表意愿中的信必须被分离出去. 这从 “西缅” 的代表和 “囚在那看守所屋子里” 的含义清楚可知: “西缅”, 即他们 “中间要被囚禁的那一个兄弟” (42:24), 是指意愿中的信 (参看3869-3872, 4497, 4502-4503节); “囚在那看守所屋子里” 是指被分离出去 (5083, 5101, 5452, 5456节). 此中情形是这样: 当意愿中的信, 或说渴望将真理付诸实践的意愿与那些处于教会真理的人分离时, 在这种情况下, 与神性的联结如此微弱, 以致它不过是一种意识.

对已重生的人来说, 神性从主流入良善, 并由此流入真理; 或也可说, 流入他的意愿, 并由此流入他的理解力. 所以, 处于信之真理的人从主接受良善到何等程度, 主就在何等程度上在其心智的理解力部分中为他形成一个新的意愿 (至于为何在理解力部分, 可参看927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113节), 并且流入那里, 产生对行善, 也就是向邻舍施行仁爱的情感. 由此可见 “西缅” 所代表的意愿中的信在居间层, 即 “便雅悯” 出现之前被分离出去是什么意思.

In general, birth order in the Bible reflects the progression of spiritual states, but the specifics of those states depends greatly on context: who the people in question are, and whether we’re talking about spiritual states as they flow to us from the Lord, or spiritual states as we advance through them to approach the Lord. For example, Esau was older than Jacob (by minutes, but it mattered), and as the elder represents a more internal spiritual state: the desire for good, and the ideas that flow from that desire. Jacob represents a more external state: the understanding of ideas that lead to good. The switched blessing, with Jacob getting the blessing Isaac meant for Esau, shows that to progress in life we need to put our understanding first for a while, though ultimately our loves will catch up and ultimately determine our true character. A similar thing happens when Jacob crosses his hands to give Ephraim, the younger of Joseph’s sons, the primary blessing over his older brother Manasseh. Both those cases describe blessings coming from the Lord, with the highest states coming from Him and extending down through lower states to get to us. There is a sort of opposite dynamic in the story of Leah and Rachel. There Jacob (representing the Lord himself, as a human, in His childhood) is advancing from more external states to more internal ones. In this case, then, the older daughter, Leah, represents a more external state which He had to work through to reach the more internal state represented by Rachael.