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Genesis 35

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1 And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there: and make there an altar unto God, that appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau thy brother.

2 Then Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the strange gods that are among you, and be clean, and change your garments:

3 And let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went.

4 And they gave unto Jacob all the strange gods which were in their hand, and all their earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

5 And they journeyed: and the terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

6 So Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, that is, Bethel, he and all the people that were with him.

7 And he built there an altar, and called the place El-beth-el: because there God appeared unto him, when he fled from the face of his brother.

8 But Deborah Rebekah's nurse died, and she was buried beneath Bethel under an oak: and the name of it was called Allon-bachuth.

9 And God appeared unto Jacob again, when he came out of Padan-aram, and blessed him.

10 And God said unto him, Thy name is Jacob: thy name shall not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name: and he called his name Israel.

11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins;

12 And the land which I gave Abraham and Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land.

13 And God went up from him in the place where he talked with him.

14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he talked with him, even a pillar of stone: and he poured a drink offering thereon, and he poured oil thereon.

15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spake with him, Bethel.

16 And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was but a little way to come to Ephrath: and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labour.

17 And it came to pass, when she was in hard labour, that the midwife said unto her, Fear not; thou shalt have this son also.

18 And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Ben-oni: but his father called him Benjamin.

19 And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.

20 And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave: that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.

21 And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Edar.

22 And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:

23 The sons of Leah; Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun:

24 The sons of Rachel; Joseph, and Benjamin:

25 And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's handmaid; Dan, and Naphtali:

26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's handmaid; Gad, and Asher: these are the sons of Jacob, which were born to him in Padan-aram.

27 And Jacob came unto Isaac his father unto Mamre, unto the city of Arbah, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

28 And the days of Isaac were an hundred and fourscore years.

29 And Isaac gave up the ghost, and died, and was gathered unto his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

   

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Arcana Coelestia #4576

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4576. 'And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you' means Divine Good when made over [to the Natural] as its own. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land' as good (for in the internal sense the land of Canaan, understood by 'the land' here, means the Lord's kingdom and consequently the Church, which is the Lord's kingdom on earth, 1607, 3481, 3705, 4447, 4517. And as these are meant good is meant, for good is the essential element in the Lord's kingdom and in the Church. But in the highest sense the land of Canaan means the Lord's Divine Good, for the good which exists in the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth originates in the Lord); from the representation of 'Abraham and Isaac' as the Lord's Divine, 'Abraham' being the Divine itself and 'Isaac' the Divine Human, in particular the Lord's Divine Rational (regarding Abraham, see 1989, 2011, 3245, 3251, 3439, 3703, 4206, 4207, and Isaac, 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 2774, 3012, 3194, 3210, 4180); and from the meaning of 'giving it (the land) to you' as making over to the Natural as its own, for Jacob, to whom 'you' refers here, represents the Lord's Divine Natural, as has often been shown. From all this it is evident that 'the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you' means Divine Good when made over [to the Natural] as its own.

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

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Arcana Coelestia #2072

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2072. 'And laughed' means the affection for truth. This becomes clear from the origin and essential nature of laughter. In origin it is nothing other than the affection for truth or the affection for falsity, which produces the mirth and pleasure exhibited in the face by means of laughter. This shows that the essential nature of laughter is nothing else. Actually laughter is something external belonging to the body since it belongs to the face; but in the Word interior things are expressed and are-meant by exterior. Just as all interior affections of both areas of mind (animus et mens) are expressed and meant by the face; interior hearing and obedience by the ear; internal sight, which is understanding, by the eye; power and strength by the hand and arm; and so on; so is the affection for truth expressed and meant by laughter.

[2] The principal element in man's rational is truth. Also present in the rational there is the affection for good, but this affection is present within the affection for truth, as the soul within it. The affection for good present within the rational does not express itself in laughter but in a type of joy and a resulting sense of delight which does not laugh. For laughter generally entails something that is not so good. The reason truth is the principal element in the rational man is that the rational is formed by means of cognitions of truth, for there is no other possible way in which anyone can become rational. Cognitions of good are truths just as much as cognitions of truth are truths.

[3] That 'laughter' here means the affection for truth becomes clear from the fact that this verse records Abraham's having laughed, as did Sarah both before Isaac was born and after, and also from the fact that he was given the name Isaac from 'laughter', for the word 'Isaac' means laughter. The fact that Abraham laughed when he heard about Isaac is clear from the present verse, for it is actually stated that when he heard about a son by Sarah he laughed. Sarah's laughing as well before the birth of Isaac when she heard from Jehovah that she was going to give birth is referred to as follows,

When Sarah heard at the tent door Sarah laughed within herself, saying, After I have grown old, shall I have the pleasure, and my lord being an old man? And Jehovah said to Abraham, Why did Sarah laugh, saying, Shall I in truth bear now I have grown old? Sarah denied it, saying, I did not laugh; for she was afraid. And He said, No, but you did laugh. Genesis 18:12-13, 15.

Also later on after Isaac's birth,

Abraham called the name of his son Isaac (laughter). Sarah said, God has made laughter for me; everyone hearing of it will laugh at me. Genesis 21:3, 6.

Unless 'laughing' and the name Isaac, which means laughter, embodied such things these occurrences would never have been mentioned.

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