Ang Bibliya

 

Genesis 19

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1 At nagsidating ang dalawang anghel sa Sodoma, nang nagtatakip silim; at si Lot ay nakaupo sa pintuang-bayan ng Sodoma: at sila'y nakita ni Lot, at nagtindig upang salubungin sila; at iniyukod ang mukha sa lupa;

2 At nagsabi, Ngayon nga mga panginoon ko, ipinamamanhik ko sa inyo na kayo'y magsiliko at magsipasok sa bahay ng inyong lingkod, at kayo'y matira sa buong magdamag, at maghugas ng inyong mga paa, at sa madaling araw ay magsipagbangon kayo at magpatuloy ng inyong paglakad. At kanilang sinabi, Hindi, kundi sa langsangan mananahan kami sa buong magdamag.

3 At kaniyang pinakapilit sila; at sila'y nagsiliko, at nagsipasok sa kaniyang bahay; at sila'y kaniyang pinaghandaan, at ipinagluto ng mga tinapay na walang levadura, at nagsikain.

4 Datapuwa't bago nagsihiga, ang bahay ay kinulong ng mga tao sa bayan sa makatuwid baga'y ng mga tao sa Sodoma, na mga binata at gayon din ng mga matanda ng buong bayan sa buong palibot;

5 At kanilang tinawagan si Lot, at sinabi sa kaniya, Saan nangaroon ang mga lalaking dumating sa iyo ng gabing ito? ilabas mo sila sa amin upang kilalanin namin sila.

6 At nilabas sila ni Lot sa pintuan, at isinara ang pinto sa likuran niya.

7 At sinabi niya, Ipinamamanhik ko sa inyo, mga kapatid ko, na huwag kayong gumawa ng ganiyang kasamaan.

8 Narito, ngayon, may dalawa akong anak na babae, na hindi nakakilala ng lalake; ipinamamanhik ko sa inyo, na sila'y aking ilalabas sa inyo, at gawin ninyo sa kanila ang magalingin ninyo sa inyong paningin: huwag lamang ninyong gawan ng anoman ang mga lalaking ito; yamang sila'y nangasa silong ng aking bubungan.

9 At sinabi nila, Umurong ka! At sinabi pa nila, Ang taong ito'y naparito upang makipamayan, at ibig niyang maging hukom: ngayon nga'y gagawan ka namin ng lalong masama kay sa kanila. At kanilang ipinagtulakan ang lalaking si Lot, at nagsilapit upang sirain ang pintuan.

10 Datapuwa't iniunat ng mga lalake ang kanilang kamay at binatak si Lot sa loob ng bahay at kanilang sinarhan ang pintuan.

11 At ang mga taong nangasa pintuan ng bahay ay mga pinagbulag nila, ang munti't malaki: ano pa't sila'y nangayamot sa paghahanap ng pintuan.

12 At sinabi ng mga lalake kay Lot, Mayroon ka pa ritong kamaganakan? Ang iyong mga manugang, at ang iyong mga anak na lalake at babae, at ang lahat ng iyong tinatangkilik sa bayan: ay ipagaalis mo sa dakong ito:

13 Sapagka't aming lilipulin ang dakong ito dahil sa napakalakas ang kanilang sigaw sa harap ng Panginoon; at kami ay sinugo ng Panginoon upang aming lipulin.

14 At si Lot ay lumabas, at pinagsabihan niya ang kaniyang mga manugang na nagasawa sa kaniyang mga anak na babae, at sinabi, Magtindig kayo, magsialis kayo sa dakong ito; sapagka't gugunawin ng Panginoon ang bayan. Datapuwa't ang akala ng kaniyang mga manugang ay nagbibiro siya.

15 At nang umumaga ay pinapagmadali ng mga anghel si Lot, na sinasabi, Magbangon ka, ipagsama mo ang iyong asawa at ang iyong dalawang anak na babae na narito, baka pati ikaw ay madamay sa parusa sa bayan.

16 Datapuwa't siya'y nagluluwat; at hinawakan ng mga lalake ang kaniyang kamay, at ang kamay ng kaniyang asawa, at ang kamay ng kaniyang dalawang anak na babae; sa habag sa kaniya ng Panginoon: at siya'y kanilang inilabas, at siya'y kanilang inilagay sa labas ng bayan.

17 At nangyari, na nang sila'y mailabas na nila, ay sinabi, Itakas mo ang iyong buhay; huwag kang lumingon o huminto man sa buong kapatagan; tumakas ka hanggang sa bundok, baka ikaw ay mamatay.

18 At sinabi sa kanila ni Lot, Huwag ganiyan, panginoon ko:

19 Narito, ngayo't ang lingkod mo ay nakasumpong ng biyaya sa iyong paningin, at pinakalaki mo ang iyong awang ipinakita sa akin sa pagliligtas ng aking buhay; at ako'y di makatatakas sa bundok, baka ako'y abutan ng sama, at ako'y mamatay.

20 Narito, ang bayang ito ay malapit takasan at maliit: Oh tulutan mong tumakas ako roon, (di ba yao'y maliit?) at mabubuhay ako.

21 At sinabi sa kaniya, Narito, sa bagay mang ito ay pinayagan din kita, na hindi ko gugunawin ang bayang iyong sinalita.

22 Magmadali ka, tumakas ka roon; sapagka't wala akong magagawa hanggang sa dumating ka roon. Kaya't ang pangalang itinawag sa bayang yaon ay Zoar.

23 Ang araw ay nakalitaw na sa lupa nang dumating si Lot sa Zoar.

24 Nang magkagayo'y nagpaulan ang Panginoon sa Sodoma at Gomorra ng azufre at apoy mula sa Panginoon na buhat sa langit;

25 At ginunaw niya ang mga bayang yaon, at ang buong Kapatagan at ang lahat ng nangananahan sa mga bayang yaon, at ang tumutubo sa lupang yaon.

26 Datapuwa't ang asawa ni Lot ay lumingon sa likuran ni Lot, at naging haliging asin.

27 At si Abraham ay sumampang maaga ng kinaumagahan sa dakong kinatayuan niya sa harap ng Panginoon.

28 At siya'y tumingin sa dakong Sodoma at Gomorra, at sa buong lupain ng Kapatagan, at tumanaw, at narito, ang usok ng lupain ay napaiilanglang na parang usok ng isang hurno.

29 At nangyari, na nang gunawin ng Dios ang mga bayan ng Kapatagan, na naalaala ng Dios si Abraham, at pinalabas si Lot, mula sa gitna ng pinaggunawan, nang gunawin ang mga bayan na kinatitirahan ni Lot.

30 At sumampa si Lot mula sa Zoar at tumira sa bundok, at ang kaniyang dalawang anak na babae na kasama niya; sapagka't siya'y natakot na tumira sa Zoar: at siya'y tumira sa isang yungib, siya at ang kaniyang dalawang anak na babae.

31 At sinabi ng panganay sa bunso: Ang ating ama ay matanda, at walang lalake sa lupa na sumiping sa atin, ayon sa ugali ng sangkalupaan:

32 Halika, painumin natin ng alak ang ating ama, at tayo'y sumiping sa kaniya; upang mapalagi natin ang binhi ng ating ama.

33 At pinainom nila ng alak ang kanilang ama ng gabing yaon: at pumasok ang panganay at sumiping sa kaniyang ama; at hindi naalaman, ng ama nang siya'y mahiga ni nang siya'y magbangon.

34 At nangyari nang kinabukasan, na sinabi ng panganay sa bunso. Narito, ako'y sumiping kagabi sa aking ama; painumin din natin ng alak sa gabing ito; at pumasok ka, at sumiping ka sa kaniya; upang mapalagi natin ang binhi ng ating ama.

35 At pinainom din nila ng alak ang kanilang ama ng gabing yaon: at nagtindig ang bunso, at sumiping sa ama; at hindi naalaman ng ama nang siya'y mahiga, ni nang siya'y magbangon.

36 Sa ganito'y kapuwa nagdalangtao ang mga anak ni Lot sa pamamagitan ng kanilang ama.

37 At nanganak ang panganay ng isang lalake, at tinawag ang kaniyang ngalang Moab: na siya ngang ama ng mga Moabita, hanggang sa araw na ito.

38 At ang bunso ay nanganak din ng isang lalake, at tinawag ang kaniyang pangalang Ben-ammi: na siya ngang ama ng mga anak ni Ammon, hanggang ngayon.

   

Mula sa Mga gawa ni Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia # 2383

Pag-aralan ang Sipi na ito

  
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2383. That 'they struck with blindness' means that they were filled with falsities is clear from the meaning of 'blindness'. In the Word blindness is used in reference to people who are immersed in falsity, and also to people who have no knowledge of the truth. Both kinds of people are called blind, though who are meant in any one place becomes clear from the train of thought, especially that in the internal sense. That those immersed in falsity are called 'blind' is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

His watchmen are blind, they are all without knowledge; they are all dumb dogs, they cannot bark. Isaiah 56:10.

'Blind watchmen' stands for those who, because of reasoning, are immersed in falsity. In the same prophet,

We look for light, and, behold, darkness; for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind. Isaiah 59:9-10,

In Jeremiah,

They went astray blind in the streets; they defiled themselves with blood. Things which have no power they touch with their garments. Lamentations 4:14.

This stands for the fact that all truths have been defiled, 'streets' standing for truths in which they have gone astray, 2336.

[2] In Zechariah,

On that day I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. Every horse of the peoples I will strike with blindness. Zechariah 12:4.

Here and elsewhere in the Word 'a horse' stands for what has to do with the understanding. This is why it is said that the horse would be struck with panic, and [every] horse of the peoples with blindness, that is, it would be filled with falsities.

[3] In John,

For judgement I came into the world, that those who do not see may see, but that those who see may become blind. Some of the Pharisees heard these words and said, Are we also blind? Jesus said to them, If you were blind you would have no sin; but now you say, 'We see', therefore your sin remains. John 9:39-41.

Here the blind in both senses are referred to, that is to say, those who are immersed in falsity and those who have no knowledge of truth. With those inside the Church who know what the truth is, 'blindness' is falsity; but with those who do not know what the truth is, as with those outside the Church, 'blindness' is having no knowledge of the truth. The latter are blameless.

[4] In the same gospel,

He has blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and understand with their heart and I heal them. John 12:40; Isaiah 6:9-11.

The meaning here is that it would be better for falsities to exist with them than truths, for they lead a life of evil and if they received instruction in truths they would not only continue to falsify them but would also pollute them with evils. They would do so for the same reason that the men of Sodom were struck with blindness, that is, matters of doctrine were filled with falsities. Why this is done has been shown in 301-303, 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2426.

[5] Because 'blind' meant that which was false, therefore people were not allowed in the Jewish representative Church to sacrifice anything blind, Leviticus 22:22; Deuteronomy 15:21; Malachi 1:8. Also any priest who was blind was forbidden to approach and offer on the altar, Leviticus 21:18, 21.

[6] That 'blindness' is used in reference to those, like gentiles, who have no knowledge of the truth, is clear in Isaiah,

On that day the deaf will hear the words of the Book, and out of thick darkness and out of darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Isaiah 29:18.

'The blind' stands for people who have no knowledge of the truth, chiefly those who are outside the Church. In the same prophet,

Bring forth the blind people and they will have eyes; and the deaf, and they will have ears. Isaiah 43:8.

This refers to the Church of the gentiles. In the same prophet,

I will lead the blind in a way they do not know; I will turn the darkness before them into light. Isaiah 42:16.

[7] In the same prophet,

I will give You to be a light of the people, to open the blind eyes, to bring the bound out of the dungeon, from the prison-house those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 42:6-7.

This refers to the Lord's Coming and the fact that at that time people who had no knowledge of truth were to receive instruction. For those immersed in falsity do not allow themselves to receive such instruction, for they know the truth but have set themselves against it and have turned the light of truth into darkness which is not dispelled. In Luke,

The householder said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in here the poor, and the maimed, and the lame, and the blind. Luke 14:21.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom. Not those who are literally poor, maimed, lame, and blind are meant but those who are so in the spiritual sense.

[8] In the same gospel,

Jesus said that they were to report to John: The blind see, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have the gospel preached to them. Luke 7:22.

According to the sense of the letter nobody else is meant by the blind, the lame, lepers, the deaf, the dead, and the poor than those who were so physically, for such cures did take place, that is to say, the blind received sight, the deaf hearing, lepers were restored to health, and the dead to life.

[9] But in the internal sense the same people are meant as are referred to in

Isaiah,

Then will be opened the eyes of the blind, and the ears of the deaf will be opened; then will the lame man leap like a hart, and the dumb man sing with his tongue. Isaiah 35:5-6.

This refers to the Lord's Coming and a new Church at that time called the Church of the gentiles who are described as being blind, deaf, lame, and dumb; they were so called as regards their doctrine and life. For it should be recognized that all the miracles which the Lord performed always embodied such matters and therefore meant the things which the blind, the lame, lepers, the deaf, the dead, and the poor are used to mean in the internal sense. Consequently the Lord's miracles were Divine, as also those performed in Egypt, in the wilderness, and all the rest described in the Word, had been. This is an arcanum.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 1327

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1327. 'Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth' means the state of this Ancient Church, that internal worship started to perish. This is clear from the fact that the phrase used is 'the lip of the whole earth' and not, as previously in verse 7, the lip of those who started to build a city and a tower. 'The face of the whole earth' means the state of the Church since 'the earth' is the Church, as shown already in 662, 1066. The story of the Churches after the Flood is as follows: There were three Churches which receive specific mention in the Word - the first Ancient Church which took its name from Noah, the second Ancient Church which took its name from Eber, and the third Ancient Church which took its name from Jacob, and subsequently from Judah and Israel.

[2] As regards the first Ancient Church, that called Noah, this was the parent so to speak of those that followed, and as is usually the case with Churches in their earliest phases, it was more untarnished and innocent, as is also clear from verse 1 of this chapter which says that it had one lip, that is, one doctrine. That is to say, everyone regarded charity as the essential. But in the course of time, as usually happens to Churches, that Church also started to decline, chiefly because many people started to divert worship to themselves so as to set themselves above others, as is clear from verse 4 above - 'they said, Let us build ourselves a city and a tower, and its head in heaven, and let us make a name for ourselves'. In the Church such people were inevitably like some fermenting agent, or like firebrands that start a fire. When the danger of profaning what is holy was consequently near at hand, referred to in 571, 582, the state of this Church was, in the Lord's Providence, altered. That is to say, its internal worship perished but its external worship remained, which here is meant by the statement that 'Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth'. From this it is also clear that the kind of worship called Babel was not prevalent in the first Ancient Church but in those that followed when people started to be worshipped in place of gods, especially after they had died. This was the origin of so many pagan deities.

[3] The reason internal worship was allowed to perish and external remain was to prevent what is holy being profaned. The profanation of what is holy carries eternal condemnation with it. Nobody is able to profane what is holy unless he possesses cognitions of faith and also acknowledges them. Anyone who does not possess them cannot acknowledge them, still less profane them. It is internal things which may be profaned, for it is in internal things, not external, that holiness resides. The situation is similar with someone who does evil but does not have evil in mind. The evil he does cannot be attributed to him any more than to someone who does not deliberately intend evil, or to anyone devoid of rationality. Thus anyone who does not believe in the existence of a life after death, but who nevertheless has external worship, cannot profane the things that belong to eternal life because he does not believe that they exist. The situation is different with those who do know and acknowledge them.

[4] This too is why a person is allowed rather to live engrossed in lusts and pleasures, and so to isolate himself from internal things, than to enter into a knowledge and acknowledgement of internal things and so profane them. The Jews of today therefore are allowed to immerse themselves in avarice so that in this way they may be removed from an acknowledgement of internal things, for they are the kind of people who, if they acknowledged them, would inevitably profane them. Nothing does more to isolate a person from internal things than avarice, for this is the lowest of all earthly desires. The same applies to many inside the Church, and to gentiles outside, though gentiles, least of all people, are able to profane anything. This then is the reason for the statement here that 'Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth', and the reason why these words mean that the state of the Church was altered, that is to say, its worship became external, having no internal worship within it.

[5] The same situation was represented and meant by the Babylonish captivity into which the Israelites, and later on the Jews, were carried away. This is spoken of in Jeremiah as follows,

And there will be a nation and a kingdom that will not serve the king of Babel, and who will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babel. With the sword and famine and pestilence I will visit this people, until I have consumed it by his hand. Jeremiah 27:8 and following verses.

'Serving the king of Babel and putting its neck in his yoke' is being utterly deprived of the knowledge and acknowledgement of the good and the truth of faith, and so of internal worship.

[6] The point is clearer still in the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah to all the people in this city, your brethren who did not go out with you into captivity, thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, Behold, I am sending on them the sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs. Jeremiah 29:16-17.

'Remaining in the city and not going out to the king of Babel' represented and meant people who possessed the cognitions of internal things, that is, of the truths of faith, and who profaned them - people on whom, it is said, He was sending 'the sword, famine, and pestilence', which are forms of punishment for profanation, and whom He was making 'like rotten figs'.

[7] That 'Babel' means people who deprive others of all knowledge and acknowledgement of truth was also represented and meant by the following words in the same prophet,

I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babel, and he will carry them off to Babel, and will smite them with the sword. And I will give over all the wealth of this city, and all its labour, and all its precious things; and I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them and seize them. Jeremiah 20:4-5.

Here 'all its wealth, all its lab our, all its precious things, all the treasures of the kings of Judah' means in the internal sense cognitions of faith.

[8] In the same prophet,

With the families of the north I will bring the king of Babel against this land and against its inhabitants, and against all those nations round about, and I will utterly destroy them and make them into a ruin, a hissing, and everlasting wastes. And this whole land will be a waste. Jeremiah 25:9, 11.

Here 'Babel' is used to describe the vastation of the interior things of faith, that is, of internal worship. Indeed, as shown already, anyone whose worship is worship of self possesses no truth of faith. He destroys and lays waste, and leads off into captivity, everything that is true. This is why Babel is also called 'a destroying mountain' in Jeremiah 51:25.

For more concerning Babel, see what has been stated already in 1182.

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