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Genesis第11章

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1 And all the earth had one language and one tongue.

2 And it came about that in their wandering from the east, they came to a stretch of flat country in the land of Shinar, and there they made their living-place.

3 And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks, burning them well. And they had bricks for stone, putting them together with sticky earth.

4 And they said, Come, let us make a town, and a tower whose top will go up as high as heaven; and let us make a great name for ourselves, so that we may not be wanderers over the face of the earth.

5 And the Lord came down to see the town and the tower which the children of men were building.

6 And the Lord said, See, they are all one people and have all one language; and this is only the start of what they may do: and now it will not be possible to keep them from any purpose of theirs.

7 Come, let us go down and take away the sense of their language, so that they will not be able to make themselves clear to one another.

8 So the Lord God sent them away into every part of the earth: and they gave up building their town.

9 So it was named Babel, because there the Lord took away the sense of all languages and from there the Lord sent them away over all the face of the earth.

10 These are the generations of Shem. Shem was a hundred years old when he became the father of Arpachshad, two years after the great flow of waters;

11 And after the birth of Arpachshad, Shem went on living for five hundred years, and had sons and daughters:

12 And Arpachshad was thirty-five years old when he became the father of Shelah:

13 And after the birth of Shelah, Arpachshad went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters:

14 And Shelah was thirty years old when he became the father of Eber:

15 And after the birth of Eber, Shelah went on living for four hundred and three years, and had sons and daughters:

16 And Eber was thirty-four years old when he became the father of Peleg:

17 And after the birth of Peleg, Eber went on living for four hundred and thirty years, and had sons and daughters:

18 And Peleg was thirty years old when he became the father of Reu:

19 And after the birth of Reu, Peleg went on living for two hundred and nine years, and had sons and daughters:

20 And Reu was thirty-two years old when he became the father of Serug:

21 And after the birth of Serug, Reu went on living for two hundred and seven years, and had sons and daughters:

22 And Serug was thirty years old when he became the father of Nahor:

23 And after the birth of Nahor, Serug went on living for two hundred years, and had sons and daughters:

24 And Nahor was twenty-nine years old when he became the father of Terah:

25 And after the birth of Terah, Nahor went on living for a hundred and nineteen years, and had sons and daughters:

26 And Terah was seventy years old when he became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 These are the generations of Terah: Terah was the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran was the father of Lot.

28 And death came to Haran when he was with his father Terah in the land of his birth, Ur of the Chaldees.

29 And Abram and Nahor took wives for themselves: the name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife was Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah and Iscah.

30 And Sarai had no child.

31 And Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the son of Haran, and Sarai, his daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Abram and they went out from Ur of the Chaldees, to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran, and were there for some time.

32 And all the years of Terah's life were two hundred and five: and Terah came to his end in Haran.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#1799

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1799. 'Behold, a son of my house is my heir' means that in the Lord's kingdom there would be only that which is external. This is clear from the meaning in the internal sense of 'an heir' and of 'inheriting'. 'Becoming an heir' or inheriting means eternal life in the Lord's kingdom. All who are in the Lord's kingdom are heirs, for the source of the life in them is the Lord's life, which is the life of mutual love, and for that reason they are called 'sons'. The Lord's sons or heirs consist of all who have His life in them, for it is from Him that their life comes, and it is from Him that they have been born, that is, regenerated. Those born of another are that other's heirs; and so it is with all who are being regenerated by the Lord, for in that case they are receiving the life that is the Lord's.

[2] In the Lord's kingdom there are those who are external, those who are more interior, and those who are internal. Good spirits who dwell in the first heaven are external, angelic spirits who dwell in the second heaven are more interior, and angels who dwell in the third heaven are internal. Those who are external are not as close to or near the Lord as those who are more interior, and these in turn are not so close or near as those who are internal. Out of Divine love, or mercy, the Lord wills to have everyone near to Himself, so that they do not stand outside, that is, in the first heaven. His will is that they should dwell in the third heaven, and if possible not merely with Him but abiding in Him. Such is the nature of Divine or the Lord's love. But since at that time none but external things existed with the Church, He complained of this in the words that occur here - 'Behold, a son of my house is my heir' - by which is meant that in His kingdom there would thus be only that which is external. But comfort followed, and a promise of internal things, as described in the verses that follow next. What the external aspect of the Church is has been stated already in 1083, 1098, 1100, 1151, 1153.

[3] By itself doctrine does not constitute the external aspect of the Church, still less the internal, as stated above. Nor on the Lord's part is it its teachings that make one Church distinct and separate from another, but its life in accordance with those teachings, all of which, as long as they present what is true, regard charity as their basic principle. What else does doctrine do but teach men the kind of people they ought to be?

[4] In the Christian world it is their doctrines that cause Churches to be distinct and separate, and because of these they call themselves Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Calvinists or the Reformed, and Evangelicals, among other names. It is solely by reason of their doctrines that they are called by these names. This situation would never exist if they were to make love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour the chief thing of faith. In this case their doctrinal differences would be no more than shades of opinion concerning the mysteries of faith which truly Christian people would leave to individual conscience, and in their hearts would say that a person is truly a Christian when he lives as a Christian, that is, as the Lord teaches. If this were so all the different Churches would become one, and all the disagreements which stem from doctrine alone would disappear. Indeed the hatred one man holds against another would be dispelled in an instant, and the Lord's kingdom on earth would come.

[5] The Ancient Church which existed immediately after the Flood, though scattered among many kingdoms, was of this nature. That is to say, people differed much from one another in matters of doctrine, but for all that, they made charity the chief thing. Also they regarded worship, not from the standpoint of doctrinal teachings which are matters of faith, but from that of charity which is a matter of life. This is what is meant by 'they all had one lip and their words were one', Genesis 11:1, regarding which see 1285.

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