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Genesis第3章

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1 Now the snake was wiser than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God truly said that you may not take of the fruit of any tree in the garden?

2 And the woman said, We may take of the fruit of the trees in the garden:

3 But of the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, If you take of it or put your hands on it, death will come to you.

4 And the snake said, Death will not certainly come to you:

5 For God sees that on the day when you take of its fruit, your eyes will be open, and you will be as gods, having knowledge of good and evil.

6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and a delight to the eyes, and to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and gave it to her husband.

7 And their eyes were open and they were conscious that they had no clothing and they made themselves coats of leaves stitched together.

8 And there came to them the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the evening wind: and the man and his wife went to a secret place among the trees of the garden, away from the eyes of the Lord God.

9 And the voice of the Lord God came to the man, saying, Where are you?

10 And he said, Hearing your voice in the garden I was full of fear, because I was without clothing: and I kept myself from your eyes.

11 And he said, Who gave you the knowledge that you were without clothing? Have you taken of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take?

12 And the man said, The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me the fruit of the tree and I took it.

13 And the Lord God said to the woman, What have you done? And the woman said, I was tricked by the deceit of the snake and I took it.

14 And the Lord God said to the snake, Because you have done this you are cursed more than all cattle and every beast of the field; you will go flat on the earth, and dust will be your food all the days of your life:

15 And there will be war between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed: by him will your head be crushed and by you his foot will be wounded.

16 To the woman he said, Great will be your pain in childbirth; in sorrow will your children come to birth; still your desire will be for your husband, but he will be your master.

17 And to Adam he said, Because you gave ear to the voice of your wife and took of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take, the earth is cursed on your account; in pain you will get your food from it all your life.

18 Thorns and waste plants will come up, and the plants of the field will be your food;

19 With the hard work of your hands you will get your bread till you go back to the earth from which you were taken: for dust you are and to the dust you will go back.

20 And the man gave his wife the name of Eve because she was the mother of all who have life.

21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife coats of skins for their clothing.

22 And the Lord God said, Now the man has become like one of us, having knowledge of good and evil; and now if he puts out his hand and takes of the fruit of the tree of life, he will go on living for ever.

23 So the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden to be a worker on the earth from which he was taken.

24 So he sent the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden he put winged ones and a flaming sword turning every way to keep the way to the tree of life.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#7418

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7418. 'And strike the dust of the land' means that he should remove those things in the natural which are damned. This is clear from the meaning of 'striking' as removing; from the meaning of 'the dust' as that which is damned, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the land', at this point the land of Egypt, as the natural mind, dealt with above in 7409. The reason why 'the dust' means that which is damned is that the places on the fringes below the soles of the feet, where evil spirits are, look like a land. They look like an uncultivated and dry land, to be exact, below which there are certain kinds of hells. That land is what is called the damned land, and the dust there serves to mean that which is damned. I have been allowed on several occasions to see evil spirits shaking off the dust there from their feet when they wished to consign someone to damnation. I saw them doing this in a position on the right slightly in front of me, on the borders of the hell of magicians, where spirits who during their life in the world have possessed a knowledge of matters of belief, but have nevertheless led a life of evil, are cast down into the hell that is theirs. This then is why 'the dust' means that which is damned, and 'shaking off the dust' damnation.

[2] Since it had that meaning the Lord commanded the disciples to shake off the dust on their feet if they were not well received. What He said about this appears in Matthew as follows,

If anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, as you leave that house or city, shake off the dust on your feet. Truly I say to you, It will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgement than for that city. Matthew 10:14-15; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5; 10:10-12.

Here the disciples are not meant by the disciples but all aspects of the Church, thus all aspects of faith and charity, 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3354, 3858, 3913, 6397. 'Not receiving' and 'not listening to' mean rejecting the truths of faith and forms of the good of charity, while 'shaking off the dust on their feet' means damnation. And the reason why 'it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than that city' is that 'Sodom and Gomorrah' is used to mean those who lead a life of evil but have known nothing about the Lord and the Word, and so could not be receptive. From this it may become clear that a house or a city unreceptive of the disciples is not meant, but those who though they are within the Church do not lead the life of faith. Anyone may see that an entire city could not be damned for not receiving the disciples and instantly accepting the new teaching proclaimed by them.

[3] That which is damned is also meant by 'the dust' which people in former times placed on their heads in grief or when penitent, as in Jeremiah,

The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, they are silent; they have caused dust to come up over their heads, they have girded themselves with sackcloth; the virgins of Jerusalem have caused their heads to come down to the ground. Lamentations 2:10.

In Ezekiel,

They will cry out bitterly, and will cause dust to come up over their heads; they roll themselves in ashes. Ezekiel 27:30.

In Micah,

Do not weep at all in the house of Aphrah; roll yourself in the dust. Micah 1:10.

In John,

They threw dust onto their heads, and cried out, weeping and wailing. Revelation 18:19.

The same actions are referred to throughout the historical narratives of the Word. Casting dust over the head, prostrating body and head on the ground, and rolling over in the dust on it, represented self-abasement, which - when it is genuine - is such that the person acknowledges and perceives that he is damned, yet is rescued from damnation by the Lord, see 1327, 3994, 4347, 5420, 5957.

[4] The dust' into which the golden calf which they made in the wilderness was crushed and ground down likewise means that which is damned. This is spoken of in Moses as follows,

I took your sin which you had made, the calf, and I burnt it in the fire, and crushed it by grinding it right down until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook descending out of the mountain. Deuteronomy 9:11.

'Dust' again means that which is damned in the following places: In Genesis,

Jehovah God said to the serpent, On your belly you will go, and dust will you eat all the days of your life. Genesis 3:14.

In Micah,

Shepherd Your people as in the days of eternity. The nations will see and be ashamed at all their power; they will lick the dust like a serpent. Micah 7:14, 16-17.

In Isaiah,

For the serpent, dust will be his bread. Isaiah 65:25.

In the same prophet,

Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babel. Isaiah 47:1.

In David,

Our soul was bowed down to the dust, our belly clung to the earth. Psalms 44:25.

In the same author,

My soul clings to the dust; vivify me. Psalms 119:25.

In the Word 'dust' in addition means the grave, as well as that which is lowly, and that which is numerous too.

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