圣经文本

 

创世记第49章

学习

   

1 雅各了他的儿子们来,:你们都来聚集,我好把你们日後必遇的事告诉你们。

2 雅各的儿子们,你们要聚集而,要你们父亲以色列的话。

3 流便哪,你是我的长子,是我力量强壮的时候生的,本当大有尊荣,权力超众。

4 但你放纵情欲,滚沸如,必不得居首位;因为你上了你父亲,污秽了我的榻。

5 西缅和利未是弟兄;他们的刀剑是残忍的器具。

6 我的灵阿,不要与他们同谋;我的心哪,不要与他们联络;因为他们趁怒杀害命,任意砍断牛腿大筋。

7 他们的怒气暴烈可咒;他们的忿恨残忍可诅。我要使他们分居在雅各家里,散住在以色列地中。

8 犹大阿,你弟兄们必赞美你;你必掐住仇敌的颈项;你父亲儿子们必向你下拜。

9 犹大是个小狮子;我儿阿,你抓了食便上去。你屈下身去,卧如公狮,蹲如母狮,谁敢惹你?

10 圭必不离犹大,杖必不离他两之间,直等细罗(就是赐平安者)到,万民都必归顺。

11 犹大把小拴在葡萄树上,把驹拴在美好的葡萄树上。他在葡萄酒中洗了衣服,在葡萄汁中洗了袍褂。

12 他的眼睛必因酒红润;他的牙齿必因奶白亮。

13 西布伦必住在口,必成为停口;他的境界必延到西顿。

14 以萨迦是个强壮的,卧在羊圈之中。

15 他以安静为佳,以肥为美,便低肩背重,成为服苦的仆人。

16 但必判断他的民,作以色列支派之

17 但必作道上的中的虺,咬伤蹄,使骑的坠落於後。

18 耶和华阿,我向来等候你的救恩

19 迦得必被敌军追逼,他却要追逼他们的脚跟

20 亚设之地必出肥美的粮食,且出君的美味。

21 拿弗他利是被释放的母鹿;他出嘉美的言语。

22 约瑟是多结果子的树枝,是泉旁多结果的枝子;他的枝条探出外。

23 弓箭手将他苦害,向他射箭,逼迫他。

24 但他的仍旧坚硬;他的健壮敏捷。这是因以色列的牧者,以色列的─就是雅各的大能者。

25 父亲的神必帮助你;那全能者必将上所有的福,地里所藏的福,以及生产乳养的福,都赐给你。

26 父亲所祝的福,胜过我祖先所祝的福,如永世的山岭,至极的边界;这些福必降在约瑟的上,临到那与弟兄迥别之人的顶上。

27 便雅悯是个撕掠的早晨他所抓的,晚上要分他所夺的。

28 这一切是以色列的十二支派;这也是他们的父亲对他们所的话,为他们所祝的福,都是按着各人的福分为他们祝福

29 他又嘱咐他们:我将要归到我列祖(原文作本民)那里,你们要将我葬在赫人以弗仑田间的洞里,与我祖我父在一处,

30 就是在迦南幔利前、麦比拉田间的洞;那洞和田是亚伯拉罕向赫人以弗仑买来为业,作坟的。

31 他们在那里葬了亚伯拉罕和他妻撒拉,又在那里葬了以撒和他的妻子利百加;我也在那里葬了利亚。

32 那块田和田间的洞原是向赫人买的。

33 雅各嘱咐众子已毕,就把收在床上,气绝而死,归到列祖(原文作本民)那里去了。

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#10044

学习本章节

  
/10837  
  

10044. 'On the ram's head' means, to the whole of it. This is clear from the meaning of 'the head' as the whole person, thus the whole [of the good of innocence in the internal man], dealt with in 10011. The reason why 'the head' means the whole is that it is highest and holds the inmost part of a person within it; and what is highest is the fountainhead of everything below it, just as what is inmost is the hub of everything outside it. For what lies outside or below is dependent on that which is inmost or highest. What is inmost in the human being is his will and understanding; these have their beginnings in the head. What flows from these inner powers is activity, that is, effects which they generate in the body. When therefore will and understanding are mentioned the whole person should be understood, for it is by virtue of these that a person is a person. The actions performed by the body also owe their entire nature to the will; and this is why a person is not regarded from the point of view of bodily actions or deeds but from that of the will within them. This being so, soul is used in the Word to mean the whole person, and a person is called a soul, as in Leviticus 4:27; 5:1, 4, 17; 6:2; 17:10, 15, and elsewhere.

[2] There are two things that mean the whole, namely the highest and the lowest. The reason why the lowest or last also has this meaning is that all interior things, beginning with the first or highest, terminate in those that are lowest and exist together there, see 9828, 9836. So it is that the highest by means of the lowest holds all the interior or intermediate things in connection and form, in order that they may all have the same end in view, 9828. The fact that the lowest also means the whole is clear from very many places in the Word, such as those which speak of the whole person as 'flesh', for example, Genesis 6:12; Numbers 16:22; 27:16; Isaiah 40:5; Zechariah 2:13, and elsewhere.

[3] Since the last things also mean all or the whole, the hair on the head, hair on the body, and the beard, which are last or outermost things growing out of a person's body, are used to mean those things, as also are the feet, or rather the toes on them, and the fingers on the hands. The fact that the hair on the head, hair on the body, and the beard have this meaning is clear in Isaiah,

On that day the Lord will shave with a razor - by means of the king of Asshur - the head, the hair of the feet, and also the beard. Isaiah 7:20.

'The king of Asshur' means reasoning, the kind that is used by people to destroy Divine things, 1186. 'Shaving the head, the hair of the feet, and the beard' means taking lowest things away, for when these have been taken away those within fall apart and perish. This also was why a priest was forbidden to shave his head, Leviticus 21:10, as was a Nazirite, whose hair according to Numbers 6:7 was called the Naziriteship of God, 6437, 9407, and is what 'the crown of the head of the Nazirite among [his] brothers', Genesis 49:25-26; Deuteronomy 33:16, should be taken to mean. Therefore also it says in Matthew 10:30 that the hairs of one's head are all numbered, meaning that every single thing in a person is so 'numbered', and in Luke 21:18 that not a hair on one's head will perish.

[4] The fact that the feet, the toes on them, and the fingers on the hands mean all things and so the whole is clear in John,

Peter said, Lord, You shall not wash my feet only, but also my hands and head. Jesus said to him, He who has been washed has no need except to wash his feet, and the whole person is clean. John 13:9-10.

'Feet' are the natural, which is last, 2162, 3147, 4938-4952, 9406. And in the following words of the present chapter,

You shall put some of the ram's blood on the tip of Aaron's ear, and on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot. Verse 20.

That is, it was to be put on every single thing, meant by 'ear', 'hand', and 'foot'.

[5] Since highest and lowest, or what amounts to the same thing, first and last, equally mean every single thing, or the whole with all its parts, the Lord's Omnipotence and Omniscience is described by the words stating that He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, Revelation 1:8; 21:6; 22:13; Isaiah 41:4.

[6] The situation in which all things are held in connection and stand together, from that which is first or highest through to those that are last or lowest, is described in the following words in Isaiah,

I am the First and I am the Last, indeed My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand measured out heaven. I am summoning them; they stand together. Isaiah 48:12-13.

Jehovah's or the Lord's 'hand' and 'right hand' mean His almighty power, 'the earth' which He laid the foundation of is that which is last, 'heaven' which He stretched out is that which is between the first and the last, 'summoning them, that they may stand together' is holding all the interior things in connection and in form by means of what is last, that they may have a single end in view. This single end to be held in view is He who is the First and the Last. That this is the Lord is clear in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, I am the First and I am the Last. Isaiah 44:6.

'The King of Israel' is the Lord, John 18:37, and so, as is self-evident, is 'his Redeemer'. And in the Book of Revelation,

These things says the First and the Last, who was dead and came to life. Revelation 2:8.

[7] The truth that what is first holds all things in connection by means of what is last may be recognized from the Word and from humanness. In the case of the Word its last and lowest things are its literal sense; that which is first and highest is the Lord; and the interior things within it are its internal sense, which the heavens perceive and which causes those who are there to have the same end in view, namely the Lord. Regarding this arcanum, see 9360, 9824.

[8] As to humanness, this as it exists in the things that are last is the Church on earth; as it exists in that which is first it is the Lord; and as it exists in the interior things it is heaven. For in the Lord's sight the Church and heaven are like one human being; therefore heaven is called the Grand Man, which has been the subject at the ends of a number of chapters, see the places referred to in 10030 (end). There is an unbroken connection, and an influx in keeping with that connection, of all things from the Lord through the heavens to the Church on earth. By the heavens the angels who are there should be understood; by the Church people who are true members of the Church; and by humanness as it exists in that which is first the Lord in respect of His Divine Human. The truth that what is first by means of what is last holds all things in connection and makes them stand as one is meant by the Lord's words in Isaiah quoted above,

I am the First and I am the Last, indeed My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand measured out heaven. I summoning them, they stand together. Isaiah 48:12-13.

The fact that 'the earth' is used in the Word to mean the Church has also been shown on many occasions, see the places referred to in 9325.

[9] An idea of this matter may be had from what is last or outermost with a person and what is inmost. His outermost is the skin, his inmost the heart, while the things in between or his interiors are the organs of the body. From the heart all the way to the skin by way of the organs there is an unbroken connection through blood vessels; for these emanate from the heart and end in the skin. The skin is self-evidently the last or outermost part holding the interior things in connection, for when the skin has been taken away the interiors fall apart.

[10] From all this it may be seen why it is that just as what is highest or inmost means every single thing, so too does what is lowest or last. Also evident from it all is the arcanum of why the Lord also glorified His Human right down to its last and lowest levels, called the bones and flesh, which explains why the Lord told His disciples, who thought that they were seeing a spirit,

See My hands and My feet, that it is I; handle Me and see; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see Me having. Luke 24:37, 39.

It is well recognized that Divinity itself was the First in Him, for He was conceived from Jehovah, and what is conceived from the father is pre-eminently first in a person. The truth that the Lord also glorified the last and lowest levels of His Human in which they co-exist is evident from His words recorded in those verses, and also from the fact that He left nothing of His Human in the tomb. It is true of spiritual things as well that interior things terminate and come to rest in last and lowest ones in which they co-exist, and that the last hold the interior ones in connection, see 9216, 9828. Therefore the lowest things have might and power within them, 9836, and for the same reason have holiness within them, 9824; and revelations are made and answers are given in them, 9905.

  
/10837  
  

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