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Genesis第39章

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1 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, a chamberlain of Pharaoh, the captain of the life-guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hand of the Ishmaelites who had brought him down thither.

2 And Jehovah was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

3 And his master saw that Jehovah was with him, and that Jehovah made all that he did to prosper in his hand.

4 And Joseph found favour in his eyes, and attended on him; and he set him over his house, and all that he had he gave into his hand.

5 And it came to pass from the time he had set him over his house and all that he had, that Jehovah blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of Jehovah was on all that he had in the house and in the field.

6 And he left all that he had in Joseph's hand, and took cognizance of nothing with him, save the bread that he ate. And Joseph was of a beautiful form and of a beautiful countenance.

7 And it came to pass after these things, that his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph, and said, Lie with me!

8 But he refused, and said to his master's wife, Behold, my master takes cognizance of nothing with me: what is in the house, and all that he has, he has given into my hand.

9 There is none greater in this house than I; neither has he withheld anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife; and how should I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?

10 And it came to pass as she spoke to Joseph day by day and he hearkened not to her, to lie with her [and] to be with her,

11 that on a certain day he went into the house to do his business, and there was none of the men of the house there in the house.

12 Then she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me! But he left his garment in her hand, and fled and ran out.

13 And it came to pass, when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled forth,

14 that she called to the men of her house, and spoke to them, saying, See, he has brought in a Hebrew man to us, to mock us: he came in to me, to lie with me; and I cried with a loud voice;

15 and it came to pass when he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled and went out.

16 And she laid his garment by her until his lord came home.

17 And she spoke to him according to these words, saying, The Hebrew bondman that thou hast brought to us came in to me to mock me;

18 and it came to pass as I lifted up my voice and cried, that he left his garment with me, and fled forth.

19 And it came to pass when his lord heard the words of his wife which she spoke to him, saying, After this manner did thy bondman to me, that his wrath was kindled.

20 And Joseph's lord took him and put him into the tower-house, [the] place where the king's prisoners were confined; and he was there in the tower-house.

21 And Jehovah was with Joseph, and extended mercy to him, and gave him favour in the eyes of the chief of the tower-house.

22 And the chief of the tower-house committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the tower-house; and whatever they had to do there he did.

23 The chief of the tower-house looked not to anything under his hand, because Jehovah was with him; and what he did, Jehovah made it prosper.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#5006

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5006. 'And she took hold of him by his garment' means that unspiritual truth attached itself to the outermost existence of spiritual truth. This is clear from the representation of Potiphar's wife, to whom these words refer, as unspiritual natural truth, dealt with in 4988; from the meaning of taking hold of' in this case as attaching itself; and from the meaning of 'garment' as truth, dealt with in 1073, 2576, 4545, 4763, in this case the outermost existence of spiritual truth, which in this state is Joseph's - 'Joseph' here representing spiritual natural good, 4988, 4992. For it was to the truth belonging to this good that unspiritual natural truth wished to become joined, as is evident from the train of thought in the internal sense.

[2] But as to what a wish on the part of unspiritual natural truth to become joined to spiritual natural truth may be and what is implied by it, this is a mystery at the present day, chiefly because few people have any concern or wish to know what spiritual truth is and what unspiritual truth is. Indeed that lack of concern is so great that people are hardly willing to listen when the word spiritual is used, for at the mere mention of this a kind of darkness instantly descends upon them, and along with this a melancholy feeling, which gives rise to a distaste for the word and so a rejection of it. The truth of this has also been demonstrated to me. While I was once pondering on these matters, some spirits from the Christian world were present, who were then taken back into the state that had been theirs in the world. The mere thought of spiritual good and truth not only gave them a melancholy feeling; it also seized them with such loathing on account of their aversion to it that they said they felt as they had done in the world when they wanted to vomit. But I was allowed to tell them that this happened because their affections were centred solely on earthly, bodily, and worldly interests; and when a person is concerned solely with these, the things of heaven nauseate him. I also told those spirits that when they had gone to church where the Word was preached they had not gone out of any wish to know the things of heaven, but out of some other desire present in them since early childhood. This experience showed me what the Christian world is like at the present day.

[3] The overall reason why this is the situation is that the Christian Church at the present day preaches faith alone, not charity, and so doctrine, not life. And when the Church fails to preach life, no one acquires any affection for good; and when there is no affection for good, neither is there any for truth. Consequently most people find it contrary to their life's delight to listen to anything about the things of heaven beyond what they have known since they were young children.

[4] But the fact of the matter is that a person exists in the world to the end that he may be introduced through the services he renders there into the things of heaven. But his life in the world lasts barely a moment so to speak, compared with his life after death; for the latter goes on for ever. Yet there are few who believe that they will be alive after death, which explains why heavenly things are of little importance to them. And this I can positively declare, that a person is in the next life as soon as he has died, carrying on to the full the life he was leading in the world; the nature of his life remains the same as it was in the world. I can positively declare this to be so because I know it to be so. I have talked to almost all those I knew during their earthly lives after these were over. I have therefore been allowed to know through actual experience the nature of the lot that awaits everyone - that each person's lot is determined by the life he has led. But the kind of people mentioned above do not believe any of this. As to what a wish on the part of unspiritual natural truth to become joined to spiritual natural truth may be, and what is implied by it, meant by 'she took hold of Joseph by his garment', this will be discussed in what follows immediately below.

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