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Genesis第45章

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1 And Joseph could not control himself before all them that stood by him, and he cried, Put every man out from me! And no man stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brethren.

2 And he raised his voice in weeping; and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.

3 And Joseph said to his brethren, I am Joseph. Does my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence.

4 And Joseph said to his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.

5 And now, be not grieved, and be not angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

6 For the famine has been these two years in the land; and yet there are five years in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest.

7 So God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.

8 And now it was not you [that] sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and governor over all the land of Egypt.

9 Haste and go up to my father, and say to him, Thus says thy son Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, tarry not.

10 And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near to me, thou, and thy sons, and thy sons' sons, and thy sheep, and thy cattle, and all that thou hast.

11 And there will I maintain thee; for yet there are five years of famine; in order that thou be not impoverished, thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast.

12 And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth which speaks to you.

13 And tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen, and haste and bring down my father hither.

14 And he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept on his neck.

15 And he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them; and after that his brethren talked with him.

16 And the report was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come. And it was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his bondmen.

17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to thy brethren, Do this: load your beasts and depart, go into the land of Canaan,

18 and take your father and your households, and come to me; and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.

19 And thou art commanded -- this do: take waggons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and take up your father, and come.

20 And let not your eye regret your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt shall be yours.

21 And the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them waggons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.

22 To each one of them all he gave changes of clothing; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred [pieces] of silver and five changes of clothing.

23 And to his father he sent this: ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-asses laden with corn and bread, and food for his father by the way.

24 And he sent his brethren away, and they departed. And he said to them, Do not quarrel on the way.

25 And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan to Jacob their father.

26 And they told him, saying, Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And his heart fainted, for he did not believe them.

27 And they spoke to him all the words of Joseph, which he had spoken to them. And he saw the waggons that Joseph had sent to carry him. And the spirit of Jacob their father revived.

28 And Israel said, It is enough: Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die.

   

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Arcana Coelestia#5895

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5895. 'In which there will be no ploughing and harvest' means that in the meanwhile no good will be seen nor any truth derived from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'ploughing' as the preparation made by good for the reception of truths, dealt with in what follows below; and from the meaning of 'harvest' as truths derived from good, for a harvest is grain that has ripened by the time it is gathered in, so that 'harvest' means truth derived from good. Before this truth is produced truths are indeed to be seen, but they are truths that lead to good, not truths derived from good. When truth guides a person in his actions his truths are truths leading to good; but when good guides him in them his truths are truths derived from good. The reason why 'ploughing' is said to mean good is that 'the field' which is ploughed means the Church as regards good, 2971, and so the good which constitutes the Church, 3310, 3317, 4982. Consequently 'ploughing' is the preparation made by good for the reception of truths; and 'the oxen' too that were used in ploughing means forms of good within the natural, 2180, 2566, 2781.

[2] Because 'ploughing' had this meaning people in the representative Church were forbidden 'to plough with an ox and an ass together', Deuteronomy 22:10. They would never have been forbidden to do this if there had not been some cause of a more internal nature, thus a cause existing in the spiritual world. Without it what would have been wrong with the two ploughing together? And what value would such a law have in the Word? That cause of a more internal nature, a cause existing in the spiritual world, is that 'ploughing with an ox' means good within the natural, and 'ploughing with an ass' means the truth there, 'an ass' being truth contained in factual knowledge, thus truth within the natural, see 5492, 5741. The more internal or spiritual cause behind the existence of this prohibition was that the angels could not have a separate idea of good and truth. The two must be joined together and make one. For this reason the angels were unwilling to see any kind of ploughing done by an ox and an ass. Celestial angels refuse even to think about truth separate from good, for all truth with them exists within good, so that also for them truth is good. It was for the same reason that people were also forbidden to wear a garment made from a mixture of wool and linen, Deuteronomy 22:11; for 'wool' meant good, and 'linen' truth.

[3] The fact that 'ploughing', also 'harrowing', 'sowing', and 'reaping', mean the kinds of activities that are connected with good and the truth that goes with it is clear in Hosea,

I will make Ephraim ride, Judah will plough, Jacob will harrow for him. Sow for yourselves in keeping with righteousness, reap in keeping with godliness, break up 'your fallow ground; and it is time to seek Jehovah, until He comes and teaches righteousness. Hosea 10:11-12.

'Riding' is used in reference to Ephraim because 'riding' means having the use of an understanding, 'Ephraim' being the Church's gift of understanding. But 'ploughing' is used in reference to Judah because 'Judah' is the good which exists in the Church.

[4] In Amos,

Will horses run upon the rock? Will one plough with oxen? in that you have turned judgement into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. Amos 6:11-12.

'Will horses run upon the rock?' stands for Will there be any understanding of the truth of faith? For 'rock' in the spiritual sense is faith, Preface to Genesis 22, while 'horses' means the powers of understanding, 2761, 2762, 3217, 5321. 'Will one plough with oxen?' stands for Will there be any doing of good? For 'oxen' means good in the natural, see 2180, 2566, 2781. The fact that no doing of it was possible is meant by the words that follow - 'because you have turned judgement into poison'.

[5] In Luke,

Jesus said, No one putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62.

These words have the same meaning as those spoken by the Lord in Matthew,

Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his clothes. Matthew 24:17-18.

The meaning of these words is that a person governed by good should not depart from it and resort to matters of doctrine concerning faith; see 3652, where those words spoken by the Lord have been explained. Thus 'one who puts his hand to the plough' is a person governed by good; but 'looking back' means someone who then looks to matters of doctrine concerning faith and in so doing forsakes good. This explains why Elijah was displeased with Elisha who, ploughing in the field when he received his call, asked whether he might first kiss his father and mother; for Elijah said,

Go away; go back again; for what have I done to you? 1 Kings 19:19-21.

In the contrary sense 'ploughing' means evil that destroys good, and so means a laying waste, as in Jeremiah,

Zion will be ploughed [like] a field, and Jerusalem will be heaps, and the mountain of the house [will be turned] into the heights of the forest. Jeremiah 26:18; Micah 3:12.

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