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Genezo第23章

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1 Kaj la vivo de Sara estis cent dudek sep jaroj; tiom estis la jaroj de la vivo de Sara.

2 Kaj Sara mortis en Kirjat-Arba, kiu estas HXebron, en la lando Kanaana. Kaj Abraham venis, por funebri pri Sara kaj plori pri sxi.

3 Kaj Abraham levigxis for de sia mortintino, kaj diris al la filoj de HXet jene:

4 Fremdulo kaj paslogxanto mi estas cxe vi; donu al mi posedotan lokon por tombo inter vi, por ke mi enterigu mian mortintinon, kiu estas antaux mi.

5 Kaj la filoj de HXet respondis al Abraham, dirante al li:

6 Auxskultu nin, nia sinjoro! vi estas princo de Dio inter ni; en la plej elektitaj niaj tomboj enterigu vian mortintinon; neniu el ni rifuzos al vi sian tomblokon, por enterigi vian mortintinon.

7 Kaj Abraham levigxis, kaj profunde klinigxis antaux la popolo de la lando, antaux la filoj de HXet.

8 Kaj li diris al ili jene: Se placxas al vi, ke mi enterigu mian mortintinon, kiu estas antaux mi, tiam auxskultu min kaj petu por mi Efronon, la filon de Cohxar,

9 ke li donu al mi la duoblan kavernon, kiun li havas en la fino de sia kampo; por plena sumo da mono li donu gxin al mi inter vi por tomba posedajxo.

10 Kaj Efron sidis inter la filoj de HXet, kaj respondis Efron la HXetido al Abraham auxdeble por la filoj de HXet, antaux cxiuj, kiuj venis en la pordegon de lia urbo, dirante:

11 Ne, mia sinjoro, auxskultu min! la kampon mi donas al vi, kaj la kavernon, kiu estas sur gxi, al vi mi donas, antaux la okuloj de la filoj de mia popolo mi donas gxin al vi; enterigu vian mortintinon.

12 Kaj Abraham profunde klinigxis antaux la popolo de la lando.

13 Kaj li diris al Efron auxdeble por la popolo de la lando jene: Mi petas, auxskultu min: mi donas monon por la kampo; prenu de mi, kaj mi enterigos tie mian mortintinon.

14 Kaj Efron respondis al Abraham, dirante al li:

15 Mia sinjoro, auxskultu min: la tero valoras kvarcent siklojn; sed kio gxi estas inter mi kaj vi? enterigu vian mortintinon.

16 Kaj Abraham auxskultis Efronon, kaj Abraham pesis al Efron la monon, pri kiu li parolis auxdeble por la filoj de HXet, kvarcent siklojn da argxento, uzata en la komerco.

17 Kaj la kampo de Efron kun la duobla kaverno, kiu estis antaux Mamre, la kampo kaj la kaverno sur gxi kaj cxiuj arboj sur la kampo, inter cxiuj gxiaj limoj cxirkauxe, farigxis

18 posedajxo de Abraham antaux la okuloj de la filoj de HXet, de cxiuj, kiuj venis en la pordegon de lia urbo.

19 Kaj post tio Abraham enterigis sian edzinon Sara en la duobla kaverno de la kampo, antaux Mamre, kiu estas HXebron, en la lando Kanaana.

20 Kaj la kampo kaj la kaverno sur gxi farigxis tomba posedajxo de Abraham, kiun li akiris de la filoj de HXet.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#8002

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8002. 'A stranger and a hired servant shall not eat it' means that those who are prompted by a merely natural inclination to do good, and those who do it for the sake of gain, shall not be together with them. This is clear from the meaning of 'a stranger' as those who are prompted to do good by a merely natural inclination, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'a hired servant' as those who do good for the sake of gain, also dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'not eating it' as not being together with them, dealt with immediately above in 8001. 'A stranger' means those who are prompted by a merely natural inclination to do good because strangers were newcomers from other peoples. They were inhabitants, dwelling with the Israelites and Jews in one house; and 'dwelling with' means sharing in the same good. But since, as has just been said, they were from peoples outside the Church the good that is meant is not a kind of good that is prominent in the Church but is the kind to be found outside the Church. And this is called natural good because it is a product of the hereditary inclinations that a person is born with. With some people such good may also be the product of poor health or debility of mind. This is what one should understand when the good done by those meant by 'strangers' is mentioned.

[2] This kind of good is completely different from the good prominent in the Church, for by means of the Church's kind of good conscience is established in a person; and conscience is the level on which the angels come in and which brings him into company with them. Natural good cannot provide any such level for angels to enter. Those whose good is natural do good in the dark, led by blind instinct, not in the light of truth, under the influence of heaven. In the next life therefore they are carried away like chaff by the wind, by anyone and everyone, whether evil or good, but especially by an evil person who knows how to add a certain amount of charm and persuasion to his arguments. Nor can angels at this time guide them away, for angels operate through the truths and forms of the good of faith; they enter in on the level formed within a person out of those truths and forms of the good of faith. From all this it is evident that those who are prompted by a merely natural inclination to do good cannot be integrated among angels. Regarding these people and their lot in the next life, see 3470, 3471, 3518, 4988, 4992, 5032, 6208, 7197.

[3] The fact that 'strangers' are those who are not in their own land nor in their own house but are those staying in a foreign land is clear in Moses,

The land shall [not] be sold outright, for the land is Mine; but you are sojourners and strangers with Me. Leviticus 25:23.

In David,

Hear my prayers, O Jehovah; do not be silent at my tears. For I am a sojourner with You, a stranger as all my fathers were. Psalms 39:12.

And in the Book of Genesis,

Abraham said to the sons of Heth, I am a sojourner and a stranger among you; give me possession of a grave. Genesis 13:3-4.

'A sojourner', like 'a stranger', means a newcomer and inhabitant from another land; but 'a sojourner' means those who were taught and accepted the Church's truths, whereas those who were not taught them because they were unwilling to accept them are meant by 'strangers'.

[4] As for hired servants, they were people who worked for wages; they were servants, but not ones who had been bought. The fact that they were called 'hired', see Leviticus 19:13; 25:4-6; Deuteronomy 24:14-15. Because hired servants were those who worked for wages they mean in the internal sense those who do good for the sake of gain in the world, and in a yet more internal sense those who do good for the sake of reward in the next life, thus those who wish to earn merit through works.

[5] Those who do good solely for the sake of gain in the world cannot possibly be integrated among angels, since their final objective for doing it is the world, that is, affluence and prestige, not heaven, that is, the blessedness and happiness of their souls. The final objective is what gives direction to actions and what gives them their specific character. Those who do good solely for the sake of gain are described by the Lord as follows in John,

I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life 1 for the sheep. But a hired servant, he who is not the shepherd, whose sheep are not his own, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf seizes them, and scatters the sheep. But the hired servant flees because he is a hired servant. John 10:11-13.

And in Jeremiah,

A very beautiful heifer was Egypt; destruction has come from the north. Her hired servants are like calves of the stall, 2 for they also have turned about, fled away together, and not made a stand, because the day of their ruin has come upon them. Jeremiah 46:20-21.

[6] A law forbidding strangers and hired servants to share in holy things along with those belonging to the Church is stated in Moses as follows,

No outsider shall eat what is holy; a stranger staying with a priest, or a hired servant, shall not eat what is holy. Leviticus 22:10.

And a law which allowed people to buy from the sons of strangers slaves who would serve them for evermore appears in the same book,

You shall buy a male or a female slave from the nations that are around you. And also from the sons of strangers sojourning among you - from them you shall buy, and from their families which are with you, even if they were born in your land, in order that they may be your possession. And you may pass them on as an inheritance to your sons after you to inherit as a possession. Forever you shall be their masters. Leviticus 25:44-46.

'The sons of strangers' means factual knowledge acquired with the aid of merely natural light. The necessity for spiritual truths to dominate that knowledge is meant by the law that slaves should be bought from the sons of strangers as possessions for evermore.

[7] People however who do good for the sake of reward in the next life, people who are also meant by 'hired servants', differ from those spoken about immediately above, in that they have life and happiness in heaven as their final objective. But this objective turns and alters the direction of their Divine worship away from the Lord towards themselves, as a consequence of which they want things to go well only for themselves, not for others except insofar as these want the same for them. When this is so self-love resides in their every desire, not love of the neighbour; that is, they do not have any genuine charity. Nor can these people be integrated among angels, for angels utterly loathe both the word and the notion of reward or repayment. The Lord teaches in Luke that one ought to do what is good without reward as the objective,

Love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing from it; then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Highest. Luke 6:32-35; 14:12-14.

Regarding the nature of good deeds performed to earn merit, see 1110, 1111, 1774, 1835, 1877, 2027, 2273, 2340, 2373, 2400, 3816, 4007 (end), 4174, 4943, 6388-6390, 6392, 6393, 6478.

[8] The reason why the Lord says so many times that those who do good will have their reward in heaven - as in Matthew 5:11-12; 6:1-2, 26; 10:41-42; 20:1-16; Mark 9:41; Luke 6:23, 35; 14:14; John 4:36 - is that before a person has been regenerated he cannot help thinking about reward. But it is different once he has been regenerated. Then he is indignant if anyone thinks that he does good to his neighbour for the sake of reward; for he feels delight and bliss in the doing of good, but not in repayment. In the internal sense 'reward' is the delight belonging to the affection that goes with charity, see 3816, 3956, 6388, 6478.

脚注:

1. literally, soul

2. i.e. mercenaries who are like fat bulls

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