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Genesis第48章

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1 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.

3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

5 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.

6 And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.

7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem.

8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these?

9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.

10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.

11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.

12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him.

14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.

15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,

16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.

18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.

19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.

22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

   

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Arcana Coelestia#6236

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6236. 'They are mine' means that they are within me. This is clear from the representation of 'Jacob', who says this regarding himself, as the truth of the natural, dealt with below; and from the representation of Manasseh and Ephraim, to whom he is referring, as the Church's will and the Church's understanding within the natural, dealt with in 5354, 6222. The reason 'they are mine' means within me is that in representing the truth of the natural 'Jacob' also represents the natural in relation to truth, and within the natural there exist an understanding part and a will part, which are represented by 'Ephraim and Manasseh'. And as they exist in the natural 'they are mine' therefore means within me.

[2] 'Jacob' represents the natural - in the highest sense the Lord's Divine Natural, see 3305, 3509, 3525, 3576, 4009, 4538, 4570, 6098, and in the relative sense truth in the natural, thus also the natural in relation to truth, 3509, 3525, 3546. And since 'Jacob' in general is truth in the natural, his ten sons are the Church's truths there in particular, 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5511; and so now are Joseph's sons too. 'Pharaoh' likewise represents the natural, though not as regards truths but as regards factual knowledge, which is of a lower order than truths but is that into which they can be introduced and instilled, represented by the coming of Jacob and his sons to Egypt.

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