圣经文本

 

Genesis第11章

学习

   

1 The whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

2 It happened, as they traveled east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there.

3 They said one to another, "Come, let's make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.

4 They said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let's make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth."

5 Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.

6 Yahweh said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do.

7 Come, let's go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

8 So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city.

9 Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.

10 This is the history of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood.

11 Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and became the father of sons and daughters.

12 Arpachshad lived thirty-five years and became the father of Shelah.

13 Arpachshad lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Shelah, and became the father of sons and daughters.

14 Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber:

15 and Shelah lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Eber, and became the father of sons and daughters.

16 Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg.

17 Eber lived four hundred thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and became the father of sons and daughters.

18 Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu.

19 Peleg lived two hundred nine years after he became the father of Reu, and became the father of sons and daughters.

20 Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug.

21 Reu lived two hundred seven years after he became the father of Serug, and became the father of sons and daughters.

22 Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor.

23 Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and became the father of sons and daughters.

24 Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah.

25 Nahor lived one hundred nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and became the father of sons and daughters.

26 Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

27 Now this is the history of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot.

28 Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees.

29 Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran who was also the father of Iscah.

30 Sarai was barren. She had no child.

31 Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. They went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there.

32 The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#1366

学习本章节

  
/10837  
  

1366. That 'Haran died in the presence 1 of Terah his father, in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldeans' means that interior worship was erased and became wholly idolatrous is clear from the meaning of 'Haran', 'Terah', 'birth', and 'Ur of the Chaldeans', and also from the statement that 'he died in the presence' of Terah his father'. As regards interior worship being erased and made non-existent, the Church cannot arise anew with any nation until it has been so vastated that no trace of evil or falsity remains in its internal worship. As long as evil is present in internal worship, those goods and truths which constitute its internal worship are obstructed. For as long as evils and falsities are there, goods and truths cannot be received. This becomes clear from the fact that people who have been born into any heresy and who have so confirmed themselves in its falsities as to be entirely persuaded about it can be led only with difficulty, if at all, to receive the truths which are contrary to their falsities. It is different however in the case of gentiles who do not know what the truth of faith is and yet lead charitable lives. This was the reason why the Lord's Church could not be restored among the Jews but could among gentiles who possessed no cognitions of faith. By means of falsities the Jews darken the light of truth altogether, and in so doing extinguish it. This is less true of gentiles, for they do not know what the truth of faith is, and what people do not know they cannot darken and extinguish.

[2] As a new Church had now to be established, people were selected with whom the goods and truths of faith might be implanted. All knowledge of the good and truth of faith had been wiped out with them, and they had become external idolaters like the gentiles. In reference to Terah and Abram it has been shown above that they were such, that is to say, they worshipped other gods, and did not know Jehovah or consequently what the good and truth of faith were. They had thus become more fitted to receive the seed of truth than other people in Syria with whom cognitions still remained. The fact that cognitions remained with some is clear from Balaam, who came from Syria. He not only worshipped Jehovah but also offered sacrifices and at the same time was a prophet. These considerations then are what this verse contains, that is to say, that interior worship was erased and became wholly idolatrous.

脚注:

1. literally, before the faces

  
/10837  
  

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