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Genesis第3章

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1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any animal of the field which Yahweh God had made. He said to the woman, "Has God really said, 'You shall not eat of any tree of the garden?'"

2 The woman said to the serpent, "Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat,

3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

4 The serpent said to the woman, "You won't surely die,

5 for God knows that in the day you eat it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit, and ate; and she gave some to her husband with her, and he ate.

7 The eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked. They sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.

8 They heard the voice of Yahweh God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Yahweh God among the trees of the garden.

9 Yahweh God called to the man, and said to him, "Where are you?"

10 The man said, "I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself."

11 God said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?"

12 The man said, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate."

13 Yahweh God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate."

14 Yahweh God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, you are cursed above all livestock, and above every animal of the field. On your belly you shall go, and you shall eat dust all the days of your life.

15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel."

16 To the woman he said, "I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth. In pain you will bring forth children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you."

17 To Adam he said, "Because you have listened to your wife's voice, and have eaten of the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you will eat of it all the days of your life.

18 Thorns also and thistles will it bring forth to you; and you will eat the herb of the field.

19 By the sweat of your face will you eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

20 The man called his wife Eve, because she was the mother of all living.

21 Yahweh God made coats of skins for Adam and for his wife, and clothed them.

22 Yahweh God said, "Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he put forth his hand, and also take of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever..."

23 Therefore Yahweh God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken.

24 So he drove out the man; and he placed Cherubs at the east of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Divine Providence#313

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313. As for the nature of people who are devoted to their own prudence and the nature of the people who have a prudence not their own and are therefore conscious of divine providence, this is described in the Word by Adam and his wife Eve in the garden of Eden where there were the two trees, one of life and the other of the knowledge of good and evil, and by their eating from this latter tree. You may see in 241 above that in the inner or spiritual meaning Adam and his wife Eve serve to denote and describe the earliest church of the Lord on our planet, one that was finer and more heavenly than the ones that followed it. As for the meaning of other elements of the story,

[2] the garden of Eden means the wisdom of the people of that church; the tree of life means the Lord in particular respect to divine providence; and the tree of knowledge means humanity, particularly in respect to our own prudence. The serpent means our sensory level and sense of autonomy, which is essentially our self-love and our pride in our own intelligence, and therefore the devil and Satan. Eating from the tree of knowledge means claiming what is good and true as our own, believing that they do not come from the Lord and therefore belong to the Lord, but come from us and therefore belong to us. Since what is good and what is true are elements of Divinity within us, goodness means everything that has to do with love, and truth means everything that has to do with wisdom. So if we claim these as our own, we cannot help but believe that we are like God. That is why the serpent said, "On the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened and you will be like God, knowing good and evil" (Genesis 3:5). This is what people do who are in hell because of their self-love and consequent pride in their own intelligence.

[3] The curse imposed on the serpent means the curse of any love and intelligence we claim as our own; the curse imposed on Eve means the curse of our emotional sense of identity; and the curse imposed on Adam means the curse of our cognitive sense of identity. The thorns and thistles that the earth would sprout mean what is wholly false and evil; the expulsion from the garden means the loss of wisdom; the guarding of the way to the tree of life means the Lord's protection of the holy values of the Word and the church from any violation; the fig leaves that covered their nakedness mean moral truths that concealed the activities of their own love and pride; and the leather garments in which they were later clothed mean the appearances of truth that were all they had.

This is what these items mean on the spiritual level; but anyone who wants to do so may stay with the literal meaning. Just be aware that this is what it means in heaven.

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