IBhayibheli

 

Genesis 43

Funda

   

1 Now the land was in bitter need of food.

2 And when the grain which they had got in Egypt was all used up, their father said to them, Go again and get us a little food.

3 And Judah said to him, The man said to us with an oath, You are not to come before me again without your brother.

4 If you will let our brother go with us, we will go down and get food:

5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down: for the man said to us, You are not to come before me if your brother is not with you.

6 And Israel said, Why were you so cruel to me as to say to him that you had a brother?

7 And they said, The man put a number of questions to us about ourselves and our family, saying, Is your father still living? have you another brother? And we had to give him answers; how were we to have any idea that he would say, Come back with your brother?

8 Then Judah said to Israel, his father, Send the boy with me, and let us be up and going, so that we and you and our little ones may not come to destruction.

9 Put him into my care and make me responsible for him: if I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever.

10 Truly, if we had not let the time go by, we might have come back again by now.

11 Then their father Israel said to them, If it has to be so, then do this: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels to give the man, perfumes and honey and spices and nuts:

12 And take twice as much money with you; that is to say, take back the money which was put in your bags, for it may have been an error;

13 And take your brother and go back to the man:

14 And may God, the Ruler of all, give you mercy before the man, so that he may give you back your other brother and Benjamin. If my children are to be taken from me; there is no help for it.

15 So they took what their father said for the man, and twice as much money in their hands, and Benjamin, and went on their journey to Egypt, and came before Joseph.

16 And when Joseph saw Benjamin, he said to his chief servant, Take these men into my house, and make ready a meal, for they will take food with me in the middle of the day.

17 And the servant did as Joseph said, and took the men into Joseph's house.

18 Now the men were full of fear because they had been taken into Joseph's house and they said, It is because of the money which was put back in our bags the first time; he is looking for something against us, so that he may come down on us and take us and our asses for his use.

19 So they went up to Joseph's chief servant at the door of the house,

20 And said, O my lord, we only came down the first time to get food;

21 And when we came to our night's resting-place, on opening our bags we saw that every man's money was in the mouth of his bag, all our money in full weight: and we have it with us to give it back;

22 As well as more money, with which to get food: we have no idea who put our money in our bags.

23 Then the servant said, Peace be with you: have no fear: your God, even the God of your father, has put wealth in your bags for you: I had your money. Then he let Simeon come out to them.

24 And the servant took them into Joseph's house, and gave them water for washing their feet; and he gave their asses food.

25 And they got ready the things for Joseph before he came in the middle of the day: for word was given to them that they were to have a meal there.

26 And when Joseph came in, they gave him the things which they had for him, and went down to the earth before him.

27 And he said, How are you? is your father well, the old man of whom you were talking to me? is he still living?

28 And they said, Your servant, our father, is well, he is still living. And they went down on their faces before him.

29 Then, lifting up his eyes, he saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and he said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you gave me word? And he said, God be good to you, my son.

30 Then Joseph's heart went out to his brother, and he went quickly into his room, for he was overcome with weeping.

31 Then, after washing his face, he came out, and controlling his feelings said, Put food before us.

32 And they put a meal ready for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were with him by themselves; because the Egyptians may not take food with the Hebrews, for that would make them unclean.

33 And they were all given their seats before him in order of birth, from the oldest to the youngest: so that they were looking at one another in wonder.

34 And Joseph sent food to them from his table, but he sent five times as much to Benjamin as to any of the others. And they took wine freely with him.

   

Okususelwe Emisebenzini kaSwedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #5828

Funda lesi Sigaba

  
Yiya esigabeni / 10837  
  

5828. 'And I said, He has surely been torn to pieces' means a perception that it was destroyed by evils and falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as perception, dealt with often; and from the meaning of 'being torn to pieces as being destroyed by evils and internal good represented by 'Joseph' was destroyed, 5805. 'Being torn to pieces' has this meaning because no other kind of tearing to pieces takes place in the spiritual world than that of good by evils and falsities. It is the same with death and anything having to do with death, by which is meant in the spiritual sense not natural death but spiritual death, which is damnation. No other kind of death occurs in the spiritual world. So too with 'a tearing to pieces'. This does not mean in the spiritual sense the kind of tearing to pieces that wild animals engage in, but the tearing to pieces of good by evils and falsities. Also, in the spiritual sense, 'wild animals that tear to pieces' means evil desires and derivative false ideas; and such ideas are also represented in the next life by wild animals.

[2] The good which constantly comes from the Lord to a person is destroyed by nothing other than evils and derivative falsities, and by falsities and consequent evils. For as soon as that constantly inflowing good, coming by way of the internal man, reaches the external or natural man it encounters evil and falsity, which - acting like wild animals - employ various methods to tear apart and annihilate that good. For that reason the inflow of good by way of the internal man is blocked and halted, and the interior mind through which the inflow comes is consequently closed. Only as much of what is spiritual is allowed through as will enable the natural man to reason and speak, though he does so in terms that are solely earthly, bodily, and worldly, either in opposition to what is good and true, or else in keeping with such but in a false or deceitful way.

[3] It is a universal law that an inflow adjusts itself to the outflow, and if the outflow is blocked, so is the inflow. Through the internal man there is an inflow of good and truth from the Lord, and through the external there should be an outflow, an outflow into life, that is, in the exercise of charity. As long as that outflow is taking place the inflow from heaven, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven, is continuous. If however no outflow takes place but something stands in the way in the external or natural man, namely evil and falsity which tear the inflowing good to pieces and annihilate it, it follows from the universal law mentioned above that the inflow adjusts itself to the outflow. All this being so, the inflow of good holds itself back and accordingly closes the internal through which the inflow comes; and that closing of it leads to stupidity in spiritual matters, which is so great that the person who is like this neither knows nor wishes to know anything at all about eternal life. At length he becomes so senseless that he raises falsity as an obstacle to truth, calling falsities truths and truths falsities, and raises evil as an obstacle to good, regarding evils as forms of good and forms of good as evils. In this way he tears good completely to pieces.

[4] The word 'torn' occurs in various places in the Word, the proper meaning of which is falsities that arise from evils, while that which is destroyed by evils is called 'a carcass'. When however the expression 'torn' is used by itself, both ideas are meant since the one includes the meaning carried by the other. It is different when the one is referred to together with the other, because in that case a distinction is being made. Since what had been torn meant in the spiritual sense what had been destroyed by falsities arising from evils, people were forbidden in the representative Church to eat anything torn. They would never have been forbidden to eat it if that spiritual evil had not been meant in heaven. Apart from this, what evil could have lain in eating flesh torn by a wild animal?

[5] Regarding their not eating anything torn the following is stated in Moses,

The fat of a carcass and the fat of that which has been torn may be put to any use, provided that you do not eat it at all. Leviticus 7:24.

In the same author,

He shall not eat a carcass or that which has been torn, to be defiled by it. I am Jehovah. Leviticus 12:8.

In the same author,

You shall be men who are sanctified to Me; therefore you shall not eat flesh torn in the field, you shall throw it to the dogs. Exodus 21:31.

In Ezekiel,

Ah Lord Jehovih! The prophet says, Behold, my soul has not been polluted, and from my youth even till now I have not eaten any carcass or that which has been torn, so that abominable flesh has not come into my mouth. Ezekiel 4:14.

From these quotations it is evident that it was an abomination to eat what had been torn, not because it had been torn but because a tearing to pieces of good by falsities arising from evils was meant, 'a carcass' on the other hand being the death of good caused by evils.

[6] A tearing to pieces of good by falsities and evils is also meant in the internal sense of the following places in David,

The wicked is like a lion, he desires to tear, and like a young lion who sits in hiding-places. Psalms 17:12.

Elsewhere,

They opened their mouth against me - a lion tearing and roaring. Psalms 22:13.

And in yet another place,

Lest like a lion they seize my soul, tearing it to pieces and there is none to deliver. Psalms 7:1.

'A lion' stands for those who lay waste the Church. Above, where Joseph was the subject - at the point where he was sold by his brothers, and his tunic, which had been dipped in blood, was sent to his father - his father too said at that time,

My son's tunic! An evil wild animal has devoured him; Joseph has been torn to pieces. Genesis 37:33.

'His having been torn to pieces' means being scattered by falsities arising from evils, see 4777.

  
Yiya esigabeni / 10837  
  

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

IBhayibheli

 

Genesis 37:33

Funda

       

33 He recognized it, and said, "It is my son's coat. An evil animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces."