[2] I perceived that the spirits present with me had been traders during their lifetime; yet they were the kind whose delight in life lay in trading itself and not so much in riches, so that trading itself was so to speak the driving force (anima) within them. I therefore spoke to them about this, and was led to say that trading in no way prevented them from entering heaven and that in heaven there were rich people no less than poor ones. But they objected to this, saying it had been their opinion that if they were going to be saved, they would need to give up trading, donate all their possessions to the poor, and reduce themselves to a pitiable condition. I was led to answer that what they said was not true and that those among them who were in heaven because they had been good Christians and yet had been wealthy, some extremely wealthy, thought otherwise. These people had had as their end in view the common good and love towards their neighbour; and they had engaged in commerce solely for the sake of service in the world and had not, what is more, set their heart on wealth. But the reason why those to whom I was speaking were on a lower level was that they were wholly naturally-minded and therefore had no belief in a life after death, or in hell, or in heaven; indeed they had no belief in the spirit. I also told them that by the use of all kinds of ingenuity they had heartlessly robbed others of their goods and without feeling any pity could for their own gain watch entire households perish, and that they consequently derided everyone who talked to them about the spiritual life.

[3] I have also been shown the kind of belief those spirits had had regarding life after death, and regarding heaven and hell. A certain person appeared who was carried up to heaven, going up from the left over to the right. I was told that this was someone who had recently died and was being taken off immediately by angels into heaven. There followed a discussion concerning that person, but although those spirits too saw this take place, they possessed a sphere of disbelief which was an extremely powerful one and which they diffused around themselves. It was so powerful that they were willing to convince themselves and others not to believe what they had seen. Because their disbelief was so strong I was led to tell them that if in the world they had by chance witnessed the restoration to life of someone lying dead on a catafalque they would first of all have said that they refused to believe it unless they had seen many dead persons restored to life, and that if they had seen this they would have attributed such to natural causes. After this, when those spirits had been left to think for a while, they said that at first they would have believed that what they had seen was some trick. But once, they added, it proved to be no trick they would have believed that the soul of the dead person had some secret communication with the one restoring him to life, and at length that this was some secret which they could not comprehend; for the natural world contains very many incomprehensible secrets. So they could not have been led to believe that such a happening was attributable to some force outside the natural order. This revealed the kind of faith that had been theirs, that is to say, a faith which could not possibly lead them to believe in a life after death, or in hell, or in heaven. Thus it revealed that they were naturally-minded. When spirits like these are seen in the light of heaven they too seem to have no face, only a thick growth of hair in place of it.

43

GENESIS 43

1. And the famine grew more serious in the land.
2. And it happened, when they had finished eating the corn which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, Turn back, buy a little food for us.
3. And Judah said to him - he said, The man issued a solemn warning to us, saying, You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.
4. If you are willing to send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you.
5. And if you are not willing to send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.
6. And Israel said, Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had still [another] brother?
7. And they said, The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our generation, saying, Is your father still alive? Have you a brother? And we told him according to the tenor^a of these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, Cause your brother to come down?
8. And Judah said to Israel his father, Send the boy with me, and we will rise up and go, and we will live and not die - even we, even you, even our young children.
9. I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you will require him. If I do not bring him to you and set him before you, then I shall be sinning against you every day.
10. For if perhaps we had not delayed we would by now have returned these two times.^b
11. And Israel their father said to them, If this therefore has to be, do it. Take some of the much-sung-about produce^c of the land in your vessels, and cause a gift to go down to the man - a little resin and a little honey, wax and stacte, pistachio nuts and almonds.
12. And take a double amount of silver in your hands. And the silver that was put back in the mouth of your pouches you are to take back in your hand; perhaps it was a mistake.
13. And take your brother; and rise up, return to the man.
14. And may God Shaddai grant you mercy before the man, and may he release^d to you your other brother and Benjamin; and I, even as I have been bereaved, I shall be bereaved.
15. And the men took this gift, and took the double amount of silver in their hand, and Benjamin; and they rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.
16. And Joseph saw Benjamin with them, and he said to the one who was over his house, Bring the men to the house, and slaughter and prepare [an animal]; for the men will eat with me at midday.
17. And the man did as Joseph said, and the man brought the men to Joseph's house.
18. And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph's house; and they said, Over the matter of the silver put back in our pouches at the beginning are we brought to [this place], so that he may come down on us and fall on us,^e and take us as slaves, and our asses.
19. And they came near the man who was over Joseph's house, and they spoke to him [at]^f the door (ostium) of the house.
20. And they said, On my honour,^g my lord, we certainly came down at the beginning to buy food.
21. And it happened, when we came to the lodging-place and opened our pouches, that behold, each man's silver was in the mouth of his pouch, our silver in its full weight; and we are bringing it back in our hand.
22. And we are causing other silver to come down in our hand to buy food; we do not know who put our silver in our pouches.
23. And he said, Peace to you, do not be afraid; your God and the God of your father has given you the concealed gift in your pouches; your silver came to me. And he brought Simeon out to them.
24. And the man brought the men to Joseph's house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave fodder to their asses.
25. And they made ready the gift, until Joseph's coming at midday, for they heard that they would eat bread there.
26. And Joseph came to the house, and they brought him the gift that was in their hand, to the house, and bowed down to him to the earth.
27. And he questioned them about their peace,^h and said, Does your father, the old man of whom you spoke, have peace? Is he still alive?
28. And they said, Your servant our father has peace; he is still alive. And they bowed, and bowed down.
29. And he lifted up his eyes and saw Benjamin his brother, his mother's son, and said, Is this your youngest brother, whom you said [something about) to me? And he said, God be gracious to you, my son.
30. And Joseph hastened, because feelings of compassion were being roused in him towards his brother, and he sought [somewhere] to weep; and he went to his bedchamber and wept there.
31. And he washed his face and went out; and he contained himself and said, Set on bread.
32. And they set for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians eating with him by themselves; for the Egyptians cannot eat bread with the Hebrews, since that is an abomination to the Egyptians.
33. And they sat in front of him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth; and the men were astonished [and looked] each at his companion.
34. And he took portions from before his face to them, and he multiplied Benjamin's portion above the portions of all theirs - five measures more. And they drank, and drank plentifully with him.

Notes