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Exodus 33

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1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, Depart, go up hence, thou and the people that thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land of which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:

2 and I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:

3 unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiffnecked people, lest I consume thee in the way.

4 And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.

5 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people; if I go up into the midst of thee for one moment, I shall consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.

6 And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from mount Horeb onward.

7 Now Moses used to take the tent and to pitch it without the camp, afar off from the camp; and he called it, The tent of meeting. And it came to pass, that every one that sought Jehovah went out unto the tent of meeting, which was without the camp.

8 And it came to pass, when Moses went out unto the Tent, that all the people rose up, and stood, every man at his Tent door, and looked after Moses, until he was gone into the Tent.

9 And it came to pass, when Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, and stood at the door of the Tent: and [Jehovah] spake with Moses.

10 And all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent: and all the people rose up and worshipped, every man at his Tent door.

11 And Jehovah spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And he turned again into the camp: but his minister Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the Tent.

12 And Moses said unto Jehovah, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found favor in my sight.

13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thy sight, show me now thy ways, that I may know thee, to the end that I may find favor in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.

14 And he said, My presence shall go [with thee], and I will give thee rest.

15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not [with me], carry us not up hence.

16 For wherein now shall it be known that I have found favor in thy sight, I and thy people? is it not in that thou goest with us, so that we are separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth?

17 And Jehovah said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken; for thou hast found favor in my sight, and I know thee by name.

18 And he said, Show me, I pray thee, thy glory.

19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and will proclaim the name of Jehovah before thee; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for man shall not see me and live.

21 and Jehovah said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock:

22 and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand until I have passed by:

23 and I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back; but my face shall not be seen.

   

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Exodus 23:24

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24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works; but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and break in pieces their pillars.

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Arcana Coelestia # 4776

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4776. 'An evil wild animal has devoured him' means that desires for evil annihilated it. This is clear from the meaning of 'an evil wild animal' as a lie invented out of a life of evil desires, dealt with in 4729, and therefore as such desires; and from the meaning of 'devouring' as annihilating, because it has reference to the truth of the Church. The one great Truth the Church possesses is that love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour are first and foremost, Mark 12:29-31, a truth that evil desires annihilate. For those who lead a life of evil desires cannot lead a life of love and charity since these two kinds of life are complete opposites. A life of evil desires is one in which a person loves only himself and not his neighbour except out of self-interest or for his own sake. People like this therefore annihilate charity among themselves, and those who annihilate charity also annihilate love to the Lord; for charity is the only means through which anyone loves the Lord, and the Lord dwells within charity. An affection that belongs to charity is a genuine heavenly affection, which comes from the Lord alone. From this it may be seen that desires for evil annihilate the one great truth the Church possesses; and once it has been annihilated some other means is invented which is called the way to salvation; and this is faith. When faith moreover is separated from charity actual truths are defiled, for in that case no knowledge exists any longer of what charity is, or even of what the neighbour is. Nor as a consequence does any knowledge exist about the inner essence of a human being, nor indeed of what heaven is. For the essence of a human being, or heaven within him, is charity, which consists in goodwill to others, to his community, to his country, to the Church, to the Lord's kingdom, and so to the Lord Himself. From this one may deduce what truth possessed by the Church must be like when there is no knowledge of the essential truths and when evil desires reign, standing opposed to these essential truths. When a life of evil desires speaks about them, are not truths defiled to such an extent that they cease to be recognizable?

[2] The truth that no one can be saved unless he has led a good charitable life, and so has acquired affections for that life, which exist in him as goodwill shown to others and as good deeds done to them which are motivated by that goodwill; also, the truth that no one can possibly accept the truths of faith - that is to say, take them in and make them his own - except him who leads a charitable life, have been made perfectly plain to me from those in heaven to whom I have been allowed to speak. Everyone there is a form of charity, the beauty and goodness of that form depending on the nature of the charity. The pleasure, bliss, and happiness of those there flow from their being able - because they are motivated by goodwill - to do good to others. Anyone who has not been leading a charitable life cannot possibly know that heaven and heavenly joy consist in goodwill and in good deeds motivated by that goodwill. To one of his kind heaven consists in goodwill shown to himself, with any good deeds done to others being motivated by this selfish goodwill. But this is in fact hell; for as has been stated, heaven is distinguished from hell in that heaven consists in doing good because one is motivated by goodwill, and hell in doing ill because one is motivated by ill will. Those governed by love towards the neighbour are motivated by goodwill to do good deeds, but those governed by self-love are motivated to do ill ones by ill will. The reason the latter are like this is that they love no one but themselves, and others only insofar as they see themselves in others, and others in themselves. They also hate these others, that hatred revealing itself the moment these go away from them and are no longer part of them. They are like robbers who love one another while they are in league with one another; but at heart they long to kill one another if any spoils can be gained by doing so.

[3] From all this one may see what heaven is, namely love towards the neighbour, and what hell is, namely self-love. Those governed by love towards the neighbour are able to accept all truths of faith, to take them in and make them their own; for love towards the neighbour holds every truth of faith within it since it has heaven within it and the Lord within it. But those governed by self-love cannot possibly accept the truths of faith since hell lies within that love. In no way can they accept the truths of faith apart from doing so for the sake of improving their own positions and for the sake of material gain; thus they cannot possibly take them in and make them their own. What they do take in and make their own are denials of the truth. For in their hearts they do not believe in the existence of hell and heaven, or in the life after death. Nor therefore do they believe anything that is said about hell and heaven, or about the life after death, and so nothing whatever from the Word and from doctrine regarding faith and charity. They seem to themselves to be believers when they take part in worship, but they do so because that state has been instilled into them since early childhood. But as soon as they leave that worship behind them they also leave that state of belief behind them. At this point, now left to think for themselves, they do not have any belief at all; and what is more, the life that their love fires them to lead causes them to think up ideas to justify it. These ideas they call truths, and also back them up from the literal sense of the Word; but they are in fact falsities. This is what all are like who in life and doctrine are adherents to faith separated from charity.

[4] In addition it should be recognized that a person's love includes everything, for his love determines the life he leads, and therefore only into a person's love does the Lord enter with His life. As is people's love therefore, so is their life because so is their reception of it. Love towards the neighbour receives the life of heaven, while self-love receives the life of hell. Thus everything of heaven lies within love towards the neighbour, and everything of hell within self-love. The fact that love includes everything may be illustrated by many observations of nature. All living creatures, not only those that walk on dry land but also those which fly in the air or swim in water, move in response to their own love. Into their love comes whatever is of use to them in the life they lead, that is, to their feeding, housing, and reproducing themselves. Therefore every genus knows its own food, dwelling-places, and mating habits such as pairing off, building nests, laying eggs, and rearing chicks.

[5] Bees likewise know how to build cells, extract honey from flowers, fill honeycombs with it, and make provision for the winter. Indeed they know how to establish a system of government under a single ruler, besides many other remarkable activities. All this is a product of what is entering their love, it being merely the different forms their affections take that lead to the different results their life produces. Their love includes all this. So what would heavenly love include if the human being was governed by heavenly love? Would not the whole of wisdom and intelligence as these exist in heaven be included? From this too it is evident that those who have led charitable lives, these and no others, are accepted into heaven, and that because they have charity they have the ability to accept and take in all truths, that is, every truth of faith. The reverse however takes place with adherents to faith separated from charity, that is, to those who know some truths but have no charity. Their love accepts ideas such as are suited to itself; that is to say, self-love and love of the world accept ideas that are the reverse of truths, the kind that exist in hell.

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