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Exodus 2

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1 Now a man of the house of Levi took as his wife a daughter of Levi.

2 And she became with child and gave birth to a Son; and when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she kept him secretly for three months.

3 And when she was no longer able to keep him secret, she made him a basket out of the stems of water-plants, pasting sticky earth over it to keep the water out; and placing the baby in it she put it among the plants by the edge of the Nile.

4 And his sister took her place at a distance to see what would become of him.

5 Now Pharaoh's daughter came down to the Nile to take a bath, while her women were walking by the riverside; and she saw the basket among the river-plants, and sent her servant-girl to get it.

6 And opening it, she saw the child, and he was crying. And she had pity on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children.

7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, May I go and get you one of the Hebrew women to give him the breast?

8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the girl went and got the child's mother.

9 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take the child away and give it milk for me, and I will give you payment. And the woman took the child and gave it milk at her breast.

10 And when the child was older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son, and she gave him the name Moses, Because, she said, I took him out of the water.

11 Now when Moses had become a man, one day he went out to his people and saw how hard their work was; and he saw an Egyptian giving blows to a Hebrew, one of his people.

12 And turning this way and that, and seeing no one, he put the Egyptian to death, covering his body with sand.

13 And he went out the day after and saw two of the Hebrews fighting: and he said to him who was in the wrong, Why are you fighting your brother?

14 And he said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? are you going to put me to death as you did the Egyptian? And Moses was in fear, and said, It is clear that the thing has come to light.

15 Now when Pharaoh had news of this, he would have put Moses to death. But Moses went in flight from Pharaoh into the land of Midian: and he took his seat by a water-spring.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came to get water for their father's flock.

17 And the keepers of the sheep came up and were driving them away; but Moses got up and came to their help, watering their flock for them.

18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that you have come back so quickly today?

19 And they said, An Egyptian came to our help against the keepers of sheep and got water for us and gave it to the flock.

20 And he said to his daughters, Where is he? why have you let the man go? make him come in and give him a meal.

21 And Moses was happy to go on living with the man; and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses.

22 And she gave birth to a son, to whom he gave the name Gershom: for he said, I have been living in a strange land.

23 Now after a long time the king of Egypt came to his end: and the children of Israel were crying in their grief under the weight of their work, and their cry for help came to the ears of God.

24 And at the sound of their weeping the agreement which God had made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob came to his mind.

25 And God's eyes were turned to the children of Israel and he gave them the knowledge of himself.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 6717

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6717. 'And married a daughter of Levi' means its being joined to good. This is clear from the meaning of 'marrying a daughter' as a joining together; and from the representation of 'Levi' as good, dealt with immediately above in 6716. How to understand the idea that truth which had its origin in good was joined to good must be stated. The truth that is instilled by the Lord into a person who is being regenerated traces its origin back to good. Initially good does not reveal itself because it is in the internal man; but truth does reveal itself because it is in the external and because the internal acts on the external, and not vice versa, 6322. Good is that which acts on truth and makes it its own, since nothing else than good acknowledges and receives truth. This becomes apparent in the affection for truth that is present with a person who is being regenerated. The affection derives from the good, for an affection that is a mark of love cannot come from any other source. But this truth that is received at this initial stage, that is, before regeneration, is not the genuine truth of good; rather, it is the truth of doctrine. For at this stage a person does not ponder on whether it is the truth but accepts it because it is part of the teaching of the Church. And as long as he does not ponder on whether it is the truth and then accept it, it is neither his own nor thereby comes to be his own. This state is the first for a person who is being regenerated.

[2] But once he has been regenerated the good reveals itself, in particular through the fact that he loves to lead his life in accordance with the truth which of his own accord he acknowledges to be the truth. At this point because he wills and acts on the truth he accepts, it comes to be his own. The reason for this is that it is not merely in his understanding, as it was previously, but is also in his will; and what is in the will has come to be his own. And since the understanding now makes one with the will - for the understanding accepts and the will puts into practice - there is a joining together of the two, that is to say, of good and truth. Once the joining together has been effected, then as if from a marriage offspring are born repeatedly, such offspring being truths and forms of good, and all the blessing and delight that accompanies them. These two states are what are meant by truth that has its origin in good and by truth joined to good.

[3] But the truth that is joined to good, meant here by 'a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi', is not the kind of truth that a person receives in the first state; for what he receives then is the truth of doctrine taught by the Church in which he was born. Rather, it is truth itself, for the subject in the highest sense is the way in which the Lord as to His Human became the law of God, the truth embodied in this law being what is meant by truth itself. The reason why the origin of such truth is good is that it was the Divine - what was the Lord's inmost Self and the Being (Esse) of His life - that gave rise to that truth in His Human. This was how that truth came to be joined to good, for the Divine is nothing other than good.

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