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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 # 6745

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6745. 'And nurse him for me' means that she should instill into him good compatible with that kind of religion. This is clear from the meaning of 'nursing' as instilling good, dealt with below; and from the representation of' Pharaoh's daughter' as a kind of religion, dealt with in 6729. And since Pharaoh's daughter says that the woman should nurse him for her, the meaning is that she should instill good compatible with that kind of religion.

[2] The fact that 'nursing' means instilling good is evident from the meaning of 'a wet nurse' as the instillation of good, dealt with above in 6740. In addition to the places there which are quoted from the Word there are also the following: In Moses,

They will call peoples to the mountain; there they will offer sacrifices of righteousness, because they will suck the plentifulness of the sea, and the hidden treasures of the secrets of the sand. Deuteronomy 33:19.

This is a prophetic utterance made by Moses concerning Zebulun and Issachar. 'Calling peoples to the mountain, there offering sacrifices of righteousness' means worship arising out of love. 'Sucking the plentifulness of the sea' means that they will at that time take in a large amount of true factual knowledge, that is, such knowledge will be instilled into them. For 'sucking' here is the same expression as 'being nursed', as it also is in the places commented on below.

[3] In Isaiah,

I will make you an eternal magnificence, a joy of generation after generation; and you will suck the milk of the nations, indeed the breasts of kings will you suck. Isaiah 60:15-16.

This refers to Zion and Jerusalem, which are the celestial Church, 'Zion' being the internal part of it and 'Jerusalem' the external. 'Sucking the milk of the nations' stands for the instillation of celestial good, 'sucking the breasts of kings' for the instillation of celestial truth. Anyone can see that these words conceal a meaning that is not apparent in the letter and that since it is the Divine Word there is a holiness concealed within that meaning. If this were not so what would 'sucking the milk of the nations' or 'sucking the breasts of kings' be? The holy meaning concealed there is not at all evident unless one knows what is meant by 'sucking', 'milk', 'the nations', 'breasts', and 'kings'. 'Milk' is the celestial-spiritual or the truth of good, see 2184;'the nations' are forms of good contained in worship, 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849, 6005; 'breasts' are affections for goodness and truth, 6432; 'kings' are truths, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148; and 'sucking' is the instillation of good.

[4] From all this one may now know what the meaning of these words is when they apply to the celestial Church, which is Zion and Jerusalem. When Zion and Jerusalem are mentioned together, they mean the celestial Church, 'Zion' the internal part of it and 'Jerusalem' the external, as stated above. But when Jerusalem is mentioned without Zion it in most cases means the spiritual Church.

[5] In the same prophet,

That you may suck and be satisfied with the breast of Jerusalem's consolations, and that you may press out and be delighted by the splendour of her glory. Behold, I spread peace over her like a stream, and the glory of the gentiles like an inundating torrent, in order that you may suck; you will be lifted onto her side and find pleasure on her knees. Isaiah 66:11-12.

Here also 'sucking' stands for the instillation of good.

[6] In Jeremiah,

Even the sea monsters present the breast, they nurse their young; the daughter of My people is cruel, the tongue of the nursling has cleaved to the roof of its mouth because of thirst. Lamentations 4:3-4.

'The daughter of My people' stands for the spiritual Church, here for that Church when it has been laid waste. Its failure, unlike even the sea monsters, to nurse its young stands for no instillation of truth. 'The tongue of the nursling has cleaved to the roof of its mouth because of thirst' stands for the want of such truth, so that every trace of innocence perishes, 'nursling' being innocence and 'thirst' the want of truth.

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