14
So the Lord let himself be turned from his purpose of sending punishment on his people.
Exodus 32:14
Arcana Coelestia # 10396
10396. 'And the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain' means the Israelite nation, when they did not discern in the Word anything from heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing', when it refers to the understanding of the Word, as discernment, dealt with in 2150, 3764, 3863, 4567, 4723, 5400; from the representation of 'Moses' as the Word, dealt with in the places referred to in 9372; from the meaning of 'delaying to come down', when this refers to discernment of Divine Truth obtained from the Word, as not flowing in, for Divine Truth which flows in and resides with a person is said to come down from heaven; and from the meaning of 'Mount Sinai' as heaven in respect of Divine Truth, dealt with in 9420. 'The people' is used here literally to mean the Israelite nation; for this chapter deals with that nation, with what it was like in its discernment of Divine Truth obtained from the Word, and in its discernment of the inner realities that were represented within the things which Jehovah commanded the children of Israel from Mount Sinai through Moses - the things contained in the previous chapters, Exodus 25-Exodus 31 inclusive. From all this it is clear that 'the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain' means the Israelite nation, when they did not discern in the Word anything from heaven, nor for this reason anything that was represented in the measures commanded from Mount Sinai, that is, the inner realities.
[2] The situation in all this is that the subject in the chapters immediately before has been the statutes, judgements, and laws which Jehovah commanded the children of Israel, among whom a Church was to be established. Each one of these was an external regulation representing something internal, as has been shown in the explanations of those chapters. But the character of the Israelite nation was such that they did not wish to know anything whatever about the inner realities that were represented, only about the outward forms that served to represent them. The reason why that nation was like this was that they were ruled completely by bodily and earthly kinds of love; and with those who are ruled by those kinds of love their interiors, which would otherwise lie open to heaven, are closed off. Everyone has an internal and an external; the internal exists for heaven's purposes, and the external for the world's purposes. When the external is dominant, worldly, bodily, and earthly interests reign; but when the internal is dominant, heavenly ones do so. The human being has been created in such a way however that the external may be subordinate to the internal, thus the world within him may be subordinate to heaven; for as has been stated, the external exists for the world's purposes, and the internal for heaven's. When therefore the external is dominant the internal is closed, because then a person turns himself away from heaven and the Lord towards the world and self; and the place he turns to is where his heart is, consequently where his love is and together with that love the whole of his life, since a person's life consists in his love.
[3] These things have been mentioned in order that people may know what the situation is with those who are ruled by bodily and earthly kinds of love, namely that such people's interiors are closed off; and those whose interiors are closed off do not acknowledge anything internal. Only those things which they see with their eyes or touch with their hands they say exist, and all else which they do not see with their eyes or touch with their hands they say do not exist. Consequently they have no belief at all in the existence of heaven, in life after death, or in the inner realities taught by the Church. This was what the Israelite nation was like; and the present chapter shows that they were such.
[4] Anyone who does not know that inner realities compose the Church with a person, and not outward things without them, cannot do other than suppose that this nation was chosen and also loved by Jehovah in preference to all others. But the truth of the matter is entirely different. They were accepted because they insisted on it, yet not in order that any Church might exist among them, only what was representative of a Church, to the end that the Word could be written, with such things constituting its lowest level. The reason why in the Word that nation is called Jehovah's people, the nation chosen and loved [by Him], is that in it Judah is used to mean the celestial Church, Israel the spiritual Church, and each son of Jacob some aspect of the Church. Furthermore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob serve to mean the Lord Himself, and so do Moses, Aaron, and David. But since the subject in the whole of this chapter is that nation, and the fact that no Church could be established among them, only what was representative of a Church, please see, before anything further is presented, what has been stated and shown previously regarding that nation,
No Church existed with that nation, only what was representative of a Church, 4281, 4288, 4311, 4500, 4899, 4912, 6304, 7048, 9320.
Thus they were not chosen, only accepted because they insisted on it, 4290, 4293, 7051, 7439.
They were entirely restricted to external things devoid of anything internal, 4293, 4311, 4459(end), 4834, 4844, 4847, 4865, 4868, 4874, 4903, 4913, 9320, 9373, 9380, 9381.
Their worship was merely external, 3147, 3479, 8871.
Nor did they wish to know about the inner things of worship and of the Word, 3479, 4429, 4433, 4680.
Therefore they were not allowed to know those things, 301, 302, 304, 2520, 3769.
If they had known them they would have rendered them profane, 3398, 3489, 4289.
Nevertheless through the outward things of worship among them, which were representative of inner realities, there was contact with heaven, and in what way, 4311, 4444, 6304, 8588, 8788, 8806.
When they were engaged in worship their interiors, which were foul, were closed, 3480, 9962.
This was possible among that nation, which is why they have been preserved even to the present day, 3479, 4281, 6588, 9377.
They worshipped Jehovah, but no more than His name, 3732(end), 4299, 6877.
At heart they were idolaters, 4208, 4281, 4820, 5998, 6877, 7401, 8301, 8882.
In general, they were the worst nation, 4314, 4316, 4317, 4444, 4503, 4750, 4751, 4815, 4820, 4832, 5057, 7248, 8819, 9320.
Genesis 38
1
It happened at that time, that Judah went down from his brothers, and visited a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
2
Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her, and went in to her.
3
She conceived, and bore a son; and he named him Er.
4
She conceived again, and bore a son; and she named him Onan.
5
She yet again bore a son, and named him Shelah: and he was at Chezib, when she bore him.
6
Judah took a wife for Er, his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
7
Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Yahweh. Yahweh killed him.
8
Judah said to Onan, "Go in to your brother's wife, and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her, and raise up seed to your brother."
9
Onan knew that the seed wouldn't be his; and it happened, when he went in to his brother's wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest he should give seed to his brother.
10
The thing which he did was evil in the sight of Yahweh, and he killed him also.
11
Then Judah said to Tamar, his daughter-in-law, "Remain a widow in your father's house, until Shelah, my son, is grown up;" for he said, "Lest he also die, like his brothers." Tamar went and lived in her father's house.
12
After many days, Shua's daughter, the wife of Judah, died. Judah was comforted, and went up to his sheepshearers to Timnah, he and his friend Hirah, the Adullamite.
13
It was told Tamar, saying, "Behold, your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep."
14
She took off of her the garments of her widowhood, and covered herself with her veil, and wrapped herself, and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is by the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she wasn't given to him as a wife.
15
When Judah saw her, he thought that she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.
16
He turned to her by the way, and said, "Please come, let me come in to you," for he didn't know that she was his daughter-in-law. She said, "What will you give me, that you may come in to me?"
17
He said, "I will send you a young goat from the flock." She said, "Will you give me a pledge, until you send it?"
18
He said, "What pledge will I give you?" She said, "Your signet and your cord, and your staff that is in your hand." He gave them to her, and came in to her, and she conceived by him.
19
She arose, and went away, and put off her veil from her, and put on the garments of her widowhood.
20
Judah sent the young goat by the hand of his friend, the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman's hand, but he didn't find her.
21
Then he asked the men of her place, saying, "Where is the prostitute, that was at Enaim by the road?" They said, "There has been no prostitute here."
22
He returned to Judah, and said, "I haven't found her; and also the men of the place said, 'There has been no prostitute here.'"
23
Judah said, "Let her keep it, lest we be shamed. Behold, I sent this young goat, and you haven't found her."
24
It happened about three months later, that it was told Judah, saying, "Tamar, your daughter-in-law, has played the prostitute; and moreover, behold, she is with child by prostitution." Judah said, "Bring her forth, and let her be burnt."
25
When she was brought forth, she sent to her father-in-law, saying, "By the man, whose these are, I am with child." She also said, "Please discern whose are these--the signet, and the cords, and the staff."
26
Judah acknowledged them, and said, "She is more righteous than I, because I didn't give her to Shelah, my son." He knew her again no more.
27
It happened in the time of her travail, that behold, twins were in her womb.
28
When she travailed, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, "This came out first."
29
It happened, as he drew back his hand, that behold, his brother came out, and she said, "Why have you made a breach for yourself?" Therefore his name was called Perez.
30
Afterward his brother came out, that had the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.
