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Exodus 7

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1 And the Lord said to Moses, See I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet.

2 Say whatever I give you orders to Say: and Aaron your brother will give word to Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of his land.

3 And I will make Pharaoh's heart hard, and my signs and wonders will be increased in the land of Egypt.

4 But Pharaoh will not give ear to you, and I will put my hand on Egypt, and take my armies, my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, after great punishments.

5 And the Egyptians will see that I am the Lord, when my hand is stretched out over Egypt, and I take the children of Israel out from among them.

6 And Moses and Aaron did so: as the Lord gave them orders, so they did.

7 And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they gave the Lord's word to Pharaoh.

8 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

9 If Pharaoh says to you, Let me see a wonder: then say to Aaron, Take your rod and put it down on the earth before Pharaoh so that it may become a snake.

10 Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and they did as the Lord had said: and Aaron put his rod down on the earth before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a snake.

11 Then Pharaoh sent for the wise men and the wonder-workers, and they, the wonder-workers of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts.

12 For every one of them put down his rod on the earth, and they became snakes: but Aaron's rod made a meal of their rods.

13 But Pharaoh's heart was made hard, and he did not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.

14 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh's heart is unchanged; he will not let the people go.

15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning; when he goes out to the water, you will be waiting for him by the edge of the Nile, with the rod which was turned into a snake in your hand;

16 And say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, Let my people go so that they may give me worship in the waste land; but up to now you have not given ear to his words.

17 So the Lord says, By this you may be certain that I am the Lord; see, by the touch of this rod in my hand the waters of the Nile will be turned to blood;

18 And the fish in the Nile will come to destruction, and the river will send up a bad smell, and the Egyptians will not be able, for disgust, to make use of the water of the Nile for drinking.

19 And the Lord said, Say to Aaron, Let the rod in your hand be stretched out over the waters of Egypt, and over the rivers and the streams and the pools, and over every stretch of water, so that they may be turned to blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.

20 And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had said; and when his rod had been lifted up and stretched out over the waters of the Nile before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, all the water in the Nile was turned to blood;

21 And the fish in the Nile came to destruction, and a bad smell went up from the river, and the Egyptians were not able to make use of the water of the Nile for drinking; and there was blood through all the land of Egypt.

22 And the wonder-workers of Egypt did the same with their secret arts: but Pharaoh's heart was made hard, and he would not give ear to them, as the Lord had said.

23 Then Pharaoh went into his house, and did not take even this to heart.

24 And all the Egyptians made holes round about the Nile to get drinking-water, for they were not able to make use of the Nile water.

25 And seven days went past, after the Lord had put his hand on the Nile.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 3762

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3762. 'And went to the land of the sons of the east' means a raising up towards truths that relate to love. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land of the sons of the east'. For Aram or Syria was called 'the land of the sons of the east', as is evident from the fact that it was the land to which Jacob went, see also 3249. In general, 'Syria' means cognitions of good, as shown in 1232, 1234, but specifically 'Aram Naharaim' or Syria of the [Two] Rivers means cognitions of truth, in 3051, 3664. Here however it is not said that he went to Aram or Syria but 'to the land of the sons of the east', so as to mean that which is the subject in the whole of this chapter, namely an ascent towards truths that relate to love. The expression 'truths that relate to love' is used to describe those truths which in other places have been called celestial truths, for they are cognitions concerning charity towards the neighbour and concerning love to the Lord. In the highest sense, where the Lord is the subject, they are truths that relate to Divine love.

[2] These truths, that is to say, those concerning charity towards the neighbour and concerning love to the Lord, must first be learned before a person can be regenerated, and must also be acknowledged and believed. And insofar as those truths are acknowledged and believed, and are endowed with life, that person is also regenerated and those truths are implanted in his natural, where they exist as in their own soil. They are first implanted there through the instruction received from parents and teachers, then from the Word of the Lord, and after that from personal reflection on them. But all of this does no more than to deposit those truths in the person's natural memory and so to place them among the cognitions there. They are still not acknowledged, believed, and received unless life is led in accordance with them, in which case the person enters into an affection for them; and insofar as he enters into an affection for them because his life accords with them, those truths are implanted in his natural as their own soil. Things that are not so implanted do indeed remain with that person, but only in his memory as some item of knowledge or historical fact which does no more than enable him to talk about such things, to further his reputation by means of them, and in so doing to grow in wealth and position. When this is the case truths have not been implanted within him.

[3] As regards the meaning of 'the land of the sons of the east' as truths relating to love, and so as cognitions of truth leading the way to good, this may be seen from the meaning of 'sons' as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, and from the meaning of 'the east' as love, dealt with in 101, 1250, 3249. Their land is the soil in which they exist. For 'the sons of the east' are those who possess cognitions concerning truth and good and therefore the truths that relate to love. This may be seen further from other places in the Word, as in the first Book of Kings,

The wisdom of Solomon surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of the Egyptians. 1 Kings 4:30.

Here 'the wisdom of the sons of the east' means interior cognitions concerning truth and good, and so means people who possess them. 'The wisdom of the Egyptians' however means knowledge of the same things as they exist in a lower degree -'the Egyptians' meaning factual knowledge in general, see 1164, 1165, 1462.

[4] In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Arise, go up against Kedar; lay waste the sons of the east. They will take their tents and flocks, their curtains and all their vessels, and will take their camels. Jeremiah 49:28-29.

Here 'the sons of the east' is used to mean those who possess cognitions concerning good and truth. This is clear from the fact that 'they will take their tents and flocks, also their curtains and all their vessels, as well as their camels'. For 'tents' means holy forms of good, 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3312; 'flocks' the goods that flow from charity, 343, 2566; 'curtains' holy truths, 2576, 3478; 'vessels' the truths of faith, and facts, 3068, 3079; 'camels' factual knowledge in general, 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145. Thus 'the sons of the east' means those who possess these, that is, cognitions concerning what is good and what is true.

[5] The wise men from the east who came to Jesus when He was born belonged to those people called the sons of the east. This becomes clear from the fact of their awareness that the Lord was to be born, and that they knew of His Coming from the star which appeared to them in the east. These matters are described in Matthew as follows,

When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, behold wise men from the east came into Jerusalem, saying, Where is He born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him. Matthew 2:1-2.

The fact that such a prophecy existed from of old among the sons of the east, who were from Syria, is clear from Balaam's prophecy concerning the Lord's Coming, in Moses,

I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star will arise out of Jacob and a sceptre will rise up out of Israel. Numbers 24:17.

The fact that Balaam was from the land of the sons of the east, that is, from Syria, is evident from the following in Moses,

Balaam uttered his declaration and said, From Syria has Balak, the king of Moab, brought me, from the mountains of the east. Numbers 23:7.

The wise men who came to Jesus when He was born are called the magi, but this expression was used for wise men at that time, as is clear from many places, such as Genesis 41:8; Exodus 7:11; Daniel 2:27; 4:6-7; 1 Kings 4:30; and in various places in the Prophets.

[6] 'The sons of the east' in the contrary sense means cognitions concerning evil and falsity, and so means those who possess these. This is clear in Isaiah,

The envy of Ephraim will depart, and the enemies of Judah will be cut off. They will fly down onto the shoulder of the Philistines towards the sea, and together they will plunder the sons of the east. Isaiah 11:13-14.

In Ezekiel, when prophesying against the sons of Ammon,

Behold, I have handed you over to the sons of the east as an inheritance, and they will station their ranks among you. Ezekiel 25:4, 10.

In the Book of Judges,

When Israel put in seed, Midian came up and Amalek, and the sons of the east; and they came up upon them. Judges 6:3.

'Midian' stands for those under the influence of falsity because the good of life does not exist with them, 3242; 'Amalek' for those under the influence of falsities with which they assail truths, 1679; 'the sons of the east' for those who possess cognitions that support what is false.

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