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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 # 7290

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7290. Saying, Give you a wonder. That this signifies, and they therefore desire to be confirmed, is evident from the signification of “wonders and signs,” as being confirmations of truths (see n. 3900, 6870). As regards the wonders and signs treated of in what follows, be it known that they were done among such as were in external worship, and did not desire to know anything about internal worship, for they who were in such worship had to be driven by external means. This is the reason why miracles were done among the Israelitish and Jewish people, for they were in external worship only. In the absence of their desire for internal worship they had to be in external, in order that they might represent holy things in outward ones, and that in this way there might be communication with heaven as by something of a church, for correspondences, representatives, and significatives conjoin the natural world with the spiritual. This is the reason why so many miracles were done in that nation.

[2] But miracles are not done among those who are in internal worship, that is, in charity and faith, because to these they are hurtful, for miracles compel belief, and what is compelled does not remain, but is dissipated. The inward things of worship, which are faith and charity, must be implanted in freedom, for then they are appropriated, and what is so appropriated remains; whereas that which is implanted in compulsion, remains outside the internal man in the external, because nothing enters into the internal man except by means of intellectual ideas, which are reasons; for the ground which there receives is an enlightened rational. Hence it is that no miracles are wrought at this day. That they would be hurtful, can be seen from what has been said; for they drive men to believe, and fix their ideas in the external man that the case is so; and if the internal man afterward denies that which the miracles have confirmed, there results an opposition and collision of the internal and external man; and finally when the ideas derived from miracles are dissipated, there is effected a conjunction of falsity and truth, and thus a profanation. From this it is evident how injurious at the present day are miracles in a church in which the inward things of worship have been disclosed. These moreover are the things signified by the Lord’s words to Thomas:

Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are they who see not, and believe (John 20:29); thus they are blessed who do not believe through miracles.

[3] But miracles are not injurious to those who are in external worship without internal, for with such there can be no opposition of the internal and external man, thus no collision, consequently no profanation. That miracles do not contribute anything to faith, may be sufficiently evident from the miracles wrought among the people of Israel in Egypt, and in the wilderness, in that they had no effect at all upon them. Although that people had recently seen so many miracles in Egypt, and afterward the sea Suph divided, and the Egyptians sunk therein; the pillar of a cloud going before them by day, and the pillar of fire by night; the manna daily raining down from heaven; and although they saw Mount Sinai smoking, and heard Jehovah speaking thence, besides other miracles, nevertheless in the midst of such things they fell away from all faith, and from the worship of Jehovah to the worship of a calf (Exodus 32); from which it is plain what is the effect of miracles.

[4] Still less would be their effect at this day, when it is not acknowledged that there is anything from the spiritual world, and when everything of the kind which takes place, and which is not attributed to nature, is denied; for denial universally reigns against the Divine influx and government in the earth. And therefore if the man of the church were at this day to see the veriest Divine miracles, he would first bring them down into nature, and there defile them, and afterward would reject them as phantasms, and finally would laugh at all who attributed them to the Divine, and not to nature. That miracles are of no effect is also evident from the Lord’s words in Luke:

If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead (Luke 16:31).

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

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Exodus 7

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1 Yahweh said to Moses, "Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.

2 You shall speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land.

3 I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

4 But Pharaoh will not listen to you, and I will lay my hand on Egypt, and bring forth my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments.

5 The Egyptians shall know that I am Yahweh, when I stretch forth my hand on Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them."

6 Moses and Aaron did so. As Yahweh commanded them, so they did.

7 Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8 Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

9 "When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, 'Perform a miracle!' then you shall tell Aaron, 'Take your rod, and cast it down before Pharaoh, that it become a serpent.'"

10 Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, as Yahweh had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

11 Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and the sorcerers. They also, the magicians of Egypt, did the same thing with their enchantments.

12 For they each cast down their rods, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

13 Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.

14 Yahweh said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is stubborn. He refuses to let the people go.

15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning. Behold, he goes out to the water; and you shall stand by the river's bank to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand.

16 You shall tell him, 'Yahweh, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, "Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness:" and behold, until now you haven't listened.

17 Thus says Yahweh, "In this you shall know that I am Yahweh. Behold, I will strike with the rod that is in my hand on the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

18 The fish that are in the river shall die, and the river shall become foul; and the Egyptians shall loathe to drink water from the river."'"

19 Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Take your rod, and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, and over their pools, and over all their ponds of water, that they may become blood; and there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone.'"

20 Moses and Aaron did so, as Yahweh commanded; and he lifted up the rod, and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood.

21 The fish that were in the river died; and the river became foul, and the Egyptians couldn't drink water from the river; and the blood was throughout all the land of Egypt.

22 The magicians of Egypt did the same thing with their enchantments; and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he didn't listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.

23 Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he lay even this to heart.

24 All the Egyptians dug around the river for water to drink; for they couldn't drink of the water of the river.

25 Seven days were fulfilled, after Yahweh had struck the river.