Arcana Coelestia # 10691
10691. That Moses knew not that the skin of his faces shone when he spoke with Him. That this signifies the internal of the Word shining forth in its external without the external perceiving it, is evident from the representation of Moses, as being that external of the Word in which is the internal (see n. 10563, 10571, 10607, 10614); from the signification of “knowing not,” as being not to perceive; from the signification of “shining,” as being to shine forth, for the shining of the skin of Moses’ faces was from a shining forth from within; from the signification of “the shining,” as being what is external of truth and of good (n. 3540, 5554, 8980); and from the signification of “the faces,” as being the interiors (see at the places cited in n. 9546); thus by the “shining of the skin of the faces” is signified the shining forth of the interiors in the external, here in the external of the Word which is the sense of its letter, because by Moses is represented that external of the Word in which is the internal; and from the signification of “speaking,” as being influx. (That when said of Jehovah “to speak” denotes influx, may be seen in n. 2951, 5743, 5797, 7270, 8128, 8660.) From this it is evident that by “Moses knowing not that the skin of his faces shone when he spoke with Him” is signified the internal of the Word shining forth in its external without the external perceiving it. Be it known that by the shining forth of the interiors of the Word in the external is meant the internal sense in the external; for the internal sense continually shows itself and shines in the external, but is noticed by those only who are in internal things; and it is not perceived by those who are in that external in which is an internal, as are those who are called men of the external church; nevertheless, unknown to them, it is present, and affects them. (Who those are that are in the internal of the Word, of the church, and of worship; and who those are that are in the external in which is the internal, may be seen above, n. 10683.) But those who are in the external that is devoid of the internal, as was the Israelitish nation, cannot endure anything whatever of the internal, or of its light in the external; and therefore it is said of them below that they were afraid to come near unto Moses; and that when Moses spoke with them he put a veil on his faces. The reason why the internal sense shines, is that Divine truth is there, such as there is in the heavens, and the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord appears to the angels as light, and moreover, is the light of heaven (as may be seen at the places cited in n. 9548, 9684).
Exodus 34
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Yahweh said to Moses, "Chisel two stone tablets like the first: and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
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Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.
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No one shall come up with you; neither let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mountain."
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He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets.
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Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Yahweh.
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Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, "Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,
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keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children's children, on the third and on the fourth generation."
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Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.
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He said, "If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance."
10
He said, "Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which you are shall see the work of Yahweh; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you.
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Observe that which I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
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Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare in the midst of you:
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but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim;
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for you shall worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
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"Don't make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;
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and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.
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"You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.
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"You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.
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"All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
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The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb: and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. No one shall appear before me empty.
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"Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
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"You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year's end.
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Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.
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For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh, your God, three times in the year.
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"You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning.
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"You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your God. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk."
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Yahweh said to Moses, "Write you these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."
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He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
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It happened, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mountain, that Moses didn't know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.
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When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.
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Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.
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Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all of the commandments that Yahweh had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
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When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
34
But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
35
The children of Israel saw Moses' face, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
