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Exodus 12

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1 Derpå talede HE EN til Moses og Aron i Ægypten og sagde:

2 "Denne Måned skal hos eder være Begyndelsesmåneden, den skal hos eder være den første af Årets Måneder.

3 Tal til hele Israels Menighed og sig: På den tiende Dag i denne Måned skal hver Familiefader tage et Lam, et Lam for hver Familie.

4 Og dersom en Familie er for lille til et Lam, skal han sammen med sin nærmeste Nabo tage et Lam, svarende til Personernes Antal; hvor mange der skal være om et Lam, skal I beregne efter. hvad hver enkelt kan spise.

5 Det skal være et lydefrit, årgammelt Handyr, og I kan tage det enten blandt Fårene eller Gederne.

6 I skal have det gående til den fjortende Dag i denne Måned, og hele Israels Menigheds Forsamling skal slagte det ved Aftenstid.

7 Og de skal tage noget af Blodet og stryge det på de to Dørstolper og Overliggeren i de Huse, hvor I spiser det.

8 I skal spise Kødet samme Nat, stegt over Ilden, og I skal spise usyret Brød og bitre Urter dertil.

9 I må ikke spise noget deraf råt eller kogt i Vand, men kun stegt over Ilden, og Hoved, Ben og Indmad må ikke være skilt fra.

10 I må intet levne deraf til næste Morgen, men hvad der bliver tilovers deraf til næste Morgen, skal I brænde.

11 Og når I spiser det, skal I have Bælte om Lænden ,Sko på Fødderne og Stav i Hånden, og I skal spise det i største Hast. Det er Påske for HE EN.

12 I denne Nat vil jeg drage igennem Ægypten og ihjelslå alt det førstefødte i Ægypten både blandt Folk og Fæ; og over alle Ægyptens Guder vil jeg holde Dom. Jeg er HE EN!

13 Men for eder skal Blodet på Husene, hvor I er, tjene som Tegn, og jeg vil se Blodet og gå eder forbi; intet ødelæggende Slag skal ramme eder, når jeg slår Ægypten.

14 Denne Dag skal være eder en Mindedag, og I skal fejre den som en Højtid for HE EN, Slægt efter Slægt; som en evig gyldig Ordning skal I fejre den.

15 I syv Dage skal I spise usyret Brød. Straks den første Dag skal I skaffe al Surdejg bort af eders Huse; thi hver den, som spiser noget syret fra den første til den syvende Dag, det Menneske skal udryddes af Israel.

16 På den første dag skal I holde Højtidsstævne og ligeledes på den syvende dag. Intet Arbejde må udføres på dem; kun det, enhver behøver til Føde, det og intet andet må I tilberede.

17 I skal holde det usyrede Brøds Højtid, thi på denne selv samme Dag førte jeg eders Hærskarer ud af Ægypten, derfor skal I højtideligholde denne Dag i alle kommende Slægtled som en evig gyldig Ordning.

18 På den fjortende Dag i den første Måned om Aftenen skal I spise usyret Brød og vedblive dermed indtil Månedens en og tyvende Dag om Aftenen.

19 I syv Dage må der ikke findes Surdejg i eders Huse, thi hver den, som spiser noget syret, det Menneske skal udryddes af Israels Menighed, de fremmede så vel som de indfødte i Landet.

20 I må ikke nyde noget som helst syret; hvor I end bor, skal I spise usyret Brød."

21 Da kaldte Moses alle Israels Ældste sammen og sagde til dem: "Gå ud og hent eder Småkvæg til eders Familier og slagt Påskeofferet;

22 og tag eder Ysopkoste, dyp dem i Blodet i Fadet og stryg noget deraf på Overliggeren og de to Dørstolper; og ingen af eder må gå ud af sin Husdør før i Morgen.

23 Thi HE EN vil gå omkring og slå Ægypterne, og når han da ser Blodet på Overliggeren og de to Dørstolper, vil han gå Døren forbi og ikke give Ødelæggeren Adgang til eders Huse for at slå eder.

24 Dette skal I varetage som en Anordning, der gælder for dig og dine Børn til evig Tid.

25 Og når I kommer til det Land, HE EN vil give eder, således som han har forjættet, så skal I overholde denne Skik.

26 Når da eders Børn spørger eder: Hvad betyder den Skik, I der har?

27 så skal I svare: Det er Påskeoffer for HE EN, fordi han gik Israeliternes Huse forbi i Ægypten, dengang han slog Ægypterne, men lod vore Huse urørte!" Da bøjede Folket sig og tilbad.

28 Og Israeliterne gik hen og gjorde, som HE EN havde pålagt Moses og Aron.

29 Men ved Midnatstid ihjelslog HE EN alle de førstefødte i Ægypten lige fra Faraos førstefødte, der skulde arve hans Trone, til den førstefødte hos Fangen, der sad i Fangehullet, og alt det førstefødte af Kvæget.

30 Da stod Farao op om Natten tillige med alle sine Tjenere og alle Ægypterne, og der lød et højt Klageskrig i Ægypten, thi der var intet Hus, hvor der ikke fandtes en død.

31 Og han lod Moses og Aron kalde om Natten og sagde: "Bryd op og drag bort fra mit Folk, I selv og alle Israeliterne, og drag ud og dyrk HE EN, som I har forlangt.

32 Tag også eders Småkvæg og Hornkvæg med, som I har forlangt, og drag bort; og bed også om Velsignelse for mig!"

33 Og Ægypterne trængte på Folket for at påskynde deres Afrejse fra Landet, thi de sagde: "Vi mister alle Livet!"

34 Og , Folket tog deres Dejg med sig, før den var syret, og de bar Dejtrugene på Skulderen, indsvøbte i deres Kapper.

35 Men Israeliterne havde gjort, som Moses havde sagt, og bedt Ægypterne om Sølv og Guldsmykker og om Klæder;

36 og HE EN havde stemt Ægypterne gunstigt mod Folket, så de havde givet dem, hvad de bad om. Således tog de Bytte fra Ægypterne.

37 Så brød Israeliterne op fra ameses til Sukkot, henved 600.000 Mand til Fods foruden Kvinder og Børn.

38 Desuden fulgte en stor Hob sammenløbet Folk med og dertil Småkvæg og Hornkvæg, en vældig Mængde Kvæg.

39 Og af den Dejg, de havde bragt med fra Ægypten, bagte de usyret Brød; den var nemlig ikke syret, de var jo drevet ud af Ægypten uden at få Tid til noget; de havde ikke engang tilberedt sig Tæring til ejsen.

40 Den Tid, Israeliterne havde boet i Ægypten, udgjorde 430 År.

41 Netop på den Dag da de 430 År var til Ende, drog alle HE ENs Hærskarer ud af Ægypten.

42 En Vågenat var det for HE EN, i hvilken han vilde føre dem ud af Ægypten. Den Nat er viet HE EN, en Vågenat for alle Israeliterne, Slægt efter Slægt.

43 HE EN sagde til Moses og Aron: "Dette er Ordningen angående Påskelammet: Ingen fremmed må spise deraf.

44 Men enhver Træl, der er købt for Penge, må spise deraf, såfremt du har fået ham omskåret.

45 Ingen indvandret eller Daglejer må spise deraf.

46 Det skal spises i et og samme Hus, og intet af Kødet må bringes ud af Huset; I må ikke sønderbryde dets Ben.

47 Hele Israels Menighed skal fejre Påsken.

48 Dersom en fremmed bor som Gæst hos dig og vil fejre Påske for HE EN, da skal alle af Mandkøn hos ham omskæres; så må han være med til at fejre den, og han skal være ligestillet med den indfødte i Landet; men ingen uomskåren må spise deraf.

49 En og samme Lov skal gælde for den indfødte i Landet og for den fremmede, der bor som Gæst hos eder."

50 Og Israeliterne gjorde, som HE EN havde pålagt Moses og Aron.

51 På denne selv samme Dag førte HE EN Israeliterne ud af Ægypten, Hærskare for Hærskare.

   


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Apocalypse Revealed # 379

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379. "And made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb." This symbolically means, and by truths have purified those religious beliefs from the falsities accompanying evil, and so have been reformed by the Lord.

Some evils are evils that accompany falsity, and some falsities are falsities that accompany evil. Evils that accompany falsity are found among people who, in accord with their religion, believe that evils do not condemn, provided they orally confess that they are sinners. And falsities that accompany evil are found among people who justify the evils they harbor.

As in no. 378 above, robes here symbolize general truths drawn from the Word, which constitute the people's religious beliefs. They are said to have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb because the color white is predicated of truths (nos. 167, 231, 232), meaning therefore that they used truths to purify their falsities.

This symbolically means also that thus they were reformed by the Lord, because all who have fought against evils in the world and have believed in the Lord are, after their departure from the world, taught by the Lord and led by truths away from the falsities of their religion. And so they are reformed. That is because people who refrain from evils as being sins possess goodness of life, and goodness of life desires truths, and acknowledges and accepts them. But this is never the case with evil of life.

People believe that the blood of the Lamb here and elsewhere in the Word symbolizes the Lord's suffering of the cross. But the suffering of the cross was the final temptation or trial by which the Lord completely overcame the hells and fully glorified His humanity. By these two means He saved mankind (see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 12-14, 15-17, and also no. 67 above). Moreover, because by His suffering of the cross the Lord fully glorified His humanity, which is to say, made it Divine, therefore nothing else can be meant by His flesh and blood but the Divinity in Him and emanating from Him - His flesh meaning the Divine goodness of His Divine love, and His blood meaning the Divine truth emanating from that goodness.

[2] Blood is mentioned many times in the Word, and everywhere it symbolizes, in the spiritual sense, either the Lord's Divine truth, which is the same as the Divine truth of the Word, or in an opposite sense, the Divine truth of the Word falsified or profaned, as can be seen from the following passages.

First, that blood symbolizes the Lord's Divine truth or the Divine truth of the Word can be seen from these passages:

Blood was called the blood of the covenant, and a covenant conjoins, a conjunction that the Lord accomplishes by His Divine truth. So, for example, in Zechariah:

By the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the pit... (Zechariah 9:11)

After Moses read the Book of the Law in the hearing of the people, he sprinkled half the blood on the people and said,

This is the blood of the covenant which Jehovah has made with you in accordance with all these words. (Exodus 24:3-8)

Moreover,

(Jesus) took the cup..., and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. ...this is My blood, the blood of the new covenant... (Matthew 26:27-28, cf. Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20)

The blood of the new covenant or testament symbolizes nothing else than the Word, which is called a covenant or testament - the Old Covenant or Testament, and the New Covenant or Testament - thus symbolizing the Divine truth in it.

[3] Since blood has this symbolic meaning, the Lord therefore gave His disciples wine, saying, "This is My blood" - wine symbolizing Divine truth (no. 316). Wine is also on that account called "the blood of grapes" (Genesis 49:11, Deuteronomy 32:14).

This is still further apparent from these words of the Lord:

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will have no life in you... For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. (John 6:53-56).

It is clearly apparent that blood here means Divine truth, because the text says that he who drinks has life, and abides in the Lord, and the Lord in him. This is the effect of Divine truth and a life in accordance with it, and an effect confirmed by the Holy Supper, as everyone in the church may know.

[4] Since blood symbolizes the Lord's Divine truth, which is the same as the Divine truth of the Word, and this is the essence of the Old and New Covenants or Testaments, therefore blood was the holiest representative symbol in the Israelite Church, in which every single thing corresponded to something spiritual. So, for example, the people were to take some of the blood of the paschal lamb and put it on the doorposts and lintel of their houses to keep the plague from coming upon them (Exodus 12:7, 13, 22). The blood of the burnt offering was to be sprinkled on the altar, at the base of the altar, on Aaron and his sons, and on their vestments (Exodus 29:12, 16, 20-21).

[5] The blood of the Lamb has a like symbolism in the following verses in the book of Revelation:

...war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon... And they overcame it by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony... (Revelation 12:7, 11)

For no one can think that Michael and his angels overcame the dragon with anything other than the Lord's Divine truth in the Word. Angels in heaven, indeed, cannot think of any blood, nor do they think of the Lord's suffering, but of His Divine truth and resurrection. Consequently, when a person thinks about the Lord's blood, angels perceive His Divine truth, and when a person thinks about the Lord's suffering, they perceive His glorification, and then only His resurrection. I have been granted to know the reality of this by much experience.

[6] That blood symbolizes Divine truth is apparent also from these verses in the book of Psalms:

(God) will save the souls of the needy... Precious shall be their blood in His sight. And they shall live, and He will give them the gold of Sheba. (Psalms 72:13-15)

The blood, precious in the sight of God, stands for Divine truth among those people. The gold of Sheba is the resulting wisdom.

In Ezekiel:

Gather together... to My great sacrifice... on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall... drink the blood of the princes of the earth... You shall... drink blood till you are drunk at My sacrifice which I am sacrificing for you... (Thus) I will set My glory among the nations. (Ezekiel 39:17-21)

Blood here does not mean blood, because the statement is that they will drink the blood of the princes of the earth and that they will drink blood till they are drunk. But the true meaning of the word emerges when blood is understood to mean Divine truth. The subject there, too, is the Lord's church, which He would establish among gentiles.

[7] Second, that blood symbolizes Divine truth can be clearly seen from its opposite meaning, in which it symbolizes the Divine truth of the Word falsified or profaned, as is apparent from these passages:

He who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil... (Isaiah 33:15)

You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; Jehovah abhors the bloody and deceitful man. (Psalms 5:6)

...everyone recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord has... rinsed away (her) blood... from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of purification. (Isaiah 4:3-4)

...on the day you were born... I saw you trampled in your blood, and I said to you in your blood, "Live!" ...I washed you and rinsed away the blood upon you... (Ezekiel 16:5-6, 9, 22, 36, 38)

They wandered blind in the streets; they have defiled themselves with blood, and what they cannot touch, they touch with their garments. (Lamentations 4:13-14)

The garment is polluted with blood. (Isaiah 9:5)

Also on your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent... (Jeremiah 2:34)

Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings... (Isaiah 1:15-16)

...your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken a lie... They make haste to shed innocent blood. (Isaiah 59:3, 7)

...Jehovah is coming out... to visit the iniquity... of the earth; then the earth will disclose her blood... (Isaiah 26:21)

...as many as received Him, to them He gave the ability to be children of God..., who were born, not of blood... (John 1:12-13)

In (Babylon) was found the blood of prophets and saints... (Revelation 18:24)

...the sea... became as the blood of a dead man... ...the springs of water... became blood. (Revelation 16:3-4. Cf. Isaiah 15:9, Psalms 105:29)

The like is symbolized by the rivers, ponds, and pools of water in Egypt being turned into blood (Exodus 7:15-25).

...the moon (shall be turned) into blood, before the coming of the great... day of Jehovah. (Joel 2:31)

...the moon became... blood. (Revelation 6:12)

In these places and many others, blood symbolizes the truth of the Word falsified, and also profaned. But this can be seen more clearly when these passages in the Word are read in context.

So, then, since blood in an opposite sense symbolizes the truth of the Word falsified or profaned, it is apparent that blood in a true sense symbolizes the truth of the Word not falsified.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.