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Exodus 14

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1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea: before Baal-Zephon, opposite to it, shall ye encamp by the sea.

3 And Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has hemmed them in.

4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he may pursue after them; and I will glorify myself in Pharaoh, and in all his host; and the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah. And they did so.

5 And it was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his bondmen was turned against the people, and they said, Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from our service?

6 And he yoked his chariot, and took his people with him.

7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.

8 And Jehovah hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel; and the children of Israel had gone out with a high hand.

9 And the Egyptians pursued after them, -- all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them where they had encamped by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, opposite to Baal-Zephon.

10 And Pharaoh approached; and the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and the children of Israel were much afraid, and cried out to Jehovah.

11 And they said to Moses, Is it because there were no graves in Egypt, thou hast taken us away to die in the wilderness? why hast thou done this to us, that thou hast led us out of Egypt?

12 Is not this what we told thee in Egypt, when we said, Let us alone, and we will serve the Egyptians? For [it had been] better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.

13 And Moses said to the people, Fear not: stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah, which he will work for you to-day; for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.

14 Jehovah will fight for you, and ye shall be still.

15 And Jehovah said to Moses, Why dost thou cry unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward.

16 And thou, lift thy staff, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry [ground] through the midst of the sea.

17 And I, behold, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall pursue after them; and I will glorify myself in Pharaoh and in all his host, in his chariots and in his horsemen.

18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have glorified myself in Pharaoh, in his chariots and in his horsemen.

19 And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before them, and stood behind them.

20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and was a cloud and darkness, and lit up the night; and the one did not come near the other all the night.

21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and Jehovah made the sea go [back] by a strong east wind all the night, and made the sea dry [land], and the waters were divided.

22 And the children of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry [ground]; and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

23 And the Egyptians pursued and came after them -- all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots and his horsemen, into the midst of the sea.

24 And it came to pass in the morning watch, that Jehovah looked upon the camp of the Egyptians, in the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and embarrassed the camp of the Egyptians.

25 And he took off their chariot wheels, and caused them to drive with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, Let us flee before Israel, for Jehovah is fighting for them against the Egyptians!

26 And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the sea, that the waters may return upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen.

27 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength toward the morning; and the Egyptians fled against it; and Jehovah overturned the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.

28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the host of Pharaoh that had come into the sea after them; there remained not even one of them.

29 And the children of Israel walked on dry [ground] through the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

30 Thus Jehovah saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the sea-shore.

31 And Israel saw the great power [with] which Jehovah had wrought against the Egyptians; and the people feared Jehovah, and believed in Jehovah, and in Moses his bondman.

   

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Face

  
Photo by Caleb Kerr

“The eyes are the windows of the soul.” That's a sentiment with roots somewhere in murky antiquity, but one that has become hopelessly cliché because it is both poetic and obviously true. We feel that if we can look in someone's eyes, we can truly know what they are inside. And it's not just the eyes; really it is the face as a whole that conveys this. As Swedenborg puts it, the face is “man's spiritual world presented in his natural world” (Heaven and Hell, No. 91). Our faces reveal our interior thoughts and feelings in myriad ways, which is why psychologists, poker players and criminal investigators spend so much time studying them. It makes sense, then, that people's faces in the Bible represent their interiors, the thoughts, loves and desires they hold most deeply. We turn our faces to the ground to show humility when we bow in worship; we turn them to the mountains when seeking inspiration; we turn them toward our enemies when we are ready to battle temptation. When things are hard, we need to “face facts,” or accept them internally. When the topic is the Lord's face, it represents the Lord's interiors, which are perfect love and perfect mercy. And when people turn away from the Lord and refuse his love, it is described as the Lord “hiding his face.”

(Odkazy: Heaven and Hell 91)


Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 8237

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8237. 'And Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore' means the sight of the damned dispersed this way and that. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' as the sight or catching sight of something; from the representation of 'the Egyptians' as those steeped in falsities arising from evil; from the meaning of 'the dead' as the damned, dealt with in 5407, 6119, 7494; and from the meaning of 'the seashore' as round about the outermost parts of hell. 'The shores' of something are plainly its outermost parts; and it has been shown previously that 'the sea' means hell. So it is that 'seeing them dead on the seashore' means the sight of the damned dispersed this way and that.

[2] Since the expression 'the sight of the damned' is used some explanation of what is implied by it is called for. Those in any one hell are not visible to the inhabitants of any other hell, not even to those in the nearest or immediately neighbouring hell, since they have been completely separated from one another. But they are visible to those in heaven, as often as the Lord pleases; for the Lord rules the hells too, by means of angels to whom the ability is given to see, from the place where they are, everything happening there. This is done to the end that in hell too order may exist, and also to the end that no one may do violence to another beyond the permitted limit. This function is entrusted to angels, and through it they exercise control over the hells. Sometimes good spirits as well are allowed to see into the hells and witness what is going on there; for it is quite in order for things on lower levels to be seen from a higher one, but not for those on a higher level to be seen from lower ones. Thus the hells and those who are there can be seen by those in heaven, but not vice versa. Consequently forms of evil can be seen from good, but not forms of good from evil, since good is higher and evil lower.

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