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Exodus 2

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1 And a man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi.

2 And the woman conceived, and bore a son. And she saw him that he was fair, and hid him three months.

3 And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of reeds, and plastered it with resin and with pitch, and put the child in it, and laid [it] in the sedge on the bank of the river.

4 And his sister stood afar off to see what would happen to him.

5 And the daughter of Pharaoh went down to bathe in the river; and her maids went along by the river's side. And she saw the ark in the midst of the sedge, and sent her handmaid and fetched it.

6 And she opened [it], and saw the child, and behold, the boy wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is [one] of the Hebrews' children.

7 And his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call thee a wet-nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the damsel went and called the child's mother.

9 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take this child away and nurse it for me, and I will give [thee] thy wages. And the woman took the child and nursed it.

10 And when the child was grown, she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses, and said, Because I drew him out of the water.

11 And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their burdens; and he saw an Egyptian smiting a Hebrew, one of his brethren.

12 And he turned this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he smote the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

13 And he went out on the second day, and behold, two Hebrew men were quarrelling; and he said to him that was in the wrong, Why art thou smiting thy neighbour?

14 And he said, Who made thee ruler and judge over us? dost thou intend to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? Then Moses feared, and said, Surely the matter is known.

15 And Pharaoh heard of this matter, and sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian. And he sat by the well.

16 And the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew [water], and filled the troughs, to water their father's flock.

17 And the shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses rose and helped them, and watered their flock.

18 And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, Why are ye come so soon to-day?

19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew [water] abundantly for us, and watered the flock.

20 And he said to his daughters, And where is he? why then have ye left the man behind? Call him, that he may eat bread.

21 And Moses consented to remain with the man; and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

22 And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, I have been a sojourner in a foreign land.

23 And it came to pass during those many days, that the king of Egypt died. And the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and cried; and their cry came up to God because of the bondage;

24 and God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob;

25 and God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged [them].

   

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Jacob or Israel (the man)

  

Jacob is told twice that his name will now be Israel. The first time is when he wrestles with an angel on his journey to meet Esau, and the angel tells him that his name will be changed. After he is reconciled with Esau, they go their separate ways. Jacob moves to Shechem and then on to Bethel, where he builds an altar to the Lord. The Lord appears to him there, renews the covenant He first made with Abraham and again tells him that his name will be Israel (Genesis 35). The story goes on to tell of Benjamin's birth and Rachel's death in bearing him, and then of Jacob's return to Isaac and Isaac's death and burial. But at that point the main thread of the story leaves Israel and turns to Joseph, and Israel is hardly mentioned until after Joseph has risen to power in Egypt, has revealed himself to his brothers and tells them to bring all of their father's household down to Egypt. There, before Israel dies, he blesses Joseph's sons, plus all his own sons. After his death he is returned to the land of Canaan for burial in Abraham's tomb. In the story of Jacob and Esau, Jacob represents truth, and Esau good. Jacob's stay in Padan-Aram, and the wealth he acquired there, represent learning the truths of scripture, just as we learn when we read the Ten Commandments or the Sermon on the Mount. The change of name from Jacob to Israel represents the realization that what we learn should not simply be knowledge, but should be the rules of our life, to be followed by action. This action is the good that Esau has represented in the story up to that time, but after the reconciliation between Jacob and Esau, Jacob as Israel now represents the truth and the good, together. It is interesting that even after his name change Jacob is rarely called Israel. Sometimes he is called one and sometimes the other, and sometimes he is called both Jacob and Israel in the same verse (Genesis 46:2, 5, & 8 also Psalm 14:7). This is because Jacob represents the external person and Israel the internal person, and even after the internal person comes into being, we spend much of our lives living on the external level.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 4274, 4292, 4570, 5595, 6225, 6256, Genesis 2:5, 46:8)

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Arcana Coelestia # 6225

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6225. 'And Israel strengthened himself' means new powers received through spiritual good. This is clear from the meaning of 'strengthening oneself' as receiving new powers; and from the representation of 'Israel' as spiritual good from the natural, dealt with in 4286, 4598, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. The reason the new powers come through spiritual good is that in what has just been said Jacob is called Jacob but now he is called Israel; for this is what is said,

[Someone] told Jacob and said, Behold, your son Joseph has come to you; and Israel strengthened himself.

For 'Israel' is spiritual good from the natural, whereas 'Jacob' is the truth of the natural, and the truth of the natural, which is the truth of faith there, receives its strength through spiritual good, which is the good of charity. Also, 'Israel' is the internal aspect of the Church and 'Jacob' its external aspect, 4286, 4292, 4570. The external aspect of the Church derives its strength and receives its powers from nowhere else than its internal. The internal aspect of the Church exists among those governed by the good of charity, which is the good of faith, also the good of truth, and spiritual good as well, which are 'Israel'. But the external aspect of the Church exists among those governed by the truth of faith. They are not yet plainly governed by good; yet the truth they are governed by holds good within it, and this is 'Jacob'.

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