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Exodus 24

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1 And he said to Moses, Go up to Jehovah, thou and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship afar off.

2 And let Moses alone come near Jehovah; but they shall not come near; neither shall the people go up with him.

3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of Jehovah, and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words that Jehovah has said will we do!

4 And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

5 And he sent the youths of the children of Israel, and they offered up burnt-offerings, and sacrificed sacrifices of peace-offering of bullocks to Jehovah.

6 And Moses took half the blood, and put [it] in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read [it] in the ears of the people; and they said, All that Jehovah has said will we do, and obey!

8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled [it] on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant that Jehovah has made with you concerning all these words.

9 And Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up;

10 and they saw the God of Israel; and there was under his feet as it were work of transparent sapphire, and as it were the form of heaven for clearness.

11 And on the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: they saw God, and ate and drank.

12 And Jehovah said to Moses, Come up to me into the mountain, and be there; and I will give thee the tables of stone, and the law, and the commandment that I have written, for their instruction.

13 And Moses rose up, and Joshua his attendant; and Moses went up to the mountain of God.

14 And he said to the elders, Wait here for us, until we return to you; and behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matter, let him come before them.

15 And Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

16 And the glory of Jehovah abode on mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

17 And the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain, before the eyes of the children of Israel.

18 And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and ascended the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9378

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9378. 'And Moses alone shall come near Jehovah' means the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people achieved through the Word in general. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming near' as the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Moses' as the Word in general, dealt with above in 9372. The reason why 'Moses shall come near' means the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people achieved through the Word is that 'coming near' in the spiritual sense means being joined together through love; for those who love each other are joined together, love being spiritual togetherness. It is universally so in the next life that all are joined together according to their love of goodness and truth received from the Lord. Consequently the whole of heaven consists in such togetherness. The situation is similar with coming near or being joined to the Lord. Those who love the Lord are joined to Him, so intimately that they are said to be 'in Him' when they are in heaven. And all those people love the Lord, and are consequently joined to Him through their love, who lead a good life based on the truths of faith, since the good based on those truths emanates from the Lord, indeed is the Lord, John 14:20-21.

[2] But it should be recognized that a person is unable of himself to come near the Lord and be joined to Him; rather the Lord has to come near the person and be joined to him. Yet since the Lord draws a person towards Himself, John 6:44; 12:32, the appearance is that the person does of himself come near and join himself. This happens when the person refrains from evils, for refraining from evils is left to a person's own decision or free will. At this time good from the Lord is flowing in; and it is never lacking, for it is present within the very life a person has from the Lord. But the good accompanying that life is received only in the measure that evils have been removed. The reason why the Word is the means by which the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people is achieved is that the Word unites a person to heaven and through heaven to the Lord. For the Word is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and therefore those who adhere to that truth in doctrine and life, or in faith and love, adhere to what is Divine emanating from the Lord, and in so doing are joined to Him.

[3] From all this it is evident that 'Moses alone shall come near Jehovah' means the Lord's togetherness with and presence among people achieved through the Word. The reason why 'coming near' means togetherness and presence is that in the next life distances between one person and another are determined altogether by the dissimilarity and diversity of the interior things which belong to thought and affection, see 1273-1277, 1376-1381, 9104. Also every moving away from the Lord or coming near Him is determined altogether by the good of love and consequently of faith received from Him and shown towards Him. So it is that every heaven's nearness to the Lord is determined by its good and conversely every hell's remoteness from Him by its evil. From all this it is evident why it is that 'being near' and 'coming near' in the spiritual sense mean being joined together, as also in the following places: In David,

Jehovah is near to all calling on Him, who call on Him in truth. Psalms 145:18.

'Near' stands for present and joined together with. In the same author,

Blessed is [anyone] whom You choose and cause to come near; he will dwell in Your courts. Psalms 65:4.

'Causing to come near' stands for being joined together with.

[4] In the same author,

O Jehovah, come near my soul; deliver me. Psalms 69:18.

In the same author,

Jehovah is near to those broken in heart. Psalms 34:18.

In Jeremiah,

Let them cause My people to hear My words, and let them bring them back from their evil way, from the wickedness of their deeds. Am I a God near at hand, and not a God afar off? Jeremiah 23:22-23.

The words 'a God near at hand' apply, it is evident, to those who refrain from evils, and the words 'a God afar off' to those who are immersed in evils. In Moses,

Moses said to Aaron, This is what Jehovah spoke, In those who are near Me 1 I will be sanctified. Leviticus 10:3.

'Being sanctified in those who are near' means with those who have been joined to the Lord through the good of love and the truth of faith derived from the Word. In Jeremiah,

At that time their Magnificent One will be one of themselves, and their Ruler will come from their midst; and I will cause Him to come near, and He will come near Me. For who is This [who] has pledged His heart to come near Me? Jeremiah 30:21.

This refers to the Lord, who is 'the Magnificent One' and 'the Ruler'. 'Coming near Jehovah' is being united to Him, for the coming near of [Him who is] Divine to Divine [Being Itself] is nothing other than union.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, In My near ones

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