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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 # 9393

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9393. 'And Moses took half of the blood' means Divine Truth which has become a matter of life and of worship. This is clear from the meaning of 'the blood' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, dealt with in 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7850, 9127. The reason why it is Divine Truth which has become a matter of life and of worship is that it was the blood which Moses sprinkled over the people, verse 8, and this blood means Divine Truth which a person has accepted, thus that which has become a matter of life and of worship; for that Truth is said to have been accepted by a person which becomes a matter of life and so of worship. And it becomes a matter of life and worship when the person has an affection for it or loves it, or what amounts to the same thing, when he wills it, and - in willing it, and so in loving and having an affection for it - does it. Till then it is indeed present with him in his memory, and is at times called forth from there and comes before his inward sight or understanding, from where it passes back into his memory. However, as long as God's truth goes no deeper than this, though it resides with the person it has not been implanted in his life and will; for a person's life consists in his will. Therefore when truth is called forth from the memory into the understanding, then passes from the understanding into the will, and goes out from the will into action, that truth becomes part of the person's life and is called good. All this shows what is meant by Divine Truth which has become a matter of life. The situation is the same with truth which becomes part of worship. Worship springing from truth which does no more than cling in the memory and make its appearance from there in the understanding is not worship. But worship springing from truth that goes out from the will, and so from affection and love, is worship. In the Word this worship is called worship of the heart, but the other, worship of the lips alone.

[2] It has indeed been shown already in the places referred to above that 'blood' means Divine Truth emanating from the Lord. Nevertheless since the majority belonging to the Church at the present day take the blood in the Holy Supper to mean nothing other than the Lord's blood that was shed on the Cross, and in a more general sense His whole Passion of the Cross, let something further be stated briefly to show that blood is not what is meant there but Divine Truth emanating from the Lord. The reason why this is unknown within the Church is that nothing whatever is known at the present day about correspondences, nor consequently about the internal sense of the Word, the sense understood by angels when someone in the world reads the Word.

[3] It becomes clear from many places in the Word that 'blood' does not mean blood but God's truth, and plainly so from the following in Ezekiel,

Say to every bird of the air and to every wild animal of the field, Assemble and come, gather yourselves from all around to My sacrifice which I am sacrificing for you, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth. You will eat fat till you are glutted, and drink blood till you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I will sacrifice for you. You will be glutted at My table with horse and chariot, and with every man of war. Thus will I set My glory among the nations. Ezekiel 39:17-21.

It is plainly evident that 'blood' is not used here to mean blood, for it says that they were going to drink the blood of the princes of the earth, and the blood from the sacrifice, till they were drunk, when yet drinking blood, especially the blood of princes, is something abominable and was forbidden to the children of Israel on pain of death, Leviticus 3:17; 7:26; Leviticus 17:1-end; Deuteronomy 12:16-25; 15:23. It also says that they were going to be glutted with horse, chariot, and every man of war. Anyone therefore who does not know that 'blood' means Divine Truth, 'princes' leading truths, 'sacrifice' the things that belong to worship, 'horse' the understanding of truth, 'chariot' doctrinal teachings, and 'man of war' truth engaged in conflict against falsity is bound to be bemused by each of the words used in this passage.

[4] His response would be the same to the Lord's words in John,

Jesus said, Truly, truly, 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. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise Him up at the last day. My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. John 6:53-56.

But see what has been shown already regarding these words, in 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7850, 9127. The fact that flesh corresponds to good, as does bread, and that blood corresponds to truth, as does wine, has been told me very many times from heaven. I have likewise been told that angels understand the Word solely according to correspondences, and that as a result of this mankind is joined by means of the Word to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord.

[5] And in like manner I have been told that the Holy Supper was established by the Lord to be the means by which all things of heaven, that is, all things which are the Lord's, might be joined to members of the Church. For in the Holy Supper the flesh or bread is the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love towards the whole human race, and a person's love in return to the Lord, while the blood or wine is the Divine Truth emanating from the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love, and in turn the person's acceptance of it. In heaven, furthermore, eating and drinking those gifts implies making them one's own and joining them together. But see what has been shown already regarding these matters in 2165, 2177, 3464, 4211, 4217, 4581, 4735, 5915, 6789, 7850, 9323.

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