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Exodus 8

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1 And Jehovah said to Moses, Go unto Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith Jehovah: Let my people Go, that they may serve me.

2 And if thou refuse to let [them] go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs.

3 And the river shall swarm with frogs, and they shall go up and come into thy house, and into thy bedroom, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy bondmen, and upon thy people, and into thine ovens, and into thy kneading-troughs.

4 And the frogs shall come up both upon thee and upon thy people, and upon all thy bondmen.

5 And Jehovah said to Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy hand with thy staff over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.

6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.

7 And the scribes did so with their sorceries, and brought up frogs on the land of Egypt.

8 And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, Intreat Jehovah, that he may take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go, that they may sacrifice to Jehovah.

9 And Moses said to Pharaoh, Glory over me, for what time shall I intreat for thee, and for thy bondmen, and for thy people, to cut off the frogs from thee and from thy houses; [so that] they shall remain in the river only?

10 And he said, For to-morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word; that thou mayest know that there is none like Jehovah our God.

11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy bondmen, and from thy people: they shall remain in the river only.

12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried to Jehovah because of the frogs that he had brought against Pharaoh.

13 And Jehovah did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courts, and out of the fields.

14 And they gathered them in heaps; and the land stank.

15 And Pharaoh saw that there was respite; and he hardened his heart, and hearkened not to them, as Jehovah had said.

16 And Jehovah said to Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy staff, and smite the dust of the earth, and it shall become gnats throughout the land of Egypt.

17 And they did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his staff, and smote the dust of the earth, and there arose gnats on man and on beast: all the dust of the land became gnats throughout the land of Egypt.

18 And the scribes did so with their sorceries, to bring forth gnats; but they could not. And the gnats were on man and on beast.

19 Then the scribes said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God! But Pharaoh's heart was stubborn, and he hearkened not to them, as Jehovah had said.

20 And Jehovah said to Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh -- behold, he will go out to the water -- and say to him, Thus saith Jehovah, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

21 For, if thou do not let my people go, behold, I will send dog-flies upon thee, and upon thy bondmen, and upon thy people, and into thy houses; and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of dog-flies, and also the ground on which they are.

22 And I will distinguish in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no dog-flies shall be there; that thou mayest know that I Jehovah am in the midst of the land.

23 And I will put a separation between my people and thy people; to-morrow shall this sign be.

24 And Jehovah did so; and there came dog-flies in a multitude into the house of Pharaoh, and [into] the houses of his bondmen; and throughout the land of Egypt, the land was corrupted by the dog-flies.

25 And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.

26 And Moses said, It is not proper to do so; for we should sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to Jehovah our God: lo, if we sacrificed the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, would they not stone us?

27 We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Jehovah our God, as he shall command us.

28 And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that you may sacrifice to Jehovah your God in the wilderness; only, go not very far away: intreat for me!

29 And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and will intreat Jehovah; and the dog-flies will depart from Pharaoh, from his bondmen, and from his people, to-morrow; only let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more in not letting the people go to sacrifice to Jehovah.

30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and intreated Jehovah.

31 And Jehovah did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the dog-flies from Pharaoh, from his bondmen, and from his people; there remained not one.

32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart this time also, and would not let the people go.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 6693

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6693. Saying, Every son that is born, ye shall cast him forth into the river. That this signifies that they should immerse in falsities all truths which appear, is evident from the signification of “son,” as being truth (see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373); and from the signification of “river,” as being things that belong to intelligence (n. 108, 109, 2702, 3051), here in the opposite sense, things contrary, thus falsities. That “to cast forth” denotes to immerse is manifest.

[2] That the “river of Egypt” denotes what is contrary to intelligence, thus falsity, is evident also in Isaiah:

The rivers shall recede; the rivers of Egypt shall diminish and be dried up; the papyri beside the river, beside the mouth of the river, and all the seed of the river, shall become dry, shall be driven forward; and therefore the fishers shall mourn, and all they that cast a hook into the river shall be sad, and they that spread a net upon the faces of the waters shall languish (Isaiah 19:6-8).

That here by the “river of Egypt” no river is meant, nor by “fishers” fishers, but that other things are meant, which do not appear unless it is known what is meant by “Egypt,” by the “river” there, and by “fishers,” is also evident; if these things are known, the sense is manifest. That by the “river of Egypt” is signified falsity, is plain from the particulars here.

[3] In Jeremiah:

Who is this that riseth up like the river, whose waters are tossed like the rivers? Egypt riseth up like the river, and his waters are tossed as the rivers; for he hath said, I will go up, I will cover the earth, I will destroy the city, and them that dwell therein (Jeremiah 46:7-8);

here also the “river of Egypt” denotes falsities; to “go up and cover the earth” denotes to do so to the church; to “destroy the city,” denotes to destroy the doctrine of the church; “and them that dwell therein,” denotes the goods thence derived. (That the “earth” is the church may be seen above, n. 6649; and the “city,” the doctrine of the church, n. 402, 2449, 3216, 4492, 4493; and “inhabitants,” the goods therein, n. 2268, 2451, 2712)

[4] In Ezekiel:

Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great whale that liest in the midst of his rivers; who hath said, The river is mine, and I have made myself. Therefore I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will make the fish of thy rivers to stick unto thy scales, and I will make thee go up out of the midst of thy rivers, and every fish of thy rivers shall stick in thy scales. I will leave thee in the wilderness, and every fish of thy rivers (Ezekiel 29:3-5, 9-10);

what these things signify no one can know without the internal sense (that Egypt is not meant, is evident), thus unless it is known what is meant by “Pharaoh,” and what by a “river,” a “whale,” a “fish,” and “scales.” (That “Pharaoh” is the natural where memory-knowledge is, may be seen above, n. 5160, 5799, 6015; and that “whales” are the generals of memory-knowledges in the natural, n. 42; and “fishes” memory-knowledges under the general, n. 40, 991.) “Scales” denote those things which are manifestly external, thus sensuous, to which memory-knowledges which are falsities adhere. When these things are known, it is evident what is meant in the above passage by the “river of Egypt” namely, falsity.

[5] Again:

In that day when Pharaoh shall go down into hell I will make a mourning; I will cover the abyss over him, and I will curb his rivers, and the great waters shall be dammed up (Ezekiel 31:15).

Shall not the earth be shaken for this, and everyone mourn that dwelleth therein, so that it shall go up all of it like a brook, and be driven out, and overwhelmed as by the river of Egypt? In that day I will make the sun to set at noon, and I will darken the earth in the day of light (Amos 8:8-9; 9:5).

The “earth” which shall be “shaken” denotes the church (n. 6649); “to be overwhelmed as by the river of Egypt” denotes to perish by falsities; and because falsities are signified, it is said that “the sun shall set at noon,” and that “the earth shall be darkened in the day of light.” By “the sun setting at noon” is signified that the good of celestial love would recede, and by “the earth being darkened in the day of light,” that falsities would take possession of the church. (That the “sun” is the good of celestial love, may be seen above, n. 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4696; also that “darkness” is falsity, n. 1839, 1860, 4418, 4531; and that the “earth” is the church, n. 82, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1411, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, 2355, 4447, 4535, 5577.) Everyone can see that other things are signified here than what appear in the letter, as that “the earth shall be shaken,” and that “everyone that dwelleth therein shall mourn,” that “the sun shall set at noon,” and “the earth be darkened in the day of light.” Unless the church is understood by the “earth,” falsity by the “river,” and celestial love by the “sun,” no sense which can be unfolded is found there.

[6] As the “river of Egypt” signifies falsity, therefore Moses was commanded to smite with his staff upon the waters of that river, and they were consequently turned into blood, and every fish died in the river, and the river stank (Exodus 7:17-21); and Aaron also was commanded to stretch out his hand with the rod over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, whereupon frogs came up over the land of Egypt (Exodus 8:1-2). That “waters” in the opposite sense signify falsities (see n. 790 d as the waters are those of the river, the “river” relatively denotes falsity in general.

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