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Exodus 23

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1 Thou shalt not receive the voice of a lie: neither shalt thou join thy hand to bear false witness for a wicked person.

2 Thou shalt not follow the multitude to do evil: neither shalt thou yield in judgment, to the opinion of the most part, to stray from the truth.

3 Neither shalt thou favour a poor man in judgment.

4 If thou meet thy enemy's ox or ass going astray, bring it back to him.

5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lie underneath his burden, thou shalt not pass by, but shalt lift him up with him.

6 Thou shalt not go aside in the poor man's judgment.

7 Thou shalt fly lying. The innocent and just person thou shalt not put to death: because I abhor the wicked.

8 Neither shalt thou take bribes, which even blind the wise, and pervert the words of the just.

9 Thou shalt not molest a stranger, for you know the hearts of strangers: for you also were strangers in the land of Egypt.

10 Six years thou shalt sow thy ground, and shalt gather the corn thereof.

11 But the seventh year thou shalt let it alone, and suffer it to rest, that the poor of thy people may eat, and whatsoever shall be left, let the beasts of the field eat it: so shalt thou do with thy vineyard and thy oliveyard.

12 Six days thou shalt work: the seventh day thou shalt cease, that thy ox and thy ass may rest: and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed.

13 Keep all things that I have said to you. And by the name of strange gods you shall not swear, neither shall it be heard out of your mouth.

14 Three times every year you shall celebrate feasts to me.

15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month of new corn, when thou didst come forth out of Egypt: thou shalt not appear empty before me.

16 And the feast of the harvest of the firstfruits of thy work, whatsoever thou hast sown in the field. The feast also in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in all thy corn out of the field.

17 Thrice a year shall all thy males appear before the Lord thy God.

18 Thou shalt not sacrifice the blood of my victim upon leaven, neither shall the fat of my solemnity remain until the morning.

19 Thou shalt carry the firstfruits of the corn of thy ground to the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam.

20 Behold I will send my angel, who shall go before thee, and keep thee in thy journey, and bring thee into the place that I have prepared.

21 Take notice of him, and hear his voice, and do not think him one to be contemned: for he will not forgive when thou hast sinned, and my name is in him.

22 But if thou wilt hear his voice, and do all that I speak, I will be an enemy to thy enemies, and will afflict them that afflict thee.

23 And my angel shall go before thee, and shall bring thee in unto the Amorrhite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, whom I will destroy.

24 Thou shalt not adore their gods, nor serve them. Thou shalt not do their works, but shalt destroy them, and break their statues.

25 And you shall serve the Lord your God, that I may bless your bread and your waters, and may take away sickness from the midst of thee.

26 There shall not be one fruitless nor barren in thy land: I will fill the number of thy days.

27 I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come: and will turn the backs of all thy enemies before thee.

28 Sending out hornets before, that shall drive away the Hevite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, before thou come in.

29 I will not cast them out from thy face in one year: lest the land be brought into a wilderness, and the beasts multiply against thee.

30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, till thou be increased, and dost possess the land.

31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red Sea to the sea of the Palestines, and from the desert to the river: I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hands, and will drive them out from before you.

32 Thou shalt not enter into league with them, nor with their gods.

33 Let them not dwell in thy land, lest perhaps thy make thee sin against me, if thou serve their god: which undoubtedly will be a scandal to thee.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9346

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9346. 'Lest perhaps they cause you to sin against Me' means lest evils turn away forms of good from the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of the inhabitants of the land, to whom the words 'lest perhaps they cause to sin' refer, as evils, as above; from the meaning of 'sinning' as turning away, dealt with in 5474, 5841, 7589; and from the meaning of 'you against Me' as [turning away from] forms of good from the Lord. For the children of Israel, to whom 'you' refers here, mean those governed by good, and so mean forms of good, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833, 9340, and Jehovah, to whom 'Me' refers here, means the Lord, dealt with in 9194, 9199, 9315, and in the places referred to in these paragraphs. The reason why evils turn away forms of good from the Lord is that evils and forms of good are opposites or contraries, and two opposites or contraries cannot exist together, since they loathe and clash with each other. This becomes perfectly clear from the consideration that evils spring from hell but forms of good from heaven, and hell is totally remote from heaven, not as to distance since there is no distance in the next life, but as to state. Those therefore who live in the state that is hell's cannot be transferred to the state that is heaven's, for the evils residing with them repel the forms of good residing with those in heaven. This is the meaning of Abraham's words to the rich man,

Between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass across from here to you cannot, nor can those who are there pass across to us. Luke 16:26.

'A great gulf' is the opposite and contrary natures of their states of life. From all this it is evident how to understand the explanation that evils turn forms of good away from the Lord; that is to say, those immersed in evils not only fail to receive forms of good, which with everyone flow in unceasingly from the Lord, but also completely turn them away. For this reason a person cannot by any means receive the good of heaven until he refrains from evils.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 9199

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9199. 'Or orphan' means those who possess truth but not as yet good, and still have a desire for good. This is clear from the meaning of 'orphan' as those who possess truth and have a desire for good. Such people are meant by 'orphans' because sons bereft of father and mother, that is, those deprived of interior goodness and truth, are orphans. For 'father' in the Word means interior good, and 'mother' truth joined to that good, 5581; but 'sons' means truths derived from them. For the meaning of 'sons' as truths, see 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2813, 3373, 6583. The fact that sons and not daughters are meant here by 'orphans' is evident from verse 24 below, where it says, And your sons will be orphans. The reason why sons who are orphans are those who desire good is that the Lord then stands in place of their father, according to the following words in David,

A father of the orphans, and a judge of the widows, is God in the habitation of His holiness. Psalms 68:5.

[2] 'Orphans' are those who have received instruction in the Church's truths of faith which come from the Word, and who are then led by means of those truths to good. This is also evident from the Lord's words in John,

I will ask the Father to give you another Paraclete, to remain with you forever, the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, because He remains with you and is among you. I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you. These things I have spoken to you, while I remain with you; but the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, He will teach you all things. John 14:16-18, 24-26.

[3] Every detail of these verses makes it clear that those are 'orphans' who possess truths and have a desire for good. 'The Paraclete' is used to mean Divine Truth, which the Lord was when He was in the world and which has emanated from Him ever since He glorified His Human and went away from the world. Therefore He says that He will send the Paraclete and that He Himself will come. 'Sending the Paraclete' means enlightening and instructing them in the truths of faith, and 'coming to them' means leading them on to good. This is why He says, I will not leave you orphans. As has been stated, 'the Paraclete' is used to mean Divine Truth, which the Lord was when He was in the world and which has emanated from Him ever since He glorified His Human and went away from the world. This was something the Lord taught plainly several times; yet those who identify persons in the Godhead and not essences united into one do not grasp it. For the explanation of the Word and the understanding of it by a person depend on the ideas he already has. The same applies to places where the Lord says that He is in the Father, and the Father is in Him; that the Father and He are One; also that all that is His is the Father's, and all that is the Father's is His, John 10:30; 14:1-11, 20; 16:15; 17:11.

[4] But let these truths stated above receive further explanation.

The Paraclete is used to mean Divine Truth

This is evident from the Lord's actual words; for the Paraclete is called 'the Spirit of truth' by Him, and also He says, 'the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, will teach you all things'.

The Lord was Divine Truth when He was in the world

This too is evident from the Lord's words there; for He says that He will send 'another Paraclete' (that is, another in place of Himself), who will be the Spirit of truth, and - referring to Himself - that they know Him 'because He remains with you and is among you'. He also says, I tell you the truth. If I do not go away the Paraclete will not come to you; but if I go away I will send Him to you, John 16:7. Another place, John 7:39, states, 'This He said concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified'. And other places again state that He is the way and the truth, John 14:6; also that He is the Word, that God is the Word, and that the Word became flesh, John 1:1-3, 14, 'the Word' being Divine Truth. For more about the Lord's being Divine Truth when He was in the world, see 3195, 4687, 4727, 6716, 6864, 7499, 8127, 8724.

[5] Divine Truth has emanated from the Lord ever since He glorified His Human and went away from the world This too is evident from the Lord's words, 'When I go away I will send the Spirit of truth to you' ('sending' means going out and emanating from, 2397, 4710), and also 'When He comes He will guide you into all truth; 1 for He will not speak from Himself, but whatever He hears He will speak. He will glorify Me, for He will receive from what is Mine and declare it to you', John 16:7, 13-15.

When the Lord went away from the world His Human became Divine Good as well as Divine Truth, see 3704, 3712, 3737, 3969, 4577, 5704, 6864, 7014, 7499, 8241, 8724, 8760, 9167. And since then Divine Truth has emanated from Divine Good, which He Himself is, as the light of all creation emanates from the sun, 3636, 3643, 3969, 5704, 7083, 8127. The references listed above in 9194 may be added to these.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The Latin means He will teach you in all truth but the Greek means He will guide you into all truth, which Swedenborg has in other places where he quotes this verse.

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