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Exodus 24

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1 And he said to Moses: Come up to the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel, and you shall adore afar off.

2 And Moses alone shall come up to the Lord, but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people come up with him.

3 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice: We will do all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken.

4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord: and rising in the morning he built an altar at the foot of the mount, and twelve titles according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, and they offered holocausts, and sacrificed pacific victims of calves to the Lord.

6 Then Moses took half of the blood, and put it into bowls: and the rest he poured upon the altar.

7 And taking the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people: and they said: All things that the Lord hath spoken we will do, we will be obedient.

8 And he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said: This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.

9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel went up:

10 And they saw the God of Israel: and under his feet as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as the heaven, when clear.

11 Neither did he lay his hand upon those of the children of Israel, that retired afar off, and they saw God, and they did eat and drink.

12 And the Lord said to Moses: Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and the law, and the commandments which I have written: that thou mayst teach them.

13 Moses rose up, and his minister Josue: and Moses going up into the mount of God,

14 Said to the ancients: Wait ye here till we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you: if any question shall arise, you shall refer it to them.

15 And when Moses was gone up, a cloud covered the mount.

16 And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai, covering it with a cloud six days: and the seventh day he called him out of the midst of the cloud.

17 And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire upon the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel.

18 And Moses, entering into the midst of the cloud, went up into the mountain: and he was there forty days, and forty nights.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 8819

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8819. 'And Mount Sinai was smoking, the whole of it' means the appearance of celestial good in the greatest obscurity. This is clear from the meaning of 'Mount Sinai' as celestial good, as immediately above in 8818; and from the meaning of 'smoking' as appearance in obscurity. Obscurity is used to mean the obscurity of faith such as those belonging to the spiritual Church possess when compared with those belonging to the celestial Church, 2708 (beginning), 2715, 2718, 2831, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3833, 6289. The greatest obscurity, meant by 'Mount Sinai was smoking, the whole of it' and by the statement just below that 'its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace', means the obscurity that clouded the understanding of the Israelite nation, before whom the appearance took place. For Jehovah or the Lord appears to everyone according to their true nature, 8788, 8814, so that He appears as love and the light of truth to those governed by good, but as an enemy and avenger to those ruled by evil. His appearance as such to the Israelite people is also clear from other places in Moses,

The appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain, before the eyes of the children of Israel. Exodus 24:16-17.

In the same author,

You came near and stood at the foot of 1 the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire even to the heart of heaven; there was darkness and cloud and thick darkness. And Jehovah spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. Deuteronomy 4:11-12; 5:22.

And in the same author,

It happened, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to Me and said, Why should we die? For this great fire will devour us; if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more we shall die. Deuteronomy 5:23-25.

[2] The reason why this should be so is that no person can help seeing God from such things as are present in himself. The person who is ruled by hatred, for example, sees Him from hatred; and one who is ruled by ruthlessness sees Him in ruthlessness. And on the other hand, the person who is governed by charity and mercy sees Him from these virtues and in them. It is like rays of light, which are converted into hideous colours when they fall on hideous forms, but into beautiful colours when they fall on beautiful forms. The meaning of 'smoke' as the obscurity of truth, and also as the thick darkness belonging to falsity, is clear in Isaiah 9:18-19; 34:9-10; Joel 2:30-31; Hosea 13:1, 3; Revelation 9:17-18; 18:2, 18; 19:3.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, stood under

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