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Exodus 34

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1 And after this he said: Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the former, and I will write upon them the words which were in the tables, which thou brokest.

2 Be ready in the morning, that thou mayst forthwith go up into mount Sinai, and thou shalt stand with me upon the top of the mount.

3 Let no man go up with thee: and let not any man be seen throughout all the mount: neither let the oxen nor the sheep feed over against it.

4 Then he cut out two tables of stone, such as had been before: and rising very early he went up into the mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, carrying with him the tables.

5 And when the Lord was come down in a cloud, Moses stood with him, calling upon the name of the Lord.

6 And when he passed before him, he said: O the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, patient and of much compassion, and true,

7 Who keepest mercy unto thousands: who takest away iniquity, and wickedness, and sin, and no man of himself is innocent before thee. Who renderest the iniquity of the fathers to the children, and to the grandchildren, unto the third and fourth generation.

8 And Moses making haste, bowed down prostrate unto the earth, and adoring,

9 Said: If I have found grace in thy sight: O Lord, I beseech thee, that thou wilt go with us, (for it is a stiffnecked people,) and take away our iniquities and sin, and possess us.

10 The Lord answered: I will make a covenant in the sight of all. I will do signs such as were never seen upon the earth, nor in any nation: that this people, in the midst of whom thou art, may see the terrible work of The Lord which I will do.

11 Observe all things which this day I command thee: I myself will drive out before thy face the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite.

12 Beware thou never join in friendship with the inhabitants of that land, which may be thy ruin:

13 But destroy their altars, break their statues, and cut down their groves:

14 Adore not any strange god. The Lord his name is Jealous, he is a jealous God.

15 Make no covenant with the men of those countries lest, when they have committed fornication with their gods, and have adored their idols, some one call thee to eat of the things sacrificed.

16 Neither shalt thou take of their daughters a wife for thy son, lest after they themselves have committed fornication, they make thy sons also to commit fornication with their gods.

17 Thou shalt not make to thyself any molten gods.

18 Thou shalt keep the feast of the unleavened bread. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee in the time of the month of the new corn: for in the month of the springtime thou camest out from Egypt.

19 All of the male kind, that openeth the womb, shall be mine. Of all beasts, both of oxen and of sheep, it shall be mine.

20 The firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a sheep: but if thou wilt not give a price for it, it shall be slain. The firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem: neither shalt thou appear before me empty.

21 Six days shalt thou work, the seventh day thou shalt cease to plough, and to reap.

22 Thou shalt keep the feast of weeks with the firstfruits of the corn of thy wheat harvest, and the feast when the time of the year returneth that all things are laid in.

23 Three times in a year all thy males shall appear in the sight of the Almighty Lord the God of Israel.

24 For when I shall have taken away the nations from thy face, and shall have enlarged thy borders, no man shall lie in wait against thy land when thou shalt go up, and appear in the sight of the Lord thy God thrice in a year.

25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice upon leaven: neither shall there remain in the morning any thing of the victim of the solemnity of the Lord.

26 The first of the fruits of thy ground thou shalt offer in the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam.

27 And the Lord said to Moses: Write these words by which I have made a covenant both with thee and with Israel.

28 And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights: he neither ate bread nor drank water, and he wrote upon the tables the ten words of the covenant.

29 And when Moses came down from the mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord.

30 And Aaron and the children of Israel seeing the face of Moses horned, were afraid to come near.

31 And being called by him, they returned, both Aaron and the rulers of the congregation. And after that he spoke to them.

32 And all the children of Israel came to him: and he gave them in commandment all that he had heard of the Lord in mount Sinai.

33 And having done speaking, he put a veil upon his face.

34 But when he went in to the Lord, and spoke with him, he took it away until he came forth, and then he spoke to the children of Israel all things that had been commanded him.

35 And they saw that the face of Moses when he came out was horned, but he covered his face again, if at any time he spoke to them.

   

Komentář

 

Cloud

  

In Genesis 9:13, this signifies the state of light in obscurity of the regenerate spiritual man. (Arcana Coelestia 1042)

In Exodus 13:21, this signifies a state of enlightenment tempered by obscurity in respect to truth. (Arcana Coelestia 81-86)

In Psalm 147:8, this signifies that the Lord defends and preserves the spiritual meanings of the Word by the natural truths in through the Bible's literal sense. (Apocalypse Explained 594[12])

In Isaiah 60:8, this signifies to search and investigate truth from the Word's literal sense. (Apocalypse Explained 282[5])

In Isaiah 19:1, the phrase 'Jehovah rides upon a light cloud, and comes into Egypt', signifies the visitation of the natural man from spiritual-natural Divine Truth, for a visitation is an examination into the quality of a man, and examination is made by means of Divine Truth. A light cloud denotes the spiritual-natural Divine Truth from which the quality of man as to his natural-self becomes evident.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Explained 654)

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Apocalypse Explained # 282

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282. Inasmuch as this cherub was like an eagle, and the eagle appeared as flying, it shall he told also what "flying" signifies in the Word. "Flying" signifies circumspection and presence, because a bird when it flies looks all about from on high, and thus by its sight is present everywhere and round about. But when "flying" in the Word is attributed to Jehovah, it signifies omnipresence, because omnipresence is infinite circumspection and infinite presence. This then is why this cherub appeared "like an eagle flying;" for "cherubim" signify in general the Lord's Providence that the higher heavens be not approached except from the good of love and of charity; and this cherub signifies Divine intelligence (as was shown just above).

[2] That "flying" in the Word, in reference to the Lord signifies omnipresence, and in reference to men circumspection and presence, can be seen from the following passages. In David:

God rode upon a cherub, He did fly, and was borne upon the wings of the wind (Psalms 18:10; 2 Samuel 22:11).

"He rode upon a cherub" signifies the Divine Providence; "He did fly" signifies omnipresence in the spiritual world; "and was borne upon the wings of the wind" signifies omnipresence in the natural world. These words from David no one can understand except from the spiritual sense.

[3] In Isaiah:

As birds flying, so will Jehovah of Hosts protect Jerusalem (Isaiah 31:5).

Jehovah is said "to protect Jerusalem as birds flying," for "to protect" signifies the Divine Providence in respect to safeguard; "Jerusalem" signifies the church, and "birds flying," with which comparison is made, signify circumspection and presence, here, as attributed to the Lord, omnipresence.

[4] In Revelation:

I saw and I heard one angel flying, through midheaven, saying with a great voice, Woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth (Revelation 8:13).

In the same:

I saw another angel flying through midheaven, having the eternal gospel to proclaim unto the inhabitants of the earth (Revelation 14:6).

The former angel signifies the damnation of all who are in evils; and the other angel signifies the salvation of all who are in good; "flying" signifies circumspection on every side where they are.

[5] In Isaiah:

All the flocks of Arabia shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee. Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as doves to the windows? (Isaiah 60:7-8).

This treats of the Lord's coming, and the illustration of the Gentiles at that time; and "the flocks of Arabia that shall be gathered together" signify the knowledges of truth and good; "the rams of Nebaioth that shall minister" signify the truths that guide the life from a spiritual affection; "to fly as a cloud and as doves to the windows" signifies examination and scrutiny of truth from the sense of the letter of the Word; therefore "to fly" signifies circumspection; for "cloud" signifies the sense of the letter of the Word, "doves" the spiritual affection of truth, and "windows" truth in light. That such is the meaning of these words can be seen from the signification of "the flocks of Arabia," "the rams of Nebaioth," "cloud," "doves," and "windows."

[6] In David:

Fear and trembling were come upon me. And I said, Who will give me a wing like a dove's? I will fly away where I may dwell. Lo, I will wander far away; I will lodge in the wilderness (Psalms 55:5-7).

This treats of temptation and of distress then; "fear and trembling" signify such distress; the inquiry into truth then, and circumspection whither to turn oneself, is signified by "Who will give me a wing like a dove's? I will fly away where I may dwell." "Wing of a dove" means the affection of spiritual truth; "to fly away where I may dwell" means by that affection to rescue the life from damnation; that as yet there is no hope of deliverance is signified by "Lo, I will wander far away, and will lodge in the wilderness."

[7] In Hosea:

Ephraim, as a bird shall their glory fly away; yea if they have brought up sons, then I will make them bereaved of man (Hosea 9:11, 12).

"Ephraim" signifies the illustrated understanding of those who are of the church; "glory" signifies Divine truth; "to fly away as a bird" signifies the deprivation of it (comparison is made with a bird, because a "bird" signifies the rational and intellectual, as Ephraim does); "if they have brought up sons, then will I make them bereaved of man," signifies that if nevertheless they have brought forth truths, still they are not at all made wise thereby; for "sons" are truths, and "to make them bereaved of man" is to deprive them of wisdom.

[8] In Moses:

Ye shall not make to you the form of any beast upon the earth, nor the form of any winged bird that flieth towards heaven (Deuteronomy 4:16, 17). This signifies in the internal sense that man must not acquire for himself wisdom and intelligence from self, or from what is his own [ex proprio], for "beasts that walk upon the earth" signify the affections of good, from which is wisdom, and "birds" signify the affections of truth from which is intelligence. That they should not make to themselves the form of these signifies that the things signified are not to be acquired from man, that is, from what is his own [ex proprio]. It is said, "the winged bird that flieth towards heaven," because "winged bird" signifies the understanding of spiritual truth, and "to fly towards heaven" signifies the circumspection that belongs to intelligence in things Divine.

[9] From this it can now be seen what is signified by this cherub's appearing "like a flying eagle" as also what is signified in Isaiah by:

The seraphim, which 1 had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly (Isaiah 6:2);

namely that the "wings with which be covered his face" signify the affection of spiritual truth; the "wings with which he covered his feet" the affection of natural truth therefrom; and the "wings with which he did fly" circumspection and presence, here omnipresence, because "seraphim" have a like signification as "cherubim," namely, Divine Providence in respect to guarding.

[10] "To fly" in reference to man signifies circumspection and at the same time presence, because sight is present with the object that it sees; its appearing far away or at a distance is because of the intermediate objects that appear at the same time, and can be measured in respect to space. This can be fully confirmed by the things that exist in the spiritual world. In that world spaces themselves are appearances, arising from the diversity of affections and of thought therefrom; consequently, when any persons or things appear far away, and an angel or spirit desires from intense affection to be with such, or to examine the things that are at a distance, he is at once present there. The like is true of thought, which is man's internal or spiritual sight. Things previously seen thought sees within itself irrespective of space, thus altogether as present. This is why "flying" is predicated of the understanding and of its intelligence, and why it signifies circumspection and presence.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. For "which" the Hebrew has "each of which" as found in 285.

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