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Exodus 8

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1 And the Lord said to Moses: Go in to Pharao, and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith the Lord: Let my people Go to sacrifice to me.

2 But if thou wilt not let them go behold I will strike all thy coasts with frogs.

3 And the river shall bring forth an abundance of frogs: which shall come up, and enter into thy house, and thy bedchamber, and upon thy bed, and in the houses of thy servants, and to thy people, and into thy ovens, and into the remains of thy meats;

4 And the frogs shall come in to thee and to thy people, and to all thy servants.

5 And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thy hand upon the streams and upon the rivers and the pools, and bring forth frogs upon the land of Egypt.

6 And Aaron stretched forth his hand upon the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.

7 And the magicians also by their enchantments did in like manner, and the brought forth frogs upon all the land of Egypt

8 But Pharao called Moses and Aaron and said to them: Pray ye to the Lord to take away the frogs from me and from my people; and I will let the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.

9 And Moses said to Pharao: Set me a time when I shall pray for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, that the frogs may be driven away from thee and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people: and may remain only in the river.

10 And he answered: To morrow. But he said: I will do according to thy word; that thou mayst know that there is none like to the Lord our God.

11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy house, and from thy servants, and from thy people; and shall remain only in the river.

12 And Moses and Aaron went forth from Pharao: and Moses cried to the Lord for the promise, which he had made to Pharao concerning the frogs.

13 And the Lord did according to the word of Moses: and the frogs died out of the houses, and out of the villages, and out of the fields:

14 And they gathered them together into immense heaps, and the land was corrupted.

15 And Pharao seeing that rest was given, hardened his own heart, and did not hear them, as the Lord had commanded.

16 And the Lord said to Moses: Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thy rod, and strike the dust of the earth: and may there be sciniphs in all the land of Egypt.

17 And they did so. And Aaron stretched forth his hand, holding the rod: and he struck the dust of the earth, and there came sciniphs on men and on beasts: all the dust of the earth was turned into sciniphs through all the land of Egypt.

18 And the magicians with their enchantments practiced in like manner, to bring forth sciniphs, and they could not and there were sciniphs as well on men as on beasts.

19 And the magicians said to Pharao This is the finger of God. And Pharao heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them, as the Lord had commanded.

20 The Lord also said to Moses: Arise early, and stand before Pharao: for he will go forth to the waters: and thou shalt say to him: Thus saith The Lord: Let my people go to sacrifice to me.

21 But if thou wilt not let them go, behold I will send in upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy houses all kind of flies: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be filled with flies of divers kinds, and the whole land wherein they shall be.

22 And I will make the land of Gessen wherein my people is, wonderful in that lay, so that flies shall not be there: and thou shalt know that I am the Lord in the midst of the earth.

23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to morrow shall this sign be.

24 And the Lord did so. And there came a very grievous swarm of flies into he houses of Pharao and of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt: and the land was corrupted by this kind of flies.

25 And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Go, and sacrifice to your God in this land.

26 And Moses said: It cannot be so: for we shall sacrifice the abominations of the Egyptians to the Lord our God: now if we kill those things which the Egyptians worship, in their presence, they will stone us.

27 We will go three days' journey into the wilderness: and we will sacrifice to the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.

28 And Pharao said: I will let you go to sacrifice to the Lord your God in the wilderness: but go no farther: pray for me.

29 And Moses said: I will go out from thee, and will pray to the Lord: and the flies shall depart from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people to morrow: but do not deceive any more, in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the Lord.

30 So Moses went out from Pharao, and prayed to the Lord.

31 And he did according to his word: and he took away the flies from Pharao, and from his servants, and from his people: there was not left so much as one.

32 And Pharao's heart was hardened, so that neither this time would he let the people go.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 7474

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7474. 'And did not send the people away' means that they did not leave those who belonged to the spiritual Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'sending away' as leaving; and from the representation of the children of Israel, to whom 'the people' refers here, as those who belong to the spiritual Church, dealt with in 6426, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223.

[2] With regard to the spiritual Church, represented here by the children of Israel, it should be recognized that it has an internal part and an external part, and that those people are in the internal part of the Church who are governed by the good of charity, while those are in the external part who are governed by the good of faith. People governed by the good of charity are those who out of charity towards the neighbour behold the truths of faith, whereas people governed by the good of faith are those who out of faith look towards charity. Thus the latter do good not out of affection belonging to charity but out of obedience belonging to faith, that is, because they are commanded to do it. These are precisely the ones who are represented here by the children of Israel, since they are the ones who are molested in the next life by those steeped in falsities. People who are governed by affection belonging to charity cannot be molested in the same way, for spirits who are steeped in falsities and evils cannot go near those governed by that good because the Lord is within that good. If they do suffer molestation, it involves only the illusions and appearances which have led them to believe things to be true which are not actually true, and such things as were presented by the teachings of their Church as truths but are not in fact truths. In the next life those people willingly reject falsities and accept truths, the reason being that the good of charity is receptive of truth because it loves it and is desirous of it.

[3] Since mention is made so many times of molestations what they are and what they are like must be stated. Molestations are brought about by introduction of falsity opposed to truths; but those falsities are refuted by an influx from heaven, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven, with those suffering such molestation. This kind of state is what those undergoing vastation of their falsities are held in, until they have absorbed the truths of faith, and, stage by stage, more internal truths. And in the measure that they have absorbed those truths they are released from molestation. Molestations are not temptations, since temptations when they take place involve torment of conscience. For people undergoing temptations are held in a state of damnation, which brings them torment and grief.

[4] All this shows what the vastations in the next life are like which those governed by the good of faith undergo. Those vastations are vastations of falsity. But with those who have not been governed by the good of faith, only by some truth of faith which with them is merely factual knowledge, and have led an evil life, the vastations are vastations of truth. Those who undergo vastation of falsities gradually absorb truths and forms of the good of faith and charity, whereas those who undergo vastation of truths gradually cast off truths and invest themselves with the evils which have been a feature of the life they led. From all this one may see what is meant in the Word by vastations and desolations.

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