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2 Mose 17

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1 Und die ganze Gemeinde der Kinder Israel zog aus der Wüste Sin ihre Tagereisen, wie ihnen der HERR befahl, und sie lagerten sich in Raphidim. Da hatte das Volk kein Wasser zu trinken.

2 Und sie zankten mit Mose und sprachen: Gebt uns Wasser, daß wir trinken. Mose sprach zu ihnen: Was zankt ihr mit mir? Warum versucht ihr den HERRN?

3 Da aber das Volk daselbst dürstete nach Wasser, murrten sie wider Mose und sprachen: Warum hast du uns lassen aus Ägypten ziehen, daß du uns, unsre Kinder und unser Vieh Durstes sterben ließest?

4 Mose schrie zum HERRN und sprach: Wie soll ich mit dem Volk tun? Es fehlt nicht viel, sie werden mich noch steinigen.

5 Der HERR sprach zu ihm: Gehe hin vor dem Volk und nimm etliche Älteste von Israel mit dir und nimm deinen Stab in deine Hand, mit dem du den Strom schlugst, und gehe hin.

6 Siehe, ich will daselbst stehen vor dir auf einem Fels am Horeb; da sollst du den Fels schlagen, so wird Wasser herauslaufen, daß das Volk trinke. Mose tat also vor den Ältesten von Israel.

7 Da hieß man den Ort Massa und Meriba um des Zanks willen der Kinder Israel, und daß sie den HERRN versucht und gesagt hatten: Ist der HERR unter uns oder nicht?

8 Da kam Amalek und stritt wider Israel in Raphidim.

9 Und Mose sprach zu Josua: Erwähle uns Männer, zieh aus und streite wider Amalek; morgen will ich auf des Hügels Spitze stehen und den Stab Gottes in meiner Hand haben.

10 Und Josua tat, wie Mose ihm sagte, daß er wider Amalek stritte. Mose aber und Aaron und Hur gingen auf die Spitze des Hügels.

11 Und wenn Mose seine Hand emporhielt, siegte Israel; wenn er aber seine Hand niederließ, siegte Amalek.

12 Aber die Hände Mose's wurden schwer; darum nahmen sie einen Stein und legten ihn unter ihn, daß er sich daraufsetzte. Aaron aber und Hur stützten ihm seine Hände, auf jeglicher Seite einer. Also blieben seine Hände fest, bis die Sonne unterging.

13 Und Josua dämpfte den Amalek und sein Volk durch des Schwertes Schärfe.

14 Und der HERR sprach zu Mose: Schreibe das zum Gedächtnis in ein Buch und befiehls's in die Ohren Josuas; denn ich will den Amalek unter dem Himmel austilgen, daß man sein nicht mehr gedenke.

15 Und Mose baute einen Altar und hieß ihn: Der HERR ist mein Panier.

16 Denn er sprach: Es ist ein Malzeichen bei dem Stuhl des HERRN, daß der HERR streiten wird wider Amalek von Kind zu Kindeskind.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 8556

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8556. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Verses 1-3 And all the assembly of the children of Israel travelled on from the wilderness of Sin, according to their travels, at the mouth of Jehovah, and encamped in Rephidim; and there was no water for the people to drink. And the people wrangled with Moses, and said, Give us water and let us drink. And Moses said to them, Why do you wrangle with me? Why do you tempt Jehovah? And the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses, and said, Why have you caused us to come up out of Egypt, to cause me, and my children, and my livestock to die of thirst? 1

'And all the assembly of the children of Israel travelled on' means a further development of spiritual life. 'From the wilderness of Sin' means away from a state of temptation having to do with good. 'According to their travels' means according to the order of life for receiving the life of heaven. 'At the mouth of Jehovah' means in the Lord's providence. 'And encamped in Rephidim' means arranging interior things for undergoing a temptation having to do with truth, the essential nature of that temptation being meant by 'Rephidim'. 'And there was no water for the people to drink' means a lack of truth and consequently of refreshment.

'And the people wrangled with Moses' means bitter complaining against God's truth. 'And said, Give us water and let us drink' means a burning desire for truth. 'And Moses said to them' means the reply, made through influx into thought. 'Why do you wrangle with me?' means that they should be more restrained in their complaining. 'Why do you tempt Jehovah?' means that their complaining is against the Divine, from whom they despair of receiving aid. 'And the people thirsted there for water' means an increase in the desire for truth. 'And the people grumbled against Moses' means a greater degree of grief. 'Why have you caused us to come up out of Egypt' means Why have we been delivered from molestations ... 'To cause me, and my children, and my livestock to die of thirst?' means, in order for everything constituting spiritual life to perish, owing to the lack of truth?

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The change in this sentence from the plural us to the singular me occurs in the Hebrew.

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

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Moses

  

At the inmost level, the story of Moses -- like all of the Bible -- is about the Lord and his spiritual development during his human life as Jesus. Moses's role represents establishing forms of worship and to make the people obedient. As such, his primary representation is "the Law of God," the rules God gave the people of Israel to follow in order to represent spiritual things. This can be interpreted narrowly as the Ten Commandments, more broadly as the books of Moses, or most broadly as the entire Bible. Fittingly, his spiritual meaning is complex and important, and evolves throughout the course of his life. To understand it, it helps to understand the meaning of the events in which he was involved. At a more basic level, Moses's story deals with the establishment of the third church to serve as a container of knowledge of the Lord. The first such church -- the Most Ancient Church, represented by Adam and centered on love of the Lord -- had fallen prey to human pride and was destroyed. The second -- the Ancient Church, represented by Noah and the generations that followed him -- was centered on love of the neighbor, wisdom from the Lord and knowledge of the correspondences between natural and spiritual things. It fell prey to the pride of intelligence, however -- represented by the Tower of Babel -- and at the time of Moses was in scattered pockets that were sliding into idolatry. On an external level, of course, Moses led the people of Israel out of Egypt through 40 years in the wilderness to the border of the homeland God had promised them. Along the way, he established and codified their religious system, and oversaw the creation of its most holy objects. Those rules and the forms of worship they created were given as containers for deeper ideas about the Lord, deeper truth, and at some points -- especially when he was first leading his people away from Egypt, a time before the rules had been written down -- Moses takes on the deeper representation of Divine Truth itself, truth from the Lord. At other times -- especially after Mount Sinai -- he has a less exalted meaning, representing the people of Israel themselves due to his position as their leader. Through Moses the Lord established a third church, one more external than its predecessors but one that could preserve knowledge of the Lord and could, through worship that represented spiritual things, make it possible for the Bible to be written and passed to future generations.