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Esodo 34

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1 L’Eterno disse a Mosè: "Tagliati due tavole di pietra come le prime; e io scriverò sulle tavole le parole che erano sulle prime che spezzasti.

2 E sii pronto domattina, e sali al mattino sul monte Sinai, e presentati quivi a me in vetta al monte.

3 Nessuno salga con te, e non si vegga alcuno per tutto il monte; e greggi ed armenti non pascolino nei pressi di questo monte".

4 Mosè dunque tagliò due tavole di pietra, come le prime; si alzò la mattina di buon’ora, e salì sul monte Sinai come l’Eterno gli avea comandato, e prese in mano le due tavole di pietra.

5 E l’Eterno discese nella nuvola, si fermò quivi con lui e proclamò il nome dell’Eterno.

6 E l’Eterno passò davanti a lui, e gridò: "l’Eterno! l’Eterno! l’Iddio misericordioso e pietoso, lento all’ira, ricco in benignità e fedeltà,

7 che conserva la sua benignità fino alla millesima generazione, che perdona l’iniquità, la trasgressione e il peccato ma non terrà il colpevole per innocente, e che punisce l’iniquità dei padri sopra i figliuoli e sopra i figliuoli de’ figliuoli, fino alla terza e alla quarta generazione!"

8 E Mosè subito s’inchinò fino a terra, e adorò.

9 Poi disse: "Deh, Signore, se ho trovato grazia agli occhi tuoi, venga il Signore in mezzo a noi, perché questo è un popolo di collo duro; perdona la nostra iniquità e il nostro peccato, e prendici come tuo possesso".

10 E l’Eterno risposo: "Ecco, io faccio un patto: farò dinanzi a tutto il tuo popolo maraviglie, quali non si son mai fatte su tutta la terra né in alcuna nazione; e tutto il popolo in mezzo al quale ti trovi vedrà l’opera dell’Eterno, perché tremendo è quello ch’io sono per fare per mezzo di te.

11 Osserva quello che oggi ti comando: Ecco, io caccerò dinanzi a te gli Amorei, i Cananei, gli Hittei, i Ferezei, gli Hivvei e i Gebusei.

12 Guardati dal far lega con gli abitanti del paese nel quale stai per andare, onde non abbiano a diventare, in mezzo a te, un laccio;

13 ma demolite i loro altari, frantumate le loro colonne, abbattete i loro idoli;

14 poiché tu non adorerai altro dio, perché l’Eterno, che si chiama "il Geloso", è un Dio geloso.

15 Guardati dal far lega con gli abitanti del paese, affinché, quando quelli si prostituiranno ai loro dèi e offriranno sacrifizi ai loro dèi, non avvenga ch’essi t’invitino, e tu mangi dei loro sacrifizi,

16 e prenda delle loro figliuole per i tuoi figliuoli, e le loro figliuole si prostituiscano ai loro dèi, e inducano i tuoi figliuoli a prostituirsi ai loro dèi.

17 Non ti farai dèi di getto.

18 Osserverai la festa degli azzimi. Sette giorni, al tempo fissato del mese di Abib, mangerai pane senza lievito, come t’ho ordinato; poiché nel mese di Abib tu sei uscito dall’Egitto.

19 Ogni primogenito è mio; e mio è ogni primo parto maschio di tutto il tuo bestiame: del bestiame grosso e minuto.

20 Ma riscatterai con un agnello il primo nato dell’asino; e, se non lo vorrai riscattare, gli fiaccherai il collo. Riscatterai ogni primogenito de’ tuoi figliuoli. E nessuno comparirà davanti a me a mani vuote.

21 Lavorerai sei giorni; ma il settimo giorno ti riposerai: ti riposerai anche al tempo dell’aratura e della mietitura.

22 Celebrerai la festa delle settimane: cioè delle primizie della mietitura del frumento, e la festa della raccolta alla fine dell’anno.

23 Tre volte all’anno comparirà ogni vostro maschio nel cospetto del Signore, dell’Eterno, ch’è l’Iddio d’Israele.

24 Poiché io caccerò dinanzi a te delle nazioni, e allargherò i tuoi confini; né alcuno agognerà il tuo paese, quando salirai, tre volte all’anno, per comparire nel cospetto dell’Eterno, ch’è l’Iddio tuo.

25 Non offrirai con pane lievitato il sangue della vittima immolata a me; e il sacrifizio della festa di Pasqua non sarà serbato fino al mattino.

26 Porterai alla casa dell’Eterno Iddio tuo le primizie de’ primi frutti della tua terra. Non cuocerai il capretto nel latte di sua madre".

27 Poi l’Eterno disse a Mosè: "Scrivi queste parole; perché sul fondamento di queste parole io ho contratto alleanza con te e con Israele".

28 E Mosè rimase quivi con l’Eterno quaranta giorni e quaranta notti; non mangiò pane e non bevve acqua. E l’Eterno scrisse sulle tavole le parole del patto, le dieci parole.

29 Or Mosè, quando scese dal monte Sinai scendendo dal monte Mosè aveva in mano le due tavole della testimonianza non sapeva che la pelle del suo viso era diventata tutta raggiante mentr’egli parlava con l’Eterno;

30 e quando Aaronne e tutti i figliuoli d’Israele videro Mosè, ecco che la pelle del suo viso era tutta raggiante, ed essi temettero d’accostarsi a lui.

31 Ma Mosè li chiamò, ed Aaronne e tutti i capi della raunanza tornarono a lui, e Mosè parlò loro.

32 Dopo questo, tutti i figliuoli d’Israele si accostarono, ed egli ordinò loro tutto quello che l’Eterno gli avea detto sul monte Sinai.

33 E quando Mosè ebbe finito di parlar con loro, si mise un velo sulla faccia.

34 Ma quando Mosè entrava al cospetto dell’Eterno per parlare con lui, si toglieva il velo, finché non tornasse fuori; tornava fuori, e diceva ai figliuoli d’Israele quello che gli era stato comandato.

35 I figliuoli d’Israele, guardando la faccia di Mosè, ne vedeano la pelle tutta raggiante; e Mosè si rimetteva il velo sulla faccia, finché non entrasse a parlare con l’Eterno.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9414

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9414. 'And Jehovah said to Moses' means instructions from the Lord for those restricted to the outward sense. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' as instructions, when it includes the things stated after it that make up the instructions, as also in 7186, 7241, 7267, 7304, 7380, 7517, 7769, 7793, 7825, 8041 (the instructions come from the Lord because 'Jehovah' is used in the Word to mean the Lord, 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6281, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315); and from the representation of 'Moses' as that which acts as the intermediary between the Lord and the people, thus the Word in respect of its outward holiness since this acts as an intermediary. The fact that 'Moses' begins now to represent this intermediary is clear from the train of thought in all that follows. For that people was restricted to the external level of the Word, and as a consequence their worship was external, separated from anything internal, see 9380. Those who are like this cannot have any holy contact at all with the Lord, let alone be joined to Him, except through an intermediary. This matter will be explained more fully below in 9419.

[2] The fact that this people was restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward, and that as a consequence their worship was similarly external, is plainly evident from events that followed. After forty days they fell completely away, worshipping the golden calf instead of Jehovah. Also, because of this Moses at that time threw the tablets from his hand and smashed them; and afterwards he was commanded to hew some other tablets on which the same words would be written. The meaning of this was that this people were altogether unwilling to accept any teaching at all from the inward sense of the Word as it exists in heaven, only from its outward sense separated from the inward, as the Word exists with them in the world even at the present day. This also explains why that people were no longer called Jehovah's people but Moses' people, as in Chapter Exodus 32 further on,

Jehovah spoke to Moses, Go! go down; for your people whom you caused to come up from the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. Exodus 32:7.

Also in Chapter 33,

Jehovah spoke to Moses, Go! go up from here, you and the people whom you have caused to come up from the land of Egypt. Exodus 33:1.

For this reason also they were subsequently removed from the mountain. And in Chapter 34,

No man shall come up with you, and also no man shall be seen on all the mountain. Also no flock or herd shall feed before this mountain. Exodus 34:3.

For 'Mount Sinai' means the Law or Divine Truth and the Word as it exists in heaven, and so heaven as well, 8399, 8753, 8793, 8805. The reason why Moses previously represented the Word in general, that is, in respect both of its inward sense and of its outward sense, was that there the subject was the declaring of the Law, by which the revelation of Divine Truth in general was meant. This was the beginning of the revelation, for all else in the Word was written later.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 6849

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6849. 'For he was afraid to look at God' means for fear that they should suffer harm from the presence of the Divine itself. This is clear from the meaning of 'being afraid' as for fear that they, interior things, should suffer harm (for this was the reason for his fear); and from the meaning of 'looking at God' as the presence of the Divine itself. For the only way in which the Lord can make Himself present before a person is through the persons inner seeing, through seeing Him with the eye of faith that belongs to charity. If the Lord does manifest Himself in an outward visible form to someone, it is still the inner levels of mind that are affected, for the Divine reaches into the deepest parts of him. With regard to the meaning here, that interior things should not suffer harm from the presence of the Divine itself, and that therefore they were to be protected, the situation is this: The Divine itself is pure love, and pure love is like a fire hotter than the fire of the sun in this world. Consequently if Divine Love in its purity were to flow into any angel, spirit, or man, he would be completely destroyed, which is why so many times in the Word Jehovah or the Lord is called a consuming fire. To ensure therefore that the angels in heaven suffer no harm from the flow of heat from the Lord as the sun, each of them is veiled with a kind of thin cloud suited to the individual, which moderates the heat flowing in from that sun.

[2] The truth that without this form of preservation everyone would be destroyed by the presence of the Divine had been well known to the ancients, which was why they were afraid of seeing God, as is clear in the Book of Judges,

Gideon saw that he was the angel of Jehovah, therefore Gideon said, O Lord Jehovah! Inasmuch as I have seen the angel of Jehovah face to face. And Jehovah said to him, Peace be to you; do not fear, for you will not die. Judges 6:12, 23.

In the same book,

Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, for we have seen God. Judges 13:22.

And in the Book of Exodus,

Jehovah said to Moses, You cannot see My face, for no man will see My face and live. Exodus 33:20.

[3] When therefore Moses was allowed to see God, he was placed in a cleft of the rock, Exodus 33:22, which represented the dimness of his faith, and the clouds that hid and protected him. How dangerous it can be for angels to be beheld by the Divine without being covered by a cloud is made very clear by the fact that when angels look at any spirit who is governed by evil he seems to change into something resembling a lifeless object, as I have often been allowed to see. The reason why this happens is that when the angels look at someone there is cast in his direction the light and heat of heaven, and the truth of faith and the good of love with them, which - when these penetrate - virtually deprive the evil of life.

[4] If this is what happens when angels look at them, what would happen if the Lord did so? This explains why the hells are utterly remote from heaven, and why those who are there wish to be remote, for if they are not they suffer dreadful torment. This makes plain the meaning of the following words, They will say to the mountains and rocks, Rush down on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne. Revelation 6:16; Luke 23:30; Hosea 10:8.

[5] Thus the presence of the Divine itself is such that no angel can bear it unless he is protected by a cloud which tempers and moderates the rays of light and the heat from that sun. From this one may recognize plainly that the Lord's Human is Divine, for if it were not Divine it could never have become so united to the Divine itself, called the Father, that they are one, according to the Lord's words in John 14:10 and following verses, and elsewhere. For that which is to receive the Divine in this way must be wholly Divine; what was not Divine from such a union would be plainly reduced to nothing. Let me use a comparison. Can anything be thrown into the fire of the sun and not be destroyed, unless it is similar in nature to the sun? So, can anyone enter the intense heat of infinite love unless he has in him the heat of the same kind of love, consequently unless he is none other than the Lord? The truth that the Father is within Him and that the Father does not show Himself except within His Divine Human is clear from the Lord's words in John,

Nobody has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. John 1:18.

And elsewhere in the same gospel,

You have never heard His voice nor seen His shape. John 5:37.

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