Bible

 

Exodus 10

Studie

   

1 And Jehovah said to Moses, Come to Pharaoh; for I have made·​·heavy his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may set these My signs in among him;

2 and that thou mayest recount in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son, what things I have worked in Egypt, and My signs which I have set in them, and that you may·​·know that I am Jehovah.

3 And Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and said to him, Thus says Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, How long dost thou refuse to be afflicted before Me? let· My people ·go, that they may serve Me.

4 For if thou refuse to let· My people ·go, behold tomorrow I will bring the locust into thy border.

5 And it shall cover the surface* of the land, and one shall not be·​·able to see the land; and it shall eat·​·up the remnant of that which escaped that is left for you from the hail; and it shall eat·​·up every tree that grows for you from the field.

6 And thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, shall be filled; such as thy fathers, and the fathers of thy fathers, had not seen, from the day that they were upon the ground even·​·to this day. And he turned· his ·face back, and went·​·out from being with Pharaoh.

7 And the servants of Pharaoh said to him, How long shall this be for a snare to us? Send· the men ·away, and let them serve Jehovah their God; knowest thou not·​·yet that Egypt is perishing?

8 And Moses and Aaron were returned to Pharaoh; and he said to them, Go ye, serve Jehovah your God; who and who are going?

9 And Moses said, We will go with our lads, and with our elders; with our sons and with our daughters, with our flock and with our herd, will we go; for we have a festival of Jehovah.

10 And he said to them, So shall Jehovah be with you, when I send· you ·out, and your infants; see ye that evil is in·​·front·​·of your faces.

11 Not so; go, I pray, you who are mighty·​·men, and serve Jehovah; for it is what you seek. And he drove· them ·out from the faces of Pharaoh.

12 And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch forth thy hand over the land of Egypt for the locust, and it shall come up upon the land of Egypt, and shall devour all the herb of the land, even all that the hail has left.

13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and Jehovah brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locust.

14 And the locust went·​·up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the border of Egypt, very heavy; before it there was no such locust as this, and after it there shall not be such.

15 And it covered the surface* of all the land, and the land was darkened; and it devoured all the herb of the land, and all the fruit of the tree which the hail had left; and there was not left any green thing in the tree and in the herb of the field, in the whole land of Egypt.

16 And Pharaoh hastened to call Moses and Aaron; and he said, I have sinned to Jehovah your God, and to you.

17 And now, I pray, bear·​·with my sin only this time, and supplicate ye to Jehovah your God that He remove from upon me this death only.

18 And he went out from before Pharaoh, and supplicated to Jehovah.

19 And Jehovah turned a very strong sea wind, and lifted·​·up the locust, and cast them toward the Suph sea*; there was not left one locust in all the border of Egypt.

20 And Jehovah made· the heart of Pharaoh ·firm, and he did not send· the sons of Israel ·away.

21 And Jehovah said to Moses, Stretch·​·out thy hand toward the heavens, and there shall be darkness on the land of Egypt, and one shall feel·​·around in darkness.

22 And Moses stretched·​·out his hand toward the heavens; and there was a darkness of thick·​·darkness in all the land of Egypt three days.

23 They saw not a man his brother, and there rose· not ·up a man from what was under him for three days; and all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings.

24 And Pharaoh called to Moses, and said, Go ye, serve Jehovah; only your flock and your herd shall stay*; your infants also shall Go with you.

25 And Moses said, Thou shalt also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt·​·offerings, that we may make it to Jehovah our God.

26 And our livestock also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left; for of it we must take to serve Jehovah our God; and we know not with what we must serve Jehovah until we come thither.

27 And Jehovah made· the heart of Pharaoh ·firm, and he was· not ·willing to send· them ·away.

28 And Pharaoh said to him, Go away from before me, take·​·heed to thyself that thou see my faces no more; for in the day thou seest my faces thou shalt·​·die.

29 And Moses said, Thou hast rightly spoken; I will see thy faces again no more.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 3048

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

3048. 'The servant took ten camels from his master's camels, and went' means [Divine] general facts in the natural man. This is clear from the meaning of 'the servant' here as the natural man, dealt with above in 3019, 3020; from the meaning of 'ten' as remnants, which are the goods and truths stored away in a person by the Lord, see 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661, 1050, 1906, 2284 (though when 'ten' or remnants is used in reference to the Lord, the Divine things that the Lord acquired to Himself are meant, 1738, 1906); and from the meaning of 'camels' as general facts which, being Divine or things acquired by the Lord, are said to be 'ten' in number, and also to be 'camels from his master's camels'. The words 'he went' mean the introduction which was effected by means of those facts, which is dealt with in this chapter. The whole subject is the process by which truth was joined to good in the Lord's Divine Rational, the first thing to be described in this line of thought being the nature of the process of introduction, referred to in 3012, 3013. The present verse describes how the Lord separated those things in the natural man that came from Himself, that is, that were Divine, from those that came from the mother. Those that came from Himself, or were Divine, are the things through which the introduction was effected, and they are meant here by 'the ten camels from his master's camels'. This explains why much reference is made in subsequent verses to camels, such as that he made the camels kneel down outside the city, verse 11; that Rebekah also gave the camels a drink, verses 14, 19-20; that they were led into the house, and given straw and fodder, verses 31-32; and further on, that Rebekah and her maids rode on the camels, verse 61; and that Isaac saw the camels coming, and that when Rebekah saw Isaac she dropped down from the camel, verses 63-64. The reason they are mentioned so many times lies in the internal sense in which they mean the general facts that are present in the natural man and from which comes the affection for truth that had to be introduced to the affection for good within the rational, this being effected in the ordinary way, as shown above. For the rational as regards truth cannot possibly be born and perfected without facts and cognitions.

[2] That 'camels' means general facts is clear from other places in the Word where they are mentioned, as in Isaiah,

A prophecy of the beasts of the south. In the land of distress and anguish are the young lion and the old lion from them, the viper and the flying fiery-serpent. They carry their wealth on the shoulders of young asses, and their treasures on the backs of camels, to a people that do not profit them. And Egypt's help will be in vain and to no advantage. Isaiah 30:6-7.

'The beasts of the south' stands for those who possess cognitions or the light of cognitions but lead evil lives. 'Carrying their wealth on the shoulders of young asses' stands for the cognitions which belong to their rational, 'a young ass' being rational truth, see 2781. 'Their treasures on the backs of camels' stands for the cognitions which belong to their natural, 'the backs of camels' being the natural, 'camels' themselves the general facts there, 'treasures' the cognitions which they consider to be precious. The words 'Egypt's help will be in vain and to no advantage' mean that to them knowledge is of no use, 'Egypt' being knowledge, see 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 2588 (end). It is evident that camels are not meant by 'camels' here because it is said that the young lion and the old lion carry their treasures on the backs of camels. Anyone may see that some arcanum of the Church is meant by this description.

[3] In the same prophet,

The prophecy of the wilderness of the sea. Thus said the Lord, Go, set a watchman to point out what he sees. And he saw a chariot, a pair of horsemen, a chariot of asses, a chariot of camels, and he listened diligently. He answered and said, Fallen, fallen has Babel. Isaiah 21:1, 6-7, 9.

'The wilderness of the sea' stands for the hollowness of knowledge that serves no use. 'A chariot of asses' stands for a mass of specific facts, 'a chariot of camels' for a mass of general facts which are present in the natural man. It is the hollow reasonings found with people meant by Babel which are described in this fashion.

[4] In the same prophet,

Your heart will enlarge itself because the abundance of the sea will be turned to you, the wealth of the nations will come to you. A multitude of camels will cover you, dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all those from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and frankincense, and will spread abroad the praises of Jehovah. Isaiah 60:5-6.

This refers to the Lord, and to the Divine celestial and spiritual things within His natural. 'The abundance of the sea' stands for a vast quantity of natural truth, 'the wealth of the nations' for a vast quantity of natural good. 'A multitude of camels' stands for general facts in abundance, 'gold and frankincense' for goods and truths which are 'the praises of Jehovah'. 'From Sheba' is from the celestial things of love and faith, see 113, 117, 1171. The queen of Sheba's coming to Solomon in Jerusalem with vast amounts of wealth, with camels carrying spices, and very much gold, and precious stones, 1 Kings 10:1-2, represented the wisdom and intelligence which came to the Lord, who in the internal sense of these verses is meant by Solomon. 'Camels carrying spices, gold, and precious stores' means matters of wisdom and intelligence in the natural man.

[5] In Jeremiah,

To Arabia and to the kingdoms of Hazor which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel smote: Arise and go up to Arabia, and lay waste the sons of the east. They will take their tents, their curtains, and all their vessels, and they will bear their camels away from them. Their camels will become booty, and the multitude of their flocks booty, and I will scatter them to every wind. Jeremiah 49:28-29, 32.

Here 'Arabia' and 'the kingdoms of Hazor', used in the contrary sense, stand for people who possess cognitions of celestial and spiritual things but whose only use for them is to be considered wise and intelligent in their own eyes and in those of the world. 'The camels that will be borne away from them to become booty and that will be scattered to every wind' means in general the factual knowledge of those people and their cognitions of good and truth, which will begin to be removed from these people in this life through their belief in things of a contrary nature, and in the next life removed altogether.

[6] In Zechariah,

The plague with which Jehovah will smite all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: It will be a plague of the horse, the mule, the camel, and the ass, and every beast. Zechariah 14:12, 15.

'A plague of the horse, the mule, the camel, the ass' stands for the removal of the powers of the understanding which follow one another in the same consecutive order, from rational concepts to natural images. What a horse is, see 2761, 2762; a mule, 2781; an ass, 2781. 'Camels' stands for general facts in the natural man. The pestilence in Egypt 'on the cattle in the field, on the horses, on the asses, on the camels, on the herd, and on the flock', Exodus 9:2-3, had a similar meaning.

From all these places it becomes clear that 'camels' in the internal sense of the Word means general facts which belong to the natural man. General facts are those which include within themselves many particular ones, while these include within themselves those that are specific. All these constitute in general the understanding part of the natural man.

  
/ 10837  
  

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

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 113

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

113. Nothing is more common in the Word than for the good that belongs to wisdom or else to love to be meant and represented by 'gold'. All the gold of the Ark, the Temple, the golden table, 1 the lampstands, the vessels, and on Aaron's vestments, meant and represented good that belongs to wisdom or else to love. Similarly in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,

In your wisdom and in your intelligence have made wealth for yourself, and you have made gold and silver in your treasures. Ezekiel 28:4.

Here it is plainly stated that gold and silver, or good and truth, are the products of wisdom and intelligence, for 'silver' here means truth, as also does the silver of the Tabernacle 2 and the Temple. In Isaiah,

A multitude of camels will cover you, dromedaries of Midian and Ephah, all those from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and frankincense, and will proclaim the praises of Jehovah. Isaiah 60:6.

So too the wise men from the east who came to Jesus after His birth,

And they fell down and worshipped Him, and they opened their treasures, and offered Him gifts - gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:1, 11.

Here also 'gold' means good, 'frankincense and myrrh' those things that are pleasing, because they derive from love and faith, and are consequently called 'the praises of Jehovah'. 'Gold' is for the same reason mentioned in David,

He will live, and He will give to him from the gold of Sheba, and will pray for him continually, and bless him every day. Psalms 72:15.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. i.e. the table of Shewbread, or the table for the Bread of the Presence

2. The latin here means the Ark but Swedenborg is clearly referring to the Tabernacle.

  
/ 10837  
  

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