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Exodus 24

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1 And to<sup>▵sup> Moses He said, Come·​·up to<sup>▵sup> Jehovah, thou<sup>◦sup> and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and bow· yourselves ·down afar·​·off.

2 And Moses, he alone, shall approach Jehovah; and they shall not approach; and the people shall not go·​·up with him.

3 And Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of Jehovah, and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words that Jehovah has spoken we will do.

4 And Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah, and got·​·up·​·early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.

5 And he sent lads of the sons of Israel, and they offered·​·up burnt·​·offerings, and sacrificed sacrifices of peace·​·offerings of bullocks to Jehovah.

6 And Moses took half of the blood, and put it into basins; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people; and they said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear.

8 And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant that Jehovah has cut with you upon all these words.

9 And there went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel.

10 And they saw the God of Israel; and there was under His feet as what is made of the sapphire stone, and as the substance of the heavens as to cleanness.

11 And to the sons of Israel who were set apart He sent not His hand; and they beheld God, and did eat and drink.

12 And Jehovah said to Moses, Come up to Me into the mountain, and be thou there; and I will give thee the tablets of stone, and the law, and the commandment, which I will write to teach them.

13 And Moses rose·​·up, and Joshua his minister; and Moses went·​·up to the mountain of God.

14 And he said to the elders, Sit ye in this place for us, until we return to you; and behold Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has words*, let him approach them.

15 And Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.

16 And the glory of Jehovah abode on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; and on the seventh day He called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.

17 And the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was as a devouring fire on the head of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel.

18 And Moses came into the midst of the cloud, and went up to the mountain; and Moses was in the mountain forty days and forty nights.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 9422

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9422. 'Sit for us in this [place]' means that they are to remain with this sense. This is clear from the meaning of 'sitting in this' - that is to say, in this place, or below the mountain - as remaining with the outward sense. 'Sitting in a place' means remaining with one's state, and 'below the mountain' means restricted to the outward sense of the Word. For 'sitting' means remaining, as will be clear from what follows below; 'place' means state; and 'Mount Sinai' means the law or Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and so means the Word, 9420. The peak of the mountain, where Jehovah or the Lord was, Exodus 19:20, means the highest or inmost level of the law or the Word, 8827; the rest of the mountain beneath the peak means the inner level of the law or the Word as it exists in heaven; and the parts beneath the mountain, where the elders and the people were, means the outward level of the law or the Word, which is its outward sense. Thus in the Word the inmost, the inward, and the outward levels of things meant by 'the mountain' are represented, at this point the inmost, the inward, and the outward levels of the law or the Word, because 'Mount Sinai' means the law or the Word, 9420. From all this it is evident that 'Sit for us in this [place]' means that they are to remain with the outward sense.

[2] The word 'sit' is used because 'sitting' means remaining in a state; for movement from one place to another means changes of state involving the interiors, as becomes clear from what has been shown in 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381, and therefore sitting down means remaining in a state involving the interiors. Because 'sitting' has this meaning it was an accepted religious custom among the children of Israel to sit whenever they represented a state of the interiors that was permanent, as in the Book of Judges,

The children of Israel came to Bethlehem and wept; and they sat there before Jehovah and fasted that day until evening. Judges 20:26.

And elsewhere,

The people came to Bethlehem and sat there before God until evening; and they lifted up their voice and wept with great weeping. Judges 21:2.

In these verses 'sitting' means remaining long in a state of grief.

[3] This makes clear why the word 'sit' is used and what it implies in the following places: In David,

O Jehovah, You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. Psalms 139:2.

In Jeremiah,

You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them. Jeremiah 16:8.

In Micah,

Then He will stand and feed [His flock] in the strength of Jehovah, in the excellence of the name of Jehovah his God; and they will sit down. Micah 5:4.

In Isaiah,

Come down and sit on the dust, O virgin daughter of Babel; sit on the ground. Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans. She says in her heart, A widow I shall not sit. Isaiah 47:1, 5, 8.

Similar uses of the word occur elsewhere, such as sitting in darkness, Isaiah 42:7; sitting in council and sitting alone, Jeremiah 15:7; sitting on the right hand and on the left, Matthew 20:21, which stands for remaining in a state of power over others; and sitting on the right hand of God's power, Matthew 26:63-64; Mark 16:19, which refers to the Lord and stands for Divine almighty power that will remain forever.

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