Bible

 

Exodus 4

Studie

   

1 And Moses answered, and said, And behold, they will not believe me, and will not hear my voice; for they will say, Jehovah has not been seen by thee.

2 And Jehovah said to him, What is this in thy hand? And he said, A rod.

3 And He said, Cast it to the earth. And he cast it to the earth, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.

4 And Jehovah said to Moses, Put·​·forth thy hand, and seize its tail; and he Put·​·forth his hand, and held· it ·firmly, and it became a rod in the palm of his hand;

5 in order that they may believe that Jehovah has been seen by thee, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

6 And Jehovah said more to him, Bring now thy hand into thy bosom. And he brought his hand into his bosom, and brought· it ·out, and behold his hand was leprous as snow.

7 And He said, Return thy hand to thy bosom; and he returned his hand to his bosom; and brought· it ·out from his bosom, and behold it was returned again as his flesh.

8 And it shall be, if they do not believe thee, and hear the voice of the former sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

9 And it shall be, if they do not believe also these two signs, and do not hearken to thy voice, then thou shalt take from the waters of the Nile, and spill on the dry land, and it shall be that the waters, which thou hast taken from the Nile, shall become blood on the dry land.

10 And Moses said to Jehovah, In·​·me*, Lord, I am not a man of words, even from yesterday, even from the day before*, even from this·​·time, in Thy speaking to Thy servant, for heavy of mouth, and heavy of tongue am I.

11 And Jehovah said to him, Who makes* the mouth for man? Or who makes him dumb, or deaf, or his eyes opened, or blind? Is it not I, Jehovah?

12 And now go, and I will be with thy mouth, and I will instruct thee in what thou shalt speak.

13 And he said, In·​·me, my Lord, send, I pray, by the hand of another whom* Thou wilt send.

14 And the anger of Jehovah was·​·fierce against Moses, and He said, Is there not Aaron, thy brother, the Levite? I know that speaking he will speak. And also behold he goes out to meet thee; and he will see thee, and he will be·​·glad in his heart.

15 And thou shalt speak to him, and shalt put the words in his mouth; and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.

16 And he shall speak for thee to the people; and it shall be that he shall be to thee for a mouth, and thou shalt be to him for God.

17 And thou shalt take in thy hand this rod, with which thou shalt do the signs.

18 And Moses went, and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, Let me go, I pray, and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and I shall see whether they yet live. And Jethro said to Moses, go in peace.

19 And Jehovah said to Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt; because all the men seeking thy soul are·​·dead.

20 And Moses took his wife and his sons, and made them ride upon the donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt; and Moses took the rod of God in his hand.

21 And Jehovah said to Moses, When thou goest to return to Egypt, see all the miracles which I have set in thy hand, and thou shalt do them before Pharaoh; and I will make· his heart ·firm, and he will not send· the people ·away.

22 And thou shalt say to Pharaoh, Thus said Jehovah, My son, My firstborn, is Israel.

23 And I say to thee, Send· My son ·away, and he will serve Me; and if thou refuse to Send· him ·away, behold I will kill thy son, thy firstborn.

24 And it was on the way, in the inn, that Jehovah encountered him, and sought to·​·put· him ·to·​·death.*

25 And Zipporah took a rock, and cut·​·off the foreskin of her son, and made it touch his feet; and she said, Because a bridegroom of bloods* art thou to me.

26 And He let· him ·go. Then she said, A bridegroom of bloods to circumcisions.

27 And Jehovah said to Aaron, Go to meet Moses, into the wilderness. And he went, and encountered him in the mountain of God, and kissed him.

28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of Jehovah, with which He had sent him, and all the signs which He had commanded him.

29 And Moses went, and Aaron, and gathered all the elders of the sons of Israel.

30 And Aaron spoke all the words which Jehovah had spoken to Moses, and did the signs before the eyes of the people.

31 And the people believed; and they heard that Jehovah had visited the sons of Israel, and that He had seen their affliction, and they bent·​·themselves, and bowed· themselves ·down.

   


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

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 6963

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

6963. 'And behold, his hand was leprous, like snow' means the profanation of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'hand' as power, as above in 6947, and as truth since spiritual power consists in truth, 6948, 6960; and from the meaning of 'leprosy' as profanation, in particular the profanation of truth, dealt with below. In the historical part of the Word a great deal is said about leprosy - about the various manifestations of it in the skin, about determining the nature of it from those manifestations, and about whether a leper should be shut away, leave the community, or be set at liberty; and about leprosy in garments, vessels, and actual houses. So much is said about leprosy not on account of leprosy as a disease but because it was a sign of the profanation of truth, thus on account of its spiritual meaning and because the Jews and Israelites more than any others were capable of rendering truth profane.

[2] For if those people had known the inner contents of the Word and the actual truths which the religious observances of the Church among them represented, and if they had believed those truths and yet led the lives they were predisposed to lead - namely lives ruled by self-love and love of the world, involving acts of hatred and vengeance on one another, and involving cruelty to gentiles - they could not have avoided profaning the truths they had once believed. For believing truths and leading a life that goes against them is profaning them. It was for this reason too that they were withheld as far as was possible from any recognition of internal truth, 3398, 3489, withheld from it so completely that they did not even know that they would be alive after death. Nor did they believe that the Messiah was coming to save their souls for evermore, only that He would exalt that nation above all throughout the world. And because that nation was like this, and is also like it today, they are still withheld from faith, even though they live amid Christianity. This then is the reason why the nature of leprosy has been described so extensively.

[3] The meaning of 'leprosy' as the profanation of truth is evident from the regulations regarding leprosy in Moses, Leviticus 13:1-end. That description contains in the internal sense the whole nature of the profanation of truth - what profanation is like if recent, what it is like if long-established, what it is like if it exists inwardly in a person, what it is like if it also exists outwardly, what it is like if it can be cured, what it is like if it cannot, what means can be used, and a number of other details. No one can ever come to know about any of this without the help of the internal sense of the Word. But since profane things are what 'leprosy' describes, a detailed explanation of the contents of that description must not be given; heaven has a feeling of horror at the very mention of what is profane.

[4] So let just the following be quoted from those regulations,

If leprosy has broken out severely in the skin and the leprosy has covered the entire skin of [him who has] the plague, from his head to his heels, wherever the priest looks, 1 and the priest sees that, behold, the leprosy has covered the person's entire flesh, then he shall pronounce [him] clean [who has] the plague. It has all turned white; he is clean. But on the day living flesh appears on him he shall be unclean. Leviticus 17:12-14.

Unless one knew from the internal sense how it could be that one who is leprous all over from his head to his heels was clean it would seem to be an absurdity. But one who is leprous from head to heels means a person who has a knowledge of internal truths but does not acknowledge them, that is, has no belief in them. Profanation does not exist with him inwardly, only outwardly, and is being removed. Therefore he is clean. But if he knows the truths of faith and believes them, and yet leads a life that goes against them, profanation does exist with him inwardly, as it also does with someone who has had a belief in them but subsequently denies them. This explains why it says, 'on the day living flesh appears in him he shall be unclean'; 'living flesh' is used to mean acknowledgement and faith. See also the paragraphs referred to above in 6959.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, under all the survey of the eyes of the priest

  
/ 10837  
  

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