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Deuteronomy 10

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1 At that time the LORD said unto me, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and come up unto me into the mount, and make thee an ark of wood.

2 And I will write on the tables the words that were in the first tables which thou brakest, and thou shalt put them in the ark.

3 And I made an ark of shittim wood, and hewed two tables of stone like unto the first, and went up into the mount, having the two tables in mine hand.

4 And he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing, the ten commandments, which the LORD spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly: and the LORD gave them unto me.

5 And I turned myself and came down from the mount, and put the tables in the ark which I had made; and there they be, as the LORD commanded me.

6 And the children of Israel took their journey from Beeroth of the children of Jaakan to Mosera: there Aaron died, and there he was buried; and Eleazar his son ministered in the priest's office in his stead.

7 From thence they journeyed unto Gudgodah; and from Gudgodah to Jotbath, a land of rivers of waters.

8 At that time the LORD separated the tribe of Levi, to bear the ark of the covenant of the LORD, to stand before the LORD to minister unto him, and to bless in his name, unto this day.

9 Wherefore Levi hath no part nor inheritance with his brethren; the LORD is his inheritance, according as the LORD thy God promised him.

10 And I stayed in the mount, according to the first time, forty days and forty nights; and the LORD hearkened unto me at that time also, and the LORD would not destroy thee.

11 And the LORD said unto me, Arise, take thy journey before the people, that they may go in and possess the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give unto them.

12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

13 To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?

14 Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is.

15 Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.

16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked.

17 For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward:

18 He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.

19 Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

20 Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.

21 He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

22 Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the LORD thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 474

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474. Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever. (10:6; 10:6) This symbolizes an attestation and testification of the Lord on His own authority.

The angel standing on the sea and on the land means the Lord (no. 470). Lifting up the hand to heaven symbolizes an attestation, here that there should be no more time (verse 6). Swearing symbolizes a testification, here that in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel the mystery of God would be concluded (verse 7). He who lives forever and ever means the Lord, as in Revelation 1:18; 4:9-10, and 5:14 above, and in Daniel 4:34. That the Lord swears on His own authority will be seen shortly.

It is apparent from this that the statement, "Then the angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land lifted up his hand to heaven and swore by Him who lives forever and ever," symbolizes an attestation and testification of the Lord on His own authority.

[2] That Jehovah swears or testifies on His own authority is clear from the following passages:

I have sworn by Myself; a word has gone out of My mouth (which) shall not return... (Isaiah 45:23)

I swear by Myself... that this house shall become a desolation. (Jeremiah 22:5)

Jehovah... has sworn by His soul. (Jeremiah 51:14, Amos 6:8)

...Jehovah has sworn by His holiness. (Amos 4:2)

Jehovah has sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength. (Isaiah 62:8)

Behold, I have sworn by My great name... (Jeremiah 44:26)

That Jehovah, which is to say, the Lord, swore by Himself or on His own authority means, symbolically, that Divine truth attests; for the Lord is Divine truth itself, and this attests of itself and on its own authority.

In addition to these passages, that Jehovah swore may be seen in Isaiah 14:24; 54:9, Psalms 89:3, 35; 95:11; 110:4; 132:11.

We are told that Jehovah swore because the church established with the children of Israel was a representational church, and the conjunction of the Lord with the church was represented by a covenant, like one made between two parties who swear to their compact. Therefore, because an oath was a part of any covenant, we are told that Jehovah swore. Still, this does not mean that He swore, but that Divine truth attests to something.

[3] That an oath was a part of any covenant is apparent from the following:

I swore an oath to you and entered into a covenant with you, so that you became Mine... (Ezekiel 16:8)

...to remember His covenant, the oath which He swore... (Luke 1:72-73; cf. Psalms 105:9, Jeremiah 11:5; 32:22, Deuteronomy 1:34; 10:11; 11:9, 21; 26:3, 15; 31:20; 34:4)

Because the covenant was representative of the conjunction of the Lord with the church, and reciprocally of the church with the Lord, and because an oath was a part of any covenant and was to be sworn on the ground of the truth in it, being sworn thus also in appeal to that truth, therefore the children of Israel were permitted to swear by Jehovah, and so in appeal to Divine truth (Exodus 20:7, Leviticus 19:12, Deuteronomy 6:13; 10:20, Isaiah 48:1; 65:16, Jeremiah 4:2, Zechariah 5:4).

After the representative constituents of the church were abrogated, however, the Lord also abrogated oaths to covenants (Matthew 5:33-37; 23:16-22).

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.