Arcana Coelestia # 10691
10691. 'That Moses did not know that the skin of his face gleamed while he talked to Him' means the inward level or aspect of the Word within the outward, shining forth without any perception of it by the outward. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the outward form of the Word containing what is inward, dealt with in 10563, 10571, 10607, 10614; from the meaning of 'not knowing' as not perceiving; from the meaning of 'gleaming' as shining forth, for the gleaming of the skin of Moses' face is a shining forth from what is inward; from the meaning of 'the skin' as the outward level of truth and good, dealt with in 3540, 5554, 8980; from the meaning of 'face' as interior things, dealt with in the places referred to 9546, so that 'the gleaming of the skin of the face' means a shining forth of the interior things within what is external or outward, at this point within the outward form the Word takes, which is its literal sense, since Moses represents the outward form of the Word containing what is inward; and from the meaning of 'talking' as influx, for 'talking', when it has regard to Jehovah, means influx, see 2951, 5743, 5797, 7270, 8128, 8660. From all this it is evident that 'Moses did not know that the skin of his face gleamed while he talked to Him' means the inward level of the Word within the outward, shining forth without any perception of it by the outward. It should be recognized that by a shining forth of the interiors of the Word within what is outward the internal sense within the external should be understood. The internal sense shines forth unceasingly and gleams within the external, yet it is discerned only by those whose affection is for inward things. It is not discerned by those whose affection is for the outward that contains what is inward, that is, by those people who are called members of the external Church. Nevertheless that sense is present with them, without their awareness, and exerts an influence on them. Who exactly they are whose affection is for the inward level or aspect of the Word, the Church, and worship, and who exactly they are whose affection is for the outward level or aspect of them that has the inward within it, see above in 10683. But when people's interest lies in the outward level devoid of the inward, as was so with the Israelite nation, they cannot at all abide the inward level of them or the light from them within the outward. This explains why in the verses that follow it says that they were afraid to approach Moses and that when Moses talked to them he put a veil over his face. The reason why the internal sense shines forth is that Divine Truth as it exists in the heavens resides in that sense, and Divine Truth emanating from the Lord appears to angels as light and also constitutes the light of heaven. For this matter, see in the places referred to in 9548, 9684.
Exodus 34
1
Yahweh said to Moses, "Chisel two stone tablets like the first: and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
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Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.
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No one shall come up with you; neither let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mountain."
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He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets.
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Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Yahweh.
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Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, "Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,
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keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children's children, on the third and on the fourth generation."
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Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.
9
He said, "If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance."
10
He said, "Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which you are shall see the work of Yahweh; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you.
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Observe that which I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
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Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare in the midst of you:
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but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim;
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for you shall worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
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"Don't make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;
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and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.
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"You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.
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"You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.
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"All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
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The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb: and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. No one shall appear before me empty.
21
"Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
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"You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year's end.
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Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.
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For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh, your God, three times in the year.
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"You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning.
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"You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your God. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk."
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Yahweh said to Moses, "Write you these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."
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He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
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It happened, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mountain, that Moses didn't know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.
30
When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.
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Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.
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Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all of the commandments that Yahweh had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
33
When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
34
But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
35
The children of Israel saw Moses' face, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
