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2 Mosebok 23

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1 Du skal ikke utbrede falskt rykte; du skal ikke gjøre felles sak med en ugudelig, så du blir et urettferdig vidne;

2 du skal ikke følge mengden i det som ondt er, og du skal ikke vidne således i en rettssak at du bøier dig efter mengden og forvender retten;

3 heller ikke om det gjelder en ringe mann, skal du pynte på hans sak.

4 Når du treffer din fiendes okse eller hans asen som har gått sig vill, da skal du føre dem tilbake til ham.

5 Når du ser din fiendes asen ligge under sin byrde, da vokt dig for å gå fra ham; du skal hjelpe ham med å løse byrden av.

6 Du skal ikke i nogen sak bøie retten for den fattige som bor hos dig.

7 Du skal holde dig langt borte fra en falsk sak og ikke hjelpe til at den uskyldige og rettferdige mister livet; for jeg dømmer ikke en skyldig å være uskyldig.

8 Du skal ikke ta imot gave; for gaven gjør seende blinde og forvender de rettferdiges sak.

9 En fremmed skal du ikke undertrykke; I vet jo hvorledes den fremmede er til mote; I var selv fremmede i Egyptens land.

10 Seks år skal du så ditt land til og høste dets grøde;

11 men i det syvende år skal du la det hvile og ligge, så de fattige blandt ditt folk kan ete derav, og hvad de levner, kan markens dyr ete. Det samme skal du gjøre med din vingård og dine oljetrær.

12 Seks dager skal du gjøre din gjerning; men på den syvende dag skal du hvile, så din okse og ditt asen kan ha ro, og din trælkvinnes sønn og den fremmede får hvile sig ut.

13 I alt det jeg har sagt til eder, skal I ta eder i vare. Andre guders navn skal I ikke nevne; slikt skal ikke høres av din munn.

14 Tre ganger om året skal du holde høitid for mig.

15 De usyrede brøds høitid skal du holde: Syv dager skal du ete usyret brød, således som jeg har befalt dig, på den fastsatte tid i abib måned, for i den drog du ut av Egypten; og ingen skal vise sig for mitt åsyn tomhendt.

16 Likeså kornhøstens høitid, når førstegrøden faller av ditt arbeid, av det som du sår på marken, og frukthøstens høitid ved årets utgang, når du samler inn frukten av ditt arbeid på marken.

17 Tre ganger om året skal alle menn blandt eder møte frem for Herrens, Israels Guds åsyn.

18 Du skal ikke ofre blodet av mitt slaktoffer sammen med syret brød, og det fete av mitt høitidsoffer skal ikke bli liggende natten over til om morgenen.

19 Det første av din jords førstegrøde skal du bære til Herrens, din Guds hus. Du skal ikke koke et kje i dets mors melk.

20 Se, jeg sender en engel foran dig for å vokte dig på veien og for å føre dig til det sted jeg har utsett for dig.

21 Ta dig i vare for ham og hør på hans røst, vær ikke gjenstridig mot ham! Han skal ikke bære over med eders overtredelser, for mitt navn er i ham.

22 Men dersom du lyder hans røst og gjør alt det jeg sier, da vil jeg være en fiende av dine fiender og en motstander av dine motstandere.

23 For min engel skal gå foran dig og føre dig frem til det land hvor amorittene og hetittene og ferisittene og kana'anittene, hevittene og jebusittene bor, og jeg vil tilintetgjøre dem.

24 Du skal ikke tilbede deres guder eller tjene dem; du skal ikke gjøre som de gjør; men du skal rive deres avgudsbilleder ned og slå deres stenstøtter i stykker.

25 I skal tjene Herren eders Gud, og han skal velsigne ditt brød og ditt vann. Og jeg vil holde sykdom borte fra dig;

26 det skal ikke være nogen kvinne i ditt land som føder i utide eller er ufruktbar; dine dagers tall vil jeg gjøre fullt.

27 edsel for mig vil jeg sende foran dig og forvirre alle de folk du kommer til, og jeg vil la alle dine fiender flykte for dig.

28 Og jeg vil sende hvepser foran dig, og de skal jage hevittene, kana'anittene og hetittene bort fra dig.

29 Jeg vil ikke jage dem bort fra dig på ett år, forat ikke landet skal bli øde og de ville dyr bli for mange for dig;

30 litt efter litt vil jeg jage dem bort fra dig, inntil du blir så stort et folk at du kan ta landet i eie.

31 Jeg vil la ditt lands grenser gå fra det øde Hav til filistrenes Hav* og fra ørkenen til elven**; for jeg vil gi landets innbyggere i eders hånd, og du skal jage dem bort fra dig. / {* Middelhavet.} {** Eufrat.}

32 Du skal ikke gjøre nogen pakt med dem eller med deres guder.

33 De skal ikke bo i ditt land, forat de ikke skal forføre dig til å synde mot mig; for du vilde da tjene deres guder, og det vilde bli en snare for dig.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9320

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9320. 'For you shall utterly destroy them' means that evils must be completely removed. This is clear from the meaning of 'destroying' - when it has reference to evils and falsities, meant by the nations of the land of Canaan and their gods - as removing. The reason why 'destroying' means removing is that those governed by goodness and truth never destroy those ruled by evil and falsity, but merely move them away. This they do because good, not evil, governs their actions, and good comes from the Lord, who never destroys anyone. Those ruled by evil however and consequently by falsity try to destroy, and so far as they can they do destroy those governed by good. This they do because evil rules their actions. But since, when they try to do so, they make their attack on good which comes from the Lord, thus on what is of God, they destroy themselves, that is, they hurl themselves into damnation and into hell. Such is the law of order. And why it is such, see 4299, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7926, 7989, 8137, 8146, 8265, 8945, 8946.

[2] The reason why the Israelites and Jews were to destroy the nations of the land of Canaan was that they themselves represented spiritual and heavenly realities, while the nations represented hellish and devilish things, which can never exist together with those realities since they are opposites. The reason why they were allowed to destroy the nations was that no Church existed among them, only a representative of the Church, so that the Lord was not present among them either except through things of a representative nature, 4307. For they were interested in outward forms but not their inner substances, that is, in the worship that represented goodness and truth but not goodness and truth themselves. People like this are allowed to destroy, kill, and consign to slaughter and complete destruction. But people who are interested in outward forms and at the same time in their inner substance are not allowed to do those things, since their actions must be governed by good, and good comes from the Lord.

[3] The fact that the Jews and Israelites were such is declared explicitly by Moses,

Do not say in your heart, when Jehovah your God has thrust out the nations before you, Because of my righteousness Jehovah has brought me in to possess this land. It is not because of your righteousness and because of the uprightness of your heart; for you are a stiff-necked people. Deuteronomy 9:4-6.

And elsewhere,

They are a nation from whom counsel has perished, nor is there intelligence in them. From the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, they have clusters of bitterness. The poison of snakes (draco) is their wine, and the cruel poison of asps. Is not this hidden away with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? Deuteronomy 32:28, 32-34.

'The vine' in the internal sense means the Church, 1069, 5113, 6375, 6376, 9277; 'grapes' and 'clusters' mean the internal forms and the external forms of that Church's good, 1071, 5117, 6378; and 'wine' means that Church's internal truth, 1071, 1798, 6377. From this one may see what is meant by the assertions that their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah, that their grapes are grapes of poison and clusters of bitterness, and that their wine is the poison of snakes and the cruel poison of asps. The fact that all this was known to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, is meant by the remarks about its being hidden away with Him and sealed up in His treasuries.

[4] In John,

Jesus said to the Jews, You are from your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth. John 8:44.

This is why they are called a wicked and adulterous generation, Matthew 12:39, as well as a brood of vipers, Matthew 3:7; 12:34; 23:33; Luke 3:7. That they were like this is also described by the Lord in His parables in Matthew 21:33-45; Mark 12:1-9; Luke 14:16-24; 20:9ff.

Regarding that nation, that it was the worst nation; that in their worship they were interested in outward forms but not their inner substance; that no Church existed among them, only a representative of the Church; but that nevertheless they were able to represent the internal realities of the Church, see 3398, 3479, 3480, 3732 (end), 3881 (end), 4208, 4281, 4288-4290, 4293, 4307, 4314, 4316, 4317, 4429, 4433, 4444, 4500, 4503, 4680, 4815, 4818, 4820, 4825, 4832, 4837, 4844, 4847, 4865, 4868, 4874, 4899, 4903, 4911-4913, 5057, 5998, 6304, 6832, 6877, 7048, 7051, 7248, 7401, 7439, 8301, 8588, 8788, 8806, 8814, 8819, 8871, 8882, 9284.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 8945

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8945. 'And you shall not go up to My altar by steps' means not raising themselves to more internal levels, that is, celestial ones. This is clear from the meaning of 'going up by means of steps' as raising oneself to higher or more internal levels (whether you say more internal or higher it amounts to the same thing, since more internal things are seen as higher ones, 2148, 3084, 4210, 4599); and from the meaning of 'altar' as the chief representative of the Lord, dealt with in 921, 2777, 2811. Thus 'going up by steps to My altar' means raising oneself to the Lord, consequently to more internal levels, which are celestial ones; for the Lord's presence is greater on more internal levels. The term 'celestial' is used for things in the inmost heaven, but 'spiritual' for those in the middle heaven. For heaven is divided into two kingdoms - the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. Those in the celestial kingdom are in the inmost or third heaven, and so are nearest the Lord; for they are governed by love to the Lord, possessing innocence and consequently wisdom in greater measure than all the rest. But those who are in the spiritual kingdom are in the middle or second heaven, and so are more remote from the Lord; and those there am governed by charity towards the neighbour, and through charity dwell with the Lord. Regarding those two kingdoms and the difference between them, see 2048, 2088, 2227, 2507, 2669, 2708, 2715, 2718, 3235, 3246, 3374, 3887, 4448, 4585, 4938, 4939, 5113, 5922, 6367, 6435, 7877.

[2] Let a brief explanation be given of what is implied by raising oneself towards more internal levels, that is, celestial ones, which is meant by 'going up by steps to the altar'. No one in the next life is allowed to be raised into heaven to a level higher than that of the good which governs him. If he is raised to some higher level the foul things about him are revealed, that is, the evils he loves, and the resulting falsities; for the more internal something is, the purer and holier it is in heaven. Those whose state is not so pure are kept in a lower sphere in which impurities go unnoticed or are not apparent; for such people are governed by grosser good and guided by duller truth.

[3] Sometimes it happens that those coming into heaven have a strong desire to go to a more internal heaven, believing that by doing this they will experience greater joy. To the end that this strong desire which clings to them may be removed, they are indeed raised to a more internal heaven. But when they get there they start to feel anguished, on account of those evils they love which are then perceptible to them; they also become visibly disfigured on account of the falsities that spring from the evils residing with them. Having perceived these things they cast themselves down from the more internal heaven, and do not attain a calm and peaceful state until they return to the position they occupied previously. These are the things that are meant by 'you shall not go up to My altar by steps, in order that your nakedness may not be revealed on it'.

[4] The same applies to those below heaven, if they have a strong desire to rise to heaven before they have been prepared for it. When they are raised there they feel torment almost hellish and seem to themselves to be like dead bodies. Their life becomes laboured, like that of those in the throes of death. Therefore they cast themselves down headlong from there, and after that no longer have any desire to rise above the state of life in which they live.

[5] It should be recognized that the Lord refuses heaven to no one in the next life, and that people can be allowed in as often as they wish. Heaven consists of communities of angels, who are governed by the good of love towards the neighbour and of love to the Lord. When introduced into heaven people are let into communities of such angels. But when the sphere of their life, that is, the life of their love, is out of agreement, conflict arises, as a result of which they feel anguished and cast themselves down from there. From this experience they learn about the life of heaven, and about the condition of their own life in comparison. They also learn from it that heaven does not become anyone's simply by his being received or let in, as the common idea is in the world, and also that a person must live in such a way in the world that he becomes fit to be with those in heaven. But see what has already been stated and shown from experience previously regarding these matters, in 3938, 4225, 4226, 4299, 4674, 5057, 5058, 7186, 7519, 8794, 8797. These are the considerations which are meant by the regulation that they must not go up by steps to the altar, in order that their nakedness may not be revealed on it, and also by a similar regulation at Exodus 28:42-43.

[6] The words 'going up by steps' are used because a raising to more internal levels is seen in the world of spirits - where celestial and spiritual realities are presented within forms similar to those in the world - as raising oneself by means of steps. I have often been allowed to see this representative sight. So it was too that in a dream Jacob saw angels going up to the Lord by the steps of a stairway, Genesis 28:12. Therefore also by 'steps' in the Word is meant going up to higher, that is, more internal levels, as in Ezekiel 40:6, 22, 26, 31, 34; and in Amos,

The Lord Jehovih Zebaoth builds His steps in the heavens. Amos 9:6.

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