Bible

 

Izlazak 10

Studie

   

1 A Gospod reče Mojsiju: Idi k Faraonu, jer sam ja učinio da otvrdne srce njegovo i srce sluga njegovih, da učinim ove znake svoje među njima,

2 I da pripovedaš sinovima svojim i unucima svojim šta učinih u Misiru i kakve znake svoje pokazah na njima, da biste znali da sam ja Gospod.

3 I otide Mojsije i Aron k Faraonu, i rekoše mu: Ovako veli Gospod Bog jevrejski: Dokle ćeš se protiviti da se ne poniziš preda mnom? Pusti narod moj da mi posluži.

4 Jer ako nećeš pustiti narod moj, evo sutra ću naneti skakavce na zemlju tvoju;

5 I pokriće svu zemlju da se neće videti zemlja, i poješće ostatak što se sačuvao, koji vam je ostao iza grada, i poješće sva drveta što vam rastu u polju.

6 I napuniće ih se kuće tvoje i kuće svih sluga tvojih i kuće svih Misiraca, šta nisu videli oci tvoji ni oci otaca tvojih, otkako su postali na zemlji do danas. I okrenuvši se otide od Faraona.

7 A sluge rekoše Faraonu: Dokle će nas taj mučiti? Pusti ih neka posluže Gospodu Bogu svom. Zar još ne vidiš gde propade Misir?

8 I dozvaše opet Mojsija i Arona pred Faraona, i reče im: Idite, poslužite Gospodu Bogu svom. A koji su što će ići?

9 A Mojsije reče: S decom svojom i sa starcima svojim ići ćemo, sa sinovima svojim i sa kćerima svojim, sa stokom svojom sitnom i krupnom ići ćemo, jer imamo praznik Gospodnji.

10 A on im reče: Tako bio Gospod s vama, kako ću vas ja pustiti s decom vašom! Vidite da zlo mislite.

11 Neće biti tako; nego vi ljudi idite i poslužite Gospodu, jer to ištete. I otera ih od sebe Faraon.

12 Tada reče Gospod Mojsiju: Pruži ruku svoju na zemlju misirsku, da dođu skakavci na zemlju misirsku i pojedu sve bilje po zemlji, šta god osta iza grada.

13 I pruži Mojsije štap svoj na zemlju misirsku, i Gospod navede ustoku na zemlju, te duva celi dan i celu noć; a kad svanu, donese ustoka skakavce.

14 I dođoše skakavci na svu zemlju misirsku, i popadaše po svim krajevima misirskim silni veoma, kakvih pre nikada nije bilo niti će kad biti onakvih.

15 I pokriše svu zemlju, da se zemlja ne viđaše, i pojedoše svu travu na zemlji i sav rod na drvetima, što osta iza grada, i ne osta ništa zeleno od drveta i od bilja poljskog u svoj zemlji misirskoj.

16 Tada Faraon brže dozva Mojsija i Arona, i reče: Zgreših Gospodu Bogu vašem i vama.

17 Ali mi još sada samo oprosti greh moj, i molite se Gospodu Bogu svom da ukloni od mene samo ovu smrt.

18 I otide Mojsije od Faraona, i pomoli se Gospodu.

19 I okrenu Gospod vetar od zapada vrlo jak, koji uze skakavce i baci ih u Crveno more, i ne osta nijedan skakavac u celoj zemlji misirskoj.

20 Ali Gospod učini te otvrdnu srce Faraonu, i ne pusti sinove Izrailjeve.

21 I reče Gospod Mojsiju: Pruži ruku svoju k nebu, i biće tama po zemlji misirskoj takva da će je pipati.

22 I Mojsije pruži ruku svoju k nebu, i posta gusta tama po svoj zemlji misirskoj za tri dana.

23 Ne viđahu jedan drugog, i niko se ne mače s mesta gde beše za tri dana; ali se kod svih sinova Izrailjevih videlo po stanovima njihovim.

24 Tada Faraon dozva Mojsija, i reče: Idite, poslužite Gospodu; samo stoka vaša sitna i krupna neka ostane, a deca vaša neka idu s vama.

25 A Mojsije reče: Treba da nam daš i šta ćemo prineti i sažeći na žrtvu Gospodu Bogu svom;

26 Zato i stoka naša nek ide s nama, da ne ostane ni papka, jer između nje treba da uzmemo čim ćemo poslužiti Gospodu Bogu svom, a ne znamo kojim ćemo poslužiti Gospodu dokle ne dođemo onamo.

27 Ali Gospod učini te otvrdnu srce Faraonu, i ne hte ih pustiti.

28 I reče mu Faraon: Idi od mene, i čuvaj se da mi više ne dođeš na oči, jer ako mi dođeš na oči, poginućeš.

29 A Mojsije reče: Pravo si kazao; neću ti više doći na oči.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Apocalypse Revealed # 424

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 962  
  

424. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth. (9:3) This symbolically means that from them issued falsities of the lowest sort, such as are found in the case of people who have become sensual and who view and judge everything in accordance with the senses and their fallacies.

Falsities that we term falsities of the lowest sort are those which occur on the lowest level of a person's life, called sensual, which we will speak of below. These falsities are symbolized in the Word by locusts. It should be known, however, that the locusts here did not look like the locusts found in fields, which hop about and devastate pastures and crops. Instead they looked like pygmies or midgets, as is apparent also from their description, as for instance, that they had crowns on their heads, faces like the faces of men, hair like women's hair, teeth like lions' teeth, breastplates of iron, and the angel of the bottomless pit as king over them.

Ancient peoples, too, called midgets locusts, as we can conclude from these verses:

(Those who spied out the land of Canaan said:) ."..we saw the Nephilim, the descendants of the Anakim..., and we were like locusts... in their sight." (Numbers 13:33)

(Jehovah) who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants like locusts... (Isaiah 40:22)

[2] However, because falsities of the lowest sort, such as existed in the people here, are in the Word symbolized by locusts, therefore in Nahum the people are called locusts, as well as being termed crowned and commanders:

...the fire will devour you..., it will eat you up like a locust's larva. Make yourself many like the locust's larva! Make yourself many like locusts! ...Your crowned ones are like locusts, and your commanders like great locusts... (Nahum 3:15-17)

Because falsities of the lowest sort devour the growing truths and goods of the church in a person, they are symbolized by locusts which devour the grasses in fields and the vegetation on farms, as is clear from the following passages:

You shall carry much seed out to the field, but... the locust shall consume it. (Deuteronomy 28:38)

What the caterpillar left, the locust will eat; what the locust left, the beetle grub will eat; and what the beetle grub left, the locust's larva will eat. (Joel 1:4)

I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the beetle grub, the locust's larva, and the caterpillar... (Joel 2:25)

[3] The locusts in Egypt have the same symbolic meaning, of which we read the following in Exodus:

Moses stretched out his rod over the land of Egypt, and... the east wind brought the locusts. And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt...; previously there had been no such locusts...; and they ate every herb... of the field... (Exodus 10:12ff.)

And afterward Moses stretched out his rod, and the locusts were cast into the Red Sea.

Further, in the book of Psalms:

He gave their produce to the locust's larva, and their labor to the locust. (Psalms 78:46, cf. 105:34-35)

The miracles in Egypt describe the devastation of the church, and this particular miracle, its devastation by falsities of the lowest sort. And when the inner levels of a person's life are closed, on which the lowest levels depend, the lowest levels become hellish. Therefore the locusts were cast into the Red Sea, which symbolizes hell.

[4] Since few people today know what we mean by the sensual level, or what the character of a sensual person is, and since this is what locusts symbolize, therefore we will introduce from our Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven) the following extracts regarding it:

The sensual level is the lowest of a person's mental life, attaching to and uniting with his five physical senses (nos. 5077 5767, 9212, 9216, 9331, 9730).

That person is called sensual who judges of everything in accordance with his physical senses, and who believes in nothing but what he can see with his eyes and touch with his hands, saying that if he can, it is real, and rejecting everything else (nos. 5094 7693).

The inner levels of that person's mind, which see in the light of heaven, are closed, so that he sees no truth on those levels which has to do with heaven and the church (nos. 6564, 6844, 6845).

A person like that thinks on the lowest levels, and not interiorly in any spiritual light (nos. 5089 5094, 6564, 7693).

In a word, people like that have a crude natural sight (nos. 6201 6310, 6564, 6844, 6845, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624).

Inwardly they are therefore hostile to matters having to do with heaven and the church, though it is possible for them to speak in favor of them outwardly, even ardently, according to the power they have by virtue of them (nos. 6201, 6316, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949).

The educated and learned who have deeply confirmed themselves in falsities, and still more those who are hostile to the Word's truths, are more sensual than others (no. 6316).

Sensual people reason keenly and skillfully, because their thinking is so near to speech as to almost reside in it, and to be, so to speak, on the lips, and because they place all intelligence in speech from the memory alone; moreover, some of them can cleverly defend falsities, and after they have done so, believe they are true (nos. 195 196, 5700, 10236).

They reason from fallacies of the senses and defend them, which they use to captivate and persuade the populace (nos. 5084 6948, 6949, 7693).

Sensual people are craftier and more malicious than others (nos. 7693, 10236).

Greedy people, adulterers, hedonists, and the deceitful are especially sensual, even though to the world they do not appear so (no. 6310).

The interiors of their minds are foul and filthy (no. 6201).

Through them they are in communication with the hells (no. 6311).

People residing in the hells are sensual, and the more so the deeper the hell (nos. 4623 6311).

The atmosphere of spirits in hell mixes with a person's sensual level from behind (no. 6312).

People who have based their reasoning on the evidence of the senses only, and so are hostile to the genuine truths of the church, were called by ancient peoples serpents of the tree of knowledge (nos. 195, 196, 197, 6398, 6399, 10313).

In addition, a person's sensual level and the sensual person are described (no. 10236), together with the extent of the sensual things in a person (no. 9731).

Sensual things ought to be held in last place, and not in first place, and in a wise and intelligent person they are held in last place, subject to more interior ones, while in a foolish person they are in first place and dominant; the latter are those properly called sensual (nos. 5077 5125, 5128, 7645).

If sensual things are in last place, they are the means by which a path is opened to understanding, and truths are refined by a process of abstraction (no. 5580).

These sensual things are the closest to the world, and they admit things that flow in from the world and, so to speak, sift them (no. 9726).

By these sensual things a person is in communication with the world, and by rational things with heaven (no. 4009).

Sensual things supply materials that are of service to the interior levels of the mind (nos. 5077 5081).

Some sensual things are of service to the intellectual faculty, and some are of service to the volitional faculty (no. 5077).

If a person does not raise his thought from sensual things, he is hardly wise (no. 5089).

A wise person thinks above the level of sensual things (nos. 5089, 5094).

When a person raises his thinking above the level of sensual things, he comes into a clearer sight, and finally into the light of heaven (nos. 6183 6313, 6315, 9407, 9730, 9922).

An elevation above the level of sensual things and withdrawal from them was something known to ancient peoples (no. 6313).

A person can be conscious in his spirit of things that occur in the spiritual world, if he can be withdrawn from sensual things by the Lord and elevated into the light of heaven (no. 4622). That is because it is not the body that thinks, but a person's spirit in the body, and to the extent that it dwells in the body, it thinks dimly and in a state of darkness; however, to the extent that it does not dwell in the body, it thinks clearly and in a state of light - but only as regards spiritual matters (nos. 4622, 6614, 6622).

The lowest level of the intellect is sensual knowledge, and the lowest level of the will is sensual delight (no. 9996).

The difference between sensual characteristics possessed in common with animals, and those not possessed in common with them (no. 10236).

Some sensual people are not evil, because their interior levels have not been closed: their state in the other life (no. 6311).

  
/ 962  
  

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