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พระธรรม 24

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1 พระองค์ตรัสกับโมเสสว่า "เจ้ากับอาโรน นาดับ และอาบีฮู กับพวกผู้ใหญ่เจ็ดสิบคนของอิสราเอลจงขึ้นมาเฝ้าพระเยโฮวาห์ แล้วนมัสการอยู่แต่ไกล

2 ให้เฉพาะโมเสสผู้เดียวเข้ามาใกล้พระเยโฮวาห์ ส่วนคนอื่นๆอย่าให้เข้ามาใกล้และอย่าให้ประชาชนขึ้นมากับโมเสสเลย"

3 โมเสสจึงนำพระวจนะของพระเยโฮวาห์และคำตัดสินทั้งสิ้นมาชี้แจงให้ประชาชนทราบ ประชาชนทั้งปวงก็ตอบเป็นเสียงเดียวกันว่า "พระวจนะทั้งหมดซึ่งพระเยโฮวาห์ตรัสไว้นั้น พวกเราจะกระทำตาม"

4 โมเสสจึงจารึกพระวจนะของพระเยโฮวาห์ไว้ทุกคำ แล้วตื่นขึ้นแต่เช้าจัดแจงสร้างแท่นบูชาขึ้นที่เชิงภูเขา ปักเสาหินขึ้นสิบสองก้อนตามจำนวนตระกูลทั้งสิบสองของอิสราเอล

5 ท่านใช้ให้หนุ่มๆชนชาติอิสราเอลถวายเครื่องเผาบูชาและถวายวัวเป็นเครื่องสันติบูชาแด่พระเยโฮวาห์

6 โมเสสเก็บเลือดวัวครึ่งหนึ่งไว้ในชาม อีกครึ่งหนึ่งประพรมที่แท่นบูชานั้น

7 ท่านถือหนังสือพันธสัญญาอ่านให้ประชาชนฟัง พวกเขากล่าวว่า "บรรดาสิ่งที่พระเยโฮวาห์ตรัสไว้นั้นพวกเราจะกระทำตาม และเราจะเชื่อฟัง"

8 โมเสสก็เอาเลือดพรมประชาชนและกล่าวว่า "ดูเถิด นี่เป็นเลือดแห่งพันธสัญญา ซึ่งพระเยโฮวาห์กระทำกับเจ้าตามพระวจนะทั้งหมดนี้"

9 ครั้งนั้นโมเสสกับอาโรน นาดับและอาบีฮู และพวกผู้ใหญ่เจ็ดสิบคนของอิสราเอลขึ้นไปอีก

10 เขาทั้งหลายได้เห็นพระเจ้าแห่งอิสราเอล และพื้นที่รองพระบาทเป็นดุจพลอยไพทูรย์สุกใสเหมือนท้องฟ้าทีเดียว

11 พระองค์มิได้ลงโทษบรรดาหัวหน้าชนชาติอิสราเอล เขาทั้งหลายได้เห็นพระเจ้าและได้กินและดื่ม

12 พระเยโฮวาห์ตรัสกับโมเสสว่า "ขึ้นมาหาเราบนภูเขาแล้วคอยอยู่ที่นั่น เราจะให้แผ่นศิลาอันมีราชบัญญัติ และข้อบัญญัติซึ่งเราจารึกไว้เพื่อเก็บไว้สอนเขา"

13 โมเสสจึงลุกขึ้นพร้อมกับโยชูวาผู้รับใช้ โมเสสขึ้นไปบนภูเขาของพระเจ้า

14 และกล่าวแก่พวกผู้ใหญ่เหล่านั้นว่า "คอยเราอยู่ที่นี่จนกว่าเราจะกลับมาหาพวกท่านอีก ดูเถิด อาโรนและเฮอร์อยู่กับพวกท่าน ใครมีเรื่องราวอะไรก็จงมาหาท่านทั้งสองนี้เถิด"

15 แล้วโมเสสขึ้นไปบนภูเขา เมฆก็คลุมภูเขาไว้

16 สง่าราศีของพระเยโฮวาห์มาอยู่บนภูเขาซีนาย เมฆนั้นปกคลุมภูเขาอยู่หกวัน ครั้นวันที่เจ็ดพระองค์ทรงเรียกโมเสสจากหมู่เมฆ

17 สง่าราศีของพระเยโฮวาห์ปรากฏแก่ตาชนชาติอิสราเอลเหมือนเปลวไฟไหม้อยู่บนยอดภูเขา

18 โมเสสเข้าไปในหมู่เมฆนั้นและขึ้นไปบนภูเขา โมเสสอยู่บนภูเขานั้นสี่สิบวันสี่สิบคืน

   


Many thanks to Philip Pope for the permission to use his 2003 translation of the English King James Version Bible into Thai. Here's a link to the mission's website: www.thaipope.org

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Apocalypse Explained # 633

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633. Forty and two months.- That this signifies even to the end of the old church, and the beginning of the new, is evident from the signification of months as denoting states, in this case the states of the church; for times, whether hours, days, months, years, or ages, signify states, and such states are designated by the numbers by which those times are determined, as in this case by the number forty-two (concerning this see above, n. 571, 610); and from the signification of forty-two as denoting the end of the former and the beginning of a new church. The reason this number has such a signification is, that it means six weeks, and by six weeks is signified the same as by six days of one week, that is, a state of combat and labour, consequently the end, when the church is altogether vastated, or when evil is consummated; and by the seventh week, which then follows, is signified the beginning of a new church. For the number forty-two results from the multiplication of six into seven, six times seven being forty-two, therefore it signifies the same as six weeks, and six weeks the same as six days of one week, that is, a state of combat and labour, as stated, and also a full state, in the present case, a full consummation of good and truth, or a complete vastation of the church.

[2] In the Word mention is frequently made of forty days, months, and years, and that number there signifies either a complete vastation of the church, or also a full state of temptation. That this state is signified by the numbers forty and forty-two, is evident from the following passages.

In Ezekiel:

Egypt "shall not be inhabited forty years; I will make Egypt a solitude in the midst of the lands that are desolate, and her cities in the midst of the cities that are devastated shall be a solitude forty years; and I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and I will scatter them in the lands; at the end of forty years I will gather Egypt together from the peoples, whither they were dispersed, and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt" (29:11-14)

Egypt signifies the church as to truths scientific (vera scientifica) upon which doctrine is founded. Truths scientific at that time were the knowledges (scientiae) of correspondences and representations, upon which the doctrine of their church was founded. But because the Egyptians turned those knowledges into magic, and by that means perverted the church, therefore its vastation, meant by forty years, is described. This, then, is the signification of Egypt not being inhabited forty years, and its cities being a solitude forty years. By Egypt being dispersed among the nations, and scattered in the lands, is signified that evils and falsities would completely take possession of that church and pervert all its scientifics. It is therefore evident that by forty years is signified the state of its complete vastation, or even to its end, when there would be no longer any truth and good remaining. But the beginning of a new church, signified by the end of forty years, is meant by these words, "at the end of forty years I will gather Egypt together from the peoples whither they were dispersed, and I will bring back the captivity of Egypt."

[3] In the same prophet there is a similar signification in the command

"that he should lie on his right side forty days, and lay siege to Jerusalem," which "shall want bread and water, and shall be desolate a man and a brother and waste away for their iniquity" (4:6, 7, 17).

The complete vastation of the church is also signified by that number; by Jerusalem is signified the church; by laying siege to it is signified to bring it into distress by evils and falses; by wanting bread and water is signified to be vastated as to the good of love and as to the truth of doctrine; by a man and a brother being desolate, and wasting away for their iniquity, things of a similar kind are signified, for a man and a brother denote truth and charity, and to waste away denotes to die.

[4] The forty days of the flood have a similar signification in Genesis:

"For yet seven days I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights, and I will destroy all substance, which I have made, from upon the faces of the earth; and there was rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights"; then "after seven days, he sent out a dove, which did not return unto him" (7:4, 12; 8:6, 13).

The flood signifies the devastation of the old, or Most Ancient church, also a last judgment upon those who were of that church. By the rain of forty days is signified its destruction by the falsities of evil; but the beginning of a new church is signified by the drying up of the earth after those forty days, and by its germinating anew. The dove which he sent out signifies the good of charity, which was the essential of that church. Concerning these things see the Arcana Coelestia, where they are explained.

[5] From this signification of the number forty originated this law in Moses, That the wicked man shall be smitten with forty stripes, and not more, "lest thy brother seem vile in thine eyes" (Deuteronomy 25:3). Full punishment as well as vastation is described by forty, for punishment is equally the consummation of evil. And because after punishment reformation succeeds, therefore it is said that he shall not be smitten with more stripes, "lest thy brother seem vile in thine eyes"; for forty signifies the end of evil and also the beginning of good, therefore if more than forty stripes were given, the beginning of good, or reformation, would not be signified.

[6] The vastation of the church with the sons of Jacob by the servitude of four hundred years in Egypt is signified by the words of Jehovah to Abraham,

"Know thou that thy seed shall be a sojourner in a land not theirs, where they shall make them serve four hundred years" (Genesis 15:13).

The signification of four hundred is similar to that of forty, also the signification of a thousand is similar to that of a hundred, of a hundred to that of ten.

[7] The vastation of the church, and also full temptation, are also signified by the sons of Israel remaining forty years in the wilderness, of which it is thus written in the following passages:

"Your sons shall be feeding in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms, even until your carcases are consumed in the wilderness" (Numbers 14:33, 34):

"He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that did evil in the eyes of Jehovah was consumed" (Numbers 32:13):

"Jehovah hath known thy walking through this great wilderness these forty years, Jehovah thy God was with thee, that thou lackedst nothing" (Deuteronomy 2:7):

"Thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to afflict thee, and to tempt thee; he fed thee with manna to afflict thee, to tempt thee, and that he might do thee good at the last" (Deuteronomy 8:2, 3, 16):

"Your fathers tempted me, they proved me; forty years I loathed in this generation, and I said, they are a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways" (Psalm 95:9, 10):

"I made you to ascend out of the land of Egypt, and I led you forty years in the wilderness to possess the land of the Amorite" (Amos 2:10).

It is evident from what has been stated that by forty years is not only signified the vastation of the church with the sons of Israel, but also a full state of temptation; also that by the end of those years the beginning of a new church is signified. The vastation of the church is described by these words, that they should feed in the wilderness forty years, and bear their whoredoms, until their bodies should be consumed; also by these, until all this generation, which hath done evil in the eyes of Jehovah, be consumed; also by these, I loathed in this generation, and I said, they are a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways. But the temptation which is also signified by forty years is described by these words: Jehovah thy God was with thee through the forty years, that thou lackedst not any thing; also by these, Jehovah hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to afflict thee, and to tempt thee, and he fed thee with manna; also by these, He led thee in the wilderness to tempt thee, and to do thee good at the last. The beginning of the new church, at the end of the forty years, is described by their introduction into the land of Canaan, which took place after those forty years; and is also meant by the words, to do thee good at the last; also by these, I led you in the wilderness forty years to possess the land of the Amorite.

Full temptation is also signified by Moses being upon Mount Sinai forty days and forty nights, during which he neither ate bread nor drank water (Exodus 24:18; 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:9, 11, 18, 25); similarly, also, by "Jesus being in the wilderness tempted by the devil, where He fasted forty days" (Matthew 4:1, 2; Mark 1:13; Luke 4:1).

[8] From this it is evident that the number forty in the Word signifies complete vastation and consummation, that is, when all the good of the church is vastated, and evil consummated. The same number also signifies full temptation, and at the same time the establishment of the church anew, or reformation. From this the signification of the holy city being trodden under foot by the nations forty and two months is evident. And also in the following in the Apocalypse - that to the beast coming up out of the sea "was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given to him forty and two months" (Revelation 13:15). Let no one therefore suppose that by forty and two months are meant months, or that any special time is designated by the numbers mentioned here and in the words that follow.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.