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Exodus 33

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1 And the LORD said to Moses, Depart and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast conducted from the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, to thy seed will I give it:

2 And I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:

3 To a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiff-necked people: lest I consume thee in the way.

4 And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man put on him his ornaments.

5 For the LORD had said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, Ye are a stiff-necked people: I will come up into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do to thee.

6 And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, by the mount Horeb.

7 And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one who sought the LORD, went out to the tabernacle of the congregation, which was without the camp.

8 And it came to pass when Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and stood every man at his tent-door, and looked after Moses, until he had gone into the tabernacle.

9 And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.

10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose and worshiped, every man in his tent-door.

11 And the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaketh to his friend. And he turned again into the camp; but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed not out of the tabernacle.

12 And Moses said to the LORD, See, thou sayest to me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.

13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have found grace in thy sight, show me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy people.

14 And he said, My presence shall attend thee, and I will give thee rest.

15 And he said to him, If thy presence shall not attend me, conduct us not hence.

16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and thy people have found grace in thy sight? Is it not in that thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth.

17 And the LORD said to Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name.

18 And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.

19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.

20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock:

22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock: and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by:

23 And I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.

   

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True Christian Religion # 691

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691. Moses said to Jehovah:

Show me your glory. Jehovah said to him, You cannot see my face, because no one can see me and live. And he said, Here is a place, where you can stand on the rock, and I will put you in a crevice of the rock and put my hand as a covering upon you, until I have passed by; and when I take my hand away, you will see my back parts, but my face will not be seen, Exodus 33:18-23.

The reason why man cannot see God and live is that God is love itself, and love itself or the Divine love in the spiritual world appears to the sight of angels like the sun, as far distant from them as the sun of our world is from men. If therefore God, who is in the midst of that sun, were to come close to angels, they would perish just as men would if the sun of the world came close to them, for it is equally burning.

[2] For this reason there are constant controls which modify and moderate the burning heat of that love, so that its radiation should not reach heaven undiluted, since this would consume the angels. When therefore the Lord makes His presence more immediately felt in heaven, the irreligious beneath heaven begin to complain, suffering torture and fainting, so that they take refuge in caves and fissures in the mountains, crying:

Fall upon us and hide us from the face of Him that sits upon the throne, Revelation 6:16; Isaiah 2:19, 21.

It is not the Lord Himself who comes down, but an angel with the sphere of love from the Lord around him. I have on several occasions seen irreligious people terrified by this coming down, as if they had seen death itself before their eyes; some of them hurled themselves deeper and deeper into hell, and some were driven frenzied.

[3] This was the reason why the Children of Israel prepared themselves for three days before Jehovah the Lord came down on Mount Sinai; and why the mountain was fenced about to prevent anyone approaching and being killed (Exod. chapter 19). It was much the same with the holiness of Jehovah the Lord in the Ten Commandments which were then made public, and written by the finger of God on two tables, and then laid up in the Ark. On top of this in the Tabernacle was placed the Mercy-seat, and cherubs on top of this, to prevent anyone directly coming into contact with it by hand or eye, Not even Aaron was able to approach except once a year, after making expiation for himself by sacrifices and censing.

[4] It was for this reason that the men of Ekron and Bethshemesh were killed to the number of several thousand, solely because they had seen the Ark with their own eyes (1 Samuel 5:11-12; 6:19); and the same happened to Uzzah, because he touched it (2 Samuel 6:6-7). These few examples illustrate what a curse and slaughter would have struck down the Jews, if they had not been prepared by John's baptism for the reception of the Messiah, who was Jehovah God in human form; and if He had not assumed the Human and revealed Himself in that form. They were prepared by being enrolled in heaven and counted among those who at heart waited and longed for the Messiah, as the result of which angels were sent to become their protectors.

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