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Exodus 4

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1 And Moses answered and said, But behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared to thee.

2 And the LORD said to him, What is that in thy hand? And he said, A rod.

3 And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent: and Moses fled from before it.

4 And the LORD said to Moses, Put forth thy hand, and take it by the tail. And he Put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:

5 That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared to thee.

6 And the LORD said furthermore to him, Put now thy hand into thy bosom. And he Put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow.

7 And he said, Put thy hand into thy bosom again. And he Put his hand into his bosom again, and drew it out of his bosom, and behold, it was turned again as his other flesh.

8 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe thee, neither hearken to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

9 And it shall come to pass, if they will not believe also these two signs, neither hearken to thy voice, that thou shalt take of the water of the river, and pour it upon the dry land: and the water which thou takest out of the river shall become blood upon the dry land.

10 And Moses said to the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoke to thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.

11 And the LORD said to him, Who hath made man's mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD.

12 Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.

13 And he said, O my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send.

14 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses, and he said, Is not Aaron the Levite thy brother? I know that he can speak well. And also behold, he cometh forth to meet thee: and when he seeth thee, he will be glad in his heart.

15 And thou shalt speak to him, and put words in his mouth: and I will be with thy mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what ye shall do.

16 And he shall speak for thee to the people: and he shall be, even he shall be to thee instead of a mouth, and thou shalt be to him instead of God.

17 And thou shalt take this rod in thy hand, with which thou shalt perform signs.

18 And Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, Let me go, I pray thee, and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are yet alive. And Jethro said to Moses, go in peace.

19 And the LORD said to Moses in Midian, Go, return into Egypt; for all the men are dead who sought thy life.

20 And Moses took his wife, and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and he returned to the land of Egypt. And Moses took the rod of God in his hand.

21 And the LORD said to Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou perform all those wonders before Pharaoh which I have put in thy hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

22 And thou shalt say to Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my first-born.

23 And I say to thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou shalt refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy first-born.

24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.

25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.

26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

27 And the LORD said to Aaron, Go into the wilderness to meet Moses. And he went, and met him in the mount of God, and kissed him.

28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD who had sent him, and all the signs which he had commanded him.

29 And Moses and Aaron went, and assembled all the elders of the children of Israel:

30 And Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses, and performed the signs in the sight of the people.

31 And the people believed: and when they heard that the LORD had visited the children of Israel, and that he had looked upon their affliction, then they bowed their heads, and worshiped.

   

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Affliction

  

In Deuteronomy 4:30; Judges 10:14; 1 Samuel 10:19; Revelation 1:9; 7:14, this signifies the state of the church when goods and truths are lacking. (Apocalypse Explained 27)

In Matthew 24:9, this signifies that good and truth will perish. (Arcana Coelestia 3488[2])

Tribulation also signifies temptations, afflictions, and vastations. (Apocalypse Explained 474)

Matthew 24:21 mentions an affliction "such as was not from the beginning of the world, no nor ever shall be". There, the affliction means the infestation from falsities, and thence the consummation of every truth, or the desolation which at this day prevails in the Christian churches. The affliction of souls on festival days (Leviticus 16:29) represents the humiliation of the rational man, or his affliction from a principle of freedom.

(Odkazy: Brief Exposition of Doctrine 74)


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Apocalypse Explained # 27

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27. The faithful witness, signifies from whom is all truth in heaven. This is evident from the signification of "faithful witness," as being, in reference to the Lord, the acknowledgment of the Divine Human from whom is all truth in heaven (of which in what follows). It is said in heaven, because Divine truth, proceeding from the Lord's Divine good, makes heaven in general, and with each angel there in particular. (This may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell 13, 126-140; and that this is from the Lord's Divine Human, n. 7-12, 78-86.) The Lord as to the Divine Human is called the "faithful witness," because Divine truth proceeding from Him, bears witness in heaven concerning Him.

This testimony is universally in the Divine truth in heaven; as may be seen from this, that angels of the interior heaven can think of the Divine in no other way than under a human form, thus as the Divine Human, and for the reason that the Divine Human of the Lord fills the universal heaven and forms it, and the thoughts of angels proceed and flow according to the form of heaven (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 59-102, 200-212, 265-275). From this it is that "the testimony of Jesus Christ" (See n. 10) signifies the acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord in His Human.

[2] From this can be seen what is meant in the spiritual sense by "bearing witness" and by "testimony" in the following passages:

John [that is, the Baptist] came for a witness, that he might bear witness of the Light, that all might believe through him. He was not the Light, but came that he might bear witness of the Light. It was the true Light, which lighteth every man. And I have seen and have borne witness (John 1:7-9, 34).

"Light" signifies Divine truth; therefore the Lord is here called "the true Light, which lighteth every man," and to "bear witness of the light" signifies an acknowledgment of His Divine Human, from which Divine truth proceeds. (That "light" signifies Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, see in the work on Heaven and Hell, in the chapter on The Light of Heaven, n. 120-140.)

[3] In the same:

Ye sent unto John, and He bare witness unto the truth; but I receive not testimony from man (John 5:33-34).

In the same:

Jesus said, Verily I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and bear witness of what we have seen. He that cometh from heaven is above all. What He hath seen and heard, of that He beareth witness (John 3:11, 31-32).

In the same:

Jesus said, Even if I bear witness of Myself, My witness is true; for I know whence I came and whither I go (John 8:14).

By this is signified that He bears witness concerning Himself from Himself, because He was Divine truth. In the same:

When the Comforter is come, the Spirit of Truth, He shall bear witness of Me (John 15:26).

"The Comforter, the Spirit of Truth," is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord (See Arcana Coelestia 9818, 9820, 10330; and above, n. 25).

[4] In the same:

Pilate said, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest it, because I am a king. For this have I been born, and for this am I come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice. Pilate said, What is truth? (John 18:37-38).

The Lord thus answered when He was asked whether He was a king, because the Lord, as king, is Divine truth, for this is the royalty of the Lord in heaven, while His Divine good is the priesthood there. This is why the Lord said that He was a king, that to this end He was born, and to this end He came into the world, that He should bear witness unto the truth; and that everyone that is in truth heareth His voice; and therefore Pilate asked him, "What is truth?" thus whether that was king. (That Divine truth is the royalty of the Lord in the heavens, see Arcana Coelestia 3009, 5068; and that "kings," therefore, in the Word, signify those who are in Divine truths, or abstractly from persons, signify Divine truths, see n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044.) That "kings" signify those who are in Divine truths, will appear more clearly in the explanation of what follows in Revelation, where kings are mentioned; and just below, where it is said, "He hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father." From this it can be seen that by the words, "from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness," is signified the Lord as to the acknowledgment of His Divine Human, from which is all truth in heaven.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.