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Exodus 7

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1 And the LORD said to Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.

2 Thou shalt speak all that I command thee: and Aaron thy brother shall speak to Pharaoh, that he send the children of Israel out of his land.

3 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt.

4 But Pharaoh shall not hearken to you, that I may lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth my armies, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt, by great judgments.

5 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.

6 And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they.

7 And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty and three years old, when they spoke to Pharaoh.

8 And the LORD spoke to Moses, and to Aaron, saying,

9 When Pharaoh shall speak to you, saying, Show a miracle for you: then thou shalt say to Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh, and it shall become a serpent.

10 And Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so as the LORD had commanded: And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh, and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

11 Then Pharaoh also called the wise-men, and the sorcerers: now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments.

12 For they cast down every man his rod, and they became serpents: but Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods.

13 And he hardened Pharaoh's heart that he hearkened not to them; as the LORD had said.

14 And the LORD said to Moses, Pharaoh's heart is hardened; he refuseth to let the people go.

15 Go to Pharaoh in the morning; lo, he goeth out to the water, and thou shalt stand by the river's brink against he cometh; and the rod which was turned to a serpent shalt thou take in thy hand.

16 And thou shalt say to him, The LORD God of the Hebrews hath sent me to thee, saying, Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness: and behold, hitherto thou wouldest not hear.

17 Thus saith the LORD, In this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: behold, I will smite with the rod that is in my hand upon the waters which are in the river, and they shall be turned to blood.

18 And the fish that is in the river shall die, and the river shall be offensive in smell; and the Egyptians shall lothe to drink of the water of the river.

19 And the LORD spoke to Moses, Say to Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thy hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood: and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.

20 And Moses and Aaron did so, as the LORD commanded; and he lifted up the rod and smote the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh, and in the sight of his servants; and all the waters that were in the river were turned into blood.

21 And the fish that was in the river died; and the river was offensive in smell, and the Egyptians could not drink of the water of the river; and there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

22 And the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, neither did he hearken to them; as the LORD had said.

23 And Pharaoh turned and went into his house, neither did he regard this also.

24 And all the Egyptians digged round about the river for water to drink; for they could not drink of the water of the river.

25 And seven days were fulfilled after that the LORD had smitten the river.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 7324

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7324. 'And over their pools' means against the factual knowledge subservient to them. This is clear from the meaning of 'pools' as factual knowledge subservient to truths constituting religious teachings, and in the contrary sense factual knowledge subservient to falsities constituting religious teachings. When 'pools' are mentioned in the Word intelligence based on cognitions of goodness and truth is meant in the spiritual sense, for one takes 'pools' in the Word to refer to gatherings of water, or lakes, and gatherings of water and lakes are cognitions which, when concentrated together, contribute to intelligence, as in Isaiah,

Waters will break forth in 1 the wilderness, and streams in the plain of the wilderness; and the dry place will become a pool and the thirsty ground wellsprings of water. Isaiah 35:6-7.

[2] In the same prophet,

I will open streams on the sloping heights, and I will place springs in the midst of valleys; I will make the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into well springs of water. Isaiah 41:18.

Here 'making the wilderness into a pool of water' stands for providing cognitions of goodness and truth, and therefore imparting intelligence, where they had not existed before. In the same prophet,

I will lay waste mountains and hills, and dry up every plant; and I will make streams into islands, and dry up pools. Isaiah 42:15.

'Pools' stands for much the same. Likewise in David,

Jehovah turns rivers into a wilderness, and streams of waters into a dryness. He turns a wilderness into a pool of water, and parched land into streams of water. Psalms 107:33-35.

In the same author,

At the presence of the Lord, you are in labour, O earth; at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turns the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a fountain of water. Psalms 114:7-8.

[3] In Isaiah,

The rivers of Egypt will diminish and dry up. Therefore the fishermen will mourn, and all who cast a hook into the river. Therefore its foundations will be broken to pieces - all those making their wages out of pools of the soul. Isaiah 19:6, 8, 10.

'Pools of the soul' stands for the things that constitute intelligence when it is based on cognitions; but since these verses refer to Egypt 'pools of the soul' are the things constituting intelligence when it is based on the facts known to the Church. For 'Egypt' is those facts, and known facts are cognitions, but a lower level of them.

[4] The meaning of 'pools of water' in the contrary sense as evils arising out of falsities, and consequent insanity, is evident in Isaiah,

I will cut off from Babel the name and residue, and son and grandson, and I will turn it into the inheritance of the duck, and into pools of water. Isaiah 14:21, 23.

Since 'pools' are in the contrary sense evils arising out of falsities, and consequent forms of insanity, the hell where such things reign is also meant by them. But in this case a pool is called 'a pool of fire' and 'a pool burning with fire and brimstone', as in Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14-15; 21:8. 'Fire and brimstone' stands for self-love and the desires that spring from it, for self-love and its desires are nothing other than fire, not elemental fire but the kind of fire that derives from spiritual fire; and this fire - spiritual fire - makes a person a living being. The fact that different types of love are life-giving fires is evident to anyone who thinks about it. These fires are what are meant by the holy fires that burn in heaven and by the fires of hell. Elemental fire does not exist in those places.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The Latin means out of but the Hebrew means in, which Swedenborg has in his rough draft as well as in other places where he quotes this verse.

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