Arcana Coelestia # 7673
7673. 'Stretch out your hand' means an exercising of power. This is clear from the meaning of 'stretching out' as that which is connected with the exercising of control, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'hand' as power, dealt with in 878, 3387, 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 5544, 6292, 6947, 7011, 7188, 7189, 7518. The reason why 'stretching out the hand' means the exercising of power is that there is power in the hand or arm when it is stretched out. When therefore Jehovah is said to stretch out His hand or arm, boundless or infinite power in action is meant. This explains why Jehovah told Moses on so many occasions, when miracles were to be performed, to stretch out his hand or his rod; for example,
Stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, and they will be blood. Exodus 7:19.
Stretch out your hand over the rivers, and cause frogs to rise up. Exodus 8:1-2. 1
Stretch out your rod and strike the dust of the land, and it will then be lice. Exodus 8:11, 12. 2
Stretch out your hand towards heaven, and there will be hail. Exodus 9:22-23.
Such words would never have been used but for the meaning of 'stretching out the hand' in the highest sense as Jehovah's almighty power.
[2] The same thing is meant by Joshua's being told to stretch out his javelin, described in his book as follows,
Jehovah said to Joshua, Stretch out the javelin that is in your hand towards Ai. When therefore Joshua stretched out the javelin that was in his hand towards Ai, the ambush rose up quickly out of their place and ran, as soon as he stretched out his hand, and came to the city and took it. Joshua did not withdraw his hand which he had stretched out together with the javelin until all the inhabitants of Ai had been utterly destroyed. Joshua 8:18-19, 26.
Being representative of God's almighty power, this too, like all other representative actions when they were commanded in those times, had force.
[3] There are a number of other places in which almighty power is described when it says that Jehovah 'stretches out His hand', or else His 'outstretched hand' or His 'outstretched arm' is spoken of. It is described by Jehovah stretching out His hand in Isaiah,
The anger [of Jehovah] has been roused against His people, and He has stretched out His hand over them and struck them, and the mountains were shaken. Isaiah 5:25.
In Ezekiel,
I will stretch out My hand against him and destroy him. Ezekiel 14:9, 13.
In the same prophet,
I will stretch out My hand against you, and give you as plunder to the nations. Ezekiel 25:7.
I will stretch out My hand over Edom, and cut off from it man and beast. I will stretch out My hand over the philistines, and cut off . . . Ezekiel 25:13, 16.
Other places like these are Ezekiel 35:3; Isaiah 31:3; Zephaniah 1:4; 2:13. The use of 'outstretched hand' to describe almighty power occurs in Isaiah,
Jehovah's outstretched hand is over all the nations; who will turn it back? Isaiah 14:26, 27.
In Jeremiah,
I will fight with you with an outstretched hand and a strong arm, and in anger and in fury. Jeremiah 21:5.
In Isaiah,
Still His hand is outstretched. Isaiah 9:12, 17; 10:4.
The use of 'outstretched arm' occurs in Jeremiah,
I have made the earth, man, and beast by My great strength and by My outstretched arm. Jeremiah 27:5.
In the same prophet,
You have made heaven and earth by Your great power and Your outstretched arm; there is no matter 3 that is too impossible for You. Jeremiah 32:17.
Here it is self-evident that 'outstretched arm' means almighty power. The same applies to many other places in which the expression 'by a strong hand and an outstretched arm' is used, such as Deuteronomy 4:34; 5:15; 7:19; 9:29; 11:2; 26:8; 1 Kings 8:42; 2 Kings 17:36; Jeremiah 32:21; Ezekiel 20:33, 34.
[4] There are places too in which Jehovah is said to 'stretch out the heavens', and in these places also 'stretching out' means almighty power; that is to say, He expands the limits of heaven and fills those who are there with life and wisdom, as in Isaiah,
Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens like a thin veil, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:22.
In the same prophet,
Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, spreads out the earth, gives breath 4 to His people upon it, and spirit to those who walk on it. Isaiah 42:5.
In Jeremiah,
. . . He who makes the earth by His power, prepares the world by His wisdom, and stretches out the heavens by His intelligence. Jeremiah 51:15.
In Zechariah,
Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, and founds the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Zechariah 12:1.
There are still more places besides these, such as Isaiah 44:24; 45:12; Psalms 104:2.
From all this one may now see why Moses was commanded to stretch out his hand and rod, that miracles were performed when he did so, and that 'stretching out the hand' for that reason means the exercising of power, and in the highest sense almighty power.
Poznámky pod čarou:
Numbers 14
1
And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.
2
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said to them, O that we had died in the land of Egypt! or O that we had died in this wilderness!
3
And why hath the LORD brought us to this land, to fall by the sword, that our wives and our children should be a prey? were it not better for us to return into Egypt?
4
And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
5
Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.
6
And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes:
7
And they spoke to all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land.
8
If the LORD delighteth in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.
9
Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defense has departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
10
But all the congregation required to stone them with stones: and the glory of the LORD appeared in the tabernacle of the congregation before all the children of Israel.
11
And the LORD said to Moses, How long will this people provoke me? and how long will it be ere they believe me, for all the signs which I have shown among them?
12
I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they.
13
And Moses said to the LORD, Then the Egyptians will hear it, (for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;)
14
And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: for they have heard that thou LORD art among this people, that thou LORD art seen face to face, and that thy cloud standeth over them, and that thou goest before them, by day-time in a pillar of a cloud, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15
Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,
16
Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.
17
And now, I beseech thee, let the power of my Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,
18
The LORD is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation.
19
Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of thy mercy, and as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt, even until now.
20
And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
21
But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD.
22
Because all those men who have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
23
Surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
24
But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land into which he went; and his seed shall possess it.
25
(Now the Amalekites, and the Canaanites dwelt in the valley.) To-morrow turn you, and pass into the wilderness, by the way of the Red sea.
26
And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
27
How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.
28
Say to them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in my ears, so will I do to you:
29
Your carcasses shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, who have murmured against me,
30
Doubtless ye shall not come into the land concerning which I swore to make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.
31
But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have despised.
32
But as for you, your carcasses, they shall fall in this wilderness.
33
And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your lewd deeds, until your carcasses shall be wasted in the wilderness.
34
After the number of the days in which ye searched the land, even forty days (each day for a year) shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my breach of promise.
35
I the LORD have said, I will surely do it to all this evil congregation, that are gathered against me: in this wilderness, they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.
36
And the men whom Moses sent to search the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing a slander upon the land,
37
Even those men that brought the evil report upon the land, died by the plague before the LORD.
38
But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of the men that went to search the land, lived still.
39
And Moses told these sayings to all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.
40
And they rose early in the morning, and ascended to the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we are here, and will go up to the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned.
41
And Moses said, Why now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD? but it shall not prosper.
42
Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten before your enemies.
43
For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned away from the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.
44
But they presumed to go up to the hill-top: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.
45
Then the Amalekites came down, and the Canaanites which dwelt in that hill, and smote them, and discomfited them, even to Hormah.
