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Exodus 21

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1 "Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them.

2 "If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.

3 If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him.

4 If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.

5 But if the servant shall plainly say, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;'

6 then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.

7 "If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do.

8 If she doesn't please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her.

9 If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter.

10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights.

11 If he doesn't do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.

12 "One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death,

13 but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen: then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee.

14 If a man schemes and comes presumptuously on his neighbor to kill him, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.

15 "Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.

16 "Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.

17 "Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.

18 "If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn't die, but is confined to bed;

19 if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed.

20 "If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.

21 Notwithstanding, if he gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his property.

22 "If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman's husband demands and the judges allow.

23 But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,

24 eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

25 burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.

26 "If a man strikes his servant's eye, or his maid's eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.

27 If he strikes out his male servant's tooth, or his female servant's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.

28 "If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.

29 But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and it has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death.

30 If a ransom is laid on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid on him.

31 Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him.

32 If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.

33 "If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn't cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,

34 the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his.

35 "If one man's bull injures another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal.

36 Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9086

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9086. And an ox or an ass shall fall in there. That this signifies which perverts good or truth in the natural, is evident from the signification of “to fall,” as being to pervert (of which below); from the signification of “an ox,” as being the affection of evil in the natural, thus evil therein (of which above, n. 9065); and from the signification of “an ass,” as being truth in the natural (n. 2781, 5492, 5741, 7024, 8078). That “to fall into a pit,” when said of good and truth in the natural, which are signified by “ox and ass,” denotes to pervert, is plain from what is contained in the following verse, where amendment by means of truth is treated of, which can be effected with perverted goods and truths, but not with those that have been extinguished; for when good or truth is perverted, it still remains, although explained in a perverted manner.

[2] “To fall” also denotes to fall by mischance. Because this was signified by “falling into a pit,” therefore it was said by the Lord:

Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a well, and will not straightway draw him out on the Sabbath day? (Luke 14:5).

This was said by the Lord when He healed on the Sabbath day the man who had the dropsy. In that church, the Sabbath day was most holy because it signified the heavenly marriage, which is the conjunction of good and truth from the the Lord, (n. 8495, 8510); consequently healings were performed by the Lord on the Sabbath day, because “healing” involved the healing of the spiritual life; and the disease of dropsy the perversion of truth and good; thus “healing” involved the amendment and restoration of perverted truth. For all the Lord’s miracles involved and signified states of the church (n. 8364), as in general do all Divine miracles (n. 7337). Hence then it is that the Lord said, “Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fall into a well, and will not straightway draw him out on the Sabbath day?” by which was signified in the spiritual sense what has been said; for whatsoever the Lord spoke, He spoke from the Divine, and therefore there is an internal sense in each word (n. 9048, 9063). By “a well” in this passage the like is signified as by “a pit,” namely, falsity (see n. 1688). And as “a pit” denotes falsity, therefore also when the Lord spoke about the falsities of the church, He said:

If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into a pit (Matthew 15:14).

“A blind man” denotes one who is in erroneous ideas; and “falling into a pit” denotes to pervert truth. These things were spoken in comparisons; but in the Word all the comparisons are taken from significatives (n. 3579, 8989).

[3] They who believe that the Divine holiness which is in the Word lies hidden there no deeper than in the sense which appears in the letter, in these and other passages of the Word, see holiness from no other source than from faith that all things of the Word were Divinely inspired, and that there are inexplicable arcana therein known to God alone. But they who are not in this faith despise the Word, merely because the style is in appearance more humble than is the style which is adapted to the genius of the world, such as is to be found with many writers ancient and modern. But let them know that a Divine holiness lies hidden in each and all things of the Word, but it consists in the fact that each and all things treat of the Lord, of His kingdom, and His church. These are things most holy, because they are Divine from the Lord, wherein there is thus eternal life, according to the words of the Lord in John:

The words that I speak unto you are spirit, and are life (John 6:63).

But these most holy Divine things stand open before the angels in heaven, because these do not apprehend the Word naturally according to the literal sense; but spiritually according to the internal sense. Men also would apprehend the Word according to this sense if they lived an angelic life, that is, a life of faith and love. The things which are contained in the internal sense of the Word are no other than those which the genuine doctrine of the church teaches. The genuine doctrine of the church teaches the Lord, faith in Him, love to Him, and love of the good which is from Him. This love is charity toward the neighbor (n. 6709, 6710, 8123). They who live this life are enlightened by the Lord, and see the holy things of the Word; as by no means do others (see the pref ace to Genesis 18).

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