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Exodus 10

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1 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Go in unto Pharaoh, for I have declared hard his heart, and the heart of his servants, so that I set these My signs in their midst,

2 and so that thou recountest in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, that which I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have set among them, and ye have known that I [am] Jehovah.'

3 And Moses cometh in -- Aaron also -- unto Pharaoh, and they say unto him, `Thus said Jehovah, God of the Hebrews, Until when hast thou refused to be humbled at My presence? send My people away, and they serve Me,

4 for if thou art refusing to send My people away, lo, I am bringing in to-morrow the locust into thy border,

5 and it hath covered the eye of the land, and none is able to see the land, and it hath eaten the remnant of that which is escaped, which is left to you from the hail, and it hath eaten every tree which is springing for you out of the field;

6 and they have filled thy houses, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians, which neither thy fathers nor thy father's fathers have seen, since the day of their being on the ground unto this day,' -- and he turneth and goeth out from Pharaoh.

7 And the servants of Pharaoh say unto him, `Until when doth this [one] become a snare to us? send the men away, and they serve Jehovah their God; knowest thou not yet that Egypt hath perished?'

8 And Moses is brought back -- Aaron also -- unto Pharaoh, and he saith unto them, `Go, serve Jehovah your God; -- who and who [are] those going?'

9 And Moses saith, `With our young ones, and with our aged ones, we go, with our sons, and with our daughters, with our flock, and our herd, we go, for we have a festival to Jehovah.'

10 And he saith unto them, `Be it so, Jehovah [be] with you when I send you and your infants away; see -- for evil [is] before your faces;

11 not so! go now, ye who [are] men, and serve Jehovah, for that ye are seeking;' and [one] casteth them out from the presence of Pharaoh.

12 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Stretch out thy hand against the land of Egypt for the locust, and it goeth up against the land of Egypt, and doth eat every herb of the land -- all that the hail hath left.'

13 And Moses stretcheth out his rod against the land of Egypt, and Jehovah hath led an east wind over the land all that day, and all the night; the morning hath been, and the east wind hath lifted up the locust.

14 And the locust goeth up against all the land of Egypt, and resteth in all the border of Egypt -- very grievous: before it there hath not been such a locust as it, and after it there is none such;

15 and it covereth the eye of all the land, and the land is darkened; and it eateth every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail hath left, and there hath not been left any green thing in the trees, or in the herb of the field, in all the land of Egypt.'

16 And Pharaoh hasteth to call for Moses and for Aaron, and saith, `I have sinned against Jehovah your God, and against you,

17 and now, bear with, I pray you, my sin, only this time, and make ye supplication to Jehovah your God, that He turn aside from off me only this death.'

18 And he goeth out from Pharaoh, and maketh supplication unto Jehovah,

19 and Jehovah turneth a very strong sea wind, and it lifteth up the locust, and bloweth it into the Red Sea -- there hath not been left one locust in all the border of Egypt;

20 and Jehovah strengtheneth the heart of Pharaoh, and he hath not sent the sons of Israel away.

21 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Stretch out thy hand towards the heavens, and there is darkness over the land of Egypt, and the darkness is felt.'

22 And Moses stretcheth out his hand towards the heavens, and there is darkness -- thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days;

23 they have not seen one another, and none hath risen from his place three days; and to all the sons of Israel there hath been light in their dwellings.'

24 And Pharaoh calleth unto Moses and saith, `Go ye, serve Jehovah, only your flock and your herd are stayed, your infants also Go with you;'

25 and Moses saith, `Thou also dost give in our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings, and we have prepared for Jehovah our God;

26 and also our cattle doth go with us, there is not left a hoof, for from it we do take to serve Jehovah our God; and we -- we know not how we do serve Jehovah till our going thither.'

27 And Jehovah strengtheneth the heart of Pharaoh, and he hath not been willing to send them away;

28 and Pharaoh saith to him, `Go from me, take heed to thyself, add not to see my face, for in the day thou seest my face thou diest;'

29 and Moses saith, `Rightly hast thou spoken, I add not any more to see thy face.'

   

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The White Horse # 2

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2. In the prophetical parts of the Word a horse is mentioned very often, 1 but until now no one has known 'horse' means understanding, and 'horseman' one who understands, perhaps because it seems extraordinary and astonishing that that is what is meant by 'horse' in a spiritual sense, and consequently in the Word. But that it constantly means this can be agreed from very many instances in the Word, from which I should like to refer to only a few at this point.

In Israel's prophetic utterance 2 about Dan we find:

Dan will be a serpent on the road, a darting snake 3 on the path, that will bite the horse's heels, and the horseman will fall backwards. Genesis 49:17-18.

What this prophetic statement about one of the tribes of Israel means no one is going to understand unless he knows what 'serpent' signifies, and also 'horse' and 'horseman." Yet is there anyone who does not see that it holds something spiritual within it? This being so, what the individual details signify may be seen in Arcana Caelestia 6398-6401, where this prophetical utterance is explained.

In Habakkuk we find:

O Lord [...] You ride on Your horses and Your chariots are salvation [...] You caused Your horses to tread in the sea. Habakkuk 3:8, 15.

It is obvious that 'horses' here signify something spiritual, because these things are being said about God. What else would it be, 'God rode on [his] horses, and caused [his] horses to tread in the sea?'

In Zechariah we find, with a similar significance:

'On that day, HOLY TO THE LORD will be on the horse-bells', Zechariah 14:20. 4

In the same authority:

On that day I will strike every horse with bewilderment and the horseman with madness, declares the Lord, I will open my gaze on the house of Judah, and I will strike with blindness every horse of the peoples. Zechariah 12:4-5.

What is being talked about here is the Church when it has been laid waste, which happens when there is no longer an understanding of anything true. This is what is being indicated by 'horse' and 'horseman;' what else would it be, [...] every horse about to be struck with bewilderment [...] and the horse of the peoples with blindness?' What, otherwise, would this have to do with the Church?

In Job we find:

'Because God has made her 5 forget wisdom, neither has He imparted to her understanding; having raised herself on high, she mocks the horse and its rider' Job 39:17-19.

That understanding is signified here by 'horse' is manifestly obvious; similarly in David, where the expression 'to ride upon the word of truth' is used, Psalms 45:5; and besides in very many other places.

Moreover, who is likely to know why it is that Elijah and Elisha were called 'the chariots of Israel and its horsemen;' and why there appeared to Elisha's servant a mountain full of horses and fiery chariots, unless it is known what 'chariots' and horsemen' signify, and what Elijah and Elisha represented? For Elisha said to Elijah, My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen,' 2 Kings 2:11-12; and King Joash said to Elisha, 'My father, my father [...] the chariots of Israel and its horsemen,' 2 Kings 13:14.

Concerning the servant of Elisha we read:

'The Lord opened the eyes of Elisha's servant, and he looked and saw the mountain full of horses and fiery chariots all around Elisha' 2 Kings 6:17.

Elijah and Elisha were called the chariots of Israel and its horsemen because each represented the Lord in his capacity as the Word. 'Chariots' represent doctrine derived from the Word, and 'horsemen' represent understanding. That Elijah and Elisha represented the Lord in this capacity may be seen in Arcana Caelestia: 5247, 7643, 8029, 9327, and that 'chariots' signify doctrine derived from the Word: 5321, 8215.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The text has simply equus (horse) at this point, but there is a 'parallel passage' in Arcana Caelestia 2761, stating equus et eques (horse and horseman): the sense of what follows in the current passage suggests that Swedenborg intends equus et eques here.

2. The Revd John Elliott points out that 'Israel here of course means the patriarch Jacob."

3. Biblical translations are based on the Schmidt Latin translation (1696) as apparently used by Swedenborg, though here, as sometimes elsewhere, Swedenborg does misquote (in this case inserting jaculus after the second serpens). Lewis and Shorts Latin Dictionary, always an interesting source, glosses jaculus as follows: 'sc. serpens, a serpent that darts from a tree on its prey."

4. The Revd John Elliott: As I understand it, this is not a statement on the horse-bells to the effect that the bells are holy but that they ring out the holiness of things attributable to the Lord. (A bit like the bells rung in a catholic mass which draw the worshippers' attention to the just-consecrated host or wine that is being elevated.)'

5. Her: The Hebrew pronoun in Job 39:17-18, which refers to a bird, is feminine. Although Swedenborg rendered it eum (him) in 2762 and here in De Equo Albo, eam (her) occurs in other places of his works where this verse is quoted.

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