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Exodus 17

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1 And all the company of the sons of Israel journey from the wilderness of Sin, on their journeyings, by the command of Jehovah, and encamp in Rephidim, and there is no water for the people to drink;

2 and the people strive with Moses, and say, `Give us water, and we drink.' And Moses saith to them, `What? -- ye strive with me, what? -- ye try Jehovah?'

3 and the people thirst there for water, and the people murmur against Moses, and say, `Why [is] this? -- thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to put us to death, also our sons and our cattle, with thirst.'

4 And Moses crieth to Jehovah, saying, `What do I to this people? yet a little, and they have stoned me.'

5 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Pass over before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel, and thy rod with which thou hast smitten the River take in thy hand, and thou hast gone:

6 Lo, I am standing before thee there on the rock in Horeb, and thou hast smitten on the rock, and waters have come out from it, and the people have drunk.' And Moses doth so before the eyes of the elders of Israel,

7 and he calleth the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the `strife' of the sons of Israel, and because of their `trying' Jehovah, saying, `Is Jehovah in our midst or not?'

8 And Amalek cometh, and fighteth with Israel in Rephidim,

9 and Moses saith unto Joshua, `Choose for us men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to-morrow I am standing on the top of the hill, and the rod of God in my hand.'

10 And Joshua doth as Moses hath said to him, to fight with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur, have gone up [to] the top of the height;

11 and it hath come to pass, when Moses lifteth up his hand, that Israel hath been mighty, and when he letteth his hands rest, that Amalek hath been mighty.

12 And the hands of Moses [are] heavy, and they take a stone, and set [it] under him, and he sitteth on it: and Aaron and Hur have taken hold on his hands, on this side one, and on that one, and his hands are stedfast till the going in of the sun;

13 and Joshua weakeneth Amalek and his people by the mouth of the sword.

14 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Write this, a memorial in a Book, and set [it] in the ears of Joshua, that I do utterly wipe away the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens;'

15 and Moses buildeth an altar, and calleth its name Jehovah-Nissi,

16 and saith, `Because a hand [is] on the throne of Jah, war [is] to Jehovah with Amalek from generation -- generation.'

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 8573

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8573. 'And Moses cried out to Jehovah, [saying]' means deep grief, and intercession. This is clear from the meaning of 'crying out' - when it refers to the Divine aid which the people demanded in their misery and grief - as deep grief, as also previously in 7782, and intercession, as in 8179. Since 'Moses cried out to Jehovah' means intercession by Divine Truth, which 'Moses' represents, what intercession is and the nature of it must be stated briefly. People who do not know what intercession is can have no other conception of it than this, that the Lord constantly prays to the Father and intercedes for the sinner who pleads in a devout manner and promises to repent. Indeed the simple think that the Lord sits with the Father and speaks to Him about a sinner, asking the Father to give Him that sinner to be in His kingdom and possess eternal happiness. An idea such as this is what very many have about intercession referred to in the Word, where it says that the Lord will entreat the Father on their behalf. But who can fail to see that human ways of thinking were being used in what was said? For everyone at that time, like very many also at the present day, could think of a heavenly kingdom only as they think of an earthly kingdom. The latter serves them to gain an idea of the former. This is plainly evident from the Lord's apostles themselves - from James and John, who asked to sit one on His right, the other on His left in His kingdom, Mark 10:35-37; and also from the rest of the apostles, among whom a quarrel arose over which of them was to be greatest in His kingdom, and to whom the Lord said that they would eat and drink at His table in His kingdom, and that they would sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Luke 22:24, 30, and therefore that they would reign with Him. The things He said, it is evident, were adapted to their way of thinking and so to their ability to grasp them; but in the interior sense those things had a different meaning, which could not be made known at that time. What twelve thrones with the apostles seated on them mean, see 2129, 6397.

[2] As regards the nature of intercession, all love holds intercession within it, and so does all mercy since mercy is the characteristic of love. Anyone who has love or who has mercy is interceding constantly, as the following examples demonstrate: The husband who loves his wife wishes her to be well-received and well-treated by others. He does not express his wish in actual words, but it is constantly in his thinking, so that he is silently requesting it and interceding for her. Parents do the same thing for their children whom they love. It is likewise what a person governed by charity does for his neighbour, and what one moved by friendship does for a friend. These examples show that intercession is present unceasingly in all love. The same is true of the Lord's intercession for the human race, especially for those with whom the goodness and truth of faith are present; for towards them Divine - that is, infinite - love is shown, and Divine - that is, infinite - mercy. Not that the Lord prays to the Father for them and intercedes in that way; for then He would be acting in an entirely human manner. Rather He is constantly excusing and constantly forgiving, because He is constantly showing mercy; this the Lord Himself is doing since the Lord and the Father are one, John 14:8-12.

[3] An arcanum that lies even more deeply concealed within the word 'intercession' must also be mentioned. Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord intercedes constantly in such a way because it emanates from Divine Love. While the Lord was in the world He was Divine Truth; but now that He has been glorified, which was accomplished when He rose again, He is Divine Good, 7499. Divine Good is what is meant in the Word in the internal sense by 'the Father', and Divine Truth by 'the Son', 2803, 3704, 7499. And since Divine Truth, which emanates from Divine Good, holds constant intercession within it, the Son is said to entreat the Father and to intercede for a person. People were able to grasp the latter notion of the Son, but the former idea of Divine Truth only with difficulty.

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