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Exodus 22

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1 `When a man doth steal an ox or sheep, and hath slaughtered it or sold it, five of the herd he doth repay for the ox, and four of the flock for the sheep.

2 `If in the breaking through, the thief is found, and he hath been smitten, and hath died, there is no blood for him;

3 if the sun hath risen upon him, blood [is] for him, he doth certainly repay; if he have nothing, then he hath been sold for his theft;

4 if the theft is certainly found in his hand alive, whether ox, or ass, or sheep -- double he repayeth.

5 `When a man depastureth a field or vineyard, and hath sent out his beast, and it hath pastured in the field of another, [of] the best of his field, and the best of his vineyard, he doth repay.

6 `When fire goeth forth, and hath found thorns, and a stack, or the standing corn, or the field, hath been consumed, he who causeth the burning doth certainly repay.

7 `When a man doth give unto his neighbour silver, or vessels to keep, and it hath been stolen out of the man's house; if the thief is found, he repayeth double.

8 `If the thief is not found, then the master of the house hath been brought near unto God, whether he hath not put forth his hand against the work of his neighbour;

9 for every matter of transgression, for ox, for ass, for sheep, for raiment, for any lost thing of which it is said that it is his; unto God cometh the matter of them both; he whom God doth condemn, he repayeth double to his neighbour.

10 `When a man doth give unto his neighbour an ass, or ox, or sheep, or any beast to keep, and it hath died, or hath been hurt, or taken captive, none seeing --

11 an oath of Jehovah is between them both, that he hath not put forth his hand against the work of his neighbour, and its owner hath accepted, and he doth not repay;

12 but if it is certainly stolen from him, he doth repay to its owner;

13 if it is certainly torn, he bringeth it in -- a witness; the torn thing he doth not repay.

14 `And when a man doth ask [anything] from his neighbour, and it hath been hurt or hath died -- its owner not being with it -- he doth certainly repay;

15 if its owner [is] with it, he doth not repay, -- if it [is] a hired thing, it hath come for its hire.

16 `And when a man doth entice a virgin who [is] not betrothed, and hath lain with her, he doth certainly endow her to himself for a wife;

17 if her father utterly refuse to give her to him, money he doth weigh out according to the dowry of virgins.

18 `A witch thou dost not keep alive.

19 `Whoever lieth with a beast is certainly put to death.

20 `He who is sacrificing to a god, save to Jehovah alone, is devoted.

21 `And a sojourner thou dost not oppress, nor crush him, for sojourners ye have been in the land of Egypt.

22 `Any widow or orphan ye do not afflict;

23 if thou dost really afflict him, surely if he at all cry unto Me, I certainly hear his cry;

24 and Mine anger hath burned, and I have slain you by the sword, and your wives have been widows, and your sons orphans.

25 `If thou dost lend My poor people with thee money, thou art not to him as a usurer; thou dost not lay on him usury;

26 if thou dost at all take in pledge the garment of thy neighbour, during the going in of the sun thou dost return it to him:

27 for it alone is his covering, it [is] his garment for his skin; wherein doth he lie down? and it hath come to pass, when he doth cry unto Me, that I have heard, for I [am] gracious.

28 `God thou dost not revile, and a prince among thy people thou dost not curse.

29 `Thy fulness and thy liquids thou dost not delay; the first-born of thy sons thou dost give to Me;

30 so thou dost to thine ox, to thy sheep; seven days it is with its dam, on the eighth day thou dost give it to Me.

31 `And ye are holy men to Me, and flesh torn in the field ye do not eat, to a dog ye do cast it.

   

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Ox, young

  

'The son of a cow' signifies the celestial natural level and natural exterior good.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 2184 [1-7], 4244)

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 3470

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3470. 'And he took for a wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite' means the wedding to it of natural truth from a source other than genuine truth itself. This is clear from the meaning of 'a wife' as truth wedded to good, dealt with where Sarah and where Rebekah are the subject, 1468, 1901, 2063, 2065, 2172, 2173, 2198, 2507, 2904, 3012, 3013, 3077, here natural truth wedded to the natural good that is the subject here; and from the representation of 'Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite' as truth from a source other than genuine truth itself. The Hittites were one of the upright nations in the land of Canaan, among whom Abraham dwelt and from whom he bought as a grave the cave of Machpelah, Genesis 23:3-end. The Hittites also represent the spiritual Church among the nations in that land, see 2913, 2986. And because that Church does not possess truth that is from the Word the same persons mean truth not derived from genuine truth itself. For a nation which represents a Church also means truth and good, as these exist with that Church, since it is by virtue of truth and good that a Church is a Church. When therefore a Church is spoken of, its truth and good are meant, and vice versa.

[2] The implications of this are that natural good of truth is not spiritual good, that is, it is not the good of faith nor the good of charity until it has been reformed. Natural good comes from parents, as stated immediately above in 3469, but spiritual good comes from the Lord. To receive spiritual good therefore a person has to undergo regeneration. At first, while this is taking place truths from a source other than genuine truth itself are allied to him, such as do not remain permanently with him but merely serve as the means by which genuine truths are brought in. Once these have been brought in, truths that are not genuine are separated. It is akin to the stages through which children pass: At first they learn very many things, including those that are childish - games and so on - not to make them wise but to prepare the way for them to receive the useful things that lead to wisdom. Once they have received the latter the former things are separated, indeed they are put away. Or it is like fruit which at first is filled with sour juice before it is able to receive sweet. The sour juice, which is not the genuine, is the means by which the sweet is brought in. As the latter comes in the former is dispelled.

[3] So it is with the natural part of man's mind when this is being regenerated, for natural good is such that of itself it is unwilling to obey and serve the rational as a slave does his master but wishes to take command. To render it submissive and subservient however it is chastened by means of states of vastation and temptation to the point when its cravings die down. At that point it is moderated by means of an influx from the Lord, by way of the internal man, of the good of faith and charity, even to the point where good acquired by heredity is gradually rooted out and a new good implanted in place of it. Into this new good truths of faith are introduced, like new fibres into the human heart, along which fibres new fluid is borne in, until a new heart has slowly been developed. The truths that are borne in at first cannot come from the genuine fount of truth because evils and falsities exist within the good present previously, which is natural good. Instead they are the kind of seeming truths or appearances of truth that have some affinity with genuine truths, and through which little by little the opportunity and place for those genuine truths to insert themselves is provided. Genuine good is like the blood in blood vessels or the fluid in fibres, bringing truths along and giving them shape. The good which takes shape in this way in the natural or external man is general, structured or joined together so to speak from particular and individual facets of spiritual good coming by way of the rational or internal man from the Lord, who alone forms and creates things anew. This explains why so many times in the Word the Lord is called One who forms and Creator.

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