8859. Exodus 20

1. And God spoke all these words, saying,

2. I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves.

3. You shall not have other gods before My face.

4. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness [of things] which are in the heavens above, and which are on the earth beneath, and which are in the waters under the earth.

5. You shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them; for I am Jehovah your God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons, ¹ on the third and on the fourth [generations] of those who hate Me,

6. And showing mercy to thousands who love Me and keep My commandments.

7. You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain; for Jehovah will not render him innocent who takes His name in vain.

8. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9. Six days you shall labour and do all your work;

10. And the seventh day is a sabbath to Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work - you, nor your son, nor your daughter; your male slave, nor your female slave, nor your beast, nor your sojourner who is within your gates.

11. For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and sanctified it.

12. Honour your father and your mother, in order that your days may be prolonged on the land which Jehovah your God gives you.

13. ² You shall not kill.

14. You shall not commit adultery.

15. You shall not steal.

16. You shall not answer as witness of a lie against your neighbour.

17. You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his male slave nor his female slave, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour's.

18. And all the people saw the voices and torches, ³ and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and the people saw and were violently shaken, and stood afar off.

19. And they said to Moses, Speak yourself to us, and we will hear; and do not let God speak to us, lest perhaps we die.

20. And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, for God has come in order to test you, and in order that His fear may be before your faces, so that you do not sin.

21. And the people stood afar off; and Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.

22. And Jehovah said to Moses, Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven.

23. You shall not make [to be] with Me gods of silver and gods of gold; you shall not make [them] for yourselves.

24. An altar of soil ⁴ you shall make for Me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your eucharistic offerings, your flocks and your herds; in every place where I shall put the memory of My name I will come to you and bless you.

25. And if you make for Me an altar of stones, you shall not build it with hewn ones; for if you move your chisel over it you will profane it.

26. And you shall not go up to My altar by steps, in order that your nakedness may not be revealed on it.

CONTENTS

This chapter deals in the internal sense with God's truths that are to be implanted in the good which governs those belonging to the Lord's spiritual Church. The Ten Commandments are those truths; and the commandments that follow them in this chapter, regarding sacrifices and the altar, are outward truths concerned with worship.

Poznámky pod čarou:

8864. 'I am Jehovah your God' means the Lord in respect of the Divine Human reigning universally, in every single aspect of goodness and truth. This is clear from the consideration that in the Word no one other than the Lord is meant by 'Jehovah', 1343, 1736, 2921, 3023, 3035, 3448, 5663, 6280, 6281, 6303, 8274, or likewise by 'Jehovah Zebaoth', 'the Lord Jehovih', and 'Jehovah God', 2921, 3023, 3448, 6303; and from the consideration that the Lord is called 'Jehovah' by virtue of the Divine Good, which is the Divine Being (Esse), and 'God' by virtue of Divine Truth, which is the Divine Coming-into-being (Existere), 6905, and also 709, 732, 1096, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921 (end), 4402. The reason why the Lord's Divine Human is what 'Jehovah God' is used to mean here is that the Lord in respect of that Divine Human is meant in the Word both by 'Jehovah' and by 'God'. Divine Good, which He is also in respect of the Human is meant by 'Jehovah', while Divine Truth, which He is because it goes forth from Him, is meant by 'God'.

[2] The reason why the Lord's Divine Human is meant by 'Jehovah God' is that the Divine Itself which is within the Lord cannot be seen in heaven or even perceived, thus cannot be received in faith and love; only the Divine Human can. The truth that the Divine Itself cannot be communicated to angels in heaven, still less to people on earth, except through the Divine Human is well known in the Churches from the Lord's words in the Gospels, where He says that He is the Door; that He is the Mediator; that nobody can come to the Father except through Him; that no one except Himself knows the Father; and that no one has seen the Father, not even some shape He might take. From all this it is evident that it is the Lord who is meant here by 'Jehovah God'. It is also well known that He is also the one who has redeemed the human race and delivered them from hell.

This truth is meant by the words that follow, by 'I brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves'. From all this it is now evident that Jehovah God, who spoke from Mount Sinai, is the Lord in respect of the Divine Human.

[3] The reason why this is the first truth to be stated by the Lord from Mount Sinai is that it must be present, reigning universally in each and every truth that follows. For what is stated first must be held in mind and must be seen to reside universally in everything that follows. What 'universally reigning' describes will be seen below. The truths which were stated by the Lord are all of this nature. That is to say, truths stated first must reign in those stated next and incorporate them; these in turn must reign in and incorporate those after that, and so on sequentially. In the present chapter the truths stated next are the Ten Commandments, which are inward truths, and after these the statutes, which are outward truths. The latter and the former must have the Lord - His Divine Human - reigning within them, for they spring from Himself, and are Himself. For, to be sure, truths which are truths all emanate from Him; and the things which emanate from Him are Himself. The truth that the Lord's Divine Human is what must reign in every single part of faith is also well known in the Churches; for they teach that there is no salvation without the Lord, and that all the truth and good of faith comes from Him. Thus since He is the source of faith He is the faith present with a person; and if He is the faith He is also all the truth contained in teachings about faith that are drawn from the Word. This also is the reason why the Lord is called 'the Word'.

[4] The truth that what comes first must reign in what comes next, and so on sequentially, as stated above, is clear from the individual parts of the things spoken by the Lord, in particular from His prayer called the Lord's Prayer. All its parts follow one another in such a sequence that they constitute a pillar so to speak, widening from the top down to the base and holding inside itself the things that appear earlier in the sequence. What is first there is inmost, and what comes after in sequence adds itself gradually to the inmost and in that way grows wider. What is inmost then reigns in all the surrounding parts; it reigns universally, that is, in every detail, for it is essential to the existence of them all.

1344. Verse 15 And Shelah lived after he begot Eber four hundred and three years; and he begot sons and daughters.

'Shelah lived after he begot Eber four hundred and three years' means duration and state, 'Shelah' here, as previously, being that which is the offspring of knowledge, 'Eber' here, as previously, the worship in general of this Church. 'And he begot sons and daughters' means matters of doctrine.