302. I have talked with angels about the conjunction of heaven with the human race, and I said that, while the man of the Church declares that all good is from God, and that angels are with man, yet few believe that angels are conjoined to man, still less that they are in his thought and affection. To this the angels replied that they know that there is such a belief and even such a mode of speaking in the world, and especially, to their surprise, within the Church, where yet there is the Word to teach men about heaven and its conjunction with man. Nevertheless, there is such a conjunction that man is unable to think the least thing apart from the spirits adjoined to him, and on this his spiritual life depends. They said that the cause of ignorance of this matter is man's belief that he lives from himself, without a connection with the First Being (Esse) of life; and that he does not know that this connection exists by means of the heavens; and yet if that connection were broken man would instantly fall down dead. If man believed, as is really true, that all good is from the Lord and all evil from hell, he would not make the good in him a matter of merit nor would evil be imputed to him; for he would then look to the Lord in all the good he thinks and does, and all the evil that inflows would be cast down to hell whence it comes. But because man does not believe that there is any influx into him either from heaven or from hell, and so supposes that all the things that he thinks and wills are in himself, and therefore from himself, he appropriates the evil to himself, and the inflowing good he defiles with merit.
Arcana Coelestia #10694
10694. 'And they were afraid to approach him' means that they could not bear an outward form of the Church, worship, and the Word such as this. This is clear from the meaning of 'being afraid to approach' as not being able to bear something, for those who cannot bear interior things are afraid to approach them; and from the representation of 'Moses' as the outward form that the Word, the Church, and worship take, containing what is inward, dealt with in 10563, 10571, 10607, 10614. The situation in all this is that those whose interest lies solely in things of the Church, worship, and the Word on an outward level devoid of what is inward cannot bear interior things. The reason for this is that those whose interest lies in outward things devoid of what is inward are ruled by selfish and worldly love, and consequently see by an inferior light, called natural illumination. But those whose interest lies in things of the Church, worship, and the Word on an inward level as well as those on an outward one are governed by love towards the neighbour and love to the Lord, and consequently see by the light of heaven. And since the two kinds of love are opposites, and consequently the two kinds of light are as well, one cannot bear the other. For when heavenly love, that is, love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, flows into earthly loves, which are self-love and love of the world, it induces feelings of agony like the throes of death; and when heavenly light flows into worldly light, it induces thick darkness and consequently stupidity. So it is that an outward form devoid of inward content cannot bear any outward form when it does have an inner content. Since the Jewish nation was like this they could not bear to hear about the Lord, or about love and faith in Him, which are the interior things of the Word, the Church, and worship. These then are the things which are meant when it says that the children of Israel were afraid to approach Moses because the skin of his face gleamed. What it is that 'the skin of Moses' face' means, see above in 10691.
Exodus 34
1
Yahweh said to Moses, "Chisel two stone tablets like the first: and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
2
Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.
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No one shall come up with you; neither let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mountain."
4
He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets.
5
Yahweh descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Yahweh.
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Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, "Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,
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keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children's children, on the third and on the fourth generation."
8
Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.
9
He said, "If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go in the midst of us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance."
10
He said, "Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which you are shall see the work of Yahweh; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you.
11
Observe that which I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
12
Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare in the midst of you:
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but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherim;
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for you shall worship no other god: for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
15
"Don't make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;
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and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.
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"You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.
18
"You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out from Egypt.
19
"All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
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The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb: and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. No one shall appear before me empty.
21
"Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
22
"You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year's end.
23
Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.
24
For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh, your God, three times in the year.
25
"You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the Passover be left to the morning.
26
"You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of Yahweh your God. "You shall not boil a young goat in its mother's milk."
27
Yahweh said to Moses, "Write you these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."
28
He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
29
It happened, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mountain, that Moses didn't know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.
30
When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.
31
Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.
32
Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all of the commandments that Yahweh had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
33
When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
34
But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
35
The children of Israel saw Moses' face, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
