Arcana Coelestia #6766
6766. 'And he said, Who set you up as a man-prince and a judge over us?' means a perception that he was not yet so advanced into the truths of the Church 1 that he could settle disagreements within the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'he said' as a perception, dealt with often; from the meaning of 'a man-prince' as one who has a command of primary truths, thus who is more enlightened than others in teachings about the truth (for that is what was meant in the representative Church by 'a prince') and therefore 'who set you up as a man-prince?' means that he was not yet so advanced into the truths of the Church (for the meaning of 'prince' as those who have a command of primary truths, see 5044); and from the meaning of 'a judge' as one who settles disputes or disagreements. Here they are disagreements within the Church because it is a quarrel between 'two Hebrew men', by whom those belonging to the Church are meant.
[2] In the highest sense the subject has been the beginnings of the law of God within the Lord's Human; and now it is the development of that law. But in the internal sense the subject here is the development of Divine Truth as it exists with the person who is being regenerated. Its development is such that at first the person can distinguish falsity from truth, for the truth he has enables him to see falsity since it is the opposite of the truth. But he cannot at that early stage settle between one truth of faith and another within the Church. To be able to do this he must make further advances; for a person's enlightenment increases gradually. This is clearly recognizable from those who are in adolescent years and at the start of manhood. They think that the teachings of their Church are the absolute truth, and these they use to distinguish falsities. But they are not yet able to reconcile matters of faith within the Church when these disagree with one another; that ability comes in a sequence of stages. This being so, the person to whom that ability can be given must also be someone who is rather more mature in years, someone in whom the more internal levels of the understanding have been enlightened.
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Exodus 2
1
A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.
2
The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.
3
When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank.
4
His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him.
5
Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her handmaid to get it.
6
She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."
7
Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?"
8
Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." The maiden went and called the child's mother.
9
Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." The woman took the child, and nursed it.
10
The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water."
11
It happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.
12
He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.
13
He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, "Why do you strike your fellow?"
14
He said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?" Moses was afraid, and said, "Surely this thing is known."
15
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.
16
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
17
The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
18
When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, "How is it that you have returned so early today?"
19
They said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock."
20
He said to his daughters, "Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread."
21
Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.
22
She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, "I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land."
23
It happened in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.
24
God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25
God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them.
