聖書

 

Exodus 3

勉強

   

1 And Moses tended the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock behind the wilderness, and came to the mountain of God -- to Horeb.

2 And the Angel of Jehovah appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a thorn-bush: and he looked, and behold, the thorn-bush burned with fire, and the thorn-bush was not being consumed.

3 And Moses said, Let me now turn aside and see this great sight, why the thorn-bush is not burnt.

4 And Jehovah saw that he turned aside to see, and God called to him out of the midst of the thorn-bush and said, Moses, Moses! And he said, Here am I.

5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: loose thy sandals from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.

6 And he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.

7 And Jehovah said, I have seen assuredly the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and their cry have I heard on account of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows.

8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good and spacious land, unto a land flowing with milk and honey, unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

9 And now behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me; and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

10 And now come, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.

11 And Moses said to God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?

12 And he said, For I will be with thee; and this shall be the sign to thee that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this mountain.

13 And Moses said to God, Behold, [when] I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?

14 And God said to Moses, I AM THAT I AM. And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: I AM hath sent me unto you.

15 And God said moreover to Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel: Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

16 Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, Jehovah the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, hath appeared to me, saying, I have indeed visited you, and [seen] that which is done unto you in Egypt;

17 and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt, unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.

18 And they shall hearken to thy voice. And thou shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and ye shall say unto him, Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, hath met with us; and now, let us go, we pray thee, three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God.

19 But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a powerful hand.

20 And I will stretch out my hand and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof; and after that he will let you go.

21 And I will give this people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, and it shall come to pass, when ye go out, that ye shall not go out empty;

22 but every woman shall ask of her neighbour, and of her that is the inmate of her house, utensils of silver, and utensils of gold, and clothing; and ye shall put [them] on your sons and on your daughters, and shall spoil the Egyptians.

   

解説

 

Midst

  

The "midst" of something in the Bible represents the thing that is most central and most important to the spiritual state being described, the motivation that drives everything else. In general this will be something we love or feel, because at the core of things we are what we love; our loves define us.

(参照: Apocalypse Revealed 44, 90, 268; Arcana Coelestia 2252, 2940, 10153, 10365, 10557, 10635, 10641)

スウェーデンボルグの著作から

 

Arcana Coelestia#10153

この節の研究

  
/ 10837に移動  
  

10153. 'And I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel' means the Lord's presence and His influx through good in heaven and in the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'dwelling', when this is said of the Lord, as His being present and flowing in, His doing so through Divine Good being meant because 'dwelling' has reference to good, see 2268, 2451, 2712, 3613, 8269, 8309, which is why the words 'in the midst' are used, because 'the midst' means what is inmost, and that which is inmost is good (for this meaning of 'the midst', see 2940, 2973, 5897, 6084, 6103); and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as the Church, dealt with in 9340.

[2] The reason why 'dwelling in the midst', when said of the Lord, means His presence and influx through Divine Good is that the Lord flows into and is present with a person in the good he receives from the Lord. Good composes the person's true self, for everyone's character is conditioned by his good. By good, love should be understood, since anything that is loved is called good. The fact that a person's love or good makes him what he is may be recognized by anyone at all who observes what another is like; for having observed him he can direct him by means of his love wherever he wishes him to go, so much so that when that other person is held under the sway of his own love he is no longer his own master, and reasons which disagree with his love count for nothing with him, while those which collude with his love count for everything.

[3] The truth of this is also plainly evident in the next life. All spirits there are recognized by their loves, and when they are held under the sway of those loves they cannot act in any way contrary to them; for if they act contrary to those loves they act contrary to themselves. They are therefore embodiments of their loves, those in the heavens being embodiments of heavenly love and charity, so beautiful that they are beyond description, whereas those in the hells are embodiments of their own loves, namely self-love and love of the world, and are consequently embodiments also of hatred and vengeance, thus are monsters so awful that they defy description.

[4] Since therefore a person's love makes him altogether what he is, it is evident that the Lord cannot be present in a person's love if it is evil, only in a person's love that is good, thus in his good. People think that the Lord is present in truth called the truth of faith; but He is not present in truth devoid of good. Where good exists however He is present in truth through that good; and He is present in truth to the extent that it leads to good and to the extent that it emanates from good. Truth devoid of good cannot be said to be within a person; it is merely in his memory, residing there as factual knowledge which does not enter the person and form part of him until it becomes part of his life. It becomes part of his life when he loves it, and in love lives in accord with it. When this happens the Lord dwells with him, as also the Lord teaches in John,

He who has My commandments and does them, he it is who loves Me, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him. And My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. John 14:21, 23.

'Manifesting Himself' means enlightening with the truths of faith from the Word; 'coming to him' means being present; and 'making Their home with him' means dwelling in his good.

  
/ 10837に移動  
  

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