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.

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9410. 'He did not lay a hand' means that truth in its power is not present there. This is clear from the meaning of 'hand' as the power which comes through truth. For the meaning of 'hand' as power, see 878, 3091, 3387, 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 5544, 6947, 7011, 7188, 7189, 7518, 7673, 8050, 8153, 8281, 9025, 9133; for its coming through truth, 3091, 3503, 6344, 6423, 8304; and for the fact that truth derives all its power from good, that is, from the Lord through good, 6948, 8200, 9327. From all this it is evident that 'He did not lay a hand towards the children of Israel who had been set apart' means that truth in its power is not present with those restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward. The reason why truth is not present with them in its power is that they are separated from heaven and so from the Lord; for the Word joins a person to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord, because all the things constituting the sense of the letter of the Word correspond to the spiritual and celestial realities which exist with angels. There is no connection with the angels if the Word is understood according to the letter alone and not at the same time according to some teaching of the Church on the inner level of the Word.

[2] Take for example the Lord's words to Peter,

You are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:18-19.

In like manner to the disciples,

Truly I say to you, Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 18:18.

Those who are restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward, thus those who are separated from the true teachings of the Church, convince themselves that such power was given to Peter by the Lord, and also to the rest of the Lord's disciples. This conviction leads to the hellish heresy that certain people possess the power to let into or shut out of heaven whomsoever they please, when in fact according to the true teachings of the Church, which lie on the inward level of the Word, the Lord alone has that power. Those therefore who know the outward sense of the Word and at the same time its inward sense understand that these things spoken by the Lord had regard to faith and the truths of faith which are received from the Lord, and that such faith received from the Lord possesses that power, thus the Lord Himself, and not at all any mere human being.

[3] The truth of this may be recognized from the representation of Peter and of the twelve disciples, also from the meaning of 'rock', and from the meaning of 'keys' as well. Peter represented faith, see Prefaces to Genesis 18, 22, also 3750, 4738, 6000, 6073 (end); the Lord's twelve disciples, like the twelve tribes of Israel, represented all aspects of faith and love, 3488, 3858, 6397; 'rock' means the Lord in respect of faith, and so faith which is received from the Lord, 8581; and 'keys' means power, as is clear from places in the Word where keys are mentioned, such as in John,

I am the First and the Last, He who lives; and I was dead, but behold, I am alive for ever and ever, and have the keys of hell and of death. Revelation 1:17-18.

In the same book,

These things says the One who is Holy, the One who is True, He who has the key of David, He who opens in order that no one may close, and closes in order that no one may open ... Revelation 3:7-8.

And in Isaiah,

I will place the key of the house of David on His shoulder, in order that He may open and none shut, and He may shut and none open. Isaiah 22:22.

In these places it is evident that 'key' means power and that the Lord alone possesses it.

[4] From all this one can see what those people are like who are restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward, namely people who are not at all joined to heaven, nor thus to the Lord. This is so with those who explain those words addressed by the Lord to Peter and to the disciples according to their literal meaning, in that they arrogate to themselves the power to save the human race and make themselves the gods of heaven and earth, which they do on account of their insane self-love and love of the world. Anyone sound in mind may see and appreciate that a mere human being cannot absolve any sin at all, because no sin is absolved except through the development of a new life, that is, through being regenerated by the Lord. Regeneration continues right on to the end of a person's life in the world, and after that for evermore, see 8548-8553, 8635-8640, 8742-8747, 8853-8858, 8958-8968.

[5] What truth in its power is must also be stated briefly. In the Word angels are called 'powers'; and it is also well known in the Church that they are such. Yet they are not powers by virtue of anything their own, only by virtue of the Lord; for they are recipients of God's truth which emanates from the Lord. The power they have from the Lord is such that one of them can drive away a thousand of the devil's crew, confine them to the hells, and keep them in check. For God's truth emanating from the Lord fills the heavens and forms them; and if you are willing to believe it, all things were made and created through that truth. The Word which was in the beginning with God and which was God, and through which all things were created and the world was made, spoken of in John 1:1-14, is Divine Truth. Divine Truth is the one true substance from which all things come into being; but this is something few are able to understand, because at the present day the idea which people have of Divine Truth is no different from that of words coming from the lips of one who rules over all, whose orders are carried out according to those words. As for the kind of idea people ought in fact to have of Divine Truth, see 9407 (end). The omnipotence of Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is described in many places in the Word, and especially in John, in the Book of Revelation,

War took place in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angels, but they did not prevail, nor was their place found any longer in heaven. They conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Revelation 12:7-8, 11.

'The blood of the Lamb', it is evident, is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Human, see 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7850, 9127, 9393, 9395; and 'the word of their testimony' is God's truth which has found acceptance.

[6] People who are restricted to the outward sense of the Word, separated from the inward, that is, those who are separated from the true teachings of the Church, understand these words of prophecy in solely a literal way. That is to say, they take 'blood' to mean blood, thus the Lord's passion, when in fact Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is what is meant in those words by 'blood'. People with the true teachings of the Church are able to know that they are saved not by blood but by hearing God's truth and doing it, thus [that all are saved] who allow the Lord to regenerate them by means of Divine Truth. All who receive enlightenment from the Lord are able to know, understand, see, and perceive this, thus all who are governed by the good of charity and faith are able to do so, since it is they who receive enlightenment. I myself can certainly say that when I read the blood of the Lamb and think of the Lord's blood the angels present with me know no other than that Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is what I read and that that Truth is what I think of. But let simple people hold on to the teaching they have that they are saved by the Lord's blood, so long as they are leading a life in keeping with His Divine Truth; for those who lead such a life receive enlightenment in the next life.

8313. 'Distress took hold of the inhabitants of Philistia' means despair of enlarging their dominion, on the part of those upholding faith separated from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'distress' as despair, because they could not any longer enlarge their dominion, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the inhabitants of Philistia' as those who uphold faith alone separated from the good of charity, dealt with in 1197, 1198, 3412, 3413, 8093, 8096, 8099. They are distinguished from the Egyptians by the fact that they rule out the good deeds of charity, in the belief that a person is saved without them by faith. This main tenet in their doctrine gives birth to a large number of errors, such as these: Salvation is attributable to mercy, irrespective of the life the person has been leading; all his sins and evils are washed away through faith, enabling him to walk as someone who has been made righteous; his salvation can be accomplished in an instant, even through faith and truth attained at the final hour of his death; consequently it is not the affection belonging to heavenly love that makes heaven in a person. People subscribing to these errors are Philistines; and they are called 'uncircumcised' because of the evils of self-love and love of the world in which their life consists.

[2] The reason why 'distress' here means despair is that extreme distress should be understood, or pain like that suffered by women in labour. The word in the original language also means that kind of pain. Despair or the extremes of distress are actually described in the Word as 'the pain of a woman in labour', for example in David,

The kings assembled themselves. Terror seized them, pain as of a woman in labour. Psalms 48:4, 6.

In Jeremiah,

O dweller in Lebanon, having a nest in the cedars, how much grace will you find when distresses come to you, pain as of a woman in labour? Jeremiah 22:23.

In the same prophet,

The king of Babel has heard the report about them, consequently his hands have become feeble; anguish has taken hold of him, pain as of a woman in labour. Jeremiah 50:43.

In Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah is near, like devastation from Shaddai. Therefore all hands are feeble, and every human heart melts, and they are terrified; pangs and distresses take hold of them, they are in labour, like a woman giving birth. Isaiah 13:6-8.

[3] In Jeremiah,

behold, a people coming from the land of the north, and a mighty nation will be stirred up from the furthest parts of the earth. They lay hold on bow and spear; it is cruel and they do not have any pity. Their voice resounds like the sea, and they ride on horses, [every one] prepared as a man for battle against you, O daughter of Zion. We have heard the report about it, our hands have grown feeble. Anguish has laid hold on us, pain as of a woman in labour. Jeremiah 6:22-24.

This refers to truth being laid waste as experienced by those ruled by evil. 'A people from the land of the north' stands for those steeped in falsities arising from evil. 'A mighty nation from the uttermost parts of the earth' stands for those steeped in evils which are altogether opposed to good. 'They lay hold on bow and spear' stands for the fact that they draw on false teachings when they engage in conflict. 'Their voice resounds like the sea' stands for reasoning based on those teachings. 'They ride on horses' stands for arguments seemingly based on understanding. 'Prepared as a man for battle' stands for the desire to attack truth. 'Daughter of Zion' stands for the Church where good exists. 'Anguish has laid hold' stands for distress, because truths might undergo molestation. 'Pain as of a woman in labour' stands for despair, because good might suffer harm. From all this it is evident that 'pain' in this instance means despair on account of harm that might be done to good.

[4] The reason why 'distress took hold of the inhabitants of Philistia' means despair or lack of hope of enlarging their dominion is that the Philistines, that is, those who suppose that salvation comes as a result of faith alone without the good deeds of charity, in the next life strive unceasingly after dominion, fighting against others. They do not stop until they undergo vastation of their knowledge of cognitions or matters of faith. Every person in the next life retains the tenets of the faith he possessed during his lifetime; and no other people exchange them for truths except those who have done what is good in life, since good desires truth and welcomes it freely because it is of a similar nature. But those who have done what is bad in life do not exchange them. Those people are so to speak hard, and also they reject truths. Furthermore they live in obscurity, so that they cannot even see them. They see only whatever endorses the ideas they have adopted and nothing whatever that goes against them. Such people also imagine that they have more intelligence than everyone else; yet they know nothing except to use reasonings based on the ideas they have adopted. This is why they are people who attack charity very strongly, consequently are people who wish to dominate. For those who are governed by charity are humble, and wish - as though lowest in rank - to serve all. But those who are ruled by faith without charity are haughty, and wish - as though highest in rank - to be served by all. This also is why they consider heaven to consist in the glory of dominion, imagining - because they suppose that they have more intelligence than all others - that they will be archangels and that very many others will for that reason serve them, a supposition also in keeping with the words in Daniel,

Those who have intelligence will shine like the brightness of the expanse, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars for ever and ever. ¹ Daniel 12:3.

But instead of brightness theirs is darkness.

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