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.

각주:

8865. How to understand 'reigning universally' becomes clear from what has been stated and shown above in 8853-8858. What reigns universally with a person is that which is present in every idea of his thought and every desire of his will, consequently which constitutes his actual mind or life. That which reigns universally within a person should be the Lord, for that which reigns universally within the angels in heaven is the Lord, and they are for this reason said to be 'in the Lord'. The Lord starts to reign in a person when he not only believes that everything good and everything true comes from Him but also loves it to be so. Angels not only truly believe but also perceive it to be so, and that is why their life is the Lord's life within them. The life of their will is the life of love coming from the Lord, and the life of their understanding is the life of faith coming from the Lord. All this shows what is meant when it is said that the Lord is the All in all of heaven, and that He is heaven. When the Lord reigns universally with a member of the Church, as He does with angels in heaven, the Lord is within every truth and good of faith residing with him, just as the heart is within all the blood vessels, since they derive from it their origin, and the blood which is their life.

[2] In addition it should be recognized that the kind of spirits or the kind of angels who are present with a person is determined by the nature of what reigns universally in him. The reason for this is that what reigns universally is the being (esse) of anyone's life, 8853, 8858. All the cheerfulness and all the contentment a person has, even when thinking about other matters, springs from it. For in it the angels and spirits present with him reside and so to speak have a dwelling-place; their gladness enters the person and creates the cheerfulness and contentment. The person does not realize that they are the source of it because a person does not know that his life flows in, or that what reigns universally constitutes his life, or that when something touches this core of his life the effect is like that which visual objects have on the pupil of the eye, that is, pleasure when they are beautiful and pain when they are not beautiful. The term 'universally' is used because it implies every single thing within the whole, so that what reigns universally is that which exists in each individual part, see 1919 (end), 5949, 6159, 6338, 6482, 6483, 6571, 7648, 8067.

2905. 'A hundred and twenty-seven years' means their completion. This is clear from the meaning of 'a hundred' as that which is complete, dealt with in 2636, and from the meaning of 'twenty' also, which is twice ten, as that which is complete, 1988, and from the meaning of 'seven' as that which is holy, 395, 433, 716, 881. Thus it is the completion or conclusion of the holy state of the Church that is meant here. For all numbers in the Word mean real things, see 482, 487, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252. The completion of them, that is to say, of the states and periods of time of the Church, means their conclusion.

[2] The Church passes through different phases that are like the ages of man. The first of these is early childhood, the second youth, the third adult years, and the fourth old age. The last of these - old age - is called the completion or conclusion. The phases of the Church are also like the times and seasons of the year, the first of which is spring, the second summer, the third autumn, and the fourth winter. The last of these is the conclusion of the year. The phases of the Church are also like the times and divisions of the day, the first being the dawn, the second midday, the third evening, and the fourth night. The last of these is the completion or conclusion of the day. In the Word too the states of the Church are compared to the ages of man, the seasons of the year, and the divisions of the day, and are meant there by the same because periods of time mean states, 2625, 2788, 2837. Good and truth with those who belong to the Church usually diminish in this fashion. And when good and truth do not exist any longer, or, as is said, when faith does not exist any longer, that is to say, when charity does not exist any longer, the Church has reached its old age, or its winter, or its night. And that period of time or state is called the settlement, close, and fulfilment, see 1857. Statements about the Lord coming into the world in the fullness of time, or when completion had been reached, have the same meaning, for at that time no good existed any longer, not even natural good, nor consequently any truth. This is the specific meaning of the things stated in this verse.