Bibliorum

 

Exodus 22

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1 Wanneer iemand een os, of klein vee steelt, en slacht het, of verkoopt het, die zal vijf runderen voor een os wedergeven, en vier schapen voor een stuk klein vee.

2 Indien een dief gevonden wordt in het doorgraven, en hij wordt geslagen, dat hij sterft, het zal hem geen bloedschuld zijn.

3 Indien de zon over hem opgegaan is, zo zal het hem een bloedschuld zijn; hij zal het volkomen wedergeven; heeft hij niet, zo zal hij verkocht worden voor zijn dieverij.

4 Indien de diefstal levend in zijn hand voorzeker gevonden wordt, hetzij os, of ezel, of klein vee, hij zal het dubbel wedergeven.

5 Wanneer iemand een veld, of een wijngaard laat afweiden, en hij zijn beest daarin drijft, dat het in eens anders veld weidt, die zal het van het beste zijns velds en van het beste zijns wijngaards wedergeven.

6 Wanneer een vuur uitgaat, en vat de doornen, zodat de koornhoop verteerd wordt, of het staande koorn, of het veld; hij, die de brand heeft aangestoken, zal het volkomen wedergeven.

7 Wanneer iemand zijn naaste geld of vaten te bewaren geeft, en het wordt uit diens mans huis gestolen; indien de dief gevonden wordt, hij zal het dubbel wedergeven.

8 Indien de dief niet gevonden wordt, zo zal de heer des huizes tot de goden gebracht worden, of hij niet zijn hand aan zijns naasten have gelegd heeft.

9 Over alle zaak van onrecht, over een os, over een ezel, over klein vee, over kleding, over al het verlorene, hetwelk iemand zegt, dat het zijn is, beider zaak zal voor de goden komen; wien goden verwijzen, die zal het aan zijn naaste dubbel wedergeven.

10 Wanneer iemand aan zijn naaste een ezel, of os, of klein vee, of enig beest te bewaren geeft, en het sterft, of het wordt verzeerd, of weggedreven, dat het niemand ziet;

11 Zo zal des HEEREN eed tussen hen beiden zijn, of hij niet zijn hand aan zijns naasten have geslagen heeft; en derzelver heer zal dien aannemen; en hij zal het niet wedergeven.

12 Maar indien het van hem zekerlijk gestolen is, hij zal het zijn heer wedergeven.

13 Is het gewisselijk verscheurd, dat hij het brenge tot getuige, zo zal hij het verscheurde niet wedergeven.

14 En wanneer iemand van zijn naaste wat begeert, en het wordt beschadigd, of het sterft; zijn heer daar niet bij zijnde, zal hij het volkomen wedergeven.

15 Indien zijn heer daarbij geweest is, hij zal het niet wedergeven; indien het gehuurd is, zo is het voor zijn huur gekomen.

16 Wanneer nu iemand een maagd verlokt, die niet ondertrouwd is, en hij ligt bij haar, die zal haar zonder uitstel een bruidschat geven, dat zij hem ter vrouwe zij.

17 Indien haar vader ganselijk weigert haar aan hem te geven, zo zal hij geld geven naar den bruidschat der maagden.

18 De toveres zult gij niet laten leven.

19 Al wie bij een beest ligt, die zal zekerlijk gedood worden.

20 Wie de goden offert, behalve den HEERE alleen, die zal verbannen worden.

21 Gij zult ook den vreemdeling geen overlast doen, noch hem onderdrukken; want gij zijt vreemdelingen geweest in Egypteland.

22 Gij zult geen weduwe noch wees beledigen.

23 Indien gij hen enigszins beledigt, en indien zij enigszins tot Mij roepen, Ik zal hun geroep zekerlijk verhoren;

24 En Mijn toorn zal ontsteken, en Ik zal ulieden met het zwaard doden; en uw vrouwen zullen weduwen, en uw kinderen zullen wezen worden.

25 Indien gij Mijn volk, dat bij u arm is, geld leent, zo zult gij tegen hetzelve niet zijn, als een woekeraar; gij zult op hetzelve geen woeker leggen.

26 Indien gij enigszins uws naasten kleed te pand neemt, zo zult gij het hem wedergeven, eer de zon ondergaat;

27 Want dat alleen is zijn deksel, het is zijn kleed over zijn huid; waarin zou hij liggen? Het zal dan geschieden, wanneer hij tot Mij roept, dat Ik het zal horen; want Ik ben genadig!

28 De goden zult gij niet vloeken, en de oversten in uw volk zult gij niet lasteren.

29 Uw volheid en uw tranen zult gij niet uitstellen; den eerstgeborene uwer zonen zult gij Mij geven.

30 Desgelijks zult gij doen met uw ossen en met uw schapen; zeven dagen zullen zij bij hun moeder zijn, op den achtsten dag zult gij ze Mij geven.

31 Gij nu zult Mij heilige lieden zijn; daarom zult gij geen vlees eten, dat op het veld verscheurd is, en zult het den hond voorwerpen.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #9224

Studere hoc loco

  
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9224. 'The firstborn of your sons you shall give to Me' means also all the matters of faith that [are acquired] through them - that they are to be ascribed to the Lord and not to self. This is clear from the meaning of 'the firstborn of sons' as all matters of faith the Church possesses, dealt with in 2435, 6344, 7035, 7039, 7778, 8042; and from the meaning of 'giving to Me' as ascribing to the Lord, 'Jehovah' being used in the Word to mean the Lord. All matters of faith, meant by 'the firstborn of sons', are beliefs which spring from the good of charity; for faith comes into being from this good. Whether truths are acquired from the Word or from the teachings of the Church, they cannot by any means become matters of faith without the presence of good in which they can be implanted. The reason for this is that the understanding part of the mind is that which receives truths first, for it sees them and introduces them into the will; and when those truths are in the will they are in the person, the will being the person's true self. Anyone therefore who supposes that faith is faith with a person before the person wills it, and does it because he wills it, is very much mistaken. Nor before this do the truths of faith themselves have life in them. All that which belongs to the will is called good, because it is loved; thus truth becomes good, or faith becomes charity, when it is in the will.

[2] There are two controversies which have bothered the Church since earliest times. The first is whether faith is the firstborn of the Church or whether charity is; and the second is whether faith separated from charity brings salvation. The reason why these two controversies arose was that before a person has been regenerated he discerns the truths that are to become matters of faith but not the good that is the good of charity. For the truths of faith enter by the external route, that is to say, through hearing; they deposit themselves in the memory, and from there they appear in the understanding. But the good of charity flows in by the internal route - through the internal man from heaven, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven. Therefore it does not come to be discerned until the truths called matters of faith start to be loved for the sake of performing good and useful service and leading a good life, which happens when they come to belong to the will. This now explains why faith was declared to be the firstborn of the Church, and also why people attributed to it the rights of the firstborn, that is, the rights of priority and superiority over the good of charity, when in actual fact the good of charity is prior and higher, and the truth of faith only apparently so, see 3325, 3494, 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3701, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930, 4977, 5351, 6256, 6269, 6272, 6273.

[3] The reason why those who belong to the Church have been in the dark in regard to these matters is that they have failed to perceive that all things in the universe have connection with truth and good, and to be anything must have connection with both. They have also failed to perceive that in the human being there are two mental powers, the understanding and the will, and that truth has connection with the understanding and good with the will, and that without the connection with both nothing is made a person's own. Because these considerations have lain in the dark, and yet the ideas composing a person's thought are based on such considerations, the error could not be made plain to the natural man. Yet if it had at some time been made plain, members of the Church would have seen from the Word as in broad daylight that the Lord Himself had countless things to say about the good of charity, that this good ranks first in the Church, and that faith does not exist anywhere else than within that good. The good of charity consists in doing good because one wills it. They would also have seen the errors that teachings upholding faith separated from charity bring in with them. One such error is the idea that a person is able to will evil and believe truth, consequently that truth is in agreement with evil. Another is the idea that faith can cause the life of heaven to exist with a person who has the life of hell in him, therefore that one life can be transformed into the other, so that those in hell can be raised to heaven and lead among angels a life contrary to their former life. People entertaining such errors do not take into consideration the fact that if anyone leads a life contrary to the life already acquired in the world he is deprived of his life. Anyone who tries to do so is like those who are in the throes of death and end their life in dreadful torment. Errors like these and very many others are what the teachings upholding faith separated from charity bring in with them.

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

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #5351

Studere hoc loco

  
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5351. 'And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh' means a new area of will within the natural, and the essential nature of it. This is clear from the representation of 'Manasseh' in the Word as spiritual good within the natural, and so a new area of will there, dealt with below. This name also implies the essential nature of that good or new area of will. The fact that the name implies the essential nature of this may be recognized from the names given to other people. An explanation of the essential nature accompanies each name, like that given for Manasseh in the following words, For God has made me forget all my labour and all my father's house. These words describe the essential nature of what is meant by 'Manasseh'. What is more, when the phrase 'he called the name' is used, the meaning is that the actual name too contains that essential nature, since 'name' and 'calling the name' mean the essential nature, 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421.

[2] The reason why the firstborn who was given the name Manasseh means spiritual good within the natural, or a new area of will there, is that good is in actual fact the firstborn in the Church. That is, with someone who is in the process of becoming a Church, truth is not the firstborn, though it appears to be so, see 352, 367, 2435, 3325, 3494, 4925, 4926, 4928, 4930. The same may also be recognized from the consideration that a person's will takes precedence over his understanding; for the desires in a person's will are the primary constituents of his life, while the ideas in his understanding are secondary to them; and he acts in accordance with the desires of his will. What goes forth from the will is called good in the case of those who through regeneration have received from the Lord a new will; but it is called evil in the case of those who have had no wish to receive such. What goes forth from the understanding however is called truth in the case of the regenerate but falsity in the case of the unregenerate. But because no knowledge of a person's will is possible except through his understanding - for the understanding is the outward form that the will possesses or the outward form taken by the will which enables it to be known - people therefore imagine that truth which goes forth from the understanding is the firstborn. But this is nothing else than the appearance, for the reason that has been stated.

[3] This explains the controversy that existed in former times over whether the truth which is the essence of faith was the firstborn of the Church or whether good which is the essence of charity was such. Those who based their conclusions on the appearance said that truth was the firstborn, whereas those who did not base theirs on the appearance acknowledged that good was. This also explains why at the present day people make faith the primary and absolutely essential constituent of the Church, but charity the secondary and non-essential element. But by supposing that faith alone is what saves a person they have sunk into far deeper error than the ancients. (In the Church faith is used to mean all the truth of doctrine, while charity is used to mean all the good of life.) They do, it is true, call charity and the works of charity the fruits of faith. Yet does anyone believe that those fruits make any contribution to salvation when the belief exists that someone can be saved by faith in the final hour of his life, no matter what kind of life he led before then? More than this, does anyone believe that those fruits contribute in any way to salvation when people use doctrine to set faith apart from works that are the product of charity, saying that faith alone saves without good works, or that works which are matters of life contribute nothing to salvation? Dear, dear! What kind of faith is that, and what kind of Church is it when people cherish faith that is dead and reject faith that is living? For faith without charity is like a body without a soul. But a body without a soul is removed from sight and put away because it stinks, as everyone knows; and in the next life faith without charity is just like this. All who possessed faith so-called which was devoid of charity are in hell; but all who had charity are in heaven. For everyone's life remains with him, whereas doctrine does so only insofar as it draws on that life.

[4] It is less easy to show from other places in the Word that 'Manasseh' means a new area of will within the natural - or what amounts to the same, spiritual good there - than it is to show that 'Ephraim' means a new area of understanding within the natural, or spiritual truth there. Even so, inferences can be drawn regarding the meaning of 'Manasseh' from what is said about 'Ephraim', because in the Word when two are mentioned together in the way these are, one means good, the other truth. Therefore Manasseh's meaning - spiritual good within the natural, which is the essence of the new will there - will be seen in what follows shortly where Ephraim is the subject.

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