Bibliorum

 

Exodus 8

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1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, Go to Pharaoh, and say to him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people Go that they may serve me.

2 And if thou shalt refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs:

3 And the river shall bring forth frogs abundantly, which shall go up and come into thy house, and into thy bed-chamber, and upon thy bed, and into the house of thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy ovens, and into thy kneading troughs:

4 And the frogs shall come up both on thee, and upon thy people, and upon all thy servants.

5 And the LORD spoke to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch forth thy hand with thy rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the ponds, and cause frogs to come up on the land of Egypt.

6 And Aaron stretched his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.

7 And the magicians did so with their enchantments, and brought up frogs upon the land of Egypt.

8 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron, and said, Entreat the LORD that he may take away the frogs from me, and from my people: and I will let the people go, that they may do sacrifice to the LORD.

9 And Moses said to Pharaoh, Glory over me: when shall I entreat for thee, and for thy servants, and for thy people, to destroy the frogs from thee, and thy houses, that they may remain in the river only?

10 And he said, To-morrow. And he said, Be it according to thy word; that thou mayest know that there is none like the LORD our God.

11 And the frogs shall depart from thee, and from thy houses, and from thy servants, and from thy people; they shall remain in the river only.

12 And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried to the LORD, because of the frogs which he had brought against Pharaoh.

13 And the LORD did according to the word of Moses: and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the villages, and out of the fields.

14 And they gathered them into heaps: and the land was offensive in smell.

15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was respit, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not to them, as the LORD had said.

16 And the LORD said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

17 And they did so: for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.

18 And the magicians did so with their inchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not: so there were lice upon man and upon beast.

19 Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not to them; as the LORD had said.

20 And the LORD said to Moses, Rise early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh; (lo, he cometh forth to the water) and say to him, Thus saith the LORD, Let my people go, that they may serve me.

21 Else, if thou wilt not let my people go, behold, I will send swarms of flies upon thee, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, and into thy houses: and the houses of the Egyptians shall be full of swarms of flies, and also the ground on which they are.

22 And I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell, that no swarms of flies shall be there; to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth.

23 And I will put a division between my people and thy people: to-morrow shall this sign be.

24 And the LORD did so: and there came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of Pharaoh, and into his servants' houses, and into all the land of Egypt: the land was corrupted by reason of the swarm of flies.

25 And Pharaoh called for Moses, and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.

26 And Moses said, It is not meet so to do; for we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the LORD our God: Lo, shall we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, and will they not stone us?

27 We will go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the LORD our God as he shall command us.

28 And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only ye shall not go very far away: entreat for me.

29 And Moses said, Behold, I go out from thee, and I will entreat the LORD that the swarms of flies may depart from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, to-morrow: but let not Pharaoh deal deceitfully any more, in not letting the people go to sacrifice to the LORD.

30 And Moses went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the LORD:

31 And the LORD did according to the word of Moses; and he removed the swarms of flies from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people; there remained not one.

32 And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #7390

Studere hoc loco

  
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7390. 'And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron' means the presence of the law of God. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling' as presence, dealt with in 6177 (the reason why 'calling' means presence is that a person calls someone when he wishes to speak to him or to convey his thoughts, and in the next life it is in keeping with the law of order that the person to whom someone wishes to speak and desires to convey his thoughts comes to be present); from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as those who are steeped in falsities and engage in molestation, often dealt with already; and from the representation of 'Moses' as inward law, and the representation of 'Aaron' as outward law, both dealt with above in 7381.

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

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #7381

Studere hoc loco

  
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7381. 'Say to Aaron' means an influx of inward law into outward law. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the law of God, dealt with in 6713, 6752; from the representation of 'Aaron' as teachings presenting what is good and true, dealt with in 6998, 7089, these teachings represented by 'Aaron' being nothing other than outward law emanating from inward law, that is, from the Divine through inward law; and from the meaning of 'saying' as influx, as in 6152, 6291, 7291. The reason why at this point 'saying' means influx is that Moses is commanded to 'Say to Aaron'; 'Moses' is inward law, and 'Aaron' outward law, and influx from the Divine takes place through what is inward into what is outward. Inward law is God's truth itself as it exists in heaven, while outward law is God's truth as it exists on earth. Thus inward law is truth suited to angels, while outward law is truth suited to men.

[2] Since inward law, represented by 'Moses', is truth suited to angels, while outward law, represented by 'Aaron', is truth suited to men, let something be said about them here. Truth suited to angels is for the most part beyond the comprehension of men. This is clear from the consideration that in heaven things are seen and spoken such as eye has never seen, nor ear ever heard. The reason for this is that the things spoken of among angels are spiritual, which are withdrawn from natural things and consequently are far removed from the ideas and words belonging to man's speech. For man has formed his ideas from things in the natural order, especially its grosser aspects, that is, from things which he has seen in the world and on earth, and has had physical contact with, that is, material things. Even though the ideas belonging to a person's inward thought exist on a level above material things they are nevertheless founded on material things; and the level that ideas are founded on is the level on which they seem to exist. That is the level on which a person perceives the things he thinks about. From this one may see what the situation is with the truth of faith, and also the nature of that which comes within man's range of thought, namely that which is called outward law and is represented by 'Aaron'.

[3] Let the following example serve to shed light on this. Man can have no thought at all without ideas involving time and space; such ideas cling to practically every detail of what man thinks. If ideas formed from time and space were taken away from man he would not know what he thinks, and scarcely whether he thinks. Yet angels' ideas have nothing of time or space within them, but states instead. The reason is that the natural world marks itself off from the spiritual world by the existence of time and space within it. The reason why time and space exist in the natural world, but states instead in the spiritual world, is this: In the natural world the sun appears to give rise to days and years by its apparent revolutions. It divides the days up into the four periods of night, morning, midday, and evening, and the years too into the four seasons of winter, spring, summer, and autumn, which it effects by means of variations of light and shade, as well as of warmth and coldness. And these divisions are the source of ideas of time and varying periods of it. Ideas of space arise from the use of periods as measurements; therefore where one exists, so does the other.

[4] But in the spiritual world the Sun of heaven, which is the source of spiritual light and spiritual heat, does not make circuits and revolutions which give rise to ideas of time and space. The light which flows from that Sun is God's truth, and the heat which flows from that Sun is God's goodness. These give rise to ideas of states among the angels, states of intelligence and faith being the product of God's truth, and states of wisdom and love the product of God's goodness. Variations in these states among the angels are what states of light and shade in the world, and also of warmth and coldness, correspond to, which are attributable to the sun since it is responsible for the existence of times and seasons and of spatial measurements. This example demonstrates to some extent what inward truth or truth suited to angels, called inward law, is like, and what outward truth or truth suited to men, referred to as outward law, is like. It also goes to explain why the things that angels discuss with one another are beyond man's comprehension and also indescribable.

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