Bibliorum

 

Exodus 15

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1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said, "I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.

2 Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father's God, and I will exalt him.

3 Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name.

4 He has cast Pharaoh's chariots and his army into the sea. His chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea.

5 The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone.

6 Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power. Your right hand, Yahweh, dashes the enemy in pieces.

7 In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send forth your wrath. It consumes them as stubble.

8 With the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.

9 The enemy said, 'I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.'

10 You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

11 Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

12 You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them.

13 "You, in your loving kindness, have led the people that you have redeemed. You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation.

14 The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.

15 Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed. Trembling takes hold of the mighty men of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away.

16 Terror and dread falls on them. By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone-- until your people pass over, Yahweh, until the people pass over who you have purchased.

17 You shall bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, the place, Yahweh, which you have made for yourself to dwell in; the sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have established.

18 Yahweh shall reign forever and ever."

19 For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on them; but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea.

20 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances.

21 Miriam answered them, "Sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."

22 Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.

23 When they came to Marah, they couldn't drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah.

24 The people murmured against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"

25 Then he cried to Yahweh. Yahweh showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them;

26 and he said, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you."

27 They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #8351

Studere hoc loco

  
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8351. 'And the people grumbled against Moses' means grief caused by the bitterness of the temptation. This is clear from the meaning of 'grumbling' as complaint, the kind made in temptations, thus grief caused by the bitterness of the temptation. The temptations which those belonging to the Lord's spiritual Church underwent after they had been delivered from molestations, in addition to the temptations which members of that Church are destined to undergo, are described by the grumblings of the children of Israel in the wilderness. And since spiritual temptations are as a general rule protracted till a person is in despair, 1787, 2694, 5279, 5280, 7147, 7166, 8165, 'grumbling' means complaint because of grief felt in temptations, as in Exodus 16:2-3; 17:3; Numbers 14:27, 29, 36; 16:11. The words 'against Moses' are used because it was a grumbling against what was Divine; for 'Moses' represents Divine Truth, 6723, 6752, 6771, 6827, 7010, 7014, 7089, 7382.

[2] As regards the temptations which those belonging to the spiritual Church underwent, and the temptations which members of that Church are destined to undergo, it should be recognized that no faith, nor thus any charity, can ever be instilled into those who belong to the spiritual Church except by means of temptations. In temptations a person is involved in conflict against falsity and evil. These - falsity and evil - flow into the external man from the hells, while goodness and truth flow in from the Lord by way of the internal man; and so there arises from a conflict of the internal man with the external that which is called temptation. And in the measure that the external man is brought into a state of obedience to the internal, faith and charity are instilled; for the external or natural level of a person is a receptacle of truth and good from the internal. If the receptacle is not properly adjusted it does not receive anything flowing in from the more internal level but either repels, destroys, or stifles it, as a consequence of which there is no regeneration. So it is that temptation is necessary, in order that a person may undergo regeneration, which is effected through the instillation of faith and charity, and thereby through the formation of a new will and new understanding. This also explains why the term 'militant' is applied to the Lord's Church. See what has been stated and shown already about these matters in 3928, 4249, 4341, 4572, 5356, 6574, 6611, 6657, 7090 (end), 7122, 8159, 8168, 8179, 8273.

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

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #7089

Studere hoc loco

  
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7089. 'And afterwards Moses and Aaron came' means the Divine Law and the teachings derived from it. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the Lord in respect of the Divine Law, dealt with in 6752; and from the representation of 'Aaron' as teachings that present what is good and true, dealt with in 6998. The expression 'Divine Law', which Moses represents, is used to mean the Word as it is in its internal sense, thus as it is in heaven, whereas the expression 'teaching' is used to mean the Word as it is in its literal sense, thus as it is on earth. How great the difference is may be recognized from the explanations given so far that have regard to the internal sense of the Word. Let the Ten Commandments, which specifically are called the Law, be used to illustrate the point. The literal meaning of them is that one should honour one's parents, not kill, commit adultery, or steal, and so on. But the internal sense is that one should worship the Lord, not harbour hatred, falsify what is true, or claim for oneself what is the Lord's. These are the ways in which those four commandments are understood in heaven, and the rest too in their own manner. For in heaven they know no other Father than the Lord; therefore instead of honouring parents they take the commandment to mean that the Lord should be worshipped. In heaven they do not know what it is to kill, for they live for ever; but instead of killing they understand harbouring hatred and harming another person's spiritual life. Nor in heaven do they know what it is to commit adultery; consequently they perceive instead what corresponds to that prohibition - being forbidden to falsify what is true. And instead of stealing they take the prohibition to mean that one should not take away from the Lord anything such as goodness and truth and claim it as one's own.

[2] This is what the Law and also the whole of the Word is like in heaven, and so what it is like in its internal sense. Indeed it is far more profound, for most of what they think and say in heaven cannot find expression in the words of human speech, because they are in the spiritual world, not the natural world, and things belonging to the spiritual world are as greatly superior to those belonging to the natural world as non-material things are to material. Yet because material things nevertheless correspond to them, material things can be used to disclose them. That is, natural speech can be used but not spiritual, for spiritual speech does not consist of material words but of spiritual words. And spiritual words consist of ideas that are converted into words in the spiritual atmosphere, and are represented by variegations of heavenly light, heavenly light being in itself nothing other than Divine intelligence and wisdom radiating from the Lord. All this shows what is meant by the Divine Law in its genuine sense, which 'Moses' represents, and what is meant by teaching, which 'Aaron' represents.

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