10558. Verses 12-17 And Moses said to Jehovah, See, You say to me, Cause this people to go up; and You have not made known to me whom You will send with me. And You have said, I know you by name, and also you have found grace in My eyes. And now if, I beg You, I have found grace in Your eyes, make Your way known to me, I beg You, and I shall know You, because I have found grace in Your eyes. And consider ¹ that this nation is Your people. And He said, My face ² will go [with you], and I will cause you to rest. And he said to Him, If Your face ² is not going [before me], do not cause us to go up from here. And how will it ever be made known that I have found grace in Your eyes, I and Your people? Will it not be in Your going with us? And I and Your people will be made more distinguished than all the people who are on the face of the ground. And Jehovah said to Moses, I will also do this thing that you have spoken, since you have found grace in My eyes and I know you by name.

'[And] Moses said to Jehovah' means annoyance that the Divine, and so the Church itself, does not reside with them. 'See, You say to me, Cause this people to go up' means the solemn promise of a Church among that nation. 'And You have not made known to me whom You will send with me' means that without Divine direction that thing cannot be accomplished. 'And You have said, I know you by name' means his character. 'And also you have found grace in My eyes' means that he was accepted because he had the ability to head that nation. 'And now if, I beg You, I have found grace in Your eyes' means if he were accepted because of that. 'Make Your way known to me, I beg You, and I shall know You' means instruction regarding the Divine, what He will be like as He resides with them. 'Because I have found grace in Your eyes' means because he has been accepted to be in authority over the people. 'And consider that this nation is Your people' means that they alone in the world are the ones with whom the Divine, the ruler over all things, resides. 'And He said, My face will go [with you], and I will cause you to rest' means that the Divine element composing the Church, worship, and the Word will be present, even though what is external with the actual nation will be devoid of that element. 'And he said to Him, If Your face is not going [before me], do not cause us to go up from here' means that if the Divine is not present there, nothing constituting the Church will be there. 'And how will it ever be made known that I have found grace in Your eyes, I and Your people? Will it not be in Your going with us?' means acceptance in preference to others if the Divine shows Himself among them. 'And I and Your people will be made more distinguished than all the people who are on the face of the ground' means the consequent pre-eminence over all throughout the whole world [where the Church exists]. 'And Jehovah said to Moses, I will also do this thing that you have spoken' means that the Divine will be present within that external aspect of the Church, worship, and the Word which exists with them. 'Since you have found grace in My eyes and I know you by name' means that he has been accepted on account of his character.

Bilješke:

9320. 'For you shall utterly destroy them' means that evils must be completely removed. This is clear from the meaning of 'destroying' - when it has reference to evils and falsities, meant by the nations of the land of Canaan and their gods - as removing. The reason why 'destroying' means removing is that those governed by goodness and truth never destroy those ruled by evil and falsity, but merely move them away. This they do because good, not evil, governs their actions, and good comes from the Lord, who never destroys anyone. Those ruled by evil however and consequently by falsity try to destroy, and so far as they can they do destroy those governed by good. This they do because evil rules their actions. But since, when they try to do so, they make their attack on good which comes from the Lord, thus on what is of God, they destroy themselves, that is, they hurl themselves into damnation and into hell. Such is the law of order. And why it is such, see 4299, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7926, 7989, 8137, 8146, 8265, 8945, 8946.

[2] The reason why the Israelites and Jews were to destroy the nations of the land of Canaan was that they themselves represented spiritual and heavenly realities, while the nations represented hellish and devilish things, which can never exist together with those realities since they are opposites. The reason why they were allowed to destroy the nations was that no Church existed among them, only a representative of the Church, so that the Lord was not present among them either except through things of a representative nature, 4307. For they were interested in outward forms but not their inner substances, that is, in the worship that represented goodness and truth but not goodness and truth themselves. People like this are allowed to destroy, kill, and consign to slaughter and complete destruction. But people who are interested in outward forms and at the same time in their inner substance are not allowed to do those things, since their actions must be governed by good, and good comes from the Lord.

[3] The fact that the Jews and Israelites were such is declared explicitly by Moses,

Do not say in your heart, when Jehovah your God has thrust out the nations before you, Because of my righteousness Jehovah has brought me in to possess this land. It is not because of your righteousness and because of the uprightness of your heart; for you are a stiff-necked people. Deuteronomy 9:4-6.

And elsewhere,

They are a nation from whom counsel has perished, nor is there intelligence in them. From the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of poison, they have clusters of bitterness. The poison of snakes (draco) is their wine, and the cruel poison of asps. Is not this hidden away with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? Deuteronomy 32:28, 32-34.

'The vine' in the internal sense means the Church, 1069, 5113, 6375, 6376, 9277; 'grapes' and 'clusters' mean the internal forms and the external forms of that Church's good, 1071, 5117, 6378; and 'wine' means that Church's internal truth, 1071, 1798, 6377. From this one may see what is meant by the assertions that their vine comes from the vine of Sodom and from the fields of Gomorrah, that their grapes are grapes of poison and clusters of bitterness, and that their wine is the poison of snakes and the cruel poison of asps. The fact that all this was known to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, is meant by the remarks about its being hidden away with Him and sealed up in His treasuries.

[4] In John,

Jesus said to the Jews, You are from your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has not stood in the truth. John 8:44.

This is why they are called a wicked and adulterous generation, Matthew 12:39, as well as a brood of vipers, Matthew 3:7; 12:34; 23:33; Luke 3:7. That they were like this is also described by the Lord in His parables in Matthew 21:33-45; Mark 12:1-9; Luke 14:16-24; 20:9ff.

Regarding that nation, that it was the worst nation; that in their worship they were interested in outward forms but not their inner substance; that no Church existed among them, only a representative of the Church; but that nevertheless they were able to represent the internal realities of the Church, see 3398, 3479, 3480, 3732 (end), 3881 (end), 4208, 4281, 4288-4290, 4293, 4307, 4314, 4316, 4317, 4429, 4433, 4444, 4500, 4503, 4680, 4815, 4818, 4820, 4825, 4832, 4837, 4844, 4847, 4865, 4868, 4874, 4899, 4903, 4911-4913, 5057, 5998, 6304, 6832, 6877, 7048, 7051, 7248, 7401, 7439, 8301, 8588, 8788, 8806, 8814, 8819, 8871, 8882, 9284.