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.

അടിക്കുറിപ്പുകൾ:

5895. 'In which there will be no ploughing and harvest' means that in the meanwhile no good will be seen nor any truth derived from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'ploughing' as the preparation made by good for the reception of truths, dealt with in what follows below; and from the meaning of 'harvest' as truths derived from good, for a harvest is grain that has ripened by the time it is gathered in, so that 'harvest' means truth derived from good. Before this truth is produced truths are indeed to be seen, but they are truths that lead to good, not truths derived from good. When truth guides a person in his actions his truths are truths leading to good; but when good guides him in them his truths are truths derived from good. The reason why 'ploughing' is said to mean good is that 'the field' which is ploughed means the Church as regards good, 2971, and so the good which constitutes the Church, 3310, 3317, 4982. Consequently 'ploughing' is the preparation made by good for the reception of truths; and 'the oxen' too that were used in ploughing means forms of good within the natural, 2180, 2566, 2781.

[2] Because 'ploughing' had this meaning people in the representative Church were forbidden 'to plough with an ox and an ass together', Deuteronomy 22:10. They would never have been forbidden to do this if there had not been some cause of a more internal nature, thus a cause existing in the spiritual world. Without it what would have been wrong with the two ploughing together? And what value would such a law have in the Word? That cause of a more internal nature, a cause existing in the spiritual world, is that 'ploughing with an ox' means good within the natural, and 'ploughing with an ass' means the truth there, 'an ass' being truth contained in factual knowledge, thus truth within the natural, see 5492, 5741. The more internal or spiritual cause behind the existence of this prohibition was that the angels could not have a separate idea of good and truth. The two must be joined together and make one. For this reason the angels were unwilling to see any kind of ploughing done by an ox and an ass. Celestial angels refuse even to think about truth separate from good, for all truth with them exists within good, so that also for them truth is good. It was for the same reason that people were also forbidden to wear a garment made from a mixture of wool and linen, Deuteronomy 22:11; for 'wool' meant good, and 'linen' truth.

[3] The fact that 'ploughing', also 'harrowing', 'sowing', and 'reaping', mean the kinds of activities that are connected with good and the truth that goes with it is clear in Hosea,

I will make Ephraim ride, Judah will plough, Jacob will harrow for him. Sow for yourselves in keeping with righteousness, reap in keeping with godliness, break up 'your fallow ground; and it is time to seek Jehovah, until He comes and teaches righteousness. Hosea 10:11-12.

'Riding' is used in reference to Ephraim because 'riding' means having the use of an understanding, 'Ephraim' being the Church's gift of understanding. But 'ploughing' is used in reference to Judah because 'Judah' is the good which exists in the Church.

[4] In Amos,

Will horses run upon the rock? Will one plough with oxen? in that you have turned judgement into poison and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood. Amos 6:11-12.

'Will horses run upon the rock?' stands for Will there be any understanding of the truth of faith? For 'rock' in the spiritual sense is faith, Preface to Genesis 22, while 'horses' means the powers of understanding, 2761, 2762, 3217, 5321. 'Will one plough with oxen?' stands for Will there be any doing of good? For 'oxen' means good in the natural, see 2180, 2566, 2781. The fact that no doing of it was possible is meant by the words that follow - 'because you have turned judgement into poison'.

[5] In Luke,

Jesus said, No one putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God. Luke 9:62.

These words have the same meaning as those spoken by the Lord in Matthew,

Let him who is on the housetop not go down to take anything out of his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to take his clothes. Matthew 24:17-18.

The meaning of these words is that a person governed by good should not depart from it and resort to matters of doctrine concerning faith; see 3652, where those words spoken by the Lord have been explained. Thus 'one who puts his hand to the plough' is a person governed by good; but 'looking back' means someone who then looks to matters of doctrine concerning faith and in so doing forsakes good. This explains why Elijah was displeased with Elisha who, ploughing in the field when he received his call, asked whether he might first kiss his father and mother; for Elijah said,

Go away; go back again; for what have I done to you? 1 Kings 19:19-21.

In the contrary sense 'ploughing' means evil that destroys good, and so means a laying waste, as in Jeremiah,

Zion will be ploughed [like] a field, and Jerusalem will be heaps, and the mountain of the house [will be turned] into the heights of the forest. Jeremiah 26:18; Micah 3:12.