The Bible

 

Deuteronomy 33:23

Study

       

23 And to Nephtali he said: Nephtali shall enjoy abundance, and shall be full of the blessings of the Lord: he shall possess the sea and the south.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #6762

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

6762. 'And hid him in the sand' means that he banished it to where falsities were. This is clear from the meaning of 'hiding' as banishing; and from the meaning of 'the sand' as true factual knowledge, or in the contrary sense false factual knowledge. The reason why these are meant by 'the sand' is that 'stone', from which the sand is formed, has both those meanings, 1298, 7720, 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789, 3798, 6426. Truth is meant by 'the sand' in Moses, Zebulun and Issachar will call peoples to the mountain; there they will offer sacrifices of righteousness, because they will suck the plentifulness of the sea, and the hidden treasures of the secrets of the sand. Deuteronomy 33:18-19.

'Calling peoples to the mountain' stands for acting so that truths may become forms of good, or faith become charity; for 'peoples' are the truths of faith, and 'the mountain' is the good of charity. 'Offering sacrifices of righteousness' stands for worship that springs from charity, 'sucking the plentifulness of the sea' for abounding in true factual knowledge, and 'the hidden treasures of the secrets of the sand' for the arcana concealed within true factual knowledge. Now since 'the sand' means true factual knowledge, it also means in the contrary sense false factual knowledge; for the majority of things in the Word also have a contrary meaning, and what that contrary meaning is like may be recognized from the genuine one. With regard to the explanation here, a banishment among falsities - which are meant by 'he hid him in the sand' - the situation is this: When hellish spirits who are steeped in falsities have been in the world of spirits, trying to destroy the truths present with those undergoing temptation, they are after that relegated to hells from which they cannot ever again come out. Very many experiences have allowed me to know of this. An operation such as this is what is meant by a relegation to a place among falsities.

  
/ 10837  
  

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

The Bible

 

Exodus 2

Study

   

1 A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.

2 The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

3 When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank.

4 His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him.

5 Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her handmaid to get it.

6 She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."

7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?"

8 Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." The maiden went and called the child's mother.

9 Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." The woman took the child, and nursed it.

10 The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water."

11 It happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

12 He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

13 He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, "Why do you strike your fellow?"

14 He said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?" Moses was afraid, and said, "Surely this thing is known."

15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

17 The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

18 When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, "How is it that you have returned so early today?"

19 They said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock."

20 He said to his daughters, "Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread."

21 Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.

22 She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, "I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land."

23 It happened in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

24 God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

25 God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them.