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2 Mose 24

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1 Und er sprach zu Mose: Steige zu Jehova herauf, du und Aaron, Nadab und Abihu und siebzig von den Ältesten Israels, und betet an von ferne.

2 Und Mose allein nahe sich zu Jehova; sie aber sollen sich nicht nahen, und das Volk soll nicht mit ihm heraufsteigen.

3 Und Mose kam und erzählte dem Volke alle Worte Jehovas und alle Rechte; und das ganze Volk antwortete mit einer Stimme und sprach: Alle Worte, die Jehova geredet hat, wollen wir tun.

4 Und Mose schrieb alle Worte Jehovas nieder. Und er machte sich des Morgens früh auf und baute einen Altar unten am Berge und zwölf Denksteine nach den zwölf Stämmen Israels.

5 Und er sandte Jünglinge der Kinder Israel hin, und sie opferten Brandopfer und schlachteten Friedensopfer von Farren dem Jehova.

6 Und Mose nahm die Hälfte des Blutes und tat es in Schalen, und die Hälfte des Blutes sprengte er an den Altar.

7 Und er nahm das Buch des Bundes und las es vor den Ohren des Volkes; und sie sprachen: Alles, was Jehova geredet hat, wollen wir tun und gehorchen.

8 Und Mose nahm das Blut und sprengte es auf das Volk und sprach: Siehe, das Blut des Bundes, den Jehova mit euch gemacht hat über alle diese Worte.

9 Und es stiegen hinauf Mose und Aaron, Nadab und Abihu, und siebzig von den Ältesten Israels;

10 und sie sahen den Gott Israels; und unter seinen Füßen war es wie ein Werk von Saphirplatten und wie der Himmel selbst an Klarheit.

11 Und er streckte seine Hand nicht aus gegen die Edlen der Kinder Israel; und sie schauten Gott und aßen und tranken.

12 Und Jehova sprach zu Mose: Steige zu mir herauf auf den Berg und sei daselbst; und ich werde dir die steinernen Tafeln geben und das Gesetz und das Gebot, das ich geschrieben habe, um sie zu belehren.

13 Und Mose machte sich auf mit Josua, seinem Diener, und Mose stieg auf den Berg Gottes.

14 Und er sprach zu den Ältesten: Wartet hier auf uns, bis wir zu euch zurückkehren; und siehe, Aaron und Hur sind bei euch: wer irgend eine Sache hat, trete vor sie.

15 Und Mose stieg auf den Berg, und die Wolke bedeckte den Berg.

16 Und die Herrlichkeit Jehovas ruhte auf dem Berge Sinai, und die Wolke bedeckte ihn sechs Tage; und am siebten Tage rief er Mose aus der Mitte der Wolke.

17 Und das Ansehen der Herrlichkeit Jehovas war wie ein verzehrendes Feuer auf dem Gipfel des Berges vor den Augen der Kinder Israel.

18 Und Mose ging mitten in die Wolke hinein und stieg auf den Berg; und Mose war auf dem Berge vierzig Tage und vierzig Nächte.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9375

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9375. 'Nadab and Abihu' means teachings derived from both senses. This is clear from the fact that they were Aaron's sons; therefore when the Word is meant by 'Aaron', teachings are meant by 'his sons', teachings derived from the inward sense of the Word being meant by the older son, and teachings derived from the outward sense of it by the younger. Teachings derived from the inward sense of the Word and teachings derived from the outward sense of the Word make one with each other; for people alert to what lies on an inward level are aware also of what lies on an outward level. The Lord's Church exists everywhere on an inward level and on an outward level. The Church on an inward level resides in the heart, the Church on an outward level resides on the lips; that is, the inward Church resides in the will, the outward in action. When the inward level in a person makes one with the outward what resides in the heart then lies also on the lips, or what resides in the will then lies in action. Or what amounts to the same thing, what lies on the lips is then the heart speaking, and what lies in action is then the will acting, without any disagreement between the inward and the outward. Thus it is also faith speaking and love or charity acting, that is, it is the Lord, who is the Source of faith and charity, speaking and acting.

[2] Since Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons, represented teachings derived from the Word, they were therefore killed when they introduced worship based on teachings different from those derived from the Word. This was represented by the following incident involving them, recorded in Moses,

Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his censer and put fire in it, onto which they placed incense, and in so doing offered to Jehovah foreign 1 fire, which He had not commanded them. Therefore fire went out from before Jehovah and devoured them, so that they died before Jehovah. And Moses said to Aaron, This is what Jehovah spoke, saying, In those who are near Me 2 I will be sanctified. Leviticus 10:1-3.

'Foreign fire in the censer' means teachings derived from a source other than the Word. For 'fire' means the good of love and 'incense' the truth of faith rising from it, and the good of love and the truth of faith are the realities which go to make teachings derived from the Word. From this it is evident why they were devoured by fire 'from before Jehovah'. 'Being sanctified through those who are near' means with those who are joined to the Lord through the good of love and the truth of faith derived from the Word. For the meaning of 'fire' as the good of heavenly love, see 934, 4906, 5071 (end), 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 7852, 9055; and the meaning of 'incense' as faith rising from the good of love will be shown elsewhere.

Footnotes:

1. i.e. unauthorized or profane

2. literally, In My near ones

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9055

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9055. 'Burning for burning' means if anything of love and affection present in the inward part of the will [is injured]. This is clear from the meaning of 'burning' as injuring or wiping out the good of love. The reason for saying 'in the will' is that the good of love belongs to the will, whereas the truth of faith belongs to the understanding, 9050, 9051. And the reason for saying 'the inward part' of the will is that 'wound', dealt with below, means an injuring or the wiping out of an aspect of love present in the outward part of the will. Here, as in the previous paragraphs, injuries done both in the internal man and in the external man are dealt with. For injuring the inner part of the understanding is meant by 'eye' and injuring the outer part by 'tooth', and injuring the power of truth in the internal man is meant by 'hand' and injuring the power in the external man by 'foot', as has been shown; thus injuring the will in the internal man is meant by 'burning' and injuring the will in the external man by 'wound'.

[2] A person has inward and outward parts of his will, just as he has inward and outward parts of his understanding, which are dealt with in 9050, 9051. The inward part of his will resides where the inward part of his understanding resides, and the outward part of his will resides where the outward part of his understanding resides. They must be joined together; for where truth resides, so does good, and where good resides, so does truth. Truth without good is not truth, and good without truth is not good. For good is the essential being (esse) of truth, and truth is the manifestation (existere) of good; and the situation with a person's understanding and his will is the same, in that the understanding is dedicated to receiving truth and the will to receiving good. From this it is evident that when a person is being regenerated the Lord gives him a new understanding through the truths of faith, and a new will through the good of charity, and that both must be present and also joined together if the person is to be regenerate.

[3] The reason why 'burning' means injuring the good of love is that love is meant by 'fire', 934, 2446, 4906, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324 (end), 7575, 7852; and what injures the good of love is evil desire blazing up from self-love. For this desire is called 'burning', 1297, 5215. Evil desire is also meant by 'branding' in Isaiah,

Instead of fragrance there will be rottenness, and instead of a girdle, a falling apart, and instead of well-set hair, baldness, and instead of a robe, a girding of sackcloth, branding instead of beauty. Isaiah 3:24.

This refers to 'the daughter of Zion', by which the celestial Church, that is, the Church governed by love to the Lord, is meant, 2362, 6729. 'Branding' here is evil desire stemming from self-love.

[4] Anyone who does not know that there is an internal sense in the Word thinks that the proud adornments worn by the daughters of Zion as described in verses 16-24 of that chapter mean such adornments, and that because of such things among the daughters of Zion the Jewish and Israelite people were to be punished and - as said in verses 25, 26 - to fall by the sword. But the reality is altogether different from this. The spiritual and celestial beauties of the Church are what are meant by those adornments. It becomes clear to anyone who reads the Word that 'the daughter of Zion' is not used in the Word to mean the daughter of Zion, provided that he turns to and considers those places in the Prophets where Zion and the daughter of Zion are mentioned. From these he will see that the daughter of Zion is the Church.

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