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Exodus 3:1-14 : The Burning Bush

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1 Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God's mountain, to Horeb.

2 The angel of Yahweh appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

3 Moses said, "I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt."

4 When Yahweh saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, "Moses! Moses!" He said, "Here I am."

5 He said, "Don't come close. Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place you are standing on is holy ground."

6 Moreover he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.

7 Yahweh said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

8 I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

9 Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

10 Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."

11 Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

12 He said, "Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."

13 Moses said to God, "Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you;' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' What should I tell them?"

14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM," and he said, "You shall tell the children of Israel this: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

Commentary

 

Holiness of the Holy Supper

By Todd Beiswenger


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What is holy? Why makes the Holy Supper holy?

(References: Arcana Coelestia 639 [2], 3316 [2], 8925, 9229; Divine Wisdom 12; Exodus 3:3-5; Heaven and Hell 108)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Worlds in Space #40

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40. There were some spirits who had been told from heaven that the spirits of the world of Mercury had once been promised that they would see the Lord. So they were asked by the spirits around me whether they remembered that promise; they said that they did, but they did not know if the promise had been made in such terms that there was no doubt attached to it. While they were discussing this among themselves, the sun of heaven appeared to them. (The only ones who see the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, are those in the innermost or third heaven; the rest only see the light from it.) On seeing the sun they said that this was not the Lord God, because they had not seen His face. Meanwhile the spirits went on talking among themselves, but I did not hear what they said. Then the sun suddenly appeared again, with the Lord in its midst surrounded by a solar halo. On seeing this the spirits of Mercury made a profound obeisance and sank down. Then the Lord also appeared out of that sun to the spirits of this world also who, when people on earth, had seen Him in the world. Each of these, one after the other in a long series, asserted that it was the Lord Himself; this they did in the presence of all assembled. Then the Lord also appeared out of the sun to the spirits of the planet Jupiter; they asserted in plain terms, that it was He whom they had seen in their own world, when the God of the universe appeared to them. 1

Footnotes:

1. [Swedenborg’s Footnote] The Lord is the sun of heaven, the source of all light there (Arcana Caelestia 1053, 3636, 4060). The Lord appears thus to those who are in His celestial kingdom, where love to Him is dominant (1521, 1529-1531, 1837, 4696). He is to be seen at middle height above the level of the right eye (Arcana Caelestia 4321, 7078). The sun in the Word therefore means the Lord as regards the Divine love (Arcana Caelestia 2495, 4060, 7083). The sun of the world is not visible to spirits and angels, but its place is taken by a dark mass behind the back, opposite the sun of heaven, that is, opposite the Lord (Arcana Caelestia 9755).

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

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