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.

Footnotes:

8226. 'And the sea returned, as morning was breaking, to its normal strength' means that the falsities arising from evil flowed back onto them, at the presence of the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'returning' - when said of the falsities arising from evil, which are meant by 'the waters of the Sea Suph' - as flowing back or recoiling on them, dealt with just above in 8223; from the meaning of 'the sea', at this point the waters of the sea, as the falsities arising from evil that exist in hell, dealt with in 6346, 7307, 8137; from the meaning of 'as morning was breaking' as the Lord's presence, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'to its normal strength' as in accordance with the normal state and order existing in hell. For order exists in the hells no less than in the heavens; in the hells spirits live in association with one another according to different types of evil, just as angels do so according to different forms of good. But in the hells an association is like that of a band of robbers. The meaning of 'as morning was breaking' as the presence of the Lord may be seen from what has been shown above in 8211 regarding 'morning', which is that 'morning' is a state of thick darkness and perdition for the evil and a state of enlightenment and salvation for the good, states brought about simply by the presence of the Lord, 7989, 8137, 8138, 8188 - by the presence of His Divine Human, 8159.

[2] Exodus 2 Something similar to what is stated here in reference to the Egyptians is said of Babel in Jeremiah,

He is the One who formed all things, especially the rod of His inheritance; Jehovah Zebaoth is His name. You are to me a hammer, weapons of war, and through You I will scatter the nations, and through You I will destroy the kingdoms, and through You I will scatter the horse and its chariot, and through you I will scatter the chariot and him who rides in it. I will repay Babel and all the inhabitants of Chaldea for all their evil which they have done in Zion before your eyes. Jeremiah 51:19-21, 24.

'Babel' here means those who belonged to the Church and rendered good profane, and 'Chaldea' those who belonged to the Church and rendered truth so. Their understanding of things, and consequently their doctrinal teachings and reasonings, are meant in these verses also by 'horse, chariot, and him who rides in it', and being laid waste by their being 'scattered'. The Lord in respect of His Divine Human, at whose presence they are scattered, is meant by the words 'He is the One who formed all things, especially the rod of His inheritance; Jehovah Zebaoth is His name. You are to me a hammer, weapons of war; through You I will scatter the nations, and through You I will destroy the kingdoms', 'the nations' meaning evils and 'the kingdoms' falsities. From all this too it is evident that the evils which they do to others flow back or recoil on themselves; for it says that they will be repaid their evil, and also in various other places that on the day of visitation vengeance will be taken and retribution exacted.