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Exodus 20

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1 And God spake all these words, saying,

2 I am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

4 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness [of any thing] that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them, for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me,

6 and showing lovingkindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

7 Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

9 Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work;

10 but the seventh day is a sabbath unto Jehovah thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:

11 for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore Jehovah blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.

12 Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.

13 Thou shalt not kill.

14 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

15 Thou shalt not steal.

16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his man-servant, nor his maid-servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's.

18 And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off.

19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God Speak with us, lest we die.

20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before you, that ye sin not.

21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

22 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.

23 Ye shall not make [other gods] with me; gods of silver, or gods of gold, ye shall not make unto you.

24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt-offerings, and thy peace-offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in every place where I record my name I will come unto thee and I will bless thee.

25 And if thou make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones; for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.

26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not uncovered thereon.

   

Das Obras de Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia # 8223

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8223. 'And let the waters return onto the Egyptians' means that the falsities arising from evil would flow back onto and surround those steeped in falsities arising from evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'the waters' as falsities, dealt with in 6346, 7307, 8137, 8138, so that 'let the waters return' means falsity flowing back or recoiling on them, at this point surrounding them too, since they were surrounded by the waters of the Sea Suph, which are the falsities arising from evil of those belonging to the Church who have championed faith separated from charity and led a life of evil; and from the meaning of 'the Egyptians' as those steeped in falsities arising from evil, dealt with very often. For what this implies when it is said that the falsities would flow back or recoil on those whose aim was to pour them out onto those governed by truth and good, who are represented by 'the children of Israel', see above in 8214. There it is shown that the evil which they aim in the direction of others recoils on themselves, and that this has its origin in the following law of God's order, You are not to do to another anything except that which you wish others to do to you. Matthew 7:12. This law, which is unchanging and everlasting in the spiritual world, is the source of the laws of retaliation that were laid down in the representative Church, that is to say, the following laws in Moses,

If harm should come about you shall give soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, blow for blow. Exodus 21:23-24,

In the same author,

If a man disfigures his neighbour, it shall be done to him as he has done - fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth. As he has disfigured the person, so it shall be done to him. Leviticus 24:19-20.

In the same author,

If a lying witness replies with a lie against his brother, you shall do to him as he has thought to do to his brother. Deuteronomy 19:18-19.

From these quotations it is plainly evident that these laws have their origin in the universal law that is unchanging and perpetual in the spiritual world, that is to say, the law that you are not to do to others anything except that which you wish others to do to you. This shows clearly how to understand the idea that the falsities arising from evil which people aim to inflict on others flow back or recoil on themselves.

[2] But the situation with that law in the next life is in addition such that when some like or retaliatory action carried out is evil it is inflicted by the evil, and never by the good; that is, it comes from hell and never from heaven. For hell or the evil there have an unending desire to do evil to others; that is altogether the delight of their life. They perform evil therefore the moment they are allowed to; and they do not care whom they do it to. They do not care whether the person is bad or good, companion or foe. And since it accords with a law of order that the evil which people aim in the direction of others recoils on themselves, they rush in to do it when this law allows it. The evil in hell behave in this way, the good in heaven never do. The latter desire constantly to do good to others, for that is the delight of their life, and therefore the moment the opportunity exists they do good both to enemies and to friends. Nor indeed do they resist evil, for the laws of order defend and protect what is good and true. This is why the Lord says,

You have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, Evil is not to be resisted. You have heard that it was said, You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. Matthew 5:38-39, 43-45.

[3] It is a frequent occurrence in the next life for the evil to be severely punished when they wish to inflict evil on the good, and for the evil which they aim at others to recoil on themselves. Such an occurrence has the appearance of being an act of revenge on the part of the good. But it is not an act of revenge; nor are the good responsible for what happens but evil people who are allowed the opportunity by the law of order so to act. Indeed the good do not wish them any harm, but they cannot take away from them the misery of punishment because they are held intent on good, exactly like a judge when he sees a wrong-doer being punished or like a father when he sees his son being punished by his teacher. The evil who carry out punishment act from an inordinate desire to do ill, whereas the good act from a fondness for doing good. From all this one may see what should be understood by the Lord's words in Matthew, quoted above, about loving one's enemy, and about the law of retaliation, which the Lord did not set aside but opened out; that is to say, He explained that those governed by heavenly love should take no delight in any act of retaliation or revenge but in doing good. His words should also be taken to mean that the actual law of order which protects good achieves this of itself by means of those who are evil.

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

Das Obras de Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia # 8214

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8214. 'And troubled the camp of the Egyptians' means that as a result all their reaching out with falsity arising from evil recoiled on them. This is clear from the meaning of 'troubling the camp of the Egyptians' as the recoiling on them of the falsities arising from evil which they attempted to inflict on those governed by truth and goodness. The reason why such things are meant by these words is that the Lord's presence among the evil produces that effect. For the evil who wish to do violence to the good by introducing falsity and evil on them expose themselves to retaliatory punishment, which involves the recoiling on themselves of the falsities and evils which they aim to inflict on others. This punishment, called retaliatory punishment, has its origin in the following law of order existing in heaven,

All things whatever you wish people to do to you, do also to them; this is the Law and the Prophets. Matthew 7:12.

Therefore those who are moved by good, or from the heart, to do good receive good from others; and also conversely, those who are moved by evil, or from the heart, to do evil receive evil from others. So it is that all good has its reward attached to it, and all evil its punishment, 696, 967, 1857, 6559. From all this it is now evident that 'Jehovah troubled the camp of the Egyptians' means that all their reaching out with falsity arising from evil recoiled on them, and that this was the reason for their being troubled. The Lord's presence is what gives rise to this among the evil, see 7989.

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