6752. And she called his name Moses. That this signifies the quality of state then, is evident from the signification of a “name,” and “calling a name as being the quality (n. 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, 3421, 6674); here the quality of the state, because when anyone is named, the name itself then signifies the state (see n. 1946, 2643, 3422, 4298). The quality of state which is signified, is that of the law Divine in the beginning with the Lord, and that of truth Divine in the beginning with the man who is being regenerated. Two men especially represent the Lord as to the Word, namely, Moses and Elias; Moses as to the historic books, Elias as to the prophetic. There are besides, Elisha, and lastly John the Baptist, wherefore this is he who is meant by “Elias who was to come” (Matthew 17:10-13; Luke 1:17). But before it can be shown that Moses represents the law Divine, what this is must be told. The law Divine in a wide sense signifies the whole Word; in a sense less extended the historic Word; in a close sense, what was written through Moses; and in the closest sense, the ten commandments written on the tables of stone upon Mount Sinai. Moses represents the law in the less wide sense, also in the close, and likewise in the closest sense.

[2] That “the law,” in a wide sense, is the whole Word, both historic and prophetic, is evident in John:

We have heard out of the law that the Christ [Messiah] abideth forever (John 12:34).

That by “the law” here is meant also the prophetic Word, is plain, for this is written in Isaiah 9:6-7; Psalms 110:4; and in Daniel 7:13-14. Again in John:

That the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated Me without a cause (John 15:25); where the sense is the same, for this is written in Psalms 35:19.

In Matthew:

Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall not pass away from the law, till all things be done (Matthew 5:18); where “law” in the wide sense denotes the whole Word.

[3] That “the law” in a sense less wide is the historic Word, is evident in these passages:

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the law and the prophets (Matthew 7:12);

here the Word is distinguished into the law and the prophets, and because the Word is distinguished into the historic and prophetic, it follows that by “the law” is meant the historic Word, and by “the prophets” the prophetic Word.

On these two commandments hang the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:40).

The law and the prophets were until John: from that time the kingdom of God is evangelized (Luke 16:16; Matthew 11:13).

[4] That “the law” in a close sense is the Word that was written through Moses, is evident in these passages:

When Moses had made an end of writing the words of this law upon a book, even until he had completed them, Moses commanded the Levites who bare the ark of Jehovah, saying, Take the book of this law, and put it by the side of the ark of the covenant of Jehovah your God (Deuteronomy 31:24-26);

“the book of the law” denotes the books of Moses.

If thou wilt not watch to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, every disease and every plague which are not written in the book of this law, Jehovah will send secretly upon thee, even until thou be destroyed (Deuteronomy 28:58, 61); where the meaning is the same.

His good pleasure is in the law of Jehovah, and in His law doth he meditate day and night (Psalms 1:2);

“the law of Jehovah” denotes the books of Moses, for the prophetic books were not yet written, nor the historic except those of Joshua and of Judges. Besides passages in which the “law of Moses” is mentioned, to be seen below.

[5] That “the law” in the closest sense is the ten commandments written on tables of stone upon Mount Sinai, is known (see Josh. 8:32); but this law is also called “the testimony” (Exodus 25:16, 21).

[6] That Moses represents the law in a less wide sense, or the historic Word, and also the law in a close sense, and likewise in the closest sense, is evident from those passages where instead of “the law” mention is made of “Moses;” and where the law is called “the law of Moses,” as in Luke:

Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead (Luke 16:29, 31);

here by “Moses and the prophets” the like is signified as by “the law and the prophets,” namely, the historic and the prophetic Word; from which it is evident that “Moses” denotes the law, or the historic Word. Again:

Jesus beginning from Moses and from all the prophets, interpreted in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself (Luke 24:27).

All things must be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning Me (Luke 24:44).

Philip said, We have found Jesus of whom Moses in the law did write (John 1:45).

Moses in the law commanded us (John 8:5).

There hath flowed down over us the curse and the oath, which was written in the law of Moses the servant of God; for we have sinned against Him. As it is written in the law of Moses, all evil is come upon us (Daniel 9:11, 13).

Joshua wrote upon the stone of the altar a copy of the law of Moses (Josh. 8:32).

[7] It is said “the law of Moses” because by Moses is represented the Lord as to the law, that is, as to the Word; and in a sense less wide, as to the historic Word. Hence it is that to Moses is attributed what is of the Lord, as in John:

Moses gave you the law; Moses gave you circumcision; if a man receive circumcision on the sabbath, that the law of Moses may not be broken (John 7:19, 22-23).

Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother (Mark 7:10).

Jesus answering said to them, What did Moses command you? They said, Moses permitted to write a bill of divorcement and to put her away (Mark 10:3-4).

And because on account of the representation there is attributed to Moses what is of the Lord, it is said both “the law of Moses,” and “the law of the Lord,” in Luke:

When the days of her purification were fulfilled, according to the law of Moses, they brought Him into Jerusalem, to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord), and to offer a sacrifice, according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtle doves, and two young pigeons (Luke 2:22-24, 39).

[8] As Moses represented the law, he was allowed to enter in unto the Lord on Mount Sinai, and not only to receive the tables of the law there, but also to hear the statutes and judgments of the law, and to deliver them to the people; and it is also said that “from this, they should believe in Moses forever.”

Jehovah said unto Moses, Lo I come unto thee in the thickness of the cloud, that the people may hear when I shall speak with thee, and may also believe in thee forever (Exodus 19:9);

it is said “in the thickness of the cloud” because by a “cloud” is meant the Word in the letter, and from this when Moses entered in unto the Lord on Mount Sinai, it is said that he “entered into the cloud” (Exodus 20:18; 24:2, 18; 34:25). (That a “cloud” denotes the literal sense of the Word, see the preface to Gen. 18; also n. 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343)

[9] And as Moses represented the law or the Word, therefore also when he came down from Mount Sinai,

The skin of his face shone when he spoke; and he put a veil upon his faces (Exodus 34:28 seq.).

The “shining of the faces” signified the internal of the law, for this is in the light of heaven, and is therefore called “glory” (n. 5922); and the “veil” signified the external of the law. That he veiled his face when he spoke with the people was because with them the internal was covered; and was so obscured to that people that they could not endure any of the light from it. (That the “face” denotes the internal, see n. 1999, 2434, 3527, 3573, 4066, 4796-4805, 5102, 5695.) As by Moses was represented the Lord as to the historic Word, and by Elias the Lord as to the prophetic Word, therefore when the Lord was transfigured, Moses and Elias were seen talking with Him (Matthew 17:3); nor could any others talk with the Lord when His Divine appeared in the world than they who represented the Word, for talking with the Lord is done through the Word. (That Elias represented the Lord as to the Word, see n. 2762, 5247.)

[10] And as both Moses and Elias together represented the whole Word, therefore where it is said of Elias that he should be “sent before the Lord,” mention is made of both:

Remember ye the law of Moses My servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, even statutes and judgments. Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come (Malachi 4:4-5).

These words involve that one would go before to announce the advent according to the Word.

6674. Of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah. That this signifies the quality and state of the natural where memory-knowledges are, is evident from the signification of “name,” as being quality (see n. 144, 145, 1896, 2009), and also state (n. 1946, 2643, 3422, 4298); for all names in the Word signify things, and comprise in sum total all things that belong to the subject that is being treated of, thus its quality and state; here therefore the names “Shiphrah and Puah” signify the quality and state of the natural where true memory-knowledges are, because this is the subject treated of, as is plain from what precedes (n. 6673).

[2] He who does not know that a name denotes the quality and state of the subject being treated of, can believe that where a name is mentioned, the name merely is meant; thus when the Lord speaks of His “name,” that it is merely the name, when yet it is the quality of the worship, that is, everything of faith and charity by which He is to be worshiped, as in these passages:

Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them (Matthew 18:20);

here the “name” is not meant, but worship from faith and charity.

As many as received, to them gave He power to be the sons of God, to them that believe in His name (John 1:12);

here also by “name” is meant faith and charity, whereby the Lord is worshiped.

These things have been written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye may have life in His name (John 20:31); where the sense is the same.

[3] Again:

If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it (John 14:13-14);

Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name, He will give it you (John 15:16; 16:23-24).

Here it is not meant that they should ask the Father in the Lord’s name, but that they should ask the Lord Himself; for there is no way open to the Divine Good which is the “Father” (see n. 3704), except through the Lord’s Divine Human, as is also known in the churches; and therefore to ask the Lord Himself is to ask according to the truths of faith, and whatever is asked in accordance with these truths is granted, as the Lord Himself says in the previous passage from John:

If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it (John 14:14).

This can be seen further from the fact that the Lord is the “name” of Jehovah, of which thus in Moses:

I send an angel before thee, to keep thee in the way; beware of His faces, and hear His voice, and do not provoke Him, because My name is in the midst of Him (Exodus 23:20-21).

[4] In John:

Father, glorify Thy name: there came forth a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and I will glorify it again (John 12:28).

I have manifested Thy name to the men whom thou hast given Me out of the world. I have made known unto them Thy name, and I will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them (John 17:6, 26).

From these passages it is plain that the Lord as to the Divine Human is the “name” of Jehovah, or His whole quality; hence all Divine worship is from the Divine Human, and it is this which is to be worshiped; for thus is worshiped the Divine Itself, to which no thought reaches in any other way, and if no thought, no conjunction.

[5] That the “name” of the Lord is everything of faith and love by which the Lord is to be worshiped is still more plain from the following passages, in Matthew:

Ye shall be hated of all for My name’s sake (Matthew 10:22).

Whoso shall receive one such little child in My name receiveth me (Matthew 18:5).

Everyone that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or fields, for My name’s sake; shall receive a hundredfold (Matthew 19:29).

They cried, Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord (Matthew 21:9).

Verily I say to you, For ye shall not see Me until the time shall come when ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord (Luke 13:35).

Whosoever shall give you to drink a cup of water in My name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward (Mark 9:41).

The seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons obey us in Thy name. Jesus said to them, In this rejoice not, that the spirits obey you, but rather rejoice that your names have been written in heaven (Luke 10:17, 20);

“names written in heaven” are not names, but the quality of their faith and charity.

[6] So it is with “names written in the book of life” in the Apocalypse:

Thou hast a few names even in Sardis which have not defiled their garments. He that overcometh shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before the Father and before His angels (Revelation 3:4-5).

He that entereth in by the door is the Shepherd of the sheep. He calleth His own sheep by name (John 10:2-3).

Jehovah said unto Moses, I know thee by name (Exodus 33:12, 17).

Many believed in His name, when they saw His signs which He did (John 2:23).

He that believeth in Him is not judged, but he that believeth not is judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the Only-begotten Son of God (John 3:18).

They shall fear the name of Jehovah from the west (Isaiah 59:19).

All people walk everyone in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God (Micah 4:5).

[7] In Moses:

They were to worship Jehovah God in the place which He should choose, and should put His name (Deuteronomy 21:5, 11, 14).

Also in Isaiah 18:7; Jeremiah 7:12; and in many other passages; as Isaiah 26:8, 13; 41:25; 43:7; 49:1; 50:10; 5 2:5; 62:2; Jeremiah 23:27; 26:16; Ezekiel 20:14, 44; 36:21-23; Micah 5:4; Malachi 1:11; Deuteronomy 10:8; Revelation 2:17; 3:12 13:8 14:11; 15:2; 17:8; 19:12-13, 16; 22:3-4.

[8] That the “name of Jehovah” denotes everything by which He is worshiped, thus in the supreme sense everything that proceeds from the Lord, is evident from the benediction:

Jehovah bless thee and keep thee, Jehovah make His faces to shine upon thee, and have mercy on thee; Jehovah lift up His faces upon thee, and give thee peace. So shall they put My name upon the sons of Israel (Numbers 6:23-27).

From all this it is now clear what is meant by this commandment of the Decalogue:

Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him innocent that taketh His name in vain (Exodus 20:7);

also by Hallowed be Thy name, in the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9).