圣经文本

 

Exodus第10章

学习

   

1 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs in the midst of them,

2 and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought upon Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know that I am Jehovah.

3 And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before me? let my people go, that they may serve me.

4 Else, if thou refuse to let my people go, behold, to-morrow will I bring locusts into thy border:

5 and they shall cover the face of the earth, so that one shall not be able to see the earth: and they shall eat the residue of that which is escaped, which remaineth unto you from the hail, and shall eat every tree which groweth for you out of the field:

6 and thy houses shall be filled, and the houses of all thy servants, and the houses of all the Egyptians; as neither thy fathers nor thy fathers' fathers have seen, since the day that they were upon the earth unto this day. And he turned, and went out from Pharaoh.

7 And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve Jehovah their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?

8 And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve Jehovah your God; but who are they that shall Go?

9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old; with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto Jehovah.

10 And he said unto them, So be Jehovah with you, as I will let you go, and your little ones: look to it; for evil is before you.

11 Not so: go now ye that are men, and serve Jehovah; for that is what ye desire. And they were driven out from Pharaoh's presence.

12 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, that they may come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the land, even all that the hail hath left.

13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and Jehovah brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all the night; and when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

14 And the locusts went up over all the land of Egypt, and rested in all the borders of Egypt; very grievous were they; before them there were no such locusts as they, neither after them shall be such.

15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

16 Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, I have sinned against Jehovah your God, and against you.

17 Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat Jehovah your God, that he may take away from me this death only.

18 And he went out from Pharaoh, and entreated Jehovah.

19 And Jehovah turned an exceeding strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea; there remained not one locust in all the border of Egypt.

20 But Jehovah hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.

21 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.

22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days;

23 they saw not one another, neither rose any one from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

24 And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said, Go ye, serve Jehovah; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed: let your little ones also Go with you.

25 And Moses said, Thou must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice unto Jehovah our God.

26 Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind: for thereof must we take to serve Jehovah our God; and we know not with what we must serve Jehovah, until we come thither.

27 But Jehovah hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go.

28 And Pharaoh said unto him, Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in the day thou seest my face thou shalt die.

29 And Moses said, Thou hast spoken well. I will see thy face again no more.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#7711

学习本章节

  
/10837  
  

7711. 'And there will be thick darkness over the land of Egypt' means total deprivation of truth and good. This is clear from the meaning of 'thick darkness' as total deprivation of truth and good. Various places in the Word mention 'darkness' (tenebrae) and also at the same time 'thick darkness' (caligo), and in those places 'darkness' has reference to falsity and 'thick darkness' to evil together with it. But the word that is used in this verse to express thick darkness denotes pitch-black darkness (tenebrae densissimae), which in the internal sense means the kinds of falsities that well up from evil. Such falsities arise with those who have belonged to the Church and led an evil life contrary to the commandments of religious belief which they knew. The evil from which those falsities well up is the opposite of the Church, the opposite of heaven, the opposite of the Lord, and so the direct opposite of goodness and truth. This state is now described by 'thick darkness'.

[2] The fact that 'darkness' and 'thick darkness' are mentioned together in the Word, and that 'darkness' means the deprivation of truth, while 'thick darkness' means the deprivation of both truth and good, may be recognized in the following places: In Isaiah,

Judgement is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us. We wait for light, but, behold, darkness; and for brightness, but we walk in thick darkness. We grope for the wall like the blind, and as if without eyes we grope; we stumble at midday as if it were twilight; among the living we are like the dead. Isaiah 59:9-10.

'Judgement is far from us, and righteousness does not overtake us' stands for the fact that there is no truth, and no good either, 'judgement' being used to refer to truth and 'righteousness' to refer to good, see 2235, 3997. 'Waiting for light' stands for awaiting truth, and 'waiting for brightness' stands for awaiting the good of truth since the brightness of light is derived from good. The fact that the expression 'darkness' is used in those verses as the opposite of 'light' and 'judgement', and so of truth, and 'thick darkness' as the opposite of 'brightness' and 'righteousness', and so of good, is self-evident. So it is that 'darkness' is the deprivation of truth, and 'thick darkness' the deprivation of both truth and good. In Amos,

Is not the day of Jehovah darkness and not light, and thick darkness, [and] no brightness in it? Amos 5:20.

Here the meaning is similar. In Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and gloom. Joel 2:2.

[3] In Zephaniah,

The day of Jehovah a day of vastation and devastation, a day of darkness and thick darkness. Zephaniah 1:15.

'Darkness' stands for the deprivation of truth, and 'thick darkness' for the deprivation of both truth and good. If 'thick darkness' were no different in meaning from 'darkness' it would be a pointless repetition, which is far from being a feature of the holy Word. In the Word it is common for a pair of expressions to describe one particular thing, the first having reference to truth or falsity, the second to good or evil. A like example occurs in Isaiah,

He will look to the earth, and behold, anguish and darkness; [he will be one] benighted by anguish, and by a thick darkness of colliding. 1 Isaiah 8:11.

[4] 'Darkness' also means ignorance of the truth, such as exists among gentiles, and 'thick darkness' ignorance about what is good, in Isaiah,

On that day the deaf will hear the words of a book, and out of thick darkness and out of darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Isaiah 29:18.

In the same prophet,

If you satisfy the afflicted soul, your light will rise in the darkness, and your thick darkness will be as midday. Isaiah 58:10.

'Darkness' is falsities, see 7688.

脚注:

1. The Latin caligine impulsus may mean collided with in darkness, or - as Swedenborg's reference to this text in 7711 can only mean - a thick darkness of colliding.

  
/10837  
  

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