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Exodus第13章

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1 And the Lord said to Moses,

2 Let the first male child of every mother among the children of Israel be kept holy for me, even the first male birth among man or beast; for it is mine.

3 And Moses said to the people, Let this day, on which you came out of Egypt, out of your prison-house, be kept for ever in memory; for by the strength of his hand the Lord has taken you out from this place; let no leavened bread be used.

4 On this day, in the month Abib, you are going out.

5 And it will be that, when the Lord takes you into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, the land which he made an oath to your fathers that he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you will do this act of worship in this month.

6 For seven days let your food be unleavened cakes; and on the seventh day there is to be a feast to the Lord.

7 Unleavened cakes are to be your food through all the seven days; let no leavened bread be seen among you, or any leaven, in any part of your land.

8 And you will say to your son in that day, It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.

9 And this will be for a sign to you on your hand and for a mark on your brow, so that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth: for with a strong hand the Lord took you out of Egypt.

10 So let this order be kept, at the right time, from year to year.

11 And when the Lord takes you into the land of Canaan, as he made his oath to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you,

12 You are to put on one side for the Lord every mother's first male child, the first-fruit of her body, and the first young one of every beast; every male is holy to the Lord.

13 And for the young of an ass you may give a lamb in payment, or if you will not make payment for it, its neck is to be broken; but for all the first sons among your children, let payment be made.

14 And when your son says to you in time to come, What is the reason for this? say to him, By the strength of his hand the Lord took us out of Egypt, out of the prison-house:

15 And when Pharaoh made his heart hard and would not let us go, the Lord sent death on all the first sons in Egypt, of man and of beast: and so every first male who comes to birth is offered to the Lord; but for all the first of my sons I give a price.

16 And this will be for a sign on your hand and for a mark on your brow: for by the strength of his hand the Lord took us out of Egypt.

17 Now after Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not take them through the land of the Philistines, though that was near: for God said, If the people see war, they may have a change of heart and go back to Egypt.

18 But God took the people round by the waste land near the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up in fighting order out of the land of Egypt.

19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the children of Israel take an oath, saying, God will certainly keep you in mind; and you are to take my bones away with you.

20 Then they went on their journey from Succoth, and put up their tents in Etham at the edge of the waste land.

21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, guiding them on their way; and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light: so that they were able to go on day and night:

22 The pillar of cloud went ever before them by day, and the pillar of fire by night.

   

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Arcana Coelestia#8078

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8078. 'And all that open it among the asses you shall redeem with a member of the flock' means that merely natural faith must not be ascribed to the Lord, only the truth of innocence present within it. This is clear from the meaning of 'that which opens' as that which is born first in a regenerate person or is the firstborn, namely faith (it has been shown already that 'the firstborn' means faith); from the meaning of 'ass' as the natural, for 'ass' means factual knowledge, 5492, 5741, also subservience, 5958, 6389, and the natural as well (since factual knowledge belongs to the natural, and the natural in relation to the spiritual is subservient), so that '[all] that open it among the asses' here means merely natural faith, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'redeeming' as giving something else instead (the fact that 'redeeming' has this meaning is evident from the full message implied by these words, which is that 'you shall not make over to Jehovah one that opens it among the asses, but you shall redeem it with a member of the flock',

[2] and 'making over to Jehovah' means ascribing to the Lord, just as 'sanctifying' and 'sacrificing' do, see just above in 8074, so that 'not making it over but redeeming it' means not ascribing it but giving something else instead); and from the meaning of 'a member of the flock' as the truth of innocence. 'A member of the flock' means the truth of innocence because the expression is used to mean lamb or kid, and innocence is meant by these, 3519, 3994, 7840, at this point the truth of innocence since neither the word 'lamb' nor the word 'kid' is used, but 'a member of the flock'. From all this it is evident that 'all that open it among the asses you shall redeem with a member of the flock' means that merely natural faith is not to be ascribed to the Lord, but the truth of innocence present within it.

[3] Merely natural faith is faith that is instilled along the outward but not the inward path. One type of it is faith that depends entirely on the senses, which exists when a person believes something to be so because he has seen it with his eye or touched it with his hand. The Lord referred to this kind of faith when He said to Thomas,

Because you have seen, Thomas, you have believed; blessed are those who do not see yet believe. John 20:29

Another type is faith induced by miracles, which exists when a person believes something to be so solely as a result of miracles; regarding this kind of faith see 7290. And another type is authoritarian faith, which exists when a person believes something to be so because another in whom he trusts has declared it.

[4] But spiritual faith is that which is instilled along the inward path at the same time as the outward one. The instilling along the inward path gives rise to belief, and what is instilled at the same time along the outward path serves to corroborate it. The spiritual element of faith is charitable affection, and consequently an affection for truth for the sake of true service and for life's sake. These cause faith to be spiritual. Faith is instilled along the inward path when a person reads the Word and at the same time receives enlightenment from the Lord. This enlightenment is given to him in accordance with his affection, that is, in accordance with the reason he has for wishing to know the truth.

[5] These considerations now show what merely natural faith is, and that because such faith is not spiritual it cannot be ascribed to the Lord, that is, there can be no acknowledgement or belief that comes from the Lord. For the Lord flows in through the affection for truth and good; and faith is an inward affection, see 8034. The truth of innocence which can be present within that merely natural faith and can be accredited to the Lord is anything that a person believes in innocence to be true. From all this one may now see how to understand the explanation that merely natural faith must not be ascribed to the Lord, but the truth of innocence present within it.

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