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Exodus第21章

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1 Now these are the laws which you are to put before them.

2 If you get a Hebrew servant for money, he is to be your servant for six years, and in the seventh year you are to let him go free without payment.

3 If he comes to you by himself, let him go away by himself: if he is married, let his wife go away with him.

4 If his master gives him a wife, and he gets sons or daughters by her, the wife and her children will be the property of the master, and the servant is to go away by himself.

5 But if the servant says clearly, My master and my wife and children are dear to me; I have no desire to be free:

6 Then his master is to take him to the gods of the house, and at the door, or at its framework, he is to make a hole in his ear with a sharp-pointed instrument; and he will be his servant for ever.

7 And if a man gives his daughter for a price to be a servant, she is not to go away free as the men-servants do.

8 If she is not pleasing to her master who has taken her for himself, let a payment be made for her so that she may go free; her master has no power to get a price for her and send her to a strange land, because he has been false to her.

9 And if he gives her to his son, he is to do everything for her as if she was his daughter.

10 And if he takes another woman, her food and clothing and her married rights are not to be less.

11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she has the right to go free without payment.

12 He who gives a man a death-blow is himself to be put to death.

13 But if he had no evil purpose against him, and God gave him into his hand, I will give you a place to which he may go in flight.

14 But if a man makes an attack on his neighbour on purpose, to put him to death by deceit, you are to take him from my altar and put him to death.

15 Any man who gives a blow to his father or his mother is certainly to be put to death.

16 Any man who gets another into his power in order to get a price for him is to be put to death, if you take him in the act.

17 Any man cursing his father or his mother is to be put to death.

18 If, in a fight, one man gives another a blow with a stone, or with the shut hand, not causing his death, but making him keep in bed;

19 If he is able to get up again and go about with a stick, the other will be let off; only he will have to give him payment for the loss of his time, and see that he is cared for till he is well.

20 If a man gives his man-servant or his woman-servant blows with a rod, causing death, he is certainly to undergo punishment.

21 But, at the same time, if the servant goes on living for a day or two, the master is not to get punishment, for the servant is his property.

22 If men, while fighting, do damage to a woman with child, causing the loss of the child, but no other evil comes to her, the man will have to make payment up to the amount fixed by her husband, in agreement with the decision of the judges.

23 But if damage comes to her, let life be given in payment for life,

24 Eye for Eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,

25 Burning for burning, wound for wound, blow for blow.

26 If a man gives his man-servant or his woman-servant a blow in the eye, causing its destruction, he is to let him go free on account of the damage to his eye.

27 Or if the loss of a tooth is caused by his blow, he will let him go free on account of his tooth.

28 If an ox comes to be the cause of death to a man or a woman, the ox is to be stoned, and its flesh may not be used for food; but the owner will not be judged responsible.

29 But if the ox has frequently done such damage in the past, and the owner has had word of it and has not kept it under control, so that it has been the cause of the death of a man or woman, not only is the ox to be stoned, but its owner is to be put to death.

30 If a price is put on his life, let him make payment of whatever price is fixed.

31 If the death of a son or of a daughter has been caused, the punishment is to be in agreement with this rule.

32 If the death of a man-servant or of a woman-servant is caused by the ox, the owner is to give their master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox is to be stoned.

33 If a man makes a hole in the earth without covering it up, and an ox or an ass dropping into it comes to its death;

34 The owner of the hole is responsible; he will have to make payment to their owner, but the dead beast will be his.

35 And if one man's ox does damage to another man's ox, causing its death, then the living ox is to be exchanged for money, and division made of the price of it, and of the price of the dead one.

36 But if it is common knowledge that the ox has frequently done such damage in the past, and its owner has not kept it under control, he will have to give ox for ox; and the dead beast will be his.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#9034

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9034. 'And when a man strikes his male slave or his female slave [with a rod]' means if anyone within the Church mistreats a factual truth or an affection for it from his own power. This is clear from the meaning of 'striking' as mistreating, for 'striking' refers to inflicting any kind of hurt; from the meaning of 'a man', here a man from among the children of Israel, as a member of the Church and therefore one in possession of spiritual truth, which is truth derived from the Word and contained in the teachings and belief of the Church, dealt with in 6426, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223, 7957, 8234, 8805; from the meaning of 'male slave' as factual truth, which is truth belonging to the Word, as stated in its literal sense, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'a female slave' as a natural affection, thus an affection for known facts, since these reside in the natural, dealt with in 1895, 2567, 3835, 3849, 8993, 8994; and from the meaning of 'a rod' as the power of the natural, dealt with in 4876, 4936, 6947, 7011, 7026, at this point a person's own power, since it is speaking in regard to a slave who had been bought. From all this it is evident that 'when a man strikes his male slave or his female slave' means if anyone within the Church mistreats a factual truth in the Word or an affection for it.

[2] The reason why 'a male slave' means truth belonging to the literal sense of the Word is that in general 'a slave' means lower or more external things, because these things serve higher or more internal ones, 2541, 5161, 5164, 5936, 7143. From this general meaning 'a slave' means the natural, because this serves the spiritual, 3019, 3020, 5305, 7998; and following on from this it means factual truth belonging to the literal sense of the Word, for this truth serves spiritual truth belonging to the internal sense. Truth belonging to the internal sense of the Word is the same as genuine truth contained in the teachings that compose the Church's faith.

[3] In what way truth belonging to the literal sense of the Word serves spiritual truth must be stated briefly. A member of the Church first of all learns truth from the literal sense of the Word. This is general truth suited to the understanding of the external man, who dwells in natural light. That truth is received by an external route, which is that of hearing, and is stored in the external man's memory, where there are also various pieces of knowledge gained from the world, 2469-2494. Later on matters stored in this memory come under the vision or gaze of the internal man, who sees things in the light of heaven. The internal man selects and summons from among them truths that are in agreement with the good which flows in from the Lord by way of the soul and which the person has accepted. There the Lord joins the truths to the good. The truths joined in that way in the internal man are called spiritual truths, and the good to which the truths have been joined is called spiritual good. This good, given form by the truths, constitutes the person's spiritual life. The actual truths there are called the truths of faith, and the good is called the good of charity. The good in which the truths have been implanted in that way is the Church with that person.

[4] From all this one may see how truths belonging to the literal sense of the Word serve to give form to spiritual truths, in general to give form to faith and charity which compose spiritual life - life which consists in being fired by an affection for truths because they lead to good, then by an affection for the good that the truths lead to, and finally by an affection for truths that flow from that good.

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