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出埃及記第8章

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1 耶和華吩咐摩西:你進去見法老,對他耶和華這樣:容我的百姓去,好事奉我。

2 你若不肯容他們去,我必使青蛙蹧蹋你的四境。

3 河裡要滋生青蛙;這青蛙要上進你的宮殿和你的臥房,上你的榻,進你臣僕的房屋,上你百姓的身上,進你的爐灶和你的摶麵盆,

4 又要上你和你百姓並你眾臣僕的身上。

5 耶和華曉諭摩西:你對亞倫:把你的杖伸在江、、池以上,使青蛙埃及上來。

6 亞倫便伸杖在埃及的諸水以上,青蛙就上來,遮滿了埃及

7 行法術的也用他們的邪術照樣而行,叫青蛙上了埃及

8 法老召了摩西亞倫來,:請你們求耶和華使這青蛙離開我和我的民,我就容百姓去祭祀耶和華

9 摩西法老:任憑你罷,我要何時為你和你的臣僕並你的百姓祈求,除滅青蛙離開你和你的宮殿只留在河裡呢?

10 :明天。摩西:可以照你的罷,好叫你知道沒有像耶和華─我們的。

11 青蛙要離開你和你的宮殿,並你的臣僕與你的百姓,只留在河裡。

12 於是摩西亞倫離開法老出去。摩西為擾害法老的青蛙呼求耶和華

13 耶和華就照摩西的行。凡在房裡、院中、田間的青蛙死了

14 眾人把青蛙聚攏成堆,遍就都腥

15 法老見災禍鬆緩,就硬著,不肯他們,正如耶和華的。

16 耶和華吩咐摩西:你對亞倫伸出你的杖擊打上的塵土,使塵土在埃及變作虱子(或譯:虼蚤;下同)。

17 他們就這樣行。亞倫伸杖擊打上的塵土,就在人身上和牲畜身上有了虱子;埃及的塵土都變成虱子了。

18 行法術的也用邪術要生出虱子來,卻是不能。於是在人身上和牲畜身上都有了虱子。

19 行法術的就對法老:這是的手段。法老裡剛硬,不肯摩西、亞倫,正如耶和華的。

20 耶和華摩西:你清起來法老來到邊,你站在他面前,對他耶和華這樣:容我的百姓去,好事奉我。

21 你若不容我的百姓去,我要叫成群的蒼蠅到你和你臣僕並你百姓的身上,進你的房屋,並且埃及人房屋和他們所住的地都要滿了成群的蒼蠅

22 當那日,我必分別我百姓所住的歌珊,使那裡沒有成群的蒼蠅,好叫你知道我是下的耶和華

23 我要將我的百姓和你的百姓分別出來。明天必有這神蹟。

24 耶和華就這樣行。蒼蠅成了大群,進入法老的宮殿,和他臣僕的房屋埃及就因這成群的蒼蠅敗壞了。

25 法老召了摩西亞倫來,:你們去,在這祭祀你們的罷!

26 摩西:這樣行本不相宜,因為我們要把埃及人所厭惡的祭祀耶和華我們;若把埃及人所厭惡的在他們眼前獻為祭,他們豈不拿石頭打死我們麼?

27 我們要往曠野去,走的路程,照著耶和華我們所要吩咐我們的祭祀他。

28 法老:我容你們去,在曠野祭祀耶和華─你們的;只是不要走得很遠。求你們為我祈禱。

29 摩西:我要出去求耶和華,使成群的蒼蠅明天離開法老法老的臣僕並法老的百姓;法老卻不可再行詭詐,不容百姓去祭祀耶和華

30 於是摩西離開法老去求耶和華

31 耶和華就照摩西的行,叫成群的蒼蠅離開法老和他的臣僕並他的百姓,個也沒有留下。

32 這一次法老又硬著,不容百姓去。

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Arcana Coelestia#7293

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7293. 'It will then be a water-serpent' means by the prospect that sheer illusions and resulting falsities will reign among them. This is clear from the meaning of 'a serpent' as the sensory and bodily level of mind, dealt with in 6949, and therefore illusions since that level of mind when separated from the rational level, that is, when not subordinate to it, is filled with illusions, to such an extent that it consists of scarcely anything else than illusions, see 6948, 6949. 'A water-serpent' is what is meant here; for in the original language the same word is used for this kind of serpent as that which is used to refer to a monster that is a very large fish of the sea; and 'a (sea-)monster' means factual knowledge in general.

When therefore falsities resulting from illusions are meant by 'the Egyptians', that word used in the original language denotes a serpent - a water-serpent since it can also be used to refer to the monster living in water and 'the water of Egypt' means falsities.

[2] The fact that Pharaoh or Egypt is called 'a monster' is clear in Ezekiel,

Speak and say, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the midst of his rivers. Ezekiel 29:3.

In the same prophet,

Son of man, raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say to him, You have become like a young lion of the nations, you are like monsters in the seas, and you have come forth with your rivers; you have stirred up your rivers Ezekiel 32:2.

Here 'monster' means known facts in general which, being the product of what a person's senses tell him, are used to pervert matters of faith. The reason why 'monster' means factual knowledge in general is that 'a fish' means that knowledge in particular, 40, 991. And since known facts perverting the truths of faith are meant by 'monsters', reasonings based on illusions, which give rise to falsities, are also meant by the same word.

[3] The same things are meant by 'monsters' in David,

You broke up the sea by your strength; you broke the heads of the monsters upon the waters. Psalms 74:13.

Much the same is also meant by 'leviathan' in Isaiah,

On that day Jehovah will make a visitation with His hard and great and strong sword upon Leviathan the full-length serpent, 1 and upon Leviathan the twisting serpent, and He will slay the monsters that are in the sea. Isaiah 27:1.

And in David,

You broke in pieces the heads of Leviathan; you gave him as food to the people, the Ziim. Psalms 74:14.

In the good sense 'Leviathan' stands for reason based on truths, in Job 41:1-34; reason based on truths is the opposite of reasonings based on falsities.

[4] Since 'monsters' means reasonings that are based on illusions and pervert truths, 'water-serpents' - the word for which in the original language is the same as that used for 'monsters' - means the actual falsities resulting from illusions which give rise to reasonings and lead to perversions of the truth. Falsities are meant by such 'serpents' in the following places: In Isaiah,

The iim will reply in its palaces, and serpents in the delightful palaces. Isaiah 13:22.

In the same prophet,

Thorns will come up into its palaces, thistle and brier in its fortifications, so that it may be a dwelling-place of serpents, a courtyard for daughters of the owl. Isaiah 34:13.

In the same prophet,

In the dwelling-place of serpents will his bed be, grass instead of reed and rush. Isaiah 35:7.

In Jeremiah,

I will make Jerusalem heaps of rubble, the dwelling-place of serpents. Jeremiah 9:11.

In Malachi,

I have turned the mountains of Esau into a waste, and his inheritance into [a place] for the serpents of the wilderness. Malachi 1:3.

In all these places 'serpents' stands for falsities on which reasonings are based.

[5] The same things are also meant by 'dragons', but 'dragons' are reasonings that spring from self-love and love of the world, thus from desires for what is evil, which pervert not only truths but forms of good as well. These reasonings are produced by people who in their hearts repudiate the truths and forms of the good of faith, but affirm them with their lips because of their intense desire to obtain dominance and gain. Thus such reasonings are also produced by those who render truths and forms of good profane. Both of these kinds of people are meant by 'the dragon, the serpent of old, who is called the devil and satan, who leads the whole world astray', Revelation 12:9, and also by this same dragon which persecuted the woman who had given birth to a son who was caught up to God and to His throne, Revelation 11:5, and which emitted water from its mouth like a river, to swallow up the woman, Revelation 12:13, 15.

[6] The son to whom the woman had given birth is Divine Truth now revealed at the present day, 'the woman' being the Church. 'The dragon, the serpent' is those who are going to persecute it, and 'the water like a river which the dragon emitted' is falsities arising out of evil and the resulting reasonings which they are going to use in their endeavour to destroy the woman, that is, the Church. But the fact that they will not at all accomplish this is described by the statement that 'the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river which the dragon emitted', Revelation 12:16.

脚注:

1. i.e. a serpent that is on the move and not coiled up

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