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Exodus第14章

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1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the children of Israel: Let them turn and encamp over against Phihahiroth which is between Magdal and the sea over against Beelsephon: you shall encamp before it upon the sea.

3 And Pharao will say of the children of Israel: They are straitened in the land, the desert hath shut them in.

4 And I shall harden his heart, and he will pursue you: and I shall be glorified in Pharao, and in all his army: and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so.

5 And it was told the king of the Egyptians that the people was fled: and the heart of Pharao and of his servants was changed with regard to the people, and they said: What meant we to do, that we let Israel go from serving us?

6 So he made ready his chariot, and took all his people with him.

7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots that were in Egypt: and the captains of the whole army.

8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharao king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel: but they were gone forth in a mighty hand.

9 And when the Egyptians followed the steps of them who were gone before, they found them encamped at the sea side: all Pharao's horse and chariots, and the whole army were in Phihahiroth before Beelsephon.

10 And when Pharao drew near, the children of Israel, lifting up their eyes, saw the Egyptians behind them: and they feared exceedingly, and cried to the Lord.

11 And they said to Moses: Perhaps there were no graves in Egypt, therefore thou hast brought us to die in the wilderness: why wouldst thou do this, to lead us out of Egypt?

12 Is not this the word that we spoke to thee in Egypt, saying: Depart from us that we may serve the Egyptians? for it was much better to serve them, than to die in the wilderness.

13 And Moses said to the people: Fear not: stand and see the great wonders of the Lord, which he will do this day: for the Egyptians, whom you see now, you shall see no more for ever.

14 The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.

15 And the Lord said to Moses: Why criest thou to me? Speak to the children of Israel to go forward.

16 But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand over the sea, and divide it: that the children of Israel may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground.

17 And I will harden the heart of the Egyptians to pursue you: and I will be glorified in Pharao, and in all his host, and in his chariots, and in his horsemen.

18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall be glorified in Pharao, and in his chariots and in his horsemen.

19 And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removing, went behind them: and together with him the pillar of the cloud, leaving the forepart,

20 Stood behind, between the Egyptians' camp and the camp of Israel: and it was a dark cloud, and enlightening the night, so that they could not come at one another all the night.

21 And when Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea, the Lord took it away by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night, and turned it into dry ground: and the water was divided.

22 And the children of Israel went in through the midst of the sea dried up: for the water was as a wall on their right hand and on their left.

23 And the Egyptians pursuing went in after them, and all Pharao's horses, his chariots and horsemen through the midst of the sea,

24 And now the morning watch was come, and behold the Lord looking upon the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, slew their host.

25 And overthrew the wheels of the chariots, and they were carried into the deep. And the Egyptians said: Let us flee from Israel: for the Lord fighteth for them against us.

26 And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth they hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen.

27 And when Moses had stretched forth his hand towards the sea, it returned at the first break of day to the former place: and as the Egyptians were fleeing away, the waters came upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the middle of the waves.

28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharao, who had come into the sea after them, neither did there so much as one of them remain.

29 But the children of Israel marched through the midst of the sea upon dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall on the right hand and on the left:

30 And the Lord delivered Israel on that day out of the hands of the Egyptians.

31 And they saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore, and the mighty hand that the Lord had used against them: and the people feared the Lord, and they believed the Lord, and Moses his servant.

   

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Arcana Coelestia#8164

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8164. 'And they said to Moses' means the climax of the temptation, and despair. This is clear from the words that follow, for 'they said' includes them. The fact that the words which follow are words uttered in temptation when this has reached its climax and when there is despair is self-evident. The term 'despair' is used because this is usually the final phase or comes within the final phase of spiritual temptations, 1787, 2694, 5279, 5280, 7147, 7155, 7166. Since there are few at the present day who undergo spiritual temptations and therefore the nature of them is unknown, let something more be said about them. There are spiritual temptations or trials and there are natural temptations or trials. Spiritual temptations belong to the internal man, whereas natural trials belong to the external man. Spiritual temptations sometimes occur separately from natural trials, at other times together with them. They are natural trials when a person suffers in ways that affect his physical body, position in society, and wealth, in short his natural life, that is, the kinds of sufferings he undergoes when he is sick, unfortunate, persecuted, wrongly punished, and so on. Anxious feelings in such circumstances are what are meant by natural trials. But these trials contribute nothing whatever to the person's spiritual life; nor should they be called trials or temptations but miseries. For they arise as a result of harm done to his natural life, which is the life of self-love and love of the world. Criminals sometimes endure such miseries; and the more that they love self and the world, and so depend on these for their life, the greater is their misery and anguish.

[2] But spiritual temptations belong to the internal man; they are attacks made on his spiritual life. Anxious feelings in this case do not exist on account of any loss in their natural life, but on account of the loss of faith and charity, and consequently of salvation. Natural trials are often the means by which those spiritual temptations come about. For if a person is suffering natural trials - that is to say, sickness, sorrow, loss of wealth or position, and so on - and during them comes to think of the Lord's help, His Providence, and the state of the wicked, in that they boast and rejoice when the good suffer and endure various miseries and losses, then spiritual temptation is bound up with natural trial. Such was the Lord's final temptation, in Gethsemane, and when He endured the Cross, which was the severest of all. From all this one may see what natural trial is and what spiritual temptation is. A third kind of temptation or trial also exists, which is anxiety and depression caused for the most part by physical or mental infirmity. Such anxiety may involve some degree of spiritual temptation or it may not involve any at all.

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