7931. Verses 25-28. "And it shall be, when you come to the land which Jehovah will give you, as He has spoken, that you shall keep this service. And it shall be, when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' ¹ that you shall say, 'This is the Passover sacrifice to Jehovah, because He passed by the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He inflicted the plague on Egypt, and delivered our houses'. And the people bowed, and bowed down. And the children of Israel went and did as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron - so they did."

'And it shall be, when you come to the land which Jehovah will give you' means when they reach heaven, given them by the Lord. 'As He has spoken' means in accordance with the promise contained in the Word. 'That you shall keep this service' means worship because of the deliverance. 'And it shall be, when your children say to you' means the inward perception of truth that belongs to conscience. 'What do you mean by this service?' means when engaged in worship. 'That you shall say' means thought. 'This is the Passover sacrifice to Jehovah' means worship of the Lord because of the deliverance. 'Because He passed by the houses of Israel' means that damnation would stay away from the forms of good in which they were maintained by the Lord. 'In Egypt' means when in close proximity to the evil. 'When He inflicted the plague on Egypt' means when those belonging to the Church who had been governed by faith separated from charity were damned. 'And delivered our houses' means that nevertheless nothing damnable touched them because they were maintained in good by the Lord. 'And the people bowed, and bowed down' means self-abasement on the lips and in the heart. 'And the children of Israel went and did as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron' means that those belonging to the spiritual Church obeyed God's truth. 'So they did' means an act initiated by the will. ²

脚注:

7926. 'To inflict the plague on Egypt' means as a result of which damnation comes to those belonging to the Church who have been governed by faith separated from charity. This is clear from the meaning of 'the plague', which in this case is the death of the firstborn, as the damnation of those belonging to the Church [who have been governed by faith] separated from charity, dealt with in 7766, 7778. For 'Egypt' - that is, the Egyptians - means those who have had a knowledge of those kinds of things that belong to the Church, yet have separated life from religious teaching, that is, charity from faith. The Egyptians too were like them, for they possessed a knowledge of the things belonging to the Church at that time, a Church that was representative. They were familiar with the representations of spiritual realities through natural things, which constituted the ceremonies of the Church at that time, and were accordingly familiar with correspondences, as is plainly shown by their hieroglyphics, which were pictures of natural things representing spiritual realities. This explains why 'the Egyptians' means those who have a knowledge of matters of faith yet lead an evil life. In the next life such people undergo vastation of all that composes faith, that is, all that composes the Church, and are eventually damned. That damnation is what is understood in the internal sense by the death of the firstborn in Egypt.

[2] Since it says 'Jehovah will go through to inflict the plague on Egypt', and these words mean the presence of the Divine, as a result of which damnation comes to those belonging to the Church who have been governed by faith separated from charity, something must be said to explain all this. Jehovah or the Lord does not present Himself among those in hell in order to inflict damnation; but even so His presence is what brings it about. The hells have a constant desire to molest the good and also a constant longing to rise into heaven and dislodge those who are there, though their efforts cannot get them past those living in the outermost parts of heaven. For it is enmity constantly exhaling hostility and violence. But the Lord makes unceasing provision to keep those living in the outermost parts of heaven secure and undisturbed. This He accomplishes by His presence among them. When those belonging to hell bring themselves to where the Lord is present, that is, into His presence, they cast themselves into the miseries of vastation, and eventually into damnation; for as shown already in various places, the Lord's presence which they run into brings those things about. From this it is evident that the Lord does not present Himself among them in order to inflict the miseries of punishment on them, but that they cast themselves into those miseries. These considerations show that nothing but good is attributable to the Lord, and that everything bad is attributable to those themselves who are immersed in evil, thus that the ones to inflict vastation, damnation, and hell on the evil are the evil themselves. This shows one how to understand 'Jehovah will go through to inflict the plague on Egypt'.