7620. SPIRITS AND INHABITANTS OF THE PLANET MARS - continued

I saw a most beautiful flaming object, varying in colour; it was crimson, turning from brilliant white to a deepening red. The flame also made its colours glow beautifully. I also saw a hand, which was not holding the flame; rather, the flame clung to the hand. At first it caressed the back of the hand, after that the palm or hollow, and from there all around. This went on for some time. The hand together with the flaming object then moved further away, and where it stopped there was a patch of light, into which the hand disappeared. At this point the flaming object changed into a bird, which at first possessed colours like those of the flaming object, colours which were likewise sparkling. But those colours gradually changed, and as they did so, the vigorous life in the bird changed too. It flew round about, first around my head, and then frontwards from me into something narrow like a cubicle. And the further it flew in that direction, the more the life went out of it, till at length it became like a piece of stone. At first its colour was pearly, after that it was dull; but even though devoid of life it continued its flight.

6771. 'And Pharaoh heard of this matter and sought to kill Moses means that having discerned this matter false factual knowledge wished to destroy the truth which the law from God possessed. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearing' as discerning, dealt with in 5017; from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as factual knowledge which is opposed to the Church's truths, and so is false, dealt with in 6651, 6679, 6687; from the meaning of 'killing' as destroying, dealt with in 6767, so that 'seeking to kill' is wishing to destroy; and from the representation of 'Moses' as the law of God and God's truth, dealt with in 6752, and so the truth which the law of God possessed. The expression 'the truth which the law of God possessed', and not simply 'the law of God', is used because the subject is still the development of the law of God within the Lord's Human. From all this it is clear that 'Pharaoh heard of this matter and sought to kill Moses' means that having discerned this matter false factual knowledge wished to destroy the truth that the law of God possessed.