IBhayibheli

 

Exodus 10:15

Funda

       

15 For they covered the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened; and they did eat every herb of the land, and all the fruit of the trees which the hail had left: and there remained not any green thing, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt.

Okususelwe Emisebenzini kaSwedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #4935

Funda lesi Sigaba

  
Yiya esigabeni / 10837  
  

4935. When made visible that bare arm is bent in varying attitudes that strike terror. When seen bent in the attitude mentioned above it strikes unbelievable terror, since it seems to be able to break bones and marrow to pieces instantaneously. Those who during their lifetime have been afraid of nothing are nevertheless in the next life driven by that arm to feel utterly terrified by it.

  
Yiya esigabeni / 10837  
  

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

Amazwana

 

Egypt

  
The mastaba of the official and priest Fetekti. Fifth Dynasty. Abusir necropolis, Egypt, Photo by Karl Richard Lepsius

In the Bible, Egypt represents knowledge and the love of knowledge. In a good sense that means knowledge of truth from the Lord through the Bible, but in a natural sense it simply means earthly knowledge to be stored up and possessed. And even knowledge from the Bible is not always good: If we learn them with the goal of making them useful, then they are filled with angelic ideas. But they lack purpose when they are learned only for the sake of knowing things or for the reputation of being learned. So Egypt is a place you go to learn things, but to become heavenly you have to escape the sterile "knowing" and journey to the land of Canaan, where the knowledge is filled with the internal desire for good. It's interesting that when Egypt was ruled by Joseph, it was a haven for his father and brothers. This shows that when a person's internal mind rules in the land of learning, they can learn much that is useful. But eventually a pharaoh arose that didn't know Joseph, and the Children of Israel were enslaved. The pharaoh represents the external mind; when it is in charge the excitement and self-congratulation of knowing can reduce the internal mind to a type of slavery. The mind - like the Children of Israel - ends up making bricks, or man-made falsities from external appearances.