ACV9 S11 6861-6888

CLICK TO PRINT READING 6861. Verses 9-12. And now behold the cry of the sons of Israel is come unto Me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. And now go, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, and do thou bring forth My people the sons of Israel out of Egypt. And Moses said unto God, Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the sons of Israel out of Egypt? And he said, Because I will be with thee; and this shall be the sign to thee that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall worship God near this mountain. "And now behold the cry of the sons of Israel is come unto Me," signifies pity for those who are of the spiritual church; "and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them," signifies by reason of the endeavor of subjugation by those who were in falsities; "and now go, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh," signifies the holy proceeding from the Lord's Human, by which the infesting falsities would be dispersed; "and do thou bring forth My people the sons of Israel out of Egypt," signifies the consequent liberation of those who were of the spiritual church from infesting falsities; "and Moses said unto God," signifies perception from the Divine and humiliation; "who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh?" signifies not being yet in such a state as to seem to himself to be able to go to and remove the infesting falsities; "and that I should bring forth the sons of Israel?" signifies and thus to liberate those of the spiritual church; "and He said, Because I will be with thee," signifies that the Divine will be in the Human; "and this shall be the sign to thee that I have sent thee," signifies the knowledge that the Divine proceeded from Himself; "when thou has brought forth the people out of Egypt," signifies when the spiritual are liberated from infestation by falsities; "ye shall worship God near this mountain," signifies then perception and acknowledgment of the Divine from love. 6862. And now, behold the cry of the sons of Israel is come unto Me. That this signifies pity for those who are of the spiritual church, is evident from the signification of a "cry," as being entreaty for aid (see n. 6801), and therefore when it is said that "a cry comes unto Jehovah," or the Lord, it involves the same as "hearing," and "hearing" denotes to bring the aid of mercy, or compassion (n. 6852); and from the signification of the "sons of Israel," as being those who are of the spiritual church (n. 6637). 6863. And I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them. That this signifies by reason of the endeavor to subjugate by those who are in falsities, is evident from the signification of "the oppression wherewith they oppress," as being an endeavor to subjugate (that it denotes an endeavor to subjugate, and not subjugation itself, is because they who are of the Lord's spiritual church cannot be subjugated by those who are in falsities, because the Lord protects them); and from the signification of "the Egyptians," as being falsities (see n. 6692). 6864. And now go, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh. That this signifies the holy proceeding from the Lord's Human, by which infesting falsities would be dispersed, is evident from the representation of Moses, who was to go, and who was sent, as being the Lord as to the law Divine (see n. 6723, 6752, 6771, 6827), thus as to the Human; for when the Lord was in the world, He first made His Human Divine truth, which is the same as the law Divine; and afterward He completely glorified His Human, and made it Divine good (between Divine truth and Divine good there is a difference such as there is between the light from the sun and the fire in the sun); and from the signification of "to be sent" as being to proceed (n. 2397, 4710, 6831), here holy truth (that holy is predicated of truth see n. 6788); and from the representation of Pharaoh, as being falsity (n. 6651, 6679, 6683, 6692). It is added that infesting falsities would be dispersed, namely, by the holy proceeding from the Lord's Human, because in what follows the subject treated of is the liberation of the sons of Israel, that is, of those who were of the Lord's spiritual church, from falsities; from which they can in no wise be liberated except by the holy which proceeds from the Lord. For the holy proceeding from the Lord not only disperses infesting falsities, but also reduces all things into Divine order, both those which are in the heavens, and those which are in the hells; and causes the heavens to be most distinct according to goods and the derivative truths, and the hells also to be most distinct according to evils and the derivative falsities; and likewise causes evils to be opposite to goods, and falsities to truths, in order that a spiritual equilibrium may exist, and everything be in a free state. 6865. And do thou bring forth My people the sons of Israel out of Egypt. That this signifies the consequent liberation of those who are of the spiritual church from infesting falsities is evident from the signification of "bringing forth" as being liberation; from the signification of the "sons of Israel" as being those of the spiritual church (see n. 6637); and from the signification of "Egypt" as being the false memory-knowledge which is against the truths of the church; thus infesting falsity (see n. 6692). [2] It is false memory-knowledge which chiefly infests those of the spiritual church; because they have no perception of truth from good, but only the memory-knowledge of truth from doctrine; they who are such are very much infested by memory-knowledges. For memory-knowledges are the most general vessels, which sometimes appear contrary to truths, until truths being let into them make them transparent, and thus not to be noticed. Moreover, memory-knowledges are full of the fallacies of the senses, which cannot be dispelled by those who are in mere knowledges from doctrine, and not in the perception of truth from good; mainly because the light of the world predominates with them, which light appears clear so long as the light of heaven does not flow into it, but as soon as the light of heaven flows in, instead of light it becomes obscurity. Hence it is that these persons are enlightened and clever in the things of the world, but obscured and dull in the things of heaven. [3] These believe themselves enlightened when they have confirmed in themselves the doctrinal things of the church, but it is a sensuous light from the light of the world which then deceives them; for doctrinal things of every kind can be confirmed, as Jewish doctrinal things by the Jews, enthusiastic ones by enthusiasts, Socinian ones by the Socinians, and heresies by heretics of every sort; and when they have been confirmed, they appear to them in the sensuous light as very truths. But they who are in the light of heaven are in enlightenment from the Lord; and before confirmations, by looking into the memory-knowledges which are beneath and are there arranged in order, they discern whether it is a truth that may be confirmed or not. Hence it is evident that these latter have an interior view, which is above the memory-knowledges, and thus is distinct; whereas the former have a lower view, which is within the memory-knowledges, and thus is an entangled one (see n. 2831). 6866. And Moses said unto God. That this signifies perception from the Divine and humiliation, is evident from the signification of "saying," as being perception (of which frequently above); and from the representation of Moses, as being the Lord as to the law Divine (see n. 6723, 6752, 6771, 6827). The Divine is signified by "God." That these words also involve humiliation is plain from what follows, for Moses says, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring forth the sons of Israel?" As by Moses is represented the Lord, and mention is here made of humiliation, something must be said about the state of the Lord's humiliation when He was in the world. So far as the Lord was in the human not yet made Divine, so far He was in humiliation; but so far as He was in the Human made Divine, so far He could not be in humiliation, for so far He was God and Jehovah. The reason why He was in humiliation when in the human not yet made Divine, was that the human which He took from the mother was by heredity evil, and this could not come near to the Divine without humiliation; for in genuine humiliation a man divests himself of all ability to think and do anything from himself, and wholly leaves himself to the Divine, and thus draws near to the Divine. The Divine was indeed in the Lord, because He was conceived of Jehovah, but this appeared remote insofar as His human was in the heredity from the mother; for in spiritual and heavenly things it is unlikeness of state that causes removal and absence, and it is likeness of state that causes approach and presence; and it is love that makes likeness and unlikeness. All this shows whence came the state of humiliation with the Lord when He was in the world; but afterward, when He put off all the human which He took from the mother, insomuch that He was no longer her son, and put on the Divine, then the state of humiliation ceased, for then He was one with Jehovah. 6867. Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh? That this signifies not being yet in such a state as to seem to himself to be able to go and remove the infesting falsities, is evident from the signification of "Who am I?" as being that he was not yet in such a state; and from the signification of "going to Pharaoh," as being to go to the infesting falsities, for by "Pharaoh" is signified falsity which infests (see n. 6651, 6679, 6683). That it also denotes to remove, is because the holy proceeding from the Lord's Human (of which above, n. 6864) removes falsities and evils, because these are quite unable to endure its presence....