ACV9 S25 7287-7302

CLICK TO PRINT READING 7287. Verses 8-13. And Jehovah said unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying, When Pharaoh shall say unto you, saying, Give you a wonder, then thou shalt say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh; it shall become a water-serpent. And Moses and Aaron came unto Pharaoh; and they did so as Jehovah had commanded; and Aaron cast his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a water-serpent. And Pharaoh called also the wise men and the sorcerers; and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did so with their enchantments. And they cast forth every man his rod, and they became water-serpents; and Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods. And Pharaoh's heart was made firm, and he heard them not; as Jehovah had spoken. "And Jehovah said unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying," signifies instruction; "When Pharaoh shall say unto you," signifies if they have doubt concerning the Divine; "saying, give you a wonder," signifies and they therefore desire to be confirmed; "then thou shalt say unto Aaron," signifies influx and communication; "Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh," signifies the power which is shown; "it shall become a water-serpent," signifies that thereby mere fallacies and the derivative falsities will reign among them; "and Moses and Aaron came unto Pharaoh, and they did so as Jehovah had commanded," signifies the effect; "and Aaron cast his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a water-serpent," signifies that mere fallacies and the derivative falsities would reign among them; "and Pharaoh called also the wise men and the sorcerers," signifies abuse of Divine order; "and they also, the magicians of Egypt, did so with their enchantments," signifies thus to appearance the same by perverting the ends of order; "and they cast forth every man his rod, and they became water-serpents," signifies power from order that they became dull in respect to the noticing of truth; "and Aaron's rod swallowed up their rods," signifies that this power was taken away from them; "and Pharaoh's heart was made firm," signifies obstinacy; "and he heard them not," signifies that they who were in evils from falsities did not receive; "as Jehovah had spoken," signifies prediction. 7288. And Jehovah said unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying. That this signifies instruction, is evident from the signification of "Jehovah said," as being instruction (n. 6879, 6881, 6883, 6891). 7289. When Pharaoh shall say unto you. That this signifies if they have doubt concerning the Divine, is evident from what now follows, namely, "if Pharaoh shall say, Give you a wonder," which words plainly imply doubt concerning the Divine; for to desire a wonder is to doubt until it is confirmed to the senses. 7290. Saying, Give you a wonder. That this signifies, and they therefore desire to be confirmed, is evident from the signification of "wonders and signs," as being confirmations of truths (see n. 3900, 6870). As regards the wonders and signs treated of in what follows, be it known that they were done among such as were in external worship, and did not desire to know anything about internal worship, for they who were in such worship had to be driven by external means. This is the reason why miracles were done among the Israelitish and Jewish people, for they were in external worship only. In the absence of their desire for internal worship they had to be in external, in order that they might represent holy things in outward ones, and that in this way there might be communication with heaven as by something of a church, for correspondences, representatives, and significatives conjoin the natural world with the spiritual. This is the reason why so many miracles were done in that nation. [2] But miracles are not done among those who are in internal worship, that is, in charity and faith, because to these they are hurtful, for miracles compel belief, and what is compelled does not remain, but is dissipated. The inward things of worship, which are faith and charity, must be implanted in freedom, for then they are appropriated, and what is so appropriated remains; whereas that which is implanted in compulsion, remains outside the internal man in the external, because nothing enters into the internal man except by means of intellectual ideas, which are reasons; for the ground which there receives is an enlightened rational. Hence it is that no miracles are wrought at this day. That they would be hurtful, can be seen from what has been said; for they drive men to believe, and fix their ideas in the external man that the case is so; and if the internal man afterward denies that which the miracles have confirmed, there results an opposition and collision of the internal and external man; and finally when the ideas derived from miracles are dissipated, there is effected a conjunction of falsity and truth, and thus a profanation. From this it is evident how injurious at the present day are miracles in a church in which the inward things of worship have been disclosed. These moreover are the things signified by the Lord's words to Thomas: Because thou hast seen Me, Thomas, thou hast believed; blessed are they who see not, and believe (John 20:29); thus they are blessed who do not believe through miracles. [3] But miracles are not injurious to those who are in external worship without internal, for with such there can be no opposition of the internal and external man, thus no collision, consequently no profanation. That miracles do not contribute anything to faith, may be sufficiently evident from the miracles wrought among the people of Israel in Egypt, and in the wilderness, in that they had no effect at all upon them. Although that people had recently seen so many miracles in Egypt, and afterward the sea Suph divided, and the Egyptians sunk therein; the pillar of a cloud going before them by day, and the pillar of fire by night; the manna daily raining down from heaven and although they saw Mount Sinai smoking, and heard Jehovah speaking thence, besides other miracles, nevertheless in the midst of such things they fell away from all faith, and from the worship of Jehovah to the worship of a calf (Exod. 32); from which it is plain what is the effect of miracles. [4] Still less would be their effect at this day, when it is not acknowledged that there is anything from the spiritual world, and when everything of the kind which takes place, and which is not attributed to nature, is denied; for denial universally reigns against the Divine influx and government in the earth. And therefore if the man of the church were at this day to see the veriest Divine miracles, he would first bring them down into nature, and there defile them, and afterward would reject them as phantasms, and finally would laugh at all who attributed them to the Divine, and not to nature. That miracles are of no effect is also evident from the Lord's words in Luke: If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead (Luke 16:31). 7291. And thou shalt say unto Aaron. That this signifies influx and communication, namely, of the law Divine which Moses represents, with the doctrine which Aaron represents, is evident from the signification of "saying," when by Moses to Aaron, as being influx and communication (see n. 6291). "Saying" here signifies the same as "speaking," namely, both influx and communication (that "speaking" has this signification, see n. 7270). This influx and communication cannot be expressed in the historical part of the Word except by "saying," and "speaking." That the law Divine which Moses represents flowed into the doctrine which Aaron represents, is because the law Divine is internal truth, and doctrine is external truth; and it is a general rule that internal things flow into external things, and not vice versa, because internal things are purer and simple in comparison, while external things are gross, for they are the generals of internal things. 7292. Take thy rod, and cast it before Pharaoh. That this signifies the power which is shown, is evident from the signification of a "rod," as being power (n. 4013, 4015, 4876, 4936, 6947, 7011, 7026); and from the signification of "casting before Pharaoh," as being to show; for that which is cast before the eyes is shown. 7293. It shall become a water-serpent. That this signifies that thereby mere fallacies and the derivative falsities will reign among them, is evident from the signification of a "serpent," as being the sensuous and bodily (see n. 6949), thence fallacies, for the sensuous and bodily, separated from the rational, that is, not subordinate to it, is full of fallacies, so that it is scarcely anything but fallacies (see n. 6948, 6949). It is a water-serpent that is here signified, for in the original, "serpent" is here expressed by the same term as "whale," which is the largest fish of the sea, and a "whale" signifies memory-knowledges in general. As therefore by the "Egyptians" are signified falsities from fallacies, this word signifies a serpent, that is, a water- serpent, because it stands for the whale that is in the waters, and because the waters of Egypt are falsities. [2] That Pharaoh or Egypt is called a "whale" is evident in Ezekiel: Speak and say, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Behold I am against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great whale that lieth in the midst of his rivers (Ezek. 29:3). Son of man, take up a lamentation upon Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art become like a young lion of the nations; and thou art as whales in the seas; and thou hast come forth with thy streams, thou hast troubled thy streams (Ezek. 32:2). In these passages by a "whale" are signified memory-knowledges in general, by which, because they are from the sensuous man, the things that belong to faith are perverted. That a "whale" denotes memory-knowledge in general,...