ACV9 S32 7516-7535

CLICK TO PRINT READING CLICK TO GO TO COMMENTS 7516 Verses 8-12. And Jehovah said unto Moses and unto Aaron, Take to you in the fullness of your fists ashes of the furnace, and let Moses sprinkle it toward heaven unto the eyes of Pharaoh. And it shall be dust over all the land of Egypt, and it shall be upon man and upon beast a sore breaking forth in pustules in all the land of Egypt. And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it toward heaven, and it became a sore of pustules breaking forth on man and on beast. And the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the sore; for the sore was on the magicians and on all the Egyptians. And Jehovah made firm the heart of Pharaoh, and he heard them not, as Jehovah had spoken unto Moses. "And Jehovah said unto Moses and unto Aaron," signifies instruction anew; "take to you in the fullness of your fists," signifies power given, as much as could be received; "ashes of the furnace," signifies of exciting the falsities of cupidities through presence with those who infest; "and let Moses sprinkle it toward heaven," signifies these falsities shown to those who are in heaven; "unto the eyes of Pharaoh," signifies in the presence; "and it shall be dust over all the land of Egypt," signifies the damnation of these falsities in the natural mind; "and it shall be upon man and upon beast," signifies which are from evil interior and exterior; "a sore breaking forth in pustules," signifies filthy things together with the consequent blasphemies; "in all the land of Egypt," signifies in the whole natural mind; "and they took ashes of the furnace," signifies falsities of cupidities; "and stood before Pharaoh," signifies in the presence of those who infest; "and Moses sprinkled it toward heaven," signifies these things shown to those who are in heaven; "and it became a sore of pustules breaking forth on man and on beast," signifies filthy things together with blasphemies from evil interior and exterior; "and the magicians could not stand before Moses because of the sore," signifies that those could not be present who abused Divine order by portraying the like in the outward form; "for the sore was on the magicians," signifies that the like filthy things came forth from them; "and on all the Egyptians," signifies as were in those who were infesting; "and Jehovah made firm the heart of Pharaoh," signifies that they were determined; "and he heard them not," signifies that they did not obey; "as Jehovah had spoken unto Moses," signifies according to the prediction. 7517 And Jehovah said unto Moses and unto Aaron. That this signifies instruction anew, is evident from the signification of "Jehovah said," as being instruction (as above, n. 7497); that it is instruction anew, is because a new state is now treated of, the former being ended. The instruction which is from Jehovah is given by means of the truth which proceeds from Him. The truth which proceeds from Jehovah is represented by Moses and Aaron; internal truth by Moses, and external truth by Aaron (n. 7382). 7518 Take to you in the fullness of your fists. That this signifies power given, as much as could be received, is evident from the signification of the "fists," or palms of the hands, as being power; that the "fists," or palms of the hands, denote power, is because the "hands" signify power (of which below); as much as can be received is signified by "fullness." As regards the signification of the "fists," or the palms of the hands, be it known that the arms in the Grand Man correspond to power; and from this not only do the arms themselves signify power, but also the shoulders, and likewise the hands, down to the fingers. (That the "arms" denote power, see n. 878, 4932, 4934, 4935, 7205; and the "shoulders," n. 1085, 4937; and the "hands," n. 878, 3387, 5327, 5328, 5544, 6292, 6947, 7011, 7188, 7189; also the "fingers," n. 7430; for their correspondence in general, see above, n. 4931-4937.) The reason why all things that pertain to the arm correspond to power, is that the body exercises its power by means of them. From all this it can be seen what is signified by "sitting at the right hand":Jesus said, Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power (Matt. 26:64);From henceforth shall the Son of man be seated at the right hand of the power of God (Luke 22:69);namely, the omnipotence which is the Lord's; and therefore it is said "at the right hand of power;" as also in David:Thou hast a mighty arm, strong is Thy hand, exalted shall be Thy right hand (Ps. 89:13).All this shows what light is given in the Word by the internal sense, for unless it were thereby known that by the "right hand" is signified power, it would be understood according to the words, that the Lord would sit at the right hand of Jehovah. 7519 Ashes of the furnace. That this signifies of exciting the falsities of cupidities through presence with those who infest, is evident from the signification of "ashes of the furnace," as being the falsities of cupidities (of which below). That it denotes excitation by presence with those who infest, is evident from what follows in this verse, for it is said that "Moses sprinkled it toward heaven in the eyes of Pharaoh." By "in the eyes" is signified presence, and by "Pharaoh" are signified those who infest (as often shown).[2] How the case is with these things cannot be known without revelation, for they are such as take place in the other life, and are not known in the world. So long as evil or infernal spirits are removed and separated from heaven, that is, from the good of love and the truth of faith which are there, they do not know that they are in evils and falsities, for they then believe falsities to be truths, and evils to be goods; but as soon as heaven comes nearer to them, that is, some heavenly society, they notice the falsities and evils; for the truth of faith which then flows in causes them to notice the falsities; and the good of love which flows in causes them to notice the evils; and the nearer that heaven comes, or the more presently there inflows its good of love and truth of faith (seeing that they cannot endure these), the more grievously are they reproached by their own evils and falsities.[3] From all this it can now be seen why it was commanded that Moses should take ashes of the furnace and sprinkle them toward heaven, and that he should do this in the eyes of Pharaoh; also why it was commanded that he, and not Aaron, should sprinkle the ashes toward heaven. For by ashes being sprinkled toward heaven is signified the influx of heaven; by this being done in the eyes of Pharaoh is signified in the presence of those who infest; that Moses was to do this, and not Aaron, is because the truth proceeding immediately from the Divine presents this effect with the evil; Moses being the truth which proceeds immediately from the Divine, and Aaron that which proceeds mediately (n. 7010). From all this it is evident what is meant in the internal sense by the contents of this verse and of that next following, namely, that there would be excited filthy and loathsome things of cupidities together with blasphemies, which are signified by the "sore breaking forth in pustules." These things are excited when Divine truth flows in, and heaven comes nearer.[4] Everyone can see that such things would never have been commanded by Jehovah to Moses unless there were a heavenly secret therein; that is to say, that Moses should take ashes of the furnace and sprinkle them toward heaven. Such means of producing the effect would never have been ordered by Jehovah unless they had contained something heavenly, to which these means correspond. From this can be seen the nature of the Word, that it is crowded with secret things, but with such as do not stand forth in the sense of the letter.[5] That "ashes of the furnace" signify falsities of cupidities, is because they are from burnt things; and "burning," as also "fire" itself, in the Word, in a good sense, signify the good of heavenly affections; but in the opposite sense, the evil of infernal cupidities. That "fire" has this signification see n. 934, 1861, 2446, 4906, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324; and that "burning" denotes the evil of cupidities, n. 1297, 5215; hence it is that "ashes" signify falsities, for falsities are from the evils of cupidities. And as the evils of cupidities are signified by "fire," they are also signified by a "furnace," which is the containant, and this frequently involves the same as that which it contains.[6] That a "furnace" has this signification is evident from these passages:Behold, the day cometh, burning as a furnace; and all the proud, and everyone that worketh wickedness, shall be stubble; and the day that cometh shall set them on fire, it shall leave them neither root nor branch (Mal. 4:1);where "burning as a furnace" denotes the cupidities of evil; "setting them on fire," a kindling with cupidities.[7] In Genesis:Abraham looked toward the faces of Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward the faces of all the land of the plain, and he saw, and the smoke of the land went up, as the smoke of a furnace (Gen. 19:28);where "the smoke of a furnace" denotes falsities from the evils of cupidities, for "Sodom" denotes the evil of cupidities from the love of self, and "Gomorrah" the falsity thence derived (see n. 2220, 2245, 2322). In John:There went up a smoke out of the pit of the abyss, as the smoke of a furnace (Rev. 9:2);where "the smoke of a furnace" in like manner denotes falsities from evils of cupidities; "the pit of the abyss" denotes hell.[8] In Matthew:The Son of man shall send His angels, who shall gather out of His kingdom all things that cause stumbling, and them that do iniquity, and shall send them into the furnace of fire (Matt. 13:41-42);where "the furnace of fire" denotes the evils of cupidities; for the fire of cupidities is what is meant in