ACV9 S38 7694-7751

CLICK TO PRINT READING CLICK TO GO TO COMMENTS 7694 Verses 16-20. And Pharaoh hastened to call Moses and Aaron; and he said, I have sinned to Jehovah your God, and to you. And now forgive I pray my sin only this once, and supplicate ye to Jehovah your God that He may remove from before me this death only. And he went out from before Pharaoh, and supplicated unto Jehovah. And Jehovah turned an exceeding strong sea wind, and took up the locust, and cast it into the sea Suph; there was not left one locust in all the border of Egypt. And Jehovah made firm Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let go the sons of Israel. "And Pharaoh hastened to call Moses and Aaron," signifies fear then of truth from the Divine; "and he said, I have sinned to Jehovah your God, and to you," signifies confession that they have not obeyed the Divine and the truth; "and now forgive I pray my sin only this once," signifies that their disobedience should not be regarded; "and supplicate ye to Jehovah your God," signifies intercession; "that He may remove from upon me this death only," signifies that this falsity may not torment; "and he went out from before Pharaoh," signifies separation; "and made supplication unto Jehovah," signifies intercession; "and Jehovah turned an exceeding strong sea wind," signifies the cessation of Divine influx through heaven; "and took up the locust," signifies the end of this state; "and cast it into the sea Suph," signifies into hell; "there was not left one locust in all the border of Egypt," signifies that these falsities in the extremes appeared no more; "and Jehovah made firm Pharaoh's heart," signifies that the infesters were determined; "and he did not let go the sons of Israel," signifies that they did not leave those of the spiritual church. 7695 And Pharaoh hastened to call Moses and Aaron. That this signifies fear then of truth from the Divine, is evident from the signification of "hastening," as being from fear, for all haste arises from some affection that is excited, here from the affection of fear, as is plain from the words of Pharaoh, "I have sinned to Jehovah your God, and to you, supplicate ye that He may take away from me this death only;" from the representation of Pharaoh, as being those who infest, of which frequently above; and from the representation of Moses and Aaron, as being truth from the Divine, Moses the internal, and Aaron the external (see n. 7089, 7382). 7696 And he said, I have sinned to Jehovah your God, and to you. That this signifies confession that they have not obeyed the Divine and the truth, is evident from the signification of "sinning," as being to do contrary to Divine order (see n. 5076), and to avert and separate one's self from it, thus from good and truth (n. 5229, 5474, 5841, 7589), consequently it also denotes not to obey the Divine and the truth, for he who does not obey averts himself. The Divine is what is meant by "Jehovah your God," and the truth by "Moses and Aaron" (n. 7695). 7697 And now forgive I pray my sin only this once. That this signifies that they should not regard the disobedience, is evident from the signification of "forgiving," as being not to regard, for to forgive is not to regard anyone from evil but from good; and from the signification of "sin," as being disobedience (as just above, n. 7696). 7698 And supplicate ye to Jehovah your God. That this signifies intercession, is evident from the signification of "supplicating to Jehovah," when done for another, as being intercession (see n. 7396, 7462). 7699 That he may remove from upon me this death only. That this signifies that this falsity may not torment, is evident from the signification of "removing this death," as being that it may not torment; for by "death" is signified damnation and hell (see n. 5407, 6119), thus also torment. That they who infest deprecate this falsity is because they no longer have the capacity of reasoning against the truths of faith, for they have been devastated in respect to these truths, and consequently have an infernal darkness which torments them. (That it is undelightful to the infernals to reason from mere falsities, but delightful to reason from truths falsified by fallacies and appearances, see n. 7392.) 7700 And he went out from before Pharaoh. That this signifies separation, is evident from the signification of "going out," as being separation (see n. 6100, 7404). 7701 And he made supplication unto Jehovah, signifies intercession, as above (n. 7698). 7702 And Jehovah turned an exceeding strong sea wind. That this signifies the cessation of the Divine influx through heaven, is evident from the signification of a "sea" or west "wind," as being the cessation of Divine influx through heaven; for by the "east wind" was signified a means of destruction, by reason of the Divine influx through heaven (see n. 7643, 7679); and therefore by "a wind of the sea," or a west wind, which is opposite to the east wind, is signified the cessation of this influx. 7703 And took up the locust. That this signifies the end of this state, is evident from the signification of "the locust," as being falsity in the extremes (see n. 7643). The taking away of the state of this falsity, thus the end of this state, is signified by "taking up the locust," in like manner as before in regard to the hail (n. 7597, 7610). 7704 And cast it into the sea Suph. That this signifies into hell, is evident from the signification of "the sea Suph," as being hell (of which in what follows, where, of the Lord's Divine mercy, the passage of the sons of Israel through that sea, and the destruction of the Egyptians therein, is to be treated of). By being cast into hell is not meant that the falsity was taken away from the infesters, and cast elsewhere; but that it remained with them, and that by means of it they were conjoined with the hells, where such things are. For in the other life, by every state of evil and falsity into which they enter, the evil are conjoined with the hells, where are all things that belong to such a state. Thus conjunction is effected successively with many hells before they are fully devastated, but of this more will be told from experience elsewhere. 7705 There was not left one locust in all the border of Egypt. That this signifies that these falsities in the extremes appeared no more, is evident from the signification of the "locust," as being falsity in the extremes; and because it denotes falsity in the extremes (n. 7643), it is said "in all the border of Egypt," for "the border" denotes that which is outermost, or extreme, and "Egypt" denotes the natural; that by "there was not left a locust" is signified that it did not appear, is manifest; the like is said of the hail (n. 7611). 7706 And Jehovah made firm Pharaoh's heart. That this signifies that the infesters were determined, is evident from the signification of "making firm the heart," as being to be determined (see n. 7272, 7300, 7305). (That by its being said that "Jehovah made firm Pharaoh's heart," in the internal sense is signified that Pharaoh made firm his own heart, see n. 7632; and that the evil which in the Word is attributed to Jehovah is from man, n. 2446, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533.) 7707 And he did not let go the sons of Israel. That this signifies that they did not leave those of the spiritual church, is evident from the signification of "to let go," as being to leave; and from the representation of the sons of Israel, as being those who are of the spiritual church (see n. 7474, 7515, 7617). 7708 Verses 21-23. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Stretch out thy hand toward heaven, and there shall be thick darkness upon the land of Egypt, and one shall grope in the thick darkness. And Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven; and there was dense thick darkness in the whole land of Egypt three days. They saw not a man his brother, and there rose not up anyone from what was under him for three days; and all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings. "And Jehovah said unto Moses," signifies instruction; "Stretch out thy hand toward heaven," signifies the rule of the power of truth Divine in heaven; "and there shall be thick darkness upon the land of Egypt," signifies a complete privation of truth and good; "and one shall grope in the thick darkness," signifies the density of the falsity from evil; "and Moses stretched out his hand toward heaven," signifies the rule of truth Divine in heaven; "and there was dense thick darkness in all the land of Egypt," signifies the complete privation of truth and good; "for three days," signifies a full state; "they saw not a man his brother," signifies that they did not perceive the truth of any good; "and there rose not up anyone from what was under him," signifies that there was no elevation of mind; "for three days," signifies a full state; "and all the sons of Israel had light in their dwellings," signifies that those who were of the spiritual church had enlightenment everywhere in their minds. 7709 And Jehovah said unto Moses, signifies instruction (as before, n. 7672). 7710 Stretch out thy hand toward heaven. That this signifies the rule of the power of truth Divine in heaven, is evident from the signification of "stretching out the hand," as being the rule of power (of which above, n. 7673); from the representation of Moses, who was to stretch out his hand, as being truth Divine (see n. 6723, 6752, 7010, 7014, 7382); and from the signification of "heaven," as being the angelic heaven. How it is that the rule of the power of truth Divine in heaven should produce a new state among the infesters, which is signified by the "thick darkness," is evident from what was shown above (n. 7643, 7679), namely, that the Lord is continually setting heaven in order, and endowing those who are there, and those who newly arrive, with celestial and spiritual good. The effect of this setting in order is that the evil are gradual