Arcana Coelestia (Elliott): AC 8553

8553. Since people are like this the order of life with them is inverted; what ought to be the master is the servant, and what ought to be the servant is the master. If a person is to be saved that order of life with him must be reversed; and this is achieved by the Lord through regeneration.

EXODUS 17

And all the assembly of the children of Israel travelled on from the wilderness of Sin, according to their travels, at the mouth of Jehovah, and encamped in Rephidim; and there was no water for the people to drink.

And the people wrangled with Moses, and said, Give us water and let us drink. And Moses said to them, Why do you wrangle with me? Why do you tempt Jehovah?

And the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses, and said, Why have you caused us to come up out of Egypt, to cause me, and my children, and my livestock to die of thirst?^a

And Moses cried out to Jehovah, saying, What shall I do for this people? Yet a little and they stone me.^b

And Jehovah said to Moses, Pass on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and your rod with which you struck the river, take in your hand, and go.

Behold, I [will be] standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you are to strike the rock, and water will come out of it; and let the people drink. And Moses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel.

And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the wrangling of the children of Israel, and because of their tempting Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah in the midst of us or not?

And Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

And Moses said to Joshua, Choose men for us, and go out, fight against Amalek; tomorrow I stand on the top of the hill, with the rod of God in my hand.

And Joshua did as Moses said to him, by fighting against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

And so it was, when Moses raised up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

And the hands of Moses were heavy; and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and one on the other. And so it was, his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

And Joshua decimated ^c Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

And Jehovah said to Moses, Write this [for] a memorial in the book, and put it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.

And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi.

And he said, Because [Amalek's] hand is against the throne of Jah, the war of Jehovah will be against Amalek from generation to generation.

Notes

^a The change in this sentence from the plural us to the singular me occurs in the Hebrew.
^b i.e. They are almost ready to stone me.
^c lit. weakened

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