100. granted to me by God the Messiah to prove it to them vocally, as well as by various experiences, even to their extreme indignation. But we read about this experience so often in the Word of God the Messiah - how He cast them out, and at His will sent them into the swine [Matt. 8:30-32, Mark 5:11-13, Luke 8:32-33], etc., as well as how they were cast out by His disciples - that there is no need to bring in other proofs, of which there are very many. How the soul gives the will permission to go off into an act, should be considered; for nothing can pass into the will without the soul permitting it, but it is the soul alone that gives the power to act, whether it agrees or does not agree.* * In the original this paragraph is emphasized by the symbol "NB." written once in the margin.
[Paragraphs from The Word of the Old Testament Explained, Tome III (Exod. 14:29 to Deut. 34:5 as well as the Biblical books from Lev. to II Chron.), numbered by the author from 1 to 7762, by A. Acton from 4003 to 7566]
Why the Jewish people were so often tempted in the wilderness
4005.* The people of Jacob, or of Moses, were tempted so often, and as often yielded in temptations - not ten times, as we read [Num. 14:22], but obviously many more. Therefore, one asks, why were they led so many times into temptations, when yet it was foreseen that they would succumb? Would it not have been better for them if they had not undergone temptations? But the answer was given that while in Egypt, they were not only idol worshippers, like the Egyptians, but also, as one can see from Moses' prayer [Exod. 32:11-13], of a haughty spirit, looking upon the whole world as nothing, and condemning it, just because they themselves were of the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and therefore the only ones who would be in charge, not only on earth but also in the heavens. For Moses prayed for himself and the people, that they might be greater than all peoples on the face of the earth, and that the soil might be their inheritance - and this at the very same time when they were worshipping the calf and carrying it in their hearts, having drunk its dust. Therefore, since they ambitioned so much, and indeed to be the only ones, it is a necessary consequence that they should undergo temptations, and through temptations be corrected, for without temptation, no one can ever become better, so that they would not only see what they were like, but realize that they were not the chosen ones. For to let idol worshippers into the kingdom of God, is this not the same as letting in the devil, whose kingdom they harbor within them? Therefore, since this was their nature, they were subjected to temptations, and, in fact, of the lightest kind, as, for instance, when they were lacking water [17:1 ff.] and yet had seen so many miracles, and were seeing them every day; and as when Moses tarried for forty days, and yet they had seen the glory of God on the mountain [24:15-18], and so on. * This paragraph is unnumbered in the original. See The Word Explained 4002, footnote 2.
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