6824. These are the degrees of the neighbor, and according to these degrees charity ascends; but these are degrees in successive order, in which a prior or higher degree is always preferred to a posterior or lower one; and as the Lord is in the highest, and He is to be regarded in every degree as the end to which each tends, therefore He is above all, and is to be loved above all things.
EXODUS 3
1. And Moses was feeding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock behind the wilderness, and came unto the mountain of God, to Horeb.
2. And the angel of Jehovah was seen by him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bramble; and he saw, and behold the bramble burned with fire, and the bramble was in no wise consumed.
3. And Moses said, I will therefore go aside, and see this great vision, why the bramble is not burnt.
4. And Jehovah saw that he went aside to see, and God called unto him out of the midst of the bramble, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Behold me!
5. And He said, Draw not nigh hither; pull off thy shoes from upon thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest a ground of holiness is this.
6. And He said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses covered his faces, because he was afraid to look upon God.
7. And Jehovah said, Seeing I have seen the affliction of My people, which is in Egypt, and I have heard their cry from before their taskmasters; for I have known their sorrows;
8. And I am come down to liberate them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to make them come up out of that land unto a land good and broad, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
9. And now behold the cry of the sons of Israel is come unto Me, and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.
10. And now go, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, and do thou bring forth My people the sons of Israel out of Egypt.
11. And Moses said unto God, Who am I that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the sons of Israel out of Egypt?
12. And He said, Because I will be with thee; and this shall be the sign to thee that I have sent thee: when thou hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall worship God near this mountain.
13. And Moses said unto God, Behold I come unto the sons of Israel, and say to them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is His name? What shall I say unto them?
14. And God said unto Moses, I AM WHO I AM; and He said, Thus shalt thou say to the sons of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
15. And God said further unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the sons of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you; this is My name forever, and this is My memorial unto generation and generation.
16. Go and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, Jehovah the God of your fathers hath been seen of me, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, saying, Visiting I have visited you, and that which is done to you in Egypt.
17. And I say, I will make you come up out of the affliction of Egypt unto the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, unto a land flowing with milk and honey.
18. And they shall hear thy voice, and thou shalt go in, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt; and ye shall say unto him, Jehovah God of the Hebrews hath met us; and now let us go we pray a way of three days into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Jehovah our God.
19. And I know that the king of Egypt will not allow you to go, and not by a strong hand.
20. And I will put forth My hand, and smite Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in the midst thereof, and afterward he will send you away.
21. And I will give this people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when ye go, ye shall not go empty.
22. And every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her that sojourneth in her house, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments; and ye shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters, and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.