In my previous article about the sacrifice of Isaac, I already mentioned that the killing of the firstborn of the Egyptians was a metaphor. I want to go deeper into that today.

The firstborn have to do with duality, which also is a meaning of the Hebrew word for cross, and of course ‘Mitsrajim.’ or Egypt.

Let’s begin with the following Bible verse:

• “ For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt … and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment; I am the Lord,”  Exodus 12:12

The land of Egypt is ‘Mitsrajim’ in Hebrew, both as a country and as an esoteric interpretation in the Bible. In this esoteric interpretation it means the world of duality, matter, ego and emotions, of form, shape and troubles. It represents the deepest point of involution, bringing with it enslavement, addiction and suffering. But it also marks a turning point, after which the cycle turns upwards again.

• ‘Mitsrajim,’ 40-90-200-10-40, has a total numerical value of 380
• ‘Kana’an,’ 20-50-70-50, has a total numerical value of 190
• 380 : 190 = 2 : 1
• This is another way of showing that ‘Mitsrajim’ is duality (2) compared to the unity (1) of ‘Kana’an’, Canaan, the Promised Land where the people of Israel were coming from (descent) and returning to (ascension).

In other words, numerology establishes the esoteric meaning of these countries. ‘Kana’an’ stands for oneness or unity as compared to the duality of ‘Mitsrajim.’ The word ‘kana’an’ also means merchant or salesman. Thus, even in this ‘country’ the process of crucifixion of the ego still has to continue, as further Bible stories show.

With this Bible text we have reached the turning point of this cycle, where the ‘rosj, resjit’ of the ‘nachasj’ will be crushed by God and man.

First man will have to state his intention and willingness to start the crucifixion process of his ego, as described in The Inner Beauty of the Bible Stories. Then God will deliver man from his slavery and addictions by smiting all the firstborn of ‘Mitsrajim’ and by executing judgment of its gods. This process is continued later by making the waters (of ego and emotions) of the ‘Jam Suf,’ the Red Sea, split and stand still so that the addiction totally ceases and man can escape. When the pursuing ‘par’oh,’—the addicting force who sees his victims escape—ventures out onto the path through the sea, the waters crush down on him and he drowns in his own ego and emotions.

The ‘Jam Suf’ is translated as Red Sea or Sea of Reeds, but the word ‘jam,’ (sea) can also be read as ‘jom,’ meaning a day or a period. The word ‘suf,’ (reed) is exactly the same as ‘sof,’ (end). So what do we really see here? We see the Time of the End, or the period of the end of the descending phase of the cycle, in the waters of which the downward force of the ‘nachasj’ will drown.

It is interesting to see that as the people of Israel are standing on the shore of the sea and they see the forces of the pharaoh approaching again, Moses tells them that God will send help/rescue. The Hebrew word for that in the Bible is ‘jeshua,’ which is also the Hebrew name of Jesus. This shows again that the story of the Exodus from Egypt and the story of Jesus and the crucifixion are one and the same story—our story!

Who are these firstborn?

A firstborn is called ‘bechor’ in Hebrew, 2-20-6-200. This should explain it all. The ‘firstborn’ is everything that leads to duality and separation. It is the starting point for the downward force, it is its motivation to move downwards, so it is the ‘rosj,’ the ‘resjit,’ of the ‘nachasj.’

The ‘nachasj’ had turned into a pharaoh on his downward journey, ‘par’oh’ in Hebrew. ‘Par’/‘para’/‘pri’, bull/cow/fruit, had become symbols for fertility, material growth, and most of all the growing power of the ego. In Egypt/‘Mitsrajim’ it had reached its summit and become pharaoh/‘par’oh.’ It had made slaves of the Hebrew shepherds from ‘Kana’an,’ the other side, by taking them away from their flocks, ‘tson,’ 90-1-50, their focus on the process of the birth (90) of the world of oneness (1) and higher awareness (50), and making them drown in the water of their ego and emotions.

‘Par’oh’ is written as 80-200-70-5.

• 80-200       is ‘par’, fertility, material growth, the growing power of the ego
• 200-70       is ‘ra,’ evil
• 80-200-70 contains the same characters and numerical value as the word ‘afar’

‘Afar’ is written as 70-80-200.

• 70 and 200 both stand for the many and 200 also for the farthest point of separation
• 80-200       is ‘par’ again

‘Afar’ is the dust that God took and created man from in Genesis 2:7. It contained the possibility to multiply, fertility and the longing for separation. During the process of descent the characters changed places and the growing power of the ego created evil as well by eating the fruits of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It fell asleep and turned live backwards. Its downward force, the ‘nachasj,’ finally became ‘par’oh,’ pharaoh.

But then there is something else we should know and maybe someone noticed it already when looking at the numbers. ‘Afar,’ dust, has the numerical value of 350. There it is again, this number. When God takes dust (matter) to create man, the halfway point of the cycle of involution and evolution has been reached. Again a ‘point,’ because afterwards the process of involution in the story still has to begin.

When in the story of Israel, mankind, ‘afar’ has turned into ‘par’oh’, we see that a number five has been added: 350 + 5. And the number five is the female ending of a word and symbolizes the longing of the woman to be reunited with the man and also the longing of the world of matter for reconnection with the world of higher awareness. It means that the pharaoh, the ‘nachasj’ at its deepest point of descent, itself has started to long for this reconnection.

So at this point in the cycle its ‘rosj’, its ‘resjit’ (its starting point and motivation), will be crushed and because of that its downward drive will drown itself shortly afterwards. The four feet of the world of matter are taken away from him. This will put the ‘nachasj’ to sleep for a while, lying in 3½ coils, waiting until the process of crucifying the ego will have produced the oil of the eight, which is needed to anoint it to become the messiah that will lead us upwards again.

And who are these gods of ‘Mitsrajim,’ against whom God will execute judgment?

They are not Ra, or Amun, or Horus or Isis or any other god of the Egyptian pantheon. They are the forces that keep people addicted to things of this material world, or hooked up to emotions that call for hatred and judgment, for separation and discrimination, for fear and projection. It is the total absence of Oneness and Love.

These gods, these idols, are called Elohim, just like the God of Genesis 1. The only difference between them is that in Genesis 1, in the sentence ‘bara Elohim …’, God created, the verb was used in the singular tense. The creating divine forces were ONE!

In the case of the gods of ‘Mitsrajim,’ the idols, the plural tense would have been used. Every god for himself, pointing in a different direction, leading people to the suffering of separation and addiction/slavery. In other Bible texts the plural tense of a verb is used for idols like them because later, in the desert and even in the Promised Land, there will still be idols.

Executing judgment is the Hebrew verb ‘sjafat,’ 300-80-9. It is almost the same word as ‘sjachat,’ 300-8-9, to kill, which we learned about in my previous article. And it is exactly the same process, maybe on a grander scale as it is a metaphor about forces here instead of about a person.

This executing judgment is a process in itself and part of the beginning of the ascending phase, in which people are waking up but not completely awake yet. That is why the people who are in charge of leading the people of Israel after Joshua dies are called Judges, ‘Sjoftim.’ They have to lead the people through this all important process. The name of the last of them, Samuel, shows that they know what the Name, ‘sjem’ and Destination, ‘sjam’ of mankind is. ‘Sjemo El,’ his name, his (origin and) destination is God.

Where it says: I am the Lord, it says I am ‘JHWH’

This is the Name by which God is known in this fourth world of matter and that is never pronounced by the Jews.

This Name also has a numerical value:

• 10-5-6-5, in total 26.
• 26 = 2 x 13

Thirteen is the numerical value of:

• ‘echad’, 1-8-4, one, oneness/unity, the One

and

• ‘ahava,’ 1-5-2-5, love, unconditional Love.

Therefore this Name is the Oneness and Love of God as it can be known and experienced in the world of duality.

It can also be seen as:

• 10  /  5 and 5
• the 6 is the character wav – which as a word means hook – and is used for the word ‘and’
• 5 and 5 are the male and female side of Man, which have been separated and made independent, but which are longing for each other and have to find the way back to unity by fully balancing, harmonizing and integrating again.
• Ten is the Higher Awareness that accommodates and supervises this process.
• Summarizing: it is the divine process of the I am in the fourth world, which takes place in everyone and everything in this world.

The world of duality is a world of contrast

In this world we can become aware of everything by experiencing its opposite. Once we have become aware of ‘good’ and ‘evil’ by experiencing all these opposites, we tend to become judgmental by giving everyone and everything a label of good or bad. And that gives rise to a whole new set of experiences, which gradually lead us ‘down to Mitsrajim’.

All this time God stays with us, even in us, allowing us our experiences, and only when we have realized that we have fallen prey to the Pharaoh of our ego and have called for help, then God intervenes for a moment in order to let us escape from our addictions, but only on the condition that we will address the matter of the crucifixion of our ego ourselves as soon as we have passed the deepest point of the cycle and entered the desert. God will still be with us there, but we will have to learn to stand on our own feet again. I think that we have reached that phase right now, so it is time to start the crucifixion, if we have not already done so.

This may sound gruesome but of course crucifixion is also a metaphor

The original cross form has four arms of equal length. Or rather, it is a horizontal line and a vertical line of equal length, crossing each other at ninety degree angles at their centre point. To form this cross means we have to bring everything into balance.

In the New Testament Jesus tells us to take up our cross and bear it. The word cross in Hebrew is:

• ‘tselav’, 90-30-2, ‘tsel-2’, shadow of the two, or: the world of duality.

Jesus tells us to accept this world of duality as it is when we are born into it, instead of thinking that God should really see to it that nothing ‘bad’ ever happens to us as long as we believe in Him. We may have forgotten it, but we have entered this world in order to have certain experiences and grow in awareness from them. We should take it on with Love and without judgment. We should take responsibility and let go of fear. We should learn that nothing is good or bad in itself, but that we make something good or bad by how we act on it and feel about it. Jesus himself showed us the way and gave the example.

To make things clear: it does not mean that we should leave things as we find them, but that we should not become angry because things are as they are. We should accept that is what is, that happened what happened, without judgment. And go from there.

This process is not easy, and sometimes bitter, but if we succeed in persevering and in letting go of everything that might hold us back, we will make a wonderful discovery. There is a totally different meaning of the cross:

• ‘tselav’, 90-30-2, ‘90-lev’, birth (after this process) of the heart.

Then the cross will prove to be the regained unconditional Love of the world of Oneness and Unity.

So let us start the crucifixion, shall we?