10214. Verses 11-16 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, When you take the sum of the children of Israel, as they have been numbered ¹ , they shall give - each one - an expiation for his soul to Jehovah when they are numbered ² , that there may be no plague among them when they are numbered ² . This is what they shall give, everyone passing over to those who have been numbered - half a shekel according to the shekel of holiness (a shekel is twenty obols ³ ). Half a shekel shall be the offering to Jehovah. Everyone passing over to those who have been numbered, from a son of twenty years ⁴ and over, shall give the offering of Jehovah. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give the offering of Jehovah, to make expiation for your souls. And you shall take the silver of expiations from the children of Israel, and give it to the work of the tent of meeting; and to the children of Israel it shall be as a remembrance before Jehovah, to make expiation for your souls.

'And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying' means enlightenment from the Lord through the Word. 'When you take the sum of the children of Israel' means all things of the Church. 'As they have been numbered' means as they have been arranged and set in order. 'They shall give - each one - an expiation for his soul when they are numbered' means purification or deliverance from evil through the acknowledgement and belief that all the forms of good and the truths of faith and love come from the Lord, not at all from man, as does their being arranged in order. 'That there may be no plague among them when they are numbered' means in order that there may be no punishment of evil when they do good as from themselves. 'This is what everyone passing over to those who have been numbered shall give' means the attribution to the Lord of all that constitutes faith and love. 'Half a shekel according to the shekel of holiness' means all forms of truth springing from good. 'A shekel is twenty obols' means all the components of good. 'Half a shekel shall be the offering to Jehovah' means that all the constituents of truth springing from good are the Lord's alone. ['Everyone passing over to those who have been numbered' means that all truths and forms of good are to be attributed to the Lord alone.] 'From a son of twenty years and over' means the state in which the understanding of truth and good exists. 'Shall give the offering of Jehovah' means attribution to the Lord alone. 'The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give [the offering] of Jehovah' means that all equally, however much ability they possess, should attribute to the Lord all forms of truth springing from good. 'To make expiation for your souls' means in order that evils may be removed. 'And you shall take the silver of expiations from the children of Israel' means the purifying truths springing from good that are the Church's. 'And give it to the work of the tent of meeting' means being joined to heaven through the acknowledgement that all truths and forms of good come from the Lord. 'And to the children of Israel it shall be as a remembrance before Jehovah' means thus the preservation of the Church and of all things the Church has by the Lord. 'To make expiation for your souls' means since evils have thereby been removed.

Бележки под линия:

576. That the number ten means remnants, just as tenths do, becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Many houses will be a desolation, large and beautiful ones, without inhabitant, for ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bath, and a homer of seed will yield an ephah. Isaiah 5:9-10.

This refers to the vastation of spiritual and celestial things. 'Ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bath' stands for remnants of spiritual things being so few, while 'a homer of seed will yield an ephah' stands for remnants of celestial things being so few. In the same prophet,

And there will be many forsaken places in the midst of the land; and yet there will be a tenth part in it, and this will return; it will be however an uprooting. Isaiah 6:12-13.

'The midst of the land' stands for the internal man, 'a tenth part' for such a small quantity of remnants. In Ezekiel,

You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, the bath containing a tenth of a homer; and the ephah a tenth of a homer, the measure for it shall be after the homer. And the fixed portion of oil, of the bath of oil, shall be a tenth of a bath from a cor, which is ten baths to the homer; for ten baths are a homer. Ezekiel 45:10-11, 14.

The quantities mentioned here relate to holy things, which are Jehovah's. They mean different kinds of holy things. 'Ten' here means remnants of celestial things and so of spiritual things. For what are the specific numerical quantities mentioned in this and in previous chapters of this prophet where the heavenly Jerusalem and the new Temple are the subject, and in other prophets, and also in the various rites of the Jewish Church, if they do not contain sacred arcana?

[2] In Amos,

She has fallen, no more to rise, the virgin of Israel. Thus said the Lord Jehovah, The city that goes forth a thousand will have remnants of a hundred, and that which goes forth a hundred will have remnants of ten to the house of Israel. Amos 5:2-3.

The word 'remnants' is used here, of which only a fraction will remain, for this is only a tenth part, or the remnants of remnants. In the same prophet,

I hate the pride of Jacob and his palaces, and I will shut up the city and all that is in it. And it will be that if ten men will have remained in one house, they will die. Amos 6:8-9.

'Ten' stands for remnants that are not likely to remain. In Moses,

The Ammonite and the Moabite shall not come into the assembly of Jehovah; even the tenth generation belonging to them shall not come into the assembly of Jehovah forever. Deuteronomy 23:3.

'The Ammonite and the Moabite' stands for the profanation of the celestial and the spiritual things of faith, the remnants of which have been dealt with already.

[3] From this it is clear that 'tenths' represents remnants, of which Malachi speaks as follows,

Bring all the tithes ¹ to the treasure-house, that there may be plunder in My house, and let them put Me to the test in this matter whether I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing for you. Malachi 3:10.

'That there may be plunder in My house stands for remnants in the internal man, which are likened to 'plunder' because they are implanted, so to speak, by stealth among so many evils and falsities; and by way of such remnants comes every blessing. The fact that the whole of a person's charity comes to him by way of the remnants that are in the internal man was also represented in the Jewish Church by the requirement that once they had paid their tithes, ¹ they were then to give to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, Deuteronomy 26:12 and following verses.

[4] Since remnants are the Lord' s alone, tenths are therefore called 'Holiness to Jehovah', and are spoken of in Moses as follows,

All the tithes ¹ of the land - of the seed of the land, of the fruit of the tree - are Jehovah's; they are Holiness to Jehovah. All tithes ¹ of the herd and of the flock, every tenth one that passes under the (herdsman's) staff shall be Holiness to Jehovah. Leviticus 27:30, 32.

Since the Decalogue consisted of Ten Commandments, or Ten Words, and Jehovah wrote them on tablets, Deuteronomy 10:4, remnants are meant; and the fact that they were written by the hand of Jehovah means that such remnants are the Lord's alone. Their presence in the internal man was represented by the tablets.

Бележки под линия: