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Numbers 8

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1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the candlestick.

3 And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps thereof [so as to give light] in front of the candlestick, as Jehovah commanded Moses.

4 And this was the work of the candlestick, beaten work of gold; unto the base thereof, [and] unto the flowers thereof, it was beaten work: according unto the pattern which Jehovah had showed Moses, so he made the candlestick.

5 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,

6 Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them.

7 And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of expiation upon them, and let them cause a razor to pass over all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves.

8 Then let them take a young bullock, and its meal-offering, fine flour mingled with oil; and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin-offering.

9 And thou shalt present the Levites before the tent of meeting: and thou shalt assemble the whole congregation of the children of Israel:

10 and thou shalt present the Levites before Jehovah. And the children of Israel shall lay their hands upon the Levites:

11 and Aaron shall offer the Levites before Jehovah for a wave-offering, on the behalf of the children of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of Jehovah.

12 And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and offer thou the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, unto Jehovah, to make atonement for the Levites.

13 And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for a wave-offering unto Jehovah.

14 Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel; and the Levites shall be mine.

15 And after that shall the Levites go in to do the service of the tent of meeting: and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for a wave-offering.

16 For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; instead of all that openeth the womb, even the first-born of all the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me.

17 For all the first-born among the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself.

18 And I have taken the Levites instead of all the first-born among the children of Israel.

19 And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel; that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary.

20 Thus did Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the Levites: according unto all that Jehovah commanded Moses touching the Levites, so did the children of Israel unto them.

21 And the Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes: and Aaron offered them for a wave-offering before Jehovah; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.

22 And after that went the Levites in to do their service in the tent of meeting before Aaron, and before his sons: as Jehovah had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they unto them.

23 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying,

24 This is that which belongeth unto the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service in the work of the tent of meeting:

25 and from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the work, and shall serve no more,

26 but shall minister with their brethren in the tent of meeting, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites touching their charges.

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 28

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28. The first-born from the dead. That this signifies from whom is all good in heaven, is evident from the signification of first-born, when said of the Lord, as denoting the Divine good in heaven, thus all good there. The reason why this is signified by first-born, is, because by generations, in general and in particular, are signified spiritual generations, which are those of good and truth, or of love and faith. Therefore, by father, mother, sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and sons' sons, are signified the goods and truths which generate, and which are generated, in their order (Arcana Coelestia 10490). For in heaven there are no other nativities; and, this being the case, by first-born is not meant first-born, but the good of heaven and the church, because this is in the chief place. Now, because all good in heaven exists from the Lord, therefore He is called the First-born.

[2] The reason why He is called the first-born from the dead, is because, when He rose from the dead, He made His Human Divine Good by union with the Divine which was in Him from conception. This is why He is called the first-born from the dead; and why He says of Himself in David,

"I will make him the first-born, higher than the kings of the earth" (Psalm 89:27).

What is meant by His being higher than the kings of the earth, will be seen in the subsequent article. (That the Lord, when He departed out of the world, made His Human Divine Good, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3194, 3210, 6864, 7499, 8724, 9199, 10076, thus that He came forth from the Father and returned to the Father, n. 3194, 3210; and that after the union, the Divine truth, which is the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, goes forth from Him, n. 3704, 3712, 3969, 4577, 5704, 7499, 8127, 8241, 9199, 9398, 9407. But this mystery may be seen more fully explained in the small work, The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 293-295; and in the passages from Arcana Coelestia there cited, n. 303-305.)

Since the Lord as to His Divine Human is called the first-born, because all good goes forth from Him, therefore all the first-born in the Israelitish church were holy to Jehovah; and therefore also the Levites were taken in the place of all the first-born in Israel. For by the sons of Levi were represented those of the church who are in the good of charity. On this account, also, a double portion of the inheritance fell to the first-born. All this, because the first-born signified good from the Lord, and, in the highest sense, the Lord Himself as to the Divine Human, from which all good comes; for all the things commanded in the Israelitish church were representative of spiritual and celestial Divine things.

[3] That all the first-born in the Israelitish church were holy to Jehovah is evident from Moses, in the following passages:

"Sanctify unto me all the first-born, whatsoever openeth the womb among the sons of Israel, in man and in beast; it is mine" (Exodus 13:2).

"Thou shalt cause to pass over unto Jehovah all that openeth the womb, and every firstling that cometh of a beast as many as thou hast, the males shall be Jehovah's" (13:12).

"Thou shalt not delay the first fruits of thy produce, and the first fruits of thy wine; the first-born of thy sons shalt thou give unto me. Likewise shalt thou do with thine oxen and with thy sheep; seven days it shall be with its dam; on the eighth day thou shalt give it me. And ye shall be men of holiness unto me" (Exodus 22:29-31).

The reason why they were to give also the first-born of beasts, was, because these also were representative; on which account, also, they were made use of in burnt-offerings and sacrifices. (What the various beasts in these services represented, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 1823, 3519, 9280, 10042.) The Levites were accepted in place of all the first-born in Israel (concerning which, see Numbers 3:12, 13, 41, 45; 8:15-19), because, as observed above, the sons of Levi represented, and thence signified, the good of charity, and Levi, in the highest sense, represented the Lord as to that good (as may be seen, n. 3875, 3877, 4497, 4502, 4503, 10017). The reason why a double portion of the inheritance fell to the first-born (Deuteronomy 21:17), was, because a double portion signified the good of love (n. 720, 1686, 5194, 8423).

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.