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Exodus 29

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1 This is what you are to do to make them holy, to do the work of priests to me: Take one young ox and two male sheep, without any mark on them,

2 And unleavened bread, and unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and thin unleavened cakes on which oil has been put, made of the best bread-meal;

3 Put these in a basket and take them, with the ox and the two sheep.

4 And let Aaron and his sons come to the door of the Tent of meeting, and there let them be washed with water.

5 Take the robes, and put the coat and the dress and the ephod and the priest's bag on Aaron; put the band of needlework round him,

6 And let the head-dress be placed on his head and the holy crown on the head-dress.

7 Then take the oil and put it on his head.

8 And take his sons and put their robes on them;

9 And put the linen bands round Aaron and his sons, and the head-dresses on them, to make them priests by my order for ever: so you are to make Aaron and his sons holy to me.

10 Then let the ox be taken in front of the Tent of meeting: and let Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head.

11 And you are to put the ox to death before the Lord at the door of the Tent of meeting.

12 Then take some of the blood of the ox, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, draining out all the rest of the blood at the base of the altar.

13 And take all the fat covering the inside of the ox, and the fat joining the liver and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and let them be burned on the altar;

14 But the flesh of the ox and its skin and its waste parts are to be burned outside the circle of the tents, for it is a sin-offering.

15 Then take one of the sheep, and let Aaron and his sons put their hands on its head.

16 Then let it be put to death, so that the sides of the altar are marked with its blood.

17 Then the sheep is to be cut up into its parts, and after washing its legs and its inside parts, you are to put them with the parts and the head,

18 And let them all be burned on the altar as a burned offering to the Lord: a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

19 Then take the other sheep; and after Aaron and his sons have put their hands on its head,

20 You are to put the sheep to death, and take some of its blood and put it on the point of Aaron's right ear, and of the right ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and the great toes of their right feet, dropping the rest of the blood on the sides of the altar.

21 Then take some of the blood on the altar, and the oil, and put it on Aaron and his robes and on his sons and on their robes, so that he and his robes and his sons and their robes may be made holy.

22 Then take the fat of the sheep, the fat tail, the fat covering the insides, and the fat joining the liver and the two kidneys with the fat round them, and the right leg; for by the offering of this sheep they are to be marked out as priests:

23 And take one bit of bread and one cake of oiled bread and one thin cake out of the basket of unleavened bread which is before the Lord:

24 And put them all on the hands of Aaron and of his sons, to be waved for a wave offering before the Lord.

25 Then take them from their hands, and let them be burned on the burned offering on the altar, a sweet smell before the Lord, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

26 Then take the breast of Aaron's sheep, waving it before the Lord; and it is to be your part of the offering.

27 So you are to make holy the breast of the sheep which is waved and the leg which is lifted up on high, that is, of the sheep which is offered for Aaron and his sons;

28 And it will be their part as a right for ever from the children of Israel, it is a special offering from the children of Israel, made from their peace-offerings, a special offering lifted up to the Lord.

29 And Aaron's holy robes will be used by his sons after him; they will put them on when they are made priests.

30 For seven days the son who becomes priest in his place will put them on when he comes into the Tent of meeting to do the work of the holy place.

31 Then take the sheep of the wave offering and let its flesh be cooked in water in a holy place.

32 And let Aaron and his sons make a meal of it, with the bread in the basket, at the door of the Tent of meeting.

33 All those things which were used as offerings to take away sin, and to make them holy to be priests, they may have for food: but no one who is not a priest may have them, for they are holy food.

34 And if any of the flesh of the offering or of the bread is over till the morning, let it be burned with fire; it is not to be used for food, for it is holy.

35 All these things you are to do to Aaron and his sons as I have given you orders: for seven days the work of making them priests is to go on.

36 Every day an ox is to be offered as a sin-offering, to take away sins: and by this offering on it, you will make the altar clean from sin; and you are to put oil on it and make it holy.

37 For seven days you are to make offerings for the altar and make it holy, so that it may become completely holy, and anything touching it will become holy.

38 Now this is the offering which you are to make on the altar: two lambs in their first year, every day regularly.

39 One lamb is to be offered in the morning and the other in the evening:

40 And with the one lamb, a tenth part of an ephah of the best meal, mixed with a fourth part of a hin of clear oil; and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering.

41 And the other lamb is to be offered in the evening, and with it the same meal offering and drink offering, for a sweet smell, an offering made by fire to the Lord.

42 This is to be a regular burned offering made from generation to generation, at the door of the Tent of meeting before the Lord, where I will come face to face with you and have talk with you.

43 There I will come face to face with the children of Israel, and the Tent will be made holy by my glory

44 I will make holy the Tent of meeting and the altar: and Aaron and his sons I will make holy, to be my priests

45 Among the children of Israel I will make my living-place, and I will be their God.

46 And they will see that I am the Lord their God, who took them out of the land of Egypt, so that I might be ever with them: I am the Lord their God.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 10134

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10134. 'You shall offer one lamb in the morning' means the removal of evils by means of the good of innocence from the Lord in a state of love and consequently of light in the internal man. This is clear from the meaning of 'offering a lamb', or sacrificing it, as the removal of evils by means of the good of innocence from the Lord, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the morning' as a state of love and consequently of light in the internal man, also dealt with below. The reason why 'offering (or sacrificing) a lamb' means the removal of evils by means of the good of innocence from the Lord is that burnt offerings and sacrifices were signs of purification from evils and consequently from falsities, or what amounts to the same thing, the removal of them, and the implantation of goodness and truth and the joining together of these by the Lord, 9990, 9991, 10022, 10042, 10053. As regards purification from evils, that it is the removal of them, see the places referred to in 10057; and as regards 'a lamb', that the good of innocence is meant, 10132.

[2] The reason why the removal of evils, and the implantation of goodness and truth and the joining together of these, is accomplished by means of the good of innocence from the Lord is that all good, if it is to be good, must have innocence within it. Without it good is not good; for innocence is not only the ground in which truths are sown but also the very essence of good. Therefore how far a person possesses innocence determines how far his good becomes good and his truth has life from good, consequently how far he is endowed with life and the evils present with him are removed. And so far as these are removed determines how far goodness and truth are implanted and are joined together by the Lord. All this explains why the continual burnt offering was made with lambs.

All good in heaven and in the Church has innocence within it, and without it good is not good, see 2736, 2780, 6013, 7840, 7887, 9262.

What innocence is, 3994, 4001, 4797, 5236, 6107, 6765, 7902, 9262, 9936.

[3] The reason why 'the morning' means a state of love and consequently of light in the internal man is that in the heavens angels experience different states involving their love and therefore their faith, just as in the world people pass through different times of day that affect the heat and at the same time the light there, those times of day being, as is well known, morning, midday, evening, and night. So it is that in the Word 'morning' means a state of love, 'midday' a state of light in clearness, 'evening' a state of light set in obscurity, and 'night' or twilight prior to morning a state of love set in obscurity.

Such changes from one state to another take place in heaven, see 5672, 5962, 6110, 7218, 8426.

Morning there is a state of peace and innocence, thus a state of love to the Lord, 2405, 2780, 8426, 8812, 10114.

Midday is a state of light in clearness, 3708, 5672, 9642.

Evening is a state of light set in obscurity, 3056, 3833, 6110.

There is no night in heaven, only twilight, 6110, by which a state of love set in obscurity is meant.

[4] The reason why 'the morning' means a state of love and consequently of light in the internal man is that when an angel's state is one of love and light he functions in his internal man; but when his state is one of light and love in obscurity he does so in his external man. For angels have an internal man and an external, but when they function in the internal the external is virtually dormant, whereas when they do so in the external their state is grosser and duller. So it is that when their state is one of love and light they function in their internal man, thus in what is for them the morning, and when their state is one of light and love set in obscurity they do so in their external, thus in what is for them the evening. From this it is evident that changes of state are effected by their being raised to more internal things, thus to a higher sphere of heavenly light and heat, consequently nearer to the Lord, or by their being let down to more external ones, into a lower sphere of heavenly light and heat, and therefore further away from the Lord.

[5] It should be remembered that more internal things are higher ones and so are closer to the Lord, whereas more external things are lower ones and so are further away from the Lord, and that light in the heavens is Divine Truth which composes faith, while heat in the heavens is Divine Good that constitutes love, both emanating from the Lord. For the Lord is the Sun in heaven, the source of all the life that angels have, and consequently of all the spiritual and celestial life that people in the world have, see the places referred to in 9548, 9684. Regarding more internal things, that they are higher ones and so are closer to the Lord, see 2148, 3084, 4599, 5146, 8325.

[6] The love and faith of a person who is being regenerated, and also of a person who has been regenerated, in like manner undergo changes of state by being raised to more internal things or let down to more external ones. But there are few who are able to reflect on this matter, because they are unaware of what thinking and willing within the internal man and within the external man are, or even of what the internal man is and what the external man is. Thinking and willing in the internal man implies doing so in heaven, for this is where the internal man is; but thinking and willing in the external man implies doing so in the world, for that is where the external man is. Therefore when love to God and faith resulting from it govern a person he functions in his internal man, since he is now up in heaven; but when his love and resulting faith are set in obscurity he functions in his external, since he is then down in the world.

[7] These states too are meant in the Word by 'morning', 'midday', 'evening', and 'night' or early morning twilight, as are states of the Church. The first state of the Church is likewise called 'morning' in the Word, the second state 'midday', the third 'evening', and the fourth or last 'night'. But when the Church has reached its night time, that is, when love to God and faith exist there no longer, morning emerges from twilight for another nation, where a new Church is established.

[8] For the situation with the Church in general is like that with a person in particular. His first state is a state of innocence, thus also one of love towards parents, nursemaid, and also children of his own age. His second state is a state of light, for when he becomes a youth he learns the things of light, that is, the truths of faith, and believes them. The third state is reached when he begins to love the world and to love himself, which happens when he becomes a young adult and when he thinks for himself; and to the extent that these loves increase, faith decreases, and together with faith charity towards the neighbour and love to God. The fourth and last state is reached when he has no interest in these, more so when he rejects them.

[9] Such states are also the states of every Church from its beginning to its end. Its first state is in like manner a state of early childhood, thus also one of innocence, and consequently of love to the Lord. This state is called 'morning'. The second state is a state of light. The third state is a state of light set in obscurity, which is that Church's 'evening'. And the fourth state is a state when there is no love nor consequently any light, which is its 'night'. This is so because evils increase daily; and to the extent that they increase, one person like a contagious disease infects another, especially parents their children. Furthermore hereditary evils are intensified by each succeeding generation and in that condition passed down.

[10] The fact that 'morning' means the first state of a Church and also a state of love is clear in Daniel,

The holy one said, For how long is this vision, the continual [burnt offering], and the desolating transgression? He said to me, Up to the evening, [when it is becoming] the morning, two thousand three hundred times; then the sanctuary will be made correct. Daniel 8:13-14.

This refers to the Lord's Coming. 'The evening' is the state of the Church before His Coming, but 'the morning' is the first state of the Church after His Coming, and in the highest sense it is the Lord Himself. The Lord is meant in the highest sense by 'the morning' because He is the Sun of heaven, and the Sun of heaven never sets but is always rising in the east. This also explains why the Lord is called 'the Rising' or 'the East', consequently 'the Morning' as well, see 101, 2405, 2780, 9668.

[11] In Isaiah,

One was calling to me from Seir, What of the night, what of the night, O watchman? The watchman said, Morning comes, and also the night. Isaiah 21:11-12.

'The watchman' is used to mean in the internal sense one who observes the states of the Church and the changes it undergoes, and so to mean every prophet. 'The night' is used to mean the final state of the Church, 'morning' its first state. 'Seir' from where the watchman calls means the enlightenment of nations who are in darkness, for which meaning of 'Seir', see 4240; and for that of 'the night' as the final state of the Church, 6000. 'Morning comes, and also the night' means that even though enlightenment comes to those who belong to the new Church, night remains with those who are in the old one. 'Morning' has the same meaning in David,

In the evening weeping will abide 1 , in the morning singing. Psalms 30:5.

And in Isaiah,

Around evening time, behold, terror! Before the morning, he is no more. Isaiah 17:14.

[12] Since 'the morning' in the highest sense means the Lord, and consequently love received from Him and offered back to Him, the manna, which was heavenly bread, rained down every morning, Exodus 16:8, 12-13, 21. For the Lord is meant by the bread which comes down from heaven, thus by the manna, see John 6:33, 35, 48, 50; and by 'the bread' heavenly or celestial love, which is love received from and offered back to the Lord, is meant, 2165, 2177, 3464, 4217, 4735, 5405, 5915, 9545. And it is because the Lord is the rising (or the east) and the morning, and because heavenly love comes wholly from Him, that He rose in the morning on the sabbath day, Mark 16:9 2 . Therefore also the day before the feast of Passover was called the evening or eve; for the feast of Passover was a sign of the Lord's presence and of His deliverance of faithful believers from damnation, 7867, 9286-9292.

[13] Anyone acquainted with the internal sense of the Word may recognize what is implied by Peter's denial of the Lord three times before the cock crowed twice, Matthew 26:34, 74-75; Mark 14:30, 68, 72; Luke 22:34, 60-61; John 18:27. For Peter represented the Church's faith, or what amounts to the same thing, the Church as regards faith. The time when the cock crowed meant the final period of the Church, a time of day which was also called 'cock-crow'. The triple denial meant a complete denial of the Lord at the end of the Church. That Peter represented the Church's faith, and so the Church as regards faith, see Prefaces to Genesis 18, 22, and also 3750, 4738; and that the words addressed to Peter [Matthew 26:34] meant that within the Church the Lord would be denied when it reached its final period, 6000, 6073(end), 10087. The Lord is denied when there is no longer any faith; and there is no faith when there is no longer any charity. 'Three' means what is complete, see 2788, 4495, 7715, 8347, 9198, 9488, 9489; and this is why Peter was told that he would deny three times. The fact that this happened in twilight, when morning was about to arrive, is clear in John 18:28; and the fact that cock-crow and early morning twilight are one and the same thing is evident in Mark,

Watch, for you do not know when the Master of the house will be coming - in the evening, or at midnight, or at cock-crow, or in the morning. Mark 13:35.

From all this it now becomes clear what 'the morning' means.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, will pass the night

2Mark 16:9 describes the Resurrection as occurring on the first day of the week.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.