Arcana Coelestia # 352
352. That the “firstlings of the flock” signify that which is of the Lord alone, is evident from the firstlings or firstborn in the representative church, which were all holy, because they had relation to the Lord, who alone is the “firstborn.” Love and the faith thence derived are the “firstborn.” All love is of the Lord, and not one whit of it is of man, therefore the Lord alone is the “firstborn.” This was represented in the ancient churches by the firstborn of man and of beast being sacred to Jehovah (Exodus 13:2, 12, 15); and by the tribe of Levi, which in the internal sense signifies love-though Leviticus was born after Reuben and Simeon who in the internal sense signify faith-being accepted instead of all the firstborn, and constituting the priesthood (Numbers 3:40-45; 8:14-20). Of the Lord as the firstborn of all, with respect to His human essence, it is thus written in David:
He shall call Me, My Father, My God, and the rock of My salvation. I will also make Him My firstborn, high above the kings of the earth (Psalms 89:26-27).And in John:
Jesus Christ the firstborn of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth (Revelation 1:5).
Observe that the firstborn of worship signify the Lord, and the firstborn of the church, faith.
Numbers 8:14-20
14
Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.
15
"After that, the Levites shall go in to do the service of the Tent of Meeting: and you shall cleanse them, and offer them as a wave offering.
16
For they are wholly given to me from among the children of Israel; instead of all who open the womb, even the firstborn of all the children of Israel, I have taken them to me.
17
For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both man and animal. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for myself.
18
I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel.
19
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 near to the sanctuary."
20
Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel did so to the Levites. According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the children of Israel did to them.
