Arcana Coelestia # 5943
5943. 'And you will eat the fat of the land' means making the good there their own. This is clear from the meaning of 'eating' as being communicated, joined together, and made one's own, dealt with in 2187, 2343, 3168, 3517 (end), 3832, 4745; and from the meaning of 'the fat of the land' - of Egypt - as the good within the natural. The meaning of 'fat' as that which is celestial or good is clear from many places in the Word, not only the fat found in an animal's body but also fat obtained from other sources, such as butter and oil; and other products with any fat in them - such as milk, honeys, or resins - also mean good in the measure that they have it in them.
[2] 'Fat' was representative of celestial good, thus of love received from the Lord, as is clear from the burnt offerings and sacrifices in these all the fat had to be burned on the altar, thereby providing 'an odour of rest to Jehovah'; and the children of Israel were forbidden because of this to eat fat. From these regulations, as from all the rest, it may be plain to see that the observances established among the Israelites were representative of celestial and spiritual realities and thus held what was holy within them. If this had not been so there would have been no Divine purpose at all behind the requirements to sacrifice all the fat of an animal, making this 'an odour of rest to Jehovah', or behind the Prohibition that forbade the eating of fat, and also of blood. It would surely be a stupid way of thinking about the Divine if one were to believe that He could take pleasure in fat or that Jehovah should make a requirement that did not conceal something deeper. Furthermore a person would be far too earthly - and bodily-minded if he had no interest at all in knowing the real meaning of such requirements; it would be a sign that he had no desire to know anything about the Word and eternal life.
[3] Regarding 'the fat' the following is stated in Moses,
You shall take all the fat covering the entrails, and the omentum over the liver, and the fat on the kidneys; and you shall burn them on the altar. Exodus 29:13, 22.
See also Leviticus 3:4-5, 9-10, 14-15; 4:8-9, 19, 26, 31, 35; 7:3-4. They were also required to sacrifice the fat on the breast, Leviticus 7:30-31. The phrase 'an odour of rest to Jehovah' occurs in the following places,
This is the bread of Jehovah's fire-offering for an odour of rest. Leviticus 3:16. The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of Jehovah, and shall offer the fat for an odour of rest to Jehovah. Leviticus 17:6.
And elsewhere,
The fat of the firstborn of an ox and of a sheep must be burned on the altar as an odour of rest to Jehovah. Numbers 18:17.
'An odour of rest' means the pleasure gained from the good of love.
[4] As regards the non-eating of fat by the children of Israel, Let all the fat be for Jehovah. Therefore this is a perpetual statute throughout your generations, in all your dwelling-places: You shall not eat any fat or any blood. Leviticus 3:16-17.
And elsewhere,
Speak to the children of Israel, saying, You shall not eat any fat, neither of ox, nor sheep, nor she-goat. Everyone who eats the fat from a beast, from one offered as a fire-offering to Jehovah, that soul eating it will be cut off from his peoples. Nor shall you eat any blood Leviticus 7:23-26.
[5] Burnt offerings and sacrifices were the main form taken by Divine worship among those people, 923, 2180. For this reason worship is meant by 'burnt offerings and sacrifices' in general, while the essential nature of worship is meant by what was offered in sacrifice and by the whole procedure followed then. 'The fat and the burning of it' meant the very Divine celestial itself, namely the good of love received from the Lord, as may also be seen in the following places:
In Isaiah,
Jacob, you have not bought Me [sweet] cane with silver, and you have not satisfied Me with the fat of your sacrifices; you have wearied Me so much with your sins. 1 Isaiah 43:24.
'You have not bought [sweet] cane with silver' stands for, You have not acquired the truths of faith for yourself; and 'you have not satisfied Me with the fat of sacrifices' stands for, Nor [have you offered] the good of love.
[6] In David,
I will offer You burnt offerings of fat ones, with the incense of rams. Psalms 66:15.
'Burnt offerings of fat ones' stands for worship fired by love. In Moses,
When it will be said, Where are their gods, the rock in which they trusted, who ate the fat of their sacrifices, [who] drank the wine of their drink-offering? Deuteronomy 32:37-38.
This would have been said by gentiles who imagined that the gods were fed especially by such offerings. They were totally unaware of the fact that 'the fat of sacrifices' was what was celestial, or the good of love, within worship, and that 'the wine of a drink-offering' was the truth of faith derived from that good. These offerings, when they were made, stirred the affections of the angels and were therefore prescribed so that through representatives and correspondences heaven might be near to man.
[7] In David,
Jehovah will remember all your offerings, and will make your burnt offering fat. Psalms 20:3.
'Making a burnt offering fat' stands for making worship good. In Isaiah,
Jehovah Zebaoth will make for all peoples on this mountain a feast of fat things, a feast of lees, 2 of fat things full of marrow, of sedimentary lees. 3 He will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away tears from upon all faces. Isaiah 25:6, 8.
'A feast' stands for heaven and being joined to angels there through love and charity, 3596, 3832, 5161, 'fat things' being forms of the good of love and charity. In the same prophet,
Why do you spend money on that which is not bread, and your labour on that which does not satisfy? Attend diligently to Me and eat what is good, that your soul may delight itself in fatness. Isaiah 55:2.
[8] In Jeremiah,
I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and will give them gladness instead of their sorrow. And I will fill the soul of the priests with fat, and My people will be satisfied with My goodness. Jeremiah 31:13-14.
'Fat' plainly stands for what is good, for it is said that 'the soul will be satisfied' with it and it is referred to as 'Jehovah's goodness', meaning nothing else than what is celestial, which is received from Him. In David,
My soul will be satisfied as with fatness and fat, and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips. 4 Psalms 63:5.
Here the meaning is similar. In the same author,
You have crowned the year of Your goodness, and Your tracks drip with fatness. Psalms 65:11
In the same author,
The sons of man put their trust in the shadow of Your wings. They will be filled with the fat of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your delights. Psalms 36:7-8.
In Isaiah,
Then Jehovah will give rain for your seed with which you will sow the land, and bread of the produce of the earth; and there will be fatness and wealthiness. Isaiah 30:23.
[9] In John,
All things fat and splendid have gone away, and you will find them no more. Revelation 18:14.
This refers to Babylon. 'All things fat and splendid have gone away' stands for the departure of all forms of the good of love and truth of faith. In Moses,
He caused him to suck honey out of the crag and oil out of the stony rock - butter from the herd, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and of rams, the breed 5 of Bashan, and of goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape you drink unmixed wine. Deuteronomy 32:13-14.
This refers to the spiritual Ancient Church, whose various kinds of good - meant by 'honey', 'oil', 'butter', 'milk', and 'fat' - are enumerated.
[10] Because 'fat' meant good, the word was also applied to the kinds of things that had no fat in them but nevertheless had good as their meaning, so that 'fat' and 'good' were so to speak one and the same. An example of this is the fat of wheat in the verses quoted immediately above, and similarly in David,
I would feed them with the fat of wheat. Psalms 81:16.
And elsewhere,
He is the one who makes peace your border, and with the fat of wheat He satisfies you. Psalms 147:14.
Also in Moses,
Because all the fat of the pure oil, and all the fat of the new wine and of the grain, which were the first fruits, were Jehovah's, they were given to Aaron. Numbers 18:12.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. literally, so much have you made Me serve through your sins
2. i.e. sweet wines
3. i.e. well-refined, very mature wines
4. literally, lips of songs
5. literally, sons
Leviticus 6
1
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
2
"If anyone sins, and commits a trespass against Yahweh, and deals falsely with his neighbor in a matter of deposit, or of bargain, or of robbery, or has oppressed his neighbor,
3
or has found that which was lost, and dealt falsely therein, and swearing to a lie; in any of all these things that a man does, sinning therein;
4
then it shall be, if he has sinned, and is guilty, he shall restore that which he took by robbery, or the thing which he has gotten by oppression, or the deposit which was committed to him, or the lost thing which he found,
5
or any thing about which he has sworn falsely; he shall restore it even in full, and shall add a fifth part more to it. To him to whom it belongs he shall give it, in the day of his being found guilty.
6
He shall bring his trespass offering to Yahweh, a ram without blemish from the flock, according to your estimation, for a trespass offering, to the priest.
7
The priest shall make atonement for him before Yahweh, and he will be forgiven concerning whatever he does to become guilty."
8
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
9
"Command Aaron and his sons, saying, 'This is the law of the burnt offering: the burnt offering shall be on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning; and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it.
10
The priest shall put on his linen garment, and he shall put on his linen breeches upon his body; and he shall remove the ashes from where the fire has consumed the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.
11
He shall take off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place.
12
The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it, it shall not go out; and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning: and he shall lay the burnt offering in order upon it, and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings.
13
Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.
14
"'This is the law of the meal offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before Yahweh, before the altar.
15
He shall take from there his handful of the fine flour of the meal offering, and of its oil, and all the frankincense which is on the meal offering, and shall burn it on the altar for a pleasant aroma, as its memorial, to Yahweh.
16
That which is left of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. It shall be eaten without yeast in a holy place. They shall eat it in the court of the Tent of Meeting
17
It shall not be baked with yeast. I have given it as their portion of my offerings made by fire. It is most holy, as the sin offering, and as the trespass offering.
18
Every male among the children of Aaron shall eat of it, as their portion forever throughout your generations, from the offerings of Yahweh made by fire. Whoever touches them shall be holy.'"
19
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
20
"This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer to Yahweh in the day when he is anointed: the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meal offering perpetually, half of it in the morning, and half of it in the evening.
21
It shall be made with oil in a griddle. When it is soaked, you shall bring it in. You shall offer the meal offering in baked pieces for a pleasant aroma to Yahweh.
22
The anointed priest that will be in his place from among his sons shall offer it. By a statute forever, it shall be wholly burnt to Yahweh.
23
Every meal offering of a priest shall be wholly burned. It shall not be eaten."
24
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
25
"Speak to Aaron and to his sons, saying, 'This is the law of the sin offering: in the place where the burnt offering is killed, the sin offering shall be killed before Yahweh. It is most holy.
26
The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. It shall be eaten in a holy place, in the court of the Tent of Meeting.
27
Whatever shall touch its flesh shall be holy. When there is any of its blood sprinkled on a garment, you shall wash that on which it was sprinkled in a holy place.
28
But the earthen vessel in which it is boiled shall be broken; and if it is boiled in a bronze vessel, it shall be scoured, and rinsed in water.
29
Every male among the priests shall eat of it: it is most holy.
30
No sin offering, of which any of the blood is brought into the Tent of Meeting to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be eaten: it shall be burned with fire.
