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Numre 18

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1 HE EN sagde til Aron: Du tillige med dine Sønner og dit Fædrenehus skal have Ansvaret for Helligdommen, og du tillige med dine Sønner skal have Ansvaret for eders Præstetjeneste.

2 Men også dine Brødre, Levis Stamme, din Fædrenestamme, skal du lade træde frem sammen med dig, og de skal holde sig til dig og gå dig til Hånde, når du tillige med dine Sønner gør Tjeneste foran Vidnesbyrdets Telt;

3 og de skal tage Vare på, hvad du har at varetage, og på alt, hvad der er at varetage ved Teltet, men de må ikke komme de hellige Ting eller Alteret nær, at ikke både de og I skal ..

4 De skal holde sig til dig og tage Vare på, hvad der er at varetage ved Åbenbaringsteltet, alt Arbejdet derved, men ingen Lægmand må der komme eder nær.

5 Men I skal tage Vare på, hvad der er at varetage ved Helligdommen og Alteret, for at der ikke atter skal komme Vrede over Israelitterne.

6 Se, jeg har selv udtaget eders Brødre Leviterne af Israelitternes Midte som en Gave til eder, de er givet HE EN til at udføre Arbejdet ved Åbenbaringsteltet.

7 Men du tillige med dine Sønner skal tage Vare på eders Præstegerning i alt, hvad der angår Alteret og det, der er inden for Forhænget, og udføre Arbejdet derved. Som en Gave skænker jeg eder Præstedømmet; men enhver Lægmand, der trænger sig ind deri, skal lide Døden.

8 HE EN talede fremdeles til Aron: Se, jeg giver dig, hvad der skal lægges til Side af mine Offerydelser; alle Israelitternes Helliggaver giver jeg dig og dine Sønner som eders Del, en evig gyldig ettighed.

9 Følgende skal tilfalde dig af det højhellige, fraregnet hvad der opbrændes: Alle deres Offergaver, der falder ind under Afgrødeofre, Syndofre og Skyldofre, som de bringer mig til Erstatning; som højhelligt skal dette tilfalde dig og dine Sønner.

10 På et højhelligt Sted skal du spise det, og alle af Mandkøn må spise deraf; det skal være dig helligt.

11 Fremdeles skal følgende tilfalde dig som Offerydelse af deres Gaver: Alle Gaver fra Israelitterne, hvormed der udføres Svingning, giver jeg dig tillige med dine Sønner og Døtre som en evig gyldig ettighed; enhver, som er ren i dit Hus, må spise deraf.

12 Alt det bedste af Olien, Mosten og Kornet, Førstegrøden deraf, som de giver HE EN, giver jeg dig.

13 De første Frugter af alt, hvad der gror i deres Land, som de bringer HE EN, skal tilfalde dig; enhver, som er ren i dit Hus, må spise deraf.

14 Alt, hvad der lægges Band på i Israel, skal tilfalde dig.

15 Af alt Kød, som de bringer til HE EN, såvel af Mennesker som af Dyr, skal alt, hvad der åbner Moders Liv, tilfalde dig; dog skal du lade de førstefødte Mennesker udløse, og ligeledes skal du lade de førstefødte urene Dyr udløse.

16 Hine skal du lade udløse, når de er en Måned gamle eller derover, med en Vurderingssum af fem Sekel efter hellig Vægt, tyve Gera på en Sekel.

17 Men de førstefødte Stykker Hornkvæg, Lam eller Geder må du ikke lade udløse; de er hellige, deres Blod skal du sprænge på Alteret, og Fedtet skal du bringe som øgoffer, et Ildoffer til en liflig Duft for HE EN;

18 men Kødet tilfalder dig; ligesom Svingningsbrystet og højre Kølle tilfalder det dig.

19 Al Offerydelse af Helliggaver, som Israelitterne yder HE EN, giver jeg dig tillige med dine Sønner og Døtre som en evig gyldig ettighed; det skal være en evig gyldig Saltpagt for HE ENs Åsyn for dig tillige med dine Efterkommere.

20 HE EN sagde fremdeles til Aron: Du skal ingen Arvelod have i deres Land, og der skal ikke tilfalde dig nogen Lod iblandt dem; jeg selv er din Arvelod og Del blandt Israelitterne.

21 Men se, Levisønnerne giver jeg al Tiende i Israel som Arvelod til Løn for det Arbejde, de udfører ved Åbenbaringsteltet.

22 Israelitterne må herefter ikke komme Åbenbaringsteltet nær, for at de ikke skal pådrage sig Synd og ;

23 kun Leviterne må udføre Arbejdet ved Åbenbaringsteltet, og de skal have Ansvaret derfor. Det skal være eder en evig gyldig Anordning fra Slægt til Slægt. Men nogen Arvelod skal de ikke have blandt Israelitterne;

24 thi Tienden, Israelitterne yder HE EN som Offerydelse, giver jeg Leviterne til Arvelod. Derfor sagde jeg dem, at de ikke skal have nogen Arvelod blandt Israelitterne.

25 HE EN talede fremdeles til Moses og sagde:

26 Tal til Leviterne og sig til dem: Når I af Israelitterne modtager Tienden, som jeg har givet eder som den Arvelod, I skal have af dem, så skal I yde HE EN en Offerydelse deraf, Tiende af Tienden;

27 og denne eders Offerydelse skal ligestilles med Offerydelsen af Kornet fra Tærskepladsen og Overfloden fra Vinpersen.

28 Således skal også I yde HE EN en Offerydelse af al den Tiende, I modtager af Israelitterne, og denne HE ENs Offerydelse skal I give Præsten Aron.

29 Af alle de Gaver, I modtager, skal I yde HE ENs Offerydelse, af alt det bedste deraf, som hans Helliggave.

30 Og sig til dem: Når I yder det bedste deraf, skal det ligestilles med Offerydelsen af, hvad der kommer fra Tærskepladsen og Vinpersen.

31 I må spise det hvor som helst sammen med eders Familie, thi det er eders Løn for eders Arbejde ved Åbenbaringsteltet.

32 Når I blot yder det bedste deraf, skal I ikke for den Sags Skyld pådrage eder Synd og ikke vanhellige Israelitternes Helliggaver og udsætte eder for at .

   


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Apocalypse Explained # 1153

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1153. And fine flour and wheat signifies profaned worship from truths and goods that are from a spiritual origin. This is evident from the signification of "fine flour," as being truth from a spiritual origin (of which presently); also from the signification of "wheat," as being good from a spiritual origin (See n. 374, 375). These also signify worship because the meal offering was composed of them, which was offered with the sacrifices upon the altar the same as the wine and the oil; for the meal offerings were prepared with oil and the drink offerings with wine. And because of the crops of these they had rejoicings in festivals which were instituted to celebrate their harvests. "Fine flour" signifies truth from spiritual good because it is prepared from wheat, which signifies spiritual good, as truth comes from good.

[2] As this truth of the church was signified by "fine flour," it was prescribed what quantity of it should be used in the cakes that were called the meal offerings, which were offered with the sacrifices upon the altar (respecting which see Exodus 29; Leviticus 5 - Leviticus 7, 23; Numbers 18, 28, 29); also the quantity of fine flour in the show bread (Leviticus 23:17; 24:5); for it was commanded that the meal offering that was to be offered on the altar should be prepared from fine flour, and oil and frankincense poured thereon (Leviticus 2:1). Because of this signification of "fine flour," when Abraham talked with the three angels he said to Sarah his wife:

Hasten, knead three measures of flour, of fine flour, and make cakes (Genesis 18:6).

[3] "Fine flour" also signifies the truth of good from a spiritual origin in Ezekiel:

Thou didst eat fine flour, honey, and oil, whence thou didst become exceeding beautiful, and didst prosper even to a kingdom. My bread which I gave thee, fine flour, honey, and oil, with which I fed thee, thou didst offer before idols as an odor of rest (Ezekiel 16:13, 19).

This is said of Jerusalem, which signifies the church as to doctrine, and in that chapter is described what it had been in its beginning and what it became afterwards. "Fine flour and oil" signify truth and good from a spiritual origin, and "honey" good from a natural origin. "Thou didst become exceeding beautiful" signifies to be intelligent and wise; "to prosper even to a kingdom" signifies even to becoming a church, "kingdom" being the church; "to offer these to idols as an odor of rest" signifies the idolatrous worship into which the true worship of the church was afterwards changed.

[4] But "flour" from barley signifies truth from a natural origin, for "barley" signifies natural good, as "wheat" signifies spiritual good. Thus in Isaiah:

Take the millstone and grind flour, make thyself bare (Isaiah 47:2).

This is said of Babylon. "To take a millstone and grind flour" signifies to falsify the truths of the Word, and "to make oneself bare" signifies to adulterate the goods of the Word. In Hosea:

They sow the wind and they reap the whirlwind; he hath no standing corn, the blade shall yield no flour; and if perchance it do, strangers shall devour it (Hosea 8:7).

Here, too, "flour" signifies truth from a natural origin.

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith)

[5] 5. The fifth law of the Divine providence is, That from sense and perception in himself man cannot know how good and truth flow in from the Lord, and how evil and falsity flow in from hell; nor can he see how the Divine providence operates in favor of good against evil; if he did he could not act from freedom according to reason as if from himself. It is sufficient for him to know and acknowledge this from the Word and from the doctrine of the church. This is what is meant by the Lord's words in John:

The wind bloweth where it willeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh or whither it goeth; so is everyone that is born of the spirit (John 3:8).

Also by these words in Mark:

The kingdom of God is like a man that casteth seed upon the earth and then sleepeth and riseth night and day; but the seed springeth up and groweth up when he knows it not, for the earth beareth fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, at length the full corn in the ear; and when the fruit is produced, he putteth in the sickle because the harvest is at hand (Mark 4:26, 29).

[6] Man does not perceive the operation of the Divine providence within him, because that would take away his freedom, and thus his ability to think as if of himself, and with it every delight of life; thus man would be like an automaton, in which there is no reciprocal, and by that, conjunction; also he would be a slave and not free. The Divine providence moves so secretly that scarcely a trace of it is seen, although it acts upon the most minute things of man's thought and will, which regard his eternal state, chiefly for the reason that the Lord continually wills to impress His love on man, and through it his wisdom, and thus create him into His image. Consequently the operation of the Lord is into man's love and from that into his understanding, and not the reverse. Love with its affections, which are manifold and innumerable, is perceived by man only by a most general feeling, and thus so slightly that there is scarcely anything of it; and yet that man may be reformed and saved he must be led from one affection of love into another according to their connection from order, a thing that no man and even no angel can at all comprehend.

[7] If a man should learn anything of these arcana, he could not be withheld from leading himself; and in this he would be continually led from heaven into hell, while the Lord's leading is continually from hell towards heaven. For from himself man constantly acts against order, while the Lord acts constantly according to order; for man, from the nature derived from his parents, is in the love of self and the love of the world, and consequently perceives from a feeling of delight everything belonging to those loves as good; nevertheless, those loves as ends must be removed; and this is done by the Lord in infinite ways, that appear like a labyrinth even before the angels of the third heaven.

[8] All this makes clear that man would find no help at all in knowing anything about this from sense or perception, but it would do him harm instead, and would destroy him forever. It is sufficient for man to know truths, and by means of truths to know what is good and what is evil, and to acknowledge the Lord and His Divine auspices in every least thing. Then so far as he knows truths, and by means of them what is good and evil, and does what is good as if from himself, so far the Lord leads him from love into wisdom, conjoining love to wisdom and wisdom to love, and making them to be one, because they are one in Himself. These ways by which the Lord leads man may be compared to the vessels through which the blood in man courses and circulates, also the fibers and their foldings within and without the viscera of the body, especially in the brain, through which the animal spirit flows and gives life.

[9] How all these things flow in and flow through, man knows nothing; and yet he lives if only he knows what he needs to do and does it. But the ways by which the Lord leads man are far more complicated and inexplicable, both those by which the Lord leads man through the societies of hell and away from them, and also those by which he leads him through the societies of heaven and interiorly into them. This, therefore, is what is meant by "the wind bloweth where it willeth, and thou knowest not whence it cometh and whither it goeth" (John 3:8), also by "the seed springeth up and groweth up, the man knoweth not how" (Mark 4:27). Moreover, of what consequence is it for a man to know how seed grows up, provided he knows how to plow and harrow the land, to sow the seed, and when he reaps his harvest to bless God?

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.