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Leviticus 14

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1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: he shall be brought unto the priest,

3 and the priest shall go out of the camp; and when the priest looketh, and behold, the sore of leprosy is healed in the leper,

4 then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two clean living birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop.

5 And the priest shall command that one bird be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:

6 as to the living bird -- he shall take it, and the cedar-wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water;

7 and he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.

8 And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his garments, and shave all his hair, and bathe in water, and he shall be clean; and afterwards shall he come into the camp, and shall abide outside his tent seven days.

9 And it shall come to pass on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair, his head, and his beard, and his eyebrows, even all his hair shall he shave, and he shall wash his garments, and shall bathe his flesh in water, and he is clean.

10 And on the eighth day he shall take two he-lambs without blemish, and one yearling ewe-lamb without blemish, and three tenth parts of fine flour mingled with oil, for an oblation, and one log of oil.

11 And the priest that cleanseth [him] shall present the man that is to be cleansed and those things before Jehovah, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

12 And the priest shall take one he-lamb, and present it for a trespass-offering, and the log of oil, and wave them as a wave-offering before Jehovah.

13 And he shall slaughter the he-lamb at the place where the sin-offering and the burnt-offering are slaughtered, in a holy place; for as the sin-offering, so the trespass-offering is the priest's: it is most holy.

14 And the priest shall take of the blood of the trespass-offering, and the priest shall put it on the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot.

15 And the priest shall take of the log of oil, and pour it into his, the priest's, left hand;

16 and the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before Jehovah.

17 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put on the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass-offering.

18 And the remainder of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, and the priest shall make atonement for him before Jehovah.

19 And the priest shall offer the sin-offering, and make atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterwards shall he slaughter the burnt-offering.

20 And the priest shall offer the burnt-offering and the oblation upon the altar; and the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

21 But if he be poor, and his hand be not able to get it, then he shall take one lamb for a trespass-offering, for a wave-offering, to make atonement for him; and one tenth part of fine flour mingled with oil for an oblation; and a log of oil,

22 and two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, as his hand may be able to get: the one shall be a sin-offering, and the other a burnt-offering.

23 And he shall bring them on the eighth day of his cleansing unto the priest, unto the entrance of the tent of meeting, before Jehovah.

24 And the priest shall take the he-lamb of the trespass-offering, and the log of oil, and the priest shall wave them as a wave-offering before Jehovah.

25 And he shall slaughter the he-lamb of the trespass-offering; and the priest shall take of the blood of the trespass-offering, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot.

26 And the priest shall pour of the oil into [his], the priest's, left hand,

27 and the priest shall sprinkle with his right finger of the oil that is in his left hand seven times before Jehovah.

28 And the priest shall put of the oil that is in his hand upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and on the great toe of his right foot, upon the place of the blood of the trespass-offering.

29 And the remainder of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall put upon the head of him that is to be cleansed, to make atonement for him before Jehovah.

30 And he shall offer one of the turtle-doves, or of the young pigeons, of what his hand was able to get;

31 of what his hand was able to get shall the one be a sin-offering, and the other a burnt-offering, with the oblation; and the priest shall make atonement for him that is to be cleansed before Jehovah.

32 This is the law for him in whom is the sore of leprosy, whose hand cannot get what is [regularly prescribed] in his cleansing.

33 And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

34 When ye come into the land of Canaan, which I give to you for a possession, and I put a leprous plague in a house of the land of your possession,

35 then he whose house it is shall come and tell the priest, saying, It seemeth to me like a plague in the house;

36 and the priest shall command that they empty the house before the priest go into it to see the plague, that all that is in the house be not made unclean; and afterwards the priest shall go in to see the house.

37 And when he looketh on the plague, and behold, the plague is in the walls of the house, greenish or reddish hollows, and their look is deeper than the surface of the wall,

38 then the priest shall go out of the house to the entrance of the house, and shut up the house seven days.

39 And the priest shall come again the seventh day, and when he looketh, and behold, the plague hath spread in the walls of the house,

40 then the priest shall command that they take away the stones in which the plague is, and they shall cast them out of the city, in an unclean place.

41 And he shall cause the house to be scraped within round about, and they shall pour out the mortar that they have scraped off, out of the city in an unclean place.

42 And they shall take other stones, and put them in the place of those stones; and they shall take other mortar, and shall plaster the house.

43 And if the plague come again, and break out in the house, after he hath taken away the stones, and after he hath scraped the house, and after it is plastered,

44 then the priest shall come, and when he looketh, and behold, the plague hath spread in the house, it is a corroding leprosy in the house: it is unclean.

45 And they shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber thereof, and all the mortar of the house, and shall carry them forth out of the city to an unclean place.

46 And he that goeth into the house as long as it is shut up shall be unclean until the even.

47 And he that sleepeth in the house shall wash his garments, and he that eateth in the house shall wash his garments.

48 But if the priest shall come in and look, and behold, the plague hath not spread in the house, after the house hath been plastered, the priest shall pronounce the house clean; for the plague is healed.

49 And he shall take, to purge the house from the defilement, two birds, and cedar-wood, and scarlet, and hyssop;

50 and he shall kill one bird in an earthen vessel over running water;

51 and he shall take the cedar-wood and the hyssop and the scarlet, and the living bird, and dip them in the blood of the bird that was killed, and in the running water, and sprinkle the house seven times;

52 and he shall purge the house from the defilement with the blood of the bird, and with the running water, and with the living bird, and with the cedar-wood, and with the hyssop, and with the scarlet;

53 and he shall let the living bird loose out of the city into the open field; and he shall make atonement for the house, and it is clean.

54 This is the law for every sore of leprosy, and for the scall,

55 and for the leprosy of garments, and of houses,

56 and for the rising, and for the scab, and for the bright spot,

57 to teach when there is uncleanness, and when it is purified: this is the law of leprosy.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 643

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643. As for the meaning itself of these expressions - that 'planks of gopher' means lusts and 'rooms' the two parts of this man - this becomes clear from the Word. Gopher is a wood full of sulphur, as is the fir and others of that group. It is on account of the sulphur in it that it is said to mean lusts, for it catches fire easily. The most ancient people compared and likened those elements that exist with man to gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, his inmost celestial to gold, the lower celestial to bronze, and the lowest or bodily descending from this to wood, while the inmost spiritual they compared and likened to silver, the lower spiritual to iron, and the lowest degree of it to stone. When those objects are mentioned in the Word these are the things meant by them in the internal sense, as in Isaiah,

Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver, and instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. And I will make peace your assessment and righteousness your tax-collectors. Isaiah 60:17.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom in which no such metals exist, but instead celestial and spiritual elements. It is quite clear that the latter are meant because of the reference to peace' and 'righteousness'. Here, gold, bronze, and wood correspond to one another and mean celestial elements or those belonging to the will, as has been stated. Silver, iron, and stone also correspond to one another, and mean spiritual elements or those belonging to the understanding.

[2] In Ezekiel,

They will spoil your riches, they will despoil your merchandise, your stones and your timbers. Ezekiel 26:12.

It is quite clear that 'riches' and 'merchandise' do not mean material riches and merchandise, but celestial and spiritual ones. So also 'stones' and 'timbers' - 'stones' being things of the understanding and 'timbers' those of the will. In Habakkuk,

The stone cries out from the wall, and the beam out of the woodwork answers back. Habakkuk 2:11.

'Stone' stands for the lowest degree of the understanding, and 'wood' for the lowest degree of the will, which answers back when anything is drawn from sensory knowledge. In the same prophet,

Woe to him who says to a piece of wood, Awake! or to a dumb stone, Arise, this will teach! Behold, this is bound in gold and silver, and there is no spirit 1 at all in the midst of it. But Jehovah is in His holy temple. Habakkuk 2:19-20.

Here also 'wood' stands for evil desire, 'stone' for the lowest degree of the understanding, and therefore 'being dumb' and 'teaching' are used in reference to that stone. 'No spirit in the midst of it' means that it represents nothing celestial or spiritual, like a temple in which there is stone and wood, overlaid with gold and silver, existing with people who give no thought to what those things represent.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Our waters we drink for silver, our timbers come for a price. Lamentations 5:4.

Here 'waters' and 'silver' mean things of the understanding, 'timbers' those of the will. In the same prophet,

Who say to wood, You are my father; and to a stone, You gave birth to us. Jeremiah 2:27.

Here 'wood' stands for desire which belongs to the will, from which there is conception, and 'stone' for sensory knowledge, from which there is birth. All through the Prophets therefore 'serving wood and stone' stands for images carved out of wood or stone, which means that people were slaves to evil desires and to delusions. The Prophets also speak of 'committing adultery with wood and stone', as in Jeremiah 3:9. In Hosea,

The people inquire of their piece of wood, and their staff makes declaration to them, for the spirit of whoredom has led them astray. Hosea 4:12.

This stands for their inquiring of a wooden image, or evil desires. In Isaiah,

The tophet has been prepared since yesterday. Its pyre is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah is like a stream of burning brimstone. Isaiah 30:33.

Here 'fire', brimstone', and 'wood' stand for filthy desires.

[4] In general 'wood' means those elements which constitute the lowest parts of the will. Precious kinds of wood, such as cedar and so on, mean elements that are good - for example, the cedar timbers in the Temple, or the cedarwood used in cleansing leprosy, Leviticus 14:4, 6-7, or the wood cast into the bitter waters at Marah, by which the waters were made sweet, Exodus 15:25. These in the Lord's Divine mercy will be dealt with in their proper places. Non-precious kinds of wood however, also those which were made into images, and those that were used for a pyre as well, and the like, mean evil desires, as do planks of gopher here on account of the brimstone or sulphur in them. As in Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah's vengeance - her streams will be turned into pitch, and her dust into brimstone, and her land will become burning pitch. Isaiah 34:8-9.

'Pitch' stands for dreadful delusions, 'brimstone' for filthy desires.

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