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Numbers 25

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1 And Israel abode in Shittim; and the people began to commit fornication with the daughters of Moab.

2 And they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods; and the people ate, and bowed down to their gods.

3 And Israel joined himself to Baal-Peor; and the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel.

4 And Jehovah said to Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up to Jehovah before the sun, that the fierce anger of Jehovah may be turned away from Israel.

5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Slay every one his men that have joined themselves to Baal-Peor.

6 And behold, a man of the children of Israel came and brought a Midianitish woman to his brethren, in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of the whole assembly of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the entrance of the tent of meeting.

7 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, and rose up from among the assembly, and took a javelin in his hand,

8 and he went after the man of Israel into the tent-chamber, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman through her belly. And the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.

9 And those that died in the plague were twenty-four thousand.

10 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.

12 Therefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace!

13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was jealous for his God, and made atonement for the children of Israel.

14 And the name of the man of Israel that was slain, who was slain with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, the prince of a father's house of the Simeonites.

15 And the name of the Midianitish woman that was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was tribal head of a father's house in Midian.

16 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

17 Harass the Midianites, and smite them,

18 for they have harassed you with their wiles, wherewith they have beguiled you in the matter of Peor, and in the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, who was slain on the day of the plague because of the matter of Peor.

   

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Sacred Scripture # 101

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101. Before the Word That We Have in the World Today, There Was a Word That Has Been Lost

BEFORE the Word was given to the Israelite nation through Moses and the prophets, people were familiar with sacrificial worship, and there was prophecy at Jehovah’s command. We can tell this from what it says in the books of Moses.

As for their familiarity with sacrificial worship, we read that the children of Israel were commanded to overthrow the altars of the nations, shatter their statues, and cut down their groves (Exodus 34:13; Deuteronomy 7:5; 12:3). We also read that at Acacia Grove Israel began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab; they summoned people to sacrifices to their gods and the people feasted and bowed down to their gods and especially became attached to the Baal of Peor; and Jehovah became angry with Israel because of this (Numbers 25:1-3). And Balaam, who was from Syria, had altars built and sacrificed cattle and sheep (Numbers 22:40; 23:1-2, 14, 29-30).

[2] As for there also being prophecy at Jehovah’s command, this we can tell from the prophecies of Balaam (Numbers 23:7-10, 18-24; 24:3-9, 16-24). In fact, he prophesied about the Lord, saying that a star would rise out of Jacob and a scepter out of Israel (Numbers 24:17). As for his prophesying at Jehovah’s command, see Numbers 22:13, 18; 23:3, 5, 8, 16, 26; 24:1, 13.

This shows that the nations had divine worship that resembled the worship instituted by Moses for the Israelite nation.

[3] We get a glimpse of the fact that this was the case even before the time of Abram from what it says in Moses (Deuteronomy 32:7-8). It is clearer, though, in the case of Melchizedek, King of Salem, who brought out bread and wine and blessed Abram, and Abram gave him a tenth of everything he owned (Genesis 14:18-20). Melchizedek represented the Lord, for he is referred to as “a priest to God the Highest” (Genesis 14:18) and it says of the Lord in David, “You are a priest forever after the manner of Melchizedek” (Psalms 110:4). That was why Melchizedek brought out the bread and the wine as holy elements of the church, just as they are in the sacrament of the Holy Supper. It is also why Melchizedek blessed Abram and why Abram gave him a tenth of everything he owned.

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