Bible

 

Numbers 6

Studie

   

1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If a man or a woman have vowed the special vow of a Nazarite, to consecrate themselves to Jehovah;

3 he shall separate himself from wine and strong drink: he shall drink no vinegar of wine, nor vinegar of strong drink, neither shall he drink any liquor of grapes, nor eat grapes, fresh or dried.

4 All the days of his separation shall he eat nothing that is made of the vine, from the seed-stones, even to the skin.

5 All the days of the vow of his separation there shall no razor come upon his head; until the days be fulfilled, that he hath consecrated himself to Jehovah, he shall be holy; he shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow.

6 All the days that he hath consecrated himself to Jehovah, he shall come near no dead body.

7 He shall not make himself unclean for his father, or for his mother, for his brother, or for his sister when they die; for the consecration of his God is upon his head.

8 All the days of his separation he is holy to Jehovah.

9 And if any one die unexpectedly by him suddenly, and he hath defiled the head of his consecration, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day shall he shave it.

10 And on the eighth day he shall bring two turtle-doves, or two young pigeons, to the priest, at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

11 And the priest shall offer one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, and make an atonement for him, for that he sinned by the dead person; and he shall hallow his head that same day.

12 And he shall [again] consecrate to Jehovah the days of his separation, and shall bring a yearling lamb for a trespass-offering. But the first days are forfeited, for his consecration hath been defiled.

13 And this is the law of the Nazarite on the day when the days of his consecration are fulfilled: he shall be brought to the entrance of the tent of meeting.

14 And he shall present his offering to Jehovah, one yearling he-lamb without blemish for a burnt-offering, and one yearling ewe-lamb without blemish for a sin-offering, and one ram without blemish for a peace-offering;

15 and a basket with unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and their oblation, and their drink-offerings.

16 And the priest shall present them before Jehovah, and shall offer his sin-offering and his burnt-offering:

17 and he shall offer the ram, a sacrifice of peace-offering to Jehovah, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall offer also his oblation and his drink-offering.

18 And the Nazarite shall shave the head of his consecration at the entrance to the tent of meeting, and shall take the hair of the head of his consecration, and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace-offering.

19 And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazarite, after he hath shaven [the hair of] his consecration.

20 And the priest shall wave them as wave-offering before Jehovah; it is holy for the priest, with the breast of the wave-offering and with the shoulder of the heave-offering; and afterwards the Nazarite may drink wine.

21 This is the law of the Nazarite who hath vowed: his offering to Jehovah for his consecration, beside what his hand is able to get; according to the vow which he vowed, so shall he do, according to the law of his consecration.

22 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

23 Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel: saying unto them,

24 Jehovah bless thee, and keep thee;

25 Jehovah make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee;

26 Jehovah lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.

27 And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 5662

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

5662. 'And he said, Peace to you, do not be afraid' means that all is well, they should not despair. This is clear from the meaning of 'peace' as what is well, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'do not be afraid' as they should not despair. The subject in the internal sense is a change of state. No longer were they by their own power acquiring truths; now they were acquiring good by means of truths, which however were truths given them by the Lord. But because they imagined that they would then be losing their selfhood, and so would be losing their freedom and consequently their entire delight in life, they were plunged into despair, as is evident from what has gone before. So it is that here 'do not be afraid' means that they should not despair; for fear arises from various different causes, 5647, and therefore has various different meanings.

[2] The reason 'peace' means all is well is that peace is what is central and consequently what reigns universally within every single thing in heaven. For the peace that reigns in heaven is like spring on earth, or like the dawn. What moves a person's feelings when spring or dawn arrives is not the discernible changes that take place then but the loveliness reigning universally, which pervades every individual thing he perceives and fills not only that perception but also each individual object with loveliness. Scarcely anyone at the present day knows what peace is when it is mentioned in the Word, as, besides other places, in the Blessing,

Jehovah lift up His face upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:26.

Almost everyone believes that peace consists in being kept safe from enemies and in serenity reigning at home and among companions. That kind of peace is not however what is meant here but another kind that is immensely superior, namely heavenly peace, described immediately above. No one can be granted this peace unless he is led by the Lord and abides in the Lord, that is, unless he is in heaven where the Lord is the All in all. For heavenly peace enters in when the desires that spring from self-love and love of the world are removed; for those desires take peace away, molesting a person inwardly and causing him at length to consider rest to consist in unrest and peace in molestations, because he considers delight to consist in evil desires. All the time a person is subject to these desires he cannot by any means know what peace is; indeed during all that time he believes that such peace is of no worth. And should anyone say that one experiences this peace when the delights that spring from self-love and love of the world are removed he laughs at the idea, for the reason that he considers peace to consist in the delight taken in evil, which is the opposite of peace.

[3] Such being the nature of peace, that is to say, it is what is central to every form of happiness and bliss and is therefore what reigns universally within every individual thing, the ancients therefore used the common saying 'Peace to you', meaning May all be well; or else they would ask people 'Did they have peace?' meaning Was all well with them? See what has been stated and shown already regarding peace,

Peace in heaven is like spring and the dawn on earth, 1726, 2780.

In the highest sense 'peace' is the Lord; in the representative sense it is His kingdom, also the Lord's Divine affecting inmostly what is good, 3780, 4681.

All unrest is due to evil and falsity, whereas peace is due to goodness and truth, 3170.

  
/ 10837  
  

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