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Numbers 17

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1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

2 Speak to the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod by their kindreds, of all the princes of the tribes, twelve rods, and write the name of every man upon his rod.

3 And the name of Aaron shall be for the tribe of Levi, and one rod shall contain all their families:

4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the covenant before the testimony, where I will speak to thee.

5 Whomsoever of these I shall choose, his rod shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, wherewith they murmur against you.

6 And Moses spoke to the children of Israel: and all the princes gave him rods one for every tribe: and there were twelve rods besides the rod of Aaron.

7 And when Moses had laid them up before the Lord in the tabernacle of the testimony:

8 He returned on the following day, and found that the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi, was budded: and that the buds swelling it had bloomed blossoms, which spreading the leaves, were formed into almonds.

9 Moses therefore brought out all the rods from before the Lord to all the children of Israel: and they saw, and every one received their rods.

10 And the Lord said to Moses: Carry back the rod of Aaron into the tabernacle of the testimony, that it may be kept there for a token of the rebellious children of Israel, and that their complaints may cease from me lest they die.

11 And Moses did as the Lord had commanded.

12 And the children of Israel said to Moses: Behold we are consumed, we all perish.

13 Whosoever approacheth to the tabernacle of the Lord, he dieth. Are we all to a man to be utterly destroyed?

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 5622

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5622. 'Pistachio nuts and almonds' means forms of the good of life that agree with those truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'pistachio nuts' as forms of the good of life that agree with the truths of exterior natural good, meant by 'resin', dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'almonds' as forms of the good of life that agree with the truths of interior natural good, meant by 'aromatic wax and stacte'. Those nuts have that meaning because they are fruits, and 'fruits' in the Word means deeds - fruits produced by useful trees meaning good deeds, or what amounts to the same, forms of the good of life, since these, so far as the use they serve is concerned, are good deeds. The reason 'pistachio nuts' means forms of the good of life that agree with the truths of exterior natural good is that they are the fruit borne by an inferior kind of tree, and things of an exterior nature are meant by objects of an inferior kind, for the reason that essentially exterior things are not so specific as interior ones since they are the general appearances produced by large numbers of inner components.

[2] The reason 'almonds' means forms of the good of life that agree with the truths of interior natural good is that the almond is a superior kind of tree. In the spiritual sense the tree itself means a perception of interior truth derived from good, its blossom means interior truth derived from good, while its fruit means the good of life resulting from that truth. The word 'almond' is used with this meaning in Jeremiah,

The word of Jehovah came [to me], saying, What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, A rod of almond do I see. Then Jehovah said to me, You have seen well, 1 for I am watching over My word to perform it. Jeremiah 1:11-12.

'A rod' stands for power, 'almond' for a perception of interior truth; and because this rod is said to be Jehovah's it stands for a watching over that truth -'word' standing for truth.

[3] The almonds which blossomed on Aaron's rod for the tribe of Levi also mean the good deeds of charity or forms of the good of life. They are described in Moses as follows,

It happened the next day, when Moses went into the tent of meeting, that behold, Aaron's rod for the house 2 of Levi had blossomed, and had produced buds, 3 so that it flowered and produced almonds. Numbers 17:8.

This was the sign that that tribe had been chosen for the priesthood; for charity was meant by that tribe, 3875, 3877, 4497, 4502, 4503, and charity is the essential characteristic of the spiritual Church.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, Well have you done in seeing

2. The Latin means tribe but the Hebrew means house.

3. literally, flower

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