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Numbers 19

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1 And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:

2 This is the observance of the victim, which the Lord hath ordained. Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee a red cow of full age, in which there is no blemish, and which hath not carried the yoke:

3 And you shall deliver her to Eleazar the priest, who shall bring her forth without the camp, and shall immolate her in the sight of all:

4 And dipping his finger in her blood, shall sprinkle it over against the door of the tabernacle seven times,

5 And shall burn her in the sight of all, delivering up to the fire her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, and her dung.

6 The priest shall also take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet twice dyed, and cast it into the flame, with which the cow is consumed.

7 And then after washing his garments, and body, he shall enter into the camp, and shall be unclean until the evening.

8 He also that hath burned her, shall wash his garments, and his body, and shall be unclean until the evening.

9 And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the cow, and shall pour them forth without the camp in a most clean place, that they may be reserved for the multitude of the children of Israel, and for a water of aspersion: because the cow was burnt for sin.

10 And when he that carried the ashes of the cow, hath washed his garments, he shall be unclean until the evening. The children of Israel, and the strangers that dwell among them, shall observe this for a holy thing by a perpetual ordinance.

11 He that toucheth the corpse of a man, and is therefore unclean seven days,

12 Shall be sprinkled with this water on the third day, and on the seventh, and so shall be cleansed. If he were not sprinkled on the third day, he cannot be cleansed on the seventh.

13 Every one that toucheth the corpse of a man, and is not sprinkled with mixture, shall profane the tabernacle of the Lord, and shall perish out of Israel: because he was not sprinkled with the water of expiation, he shall be unclean, and his uncleanness shall remain upon him.

14 This is the law of a mall that dieth in a tent: All that go into his tent and all the vessels that are there, shall be unclean seven days.

15 The vessel that hath no cover, nor binding over it, shall be unclean.

16 If any man in the field touch the corpse of a man that was slain, or that died of himself, or his bone, or his grave, he shall be unclean seven days.

17 And they shall take of the ashes of the burning and of the sin offering, and shall pour living waters upon them into a vessel.

18 And a man that is clean shall dip hyssop in them, and shall sprinkle therewith all the tent, and all the furniture, and the men that are defiled with touching any such thing:

19 And in this manner he that is clean shall purify the unclean on the third and on the seventh day. And being expiated the seventh day, he shall wash both himself and his garments, and be unclean until the evening.

20 If any man be not expiated after this rite, his soul shall perish out of the midst of the church: because he hath profaned the sanctuary of the Lord, and was not sprinkled with the water of purification.

21 This precept shall be an ordinance for ever. He also that sprinkled the water, shall wash his garments. Every one that shall touch the waters of expiation, shall be unclean until the evening.

22 Whatsoever a person toucheth who is unclean, he shall make it unclean: and the person that toucheth any of these things, shall be unclean until the evening.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 3103

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3103. 'And the man took a gold nose-jewel' means Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a gold nose-jewel' as good, and here, since the Lord is the subject in the internal sense, as Divine Good, which, since it comes from the Rational, is called 'the man'. For 'a man' means the rational, see 265, 749, 1007. In ancient times when forms of worship in Churches were representative and people knew what those forms meant, it was customary when initiating marriages to give a gold nose-jewel and bracelets to the bride because the Church was represented by the bride, its good by 'the nose-jewel' and its truth by 'the bracelets'. They did so because it was well known that conjugial love as it existed with a bride and wife came down from the marriage of the Lord's Divine Good and Divine Truth, see 2508, 2618, 2727-2729. The gold jewel was placed on the nose, as is evident also from where it is said later on that the servant put the jewel on her nose, verse 47, because 'the nose' meant the life of good. It had this meaning because the nose is used for breathing, which in the internal sense means life, and also for smelling, which means the delight of love, namely good, 96, 97.

[2] As regards 'a nose-jewel' being a sign of the good involved in marriage, this is also clear from other places in the Word, as in Ezekiel,

I adorned you with ornaments and put bracelets on your hands and a chain on your neck, and I put a jewel on your nose. Ezekiel 16:11-12.

This refers to the Ancient Church, meant by Jerusalem here and described as a bride to whom bracelets, a chain, and a nose-jewel were given. 'Bracelets on the hands' were a representative sign of truth, 'a jewel on the nose' a representative sign of good. In Isaiah,

Because the daughters of Zion are haughty the Lord will make bald the crown of their heads, and will take away the rings and the nose-jewels, the changes of clothes, the robes. Isaiah 3:16-18, 21-22.

'The daughters of Zion that are haughty' stands for affections for evil within the Church, 2362, 3024. 'The rings and the nose-jewels' that will be removed stands for good and the signs of it. 'The changes of clothes' and 'the robes' stand for truth and the signs of it. In Hosea,

I will visit on her the days of the baals to whom she burned incense and decked herself with her nose-jewel and her other jewellery and went after her lovers. Hosea 2:13.

This refers to the perverted Church and to the new one following it. 'Nose-jewel' also stands for a sign of the good of the Church. When those jewels were fitted to the ears they again meant good, though good put into practice, and in the contrary sense evil put into practice, as in Genesis 35:4; Exodus 32:2, 4.

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