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numerot 18

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1 Ja Herra sanoi Aaronille: "Sinun ja sinun poikiesi, isäsi suvun sinun kanssasi, on kannettava pyhäkköä vastaan tehdyt rikkomukset; samoin sinun ja poikiesi sinun kanssasi on kannettava pappeutta vastaan tehdyt rikkomukset.

2 Mutta salli myös veljiesi, Leevin sukukunnan, isäsi heimon, käydä sinun kanssasi sinne. He liittykööt sinuun ja palvelkoot sinua, kun sinä ja poikasi sinun kanssasi toimitatte palvelusta lain majan edessä.

3 Ja he hoitakoot sekä sinun tehtäviäsi että kaikkia majan tehtäviä, mutta älkööt lähestykö pyhiä esineitä tai alttaria, etteivät kuolisi, niin he kuin tekin.

4 Liittykööt he sinuun ja hoitakoot ilmestysmajan tehtävät, majan kaikki palvelustehtävät; mutta syrjäinen älköön teitä lähestykö.

5 Ja teidän on hoidettava tehtävät pyhäkössä ja alttarilla, ettei Herran viha enää kohtaisi israelilaisia.

6 Ja katso, minä olen ottanut teidän veljenne, leeviläiset, israelilaisten keskuudesta teille lahjaksi, Herralle annettuina toimittamaan palvelusta ilmestysmajassa.

7 Mutta sinä ja poikasi sinun kanssasi hoitakaa papinvirkaanne, pitäen huolta kaikista alttarilla ja esiripun sisäpuolella suoritettavista tehtävistä, ja toimittakaa palvelusta siellä. Lahjana minä annan teille papinvirkanne; mutta syrjäinen, joka siihen ryhtyy, surmattakoon."

8 Ja Herra puhui Aaronille: "Katso, minä annan sinulle sen, mikä saamistani anneista on talteen otettava; kaikista israelilaisten pyhistä lahjoista minä annan sen sinulle osuudeksi ja sinun pojillesi ikuiseksi oikeudeksi.

9 Korkeasti-pyhistä lahjoista olkoon sinun omasi tämä, jota ei tulessa polteta: kaikki ne heidän uhrilahjansa, jotka kuuluvat kaikkiin heidän ruokauhreihinsa, syntiuhreihinsa ja vikauhreihinsa, joita he suorittavat minulle korvauksena; se on korkeasti-pyhää ja olkoon sinun ja sinun poikiesi oma.

10 Syökää se korkeasti-pyhässä paikassa; jokainen miehenpuoli saakoon syödä sitä. Olkoon se sinulle pyhä.

11 Ja antina heidän lahjoistansa olkoon sinun omasi tämä: kaiken sen, minkä israelilaiset uhraavat heilutusmenoin, minä annan sinulle, sinun pojillesi ja tyttärillesi ikuiseksi oikeudeksi; jokainen, joka on puhdas sinun perheessäsi, saakoon syödä sitä.

12 Kaiken parhaan öljyn ja kaiken parhaan viinin ja viljan, minkä he uutisena antavat Herralle, sen minä annan sinulle.

13 Uutiset kaikesta, mitä heidän maassansa kasvaa ja minkä he tuovat Herralle, olkoot sinun omasi; jokainen, joka on puhdas sinun perheessäsi, saakoon syödä niitä.

14 Kaikki, mitä Israelissa vihittyä on, olkoon sinun omaasi.

15 Kaikki, mikä avaa äidinkohdun, mikä elollinen hyvänsä, joka tuodaan Herralle, ihmisistä tai karjasta, olkoon sinun omasi; lunastuta kuitenkin ihmisen esikoinen samoinkuin saastaisen eläimen esikoinen.

16 Ja mitä heidän lunastamiseensa tulee, niin lunastuta heidät kuukauden ikäisistä alkaen sinun asettamastasi viiden sekelin arviohinnasta pyhäkkösekelin painon mukaan, sekeli kaksikymmentä geeraa.

17 Mutta raavaan tai lampaan tai vuohen esikoista älä lunastuta; ne ovat pyhiä. Vihmo niiden veri alttarille ja polta niiden rasva uhriksi, suloiseksi tuoksuksi Herralle.

18 Mutta niiden liha olkoon sinun omasi; niinkuin heilutettu rintalihakin ja oikea reisi olkoon se sinun omasi.

19 Kaikki pyhät annit, joita israelilaiset antavat Herralle, minä annan sinulle, sinun pojillesi ja tyttärillesi ikuiseksi oikeudeksi. Se olkoon ikuinen suolaliitto Herran edessä sinulle ja sinun jälkeläisillesi."

20 Ja Herra puhui Aaronille: "Sinulla älköön olko perintöosaa heidän maassansa älköönkä osuutta heidän keskellänsä; minä itse olen sinun osuutesi ja perintöosasi israelilaisten keskellä.

21 Mutta leeviläisille minä annan kaikki kymmenykset Israelissa perintöosaksi, palkkana siitä palveluksesta, jonka he toimittavat ilmestysmajassa.

22 Älköötkä muut israelilaiset enää lähestykö ilmestysmajaa, että he eivät joutuisi syynalaisiksi ja kuolisi.

23 Ainoastaan leeviläiset toimittakoot palvelusta ilmestysmajassa ja kantakoot tehdyt rikkomukset; se olkoon teille ikuinen säädös sukupolvesta sukupolveen. Mutta heillä älköön olko perintöosaa israelilaisten keskellä.

24 Sillä israelilaisten kymmenykset, jotka he antavat Herralle anniksi, minä annan leeviläisille perintöosaksi; sentähden minä kiellän heiltä perintöosan israelilaisten keskuudessa."

25 Ja Herra puhui Moosekselle sanoen:

26 "Puhu leeviläisille ja sano: Kun te israelilaisilta otatte ne kymmenykset, jotka minä olen määrännyt heidän teille annettavaksi perintöosaksenne, niin antakaa siitä Herralle anti, kymmenykset kymmenyksistä,

27 ja se katsotaan teidän anniksenne, niinkuin puimatantereelta annetut jyvät tai kuurnasta tullut mehu.

28 Niin antakaa tekin Herralle anti kaikista kymmenyksistä, jotka te saatte israelilaisilta, ja tämä Herralle niistä tuleva anti antakaa pappi Aaronille.

29 Kaikista saamistanne lahjoista antakaa Herralle täysi anti; kaikesta, mikä parasta on, antakaa pyhä lahja.

30 Ja sano heille: Kun te siitä annatte parhaimman osan, niin se katsotaan leeviläisten anniksi niinkuin puimatantereen tai kuurnan sato.

31 Ja sen saatte te ja teidän perheenne syödä missä hyvänsä, sillä se on teille palkka palveluksestanne ilmestysmajassa.

32 Kun te näin annatte siitä anniksi parhaimman osan, ette joudu syynalaisiksi ettekä saastuta israelilaisten pyhiä lahjoja ettekä kuole." 19:

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 379

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379. "And made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb." This symbolically means, and by truths have purified those religious beliefs from the falsities accompanying evil, and so have been reformed by the Lord.

Some evils are evils that accompany falsity, and some falsities are falsities that accompany evil. Evils that accompany falsity are found among people who, in accord with their religion, believe that evils do not condemn, provided they orally confess that they are sinners. And falsities that accompany evil are found among people who justify the evils they harbor.

As in no. 378 above, robes here symbolize general truths drawn from the Word, which constitute the people's religious beliefs. They are said to have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb because the color white is predicated of truths (nos. 167, 231, 232), meaning therefore that they used truths to purify their falsities.

This symbolically means also that thus they were reformed by the Lord, because all who have fought against evils in the world and have believed in the Lord are, after their departure from the world, taught by the Lord and led by truths away from the falsities of their religion. And so they are reformed. That is because people who refrain from evils as being sins possess goodness of life, and goodness of life desires truths, and acknowledges and accepts them. But this is never the case with evil of life.

People believe that the blood of the Lamb here and elsewhere in the Word symbolizes the Lord's suffering of the cross. But the suffering of the cross was the final temptation or trial by which the Lord completely overcame the hells and fully glorified His humanity. By these two means He saved mankind (see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 12-14, 15-17, and also no. 67 above). Moreover, because by His suffering of the cross the Lord fully glorified His humanity, which is to say, made it Divine, therefore nothing else can be meant by His flesh and blood but the Divinity in Him and emanating from Him - His flesh meaning the Divine goodness of His Divine love, and His blood meaning the Divine truth emanating from that goodness.

[2] Blood is mentioned many times in the Word, and everywhere it symbolizes, in the spiritual sense, either the Lord's Divine truth, which is the same as the Divine truth of the Word, or in an opposite sense, the Divine truth of the Word falsified or profaned, as can be seen from the following passages.

First, that blood symbolizes the Lord's Divine truth or the Divine truth of the Word can be seen from these passages:

Blood was called the blood of the covenant, and a covenant conjoins, a conjunction that the Lord accomplishes by His Divine truth. So, for example, in Zechariah:

By the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the pit... (Zechariah 9:11)

After Moses read the Book of the Law in the hearing of the people, he sprinkled half the blood on the people and said,

This is the blood of the covenant which Jehovah has made with you in accordance with all these words. (Exodus 24:3-8)

Moreover,

(Jesus) took the cup..., and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. ...this is My blood, the blood of the new covenant... (Matthew 26:27-28, cf. Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20)

The blood of the new covenant or testament symbolizes nothing else than the Word, which is called a covenant or testament - the Old Covenant or Testament, and the New Covenant or Testament - thus symbolizing the Divine truth in it.

[3] Since blood has this symbolic meaning, the Lord therefore gave His disciples wine, saying, "This is My blood" - wine symbolizing Divine truth (no. 316). Wine is also on that account called "the blood of grapes" (Genesis 49:11, Deuteronomy 32:14).

This is still further apparent from these words of the Lord:

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will have no life in you... For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. (John 6:53-56).

It is clearly apparent that blood here means Divine truth, because the text says that he who drinks has life, and abides in the Lord, and the Lord in him. This is the effect of Divine truth and a life in accordance with it, and an effect confirmed by the Holy Supper, as everyone in the church may know.

[4] Since blood symbolizes the Lord's Divine truth, which is the same as the Divine truth of the Word, and this is the essence of the Old and New Covenants or Testaments, therefore blood was the holiest representative symbol in the Israelite Church, in which every single thing corresponded to something spiritual. So, for example, the people were to take some of the blood of the paschal lamb and put it on the doorposts and lintel of their houses to keep the plague from coming upon them (Exodus 12:7, 13, 22). The blood of the burnt offering was to be sprinkled on the altar, at the base of the altar, on Aaron and his sons, and on their vestments (Exodus 29:12, 16, 20-21).

[5] The blood of the Lamb has a like symbolism in the following verses in the book of Revelation:

...war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon... And they overcame it by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony... (Revelation 12:7, 11)

For no one can think that Michael and his angels overcame the dragon with anything other than the Lord's Divine truth in the Word. Angels in heaven, indeed, cannot think of any blood, nor do they think of the Lord's suffering, but of His Divine truth and resurrection. Consequently, when a person thinks about the Lord's blood, angels perceive His Divine truth, and when a person thinks about the Lord's suffering, they perceive His glorification, and then only His resurrection. I have been granted to know the reality of this by much experience.

[6] That blood symbolizes Divine truth is apparent also from these verses in the book of Psalms:

(God) will save the souls of the needy... Precious shall be their blood in His sight. And they shall live, and He will give them the gold of Sheba. (Psalms 72:13-15)

The blood, precious in the sight of God, stands for Divine truth among those people. The gold of Sheba is the resulting wisdom.

In Ezekiel:

Gather together... to My great sacrifice... on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall... drink the blood of the princes of the earth... You shall... drink blood till you are drunk at My sacrifice which I am sacrificing for you... (Thus) I will set My glory among the nations. (Ezekiel 39:17-21)

Blood here does not mean blood, because the statement is that they will drink the blood of the princes of the earth and that they will drink blood till they are drunk. But the true meaning of the word emerges when blood is understood to mean Divine truth. The subject there, too, is the Lord's church, which He would establish among gentiles.

[7] Second, that blood symbolizes Divine truth can be clearly seen from its opposite meaning, in which it symbolizes the Divine truth of the Word falsified or profaned, as is apparent from these passages:

He who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil... (Isaiah 33:15)

You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; Jehovah abhors the bloody and deceitful man. (Psalms 5:6)

...everyone recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord has... rinsed away (her) blood... from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of purification. (Isaiah 4:3-4)

...on the day you were born... I saw you trampled in your blood, and I said to you in your blood, "Live!" ...I washed you and rinsed away the blood upon you... (Ezekiel 16:5-6, 9, 22, 36, 38)

They wandered blind in the streets; they have defiled themselves with blood, and what they cannot touch, they touch with their garments. (Lamentations 4:13-14)

The garment is polluted with blood. (Isaiah 9:5)

Also on your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent... (Jeremiah 2:34)

Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings... (Isaiah 1:15-16)

...your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken a lie... They make haste to shed innocent blood. (Isaiah 59:3, 7)

...Jehovah is coming out... to visit the iniquity... of the earth; then the earth will disclose her blood... (Isaiah 26:21)

...as many as received Him, to them He gave the ability to be children of God..., who were born, not of blood... (John 1:12-13)

In (Babylon) was found the blood of prophets and saints... (Revelation 18:24)

...the sea... became as the blood of a dead man... ...the springs of water... became blood. (Revelation 16:3-4. Cf. Isaiah 15:9, Psalms 105:29)

The like is symbolized by the rivers, ponds, and pools of water in Egypt being turned into blood (Exodus 7:15-25).

...the moon (shall be turned) into blood, before the coming of the great... day of Jehovah. (Joel 2:31)

...the moon became... blood. (Revelation 6:12)

In these places and many others, blood symbolizes the truth of the Word falsified, and also profaned. But this can be seen more clearly when these passages in the Word are read in context.

So, then, since blood in an opposite sense symbolizes the truth of the Word falsified or profaned, it is apparent that blood in a true sense symbolizes the truth of the Word not falsified.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.