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4 Mose 18

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1 Und der HERR sprach zu Aaron: Du und deine Söhne und deines Vaters Haus mit dir sollt die Missetat des Heiligtums tragen; und du und deine Söhne mit dir sollt die Missetat eures Priestertums tragen.

2 Aber deine Brüder des Stamms Levi, deines Vaters, sollst du zu dir nehmen, daß sie bei dir seien und dir dienen; du aber und deine Söhne mit dir vor der Hütte des Zeugnisses.

3 Und sie sollen deines Dienstes und des Dienstes der ganzen Hütte warten. Doch zu dem Geräte des Heiligtums und zu dem Altar sollen sie sich nicht machen, daß nicht beide, sie und ihr, sterbet,

4 sondern sie sollen bei dir sein, daß sie des Dienstes warten an der Hütte des Stifts in allem Amt der Hütte. Und kein Fremder soll sich zu euch tun.

5 So wartet nun des Dienstes des Heiligtums und des Dienstes des Altars, daß fort nicht mehr ein Wüten komme über die Kinder Israel.

6 Denn siehe, ich habe die Leviten, eure Brüder, genommen aus den Kindern Israel und euch gegeben, dem HERRN zum Geschenk, daß sie des Amts pflegen an der Hütte des Stifts.

7 Du aber und deine Söhne mit dir sollt eures Priestertums warten, daß ihr dienet in allerlei Geschäfte des Altars und inwendig hinter dem Vorhang; denn euer Priestertum gebe ich euch zum Amt, zum Geschenk. Wenn ein Fremder sich herzutut, der soll sterben.

8 Und der HERR sagte zu Aaron: Siehe, ich habe dir gegeben meine Hebopfer von allem, das die Kinder Israel heiligen, für dein priesterlich Amt und deinen Söhnen zum ewigen Recht.

9 Das sollst du haben von dem Allerheiligsten, das sie opfern: Alle ihre Gaben mit all ihrem Speisopfer und mit all ihrem Sündopfer und mit all ihrem Schuldopfer, das sie mir geben, das soll dir und deinen Söhnen das Allerheiligste sein.

10 Am allerheiligsten Ort sollst du es essen. Was männlich ist, soll davon essen; denn es soll dir heilig sein.

11 Ich habe auch das Hebopfer ihrer Gabe an allen Webeopfern der Kinder Israel dir und deinen Söhnen und deinen Töchtern gegeben samt dir zum ewigen Recht; wer rein ist in deinem Hause, soll davon essen.

12 Alles beste Öl und allen besten Most und Korn ihrer Erstlinge, die sie dem HERRN geben, habe ich dir gegeben.

13 Die erste Frucht alles des, das in ihrem Lande ist, das sie dem HERRN bringen, soll dein sein; wer rein ist in deinem Hause, soll davon essen.

14 Alles Verbannete in Israel soll dein sein.

15 Alles, das seine Mutter bricht unter allem Fleisch, das sie dem HERRN bringen, es sei Mensch oder Vieh, soll dein sein; doch daß du die erste Menschenfrucht lösen lassest und die erste Frucht eines unreinen Viehes auch lösen lässest.

16 Sie sollen's aber lösen, wenn's eines Monden alt ist; und sollst es zu lösen geben um Geld, um fünf Sekel, nach dem Sekel des Heiligtums, der gilt zwanzig Gera.

17 Aber die erste Frucht eines Ochsen oder Lamms oder Ziege sollst du nicht zu lösen geben, denn sie sind heilig; ihr Blut sollst du sprengen auf den Altar und ihr Fett sollst du anzünden zum Opfer des süßen Geruchs dem HERRN.

18 Ihr Fleisch soll dein sein, wie auch die Webebrust und die rechte Schulter dein ist.

19 Alle Hebopfer, die die Kinder Israel heiligen dem HERRN, habe ich dir gegeben und deinen Söhnen und deinen Töchtern samt dir zum ewigen Recht. Das soll ein unverwesentlicher Bund sein ewig vor dem HERRN dir und deinem Samen samt dir.

20 Und der HERR sprach zu Aaron: Du sollst in ihrem Lande nichts besitzen, auch kein Teil unter ihnen haben; denn ich bin dein Teil und dein Erbgut unter den Kindern Israel.

21 Den Kindern aber Levis habe ich alle Zehnten gegeben in Israel zum Erbgut für ihr Amt, das sie mir tun an der Hütte des Stifts,

22 daß hinfort die Kinder Israel nicht zur Hütte des Stifts sich tun, Sünde auf sich zu laden, und sterben;

23 sondern die Leviten sollen des Amts pflegen an der Hütte des Stifts, und sie sollen jener Missetat tragen zum ewigen Recht bei euren Nachkommen. Und sie sollen unter den Kindern Israel kein Erbgut besitzen.

24 Denn den Zehnten der Kinder Israel, den sie dem HERRN heben, habe ich den Leviten zum Erbgut gegeben; darum habe ich zu ihnen gesagt, daß sie unter den Kindern Israel kein Erbgut besitzen sollen.

25 Und der HERR redete mit Mose und sprach:

26 Sage den Leviten und sprich zu ihnen: Wenn ihr den Zehnten nehmet von den Kindern Israel, den ich euch von ihnen gegeben habe zu eurem Erbgut, so sollt ihr davon ein Hebopfer dem HERRN tun, je den Zehnten von dem Zehnten.

27 Und sollt solch euer Hebopfer achten, als gäbet ihr Korn aus der Scheune und Fülle aus der Kelter.

28 Also sollt auch ihr das Hebopfer dem HERRN geben von allen euren Zehnten, die ihr nehmet von den Kindern Israel, daß ihr solches Hebopfer des HERRN dem Priester Aaron gebet.

29 Von allem, das euch gegeben wird, sollt ihr dem HERRN allerlei Hebopfer geben, von allem Besten, das davon geheiliget wird.

30 Und sprich zu ihnen: Wenn ihr also das Beste davon hebet, so soll's den Leviten gerechnet werden wie ein Einkommen der Scheune und wie ein Einkommen der Kelter.

31 Und möget es essen an allen Stätten, ihr und eure Kinder; denn es ist euer Lohn für euer Amt in der Hütte des Stifts.

32 So werdet ihr nicht Sünde auf euch laden an demselben, wenn ihr das Beste davon hebet, und nicht entweihen das Geheiligte der Kinder Israel und nicht sterben.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 2959

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2959. 'The land [is worth] four hundred shekels of silver' means the price of redemption by means of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'four hundred shekels', dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'silver' as truth, dealt with in 1551, 2048, 2937. The reason 'four hundred shekels' means the price of redemption is that 'four hundred' means vastation and 'a shekel' price. What vastation is, see 2455 (end), 2682, 2694, 2699, 2702, 2704, where it is shown that there are two types of vastation. The first takes place when the Church altogether ceases to exist, that is, when there is no longer any charity or faith. At that point the Church is said to be vastated or laid waste. The second takes place when those who belong to the Church are reduced to a state of ignorance and also of temptation, for the reason that the evils and falsities residing with them are to be set apart and so to speak dissipated. Those who emerge from this vastation are those who are specifically called the redeemed, for at that point they are taught the goods and truths of faith, and are reformed and regenerated by the Lord, as shown in the paragraphs quoted. Now since the number four hundred, when used to specify a period of time - such as four hundred years - means the duration and also the state of vastation, so that same number, when used to specify the number of shekels, means the price of redemption; and when the word 'silver' is mentioned together with this number, the price of redemption by means of truth is meant.

[2] That 'four hundred years' means the duration and the state of vastation becomes clear also from what Abraham was told,

Jehovah said to Abraham, 1 Know for sure that your seed will be strangers in a land not theirs. And they will serve them, and these will afflict them for four hundred years. Genesis 15:13.

There it may be seen that 'four hundred years' is used to mean the duration of the stay of the children of Israel in Egypt. Yet it is not the duration of their stay in Egypt that is meant but something that is not evident to anyone except from the internal sense. This becomes clear from the fact that the duration of the stay of the children of Israel in Egypt was no more than half the stated period, as becomes quite clear from the descendants of Jacob down to Moses. For the facts are that Levi was descended from Jacob, Kohath from Levi, Amram from Kohath, and Aaron and Moses from Amram, Exodus 6:16-20; Levi and his son Kohath went down to Egypt together with Jacob, Genesis 46:11; and Moses came two generations later, and was eighty years old when he spoke to Pharaoh, Exodus 7:7. These facts show that the period of time from Jacob's entry into Egypt until his sons' departure from that land was approximately two hundred and fifteen years.

[3] That 'four hundred' is used in the Word to mean something other than its numerical value in the historical sense is clearer still from its being said that

The length of time that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years, and at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, it happened on that same day, that all the armies of Jehovah went out of the land of Egypt. Exodus 12:40-41.

The duration of the stay of the children of Israel in that land was in fact only half that number of years; but it was from Abraham's entry into Egypt that the four hundred and thirty years were measured. Consequently what is said at this point in Exodus is for the sake of the internal sense Lying within those words. In the internal sense the sojourn of the sons of Jacob in Egypt represents and means the vastation of the Church, the state and duration of which are described by the number four hundred and thirty years. Thirty describes the state of vastation of the sons of Jacob as being no vastation at all, for they were such as could not be reformed through any state of vastation (for the meaning of the number thirty, see 2276); and 'four hundred years' represents the general state of vastation of those who belonged to the Church.

[4] Those therefore who come out of that vastation are referred to as the redeemed, as is also evident from the words addressed to Moses,

Therefore say to the children of Israel, I am Jehovah, and I will bring you out from beneath the burdens of Egypt, and I will rescue you from their slavery, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgements. Exodus 6:6.

And elsewhere,

Jehovah has brought you out by means of a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slaves, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Deuteronomy 7:8; 13:5.

And elsewhere,

You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, but Jehovah your God redeemed you. Deuteronomy 15:15; 24:18.

In Samuel,

Your people whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt. 2 Samuel 7:23.

Since those who emerge from the state of vastation are referred to as the redeemed, 'four hundred shekels' therefore means the price of redemption.

[5] As regards 'a shekel' meaning the price or valuation, this is clear from the following places in the Word: In Moses,

All your valuations shall be according to the shekel of holiness. Leviticus 27:25.

And elsewhere,

If a soul commits a trespass and has sinned inadvertently in the holy things of Jehovah, he shall bring his guilt offering to Jehovah, a ram without blemish out of the flock, according to your valuation in silver shekels, according to the shekel of holiness. Leviticus 5:15.

From this it is evident that 'a shekel' means the price or valuation. It is called 'the shekel of holiness' because the price or valuation has regard to truth and good from the Lord - truth and good from the Lord being, within the Church, holiness itself. Consequently it is called 'the shekel of holiness' many times elsewhere, as in Exodus 30:24; Leviticus 27:3; Numbers 3:47, 50; 7:13, 19, 25, 31, 37, 43, 49, 55, 61, 67, 73; 18:16.

[6] That 'a shekel' is the price of what is holy is quite evident in Ezekiel when the holy land and the holy city are the subject. There the shekel is referred to as follows,

The shekel there shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh (pound). Ezekiel 45:12.

Anyone may see that here 'shekel', 'pound', and the numbers mentioned mean holy things, that is, good and truth, for the holy land and the holy city or new Jerusalem, which are the subject there, mean nothing else than the Lord's kingdom where neither shekel, nor gerahs, nor pound, nor the numbering of them occurs. But the number itself, from the meaning it has in the internal sense, determines the valuation or price of good and truth.

[7] In Moses it is said that every man (vir) should give a ransom for his soul, so that there would be no plague. He had to give half a shekel, according to the shekel of holiness, a shekel being twenty gerahs. Half a shekel was to be the thruma (offering) to Jehovah, Exodus 30:12-13. Here ten gerahs, which make half a shekel, are remnants which are received from the Lord. Remnants are goods and truths stored away with a person - such remnants, being meant by 'ten', see 576, 1738, 1906, 2284. That remnants are goods and truths from the Lord that are stored away with a person, see 1906, 2284. Consequently they are also called 'the thruma (or offering) to Jehovah', and it is said that by means of this a soul will be redeemed. The reason it is stated several times that a shekel was twenty gerahs, as in these verses from Exodus, and also in Leviticus 27:25; Numbers 3:47; 18:16; and elsewhere, is that the shekel of twenty gerahs means the valuation of the good preserved in remnants - twenty meaning the good preserved in remnants, see 2280. Also therefore a shekel was a weight according to which the price of both gold and silver was determined, Genesis 24:22; Exodus 38:24; Ezekiel 4:10; 45:12 - the price of gold because 'gold' means good, 113, 1551, 1552, and the price of silver because 'silver' means truth, 1551, 2048. From this it is now evident that 'the land [is worth] four hundred shekels of silver' means the price of redemption by means of truth. The reason it is called 'the land' is that the spiritual Church is the subject, which is reformed and regenerated by means of truth received from the Lord, 2954. That 'the land' means the Church, see 662, 1066, 1068, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end).

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. In Genesis 15 the patriarch's name is still Abram.

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