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Levitico 24

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1 L’Eterno parlò ancora a Mosè dicendo:

2 "Ordina ai figliuoli d’Israele che ti portino dell’olio di uliva puro, vergine, per il candelabro, per tener le lampade continuamente accese.

3 Aaronne lo preparerà nella tenda di convegno, fuori del velo che sta davanti alla testimonianza, perché le lampade ardano del continuo, dalla sera al mattino, davanti all’Eterno. E’ una legge perpetua, di generazione in generazione.

4 Egli le disporrà sul candelabro d’oro puro, perché ardano del continuo davanti all’Eterno.

5 Prenderai pure del fior di farina, e ne farai cuocere dodici focacce; ogni focaccia sarà di due decimi d’efa.

6 Le metterai in due file, sei per fila, sulla tavola d’oro puro davanti all’Eterno.

7 E porrai dell’incenso puro sopra ogni fila, e sarà sul pane come una ricordanza, come un sacrifizio fatto mediante il fuoco all’Eterno.

8 Ogni giorno di sabato si disporranno i pani davanti all’Eterno, del continuo; saranno forniti dai figliuoli d’Israele; è un patto perpetuo.

9 I pani apparterranno ad Aaronne e ai suoi figliuoli, ed essi li mangeranno in luogo santo; poiché saranno per loro cosa santissima tra i sacrifizi fatti mediante il fuoco all’Eterno. E’ una legge perpetua".

10 Or il figliuolo di una donna israelita e di un Egiziano uscì tra i figliuoli d’Israele; e fra questo figliuolo della donna israelita e un Israelita nacque una lite.

11 Il figliuolo della Israelita bestemmiò il nome dell’Eterno, e lo maledisse; onde fu condotto a Mosè. La madre di quel tale si chiamava Shelomith figliuola di Dibri, della tribù di Dan.

12 Lo misero in prigione, finché fosse deciso che cosa fare per ordine dell’Eterno.

13 E l’Eterno parlò a Mosè dicendo:

14 "Mena quel bestemmiatore fuori del campo; e tutti quelli che l’hanno udito posino le mani sul suo capo, e tutta la raunanza lo lapidi.

15 E parla ai figliuoli d’Israele, e di’ loro: Chiunque maledirà il suo Dio porterà la pena del suo peccato.

16 E chi bestemmia il nome dell’Eterno dovrà esser messo a morte; tutta la raunanza lo dovrà lapidare. Sia straniero o nativo del paese, quando bestemmi il nome dell’Eterno, sarà messo a morte.

17 Chi percuote mortalmente un uomo qualsivoglia, dovrà esser messo a morte.

18 Chi percuote a morte un capo di bestiame, lo pagherà: vita per vita.

19 Quand’uno avrà fatto una lesione al suo prossimo, gli sarà fatto com’egli ha fatto:

20 frattura per frattura, occhio per occhio, dente per dente; gli si farà la stessa lesione ch’egli ha fatta all’altro.

21 Chi uccide un capo di bestiame, lo pagherà; ma chi uccide un uomo sarà messo a morte.

22 Avrete una stessa legge tanto per il forestiero quanto per il nativo del paese; poiché io sono l’Eterno, l’Iddio vostro".

23 E Mosè parlò ai figliuoli d’Israele, i quali trassero quel bestemmiatore fuori del campo, e lo lapidarono. Così i figliuoli d’Israele fecero quello che l’Eterno aveva ordinato a Mosè.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9938

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9938. 'Which the children of Israel shall sanctify, even in all their gifts of holy things' means acts of worship representative of removal from sins. This is clear from the meaning of 'gifts' - or presents, which among the Israelite and Jewish nation were primarily burnt offerings, sacrifices, and minchahs - as the inner realities of acts of worship; for those realities were represented by these acts. The inner realities of worship are the fruits of love and faith; they are therefore pardonings of sins, that is, removals from them, since faith and love are the means by which the Lord moves sins away. For in the measure that the good of love and faith comes in, or what amounts to the same thing, heaven comes in, sins are removed, that is, hell is removed - the hell within the person as well as the hell outside him. From this it is evident what should be understood by the gifts which they made holy, that is, offered. The gifts were called holy, and giving or offering them was called sanctifying them, because they represented holy realities. For they were offered to expiate people, thus to remove them from their sins, which is accomplished by means of faith in and love to the Lord received from the Lord.

[2] Gifts and presents were said to be made to Jehovah, though Jehovah, that is, the Lord, is not the receiver of gifts or presents, but the giver of them, freely to everyone. Even so, His will is that they should come from a person as though they did so from that person himself, provided the person acknowledges that they do not actually come from him but from the Lord. For the Lord imparts a desire to do good because he loves it, and a desire to speak the truth because he believes it. The actual desire flows in from the Lord, yet appears to be inherent in the person and so to flow from the person. For whatever a person does out of love and desire for it, he does from his life, love being what composes anyone's life. From this it is evident that the things that are called gifts and presents made to the Lord by a person are essentially gifts and presents made to a person by the Lord, and that they are called gifts and presents on account of what they appear to be. All who are wise at heart recognize this appearance, but not so the simple. Yet their gifts and presents are acceptable, so far as they are made in ignorance that has innocence within it. Innocence is the good of love to God, and dwells within ignorance, especially with the wise at heart. Those who are wise at heart know, indeed perceive, that nothing whatever of the wisdom within themselves originates in themselves, but that the all of wisdom is attributable to the Lord, that is, the all of the good of love and the all of the truth of faith are attributable to Him, and that for this reason even with the wise innocence dwells in ignorance. From this it is evident that the acknowledgement of this matter, and especially the perception of it, constitutes the innocence of wisdom.

[3] The gifts offered in the Jewish Church, which were primarily burnt offerings, sacrifices, and minchahs, were also spoken of as offerings made for the expiations of sins; for they were offered for the sake of being pardoned from sins, that is, being removed from them. Those who belonged to that Church also thought that sins were pardoned, indeed completely taken away, by means of these offerings; for it is said of people who have offered them that they will be pardoned, see Leviticus 4:26, 31, 35; 5:6, 10, 13, 16, 18; 6:7; 9:7; 15:15, 30. But they were unaware of the fact that their gifts represented more internal things, thus the kinds of things that are done by a person from love and faith received from the Lord; that these are what expiate, that is, remove sins; and that when they have been removed they appear to have been completely removed or banished, as has been shown above in the present paragraph and the one before it. The worship of that nation was representative, and so was external devoid of anything internal; and it was by means of this worship that heaven was joined to mankind, in those times, see the places referred to in 9320 (end), 9380.

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

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Arcana Coelestia # 921

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921. 'Noah built an altar to Jehovah' means a representative of the Lord. This is clear from what has been stated just above. All the religious observances of the Ancient Church were representative of the Lord, as also were those of the Jewish Church. But the chief representative in later times was the altar, and also the burnt offering, which, because it was made from clean beasts and clean birds, represented the same as that of which it was the meaningful sign. Clean beasts represented goods that stem from charity, and clean birds the truths of faith. And when offering these, members of the Ancient Church meant that they were offering gifts of those goods or truths to the Lord. Nothing else can be offered up to the Lord that will please Him. But their descendants, like the gentiles, and also the Jews, corrupted these offerings, for they did not even know that these had such a meaning. They confined worship solely to things of an external nature.

[2] That the altar was the chief representative of the Lord becomes clear also from the consideration that there were altars even among gentiles before all the other religious observances were established, before the Ark [of the Covenant] was made, and before the Temple was built. This is clear from Abram's going on to the mountain east of Bethel, erecting an altar, and calling on the name of Jehovah, Genesis 12:8; from his being commanded to offer Isaac as a burnt offering on an altar, Genesis 22:2, 9, from Jacob's building an altar in Luz, which was Bethel, Genesis 35:6-7; and from Moses' building an altar at the foot of Mount Sinai and offering sacrifice, Exodus 24:4-6. Each of these events took place before the establishment of the sacrificial system and before the construction of the Ark, the place where worship was at a later time celebrated in the wilderness. The fact that gentiles too had altars is clear from what is said about Balaam telling Balak to build seven altars and to prepare seven young bulls and seven rams, Numbers 23:1-7, 15-18, 29-30, and also from the command to destroy the altars of the nations, as in Deuteronomy 7:5; Judges 2:2. Consequently Divine worship involving the use of altars and sacrifices was not something new when it was established among the Jews. Indeed men were building altars, especially those for commemorative purposes, before they ever knew of immolating young bulls and other animals on them.

[3] That 'altars' means a representative of the Lord, and 'burnt offerings' consequent worship of Him, is quite clear from the Prophets and also in Moses where Levi to whom the priesthood was entrusted is the subject,

They will teach Jacob Your judgements and Israel Your law. They will put incense in Your nostrils, and whole (burnt offering) upon Your altar. Deuteronomy 33:10.

This stands for the whole of worship. 'Teaching Jacob His judgements, and Israel His law' stands for internal worship, while 'putting incense in His nostrils, and whole [burnt offering] on the altar' stands for corresponding external worship, and so for the whole of worship. In Isaiah,

On that day a man will look to his Maker and his eyes will regard the Holy One of Israel. And he will not look to the altars, the work of his hands. Isaiah 17:7-8.

Here 'looking to the altars' clearly means representative worship in general, which was to be abolished. In the same prophet,

On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to Jehovah. Isaiah 19:19.

Here too 'altar' stands for external worship.

[4] In Jeremiah,

The Lord has abandoned His altar, He has abhorred His sanctuary. Lamentations 2:7.

'Altar' stands for representative worship which had become idolatrous. In Hosea,

Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning, they have been to him altars for sinning. Hosea 8:11.

'Altars' here stands for all representative worship separated from internal, and so stands for what is idolatrous. In the same prophet,

The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel, will be destroyed. Thorn and thistle will grow up on their altars. Hosea 10:8.

Here too 'altars' stands for idolatrous worship. In Amos,

On the day I visit Israel for his transgressions, I will visit the altars of Bethel, and the horns of the altar will be cut off. Amos 3:14.

Here also 'altars' stands for representative worship that had become idolatrous.

[5] In David,

They will bring me to Your holy mountain, and to Your dwellings! Then I will go in to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy. Psalms 43:3-4.

Here 'altar' clearly stands for the Lord. So the making of an altar in the Ancient and the Jewish Churches stood for a representative of the Lord. Because worship of the Lord was carried out principally by means of burnt offerings and sacrifices, and these principally meant representative worship, it is clear that the altar itself means representative worship itself.

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