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Levitico 27

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1 L’Eterno parlò ancora a Mosè, dicendo:

2 "Parla ai figliuoli d’Israele e di’ loro: Quand’uno farà un voto concernente delle persone, queste persone apparterranno all’Eterno secondo la valutazione che ne farai.

3 E la tua stima sarà, per un maschio dai venti ai sessant’anni, cinquanta sicli d’argento, secondo il siclo del santuario;

4 se si tratta di una donna, la tua stima sarà di trenta sicli.

5 Dai cinque ai vent’anni, la tua stima sarà di venti sicli per un maschio, e di dieci sicli per una femmina.

6 Da un mese a cinque anni, la tua stima sarà di cinque sicli d’argento per un maschio, e di tre sicli d’argento per una femmina.

7 Dai sessant’anni in su, la tua stima sarà di quindici sicli per un maschio e di dieci sicli per una femmina.

8 E se colui che ha fatto il voto e troppo povero per pagare la somma fissata da te, lo si farà presentare al sacerdote, il quale lo tasserà. Il sacerdote farà una stima, in proporzione de’ mezzi di colui che ha fatto il voto.

9 Se si tratta di animali che possono essere presentati come offerta all’Eterno, ogni animale che si darà all’Eterno sarà cosa santa.

10 Non lo si dovrà cambiare; non se ne metterà uno buono al posto di uno cattivo, o uno cattivo al posto di uno buono; e se pure uno sostituisce un animale all’altro, ambedue gli animali saranno cosa sacra.

11 E se si tratta di animali impuri di cui non si può fare offerta all’Eterno, l’animale sarà presentato davanti al sacerdote;

12 e il sacerdote ne farà la stima, secondo che l’animale sarà buono o cattivo; e uno se ne starà alla stima fattane dal sacerdote.

13 Ma se uno lo vuol riscattare, aggiungerà un quinto alla tua stima.

14 Se uno consacra la sua casa per esser cosa santa all’Eterno, il sacerdote ne farà la stima secondo ch’essa sarà buona o cattiva; e uno se ne starà alla stima fattane dal sacerdote.

15 E se colui che ha consacrato la sua casa la vuol riscattare, aggiungerà un quinto al prezzo della stima, e sarà sua.

16 Se uno consacra all’Eterno un pezzo di terra della sua proprietà, ne farai la stima in ragione della sementa: cinquanta sicli d’argento per un omer di seme d’orzo.

17 Se consacra la sua terra dall’anno del giubileo, il prezzo ne resterà fissato secondo la tua stima;

18 ma se la consacra dopo il giubileo, il sacerdote ne valuterà il prezzo in ragione del numero degli anni che rimangono fino al giubileo, e si farà una detrazione dalla tua stima.

19 E se colui che ha consacrato il pezzo di terra lo vuol riscattare, aggiungerà un quinto al prezzo della tua stima, e resterà suo.

20 Ma se non riscatta il pezzo di terra e lo vende ad un altro, non lo si potrà più riscattare;

21 ma quel pezzo di terra, quando rimarrà franco al giubileo, sarà consacrato all’Eterno come una terra interdetta, e diventerà proprietà del sacerdote.

22 Se uno consacra all’Eterno un pezzo di terra ch’egli ha comprato e che non fa parte della sua proprietà,

23 il sacerdote ne valuterà il prezzo secondo la stima fino all’anno del giubileo; e quel tale pagherà il giorno stesso il prezzo fissato, giacché è cosa consacrata all’Eterno.

24 L’anno del giubileo la terra tornerà a colui da cui fu comprata, e del cui patrimonio faceva parte.

25 Tutte le tuo stime si faranno in sicli del santuario; il siclo è di venti ghere.

26 Però, nessuno potrà consacrare i primogeniti del bestiame, i quali appartengono già all’Eterno, perché primogeniti: sia un bue, sia un agnello, appartiene all’Eterno.

27 E se si tratta di un animale impuro, lo si riscatterà al prezzo della tua stima, aggiungendovi un quinto; se non è riscattato, sarà venduto al prezzo della tua stima.

28 Nondimeno, tutto ciò che uno avrà consacrato all’Eterno per voto d’interdetto, di fra le cose che gli appartengono, sia che si tratti di una persona, di un animale o di un pezzo di terra del suo patrimonio, non potrà esser né venduto, né riscattato; ogni interdetto è cosa interamente consacrata all’Eterno.

29 Nessuna persona consacrata per voto d’interdetto potrà essere riscattata; dovrà essere messa a morte.

30 Ogni decima della terra, sia delle raccolte del suolo sia dei frutti degli alberi, appartiene all’Eterno; è cosa consacrata all’Eterno.

31 Se uno vuol riscattare una parte della sua decima vi aggiungerà il quinto.

32 E ogni decima dell’armento o del gregge, il decimo capo di tutto ciò che passa sotto la verga del pastore, sarà consacrata all’Eterno.

33 Non si farà distinzione fra animale buono e cattivo, e non si faranno sostituzioni; e se si sostituisce un animale all’altro, ambedue saranno cosa sacra; non si potranno riscattare".

34 Questi sono i comandamenti che l’Eterno diede a Mosè per i figliuoli d’Israele, sul monte Sinai.

   

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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.