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Levitico 7

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1 Questa è la legge del sacrifizio di riparazione; è cosa santissima.

2 Nel luogo ove si scanna l’olocausto, si scannerà la vittima di riparazione; e se ne spanderà il sangue sull’altare tutt’intorno;

3 e se ne offrirà tutto il grasso, la coda, il grasso che copre le interiora,

4 i due arnioni, il grasso che v’è sopra e che copre i fianchi, e la rete del fegato, che si staccherà vicino agli arnioni.

5 Il sacerdote farà fumare tutto questo sull’altare, come un sacrifizio fatto mediante il fuoco all’Eterno. Questo è un sacrifizio di riparazione.

6 Ogni maschio tra i sacerdoti ne potrà mangiare; lo si mangerà in luogo santo; è cosa santissima.

7 Il sacrifizio di riparazione è come il sacrifizio per il peccato; la stessa legge vale per ambedue; la vittima sarà del sacerdote che farà l’espiazione.

8 E il sacerdote che offrirà l’olocausto per qualcuno avrà per sé la pelle dell’olocausto che avrà offerto.

9 Così pure ogni oblazione cotta in forno, o preparata in padella, o sulla gratella, sarà del sacerdote che l’ha offerta.

10 E ogni oblazione impastata con olio, o asciutta, sarà per tutti i figliuoli d’Aaronne: per l’uno come per l’altro.

11 Questa è la legge del sacrifizio di azioni di grazie, che si offrirà all’Eterno.

12 Se uno l’offre per riconoscenza, offrirà, col sacrifizio di azioni di grazie, delle focacce senza lievito intrise con olio, delle gallette senza lievito unte con olio, e del fior di farina cotto, in forma di focacce intrise con olio.

13 Presenterà anche, per sua offerta, oltre quelle focacce, delle focacce di pan lievitato, insieme col suo sacrifizio di riconoscenza e di azioni di grazie.

14 D’ognuna di queste offerte si presenterà una parte come oblazione elevata all’Eterno; essa sarà del sacerdote che avrà fatto l’aspersione del sangue del sacrifizio di azioni di grazie.

15 E la carne del sacrifizio di riconoscenza e di azioni di grazie sarà mangiata il giorno stesso ch’esso è offerto; non se ne lascerà nulla fino alla mattina.

16 Ma se il sacrifizio che uno offre è votivo o volontario, la vittima sarà mangiata il giorno ch’ei l’offrirà, e quel che ne rimane dovrà esser mangiato l’indomani;

17 ma quel che sarà rimasto della carne del sacrifizio fino al terzo giorno, dovrà bruciarsi col fuoco.

18 Che se uno mangia della carne del suo sacrifizio di azioni di grazie il terzo giorno, colui che l’ha offerto non sarà gradito; e dell’offerta non gli sarà tenuto conto; sarà cosa aborrita; e colui che ne avrà mangiato porterà la pena della sua iniquità.

19 La carne che sarà stata in contatto di qualcosa d’impuro, non sarà mangiata; sarà bruciata col fuoco.

20 Quanto alla carne che si mangia, chiunque è puro ne potrà mangiare; ma la persona che, essendo impura, mangerà della carne del sacrifizio di azioni di grazie che appartiene all’Eterno, sarà sterminata di fra il suo popolo.

21 E se uno toccherà qualcosa d’impuro, una impurità umana, un animale impuro o qualsivoglia cosa abominevole, immonda, e mangerà della carne del sacrifizio di azioni di grazie che appartiene all’Eterno, quel tale sarà sterminato di fra il suo popolo".

22 L’Eterno parlò ancora a Mosè, dicendo:

23 "Parla ai figliuoli d’Israele, e di’ loro: Non mangerete alcun grasso, né di bue, né di pecora, né di capra.

24 Il grasso di una bestia morta da sé, o il grasso d’una bestia sbranata potrà servire per qualunque altro uso; ma non ne mangerete affatto;

25 perché chiunque mangerà del grasso degli animali che si offrono in sacrifizio mediante il fuoco all’Eterno, quel tale sarà sterminato di fra il suo popolo.

26 E non mangerete affatto alcun sangue, né di uccelli né di quadrupedi, in tutti i luoghi dove abiterete.

27 Chiunque mangerà sangue di qualunque specie, sarà sterminato di fra il suo popolo".

28 L’Eterno parlò ancora a Mosè, dicendo:

29 "Parla ai figliuoli d’Israele, e di’ loro: Colui che offrirà all’Eterno il suo sacrifizio di azioni di grazie porterà la sua offerta all’Eterno, prelevandola dal suo sacrifizio di azioni di grazie.

30 Porterà con le proprie mani ciò che dev’essere offerto all’Eterno mediante il fuoco; porterà il grasso insieme col petto, il petto per agitarlo come offerta agitata davanti all’Eterno.

31 Il sacerdote farà fumare il grasso sull’altare; e il petto sarà d’Aaronne e de’ suoi figliuoli.

32 Darete pure al sacerdote, come offerta elevata, la coscia destra dei vostri sacrifizi d’azioni di grazie.

33 Colui de’ figliuoli d’Aaronne che offrirà il sangue e il grasso dei sacrifizi di azioni di grazie avrà, come sua parte, la coscia destra.

34 Poiché, dai sacrifizi di azioni di grazie offerti dai figliuoli d’Israele, io prendo il petto dell’offerta agitata e la coscia dell’offerta elevata, e li do al sacerdote Aaronne e ai suoi figliuoli per legge perpetua, da osservarsi dai figliuoli d’Israele.

35 Questa è la parte consacrata ad Aaronne e consacrata ai suoi figliuoli, dei sacrifizi fatti mediante il fuoco all’Eterno, dal giorno in cui saranno presentati per esercitare il sacerdozio dell’Eterno.

36 Questo l’Eterno ha ordinato ai figliuoli d’Israele di dar loro dal giorno della loro unzione. E’ una parte ch’è loro dovuta in perpetuo, di generazione in generazione".

37 Questa è la legge dell’olocausto, dell’oblazione, del sacrifizio per il peccato, del sacrifizio di riparazione, della consacrazione e del sacrifizio di azioni di grazie:

38 legge che l’Eterno dette a Mosè sul monte Sinai il giorno che ordinò ai figliuoli d’Israele di presentare le loro offerte all’Eterno nel deserto di Sinai.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 2177

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2177. That 'meal of fine flour' means the spiritual and celestial ingredients [of the rational] which were present at that time with the Lord, and 'cakes' the same when both had been joined together, is quite clear from the sacrifices of the representative Church and from the minchah presented at the same time, which consisted of fine flour mixed with oil and made into cakes. Representative worship consisted primarily in burnt offerings and sacrifices. What these represented has been stated above where 'bread' was the subject, in 2165, namely the celestial things of the Lord's kingdom in heaven and of the Lord's kingdom on earth, which is the Church, and also the things of the Lord's kingdom or Church as it exists with every individual, and in general everything that is in essence love and charity, since these are celestial entities. In those times all the sacrifices were called 'bread'. Along with those sacrifices a minchah was included - which, as has been stated, consisted of fine flour mixed with oil to which also incense was added - and also a wine-offering.

[2] What these latter represented becomes clear too, namely things similar to those represented by sacrifices but of a lower order, thus the things which belong to the spiritual Church, and also those which belong to the external Church. It may become clear to anyone that such things would never have been prescribed unless they had represented Divine things, and also that each one represented some specific thing. For unless they had represented Divine things they would have been no different from similar things found among gentiles, among whom also there were sacrifices, minchahs, libations, and incense, as well as perpetual fires and many other things which had come down to them from the Ancient Church, especially from the Hebrew Church. But because they were separated from the internal, that is, the Divine things represented by them, those external forms of worship were nothing but idolatrous, as they also came to be among the Jews, who likewise sank into all kinds of idolatry. From this it may become clear to anyone that heavenly arcana were present within every form of ritual, especially so within the sacrifices and every detail of them.

[3] As regards the minchah, the nature of it and how it was to be made into cakes is described in a whole chapter in Moses - in Leviticus 2; also Numbers 15, and elsewhere. The law regarding the minchah is described in Leviticus in the following words,

Fire shall be kept burning unceasingly on the altar; it shall not be put out. And this is the law of the minchah: Aaron's sons shall bring it before Jehovah to the front of the altar, and he shall take up from it a fistful of fine flour of the minchah and of the oil of it and all the frankincense which is on the minchah, and he shall burn it on the altar; it is an odour of rest for a memorial to Jehovah. And the rest of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. Unleavened bread shall be eaten in a holy place. In the court of the tent of meeting shall they eat it. It shall not be cooked leavened; I have given it as their portion from My fire-offerings; it is most holy. Leviticus 6:13-17.

[4] The fire which was to be kept burning unceasingly on the altar represented the Lord's love, that is, His mercy, which is constant and eternal. 'Fire' in the Word means love, see 934, and therefore 'the fire-offerings made for an odour of rest' means the good pleasure which the Lord takes in those things that belong to love and charity. That 'odour' means good pleasure, that is, that which is pleasing, see 925, 1519. Their 'taking a fistful' represented their being required to love with all their soul or strength, for 'the hand' or 'the palm' of the hand means power, as shown in 878, from which 'the fist' also means the same. 'The fine flour together with the oil and the frankincense' represented all things of charity - 'fine flour' the spiritual ingredient of it, 'oil' the celestial, and 'frankincense' that which was in this manner pleasing. That 'fine flour' represents the spiritual ingredient is evident from what has just been stated and from what is stated below. That 'oil' represents the celestial ingredient, or the good or charity, see 886, and that 'frankincense' on account of its odour represents that which is pleasing and acceptable, 925.

[5] Its being 'unleavened bread' or not fermented means that it was to be genuine, thus something offered from genuineness of heart and having no uncleanness. The eating of the rest by Aaron and his sons represented man's reciprocation and his making it his own, and thus represented conjunction by means of love and charity; and it is for this reason that they were commanded to eat it 'in a holy place'. Hence it is called something most holy. These were the things which were represented by the minchah. It was also the way in which the representatives themselves were perceived in heaven; and when the member of the Church understood them in the same way his ideas were like the perception which the angels possess, so that he was in the Lord's kingdom in heaven even though he was on earth.

[6] For more about the minchah - what it was to consist of in any particular kind of sacrifice; the way in which it was to be baked into cakes; what kind was to be offered by those who were being cleansed, and also what kinds on other occasions (all of which would take too long to introduce and explain here) - see what is said about it in Exodus 29:39-41; Leviticus 5:11-13; 6:16-17, 19-21; 10:12-13; 23:10-13, 6, 17; Numbers 5:15 and following verses; 6:15-17, 19-20; 7: in various places; 28:5, 8, 9, 12-13, 20-21, 28-29; 29:3-4, 9-10, 14-15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 37

[7] 'Fine flour made into cakes' had in general the same representation as bread, namely the celestial ingredient of love, while 'meals represented its spiritual ingredient, as becomes clear in the places indicated above. The loaves which were called 'the bread of the Presence' or 'the shewbread' consisted of fine flour, which was made into cakes and placed on the table to provide an unceasing representation of the Lord's love, that is, of His mercy, towards the whole human race, and man's reciprocation. These loaves are spoken of in Moses as follows,

You shall take fine pour and bake it into twelve cakes; two-tenths [of an ephah] shall there be in one cake And you shall place them in two rows, six in a row, on the clean table before Jehovah. And you shall put pure frankincense on each row, and it shall be bread serving as a memorial, a fire-offering to Jehovah. Every sabbath day [Aaron] shall set it out in order before Jehovah continually; it is from the children of Israel as an eternal covenant. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, for it is to him the most holy of fire-offerings to Jehovah, by an eternal statute. Leviticus 24:5-9.

Every item and smallest detail mentioned here represented the holiness of love and charity, 'fine flour' having the same representation as meal of fine flour, namely that which is celestial and that which is spiritual that goes with it, and 'cake' the two when joined together.

[8] From this it is clear what the holiness of the Word is to those who possess heavenly ideas, and indeed what holiness was present within this particular representative observance, on account of which it is called 'most holy'. It is also clear how devoid of holiness the Word is to those who imagine that it does not have anything heavenly within it and who keep solely to externals. Exemplifying the latter are those who in the present verse under consideration perceive 'the meal' to be merely meal, 'the fine flour' merely fine flour, and 'the cake' merely a cake, and who imagine that these things have been stated without each one that is mentioned embodying something of the Divine within it. Their attitude is similar to that of those who imagine that the bread and wine of the Holy Supper are no more than a certain religious observance that does not have anything holy within it. Yet in fact it possesses such holiness that the minds of men are linked by means of it to the minds of those in heaven, when from an internal affection they think that the bread and wine mean the Lord's love and man's reciprocation, and by virtue of that interior thought and affection they abide in holiness.

[9] Much the same was implied by the requirement that when the children of Israel entered the land they were to present as a heave-offering to Jehovah a cake made from the first of their dough, Numbers 15:20. The fact that such things are meant is also evident in the Prophets, from' among whom for the moment let this one place in Ezekiel be introduced here,

You were adorned with gold and silver, and your raiment was of fine linen and silk and embroidered cloth. You ate fine flour, honey, and oil. You became exceedingly beautiful, and attained to a kingdom. Ezekiel 16:13.

This refers to Jerusalem, by which is meant the Church, which Church in its earliest days bore an appearance such as this, that is to say, the Ancient Church, which is described by means of raiment and many other adornments. Its affections for truth and good are also described by 'the fine flour, honey, and oil'. It may become clear to anyone that all these details mean in the internal sense something altogether different from what they do in the sense of the letter. And the same applies to Abraham's saying to Sarah, 'Take quickly three measures of meal of fine flour, knead it, and make cakes'. That 'three' means things that are holy has been shown already in 720, 901.

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