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Exodus 29

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1 And this is the word that thou shalt do to them, to sanctify them, to be·​·priests to Me. Take one bullock, a son of the herd, and two perfect rams;

2 and bread of what is unleavened, and cakes of what is unleavened mixed with oil, and wafers of what is unleavened anointed with oil; of the flour of wheat shalt thou make them.

3 And thou shalt put them on one basket, and offer them in the basket, and the bullock and the two rams.

4 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt cause to come·​·near to the entrance of the Tabernacle of the congregation, and thou shalt bathe them with waters.

5 And thou shalt take the garments, and shalt clothe Aaron with the tunic, and the mantle of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the girding of the ephod.

6 And thou shalt set the miter on his head, and put the crown of holiness on the miter.

7 And thou shalt take the oil of anointing, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him.

8 And thou shalt cause his sons to come·​·near, and clothe them with tunics.

9 And thou shalt gird them with a belt, Aaron and his sons, and shalt bind the caps upon them, and the priesthood shall be to them for a statute of an age; and thou shalt fill the hand of Aaron and the hand of his sons.

10 And thou shalt offer the bullock before the Tabernacle of the congregation; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock.

11 And thou shalt slaughter the bullock before Jehovah, at the entrance of the Tabernacle of the congregation.

12 And thou shalt take from the blood of the bullock, and shalt put it on the horns of the altar with thy finger; and all the blood thou shalt spill at the foundation of the altar.

13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covers the inwards, and the caul on the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and shalt burn· them ·for·​·incense on the altar.

14 And the flesh of the bullock, and its skin, and its dung, shalt thou burn·​·up with fire outside the camp; this is a sin offering.

15 And thou shalt take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

16 And thou shalt slaughter the ram, and thou shalt take its blood, and sprinkle it on the altar all around.

17 And thou shalt section the ram into its sections, and shalt bathe its intestines, and its legs, and put them upon its sections, and upon its head.

18 And thou shalt burn·​·incense with all the ram upon the altar; this is a burnt·​·offering to Jehovah, a restful smell, it is a fire·​·offering to Jehovah.

19 And thou shalt take the second ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

20 And thou shalt slaughter the ram, and shalt take from its blood, and shalt put it upon the lobe of the ear of Aaron, and upon the lobe of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big·​·toe of their right foot, and thou shalt sprinkle the blood on the altar all around.

21 And thou shalt take of the blood that is on the altar, and of the oil of anointing, and shalt spatter it upon Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him; and he shall be·​·holy, and his garments, and his sons, and the garments of his sons with him.

22 And thou shalt take from the ram the fat, and the tail, and the fat covering the inwards, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right hind·​·quarter, for it is a ram of infillings;

23 and one loaf of bread, and one cake of bread with oil, and one wafer, from the basket of unleavened things that is before Jehovah

24 and thou shalt set all of it on the palms of Aaron, and upon the palms of his sons; and shalt wave them a wave offering before Jehovah.

25 And thou shalt take them from their hand, and shalt burn· them ·for·​·incense on the altar on the burnt·​·offering, for a restful smell before Jehovah; a fire·​·offering is this to Jehovah.

26 And thou shalt take the chest portion from the ram of infillings, which is for Aaron, and shalt wave it a wave·​·offering before Jehovah; and it shall be for thee for a portion.

27 And thou shalt sanctify the chest portion of the waving, and the hind·​·quarter of the uplifting, which is waved, and which is uplifted, from the ram of infillings, from that which is for Aaron, and from that which is for his sons;

28 and it shall be to Aaron and his sons for a statute of an age from among the sons of Israel; for it is an uplifting; and it shall be an uplifting from among the sons of Israel of their peace sacrifices, their uplifting to Jehovah.

29 And the garments of holiness which are for Aaron shall be for his sons after him, for anointing in them, and for filling their hand in them.

30 The one from among his sons who becomes the priest instead of him shall clothe himself with them seven days; then he shall come into the Tabernacle of the congregation to minister in the holy place.

31 And thou shalt take the ram of infillings, and cook its flesh in a holy place.

32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the entrance of the Tabernacle of the congregation.

33 And they shall eat those things with which atonement· was ·made, to·​·fill their hand, to sanctify them; and a stranger shall not eat of them, for they are holy.

34 And if anything from the flesh of infillings and from the bread remain until the morning, then thou shalt burn·​·up the remainder with fire; it shall not be eaten, for it is holy.

35 And thus shalt thou do to Aaron and to his sons, according·​·to all that I have commanded thee; seven days shalt thou fill their hand.

36 And a bullock of a sin offering thou shalt make for the day on the atonements; and thou shalt purge· it ·from·​·sin on the altar when thou makest·​·atonement on it; and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it.

37 Seven days thou shalt make·​·atonement on the altar, and shalt sanctify it, and the altar shall be a holy of holies; all who touch the altar shall be sanctified.

38 And this is what thou shalt make upon the altar: two lambs, sons of a year, for the day, continually.

39 The one lamb thou shalt make in the morning; and the second lamb thou shalt make between the two·​·evenings*;

40 and a tenth of flour mixed with beaten oil, a fourth of the hin, and a poured·​·offering of a fourth of the hin of wine for the one lamb.

41 And the second lamb thou shalt make between the two·​·evenings; as the gift·​·offering of the morning, and as its poured·​·offering, thou shalt do for it, for a restful smell, a fire·​·offering to Jehovah;

42 a continual burnt·​·offering for your generations at the entrance of the Tabernacle of the congregation before Jehovah; where I will meet·​·together with you, to speak to thee there.

43 And there I will meet·​·together with the sons of Israel, and it shall be sanctified in My glory.

44 And I will sanctify the Tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar; and Aaron and his sons I will sanctify to be·​·priests for Me.

45 And I will abide in the midst of the sons of Israel, and will be to them for God.

46 And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God, who brought· them ·out of the land of Egypt, that I may reside in the midst of them; I am Jehovah their God.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Arcana Coelestia # 3994

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3994. 'And every black one among the lambs' means a proprium of innocence, which belongs to the good meant by 'Laban'. This is clear from the meaning of 'black' as the proprium, dealt with immediately above in 3993, and from the meaning of 'a lamb' as innocence, dealt with below. With regard to a proprium of innocence meant by 'black one among the lambs' the position is that, to be good, all good must contain innocence. Charity devoid of innocence is not charity, and still less can love to the Lord exist without it. Innocence is therefore an absolutely essential element of love and charity, and consequently of good. A proprium of innocence consists in knowing, acknowledging, and believing, not with the lips but with the heart, that nothing but evil originates in oneself, and everything good in the Lord, and therefore that such a proprium is altogether black, that is to say, both the will side of the proprium, which is evil, and the understanding side, which is falsity. When a person confesses and believes that in his heart, the Lord flows in with good and truth and instills a heavenly proprium into him which is bright and shining. Nobody can possibly be truly humble unless that acknowledgement and belief are present in his heart; and when they are present he is self-effacing, indeed self-loathing, and so is not preoccupied with himself, in which case he is in a fit state to receive the Lord's Divine. These are the circumstances in which the Lord flows in with good into a humble and contrite heart.

[2] Such is the proprium of innocence meant here by 'the black one among the lambs' which Jacob chose for himself, whereas 'the white one among the iambs' means the merit that is placed in good deeds - 'white' meaning merit, as stated above in 3993. Jacob did not choose this because it goes against innocence. Indeed anyone who places merit in good deeds acknowledges and believes that all good originates in himself, for he regards himself, not the Lord, in the good deeds he does and as a consequence seeks reward on the basis of that merit. For the same reason he also despises others in comparison with himself, indeed he even condemns them, and therefore to the same extent departs from heavenly order, that is, from good and truth. From all this it may be seen that charity towards the neighbour and love to the Lord are by no means able to exist unless they have innocence within them, and consequently that no one can enter heaven unless he possesses some degree of innocence, according to the Lord's words,

Truly I say to you, Whoever has not received the kingdom of God like a young child will not enter into it. Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17.

Here and elsewhere in the Word 'a young child' means innocence - see what has been stated already on these matters in the following paragraphs,

Early childhood is not innocence, but innocence resides in wisdom, 2305, 3494.

The nature of the innocence of early childhood, and the nature of the innocence of wisdom, 2306, 3183; also the nature of the proprium when, with innocence and charity, the Lord gives it life, 154.

Innocence causes good to be good, 2526, 2780.

[3] The fact that innocence is meant by 'lambs' may be seen from many places in the Word, of which let the following be quoted to confirm the point,

The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the ox together; and a little child will lead them. Isaiah 11:6.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom and to the state of peace and of innocence there. 'The wolf' stands for those who are opposed to innocence, 'the lamb' for those in whom innocence is present. A similar example occurs elsewhere in the same prophet,

The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and for the serpent, dust will be his bread. They will not hurt and will not destroy on all My holy mountain. Isaiah 65:25.

As above, 'the wolf' stands for those who are opposed to innocence, and 'the lamb' for those in whom innocence is present. Because 'the wolf' and 'the lamb' are opposites, the Lord also said to the seventy whom He sent out, in Luke,

Behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Luke 10:3.

In Moses,

He causes him to suck honey out of the crag, and oil out of the stony rock - butter from the cattle, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and rams, the breed 1 of Bashan. Deuteronomy 32:13-14.

This refers in the internal sense to the celestial qualities of the Ancient Church. 'The fat of lambs' stands for the charity that goes with innocence.

[4] In the original language various nouns exist for lambs, and each is used to mean a different degree of innocence, for as has been stated, all good, if it is to be good, must have innocence within it. And so also must truth. Here in Genesis 30:32 the word used for lambs is also used for sheep, as in Leviticus 1:10; 3:7; 5:6; 17:3; 22:19; Numbers 18:17; and by that word is meant the innocence belonging to faith grounded in charity. Different words are used elsewhere, as in Isaiah,

Send the lamb of the ruler of the land from the rock towards the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. Isaiah 16:1.

A different word again is used in the same prophet,

The Lord Jehovih is coming with strength, and His arm will exercise dominion for Him. He will pasture His flock like a shepherd, He will gather the lambs into His arm, He will carry them in His bosom, and will lead those that give suck. Isaiah 40:9-11.

'Gathering the lambs into the arm and carrying in the bosom' stands for people who are governed by charity that has innocence within it.

[5] In John,

When He appeared [to the disciples] Jesus said to Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, Yes, Lord; You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs. He said to him again, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My sheep. John 21:15-16.

Here as elsewhere 'Peter' means faith - see the Prefaces to Chapters 18 and 22, and 3750. And since faith is not faith if it does not arise out of charity towards the neighbour, and so out of love to the Lord, neither are charity and love charity and love if they do not arise out of innocence. This is why the Lord first asks whether he loves Him, that is, whether love is present within faith, and after that says, 'Feed My lambs', that is, feed those who are innocent. Then after putting the same question again, He says, 'Feed My sheep', that is, feed those who have charity.

[6] Because the Lord is the Innocence itself which exists in His kingdom, for He is the source of all innocence, the Lord is therefore called the Lamb, as in John,

The next day John Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world. John 1:29, 36.

And in Revelation,

They will fight with the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and those with Him have been called and chosen. Revelation 17:14.

There are other places in Revelation besides this - 5:6; 6:1, 16; 7:9, 14, 17; 12:11; 13:8; 14:1, 4; 19:7, 9; 21:22-23, 27; 22:1, 3. It is well known that in the highest sense the paschal lamb means the Lord - for the Passover meant the Lord's glorification, that is, His enduing the Human with the Divine - and in the representative sense means the regeneration of man. Indeed the paschal lamb means that which is the essential feature of regeneration, namely innocence; for nobody can be regenerated except by means of charity that has innocence within it.

[7] Because innocence is the first essential in the Lord's kingdom and is the celestial itself there, and because sacrifices and burnt offerings used to represent the spiritual and celestial things of the Lord's kingdom, the essential itself of the Lord's kingdom, which is innocence, was therefore represented by 'lambs'. This was why the continual or daily burnt offering was made from lambs, the first in the morning and the second 'between the evenings', Exodus 29:37-39; Numbers 28:3-4; and a double offering on the sabbath, Numbers 28:9-10; and many more lambs still at the appointed festivals, Leviticus 23:12; Numbers 28:11, 14, 19, 27; 28:1-end. After the days of her cleansing had been completed a woman who had given birth was required to offer a lamb as a burnt offering, also a young pigeon or else a turtledove, Leviticus 12:6. This was required in order that the sign of the fruit of conjugial love - a love which is innocence itself, see 2736 - might be represented, and because innocence is meant by 'babes'.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, sons

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