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Leviticus 10

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1 And the sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, took each·​·man his censer, and put fire in it, and set incense thereon, and offered strange fire before Jehovah, which He commanded them not.

2 And there went·​·out fire from Jehovah, and devoured them, and they died before Jehovah.

3 And Moses said to Aaron, This is what Jehovah spoke, saying, I will be sanctified in those who are near Me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron kept·​·still.

4 And Moses called to Mishael and to Elizaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, Come·​·near, carry your brothers from before the sanctuary to outside the camp.

5 And they went·​·near, and carried them in their tunics to outside the camp; as Moses had spoken.

6 And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons, Expose not your heads, neither unstitch your garments, lest you die, and He be·​·enraged against all the congregation; but let your brothers, all the house of Israel, weep for the burning·​·up which Jehovah has burned·​·up.

7 And you shall not go·​·out from the entrance of the Tabernacle of the congregation, lest you die; for the anointing oil of Jehovah is upon you. And they did according·​·to the word of Moses.

8 And Jehovah spoke to Aaron, saying,

9 Do not drink wine nor strong·​·drink, thou, nor thy sons with thee, when you come into the Tabernacle of the congregation, lest you die; it shall be an eternal statute throughout your generations:

10 and that you may distinguish between the holy and the profane, and between the unclean and the clean;

11 and that you may instruct the sons of Israel in all the statutes which Jehovah has spoken to them by the hand of Moses.

12 And Moses spoke to Aaron, and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his remaining sons, Take the remaining gift·​·offering of the fire·​·offerings of Jehovah, and eat it unleavened beside the altar; for it is a holy of holies:

13 and you shall eat it in the holy place, for it is thy statute, and the statute of thy sons, of the fire·​·offerings of Jehovah; for so I am commanded.

14 And the chest portion of the waving and the hind·​·quarter of the uplifting you shall eat in a clean place; thou, and thy sons, and thy daughters with thee; for they be thy statute, and a statute of thy sons, which are given from the sacrifices of peace·​·offerings of the sons of Israel.

15 The hind·​·quarter of the uplifting and the chest portion of the waving on the fire·​·offerings of the fat they shall bring to wave as a waving before Jehovah; and it shall be for thee, and for thy sons with thee, for an eternal statute, as Jehovah has commanded.

16 And inquiring Moses inquired·​·after the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was burnt·​·up; and he was·​·enraged against Eleazar and against Ithamar, the remaining sons of Aaron, saying,

17 Wherefore have you not eaten the sin offering in the holy place? For it is a holy of holies, and He has given it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make·​·atonement for them before Jehovah?

18 Behold, the blood of it was not brought into the holy place within; eating you should have eaten it in the holy place, as I commanded.

19 And Aaron spoke to Moses, Behold, today have they offered their sin offering and their burnt·​·offering before Jehovah; and things like these have befallen me; and if I had eaten the sin offering today, would it have been·​·good in the eyes of Jehovah?

20 And Moses heard, and it was·​·good in his eyes.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 9434

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9434. 'And the sight of Jehovah's glory was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel' means Divine Truth beaming brightly with the good of love in heaven itself, but harmful and ruinous with those restricted to its outward level, separated from the inward. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sight of Jehovah's glory' as the appearance presented by Divine Truth emanating from the Lord (the fact that 'the sight of' means the appearance presented before the eyes is self-evident; and for the meaning of 'Jehovah's glory' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, see 9429); from the meaning of 'fire' as love in both senses, dealt with in 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, in this instance God's love itself; from the meaning of 'the top of the mountain' as the inmost part of heaven, for 'Mount Sinai' means heaven, 9420, 9427, and its highest point, which is called 'the top' and the peak, means its inmost part, 9422; from the meaning of 'devouring' as consuming, and so harming and ruining; and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those restricted to outward things, apart from inward ones, dealt with often above. From all this it becomes clear that 'the sight of Jehovah's glory was like a [devouring] fire on the top of the mountain' means Divine Truth beaming brightly with the good of love in heaven itself; and the statement that it was 'like a devouring fire in the eyes of the children of Israel' means that with those restricted to its outward level, apart from the inward, it was harmful and ruinous.

[2] The implications of all this are that there are two kinds of love which are complete opposites, heavenly love and hellish love. Heavenly love consists of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour; hellish love consists of self-love and love of the world. Those with whom hellish loves reign are in hell, whereas those with whom heavenly loves reign are in heaven. For love is what constitutes the actual life within a person; without the love there is no life whatever. In everyone the heat and fire that his life possesses originate in his love; without that animating heat and fire he has no life, as is plainly evident. From this it follows that the character of the love determines the character of the life, and therefore that the character of the love determines that of the person. This being so, anyone can know from what his loves are whether he has heaven within himself or hell. The love present in a person is like a fire or flame, and in addition constitutes, as has been stated, the fire or flame of life; and the faith present there is like the light radiating from that fire or flame, and in addition constitutes the light which enlightens the more internal parts of his understanding. This also reveals the character of the light which gives rise to faith among those governed by heavenly love and the character of the light which gives rise to faith among those ruled by hellish love. The latter kind of light gives rise to faith that is no more than persuasion, which in itself is not faith at all, only a conviction that something is so, dictated by selfishness and worldliness, see 9363-9369. In the Church at the present day spiritual life, which is eternal life, is thought to lie in faith alone, thus in faith without the good works of heavenly love. But anyone who gives thought to the matter can see from the things which have now been stated what the character of that life is.

[3] Something must be said next about what Divine fire, that is, Divine Love, is like among those governed by heavenly love and what it is like among those ruled by hellish love. Among those governed by heavenly love it is God's fire or love constantly creating and renewing the interior parts of the will and enlightening the interior parts of the understanding. But among those ruled by hellish love it is God's fire or love constantly harming and ruining; and the reason for this is that among these people God's love meets with contrary feelings that destroy it. For it is turned into the fire or love of self and the world, and so into contempt for others in comparison with themselves, into feelings of enmity towards all who do not support them, thus into feelings of hatred, feelings of vengeance, and finally the readiness to behave brutally. This is why Jehovah's fire appeared before the eyes of the children of Israel as a devouring or consuming one. For being restricted to outward things, apart from inward, they were ruled by selfish and worldly love.

[4] The fact that this fire was to them a devouring and consuming one is again evident elsewhere in Moses,

It happened, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said, Lo, Jehovah our God has caused us to see His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire. Why therefore should we die? For this great fire will devour us; if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more we shall certainly die. Deuteronomy 5:23-25.

See also what has been shown in 6832, 8814, 8819, and the places quoted in 9380 showing that the character of this people was such. There are other places in the Word in which 'devouring fire' is used in reference to the wicked and means ruination, for example in Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and gloom. Fire devours before them, 1 and behind them a flame burns. The land before them is like the garden of Eden, but behind them a desolate wilderness. 2 Joel 2:1-3.

[5] In Isaiah,

Jehovah will cause His glorious voice 3 to be heard, in the flame of a devouring fire. Isaiah 30:30.

In the same prophet,

Who among us will dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us will dwell with the hearths of eternity? Isaiah 33:14.

In the same prophet,

You will be punished 4 by Jehovah with the flame of a devouring fire. Isaiah 29:6.

In Ezekiel,

Your descendants will be devoured by fire. Ezekiel 23:25.

In these places 'a devouring fire' is the fire of desires that spring from self-love and love of the world, for this fire is that which consumes a person and ruins the Church. This was also represented by the fire that went out from before Jehovah, which devoured Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu, because they put foreign 5 fire in their censers, Leviticus 10:1-2. 'Putting foreign fire in censers' means introducing worship that springs from a love other than that which is heavenly. Such fire means selfish and worldly love, and every desire arising from it, see 1297, 1861, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, 7575, 9141.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. i.e. the great and strong people who will invade the land

2. literally, a wilderness of ruination

3. literally, the glory of His voice

4. literally, visited

5. i.e. unauthorized or profane

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