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Leviticus 22

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1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

2 Speak to Aaron and to his sons, that they separate themselves from the holy things of the sons of Israel, and that they profane not My holy name in those things which they hallow to Me; I am Jehovah.

3 Say to them, Every man from all your seed to your generations, who comes·​·near to the holy things, which the sons of Israel hallow to Jehovah, and his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut·​·off from before Me; I am Jehovah.

4 A man, a man from the seed of Aaron and he is a leper, or has a flow, shall not eat of the holy things, until he be·​·clean. And whoever touches any thing that is unclean by the soul*, or a man whose laying·​·down of seed goes·​·out from him;

5 or a man who touches any crawling thing, by which he may be·​·made·​·unclean, or man by which he may be·​·made·​·unclean, whatever his uncleanness;

6 the soul which has touched any such shall·​·be·​·unclean until evening, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he bathe his flesh with water.

7 And when the sun sets, he shall be clean, and shall afterwards eat of the holy things; because it is his bread.

8 The carcass and that which is torn, he shall not eat to defile himself with it; I am Jehovah.

9 And they shall keep My charge, that they not bear sin against it, and die, if they profane it; I, Jehovah, do sanctify them.

10 And not any stranger shall eat of the holy thing; a lodger of the priest, or a hireling, shall not eat of the holy thing.

11 But if a priest buy a soul buying with his silver, he shall eat of it; and he that is born in his house, they shall eat of his bread.

12 And if a daughter of a priest be married to a man, a stranger, she may not eat of an uplifting of the holy things.

13 But when the daughter of the priest is a widow, or driven·​·out, and she has no seed, and returns to the house of her father, as in her youth, she shall eat of the bread of her father; but not any stranger shall eat of it.

14 And if a man eat of the holy thing in ignorance, then he shall add its fifth part over it, and shall give it to the priest with the holy thing.

15 And they shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, which they lift·​·high to Jehovah;

16 or cause them to carry the iniquity of guilt, when they eat their holy things; for I Jehovah do sanctify them.

17 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

18 Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the sons of Israel, and say to them, A man, a man of the house of Israel, or of the sojourners in Israel, that will offer his offering for all his vows, and for all his freewill offerings, which they will offer to Jehovah for a burnt·​·offering;

19 you shall offer at your own good·​·pleasure a perfect male, among the cattle, among the sheep, or among the goats.

20 Any that has a blemish you shall not offer; for it shall not be well·​·pleasing for you.

21 And when a man offers a sacrifice of peace·​·offerings to Jehovah to make·​·a·​·special vow, or a freewill offering of the herd or of the flock, it shall be perfect for good·​·pleasure; there shall not be any blemish in it.

22 Blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a streaming sore, or scabies, or warts, you shall not offer these to Jehovah, nor put a fire·​·offering of them upon the altar to Jehovah.

23 Both an ox and a sheep having any thing too·​·long or too·​·short, it thou mayest make a freewill offering; but for a vow it shall not be well·​·pleasing.

24 And you shall not offer to Jehovah that which is pressed·​·in, or beaten·​·down, or pulled·​·apart, or cut·​·off; and in your land you shall not do this.

25 Neither from the hand of the son of a foreigner shall you offer the bread of your God of any of these; for there is corruption in them, and a blemish is in them; they shall not be well·​·pleasing for you.

26 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

27 When an ox, or a sheep, or a goat, is·​·born, then it shall be seven days under its mother; and from the eighth day and beyond it shall be well·​·pleasing for an offering, a fire·​·offering to Jehovah.

28 And an ox or a sheep, you shall not slaughter it and its young in one day.

29 And when you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to Jehovah, sacrifice it at your own good·​·pleasure.

30 In that day it shall be eaten·​·up; you shall let none of it remain until the morning; I am Jehovah.

31 And they shall keep My commandments, and do them; I am Jehovah.

32 Neither shall you profane My holy name; but I will be hallowed in the midst of the sons of Israel; I am Jehovah who hallows you,

33 who brought· you ·out of the land of Egypt, to be your God; I am Jehovah.

   


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.