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Numbers 18

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1 And Jehovah said to Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father’s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary; and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

2 And thy brothers also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, come·​·near with thee, that they may be joined to thee, and minister to thee; but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the Tabernacle of the testimony.

3 And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the Tabernacle; only they shall not come·​·near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar, and they shall not die, both they, and you.

4 And they shall be joined to thee, and keep the charge of the Tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the Tabernacle; and a stranger shall not come·​·near to you.

5 And you shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar, that there be no rage any·​·more upon the sons of Israel.

6 And I, behold, I have taken your brothers the Levites from among the sons of Israel; to you they are given as a gift for Jehovah, to serve the service of the Tabernacle of the congregation.

7 And thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priesthood for every thing of the altar, and for that inside the veil; and you shall serve; I have given you the priesthood as a gift of service; and the stranger who draws·​·near shall be put·​·to·​·death.

8 And Jehovah spoke to Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of My upliftings of all the holy things of the sons of Israel; to thee I have given them for the anointing, and to thy sons, for a statute of an age.

9 This shall be for thee from the holy of holies from the fire: every offering of theirs, every gift·​·offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every guilt offering of theirs, which they shall return unto Me, it shall be a holy of holies for thee and for thy sons.

10 In the holy of holies shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it; it shall be holy to thee.

11 And this is thine: the uplifting of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the sons of Israel; I have given them to thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute of an age; everyone who is clean in thy house shall eat of it.

12 All the fat of the olive·​·oil, and all the fat of the must* and grain, their firstfruits which they shall give to Jehovah, to thee I have given them.

13 A firstfruit of all that is in the land, which they shall bring to Jehovah, shall be thine; everyone who is clean in thy house shall eat of it.

14 Every devoted·​·thing in Israel shall be thine.

15 All that opens·​·up the womb of all flesh, which they offer to Jehovah, among man and among beast, shall be for thee; only redeeming shalt thou redeem the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of the unclean beast shalt thou redeem.

16 And those who are to be redeemed from a son of a month shalt thou redeem, with thy value, the silver of five shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary; this is twenty gerahs.

17 Only the firstborn of an ox, or the firstborn of a sheep, or the firstborn of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they are holy; thou shalt sprinkle their blood on the altar, and shalt burn· their fat ·for·​·incense for a fire·​·offering, for a restful smell to Jehovah.

18 And their flesh shall be for thee as the chest portion of the waving, and as the right hind·​·quarter is for thee.

19 All the upliftings of the holy things, which the sons of Israel lift·​·up to Jehovah, have I given to thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, for an eternal statute; it is a covenant of salt of eternity before Jehovah to thee and to thy seed with thee.

20 And Jehovah said to Aaron, Thou shalt not inherit in their land, and thou shalt not have a part in their midst. I am thy part and thine inheritance in the midst of the sons of Israel.

21 And, behold, I have given the sons of Levi all the tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in·​·exchange·​·for their service which they serve, even the service of the Tabernacle of the congregation.

22 Neither must the sons of Israel any·​·more come·​·near unto the Tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die.

23 But the Levites shall serve the service of the Tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity; it shall be an eternal statute for your generations, that in the midst of the sons of Israel they shall not inherit an inheritance.

24 But the tithes of the sons of Israel, which they lift·​·up as an uplifting to Jehovah, I have given to the Levites for an inheritance; therefore I have said to them, In the midst of the sons of Israel they shall not inherit an inheritance.

25 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

26 Then speak to the Levites, and say to them, When you take from the sons of Israel the tithes, which I have given to you from them for your inheritance, then you shall lift·​·up an uplifting from it for Jehovah, even a tithe* of the tithe.

27 And this your uplifting shall be reckoned to you, as though it were the grain of the threshing·​·floor, and as the fullness of the winepress.

28 So also shall you lift·​·up an uplifting to Jehovah from all your tithes, which you take from the sons of Israel; and you shall give from it Jehovah’s uplifting to Aaron the priest.

29 From all your gifts you shall lift·​·up every uplifting of Jehovah, of all its fat, the holy·​·part of it from it.

30 And thou shalt say to them, When you have lifted·​·up its fat from it, then it shall be reckoned to the Levites as the increase of the threshing·​·floor, and as the increase of the winepress.

31 And you shall eat it in every place, you and your houses; for it is your wage in·​·exchange·​·for your service in the Tabernacle of the congregation.

32 And you shall not bear sin on·​·account·​·of it, when you have lifted·​·up from it the fat of it; and you shall not profane the holy things of the sons of Israel, and you shall not die.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 6148

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6148. 'Only the ground of the priests he did not buy' means that the internal obtained for itself from the natural every capacity to receive good, because every such capacity came from itself. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph', about whom these things are said, as the internal, dealt with already; from the meaning of 'the ground' as the receptacle of truth, dealt with above in 6135-6137, at this point the capacity to receive good, for the capacity of something is its inherent ability to receive, which causes a receptacle to be a receptacle (that capacity comes from good, that is, from the Lord through good, for if the good of love did not flow in from the Lord no one would ever have the capacity to receive truth or good. That inflow of the good of love from the Lord causes everything present inwardly in a person to be of a receptive nature. The truth that the capacity to receive good comes from the natural is meant by the fact that the ground lay in Egypt, since 'Egypt' means the natural in respect of factual knowledge, 6142); from the meaning of 'the priests' as good, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'not buying' as not taking those capacities to itself - not in the way that it made truths and forms of the good of truth, together with their receptacles, its own, which came about through periods of desolation and sustainment - for the reason that those capacities came from itself, from the internal. All these meanings serve to show that 'only the ground of the priests he did not buy' means that the internal obtained for itself from the natural every capacity to receive good, because every such capacity came from itself.

[2] The implications of all this are that a person's capacities to receive truth and good come directly from the Lord; he obtains them without any help at all from himself. A person's capacity to receive goodness and truth is maintained in him unceasingly; and from that capacity he possesses understanding and will. But a person does not receive them if he turns to evil. The capacity to receive does, it is true, remain, but its access to thought and sensitivity is blocked, on account of which his capacity to see what is true and have a sensitive awareness of what is good perishes. And it perishes to the extent that he turns to evil and in faith and life becomes firmly settled in it. The fact that a person contributes nothing whatever to his capacity to receive truth and good is well known from the Church's teaching that nothing at all of the truth of faith and nothing at all of the good of charity comes from man but from the Lord. Yet a person can destroy that capacity residing with him. From all this one may now see how one should understand the idea that the internal obtained for itself from the natural every capacity to receive good, because every such capacity came from itself. The expression 'from the natural' is used because the inflow of good from the Lord is effected by the Lord through the internal into the natural; and once the capacity to receive has been obtained from there, the inflow takes place, for now there is reception, see 5828.

[3] So far as the meaning of 'the priests' as forms of good is concerned, it should be recognized that there are two realities which go forth from the Lord - goodness and truth. Divine Good was represented by priests, and Divine Truth by kings; and this is why 'the priests' means forms of good and 'the kings' truths. Regarding the attribution of Priesthood and Kingship to the Lord, see 1728, 2015 (end), 3670. In the representative Ancient Church those two offices of priest and king existed jointly in one personage, the reason for this being that goodness and truth which go forth from the Lord are united; and they are also joined together in heaven among the angels.

[4] A personage in the Ancient Church in whom the two offices existed joined together was called Melchizedek, a name meaning king of righteousness. This may be seen from the following statement about Melchizedek who came to Abraham, 1

Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; and he was a priest to God Most High. And he blessed Abraham. Genesis 14:18-19.

His representation of the Lord in both offices is evident from the fact that he was a king and at the same time a priest, and from the fact that he was allowed to bless Abraham and offer him bread and wine, which even at that time were the symbols of the good of love and the truth of faith. His representation of the Lord in both offices is further evident in David,

Jehovah has sworn and will not repent, You are a priest for ever after the manner of Melchizedek. Psalms 110:4.

These words were spoken in reference to the Lord. 'After the manner of Melchizedek' means that He is both King and Priest, that is, in the highest sense that Divine Good and Divine Truth go forth together from Him.

[5] Because a representative Church was going to be established also among the descendants of Jacob, they too were to have a single personage to represent jointly Divine Good and Divine Truth, which go forth from the Lord united. But on account of the wars and the idolatry of that people the two were in fact divided right from the start; those who ruled over the attended to sacred duties were referred to as the priests, who belonged to the seed of Aaron and were the Levites. At a later time the two functions were joined together in a single person, as they were in Eli and Samuel. Yet because the nature of the people was such that the representative Church could not be established among them, only a representative of the Church, on account of the practice of idolatry prevalent among them, the two functions were allowed to be separated. The Lord was then represented in respect of Divine Truth by kings and in respect of Divine Good by priests. The separation took place because the people desired it, not because the Lord took any pleasure in it, as is clear from the Word of Jehovah to Samuel,

Obey the voice of the people in all that they have said to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them; and show them the right of the king. 1 Samuel 8:7-end; 12:19-20.

[6] The reason why the two functions were not meant to be separated was that Divine Truth separated from Divine Good condemns all people, whereas Divine Truth united to Divine Good saves them. Judged by Divine Truth a person is condemned to hell, but Divine Good brings him out of there and raises him into heaven. Salvation comes of mercy and so sprigs from Divine Good; but damnation exists when a person rejects mercy and so casts Divine Good away from himself, as a consequence of which he is left to be judged by Truth. As regards 'kings' representing Divine Truth, see 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068.

[7] 'The priests' represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good, and for that reason good is meant by them. This becomes clear from the internal sense of all that was prescribed regarding the priesthood when Aaron was chosen, and after him the Levites, such as these prescriptions:

The High Priest alone should enter the Holy of holies and minister there. [Leviticus 16.]

Things holy to Jehovah were to be for the priest. Leviticus 23:20; 27:21.

They were not to have any portion or inheritance in the land, but Jehovah would be their portion and inheritance. Numbers 18:20; Deuteronomy 10:9; 18:1.

The Levites were given to Jehovah instead of the firstborn, and they were given by Jehovah to Aaron. Numbers 3:9, 12-13, Numbers 3:40-end; 8:16-19.

The high priest and the Levites were to be in the middle of the camp when they pitched it and when they were journeying. Numbers 1:50-54; 2:17; 3:23-38; 4:1-end.

No one from the seed of Aaron who had a blemish in himself was to approach to offer burnt offerings or sacrifices. Leviticus 21:17-20.

And there are many other prescriptions besides these, such as those in Leviticus 21:9-13, and elsewhere.

[8] In the highest sense all these prescriptions relating to the priests represented the Lord's Divine Good and therefore in the relative sense the good of love and charity. Aaron's vestments however, called 'vestments of holiness', represented Divine Truth from Divine Good. These matters will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with in the explanations of what appears in Exodus.

[9] Since truth is meant by 'kings' and good by 'priests', 'kings and priests' are mentioned together many times in the Word, as in John, Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests to His God and Father. Revelation 1:6; 5:10.

By virtue of the truth of faith we are said to have been made 'kings', and by virtue of the good of charity to have been made 'priests', so that the truth and good residing with those who abide in the Lord have been joined together, in the way they are in heaven, as stated above. This is what is meant by 'being made kings and priests'.

[10] In Jeremiah,

It will happen on that day, that the heart of the king and of the princes will perish, and the priests will be dumbfounded and the prophets left wondering. Jeremiah 4:9.

In the same prophet,

The house of Israel is ashamed, they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets. Jeremiah 2:26.

In the same prophet,

The kings of Judah, the princes, the priests, and the prophets, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Jeremiah 8:1.

In these places 'kings stands for truths, 'princes' for first and foremost truths, 1482, 1089, 5044, 'priests' for forms of good, and 'prophets' for those who teach, 2534.

[11] Quite apart from this it should be recognized that Joseph did not buy the ground of the priests. The fact that this was representative of the consideration that the whole of a person's capacity to receive truth and good comes from the Lord is evident from a similar law in Moses regarding the fields belonging to the Levites,

The field of the country surrounding the cities of the Levites shall not be sold, for it is their eternal possession. Leviticus 25:34.

The meaning here in the internal sense is that no one ought to lay any claim to the good of the Church, which is the good of love and charity, because that good is from the Lord alone.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. At this time the patriarch's name was still Abram.

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