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Numbers 21

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1 And King Arad the Canaanite, who dwelt·​·in the South, heard that Israel came by the way of the Atharim; and he fought against Israel, and took·​·captive from among them captives.

2 And Israel vowed a vow to Jehovah, and said, If giving Thou wilt give this people into my hand, then I will doom their cities.

3 And Jehovah hearkened to the voice of Israel, and gave·​·over the Canaanites; and they doomed them and their cities; and he called the name of the place Hormah.*

4 And they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Suph Sea*, to go·​·around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people was shortened on the way.

5 And the people spoke against God, and against Moses, Why have you brought· us ·up out·​·of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread, and no water; and our soul loathes this vile bread.

6 And Jehovah sent among the people the serpents, the seraphim*, and they bit the people; and many people from Israel died.

7 And the people came to Moses, and said, We have sinned, for we have spoken against Jehovah, and against thee; pray to Jehovah, that He remove the serpents from upon us. And Moses prayed for the people.

8 And Jehovah said to Moses, Make for thee a saraph*, and set it upon a standard; and it shall be, that every one who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.

9 And Moses made a serpent of bronze, and set it upon the standard, and it was, if a serpent had bitten a man, and he looked at the serpent of bronze, then he lived.

10 And the sons of Israel journeyed, and encamped in Oboth.

11 And they journeyed from Oboth, and encamped at Ije-abarim, in the wilderness which is before Moab, toward the rising of the sun.

12 From thence they journeyed, and encamped by the brook of Zaredh.

13 From thence they journeyed, and encamped across Arnon, which is in the wilderness that comes·​·out of the borders of the Amorites; for Arnon is the border of Moab, between Moab and the Amorites.

14 Therefore it is said in the book, The Wars of Jehovah: Vaheb in Suphah, and the brooks, the Arnon,

15 and the watercourse of the brooks that stretches to the dwelling of Ar, and leans to the border of Moab.

16 And from thence they went to Beer; that is the well whereof Jehovah said to Moses, Gather· the people ·together and I will give to them water.

17 Then Israel sang this song, Come·​·up, O well; answer ye to it;

18 the princes dug the well, the nobles of the people dug· it ·out, by the direction of the lawgiver, with their staves. And from the wilderness they went to Mattanah;

19 and from Mattanah to Nahaliel; and from Nahaliel to Bamoth:

20 and from Bamoth in the ravine, that is in the field of Moab, to the head of Pisgah, that looks·​·out upon the faces of Jeshimon.

21 And Israel sent messengers to Sihon, king of the Amorites, saying,

22 Let me pass·​·through thy land; we will not go·​·aside into the fields, or into the vineyards; we will not drink the waters of the well; we will go by the king’s high way, until we have passed·​·by thy borders.

23 And Sihon would not give Israel passage within his border; but Sihon gathered all his people, and went·​·out to meet Israel toward the wilderness; and he came toward Jahaz, and fought with Israel.

24 And Israel smote him with the mouth of the sword, and possessed his land from Arnon to Jabbok, even·​·to the sons of Ammon; for the border of the sons of Ammon was strong.

25 And Israel took all these cities; and Israel dwelt in all the cities of the Amorites, in Heshbon, and in all her villages*.

26 For Heshbon, it was the city of Sihon, king of the Amorites, and he had fought against the first king of Moab, and taken all his land out·​·of his hand, even·​·to Arnon.

27 Therefore the Enunciators say, Come·​·into Heshbon, let the city of Sihon be built and established;

28 for there is a fire gone·​·out of Heshbon, a flame from the walled·​·city of Sihon; it has devoured Ar of Moab, and the lords of the high·​·places of Arnon.

29 Woe to thee, Moab! Thou art perished, O people of Chemosh; he has given his sons that escaped, and his daughters, into captivity to Sihon king of the Amorites.

30 We have shot at them; Heshbon is perished even·​·to Dibon, and we have desolated them even·​·to Nophah, which is even·​·to Medeba.

31 And Israel dwelt in the land of the Amorites.

32 And Moses sent them to spy·​·out Jaazer, and they took its villages, and dispossessed the Amorites who were there.

33 And they turned and went·​·up by the way of Bashan; and Og the king of Bashan went·​·out to meet them, he and all his people, to the battle at Edrei.

34 And Jehovah said to Moses, Fear him not; for I have given him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who dwelt at Heshbon.

35 And they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until not a survivor was left for him; and they possessed his land.

   


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

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Apocalypse Revealed # 862

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862. We have said that the nations' surrounding the camp of the saints and the beloved city means, symbolically, that these people attempted to destroy everything connected with the New Church, both its truths and goods and its fundamental doctrine regarding the Lord and life, as stated in the preceding number. This is the symbolic meaning because the camp of the saints symbolizes all the truths and goods of the church which is the New Jerusalem.

That a camp in the spiritual sense symbolizes everything connected with the church with respect to its truths and goods can be seen from the following passages:

The sun and moon grew dark, and the stars diminished their brightness. Jehovah uttered His voice before His army, for His camp is very great; for numberless are those who obey His Word. (Joel 2:10-11)

I will encamp for My house some of the army... (Zechariah 9:8)

...God has scattered the bones of them who encamp against you..., because God has rejected them. (Psalms 53:5)

The angel of Jehovah encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. (Psalms 34:7)

(An angel of God met Jacob, and said to Jacob,) "This is God's camp." Therefore he called the name of that place Mahanaim (Two Camps). (Genesis 32:1-2)

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 29:3, Ezekiel 1:24, Psalms 27:3.

That an army or host in the Word symbolizes the church's truths and goods, and also its falsities and evils, may be seen in nos. 447, 826, 833; and so, too, does a camp.

[2] Since the children of Israel and their twelve tribes symbolize the church in respect to all its truths and goods (nos. 349, 350), they were therefore called the armies or hosts of Jehovah (Exodus 7:4; 12:41, 51), and the places where they stopped and assembled were called camps, as in Leviticus 4:12; 8:17; 13:46; 14:8; 16:26, 28; 24:14, 23; Numbers 1; 2; 3; 4:5 ff., 5:2-4; 9:17-23; 10:1-10, 11-28; 11:31-32; 12:14-15; 21:10-15; 33:1-49; Deuteronomy 23:9-14; Amos 4:10.

It is apparent from this now that the nations' surrounding the camp of the saints and the beloved city means, symbolically, that these people tried to destroy all the truths and goods of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, and also its doctrine regarding the Lord and life.

The same symbolism is found in these verses in Luke:

When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near... (At length) Jerusalem will be trampled by Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. (Luke 21:20, 24)

This is said in reference to the end of the age, which is the final period of the church. Jerusalem here also symbolizes the church.

That Gog and Magog, that is, people who engage in external worship divorced from any internal worship, will then invade the church and try to destroy it, is something we are told also in Ezekiel 38:8-9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 39:2, and that the New Church will then be established by the Lord, Ezekiel 39:17-29.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.