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Numbers 23

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1 And Balaam said to Balak, Build for me in this place seven altars, and prepare for me in this place seven bullocks and seven rams.

2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered·​·up on every altar a bullock and a ram.

3 And Balaam said to Balak, Stand·​·forth over thy burnt·​·offering, and I will go; perhaps Jehovah will happen to meet me: and what word He shows me I will tell thee. And he went to a slope.

4 And God came* to Balaam; and he said to Him, I have arranged seven altars, and I have offered·​·up on each altar a bullock and a ram.

5 And Jehovah set a word in Balaam’s mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.

6 And he returned to him, and, behold, he stood over his burnt·​·offering, he and all the princes of Moab.

7 And he lifted up his enunciation, and said, Balak the king of Moab has led me from Syria, from the mountains of the east, saying, Go, curse Jacob for me, and go, have·​·indignation against Israel.

8 How shall I curse, whom God has not cursed? And how shall I be·​·indignant when Jehovah is· not ·indignant?

9 For from the head of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I observe him; behold, the people shall abide alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part* of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the upright, and let my last be like his!

11 And Balak said to Balaam, What hast thou done to me? I took thee to curse my enemies, and, behold, blessing thou hast blessed them.

12 And he answered and said, Must I not keep to speaking that which Jehovah has set in my mouth?

13 And Balak said to him, Go, I pray thee, with me to another place, from whence thou mayest see them; thou shalt see nothing but the edge of them, and shalt not see them all; and curse them for me from thence.

14 And he took him into the field of Zophim, to the head of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered·​·up a bullock and a ram on every altar.

15 And he said to Balak, Stand·​·forth here over thy burnt·​·offering, and there it will befall me.

16 And Jehovah came* to Balaam, and set a word in his mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.

17 And he came to him, and behold, he stood over his burnt·​·offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, What has Jehovah spoken?

18 And he lifted·​·up his enunciation, and said, Rise·​·up, Balak, and hear; give·​·ear even·​·to me, thou son of Zippor;

19 God is not a man, that He should lie; neither a son of man, that He should repent Himself. Has He said, and shall He not do? And has He spoken, and shall He not secure it?

20 Behold, a blessing I have received, and He has blessed; and not turned· it ·back.

21 He has not looked on iniquity in Jacob, neither has He seen mischief in Israel; Jehovah his God is with him, and the shout of a king is in him.

22 God brought· them ·out from Egypt; he has as·​·it·​·were the powers of a unicorn.

23 For there is no foretelling against Jacob, neither divination against Israel; according·​·to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What has God worked!

24 Behold, the people shall rise·​·up as an old·​·lion, and lift· himself ·up as a young* lion; he shall not lie·​·down until he eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

25 And Balak said to Balaam, Even cursing thou shalt not curse them, even blessing shalt thou not bless them.

26 But Balaam answered and said to Balak, Spoke I not to thee, saying, All that Jehovah speaks, it I will do?

27 And Balak said to Balaam, Go, I pray thee, I will take thee to another place; perhaps it will be·​·upright in the eyes of God, and thou mayest curse them for me from thence.

28 And Balak took Balaam to the head of Peor, that looks·​·out upon the faces of Jeshimon.

29 And Balaam said to Balak, Build for me in this place seven altars, and prepare for me in this place seven bullocks and seven rams.

30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered·​·up a bullock and a ram on every altar.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 4449

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4449. 'His soul longs for your daughter; give her, I beg you, to him for a wife' means a longing to be joined to this new Church which in outward appearance was similar to the Ancient Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the soul's longing' as a longing; from the representation of Dinah, to whom 'daughter' refers here, as the affection for truth, and therefore as the Church, for a Church is a Church by virtue of its affection for truth - such a Church being meant here by a new Church; and from the meaning of 'giving her for a wife' as a joining together, dealt with in 4434.

[2] As regards that new Church which was established among the descendants of Jacob being in outward appearance similar to the Ancient Church, it should be realized that the statutes, judgements, and laws which were prescribed through Moses for the Israelite and Jewish nation were no different from the statutes, judgements, and laws which existed in the Ancient Church, such as those concerning betrothals and marriages, concerning slaves, concerning the living creatures which were suitable for food and those which were not suitable, concerning cleansings, festivals, tabernacles, the perpetual fire, and many other things; also concerning altars, burnt offerings, sacrifices, libations, that had been received in the second Ancient Church which began with Eber. The fact that all of these were known before they were prescribed for that nation is quite evident from the historical descriptions of the Word.

[3] Take merely altars, burnt offerings, and sacrifices. Of Balaam it is recorded that he ordered them to build seven altars and to offer on them burnt offerings and sacrifices of young bulls and rams, Numbers 23:1-2, 14-15, 29. Besides this, it is said of the nations in many places, that their altars were to be destroyed; and of the prophets of Baal whom Elijah slew, that they offered sacrifices. These facts make it clear that sacrifices which were prescribed for the descendants of Jacob were not new; nor were the rest of the statutes, judgements, and laws. But because these things became idolatrous among the nations - in particular through their use of those things to worship some profane god, which resulted in them turning representatives of Divine things to what is of hell, in addition to the many: practices which they added to these - those same things were reinstated so that the representative worship of the Ancient Church might be restored. From this it becomes clear that this new Church which was established among Jacob's descendants was in outward appearance similar to the Ancient Church.

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