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Numbers 25

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1 And Israel dwelt in Shittim, and the people began to commit·​·harlotry with the daughters of Moab.

2 And they called the people to the sacrifices of their gods; and the people did eat, and bowed·​·down to their gods.

3 And Israel knotted· himself ·together to Baal-peor; and the anger of Jehovah was·​·fierce against Israel.

4 And Jehovah said to Moses, Take all the head men of the people, and hang· them ·up before Jehovah in·​·front·​·of the sun, that the fierce anger of Jehovah may be turned·​·back from Israel.

5 And Moses said to the judges of Israel, Kill ye each·​·man his men who were knotted·​·together to Baal-peor.

6 And, behold, a man of the sons of Israel came and offered to his brothers a Midianitish woman in the eyes of Moses, and in the eyes of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, and they were weeping before the entrance of the Tabernacle of the congregation.

7 And Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, and he rose·​·up from the midst of the congregation, and took a lance in his hand;

8 and he came after the man of Israel into the place·​·of·​·scortation, and thrust· the two of them ·through, the man of Israel, and the woman for her scortation. And the striking* was restrained from on the sons of Israel.

9 And those who died in the striking were four and twenty thousand.

10 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, has turned·​·back My fury from upon the sons of Israel, when he was zealous in My zeal in the midst of them, and I consumed· not ·all of the sons of Israel in My zeal.

12 Therefore say, Behold, I give to him My covenant of peace;

13 and it shall be for him, and for his seed after him, even the covenant of an eternal priesthood; that he was·​·zealous for his God, and made·​·atonement for the sons of Israel.

14 And the name of the man of Israel smitten, who was smitten with the Midianitish woman, was Zimri, the son of Salu, a chief of a house of a father of the Simeonites.

15 And the name of the Midianitish woman who was smitten was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur; he was head over a people, the house of a father in Midian.

16 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

17 Be·​·an·​·adversary against the Midianite, and smite them;

18 for they were adversaries to you with their plots, with which they plotted against you over the matter of Peor, and over the matter of Cozbi, the daughter of a chief of Midian, their sister, who was smitten in the day of the striking on·​·account·​·of the matter of Peor.

   


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

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Apocalypse Revealed # 114

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114. "'Because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.'" This symbolically means that they have among them people who perform hypocritical works, by which the worship of God in the church is defiled and adulterated.

That this means people who perform works which defile and adulterate worship is apparent from the stories in the Word about Balaam and Balak, king of Moab. For Balaam was a hypocrite and sorcerer. He spoke favorably, indeed, from Jehovah regarding the children of Israel, and yet at heart he harbored a wish to destroy them, and also did destroy them by the counsel he gave Balak. It is apparent from this that his works were hypocritical.

We are told that he was a sorcerer (Joshua 13:22, Numbers 22:7; 24:1). That he spoke favorably on behalf of the children of Israel by blessing them (Numbers 23:7-10, 18-24; 24:3-9, 15-19. That at heart he harbored a wish to destroy them, and also did destroy them by the counsel he gave Balak (Numbers 31:16). The counsel that he gave is found in Numbers 25:1-3. The latter was the stumbling block that he put before the children of Israel, which is described in this way:

...in Shittim... the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab, and they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods. Israel (especially) was joined to Baal of Peor... (Therefore there were killed of Israel) twenty-four thousand. (Numbers 25:1-3, 9)

The children of Israel symbolize the church. Eating of their own sacrifices symbolizes an assimilation of what is holy. Consequently eating of the sacrifices of other gods or of things sacrificed to idols symbolizes a defiling and profanation of what is holy. To commit sexual immorality means, symbolically, to adulterate and corrupt worship. Moab and thus its king and its women also symbolize people who defile and adulterate worship, as may be seen in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), published in London, no. 2468.

It is apparent from this now that the spiritual meaning of these words is as stated.

  
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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.