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Numbers 31

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1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

2 Avenging, avenge the sons of Israel of the Midianites; after this shalt thou be gathered to thy people.

3 And Moses spoke to the people, saying, Arm from among yourselves the men for an army, and let them be against Midian, and put the vengeance of Jehovah on Midian.

4 A thousand for a tribe, a thousand for a tribe, for all the tribes of Israel you shall send to the army.

5 And there were committed from the thousands of Israel, a thousand for every tribe, twelve thousand armed for the army.

6 And Moses sent them, a thousand for every tribe, for an army, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, for an army, and the holy vessels, and the trumpets to blast in his hand.

7 And they were·​·an·​·army against Midian, as Jehovah commanded Moses; and they killed all the males.

8 And they killed the kings of Midian, over their slain: Evi and Rekem and Zur and Hur and Reba, five kings of Midian; and Balaam, the son of Beor, they killed with the sword.

9 And the sons of Israel took·​·captive the women of Midian, and their infants, and plundered all their beasts, and all their livestock, and all their belongings.

10 And all their cities, with their dwellingplaces, and all their castles, they burnt·​·up with fire.

11 And they took all the spoil, and all the booty, among man and among beast.

12 And they brought the captives, and the booty, and the spoil, to Moses, and to Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the sons of Israel, into the camp toward the desert of Moab, which was by Jordan near Jericho.

13 And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the chiefs of the congregation, went·​·forth to meet them to outside the camp.

14 And Moses was·​·enraged on·​·account·​·of the overseers of the forces, the princes of the thousands, and princes of the hundreds, who came from the army of war.

15 And Moses said to them, Have you kept·​·alive all the females?

16 Behold, these women were the cause for the sons of Israel, by the word* of Balaam, to commit the trespass against Jehovah on·​·account·​·of the matter of Peor; and there was a striking among the congregation of Jehovah.

17 And now kill every male among the infants, and kill every woman who has known a man by lying with a male.

18 But every infant among the women, who have· not ·known a male by lying with him, keep·​·alive for yourselves.

19 And encamp you outside the camp seven days; whoever has killed a soul, and whoever has touched any slain, purge yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.

20 And purge every garment, and every vessel of skins, and all works of the hair of goats, and all vessels of wood.

21 And Eleazar the priest said to the men of the army who came to the battle, This is the statute of the law which Jehovah commanded Moses:

22 surely the gold, and the silver, the bronze, the iron, the tin, and the lead,

23 every thing that may come into the fire, you shall make it pass·​·through the fire, and it shall be·​·clean; surely it shall be purged with the water of isolation; and all that comes not into the fire you shall make pass·​·through the water.

24 And you shall wash your garments on the seventh day, and you shall be·​·clean, and afterwards you shall come to the camp.

25 And Jehovah said to Moses, saying,

26 Bear·​·up the sum of the booty of the captivity, among man and among beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the heads of the fathers of the congregation;

27 and halve the booty, between those who were occupied in the battle, going·​·out with the army, and all the congregation;

28 and lift·​·up a share to Jehovah from the men of the battle going·​·out with the army: one soul from five hundred, from man, and from the herd, and from the donkeys, and from the flock;

29 take it from their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest, for an uplifting of Jehovah.

30 And from the half of the sons of Israel, thou shalt take one possession of fifty, of man, of the herd, of the donkeys, and of the flock, of every beast, and give them to the Levites, keeping the charge of the Habitation of Jehovah.

31 And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as Jehovah commanded Moses.

32 And the booty, the remainder of the plunder which the people of the army plundered, was a flock of six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand,

33 and two and seventy thousand cattle,

34 and one and sixty thousand donkeys,

35 and the soul of man, of the women who knew not a male by lying with him, all the souls, two and thirty thousand.

36 And the half, the part for those who went·​·out into the army, from the number of the flock was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred;

37 and the share for Jehovah from the flock was six hundred five and seventy.

38 And the cattle were six and thirty thousand; and the share for Jehovah was two and seventy.

39 And the donkeys were thirty thousand and five hundred; and the share for Jehovah was one and sixty.

40 And the souls of man were sixteen thousand; and the share of Jehovah was two and thirty souls.

41 And Moses gave the share, the uplifting of Jehovah, to Eleazar the priest, as Jehovah commanded Moses.

42 And from the half of the sons of Israel, which Moses halved from the men of the army,

43 and the half which was for the congregation from the flock was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred,

44 and six and thirty thousand cattle,

45 and thirty thousand and five hundred donkeys,

46 and the soul of man sixteen thousand;

47 and Moses took from the half of the sons of Israel one possession of fifty, from man and from beast, and gave them to the Levites, who kept the charge of the Habitation of Jehovah, as Jehovah commanded Moses.

48 And the overseers who were over thousands of the army, the princes of thousands, and princes of hundreds, came·​·near to Moses,

49 and they said to Moses, Thy servants have taken·​·up the sum of the men of war which are in our hand, and not one man of us is·​·missing.

50 And we have offered an offering to Jehovah, each·​·man what he found, of vessels of gold, an armband, and a bracelet, a ring, an earring, and a band, to make·​·atonement for our souls before Jehovah.

51 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from them, all the vessels made.

52 And all the gold of the uplifting, that they lifted·​·up to Jehovah, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels, from the princes of the thousands, and from the princes of the hundreds.

53 For the men of the army had plundered, each man for himself.

54 And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold from the princes of the thousands and of the hundreds, and brought it into the Tabernacle of the congregation, for a memorial for the sons of Israel before Jehovah.

   


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

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Apocalypse Revealed # 505

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505. Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their bodies for three and a half days. (11:9) This symbolizes all those who were or who would be caught up in doctrinal falsities and the resulting evil practices at the end of the church still existing, when they have heard and later hear about these two essential elements at the beginning of the New Church, namely, an acknowledgment of the Lord and of works in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

Peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations mean all those of the Protestant Reformed who were or who would be caught up in doctrinal falsities and the resulting evil practices owing to their faith alone. Peoples symbolize people caught up in doctrinal falsities (no. 483), tribes the falsities and evils in the church (no. 349), tongues a confession and acceptance of these (no. 483), and nations people caught up in evil practices (no. 483). Therefore the four together symbolize all those individually and collectively who were or who would be of such a character, thus all those who were in that great city and all those like them who would later come from the world.

The bodies that they would see, those of the two witnesses, symbolize the two essential elements of the New Church, as said in no. 501 above. That they would see them means, symbolically, when they have heard and later hear about them, since it is bodies that are said to be seen, and the two essential elements that are heard.

Three and a half days mean, symbolically, at the end and then the beginning, namely, at the end of the church still existing and the beginning of a new one.

Putting all these things together now into a single meaning, it is apparent that "those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their bodies for three and a half days" has, in the spiritual sense, the symbolic meaning stated above.

Three and a half days mean, symbolically, at the end and then the beginning because a day symbolizes a state, the number three symbolizes something completed to the end, and a half symbolizes a new beginning. For three and half days have the same symbolic meaning as a week, six days of which symbolize something completed to the end, and the seventh day something holy. That is because the number three and a half is one half of seven, and seven days constitute a week; and a number doubled or divided has the same symbolic meaning.

[2] That the number three symbolizes something completed, thus something completed to the end, can be seen from the following accounts in the Word:

That Isaiah was to go naked and barefoot for three years (Isaiah 20:3).

That Jehovah called three times to Samuel, and Samuel ran three times to Eli, and that the third time Eli understood (1 Samuel 3:1-8).

That Elijah stretched himself out three times on the widow's son (1 Kings 17:21).

That Elijah ordered that water be poured on the burnt sacrifice three times (1 Kings 18:34).

That Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal (Matthew 13:33).

That Jesus told Peter he would deny Him three times (Matthew 26:34).

That the Lord asked Peter three times, "Do you love Me?" (John 21:15-17).

That Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17).

That Jesus said He would destroy the Temple and in three days build it (Matthew 26:61, John 2:19)

That Jesus prayed three times in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39-44).

That Jesus rose on the third day (Matthew 28:1ff.).

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 16:14; Hosea 6:2; Exodus 3:18; 10:22-23; 19:1, 11, 15-16, 18; Leviticus 19:23-25; Numbers 19:11-22; 31:19-24; Deuteronomy 19:2-4; 26:12; Joshua 1:11; 3:2; 1 Samuel 20:5, 12, 19-20, 35-36, 41; 2 Samuel 24:11-13; Daniel 10:1-3; Mark 12:2, 4-6; Luke 20:12; 13:32-33.

Seven, like three, symbolizes something full and complete, but seven is predicated of holy things, while three is predicated of things not holy.

  
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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.