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Numbers 4

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1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

2 Take·​·up the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, as·​·to their families, as·​·to the house of their fathers,

3 from a son of thirty years and upward and until a son of fifty years, all that come into the army, to do the work* in the Tabernacle of the congregation.

4 This shall be the service of the sons of Kohath in the Tabernacle of the congregation, about the holy of holies;

5 and when the camp journeys, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take·​·down the sheltering veil, and cover the ark of testimony with it;

6 and they shall put on it the covering of badger skin, and shall spread from above it a garment all of blue, and shall set its poles.

7 And upon the table of bread of faces they shall spread a garment of blue, and put on it the platters, and the dishes*, and the little·​·brooms, and saucers of the poured·​·offering; and the continual bread shall be on it.

8 And they shall spread over them a garment of scarlet twice-dyed, and cover it with a covering of badger skin, and shall set its poles.

9 And they shall take a garment of blue, and cover the lampstand of the light, and its lamps, and its tongs, and its trowels, and all its oil vessels, with which they minister to it;

10 and they shall put it and all its vessels into a covering of badger skin; and they shall put it on the brace.

11 And upon the gold altar they shall spread a garment of blue, and cover it with a covering of badger skin, and shall set its poles;

12 and they shall take all the instruments of the ministry, with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them onto a garment of blue, and cover them with a covering of badger skin, and shall put them on the brace;

13 and they shall take·​·away·​·the·​·ashes from the altar, and spread a crimson garment on it;

14 and they shall put upon it all its vessels, with which they minister upon it, the pincers, the forks, and the shovels, and the basins, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badger skin, and set its poles.

15 And when Aaron and his sons have completed covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, the camp shall journey; and after thus, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it; and they shall not touch what is holy, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the Tabernacle of the congregation.

16 And the oversight of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, shall be the oil for the light, and the fragrant incense, and the continual gift·​·offering, and the oil of anointing, the oversight of all the Habitation, and of all that is in it, in the holy place, and in its vessels.

17 And Jehovah spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

18 Cut· ye not ·off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from the midst the Levites;

19 but this do for them, and they shall live, and not die: when they approach, to the holy of holies, Aaron and his sons shall go·​·in, and set them each·​·man, each·​·man on his service and to his burden;

20 but they shall not go·​·in to see when the holy things are covered·​·up*, lest they die.

21 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

22 Take·​·up the sum of the sons of Gershon, them also as·​·to the houses of their fathers, as·​·to their families;

23 from a son of thirty years and upward until a son of fifty years shalt thou number them; all that come·​·in to be·​·an·​·army as the army, to serve the service in the Tabernacle of the congregation.

24 This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve, and to carry.

25 and they shall carry the curtains of the Habitation, and the Tabernacle of the congregation, its covering, and the covering of the badger skin that is upon it from above, and the sheltering of the entrance of the Tabernacle of the congregation,

26 and the hangings of the court, and the sheltering of the entrance of the gate of the court, which is by the Habitation and by the altar all around, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and all that is made for them; and they shall serve.

27 By the mouth of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, as·​·to all their burdens, and as·​·to all their service; and you shall appoint to them in charge all their burdens.

28 This is the service of the families of the sons of the Gershonites in the Tabernacle of the congregation; and their charge shall be in the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

29 As for the sons of Merari, thou shalt number them to their families, to the house of their fathers;

30 from a son thirty years and upward and until a son of fifty years shalt thou number them, all who come into the army, to serve the service of the Tabernacle of the congregation.

31 And this is the charge of their burden, as·​·to all their service in the Tabernacle of the congregation: the planks of the Habitation, and its bars, and its pillars, and its bases,

32 and the pillars of the court all around, and their bases, and their pegs, and their cords, for all their vessels, and for all their service; and by name you shall appoint the vessels of the charge of their burden.

33 This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, as·​·to all their service, in the Tabernacle of the congregation, in the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

34 And Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites as·​·to their families, and as·​·to the house of their fathers,

35 from a son of thirty years and upward, and even·​·to a son of fifty years, all who come into the army, for the service in the Tabernacle of the congregation;

36 and those who were numbered of them as·​·to their families were two·​·thousand seven hundred and fifty.

37 These are they who were numbered from the families of the Kohathites, all who serve in the Tabernacle of the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron did number by the mouth of Jehovah by the hand of Moses.

38 And those who were numbered of the sons of Gershon, as·​·to their families, and as·​·to the house of their fathers,

39 from a son of thirty years and upward and until a son of fifty years, all who come into the army, for the service in the Tabernacle of the congregation,

40 and those who were numbered of them, as·​·to their families, as·​·to the house of their fathers, were two·​·thousand and six hundred and thirty.

41 These are they who were numbered from the families of the sons of Gershon, all who serve in the Tabernacle of the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron did number by the mouth of Jehovah.

42 And those who were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, as·​·to their families, as·​·to the house of their fathers,

43 from a son of thirty years and upward and until a son of fifty years, all who come into the army, for the service in the Tabernacle of the congregation,

44 and those who were numbered of them as·​·to their families, were three thousand and two·​·hundred.

45 These are they who were numbered from the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered by the mouth of Jehovah by the hand of Moses.

46 All those numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the chiefs of Israel numbered, as·​·to their families, and as·​·to the house of their fathers,

47 from a son of thirty years and upward and to a son of fifty years, all who came to serve the service of the service, and the service of the burden in the Tabernacle of the congregation,

48 and they who were numbered of them, were eight thousand and five hundred and eighty.

49 By the mouth of Jehovah, they were numbered by the hand of Moses, each man by his service, and by his burden; and they were numbered of him, as Jehovah commanded Moses.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 1664

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1664. That the wars in this chapter mean in the internal sense nothing other than spiritual conflicts, which are temptations, has been stated already in the preliminary section. 1 Nor do the wars in the rest of the Word, especially in the Prophets, have any other meaning. Wars waged by men can have no place whatever in the internal parts of the Word, for such things as wars are not the spiritual and celestial things which alone constitute the Word. That 'wars' in the Word means conflicts with the devil, or what amounts to the same, with hell, becomes clear from the following places besides many others: In John,

They are spirits of demons, performing signs, to go out to the kings of the land and of the whole earth, to assemble them for the war of that great day of God Almighty. Revelation 16:14.

Here anyone may see that no other kind of war on the great day of God Almighty is meant.

[2] In the same book,

The beast that comes up from the Abyss will make war. Revelation 11:7.

Here 'the Abyss' is hell. In the same book,

The dragon was angry with the woman, and went off to make war with the rest of her seed, who kept the commandments of God and bear testimony to Jesus Christ. Revelation 12:17.

It 2 was allowed to make war on the saints. Revelation 13:7.

All these wars are conflicts such as constitute temptations. Nor are the wars of the kings of the south and of the north, and the other wars of Daniel 8, 11, and also those involving Michael, Daniel 10:13, 21; 12:1; Revelation 12:7, anything different.

[3] That wars have no other meaning is clear from the rest of the Prophets as well, as in Ezekiel,

You have not gone up into the breaches and made a hedge for the house of Israel, to stand in war on the day of Jehovah. Ezekiel 13:5.

This refers to the prophets. In Isaiah,

They will beat their swords into hoes, and their spears into pruning-hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more. Isaiah 2:4.

Clearly no other wars [than spiritual wars] are meant here, and therefore instruments of war, such as swords, spears, shields, and many others, mean nothing else in the Word than things that belong to such wars.

[4] In the same prophet,

To the thirsty bring water; O inhabitants of the land of Tema, meet with his bread the fugitive, 3 for they will flee 4 before the swords, before the drawn sword, and before the bent bow, and from the grievousness of war. Isaiah 21:14-15.

In Jeremiah,

Shepherds and their flocks will come against the daughter of Zion, they will pitch their tents against her round about; they will graze, each off his own space. Declare a sacred war against her; arise and let us go up at noon. Jeremiah 6:3-5.

Here, since it is waged against 'the daughter of Zion', that is, the Church, no other kind of war is meant.

[5] In the same prophet,

How is the city of praise not forsaken, the city of My joy? Therefore her young men will fall in her streets, and all the men of war will be cut down on that day. Jeremiah 49:25-26.

'The city of praise and of joy' stands for the things that belong to the Church, 'the men of war' for those who fight.

[6] In Hosea,

I will make for them a covenant on that day, with the wild animals of the field, and with the birds of the air, 5 and with the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish 6 the bow, and the sword, and war from the land, and I will make them lie down in safety. Hosea 2:18.

Here similarly 'war' stands for conflicts, and the various instruments of war stand for the things belonging to spiritual conflict which are 'broken' when a person comes into the calmness of peace as evil desires and falsities come to an end.

[7] In David,

Behold the works of Jehovah who makes solitary places in the earth, making wars cease even to the end of the earth. He breaks the bow, and snaps the spear, He burns the chariots with fire. Psalms 46:8-9.

Here too the meaning is similar. In the same author,

In Salem is the dwelling-place of God, and His habitation in Zion. There He broke the bow's fiery arrows, the shield and the sword, and war. Psalms 76:2-3.

Because the priests represented the Lord who alone fights on man's behalf, their duties are called military service, Numbers 4:23, 35, 39, 43, 47.

[8] It is a constant truth that Jehovah alone, that is, the Lord, fights and overcomes the devil present with a person when he is involved in the conflicts brought by temptations, even though to that person this does not appear to be so. For evil spirits have no power at all to exert the slightest influence on man unless they are permitted to do so, and angels cannot act to avert anything at all unless enabled to do so by the Lord. Thus it is the Lord alone who endures every conflict and overcomes, something that was also represented at various times by the wars that the children of Israel waged against the nations. That He alone does so is also stated in Moses,

Jehovah your God is going 7 before you, He Himself will fight for you. Deuteronomy 1:30.

In the same book,

Jehovah your God is going 7 with you to fight for you with your enemies, to save you. Deuteronomy 20:4.

[9] So too in Joshua, such as 23:3, 5. For all the wars that were being waged at that time against the idolatrous inhabitants of the land of Canaan represented the Lord's conflicts with hell, and consequently the conflicts of His Church, and of members of the Church. This also accords with the following statements in Isaiah,

As the lion roars, and the young lion, over its prey (when a multitude of shepherds run towards him he is not dismayed by their voice nor daunted by the tumult they make) so Jehovah Zebaoth will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its hill. Isaiah 31:4.

[10] For the same reasons also Jehovah, or the Lord, is called 'a Man of War', as in Moses,

Jehovah is a Man of War, Jehovah is His name. Exodus 15:3.

In Isaiah,

Jehovah will go forth as a Mighty Man, as a Man of Wars. He will stir up zeal; He will cry out, yes, He will shout aloud, He will prevail over His enemies. Isaiah 42:13.

This also is why many things that war entails are attributed to the Lord, such as 'crying out', and 'shouting aloud' here.

[11] Spirits and angels also appear as men of war, when a representation is being made, as in Joshua,

Joshua lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, a man was standing before him, with his sword drawn in his hand. He said to Joshua, I am the Prince of the army of Jehovah; and Joshua fell on his face 8 to the earth. Joshua 5:13-14.

These things were seen taking the form they did because they were representative, and this also is why descendants of Jacob called their wars the Wars of ]Jehovah.

It was similar in the Ancient Churches among whom there were books which also were called The Wars of Jehovah, as is clear in Moses.

It is said in the Book of the Wars of Jehovah. Numbers 21:14-15.

These were written about in a way not unlike the wars described in this chapter; but wars involving the Church were meant. Such a manner of writing was common in those times, for they were interior men and their thoughts were of more exalted things.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. i.e. in 1659

2. i.e. the beast

3. literally, the wanderer

4. literally, they will wander

5. literally,. bird of the heavens (or the skies)

6. literally, break

7. literally, walking

8. literally, faces

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