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Numbers 8

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1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

2 Speak to Aaron, and say to him, When thou causest the flame of the lamps to go·​·up*, the seven lamps shall give·​·light next·​·to the faces of the lampstand.

3 And Aaron did so; next·​·to the faces of the lampstand he caused the flame of its lamps to go·​·up*, as Jehovah commanded Moses.

4 And this making of the lampstand was of solid gold, even·​·to its shaft*, even·​·to its blossoms, it was solid; according·​·to the appearance which Jehovah had showed Moses, so he made the lampstand.

5 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

6 Take the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel, and cleanse them.

7 And thus shalt thou do to them, to cleanse them: spatter purging water upon them, and make them pass the razor over all their flesh, and make them wash their garments, and cleanse themselves.

8 And they shall take a bullock, a son of the herd, and his gift·​·offering of flour mixed with oil; and a second bullock, a son of the herd, thou shalt take for a sin offering.

9 And thou shalt cause the Levites to come·​·near before the Tabernacle of the congregation; and thou shalt assemble all the congregation of the sons of Israel:

10 and thou shalt cause the Levites to come·​·near before Jehovah; and the sons of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites;

11 and Aaron shall wave* the Levites before Jehovah for a wave offering of the sons of Israel, that they may be able to serve the service of Jehovah.

12 And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks; and thou shalt make the one for a sin offering, and one for a burnt·​·offering, to Jehovah, to make·​·atonement for the Levites.

13 And thou shalt stand the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and wave them for a wave offering to Jehovah.

14 And thou shalt distinguish the Levites from the midst of the sons of Israel; and the Levites shall be for Me.

15 And after·​·that shall the Levites go·​·in to serve the Tabernacle of the congregation; and thou shalt cleanse them, and wave them for a wave offering.

16 For they are given, they are given to Me from the midst of the sons of Israel; instead of that which opens·​·up every womb; the firstborn of all the sons of Israel, I have taken them for Myself.

17 For all the firstborn among the sons of Israel are Mine, both among man and among beast. On the day that I smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for Myself.

18 And I have taken the Levites instead·​·of all the firstborn of the sons of Israel.

19 And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from the midst of the sons of Israel, to serve the service of the sons of Israel in the Tabernacle of the congregation, and to make·​·atonement for the sons of Israel; that there be not a plague striking among the sons of Israel, when the sons of Israel approach toward the sanctuary.

20 And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel, did this to the Levites; according·​·to all that Jehovah commanded Moses for the Levites, so did the sons of Israel to them.

21 And the Levites purged themselves, and they washed their garments; and Aaron waved them for a wave offering before Jehovah; and Aaron made· an ·atonement on them to cleanse them.

22 And afterwards the Levites came to serve their service in the Tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons; as Jehovah had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

23 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

24 This is that which belongs to the Levites; from a son of five and twenty years and upward they shall go·​·in to be·​·an·​·army, an army in the service of the Tabernacle of the congregation:

25 and from a son of fifty years they shall return from the army of the service, and shall not serve any·​·more;

26 but shall minister with their brothers in the Tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall serve no service. So shalt thou do to the Levites as to their charge.

   


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

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After

  
After, a photo of a bulb pushing up through the earth, by Brita Conroy

Instead, spiritual reality is structured on the basis of spiritual state, or the loves and thoughts of angels. These loves and thoughts connect in chains of cause and effect, which angels experience much as we experience time. One thought flows into another on the spiritual level, and angels sense that progression the same way we sense the progression of one moment flowing into another. And when angels have thoughts and feelings that are similar, they experience a closeness that is very much the same as our experience of physical closeness; their idea of “space” is the variation in thoughts and affections held by spirits throughout the spiritual world.When the Bible describes something as “after” something else, then, the spiritual meaning has to do with the progression of spiritual states; it is a new spiritual state emerging from the one before it. And since higher states flow into lower states, the things coming “after” tend to be the lower, more external ones. For instance, the deep, internal desire to be good to others flows of its own accord into specific ideas of specific good things we can do. Those specific ideas, then, would be “after” the desire to be good.According to Swedenborg, time and space don’t exist in spiritual reality; they are purely natural things that exist only on the physical plane. This means that one spiritual thing can’t happen “after” another spiritual thing in time, because there is no time. And one spiritual thing can’t follow “after” another in space because there is no space.