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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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Apocalypse Explained # 284

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284. And they were full of eyes within, signifies Divine Providence and guard. This is evident from the signification of "eyes," as being, in reference to the Lord, His Divine Providence (See above, n. 68, 152). It signifies also guard, because that also is what is signified by "cherubim."

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.

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Arcana Coelestia # 9506

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9506. 'And you shall make a mercy-seat from pure gold' means the hearing and reception of all things that belong to worship arising from the good of love. This is clear from the meaning of 'the mercy-seat' as the cleansing from evils or forgiveness of sins, consequently the hearing and reception of all things that belong to worship, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'gold' as the good of love, dealt with in 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914. The truth that 'the mercy-seat' means the cleansing from evils and forgiveness of sins is clear from those places in the Word where propitiation or expiation is referred to. 1 The reason why the hearing and reception of all things belonging to worship is also meant is that only those who have made propitiation or expiation, that is, been cleansed from evils, are heard by the Lord and have their worship accepted by Him; it does not happen with those who are steeped in evils, that is, have not made expiation or propitiation. Therefore also Aaron was not allowed to approach the mercy-seat until he had been cleansed and had made propitiation for himself and the people.

[2] The truth that 'the mercy-seat' consequently means the hearing and reception of all things that belong to worship is also clear from the consideration that Jehovah spoke to Moses over the mercy-seat between the cherubs. The reason why worship arising from the good of love is that which is received is that no one is allowed to enter heaven and so approach the Lord other than a person who is governed by good, that is to say, by the good of love to the Lord and the good of charity towards the neighbour, see 8516, 8539, 8722, 8772, 9139, 9227, 9230, 9274; no one else is heard nor can anyone else's worship be received. This also explains why there were cherubs over the mercy-seat; for watchfulness and providence are meant by 'the cherubs', guarding against access to the Lord except through the good of love, that is, guarding against entrance into heaven by any apart from those who are governed by good, and also guarding against those in hell gaining access to the inhabitants of heaven and doing them harm. All this shows what was meant by the presence of the mercy-seat over the ark and by that of the cherubs over the mercy-seat, and by the fact that the mercy-seat and the cherubs too were made from pure gold; for 'gold' means the good of love, and 'the ark' heaven where the Lord is.

[3] The truth that 'the mercy-seat' means the cleansing from evils, and so the forgiveness of sins, is clear from places in the Word where 'propitiation' or 'expiation' 2 is referred to, as in David,

O Jehovah, expiate our sins for Your name's sake. Psalms 79:9.

In the same author,

He, being merciful, has expiated iniquity. Psalms 78:38.

In the same author,

You will expiate me with hyssop and I shall become clean; You will wash me and I shall be made whiter than snow. Psalms 51:7.

In Isaiah,

Evil will come upon you, which you will not know how to ward off; calamity will befall you, which you will not be able to expiate. Isaiah 47:11.

And in Moses,

Sing, O nations, the people of Him who will avenge the blood of His servants, and will expiate His land, His people. Deuteronomy 32:43.

[4] Expiations were effected by means of sacrifices; and it says that when they were offered the priest would expiate him from sin, and he would be pardoned, 3 Leviticus 4:26, 31, 35; 5:6, 10, 13, 16, 18; 6:7; 9:7; 15:15, 30. Expiation was also effected by 'silver', Exodus 30:16; Psalms 49:7. Hence also the day of expiations 4 before the feast of tabernacles, Leviticus 23:27-32. But it should be recognized that none of those expiations constituted a real cleansing from evils or forgiveness of sins; it only represented it. For every religious observance among the Israelite and Jewish nation was merely representative of the Lord, His kingdom and Church, and such realities as belong to heaven and the Church. How representations brought such realities to angels' awareness in heaven, see 9229.

[5] Since the cleansing from evils and forgiveness of sins was meant by 'the mercy-seat', the hearing and reception of all things that belonged to worship was also meant; for one who has been cleansed from evils is heard and his worship is received. This was represented by Jehovah's speaking above the mercy-seat to Moses and His commanding what the children of Israel should do, as is clear from verse 22 of the present chapter, where it says,

And I will meet with you there, and I will speak to you from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubs which are over the ark of the Testimony, [declaring] everything that I shall command you for the children of Israel.

The like occurs elsewhere,

Whenever Moses spoke to Jehovah he heard the voice speaking from above the mercy-seat that was over the ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubs. Numbers 7:89.

The fact that a person was heard and his worship was received when he had been cleansed from evils was represented by Aaron's not going into the holy place within the veil before the mercy-seat unless he had first made expiation for himself and the people, by ceremonial washing, sacrifices, incense, and blood, as stated in Leviticus 16:2-16, which concludes,

In this way he shall expiate the holy place from the uncleannesses of the children of Israel, and from their transgressions in regard of all their sins.

It also says in verse 2 that Jehovah would appear at the mercy-seat 'in the cloud', meaning in Divine Truth adjusted to people's ability to receive and understand it, such as the Word is in the sense of the letter, 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343 (end), 6752, 8106, 8443, 8781.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The Latin word propitiatorium rendered the mercy-seat may be translated more literally as the place of propitiation.

2. The Hebrew verb behind expiate, used in an uncommon way in the following quotations, means cover over. The Latin verb generally means atone for or purify what is defiled.

3. i.e. the priest shall make atonement for the person's sin, and the person will stand forgiven

4. Generally known as the day of atonement

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