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Levítico 16

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1 Y HABLO Jehová á Moisés, después que murieron los dos hijos de Aarón, cuando se llegaron delante de Jehová, y murieron;

2 Y Jehová dijo á Moisés: Di á Aarón tu hermano, que no en todo tiempo entre en el santuario del velo adentro, delante de la cubierta que está sobre el arca, para que no muera: porque yo apareceré en la nube sobre la cubierta.

3 Con esto entrará Aarón en el santuario: con un becerro por expiación, y un carnero en holocausto.

4 La túnica santa de lino se vestirá, y sobre su carne tendrá pañetes de lino, y ceñiráse el cinto de lino; y con la mitra de lino se cubrirá: son las santas vestiduras: con ellas, después de lavar su carne con agua, se ha de vestir.

5 Y de la congregación de los hijos de Israel tomará dos machos de cabrío para expiación, y un carnero para holocausto.

6 Y hará allegar Aarón el becerro de la expiación, que es suyo, y hará la reconciliación por sí y por su casa.

7 Después tomará los dos machos de cabrío, y los presentará delante de Jehová á la puerta del tabernáculo del testimonio.

8 Y echará suertes Aarón sobre los dos machos de cabrío; la una suerte por Jehová, y la otra suerte por Azazel.

9 Y hará allegar Aarón el macho cabrío sobre el cual cayere la suerte por Jehová, y ofrecerálo en expiación.

10 Mas el macho cabrío, sobre el cual cayere la suerte por Azazel, lo presentará vivo delante de Jehová, para hacer la reconciliación sobre él, para enviarlo á Azazel al desierto.

11 Y hará llegar Aarón el becerro que era suyo para expiación, y hará la reconciliación por sí y por su casa, y degollará en expiación el becerro que es suyo.

12 Después tomará el incensario lleno de brasas de fuego, del altar de delante de Jehová, y sus puños llenos del perfume aromático molido, y meterálo del velo adentro:

13 Y pondrá el perfume sobre el fuego delante de Jehová, y la nube del perfume cubrirá la cubierta que está sobre el testimonio, y no morirá.

14 Tomará luego de la sangre del becerro, y rociará con su dedo hacia la cubierta al lado oriental: hacia la cubierta esparcirá siete veces de aquella sangre con su dedo.

15 Después degollará en expiación el macho cabrío, que era del pueblo, y meterá la sangre de él del velo adentro; y hará de su sangre como hizo de la sangre del becerro, y esparcirá sobre la cubierta y delante de la cubierta:

16 Y limpiará el santuario, de las inmundicias de los hijos de Israel, y de sus rebeliones, y de todos sus pecados: de la misma manera hará también al tabernáculo del testimonio, el cual reside entre ellos en medio de sus inmundicias.

17 Y ningún hombre estará en el tabernáculo del testimonio cuando él entrare á hacer la reconciliación en el santuario, hasta que él salga, y haya hecho la reconciliación por sí, y por su casa, y por toda la congregación de Israel.

18 Y saldrá al altar que está delante de Jehová, y lo expiará; y tomará de la sangre del becerro, y de la sangre del macho cabrío, y pondrá sobre los cuernos del altar alrededor.

19 Y esparcirá sobre él de la sangre con su dedo siete veces, y lo limpiará, y lo santificará de las inmundicias de los hijos de Israel.

20 Y cuando hubiere acabado de expiar el santuario, y el tabernáculo del testimonio, y el altar, hará llegar el macho cabrío vivo:

21 Y pondrá Aarón ambas manos suyas sobre la cabeza del macho cabrío vivo, y confesará sobre él todas las iniquidades de los hijos de Israel, y todas sus rebeliones, y todos sus pecados, poniéndolos así sobre la cabeza del macho cabrío, y lo enviará al desie

22 Y aquel macho cabrío llevará sobre sí todas las iniquidades de ellos á tierra inhabitada: y dejará ir el macho cabrío por el desierto.

23 Después vendrá Aarón al tabernáculo del testimonio, y se desnudará las vestimentas de lino, que había vestido para entrar en el santuario, y pondrálas allí.

24 Lavará luego su carne con agua en el lugar del santuario, y después de ponerse sus vestidos saldrá, y hará su holocausto, y el holocausto del pueblo, y hará la reconciliación por sí y por el pueblo.

25 Y quemará el sebo de la expiación sobre el altar.

26 Y el que hubiere llevado el macho cabrío á Azazel, lavará sus vestidos, lavará también con agua su carne, y después entrará en el real.

27 Y sacará fuera del real el becerro del pecado, y el macho cabrío de la culpa, la sangre de los cuales fué metida para hacer la expiación en el santuario; y quemarán en el fuego sus pellejos, y sus carnes, y su estiércol.

28 Y el que los quemare, lavará sus vestidos, lavará también su carne con agua, y después entrará en el real.

29 Y esto tendréis por estatuto perpetuo: En el mes séptimo, á los diez del mes, afligiréis vuestras almas, y ninguna obra haréis, ni el natural ni el extranjero que peregrina entre vosotros:

30 Porque en este día se os reconciliará para limpiaros; y seréis limpios de todos vuestros pecados delante de Jehová.

31 Sábado de reposo es para vosotros, y afligiréis vuestras almas, por estatuto perpetuo.

32 Y hará la reconciliación el sacerdote que fuere ungido, y cuya mano hubiere sido llena para ser sacerdote en lugar de su padre; y se vestirá las vestimentas de lino, las vestiduras sagradas:

33 Y expiará el santuario santo, y el tabernáculo del testimonio; expiará también el altar, y á los sacerdotes, y á todo el pueblo de la congregación.

34 Y esto tendréis por estatuto perpetuo, para expiar á los hijos de Israel de todos sus pecados una vez en el año. Y Moisés lo hizo como Jehová le mandó.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 2180

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2180. 'And took a young bull, tender and good' means a celestial-natural which the rational took to itself in order that it might join itself to perception from the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'a young bull' or 'a son of an ox' in the Word as natural good. And because the subject is the Lord's Rational, it is called 'tender' from the celestial-spiritual, which is truth grounded in good, and 'good' from the celestial itself, which is good itself. Within the genuine rational there is both the affection for truth and the affection for good, but that which is first and foremost there is the affection for truth, as shown already in 2072. This explains why 'tender' is mentioned before 'good'; but even so, as is quite usual in the Word, both are mentioned on account of the marriage of truth and good which is referred to above in 2173.

[2] That 'a young bull' or 'a son of an ox' means the celestial-natural, or what amounts to the same, natural good, becomes especially clear from the sacrifices, which were the principal representatives in the worship of the Hebrew Church and after this of the Jewish Church. Their sacrifices were made either from the herd or from the flock, thus from animals of various kinds that were clean, such as oxen, young bulls, he-goats, sheep, rams, she-goats, kids, and lambs, besides doves and fledgling pigeons. All of these creatures meant the internal features of worship, that is, celestial and spiritual things, 2165, 2177, those from the herd meaning celestial-natural, those from the flock celestial-rational. Because both of these - natural things and rational things - are more and more interior and are various, so many genera and so many species of these creatures were therefore employed in sacrifices. This fact becomes clear also from its being laid down as to which creatures were to be offered in burnt offerings and also which in every kind of sacrifice - the daily sacrifices; those offered on sabbaths and at festivals; those made as free-will, eucharistic, or votive offerings; and those offered in purifications, cleansings, and also in inaugurations. Which creatures were to be used, and how many, in each kind of sacrifice is mentioned explicitly. This would never have been done unless each one had had some specific meaning, as is quite evident from those places where the sacrifices are the subject, as in Chapter 29 of Exodus; Chapters 1, 3, 4, 9, 16, and 23 of Leviticus; and Chapters 7, 8, 15, and 29 of Numbers. But this is not the place to explain what each one meant. The situation is similar in the Prophets where those animals are mentioned, from which it may become clear that young bulls meant celestial-natural things.

[3] That none but heavenly things were meant becomes clear also from the cherubim seen by Ezekiel and from the living creatures before the throne which were seen by John. Regarding the cherubim the prophet says,

The likeness of their faces was the face of a man (homo); and they four had the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; and they four had the face of an eagle. Ezekiel 1:10.

Regarding the four living creatures before the throne John says,

Around the throne were four living creatures - the first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a young bull, the third living creature had a face like a man (homo), the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle - saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come. Revelation 4:7-8.

Anyone may see that holy things were represented by the cherubim and these living creatures, thus also by the oxen and young bulls in the sacrifices. The same applies in the prophecy of Moses concerning Joseph,

Let it come upon the head of Joseph and upon the crown of the head of the Nazirite among his brothers. The firstborn of his ox has honour, and his horns are the horns of a unicorn; with these he will thrust the peoples together, to the ends of the earth. Deuteronomy 33:16-17.

These words are not intelligible to anyone unless he knows what ox, unicorn, horns, and many other things mean in the internal sense.

[4] As for sacrifices in general they were indeed commanded to the Israelites through Moses. But the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood never knew anything at all about sacrifices, nor did it ever enter their minds to worship the Lord by the slaughtering of animals. The Ancient Church which existed after the Flood knew nothing about it either. Representatives did indeed exist there, but not sacrifices. These were first introduced in the subsequent Church called the Hebrew Church, and from there they spread to the gentile nations, and even to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and so to Jacob's descendants. The fact that the gentile nations had sacrificial worship has been shown in 1343, and the fact that Jacob's descendants also had such worship before they left Egypt, thus before sacrifices were commanded through Moses on Mount Sinai, becomes clear from Exodus 5:3; 10:25, 27; 18:12; 24:4-5.

[5] This is especially clear from their idolatrous worship in front of the golden calf, regarding which the following is said in Moses,

Aaron built an altar in front of the calf, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow there will be a feast to Jehovah. And they rose up early the next morning and presented burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Exodus 32:5-6.

This happened while Moses was on Mount Sinai, and so before the command came to them regarding the altar and the sacrifices. That command came to them for the reason that sacrificial worship among them had been turned, as it had among the gentiles, into idolatrous worship, from which they could not be drawn away because they looked upon it as-the chief holy thing. Once something has been implanted in people from their earliest years as being holy, the more so if received from their fathers, and thus is inrooted, the Lord in no way breaks it - provided it is not contrary to order itself - but bends it. This was the reason for its being laid down that the sacrificial system should be established, such as one reads in the books of Moses.

[6] The fact that sacrifices were by no means acceptable to Jehovah, and so were merely permitted and tolerated for the reason just stated, is quite evident in the Prophets. Concerning them the following is said in Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel, Add your burnt offerings on to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. I did not speak with your fathers and I did not command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt on the matters of burnt offering and sacrifice. But this matter I commanded them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God. Jeremiah 7:21-23.

In David,

O Jehovah, sacrifice and offering You have not desired; burnt offering and sin-sacrifices You have not sought. I have delighted to do Your will, O my God. Psalms 40:6, 8.

In the same author,

You do not delight in sacrifice that I should give it; burnt offering You do not accept. The sacrifices of God are a contrite spirit. Psalms 51:16-17.

In the same author,

I will not take any young bull from your house, nor he-goats from your folds. Sacrifice to God confession. Psalms 50:9, 14; 107:21-22; 116:17; Deuteronomy 23:18.

In Hosea,

I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6.

Samuel said to Saul,

Has Jehovah great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices? Behold, to be submissive is better than sacrifice, to be obedient than the fat of rams. - 1 Samuel 15:22.

In Micah,

With what shall I come before Jehovah and bow myself to God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does Jehovah require of you but to carry out judgement, and to love mercy, and to humble yourself by walking with your God? Micah 6:6-8.

[7] From these quotations it is now evident that sacrifices were not commanded but permitted, and also that in sacrifices nothing else was regarded except that which was internal, and that it was that which was internal that was pleasing, not that which was external. For this reason also the Lord abolished them, as was also foretold through Daniel in the following words when he was speaking about the Lord's Coming,

In the middle of the week He will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. Daniel 9:27.

See what has been stated about sacrifices in Volume One, in 922, 923, 1128, 1823. As for 'the young bull' which Abraham made ready or prepared for the three men, the meaning is similar to that of the same animals when used in sacrifices. That it had a similar meaning becomes clear also from the fact that he told Sarah to take three measures of fine flour. Regarding the fine flour that went with the offering of a young bull the following is said in Moses - referring to when they were to come into the land,

When you make ready a young bull for a burnt offering or a sacrifice in the declaring of a vow, or for peace offerings to Jehovah, you shall bring with the young bull a minchah of three tenths of fine flour mixed with oil. Numbers 15:8-9.

Here similarly the number 'three' appears, though three 'tenths' here but three 'measures' in Abraham's instruction to Sarah. But only two tenths went with the offering of a ram, one tenth with that of a lamb, Numbers 15:4-6.

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

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Exodus 29

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1 "This is the thing that you shall do to them to make them holy, to minister to me in the priest's office: take one young bull and two rams without blemish,

2 unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil: you shall make them of fine wheat flour.

3 You shall put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bull and the two rams.

4 You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall wash them with water.

5 You shall take the garments, and put on Aaron the coat, the robe of the ephod, the ephod, and the breastplate, and clothe him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod;

6 and you shall set the turban on his head, and put the holy crown on the turban.

7 Then you shall take the anointing oil, and pour it on his head, and anoint him.

8 You shall bring his sons, and put coats on them.

9 You shall clothe them with belts, Aaron and his sons, and bind headbands on them: and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute: and you shall consecrate Aaron and his sons.

10 "You shall bring the bull before the Tent of Meeting: and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull.

11 You shall kill the bull before Yahweh, at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

12 You shall take of the blood of the bull, and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger; and you shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar.

13 You shall take all the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, and burn them on the altar.

14 But the flesh of the bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside of the camp: it is a sin offering.

15 "You shall also take the one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

16 You shall kill the ram, and you shall take its blood, and sprinkle it around on the altar.

17 You shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its innards, and its legs, and put them with its pieces, and with its head.

18 You shall burn the whole ram on the altar: it is a burnt offering to Yahweh; it is a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

19 "You shall take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

20 Then you shall kill the ram, and take some of its blood, and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and on the tip of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood around on the altar.

21 You shall take of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be made holy, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.

22 Also you shall take some of the ram's fat, the fat tail, the fat that covers the innards, the cover of the liver, the two kidneys, the fat that is on them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration),

23 and one loaf of bread, one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before Yahweh.

24 You shall put all of this in Aaron's hands, and in his sons' hands, and shall wave them for a wave offering before Yahweh.

25 You shall take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar on the burnt offering, for a pleasant aroma before Yahweh: it is an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

26 "You shall take the breast of Aaron's ram of consecration, and wave it for a wave offering before Yahweh: and it shall be your portion.

27 You shall sanctify the breast of the wave offering, and the thigh of the wave offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons:

28 and it shall be for Aaron and his sons as their portion forever from the children of Israel; for it is a wave offering: and it shall be a wave offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifices of their peace offerings, even their wave offering to Yahweh.

29 "The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to be consecrated in them.

30 Seven days shall the son who is priest in his place put them on, when he comes into the Tent of Meeting to minister in the holy place.

31 "You shall take the ram of consecration, and boil its flesh in a holy place.

32 Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

33 They shall eat those things with which atonement was made, to consecrate and sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat of it, because they are holy.

34 If anything of the flesh of the consecration, or of the bread, remains to the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire: it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

35 "You shall do so to Aaron, and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded you. You shall consecrate them seven days.

36 Every day you shall offer the bull of sin offering for atonement: and you shall cleanse the altar, when you make atonement for it; and you shall anoint it, to sanctify it.

37 Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it: and the altar shall be most holy; whatever touches the altar shall be holy.

38 "Now this is that which you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually.

39 The one lamb you shall offer in the morning; and the other lamb you shall offer at evening:

40 and with the one lamb a tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mixed with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink offering.

41 The other lamb you shall offer at evening, and shall do to it according to the meal offering of the morning, and according to its drink offering, for a pleasant aroma, an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

42 It shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the Tent of Meeting before Yahweh, where I will meet with you, to speak there to you.

43 There I will meet with the children of Israel; and the place shall be sanctified by my glory.

44 I will sanctify the Tent of Meeting and the altar: Aaron also and his sons I will sanctify, to minister to me in the priest's office.

45 I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.

46 They shall know that I am Yahweh their God, who brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them: I am Yahweh their God.