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Numbers 23

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1 And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams.

2 And Balak did as Balaam had spoken; and Balak and Balaam offered on every altar a bullock and a ram.

3 And Balaam said to Balak, Stand by thy burnt-offering, and I will go: it may be the LORD will come to meet me: and whatever he showeth me I will tell thee. And he went to a high place.

4 And God met Balaam: and he said to him, I have prepared seven altars, and I have offered upon every altar a bullock and a ram.

5 And the LORD put a word in Balaam's mouth, and said, Return to Balak, and thus thou shalt speak.

6 And he returned to him and lo, he stood by his burnt-sacrifice, he, and all the princes of Moab.

7 And he took up his parable, and said, Balak the king of Moab hath brought me from Aram, out of the mountains of the east, saying, Come, curse Jacob for me, and come, defy Israel.

8 How shall I curse, whom God hath not cursed? or how shall I defy, whom the LORD hath not defied?

9 For from the top of the rocks I see him, and from the hills I behold him: lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

10 Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his!

11 And Balak said to Balaam, What hast thou done to me? I took thee to curse my enemies, and behold, thou hast blessed them altogether.

12 And he answered and said, Must I not take heed to speak that which the LORD hath put in my mouth?

13 And Balak said to him, Come, I pray thee, with me to another place, from whence thou mayest see them: thou shalt see but the utmost part of them, and shalt not see them all: and from thence curse them for me.

14 And he brought him into the field of Zophim, to the top of Pisgah, and built seven altars, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.

15 And he said to Balak, Stand here by thy burnt-offering, while I meet the LORD yonder.

16 And the LORD met Balaam, and put a word in his mouth, and said, Go again to Balak, and say thus.

17 And when he came to him, behold, he stood by his burnt-offering, and the princes of Moab with him. And Balak said to him, What hath the LORD spoken?

18 And he took up his parable, and said, Rise, Balak, and hear; hearken to me, thou son of Zippor:

19 God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoke, and shall he not make it good?

20 Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed, and I cannot reverse it.

21 He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel; the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.

22 God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of a unicorn.

23 Surely there is no enchantment against Jacob, neither is there any divination against Israel: according to this time it shall be said of Jacob and of Israel, What hath God wrought!

24 Behold, the people shall rise up as a great lion, and lift up himself as a young lion: he shall not lie down until he shall eat of the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

25 And Balak said to Balaam, Neither curse them at all, nor bless them at all.

26 But Balaam answered and said to Balak, Did I not tell thee, saying, All that the LORD speaketh, that I must do?

27 And Balak said to Balaam, Come, I pray thee, I will bring thee to another place; perhaps it will please God that thou mayest from thence curse them for me.

28 And Balak brought Balaam to the top of Peor, that looketh towards Jeshimon.

29 And Balaam said to Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven bullocks and seven rams.

30 And Balak did as Balaam had said, and offered a bullock and a ram on every altar.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 241

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241. The first living creature was like a lion. (4:7) This symbolizes the Divine truth of the Word in respect to its power.

A lion symbolizes truth in its power, here the Divine truth of the Word in respect to its power, as can be seen from the power of the lion, which surpasses that of every other animal on the earth. It can be seen as well from lions in the spiritual world and the fact that they are images representative of the power of Divine truth. And it can be seen, too, from the Word, in which lions symbolize Divine truth in its power. The nature of the power of Divine truth in the Word may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture 49, and in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 228-233.

So it is that Jehovah or the Lord is likened to a lion, and also called a lion, as in the following passages:

A lion has roared! Who does not fear? The Lord Jehovih has spoken! Who does not prophesy? (Amos 3:8)

I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim... They shall walk after Jehovah. He roars like a lion. (Hosea 11:9-10)

As a lion roars, and a young lion..., so Jehovah... will come down to fight upon Mount Zion... (Isaiah 31:4)

Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed... (Revelation 5:5)

Judah is a lion's whelp... He bowed down, he lay down... as an old lion. Who rouses him? (Genesis 49:9)

[2] A lion in these passages describes the power of the Divine truth emanating from the Lord. Roaring symbolizes His speaking and acting with power against the hells, which try to carry off a person as a lion does its prey, but from which the Lord rescues him. To bow down means to put Himself into a condition of power. Judah, in the highest sense, symbolizes the Lord (nos. 96, 266).

(The angel) cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. (Revelation 10:3)

He bows down, he lies down... as an old lion. Who rouses him? (Numbers 24:9)

Lo, the people rises like an old lion, and like a young lion lifts itself up. (Numbers 23:24)

This last declaration is said of Israel, which symbolizes the church, whose power, which lies in Divine truths, is thus described.

So likewise:

The remnant of Jacob shall be... in the midst of... peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep... (Micah 5:7-8)

And so on in many other places, as in Isaiah 11:6; 21:6-9; 35:9; Jeremiah 2:15; 4:7; 5:6; 12:8; 50:17; 51:38; Ezekiel 19:3, 5-6; Deuteronomy 33:20.

  
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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.