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Numbers 4

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1 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

2 Take the sum of the sons of Kohath from among the sons of Levi, after their families, by the house of their fathers;

3 From thirty years old and upward, even until fifty years old, all that enter into the host, 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 most holy things.

5 And when the camp moveth forward, Aaron shall come, and his sons, and they shall take down the covering vail, and cover the ark of testimony with it:

6 And shall put on it the covering of badgers' skins, and shall spread over it a cloth wholly of blue, and shall put in the staffs of it.

7 And upon the table of show-bread they shall spread a cloth of blue, and put on it the dishes, and the spoons, and the bowls, and covers to cover with: and the continual bread shall be upon it.

8 And they shall spread upon them a cloth of scarlet, and cover the same with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put in the staffs of it.

9 And they shall take a cloth of blue, and cover the candlestick of the light, and its lamps, and its tongs, and its snuff-dishes, and all its oil vessels, with which they minister to it:

10 And they shall put it, and all its vessels, within a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put it upon a bar.

11 And upon the golden altar they shall spread a cloth of blue, and cover it with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put to it its staffs.

12 And they shall take all the instruments of ministry, with which they minister in the sanctuary, and put them in a cloth of blue, and cover them with a covering of badgers' skins, and shall put them on a bar.

13 And they shall take away the ashes from the altar, and spread a purple cloth upon it:

14 And they shall put upon it all its vessels, with which they minister about it, even the censers, the flesh-hooks, and the shovels, and the basins, all the vessels of the altar; and they shall spread upon it a covering of badgers' skins, and put to it its staffs.

15 And when Aaron and his sons have made an end of covering the sanctuary, and all the vessels of the sanctuary, as the camp is to move forward; after that, the sons of Kohath shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These things are the burden of the sons of Kohath in the tabernacle of the congregation.

16 And to the office of Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest pertain the oil for the light, and the sweet incense, and the daily meat-offering, and the anointing oil, and the oversight of all the tabernacle, and of all that is in it, in the sanctuary, and in its vessels.

17 And the LORD spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,

18 Cut ye not off the tribe of the families of the Kohathites from among the Levites:

19 But thus do to them, that they may live, and not die, when they approach to the most holy things: Aaron and his sons shall go in, and appoint them every one to his service and to his burden:

20 But they shall not go in to see when the holy things are covered, lest they die.

21 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

22 Take also the sum of the sons of Gershon, throughout the house of their fathers, by their families;

23 From thirty years old and upward until fifty years old shalt thou number them; all that enter in to perform the service, to do the work in the tabernacle of the congregation.

24 This is the service of the families of the Gershonites, to serve, and for burdens:

25 And they shall bear the curtains of the tabernacle, and the tabernacle of the congregation, its covering, and the covering of the badgers' skins that is above upon it, and the hanging for the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,

26 And the hangings of the court, and the hanging for the door of the gate of the court, which is by the tabernacle and by the altar round about, and their cords, and all the instruments of their service, and all that is made for them: so shall they serve.

27 At the appointment of Aaron and his sons shall be all the service of the sons of the Gershonites, in all their burdens, and in all their service: and ye shall appoint to them in charge all their burdens.

28 This is the service of the families of the sons of Gershon in the tabernacle of the congregation: and their charge shall be under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

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

30 From thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old shalt thou number them, every one that entereth into the service, to do the work of the tabernacle of the congregation.

31 And this is the charge of their burden, according to all their service in the tabernacle of the congregation; the boards of the tabernacle, and its bars, and its pillars, and its sockets,

32 And the pillars of the court round about, and their sockets, and their pins, and their cords, with all their instruments, and with all their service: and by name ye shall reckon the instruments of the charge of their burden.

33 This is the service of the families of the sons of Merari, according to all their service, in the tabernacle of the congregation, under the hand of Ithamar the son of Aaron the priest.

34 And Moses and Aaron and the chief of the congregation numbered the sons of the Kohathites after their families, and after the house of their fathers,

35 From thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation:

36 And those that were numbered of them by their families were two thousand seven hundred and fifty.

37 These were they that were numbered of the families of the Kohathites, all that might do service in the tabernacle of the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

38 And those that were numbered of the sons of Gershon, throughout their families, and by the house of their fathers,

39 From thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service, for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation,

40 Even those that were numbered of them, throughout their families, by the house of their fathers, were two thousand and six hundred and thirty.

41 These are they that were numbered of the families of the sons of Gershon, of all that might do service in the tabernacle of the congregation, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the commandment of the LORD.

42 And those that were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, throughout their families, by the house of their fathers,

43 From thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, every one that entereth into the service for the work in the tabernacle of the congregation,

44 Even those that were numbered of them after their families, were three thousand and two hundred.

45 These are those that were numbered of the families of the sons of Merari, whom Moses and Aaron numbered according to the word of the LORD by the hand of Moses.

46 All those that were numbered of the Levites, whom Moses and Aaron and the chief of Israel numbered, after their families, and after the house of their fathers,

47 From thirty years old and upward even to fifty years old, every one that came to do the service of the ministry, and the service of the burden in the tabernacle of the congregation,

48 Even those that were numbered of them, were eight thousand and five hundred and eighty.

49 According to the commandment of the LORD they were numbered by the hand of Moses, every one according to his service, and according to his burden: thus were they numbered by him, as the LORD commanded Moses.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 500

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500. The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. This symbolically means that those people who are caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone will oppose these two essential elements of the New Church, attack them, and reject them, in themselves and, as far as they are able, in others.

The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit means the people who ascended out of the bottomless pit having the appearance of locusts in Revelation 9:1-12. That they were people caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone may be seen in the exposition there. To make war means, symbolically, to oppose and attack these two essential elements of the church, as we shall see next. To overcome them and kill them means, symbolically, to reject them and root them out, in themselves and, as far as they are able, in others.

[2] People caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone will attack and reject these two essential elements because they have established in themselves two ideas contrary to them, first, that it is not the Lord but God the Father to whom they should turn; and secondly, that a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments is not a spiritual life, but simply a moral and civic life, and they maintain this to keep anyone from believing that he is saved by works rather than by their faith alone.

All those people who in schools and universities have deeply impressed these dogmas on their minds do not afterward turn away from them. There are three reasons for this, hitherto unknown. First, they have introduced themselves as to their spirit into association with people in the spiritual world like themselves, where there are many satanic spirits who find delight only in falsities, and from these spirits they cannot possibly be set free unless they reject those falsities. Nor can they do that unless they turn to God the Savior directly and begin to live a Christian life in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

[3] The second reason is their belief that they are granted instant forgiveness for their sins and thus salvation in the act of faith, and afterward in the state or progression of it through the same act continued, preserved and retained by the Holy Spirit, apart from any exercises of charity. After that, then, once people have imbibed these ideas, they regard their sins as of no account in the sight of God, and so continue in their impure lives.

Moreover, because they know how to cleverly defend such ideas with falsifications of the Word in the presence of uneducated listeners, and with fallacious arguments in the presence of learned ones, we are told here that the beast from the bottomless pit overcame and killed the two witnesses. But this is the case only with people who love to live self-indulgently and are carried away by the delights of their appetites. Whenever these people think about salvation, they harbor at heart their lusts, and with both hands embrace that faith of theirs, because then they can be saved by uttering certain words in a confident tone and do not have to attend to anything having to do with their life for God's sake, but only for the sake of the world.

[4] The third reason is that people who in their youth have imbibed the interior tenets of that faith, called the mysteries of justification, when afterward promoted to a respectable ministry, do not think to themselves about God and heaven, but about themselves and the world, retaining the mysteries of their faith only for the sake of their reputation so as to be respected as wise, and because of their wisdom, accounted worthy to be rewarded with riches.

Such is the case as a result of that faith because it has nothing of religion in it. The reality of this may be seen in the third narrative account above, in no. 484.

[5] That wars in the Word symbolize spiritual wars, which are attacks on truth and are waged by reasonings based on falsities, is clear from the following passages:

...spirits of demons... go out... to gather them for war on the great day of God Almighty. (Revelation 16:14)

...the dragon was angry with the woman, and it went away to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:17)

It was granted to (the dragon's beast) to make war with the saints... (Revelation 13:7)

Prepare holy war against (the daughter of Zion)..., and let us go up at noon. (Jeremiah 6:4)

You have not gone up into the breaches... to stand in battle on the day of Jehovah. (Ezekiel 13:5)

In Salem is (God's) tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion, where He broke the flaming arrows, the bow... and... war. (Psalms 76:2-3)

Jehovah shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up zeal like a man of war. (Isaiah 42:13, cf. Psalms 24:8)

In that day Jehovah... will be... for a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, ...to those who turn back the battle at the gate. (Isaiah 28:5-6)

Deliver me... from the evil man; preserve me from the violent man... All day they gather for war. They sharpen their tongues like serpents. (Psalms 140:1-3)

...many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ," and will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled. (Matthew 24:5-7, cf. Mark 13:6-8, Luke 21:8-10)

The wars of the kings of the north and south and other wars in Daniel 10, 11, and 12 symbolize no other than spiritual wars. And so, too, the wars in other places, as in Isaiah 2:3-5, 13:4, 21:14-15, 31:4; Jeremiah 49:25-26; Hosea 2:18; Zechariah 10:5, 14:3; Psalm 18:35 1 , 46:8-9.

[6] As wars in the Word symbolize spiritual wars, therefore the ministry of the Levites was called military service, as is apparent from the following, that the command was given for the Levites to be numbered, to "perform military service, to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting" (Numbers 4:23, 35, 39, 43, 47).

This is the service of the Levites: ...to perform military service in the ministry of the tabernacle of meeting; but at the age of fifty years he must cease the military service, and shall minister no more. (Numbers 8:24-25)

See also no. 447 above, where we established from the Word that armies symbolize the church's goods and truths, and in an opposite sense, its evils and falsities.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. The citation in the first edition is in error. Either this or Psalms 27:3 was perhaps intended.

  
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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.