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Numbers 8

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1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 Speak to Aaron, and say to him, When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick.

3 And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps of it over against the candlestick, as the LORD commanded Moses.

4 And this work of the candlestick was of beaten gold, to its shaft, to the flowers of it, was beaten work: according to the pattern which the LORD had showed Moses, so he made the candlestick.

5 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

6 Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them.

7 And thus shalt thou do to them, to cleanse them: Sprinkle water of purifying upon them, and let them shave all their flesh, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves clean.

8 Then let them take a young bullock with his meat-offering, even fine flour mingled with oil, and another young bullock shalt thou take for a sin-offering.

9 And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt convene the whole assembly of the children of Israel:

10 And thou shalt bring the Levites before the LORD: and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites:

11 And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the LORD for an offering of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service of the LORD.

12 And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks: and thou shalt offer the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, to the LORD, to make an atonement for the Levites.

13 And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an offering to the LORD.

14 Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be mine.

15 And after that shall the Levites go in to perform the service of the tabernacle of the congregation: and thou shalt cleanse them, and offer them for an offering.

16 For they are wholly given to me from among the children of Israel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the first-born of all the children of Israel, have I taken them to me.

17 For all the first born of the children of Israel are mine, both man and beast: on the day that I smote every first-born in the land of Egypt I sanctified them for myself.

18 And I have taken the Levites for all the first-born of the children of Israel.

19 And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there may be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh to the sanctuary.

20 And Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel, did to the Levites according to all that the LORD commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did the children of Israel to them.

21 And the Levites were purified, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them as an offering before the LORD; and Aaron made an atonement for them to cleanse them.

22 And after that went the Levites in to perform their service in the tabernacle of the congregation before Aaron, and before his sons: as the LORD had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so did they to them.

23 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

24 This is it that belongeth to the Levites: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall go in to wait upon the service of the tabernacle of the congregation:

25 And from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting upon the service of it, and shall serve no more:

26 But shall minister with their brethren in the tabernacle of the congregation, to keep the charge, and shall do no service. Thus shalt thou do to the Levites concerning their charge.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 10022

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10022. 'Before the tent of meeting' means to purification, the reception of truth from heaven, and the joining of it to good. This is clear from the representation of 'the tent of meeting' as heaven where the Lord is, dealt with in 9457, 9481, 9485. The reason why purification, the implantation of truth, and the joining of it to good are also meant here is that the young bull was led to that place to be sacrificed, and by sacrifices not only purification but also the implantation of truth and good and joining together of them are meant. For sacrifices represented purifications from evils and falsities, and expiations, see 9990, 9991, and the place before the tent, called its door, represented the joining together of truth and good, which is called the heavenly marriage, 10001. So it is then that 'you shall bring the young bull near before the tent of meeting' means the time when the external or natural man, as this exists in its infancy, applies itself to being purified from evils and falsities, and so to receiving truth from heaven and joining it to good.

[2] Since sacrifices and burnt offerings are the subject in what follows directly after this in the present chapter, what was represented by them in general must be stated. Burnt offerings and sacrifices in general represented purification from evils and falsities; and since purification was represented, so too was the implantation of goodness and truth from the Lord, and also the joining together of them. For when a person has been purified from evils and falsities, which is brought about by the removal of them, goodness and truth from the Lord flow in; and to the extent that goodness and truth flow in, in that state, they are implanted and joined together. For the Lord is unceasingly present with goodness and truth with every person, but He is received only to the extent that evils and falsities are removed, thus to the extent that the person is purified from them. The joining together of truth and good is regeneration. From this it may be seen what burnt offerings and sacrifices in general represented; but what each represented specifically is clear from the different kinds of living creatures that were sacrificed.

[3] Because these three - purification from evils and falsities, the implantation of truth and good, and the joining together of them - were represented by sacrifices and burnt offerings, all worship springing from the truth of faith and the good of love is also meant by them, 6905, 8680, 8936; for the end in view of all worship is that a person may be purified from evils and falsities, consequently that he may have forms of goodness and truth from the Lord implanted in him, and so may be regenerated, which is accomplished by the joining together of that goodness and truth. These joined together constitute heaven or the Lord's kingdom with a person.

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