Apocalypse Revealed # 349
349. Sealed out of every tribe of Israel. This symbolizes the heaven and Lord's church formed from those people.
A tribe symbolizes religion as regards goodness of life, and every tribe symbolizes the church in respect to every good of love and every truth springing from that good, which produces goodness of life. For there are two elements which form the church: the goodness of love and doctrinal truth. The marriage of these two constitutes the church. The twelve tribes of Israel represented and so symbolized the church with respect to that marriage, and each tribe represented and so symbolized some universal truth accompanying goodness or some goodness accompanying truth present in that marriage.
But what each tribe symbolized has not been revealed previously to anyone, nor could it have been revealed, lest an ill-connected exposition profane the holiness that lies within these things when joined together, since their symbolism depends on their conjunction.
[2] They have one symbolism in the order in which they are listed according to their births (Genesis 29, 30, 35:18). The order there is: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin.
They have another symbolism in the order in which they are listed when they went into Egypt, namely, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali (Genesis 46:8-25).
Still another symbolism in the order in which they were blessed by their father Israel, namely, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, Benjamin (Genesis 49).
Still another symbolism in the order in which they were blessed by Moses, namely, Reuben, Judah, Levi, Benjamin, Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh, Zebulun, Gad, Dan, Naphtali, Asher (Deuteronomy 33) - Ephraim and Manasseh being listed there, and not Simeon or Issachar.
[3] Still another symbolism in the order in which they encamped and set out, namely, the tribes of Judah, Issachar and Zebulun on the east side, the tribes of Reuben, Simeon and Gad on the south side, the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh and Benjamin on the west side, and the tribes of Dan, Asher and Naphtali on the north side, with the tribe of Levi in the middle (Numbers 2:1-34).
And still another symbolism in the order in which they are listed elsewhere, as in Genesis 35:23-26, Numbers 1:5-16; 7:1-89; 13:4-15; 26:5-57; 34:17-28, Deuteronomy 27:12-13, Joshua 15; 16; 17; 18; 19, Ezekiel 48:1-35.
Consequently, when Balaam saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes, he said, "How good are your tents, O Jacob, and your tabernacles, O Israel" (Numbers 24:1-4ff.).
[4] On the breastpiece of judgment, namely, the Urim and Thummim, containing twelve precious stones according to the names of the children of Israel (Exodus 28:15-21), the symbolism of the tribes in their arrangement depended on the inquiry to which they provided a response.
But what they symbolized in the order in which they are mentioned here in the book of Revelation, which is still another order, will be told in what follows.
Tribes symbolize religion, and the twelve tribes the church and everything pertaining to it, because "tribe" and "scepter" are, in Hebrew, the same word, 1 and a scepter means a kingdom, and the Lord's kingdom is heaven and the church.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. Hebrew מַטֶּה or שֵׁבֶט, and also מַשְׁעֵנָה.
Numbers 1
1
Yahweh spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the Tent of Meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt, saying,
2
"Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, every male, one by one;
3
from twenty years old and upward, all who are able to go out to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their divisions.
4
With you there shall be a man of every tribe; everyone head of his fathers' house.
5
These are the names of the men who shall stand with you: Of Reuben: Elizur the son of Shedeur.
6
Of Simeon: Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.
7
Of Judah: Nahshon the son of Amminadab.
8
Of Issachar: Nethanel the son of Zuar.
9
Of Zebulun: Eliab the son of Helon.
10
Of the children of Joseph: Of Ephraim: Elishama the son of Ammihud. Of Manasseh: Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.
11
Of Benjamin: Abidan the son of Gideoni.
12
Of Dan: Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.
13
Of Asher: Pagiel the son of Ochran.
14
Of Gad: Eliasaph the son of Deuel.
15
Of Naphtali: Ahira the son of Enan."
16
These are those who were called of the congregation, the princes of the tribes of their fathers; they were the heads of the thousands of Israel.
17
Moses and Aaron took these men who are mentioned by name.
18
They assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the second month; and they declared their ancestry by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, one by one.
19
As Yahweh commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness of Sinai.
20
The children of Reuben, Israel's firstborn, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, one by one, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
21
those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Reuben, were forty-six thousand five hundred.
22
Of the children of Simeon, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, those who were numbered of it, according to the number of the names, one by one, every male from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
23
those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty-nine thousand three hundred.
24
Of the children of Gad, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
25
those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Gad, were forty-five thousand six hundred fifty.
26
Of the children of Judah, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
27
those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Judah, were sixty-four thousand six hundred.
28
Of the children of Issachar, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
29
those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty-four thousand four hundred.
30
Of the children of Zebulun, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
31
those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Zebulun, were fifty-seven thousand four hundred.
32
Of the children of Joseph, of the children of Ephraim, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
33
those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Ephraim, were forty thousand five hundred.
34
Of the children of Manasseh, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
35
those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty-two thousand two hundred.
36
Of the children of Benjamin, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war;
37
those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Benjamin, were thirty-five thousand four hundred.
38
Of the children of Dan, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war;
39
those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Dan, were sixty-two thousand seven hundred.
40
Of the children of Asher, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war;
41
those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Asher, were forty-one thousand five hundred.
42
Of the children of Naphtali, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go forth to war;
43
those who were numbered of them, of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty-three thousand four hundred.
44
These are those who were numbered, whom Moses and Aaron numbered, and the princes of Israel, being twelve men: they were each one for his fathers' house.
45
So all those who were numbered of the children of Israel by their fathers' houses, from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go out to war in Israel;
46
even all those who were numbered were six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty.
47
But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them.
48
For Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
49
"Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, neither shall you take a census of them among the children of Israel;
50
but appoint the Levites over the Tabernacle of the Testimony, and over all its furnishings, and over all that belongs to it. They shall carry the tabernacle, and all its furnishings; and they shall take care of it, and shall encamp around it.
51
When the tabernacle is to move, the Levites shall take it down; and when the tabernacle is to be set up, the Levites shall set it up. The stranger who comes near shall be put to death.
52
The children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every man by his own standard, according to their divisions.
53
But the Levites shall encamp around the Tabernacle of the Testimony, that there may be no wrath on the congregation of the children of Israel: and the Levites shall be responsible for the Tabernacle of the Testimony."
54
Thus the children of Israel did. According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses, so they did.
