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Exodus 29

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1 `And this [is] the thing which thou dost to them, to hallow them, for being priests to Me: Take one bullock, a son of the herd, and two rams, perfect ones,

2 and bread unleavened, and cakes unleavened anointed with oil, of fine wheaten flour thou dost make them,

3 and thou hast put them on one basket, and hast brought them near in the basket, also the bullock and the two rams.

4 `And Aaron and his sons thou dost bring near unto the opening of the tent of meeting, and hast bathed them with water;

5 and thou hast taken the garments, and hast clothed Aaron with the coat, and the upper robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and hast girded him with the girdle of the ephod,

6 and hast set the mitre on his head, and hast put the holy crown on the mitre,

7 and hast taken the anointing oil, and hast poured [it] on his head, and hast anointed him.

8 `And his sons thou dost bring near, and hast clothed them [with] coats,

9 and hast girded them [with] a girdle (Aaron and his sons), and hast bound on them bonnets; and the priesthood hath been theirs by a statute age-during, and thou hast consecrated the hand of Aaron, and the hand of his sons,

10 and hast brought near the bullock before the tent of meeting, and Aaron hath laid -- his sons also -- their hands on the head of the bullock.

11 `And thou hast slaughtered the bullock before Jehovah, at the opening of the tent of meeting,

12 and hast taken of the blood of the bullock, and hast put [it] on the horns of the altar with thy finger, and all the blood thou dost pour out at the foundation of the altar;

13 and thou hast taken all the fat which is covering the inwards, and the redundance on the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat which [is] on them, and hast made perfume on the altar;

14 and the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, thou dost burn with fire at the outside of the camp; it [is] a sin-offering.

15 `And the one ram thou dost take, and Aaron and his sons have laid their hands on the head of the ram,

16 and thou hast slaughtered the ram, and hast taken its blood, and hast sprinkled [it] on the altar round about,

17 and the ram thou dost cut into its pieces, and hast washed its inwards, and its legs, and hast put [them] on its pieces, and on its head;

18 and thou hast made perfume with the whole ram on the altar. It [is] a burnt-offering to Jehovah, a sweet fragrance; a fire-offering it [is] to Jehovah.

19 `And thou hast taken the second ram, and Aaron hath laid -- his sons also -- their hands on the head of the ram,

20 and thou hast slaughtered the ram, and hast taken of its blood, and hast put 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 great toe of their right foot, and hast sprinkled the blood on the altar round about;

21 and thou hast taken of the blood which [is] on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and hast sprinkled on Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him, and he hath been hallowed, he, and his garments, and his sons, and the garments of his sons with him.

22 `And thou hast taken from the ram the fat, and the fat tail, and the fat which is covering the inwards, and the redundance on the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat which [is] on them, and the right leg, for it [is] a ram of consecration,

23 and one round cake of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one thin cake out of the basket of the unleavened things which [is] before Jehovah.

24 `And thou hast set the whole on the hands of Aaron, and on the hands of his sons, and hast waved them -- a wave-offering before Jehovah;

25 and thou hast taken them out of their hand, and hast made perfume on the altar beside the burnt-offering, for sweet fragrance before Jehovah; a fire-offering it [is] to Jehovah.

26 `And thou hast taken the breast from the ram of the consecration which [is] for Aaron, and hast waved it -- a wave-offering before Jehovah, and it hath become thy portion;

27 and thou hast sanctified the breast of the wave-offering, and the leg of the heave-offering, which hath been waved, and which hath been lifted up from the ram of the consecration, of that which [is] for Aaron, and of that which [is] for his sons;

28 and it hath been for Aaron and for his sons, by a statute age-during from the sons of Israel, for it [is] a heave-offering; and it is a heave offering from the sons of Israel, from the sacrifices of their peace-offerings -- their heave-offering to Jehovah.

29 `And the holy garments which are Aaron's, are for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to consecrate in them their hand;

30 seven days doth the priest in his stead (of his sons) put them on, when he goeth in unto the tent of meeting, to minister in the sanctuary.

31 `And the ram of the consecration thou dost take, and hast boiled its flesh in the holy place;

32 and Aaron hath eaten -- his sons also -- the flesh of the ram, and the bread which [is] in the basket, at the opening of the tent of meeting;

33 and they have eaten those things by which there is atonement to consecrate their hand, to sanctify them; and a stranger doth not eat -- for they [are] holy;

34 and if there be left of the flesh of the consecration or of the bread till the morning, then thou hast burned that which is left with fire; it is not eaten, for it [is] holy.

35 `And thou hast done thus to Aaron and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded thee; seven days thou dost consecrate their hand;

36 and a bullock, a sin-offering, thou dost prepare daily for the atonements, and thou hast atoned for the altar, in thy making atonement on it, and hast anointed it to sanctify it;

37 seven days thou dost make atonement for the altar, and hast sanctified it, and the altar hath been most holy; all that is coming against the altar is holy.

38 `And this [is] that which thou dost prepare on the altar; two lambs, sons of a year, daily continually;

39 the one lamb thou dost prepare in the morning, and the second lamb thou dost prepare between the evenings;

40 and a tenth [deal] of fine flour, mixed with beaten oil, a fourth part of a hin, and a libation, a fourth part of a hin, of wine, [is] for the one lamb.

41 `And the second lamb thou dost prepare between the evenings; according to the present of the morning, and according to its libation, thou dost prepare for it, for sweet fragrance, a fire-offering, to Jehovah: --

42 a continual burnt-offering for your generations, at the opening of the tent of meeting, before Jehovah, whither I am met with you, to speak unto thee there,

43 and I have met there with the sons of Israel, and it hath been sanctified by My honour.

44 `And I have sanctified the tent of meeting, and the altar, and Aaron and his sons I sanctify for being priests to Me,

45 and I have tabernacled in the midst of the sons of Israel, and have become their God,

46 and they have known that I [am] Jehovah their God, who hath brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I may tabernacle in their midst; I [am] Jehovah their God.

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 559

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559. Verse 10. And they had tails like scorpions, signifies sensual knowledges [scientifica] that are persuasive. This is evident from the signification of "tails," as meaning sensual knowledges [scientifica] (of which presently); and from the signification of "scorpions," as being an infatuating and suffocating persuasiveness (of which see above, n. 544; therefore "tails like scorpions" signify sensual knowledges which are persuasive. "Tails" signify sensual knowledges because the tails that protrude outwardly from animals of the earth are the continuations of the spinal cord, which is called the spinal marrow, and this is a continuation of the brain, and the "brain" in like manner as the "head," signifies intelligence and wisdom, because intelligence and wisdom in their beginnings have their seat there; and as tails are the ultimates of the brain they signify sensual knowledges, since these are the ultimates of intelligence and wisdom.

[2] Sensual knowledges are such knowledges as enter from the world through the five bodily senses, and thence viewed in themselves are more material, corporeal, and worldly than those that are interior. All who are in the love of self and have confirmed themselves against Divine and spiritual things are sensual men, and when they are left to themselves and think in their spirit, they think about Divine and spiritual things from sensual knowledges, and consequently they reject Divine and spiritual things as not to be believed, because they do not see them with their eyes or touch them with their hands; and they apply their knowledges, which they have made sensual and material, to the destruction of these. For example, men who are learned in this kind of knowledge, who are skilled in physics, anatomy, botany, and other branches of human learning, when they see the wonderful things in the animal and vegetable kingdoms say in their hearts that all these things are from nature, and not from the Divine, and this because they believe in nothing that they do not see with their eyes and touch with their hands; for they are unable to elevate their minds upward so as to see these things from the light of heaven, for that light is thick darkness to them; but they detain their minds in earthly things, much the same as the animals of the earth do, with which indeed they compare themselves. In a word, with such all knowledges [scientiae] are made sensual; for such as the man himself is, such are all things of his understanding and will; if the man is spiritual all things become spiritual; if he is merely natural all things become natural and not spiritual; if the man is sensual all things become sensual, and this however learned and erudite he may seem to the world to be. But as every man has the faculty to understand truths and perceive goods, such men are able from that faculty to talk about these things like those who are spiritual-rational, although in respect to their spirit they are sensual; for when such men speak before others they do not speak from the spirit but from the bodily memory.

[3] All this has been said to make known what sensual knowledges are. These are what especially persuade, or are especially persuasive, because they are the ultimates of the understanding; for into these as into its ultimates the understanding closes, and these captivate the common people because they are appearances drawn from such things as they see in the world with their eyes; and so long as the thought clings to these it is impossible to dispose the mind to think interiorly or above them until they are put away; for the interior things of the mind all close into ultimates and rest upon them, as a house upon its foundation; consequently these are especially persuasive, but only with those whose minds cannot be elevated above sensual things; and the mind is elevated above them with those who are in the light of heaven from the Lord, for the light of heaven dissipates them. For this reason spiritual men rarely think from things sensual, for they think from things rational and intellectual; but sensual men, who have confirmed themselves in falsities against Divine and spiritual things, when they are left to themselves think only from sensual things.

[4] That "tails" signify sensual knowledges [scientifica] can be seen from the following passages. In Isaiah:

Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush. The old man and the honorable, he is the head; but the prophet, the teacher of lies, he is the tail (Isaiah 9:14, 9:16).

This means that all intelligence and wisdom and all knowledge [scientia] of truth will perish; the "head" signifies intelligence and wisdom, wherefore it is said "the old man and the honorable, he is the head," for the "old man" signifies the understanding of truth, and the "honorable" the wisdom of good; but the "tail" signifies sensual knowledge [scientificum], which is the ultimate of intelligence and wisdom; when this is not joined to spiritual intelligence it becomes false knowledge, or knowledge applied to confirm falsities, which is sensual knowledge, like that of the sensual man who sees nothing from the understanding. This is why "the prophet who teacheth lies" is called the "tail," a "prophet" signifying the doctrine of truth, and thence the knowledge of truth, but here doctrine and the knowledge of falsity, for a "lie" signifies falsity, and the "teacher of a lie" one who teaches falsity by applying knowledges from the sense of the letter of the Word to confirm falsities.

[5] In the same:

Neither shall there be for Egypt any work that may make head or tail, branch or rush (Isaiah 19:15).

"Egypt" signifies knowledge [scientia] both of spiritual and of natural things; "no work for it that may make head or tail" signifies that it has no spiritual things, neither natural things by which spiritual things are confirmed, the "head" signifies here the cognitions of spiritual things which are means of intelligence, and the "tail" natural knowledges [scientifica] which are serviceable to things spiritual for intelligence; "branch and rush" have a similar signification, "branch" being spiritual truth, and "rush" sensual knowledge, which is ultimate truth; for if what is prior and what is posterior, or what is first and what is last, do not make one in man, he has no "head and tail."

[6] In Moses:

Thus Jehovah shall make thee as the head, and not as the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath, if thou shalt hearken unto the commandments of thy God (Deuteronomy 28:13).

"To make as the head" means to make spiritual and intelligent, and thus to elevate out of the light of the world into the light of heaven; and "to make as the tail" means to make sensual and foolish, so as not to look to heaven but only to the world; therefore it is said "and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath," "to be above" meaning to be elevated by the Lord so as to look to heaven, and "to be beneath" meaning not to be elevated by the Lord, but by self, and man by self looks only to the world. For man's interiors which belong to his thought and affection are elevated to heaven by the Lord when man is in the good of life and thence in the truths of doctrine; but when he is in the evil of life and thence in falsities, his lower things look downward, thus only to his body and to such things as are in the world, and thus to hell. Thus man puts off his truly human nature and puts on a beastly nature, for beasts look downward and to such things only as are met with in the world and upon the earth. Elevation into the light of heaven by the Lord is an actual elevation of man's interiors to the Lord; and a depression or casting down to such things as are below and outside the eyes is an actual depression and casting down of the interiors, and when this takes place, all the thought of the spirit is immersed in the ultimate sensual.

[7] In Moses:

The sojourner who is in the midst of thee shall ascend above thee higher and higher, but thou shalt come down lower and lower. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him; he shall be as the head, and thou shalt be as the tail (Deuteronomy 28:43, 44).

This must have a like meaning; "to be as the head" signifying to be spiritual and intelligent, and "to be as the tail" to be sensual and stupid; therefore it is added "he shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him," which signifies that he shall teach thee truths, but thou shalt not teach him.

[8] In Isaiah:

Say unto him, Take heed, and be quiet; fear not, neither let thine heart be soft because of the two tails of smoking firebrands, for the glowing anger of Rezin and Syria, and of the son of Remaliah (Isaiah 7:4).

"Rezin and Syria" signify the perverted rational, and "the son of Remaliah," king of Israel, who is also called "Ephraim," signifies the perverted intellectual; it is the intellectual in respect to the Word that is signified by "the king of Israel" and "Ephraim;" and it is the rational in respect to the knowledges [scientiae] that confirm that is signified by "Rezin and Syria," for a man in order to have an understanding of the Word must have a rational, and when these two are perverted they look only downward to the earth, and outward to the world, as sensual men do who are in the falsities of evil; therefore they are called "tails." A "smoking firebrand" signifies the lust of falsity and consequent wrath against the truths and goods of the church.

[9] In Moses:

Jehovah said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand and take hold of the tail of the serpent. And he put forth his hand and took hold of it, and it became a staff in his hand (Exodus 4:4).

That here, too, "tail" means the sensual which is the ultimate of the natural may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 6951-6955). Because "tails" signify the ultimates of intelligence and wisdom, which are sensual knowledges [scientifica], and because all the processes attending the sacrifices signified Divine celestial and spiritual things, therefore:

It was commanded that they should take away the tail hard by the backbone, and should sacrifice it with the other parts there mentioned (Leviticus 3:9; 8:25; 9:19; Exodus 29:22).

(That the burnt-offerings and sacrifices signified Divine celestial and spiritual things, which are the internals of the church, of which worship consists, see Arcana Coelestia 2180, 2805, 2807, 3830, 3519, 6905, 8936.) Because "tails" signify sensual knowledges [scientifica], and when these knowledges are separated from things interior which are spiritual, and in consequence do not with things interior look inward and upward but look outward and downward, they signify falsities confirmed by knowledges. Therefore also in what follows in Revelation, where falsities from that origin are treated of, it is said:

That the tails of the horses seen in vision were like unto serpents, and that they had heads with which they did hurt (Revelation 9:19).

And afterwards:

That the dragon with his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth (Revelation 12:3, 4);

which things may be seen explained below.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.