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Leviticus 1

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1 And Jehovah calleth unto Moses, and speaketh unto him out of the tent of meeting, saying,

2 `Speak unto the sons of Israel, and thou hast said unto them, Any man of you when he doth bring near an offering to Jehovah, out of the cattle -- out of the herd, or out of the flock -- ye do bring near your offering.

3 `If his offering [is] a burnt-offering out of the herd -- a male, a perfect one, he doth bring near, unto the opening of the tent of meeting he doth bring it near, at his pleasure, before Jehovah;

4 and he hath laid his hand on the head of the burnt-offering, and it hath been accepted for him to make atonement for him;

5 and he hath slaughtered the son of the herd before Jehovah; and sons of Aaron, the priests, have brought the blood near, and sprinkled the blood on the altar round about, which [is] at the opening of the tent of meeting.

6 `And he hath stripped the burnt-offering, and hath cut it into its pieces;

7 and the sons of Aaron the priest have put fire on the altar, and arranged wood on the fire;

8 and sons of Aaron, the priests, have arranged the pieces, with the head and the fat, on the wood, which [is] on the fire, which [is] on the altar;

9 and its inwards and its legs he doth wash with water; and the priest hath made perfume with the whole on the altar, a burnt-offering, a fire-offering of sweet fragrance to Jehovah.

10 `And if his offering [is] out of the flock -- out of the sheep or out of the goats -- for a burnt-offering, a male, a perfect one, he doth bring near,

11 and he hath slaughtered it by the side of the altar northward, before Jehovah; and sons of Aaron, the priests, have sprinkled its blood on the altar round about;

12 and he hath cut it into its pieces, and its head and its fat, and the priest hath arranged them on the wood, which [is] on the fire, which [is] on the altar;

13 and the inwards and the legs he doth wash with water, and the priest hath brought the whole near, and hath made perfume on the altar; it [is] a burnt-offering, a fire-offering of sweet fragrance to Jehovah.

14 `And if his offering [is] a burnt-offering out of the fowl to Jehovah, than he hath brought near his offering out of the turtle-doves or out of the young pigeons,

15 and the priest hath brought it near unto the altar, and hath wrung off its head, and hath made perfume on the altar, and its blood hath been wrung out by the side of the altar;

16 and he hath turned aside its crop with its feathers, and hath cast it near the altar, eastward, unto the place of ashes;

17 and he hath cleaved it with its wings (he doth not separate [it]), and the priest hath made it a perfume on the altar, on the wood, which [is] on the fire; it [is] a burnt-offering, a fire-offering of sweet fragrance to Jehovah.

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Arcana Coelestia # 922

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922. 'He took from every clean beast, and from every clean bird' means goods that stem from charity, and the truths of faith. This has been shown already; 'beast' means goods that stem from charity, 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 'bird' the truths of faith, 40, 776. Burnt offerings were made from cattle, from lambs and goats, and from turtle doves and young pigeons, Leviticus 1:2-17; Numbers 15:2-15; 28:1-end. These were clean beasts, each one of them meaning some particular heavenly quality. And because they meant these things in the Ancient Church, and in subsequent Churches represented them, it is clear that burnt offerings and sacrifices were nothing else than representatives that go with internal worship, and that when they had been divorced from internal worship they became idolatrous. This any mentally normal person can see, for what is an altar but merely something made of stone? And what is a burnt offering and a sacrifice but the slaughtering of an animal? For worship to be Divine it has to represent some heavenly quality which the worshippers know and acknowledge and from which they worship the One they are representing.

[2] Nobody except the person who does not wish to understand anything at all about the Lord can be ignorant of the fact that these things were representatives of the Lord. It is the internal things, namely charity and faith deriving from charity, through which the One who is being represented has to be seen, acknowledged, and believed, as is quite clear in the Prophets, for example in Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel, Add your burnt offerings on to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. I did not speak with your fathers and I did not command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt on the matters of burnt offering and sacrifice. But this matter I commanded them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God. Jeremiah 7:21-23.

Hearing or obeying His voice is obeying the law, the whole of which focuses on the one command that men should love God above everything else and their neighbour as themselves, for on these depend the Law and the Prophets, Matthew 22:37-40; 7:12. In David,

O Jehovah, sacrifice and offering You have not desired; burnt offering and sin-sacrifice You host not sought. I have delighted to do Your will, O my God, and Your law is within my heart. 1 Psalms 40:6, 8.

[3] In Samuel, who said to Saul,

Has Jehovah as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, to hearken than the fat of rams. 1 Samuel 15:22.

What obeying His voice involves is apparent in Micah,

Shall I come before Jehovah with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does Jehovah require of you but to carry out judgement and the love of mercy, and to humble yourself by walking with your God. Micah 6:6-8.

These are the things that burnt offerings and sacrifices of clean beasts and birds mean. In Amos,

Though you offer Me your burnt offerings and gifts, I will not accept them, and the peace offering of your fatted ones I will not look upon. Let judgement flow like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream. Amos 5:22, 24.

'Judgement' means truth, and 'righteousness' good. Both stem from charity and are the burnt offerings and sacrifices of the internal man. In Hosea,

I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6.

From all these quotations the nature of sacrifices and burnt offerings when charity and faith are not present is clear. It is also clear from them that because 'clean beasts and clean birds' meant the goods that stem from charity and faith they also represented them.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, in the midst of my viscera

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