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Leviticus 4

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1 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

2 `Speak unto the sons of Israel, saying, When a person doth sin through ignorance against any of the commands of Jehovah [regarding things] which are not to be done, and hath done [something] against one of these --

3 `If the priest who is anointed doth sin according to the guilt of the people, then he hath brought near for his sin which he hath sinned a bullock, a son of the herd, a perfect one, to Jehovah, for a sin-offering,

4 and he hath brought in the bullock unto the opening of the tent of meeting before Jehovah, and hath laid his hand on the head of the bullock, and hath slaughtered the bullock before Jehovah.

5 `And the priest who is anointed hath taken of the blood of the bullock, and hath brought it in unto the tent of meeting,

6 and the priest hath dipped his finger in the blood, and sprinkled of the blood seven times before Jehovah, at the front of the vail of the sanctuary;

7 and the priest hath put of the blood on the horns of the altar of spice-perfume before Jehovah, which [is] in the tent of meeting, and all the blood of the bullock he doth pour out at the foundation of the altar of the burnt-offering, which [is] at the opening of the tent of meeting.

8 `And all the fat of the bullock of the sin-offering he doth lift up from it, the fat which is covering over the inwards, and all the fat which [is] on the inwards,

9 and the two kidneys, and the fat which [is] on them, which [is] on the flanks, and the redundance above the liver, (beside the kidneys he doth turn it aside),

10 as it is lifted up from the ox of the sacrifice of the peace-offerings; and the priest hath made them a perfume on the altar of the burnt-offering.

11 `And the skin of the bullock, and all its flesh, besides its head, and besides its legs, and its inwards, and its dung --

12 he hath even brought out the whole bullock unto the outside of the camp, unto a clean place, unto the place of the pouring out of the ashes, and he hath burnt it on the wood with fire; beside the place of the pouring out of the ashes it is burnt.

13 `And if the whole company of Israel err ignorantly, and the thing hath been hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done [something against] one of all the commands of Jehovah [concerning things] which are not to be done, and have been guilty;

14 when the sin which they have sinned concerning it hath been known, then have the assembly brought near a bullock, a son of the herd, for a sin-offering, and they have brought it in before the tent of meeting;

15 and the elders of the company have laid their hands on the head of the bullock, before Jehovah, and [one] hath slaughtered the bullock before Jehovah.

16 `And the priest who is anointed hath brought in of the blood of the bullock unto the tent of meeting,

17 and the priest hath dipped his finger in the blood, and hath sprinkled seven times before Jehovah at the front of the vail,

18 and [some] of the blood he doth put on the horns of the altar which [is] before Jehovah, which [is] in the tent of meeting; and all the blood he doth pour out at the foundation of the altar of the burnt-offering, which [is] at the opening of the tent of meeting;

19 and all its fat he doth lift up from it, and hath made perfume on the altar.

20 `And he hath done to the bullock as he hath done to the bullock of the sin-offering, so he doth to it; and the priest hath made atonement for them, and it hath been forgiven them;

21 and he hath brought out the bullock unto the outside of the camp, and hath burned it as he hath burned the first bullock; it [is] a sin-offering of the assembly.

22 `When a prince doth sin, and hath done [something against] one of all the commands of Jehovah his God [regarding things] which are not to be done, through ignorance, and hath been guilty --

23 or his sin wherein he hath sinned hath been made known unto him, then he hath brought in his offering, a kid of the goats, a male, a perfect one,

24 and he hath laid his hand on the head of the goat, and hath slaughtered it in the place where he doth slaughter the burnt-offering before Jehovah; it [is] a sin-offering.

25 `And the priest hath taken of the blood of the sin-offering with his finger, and hath put on the horns of the altar of the burnt-offering, and its blood he doth pour out at the foundation of the altar of the burnt-offering,

26 and with all its fat he doth make perfume on the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of the peace-offerings; and the priest hath made atonement for him because of his sin, and it hath been forgiven him.

27 `And if any person of the people of the land sin through ignorance, by his doing [something against] one of the commands of Jehovah [regarding things] which are not to be done, and hath been guilty --

28 or his sin which he hath sinned hath been made known unto him, then he hath brought in his offering, a kid of the goats, a perfect one, a female, for his sin which he hath sinned,

29 and he hath laid his hand on the head of the sin-offering, and hath slaughtered the sin-offering in the place of the burnt-offering.

30 `And the priest hath taken of its blood with his finger, and hath put on the horns of the altar of the burnt-offering, and all its blood he doth pour out at the foundation of the altar,

31 and all its fat he doth turn aside, as the fat hath been turned aside from off the sacrifice of the peace-offerings, and the priest hath made perfume on the altar, for sweet fragrance to Jehovah; and the priest hath made atonement for him, and it hath been forgiven him.

32 `And if he bring in a sheep [for] his offering, for a sin-offering, a female, a perfect one, he doth bring in,

33 and he hath laid his hand on the head of the sin-offering, and hath slaughtered it for a sin-offering in the place where he slaughtereth the burnt-offering.

34 `And the priest hath taken of the blood of the sin-offering with his finger, and hath put on the horns of the altar of the burnt-offering, and all its blood he poureth out at the foundation of the altar,

35 and all its fat he turneth aside, as the fat of the sheep is turned aside from the sacrifice of the peace-offerings, and the priest hath made them a perfume on the altar, according to the fire-offerings of Jehovah, and the priest hath made atonement for him, for his sin which he hath sinned, and it hath been forgiven him.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 1823

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1823. 'Take a three year old heifer, and a three year old she-goat, and a three year old ram' means things that are the representatives of the celestial things of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of these same animals in sacrifices. Nobody in his right mind can believe that the various animals that used to be sacrificed meant nothing but sacrifices, or that an ox and a young bull or a calf had the same meaning as a sheep, kid, and she-goat, and these the same as a lamb, and that a turtle dove and fledgling pigeons had similar meanings; for in fact each creature had its own specific meaning. This becomes quite clear from the fact that under no circumstances was one kind of animal offered instead of another, and from the fact that it was explicitly stated which creatures were to be used in the daily burnt-offerings and sacrifices, and which on the sabbath and at festivals; which creatures were to be used in free-will, votive, and communion offerings; which ones were to be used in expiations of guilt and sin; and which in purifications. This would never have been the case if some specific thing had not been represented and meant by each animal.

[2] But as to the specific meaning of each kind, this would take too long to explain here. Here it is enough if one knows that celestial things are meant by the animals and spiritual things by the birds, and that some specific celestial or spiritual thing is meant by each kind of animal or bird. The Church itself, and everything to do with the Jewish Church, was representative of such things as constitute the Lord's kingdom, where nothing but that which is celestial or spiritual exists, that is, nothing but that which belongs to love and faith, as also becomes quite clear from the meaning of clean and useful beasts, dealt with in 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776. And because in the Most Ancient Churches beasts meant celestial goods, in the Church existing at a later time when purely external, though representative, worship was highly esteemed and approved of, those beasts became representatives.

[3] Because the state of the Church is the subject here and because the nature of its state in the future is foretold, Abram was shown the same visually by means of similar representatives, exactly as recorded here. Yet quite apart from this, such things are nevertheless meant in the internal sense, as anyone may know and contemplate. For what would have been the need to take a three year old heifer, a three year old she-goat, a three year old ram, a turtle dove and a fledgling, and to divide them in two parts and to lay them out so, unless each single thing had carried a spiritual meaning? But what these details mean becomes clear from what follows below.

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