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Numbers 25

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1 And Israel dwelleth in Shittim, and the people begin to go a-whoring unto daughters of Moab,

2 and they call for the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people eat, and bow themselves to their gods,

3 and Israel is joined to Baal-Peor, and the anger of Jehovah burneth against Israel.

4 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them before Jehovah -- over-against the sun; and the fierceness of the anger of Jehovah doth turn back from Israel.'

5 And Moses saith unto the judges of Israel, `Slay ye each his men who are joined to Baal-Peor.'

6 And lo, a man of the sons of Israel hath come, and bringeth in unto his brethren the Midianitess, before the eyes of Moses, and before the eyes of all the company of the sons of Israel, who are weeping at the opening of the tent of meeting;

7 and Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the priest, seeth, and riseth from the midst of the company, and taketh a javelin in his hand,

8 and goeth in after the man of Israel unto the hollow place, and pierceth them both, the man of Israel and the woman -- unto her belly, and the plague is restrained from the sons of Israel;

9 and the dead by the plague are four and twenty thousand.

10 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

11 `Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, hath turned back My fury from the sons of Israel, by his being zealous with My zeal in their midst, and I have not consumed the sons of Israel in My zeal.

12 `Therefore say, Lo, I am giving to him My covenant of peace,

13 and it hath been to him and to his seed after him a covenant of a priesthood age-during, because that he hath been zealous for his God, and doth make atonement for the sons of Israel.'

14 And the name of the man of Israel who is smitten, who hath been smitten with the Midianitess, [is] Zimri son of Salu, prince of the house of a father of the Simeonite;

15 and the name of the woman who is smitten, the Midianitess, [is] Cozbi daughter of Zur, head of a people -- of the house of a father in Midian [is] he.

16 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

17 `Distress the Midianites, and ye have smitten them,

18 for they are adversaries to you with their frauds, [with] which they have acted fraudulently to you, concerning the matter of Peor, and concerning the matter of Cozbi, daughter of a prince of Midian, their sister, who is smitten in the day of the plague for the matter of Peor.'

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 8286

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8286. And with the wind of Thy nostrils the waters were heaped up. That this signifies that falsities were gathered together into a one through the presence of heaven, is evident from the signification of “the wind of Thy nostrils,” as being heaven (of which in what follows); from the signification of “to be heaped up,” as being to be gathered together into a one; and from the signification of “waters,” as being falsities (see n. 7307, 8137, 8138). (That damnation and casting into hell is a gathering together of all falsities derived from evil and an environment by them, see n. 8146, 8210, 8232; and that this is effected by the mere presence of the Lord, n. 8265.) That “the wind of the nostrils of Jehovah,” or of the Lord, denotes heaven, is because by it is meant the breath of life, thus the Divine life, and as this makes the life of heaven, by “the wind of the nostrils of Jehovah” is signified heaven; hence also it is that the same word in the original tongue means both “wind” and “spirit.”

[2] That by “the wind of Jehovah,” or “His breath,” is signified the life that belongs to heaven, and that belongs to the man who is in heaven, that is, to one who is regenerate, is evident in David:

By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the army of them by the breath [wind] of His mouth (Psalms 33:6).

Thou gatherest their breath, they expire, and return to their dust; Thou sendest forth Thy spirit [wind], they are created (Psalms 104:29-30).

Jehovah said unto me, Will these bones live? Then said He, Prophesy upon the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe into these slain, that they may live; and the breath came into them, and they revived (Ezekiel 37:3, 9-10).

I saw four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor upon any tree (Revelation 7:1);

“the wind” here denotes the life of heaven, that is, Divine life, as also in Job:

The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of Shaddai hath vivified me (33:4).

[3] As “wind” signifies life, therefore, when the Lord teaches about the regeneration of man, He also says:

The spirit (or wind) bloweth where it willeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, yet knowest not whence it cometh, or whither it goeth; so is everyone that is begotten of the spirit (John 3:8).

And because by the “wind of Jehovah,” or “His breath,” was signified life from the Divine, therefore where the new life of Adam is treated of, it is said:

Jehovah breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7);

it is said “through the nostrils,” because through them respiration is effected, and through respiration, life, as in Isaiah:

Cease ye from man, in whose nose is breath (Isaiah 2:22).

The breath of our nostrils, the anointed of Jehovah, was taken in their pits; of whom we had said, In his shadow we shall live among the nations (Lam. 4:20);

“the anointed of Jehovah” denotes the Lord; “the breath of our nostrils,” life from Him.

In Job:

As long as my breath (anima) is in me, and the wind of God is in my nose (27:3).

[4] As, then, by “the wind of the nostrils of Jehovah” is signified the life which is from the Lord, and thus in the universal sense, heaven; and as by the presence of the Lord, or by the presence of heaven where the Lord is, evils and falsities are cast into hell (n. 8265); therefore also this effect is signified by “the wind of the nostrils of Jehovah” in David:

The channels of the sea appeared, the foundations of the world were revealed, at the rebuke of Jehovah, at the blast of the breath of His nose (Psalms 18:8, 15; 2 Samuel 22:16).

The blast of Jehovah, like a stream of sulphur, doth kindle it (Isaiah 30:33).

Nay, they are not planted; nay, they are not sown; nay, their trunk is not rooted in the earth; and He even bloweth on them, and they wither, that the whirlwind may take them away like stubble (Isaiah 40:24).

He sendeth His word, and melteth them; He causeth His wind to blow, the waters flow (Psalms 147:18).

Hence also it is, that by “the nose,” when predicated of Jehovah or the Lord, is also signified wrath, thus the punishment, vastation, and damnation of those who are in evils and falsities (as in Numbers 25:4; Deuteronomy 7:4; Judges 2:14Isaiah 9:21; Jeremiah 4:8; Hosea 14:4; Psalms 6:1; 86:15; 103:8; 145:8; and in many other passages); and also by “blowing with the nostrils,” or “breathing,” is signified to be angry (Deuteronomy 4:21; Isaiah 12:1; Psalms 2:12 6:1; 60:3; 79:5; 85:5).

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