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Darum sollst du, Menschenkind, wider sie weissagen.
Arcana Coelestia #4503
4503. 'The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city' means that all his descendants destroyed that doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sons of Jacob' as descendants from Jacob, dealt with above; from the meaning of 'plundering' as destroying; and from the meaning of 'the city' as the doctrine of the Church, dealt with above in 4500. Simeon and Levi's going away after they had killed every male in the city as well as Hamor and Shechem, and then Jacob's sons' coming upon the slain and plundering the city, involves an arcanum, the meaning of which is not evident except from the internal sense.
[2] That arcanum is this: After the truth and good of the Church which are represented by 'Simeon and Levi' were wiped out and falsity and evil took their place, further falsities and evils were added, which are meant in the contrary sense by the rest of Jacob's sons. Each son of Jacob represented some general aspect of faith and charity, as has been shown in 2129, 3858, 3913, 3926, 3939, 4060.
Which aspect is represented by each, see the following:
Judah, 3881;
Dan, 3921-3923;
These general aspects of faith and charity which those sons represented become falsities and evils of that kind once the truth and good of the Church have been wiped out and those further falsities and evils have been added to them; for falsities and evils are constantly on the increase within the Church once it has been perverted and wiped out. It is these added falsities and evils that are meant by the reference to Jacob's sons coming upon the slain and plundering the city after Simeon and Levi had killed every male in the city as well as Hamor and Shechem, and had taken Dinah and gone away.
[3] That 'the slain' in the Word means truths and goods which have been wiped out may be seen from the following places: In Isaiah,
You are cast out from your sepulchre like an abominable branch, a garment of the killed - slain with the sword - who go down to the stones of the pit like a dead body trodden underfoot. Isaiah 14:19.
This refers to Babel. 'Those slain with the sword' stands for those who have profaned the truths of the Church. In the same prophet,
So that their slain are cast out and the stench of their dead bodies rises up. Isaiah 34:3.
This refers to the falsities and evils which infest the Church, 'the slain' standing for these.
[4] In Ezekiel,
The violent of the nations will draw the sword against the beauty of your wisdom, and they will profane your loveliness. They will bring you down into the pit and you will die the deaths of those slain in the midst of the seas. Ezekiel 28:7-8.
This refers to the prince of Tyre who means the leading cognitions of truth and good. 'Dying the deaths of those slain in the midst of the seas' stands for those who use facts to hatch falsities and in consequence defile the truths of the Church.
[5] In the same prophet,
They also will go down with them into hell, to those slain with the sword. You will be made to go down with the trees of Eden into the nether world, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will lie with those slain with the sword. Ezekiel 31:17-18.
In the same prophet,
Go down and lie with the uncircumcised; they will fall in the midst of those slain with the sword; the chief of the powerful ones will speak to him in the midst of hell. Ezekiel 32:19-21.
This refers to Pharaoh and Egypt. 'Those slain with the sword' stands for those who by their use of knowledge become insane; by their use of it they destroy all belief in the truth known to the Church.
[6] In David,
I have been reckoned with them going down to the pit; I have become as a man with no strength, neglected among the dead, like the slain lying in the sepulchre whom you remember no more and who have been cut off by your hand.
'The slain' in hell - those in the pit and 'in the sepulchre' - stands for those who have destroyed the truths and goods residing with them by means of falsities and evils. Anyone can recognize that these are not in hell merely because they have been slain with the sword.
[7] In Isaiah,
A city of tumults, an exultant city, [your slain] have not been slain with the sword, and they have not been killed in war. All who have been found in you have been bound together in chains. They have fled from far away. Isaiah 22:2-3.
This refers to the illusions resulting from the evidence of the senses which do not enable the truths of the Church to be seen. It refers therefore to people subject to negative doubt, and these are called 'slain but not with the sword'.
[8] In Ezekiel,
I am bringing a sword upon you and destroying your high places; and your altars will be destroyed, and your statues will be broken; and I will cause your slain to lie before your idols. When the slain have fallen in the midst of you, you will know that I am Jehovah. Then you will acknowledge, when the slain are in the midst of their idols, around their altar. Ezekiel 6:3-4, 7, 13.
'The slain' stands for those who are governed by falsities of doctrine.
[9] In the same prophet,
Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. They went forth and smote in the city. Ezekiel 9:7.
This is a prophetic vision. 'Defiling the house and filling the courts with the slain' stands for profaning goods and truths. In the same prophet,
You have multiplied your slain in this city, and have filled its streets with the slain. Therefore said the Lord Jehovih, Your slain whom you have placed in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and that is the pot; and he will lead you out from the midst of it. Ezekiel 11:6-7.
[10] Because 'the slain' meant those who have annihilated the truths of the Church by means of falsities and evils, therefore also in the representative Church those who touched one who had been slain were unclean. Such persons are referred to in Moses as follows,
Everyone who has touched on the surface of the field one slain with the sword, or one dead, or a human bone, or a sepulchre will be unclean for seven days. Numbers 19:16, 18.
Inquiry was therefore made and atonement effected by means of a heifer. In the same author,
If one is found slain, lying in the field, and it is not known who smote him, then the elders of the city and the judges shall come out and they shall measure [the distance] to the cities which are around the one slain. It shall be, that in the city nearest to the one slain the elders of that city shall take a heifer by means of which no work has been done, which has not pulled in the yoke, and they shall bring it down to the river or valley, and there they shall break the heifer's neck. And they shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck has been broken and shall say, Our hands have not shed blood, and our eyes have not seen it. Expiate Your people Israel, O Jehovah, and do not set innocent blood in the midst of Your people; and the blood shall be expiated for them. Deuteronomy 21:1-8.
[11] These laws were laid down because one who has been slain means the perversion, destruction, and profanation of the truth of the Church by means of falsity and evil, as is evident from each detail in the internal sense. The expression 'one slain, lying in the field' is used because 'the field' means the Church, see 2971, 3310, 3766. 'A heifer by means of which no work has been done' means the innocence of the external man which is present within ignorance. Without a clear knowledge of these things meant in the internal sense everyone will be surprised that a procedure such as this for making expiation should ever have been ordained.
Numbers 16
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Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took [men]:
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and they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred fifty princes of the congregation, called to the assembly, men of renown;
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and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said to them, "You take too much on yourself, since all the congregation are holy, everyone of them, and Yahweh is among them: why then lift yourselves up above the assembly of Yahweh?"
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When Moses heard it, he fell on his face:
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and he spoke to Korah and to all his company, saying, "In the morning Yahweh will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him: even him whom he shall choose he will cause to come near to him.
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Do this: take censers, Korah, and all his company;
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and put fire in them, and put incense on them before Yahweh tomorrow: and it shall be that the man whom Yahweh chooses, he shall be holy. You have gone too far, you sons of Levi!"
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Moses said to Korah, "Hear now, you sons of Levi!
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Is it a small thing to you, that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do the service of the tabernacle of Yahweh, and to stand before the congregation to minister to them;
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and that he has brought you near, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? and do you seek the priesthood also?
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Therefore you and all your company are gathered together against Yahweh: and Aaron, what is he that you murmur against him?"
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Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab; and they said, "We won't come up:
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is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but you must also make yourself a prince over us?
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Moreover you haven't brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: will you put out the eyes of these men? We won't come up."
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Moses was very angry, and said to Yahweh, "Don't respect their offering: I have not taken one donkey from them, neither have I hurt one of them."
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Moses said to Korah, "You and all your company go before Yahweh, you, and they, and Aaron, tomorrow:
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and each man take his censer, and put incense on them, and each man bring before Yahweh his censer, two hundred fifty censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer."
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They each took his censer, and put fire in them, and laid incense thereon, and stood at the door of the Tent of Meeting with Moses and Aaron.
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Korah assembled all the congregation against them to the door of the Tent of Meeting: and the glory of Yahweh appeared to all the congregation.
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Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying,
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"Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!"
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They fell on their faces, and said, "God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and will you be angry with all the congregation?"
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Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
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"Speak to the congregation, saying, 'Get away from around the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram!'"
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Moses rose up and went to Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him.
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He spoke to the congregation, saying, "Depart, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed in all their sins!"
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So they went away from the tent of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little ones.
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Moses said, "Hereby you shall know that Yahweh has sent me to do all these works; for [I have] not [done them] of my own mind.
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If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then Yahweh hasn't sent me.
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But if Yahweh make a new thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain to them, and they go down alive into Sheol; then you shall understand that these men have despised Yahweh."
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It happened, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground split apart that was under them;
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and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and all the men who appertained to Korah, and all their goods.
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So they, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into Sheol: and the earth closed on them, and they perished from among the assembly.
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All Israel that were around them fled at the cry of them; for they said, "Lest the earth swallow us up!"
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Fire came forth from Yahweh, and devoured the two hundred fifty men who offered the incense.
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Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
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"Speak to Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest, that he take up the censers out of the burning, and scatter the fire yonder; for they are holy,
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even the censers of these sinners against their own lives; and let them be made beaten plates for a covering of the altar: for they offered them before Yahweh; therefore they are holy; and they shall be a sign to the children of Israel."
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Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burnt had offered; and they beat them out for a covering of the altar,
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to be a memorial to the children of Israel, to the end that no stranger, who isn't of the seed of Aaron, comes near to burn incense before Yahweh; that he not be as Korah, and as his company: as Yahweh spoke to him by Moses.
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But on the next day all the congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, "You have killed Yahweh's people!"
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It happened, when the congregation was assembled against Moses and against Aaron, that they looked toward the Tent of Meeting: and behold, the cloud covered it, and the glory of Yahweh appeared.
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Moses and Aaron came to the front of the Tent of Meeting.
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Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
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"Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!" They fell on their faces.
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Moses said to Aaron, "Take your censer, and put fire from off the altar in it, and lay incense on it, and carry it quickly to the congregation, and make atonement for them; for wrath has gone out from Yahweh! The plague has begun."
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Aaron did as Moses said, and ran into the midst of the assembly; and behold, the plague has begun among the people: and he put on the incense, and made atonement for the people.
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He stood between the dead and the living; and the plague was stayed.
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Now those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand and seven hundred, besides those who died about the matter of Korah.
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Aaron returned to Moses to the door of the Tent of Meeting: and the plague was stayed.
