La Bibbia

 

Numbers 11

Studio

   

1 And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.

2 And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched.

3 And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them.

4 And the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

5 We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:

6 But our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.

7 And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.

8 And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.

9 And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.

10 Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased.

11 And Moses said unto the LORD, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?

12 Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?

13 Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, give us flesh, that we may eat.

14 I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.

15 And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.

16 And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.

17 And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.

18 And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat.

19 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days;

20 But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?

21 And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.

22 Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?

23 And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD's hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.

24 And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle.

25 And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.

26 But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.

27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.

28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.

29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!

30 And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

31 And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.

32 And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.

33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.

34 And he called the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.

35 And the people journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth.

   

Commento

 

Teeth

  

In Genesis 49:12, "teeth whiter than milk" signify the Celestial Spiritual [milk] in the Lord's Natural [teeth], where Judah is here representing the Lord. (Arcana Coelestia 2184-2185).

In Psalms 3:7; 37:12, 58:6; Matthew 8:12, teeth signify the lowest natural things in man: in the genuine sense, their truths, in the opposite sense, their falsities. So the gnashing of teeth signifies the collision of falsities with truths. (Arcana Coelestia 4424[3])

In Exodus 21:27, this signifies truth in the natural, here the ultimate, which is the sensuous. (Arcana Coelestia 9062)

The tooth signifies the corporeal proprium, which is the lowest degree of man. (Arcana Coelestia 10283[12])

'Teeth,' as in Genesis 49:12, in the genuine sense, signify the natural level of life. Any hard part of the body, like bones and cartilage, corresponds to the truths and goods of the lowest natural level. 'Teeth' signify the outer edges of the life of the natural self, or the sensory level. There is a natural sensory will, and a natural sensory understanding. When the sensory levels are separated from the interior of the mind, their supposed truths are really mere falsities, and do violence to truths and destroy them. This situation appears in many passages, because sensory people do not see any truth in its own light, but engage in reasoning and altercations about everything... These altercations are heard in the hells as the gnashing of teeth. Viewed in itself, this is the collision of falsity and truth. This is the meaning of 'gnashing of teeth' in Matthew 8:12, 13:42, 50, 22:13, 24:51, 25:30, and Luke 13:28.

(Riferimenti: Apocalypse Revealed 435)


Dalle opere di Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #5215

Studia questo passo

  
/ 10837  
  

5215. 'And scorched by an east wind' means full of evil desires. This is clear from the meaning of 'being scorched by an east wind' as being consumed by the fire of evil desires. For an east wind' and the east' in the genuine sense mean love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, lot, 1250, 3249, 3708, 3762, and therefore in the contrary sense self-love and love of the world, and so cravings and evil desires since these spring from those loves. The word 'fire' is used to refer to such desires for the reason dealt with in 5071, and therefore 'being scorched' is used also.

[2] There are two sources of heat, as there are also two sources of light, the one source of heat being the sun of this world, the other source of heat being the sun of heaven, which is the Lord. It is a well known fact that the sun of this world pours out heat into its own world and onto everything there, but it is a less well known fact that the sun of heaven pours out heat into the whole of heaven. Yet this too may become an equally well known fact if one reflects merely on the heat which exists intrinsically in the human being but which has nothing in common with the heat of the world, that is, if one reflects on what is called vital heat. From this one could know that this heat is of a different nature from the world's heat. That is to say, the former is a living heat but the latter is not at all a living one; also the former, being a living one, fires a person interiorly, namely his will and understanding, imparting to him desires and loves, and affections too. This also explains why desires, loves and affections are spiritual forms of heat, and are also called such. The fact that they are forms of heat is quite evident, for heat is radiated from all parts of the bodies of live persons, even where it is intensely cold. More than that, when desires and affections, that is, when loves, increase, the body grows correspondingly warmer. This kind of heat is what is meant in the Word by 'heat', 'fire', and 'flame'; in the genuine sense celestial and spiritual love is meant, in the contrary sense bodily and earthly love. From this it becomes clear that here 'being scorched by an east wind' means being consumed by the fire of evil desires, and that when used in reference to known facts meant by 'heads' that are 'thin', facts full of evil desires are meant.

[3] 'The east wind' means the blasts of evil desires and of derivative false notions, as is clear from places in the Word where that wind is mentioned, for example, in David,

He caused an east wind to blow 1 in the heavens, and by His power He brought forth the south wind; and He caused flesh to rain onto them like the dust, winged birds like the sand of the sea. Psalms 78:26-27.

'The flesh' which that wind brought meant cravings, and 'winged birds' resulting false notions, as is evident in Numbers 11:31-35, where it is said that the name of the place where the people were struck down for eating flesh was called 'the graves of craving, for there they buried the people who had the craving'.

[4] In Ezekiel,

Behold, the vine that was planted, will it thrive? When the east wind strikes it, will it not wither completely? It will wither on the small spaces where it began to grow. Ezekiel 17:10.

And in the same prophet,

The vine has been plucked up in anger, it has been cast down onto the ground, and the east wind has dried its fruit. They have been plucked out and have withered, each rod of its strength; fire has consumed each one. For fire has gone out from a rod of its branches and has consumed its fruit, so that there is no rod of strength in it, a sceptre for dominion. Ezekiel 19:12, 14.

Here 'the east wind' stands for the blasts of evil desires. In Isaiah,

He gave thought to His rough wind, on the day of the east wind. Isaiah 17:8.

[5] In Hosea,

An east wind will come, Jehovah's wind rising up from the desert, and his spring will become dry, and his fountain dried up. It will strip his treasury of every precious vessel. Hosea 13:15.

Here also 'an east wind' stands for blasts of evil desires. Similarly in Jeremiah,

Like an east wind I will scatter them before the enemy. Jeremiah 18:17.

[6] In David,

By means of an east wind You will shatter the ships of Tarshish. Psalms 48:7.

In Isaiah,

You have forsaken Your people, the house of Jacob, because they have been filled from the east wind, and they are diviners like the Philistines. Isaiah 2:6.

In Hosea,

Ephraim feeds the wind, and pursues the east wind. All the day long he multiplies lies and devastation. Hosea 11:1.

'The wind' here stands for false notions, and 'the east wind' for evil desires. Something similar is also meant in the internal sense by 'an east wind' by means of which 'locusts were brought forth' and by means of which 'the locusts were cast into the sea', 2 Exodus 10:13, 19, and also by means of which 'the waters of the sea Suph' were divided, Exodus 14:21.

Note a piè di pagina:

1. literally, set out

2. According to Exodus 10:19 a west wind cast the locusts into the sea.

  
/ 10837  
  

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