26
Thou hast also committed fornication with the Egyptians thy neighbours, great of flesh; and hast increased thy whoredoms, to provoke me to anger.
Ezekiel 16:26
Arcana Coelestia #5955
5955. 'And to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver' means that to the intermediary a complete amount of truth from good was imparted. This is clear from the representation of 'Benjamin' as the intermediary, dealt with in 5600, 5631, 5639, 5688, 5822; from the representation of Joseph, the one who 'gave', as internal good, dealt with in 5826, 5827, 5869, 5877; from the meaning of 'three hundred' as a complete amount, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'silver' as truth, dealt with in 1551, 2954, 5658. From all this it is evident that 'to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver' means that he imparted to the intermediary a complete amount of truth from good; for the intermediary, represented by 'Benjamin', is interior truth, through an influx into it from the internal celestial, 5600, 5631. The reason why 'three hundred' means a complete amount is that this number is the product of three multiplied by a hundred - 'three' meaning what is complete, 2788, 4495, and 'a hundred' meaning much, 4400. For the meaning held by compound numbers is clear from the simple numbers that are their factors.
[2] 'Three hundred' holds a similar meaning when mentioned elsewhere in the Word, as in Genesis 6:15, where it says that Noah's ark was three hundred cubits long, also in the reference to the three hundred men whom Gideon used to strike a blow at Midian, spoken of in Judges as follows,
The number of those who lapped in their hand to their mouth was three hundred men. Jehovah said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who were lapping I will give Midian into your hand. Gideon divided the three hundred men into three lines of battle, and he put a trumpet into the hand of each one of them, and empty water-pots, and torches in the middle of the water-pots. When they sounded the blast on the three hundred trumpets, Jehovah set the sword of [each] man against his companion and against the whole camp. Judges 7:6-8, 16, 22.
By 'the three hundred men' in this description too a complete amount is meant, and the same is meant by 'three lines of battle' into which the three hundred were divided. And by 'a hundred', the number in each line of battle, is meant much or enough, consequently that there were enough men to stand against Midian. Besides, every detail in this description was representative - the selection of those who lapped the water in their hand; the trumpet given to each man; and the water-pots with the torches inside them. This was so because 'Midian', whom they were opposing, represented truth that was not truth because there was no goodness of life in it. But such details will in the Lord's Divine mercy be explained elsewhere. The fact that numbers too were representative is evident from many other places, for example the number seven in Joshua, when they were going to capture Jericho. The command was given for seven priests to carry seven trumpets of rejoicing in front of the Ark; and on the seventh day they were to go round the city seven times, Joshua 6:4.
Numbers 9
1
And the LORD spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,
2
Let the children of Israel also keep the passover at his appointed season.
3
In the fourteenth day of this month, at even, ye shall keep it in his appointed season: according to all the rites of it, and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall ye keep it.
4
And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that they should keep the passover.
5
And they kept the passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel.
6
And there were certain men, who were defiled by the dead body of a man, that they could not keep the passover on that day: and they came before Moses and before Aaron on that day:
7
And those men said unto him, We are defiled by the dead body of a man: wherefore are we kept back, that we may not offer an offering of the LORD in his appointed season among the children of Israel?
8
And Moses said unto them, Stand still, and I will hear what the LORD will command concerning you.
9
And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
10
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body, or be in a journey afar off, yet he shall keep the passover unto the LORD.
11
The fourteenth day of the second month at even they shall keep it, and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
12
They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it.
13
But the man that is clean, and is not in a journey, and forbeareth to keep the passover, even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people: because he brought not the offering of the LORD in his appointed season, that man shall bear his sin.
14
And if a stranger shall sojourn among you, and will keep the passover unto the LORD; according to the ordinance of the passover, and according to the manner thereof, so shall he do: ye shall have one ordinance, both for the stranger, and for him that was born in the land.
15
And on the day that the tabernacle was reared up the cloud covered the tabernacle, namely, the tent of the testimony: and at even there was upon the tabernacle as it were the appearance of fire, until the morning.
16
So it was alway: the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
17
And when the cloud was taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents.
18
At the commandment of the LORD the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the LORD they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon the tabernacle they rested in their tents.
19
And when the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days, then the children of Israel kept the charge of the LORD, and journeyed not.
20
And so it was, when the cloud was a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment of the LORD they abode in their tents, and according to the commandment of the LORD they journeyed.
21
And so it was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning, then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed.
22
Or whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon, the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed.
23
At the commandment of the LORD they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the LORD they journeyed: they kept the charge of the LORD, at the commandment of the LORD by the hand of Moses.
