Bibliorum

 

Genesis 1

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1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first Day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #10239

Studere hoc loco

  
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10239. 'And Aaron and his sons shall wash in it' means a representative sign of the purification and regeneration of a person by the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'washing' as purification, dealt with above in 10237; from the representation of 'Aaron' as the Lord in respect of Divine Celestial Good, dealt with in 9806, 10068; and from the representation of 'Aaron's sons' as the Lord in respect of Divine Spiritual Good, dealt with in 9807, 10068. From these places it is evident that 'Aaron and his sons shall wash in it' means a representative sign of the purification of a person by the Lord. The reason why a representative sign of regeneration as well is meant is that regeneration as well was represented by washing, that is to say, washing the whole body, which was called baptizing. And baptizing or baptism is the sign of regeneration, see 4255, 9088.

[2] But regeneration is different from purification in that regeneration comes first and purification afterwards. None can be purified from evils and falsities except those who are undergoing regeneration and after they have been regenerated. One who has not been regenerated is, it is true, led away from evils so far as he allows, but he is not purified from them; he is all the time impure. The person who has been regenerated is different; day by day he is being made purer. This is how the Lord's words addressed to Peter should be understood,

He who has been washed has no need except to wash his feet, so that the whole person is clean. John 13:10.

'He who has been washed' means one who has been regenerated.

[3] The fact that the word 'baptizing' was used to denote the total washing of things is clear in Mark 7:4 1 , and to denote washing the whole body, in Matthew 3:13-16; Mark 1:9-10; and also 2 Kings 5:10, 14. The Jordan - in which washings, which were baptizings, took place, Matthew 3:6, 13; Mark 1:5; 2 Kings 5:10, 14 - meant the natural, 1585, 4255. Baptismal washing also means temptation, Matthew 20:22-23; it does so because all regeneration is accomplished by means of temptations, 5036, 5773, 8351, 8958, 8959ff.

[4] It must also be stated briefly here why it was that the Lord, when He was in the world, was Himself willing to be baptized, when yet baptism is the sign of a person's regeneration by Him. The reason was that the baptizing of the Lord Himself was a sign of the glorification of His Humanity. Anything in the Word that means a person's regeneration also means the glorification of the Human within the Lord; for a person's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688. This is why the Lord, when He allowed John to baptize Him, said,

Thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all the righteousness of God 2 . Matthew 3:15.

'Fulfilling all the righteousness of God' means subduing the hells, restoring them and the heavens to order, by His own power, and at the same time glorifying His Human. All this was accomplished by means of the temptations which the Lord allowed Himself to undergo, thus by means of the conflicts with the hells which He underwent repeatedly, even to the last on the Cross. These things constituted the righteousness which the Lord fulfilled, see 9486, 9715, 9809, 10019, 10152. The like is also meant by references to the fulfillment of all things written in the Law and the Prophets concerning the Lord, Luke 18:31; 22:37; 24:44, and by the Lord's declaration that He had come to fulfill all of the law, Matthew 5:17-18.

[5] A person unacquainted with the arcana within the Word thinks that the Lord became righteousness through His fulfillment of everything in the law, and that by this fulfillment He freed the human race from the yoke of the law, and so from damnation. But that is not what these words mean. Rather their meaning is that He became righteousness through His subduing of the hells, restoration of the heavens to order, and glorification of His Human. For by this glorification He filled Himself with power, in order that by His Divine Human He could keep the hells in subjection forever, maintain the heavens in order, and so regenerate a person, that is, deliver him from the hells and save him.

V:

1. i.e. the Greek verb used in that verse is baptizein, which implies total immersion in water.

2. Here Swedenborg is following the Latin version of Sebastian Schmidt. There is nothing in the Greek to support the addition of God.

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

Bibliorum

 

Leviticus 4

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1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them:

3 If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the LORD for a sin offering.

4 And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head, and kill the bullock before the LORD.

5 And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation:

6 And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the LORD, before the vail of the sanctuary.

7 And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the LORD, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation: and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

8 And he shall take off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards,

9 And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away,

10 As it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering.

11 And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung,

12 Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt.

13 And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;

14 When the sin, which they have sinned against it, is known, then the congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation.

15 And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock before the LORD: and the bullock shall be killed before the LORD.

16 And the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock's blood to the tabernacle of the congregation:

17 And the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood, and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD, even before the vail.

18 And he shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar which is before the LORD, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.

19 And he shall take all his fat from him, and burn it upon the altar.

20 And he shall do with the bullock as he did with the bullock for a sin offering, so shall he do with this: and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.

21 And he shall carry forth the bullock without the camp, and burn him as he burned the first bullock: it is a sin offering for the congregation.

22 When a ruler hath sinned, and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the LORD his God concerning things which should not be done, and is guilty;

23 Or if his sin, wherein he hath sinned, come to his knowledge; he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a male without blemish:

24 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat, and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD: it is a sin offering.

25 And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering.

26 And he shall burn all his fat upon the altar, as the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him.

27 And if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty;

28 Or if his sin, which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: then he shall bring his offering, a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, for his sin which he hath sinned.

29 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering.

30 And the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar.

31 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from off the sacrifice of peace offerings; and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour unto the LORD; and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him.

32 And if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blemish.

33 And he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering

34 And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar:

35 And he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings; and the priest shall burn them upon the altar, according to the offerings made by fire unto the LORD: and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.