5
네가 빈들에 엎드러지리라 이는 내가 말하였음이니라 나 주 여호와의 말이니라
Arcana Coelestia #10033
10033. Since the present chapter deals with the sacrifice and the burnt offering through which Aaron and his sons were consecrated to the priestly office a little more will be stated regarding the blood and the fat. All the blood of a sacrifice or of a burnt offering had to be poured out at the altar and all the fat had to be burned on the altar, as the statutes and laws in Leviticus relating to burnt offerings and sacrifices make clear. The reason why this was done to the blood and fat was that the blood meant Divine Truth and the fat Divine Good. The fact that the blood meant Divine Truth is clear from what has been shown regarding 'blood' in 4735, 6378, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7850, 9127, 9393, and that the fat meant Divine Good is clear from what has been shown in 5943.
[2] That 'blood' means Divine Truth is perfectly clear in Ezekiel,
Gather yourselves from all around to My sacrifice which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth. You will eat fat till you are glutted, and drink blood till you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I will sacrifice for you. You will be glutted at My table with horse, chariot, the mighty, and every man of war. Thus will I set My glory among the nations. Ezekiel 39:17-22.
Anyone can see that 'blood' is not used to mean blood here, for it states that they were going to drink the blood of the princes of the earth, doing so till they were drunk, and also that they were going to eat fat till they were glutted, and then that they would be glutted with horse and chariot. From these statements it is evident that 'blood' is used to mean something other than blood, 'the princes of the earth' to mean something other than princes of the earth, and also 'fat' as well as 'horse and chariot' something other than fat, or horse and chariot. What is meant however none can know except through the internal sense. This shows that 'blood' means Divine Truth, 'the princes of the earth' the Church's primary or leading truths, 'fat' Divine Good, 'horse' the internal sense of the Word, and 'chariot' actual doctrinal teachings derived from there.
'Blood' means Divine Truth; this is clear from the places referred to above.
'The princes of the earth' means primary truths, 5044.
'The earth' means the Church, 9325.
'Horse' means the internal sense of the Word, 2760-2762.
'Chariot' means doctrinal teachings, 5321, 8215.
[3] From all this it is now evident what the meaning is of the Lord's words in John,
Jesus said, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood you will have no life in yourselves. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. John 6:53-56.
'Flesh' means Divine Good, see 3813, 7850, 9127; and 'the Son of Man' whose flesh they were to eat and blood they were to drink means the Lord in respect of Divine Truth emanating from Divine Good, 9807.
[4] But the fact that 'fat' means Divine Good is clear in Isaiah,
Jehovah will make for all peoples on this mountain a feast of fat things. Isaiah 25:6.
In the same prophet,
Attend [diligently] to Me and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Isaiah 55:2.
And in Jeremiah,
I will fill the soul of the priests with fat, and My people will be satisfied with My goodness. Jeremiah 31:14.
From these quotations it becomes clear why all the fat of a sacrifice was burned on the altar and why all the blood was poured out at the side of it.
[5] Because blood and fat were signs of those Divine Entities the Israelite people were totally forbidden to eat fat or blood, as is clear in Moses,
[This shall be] a perpetual statute throughout your generations: You shall eat no fat and no blood. Leviticus 3:17.
In the same author,
You shall eat no fat, neither of ox, nor sheep, nor she-goat. Everyone who eats fat from a beast, from one that is offered as a fire-offering to Jehovah, that soul eating it will be cut off from his peoples. Leviticus 7:23, 25.
And again in the same author,
Whoever eats any blood, I will set My face against the soul eating blood and will cut him off from among his people. Leviticus 17:10-14; Deuteronomy 12:16, 23-25.
[6] The reason why eating blood and fat was so strictly forbidden was that eating them represented the profanation of Divine Truth and Divine Good. For the Israelite and Jewish nation was interested in outward forms but not their inner substance, so that in their faith and love there was no Divine Truth nor any Divine Good; and their worship was external devoid of these. This was because they were ruled by self-love and love of the world more than other nations; consequently they were steeped in evils gushing out of those loves, these evils being contempt for others, enmity, hatred, vengeance, brutality, and cruelty. This also was the reason why internal truths were not revealed to them, for if these had been revealed that nation would have inevitably profaned them. Such was the character of that nation, as may be seen in the places referred to in 9320(end), 9380. Therefore they would have represented profanation if they had eaten blood and fat; for whatever was established among them was representative of the interior things of the Church and heaven.
[7] From these considerations it is even more evident what the meaning is of the words in Ezekiel 39:17-22, dealt with above, stating that they would eat fat till they were glutted and drink blood, the blood of the princes of the earth, till they were drunk. That is to say, the meaning is that when inner virtues were opened up, those with whom these virtues existed, that is, faith in and love to the Lord, would have Divine Truth and Divine Good imparted to them as their own, as happened among gentile nations when the Lord came into the world. Therefore also those words go on to say, Thus will I set My glory among the nations, 'glory' meaning Divine Truth emanating from the Lord as it exists in heaven, 9429, and 'the nations' meaning all who are governed by good, 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849, 4574, 6005, 8771, 9256.
[8] This the Lord Himself corroborates, in His declaration that His flesh was truly food and His blood was truly drink, and whoever ate His flesh and drank His blood would abide in Him, and He in that person, John 6:55-56, and also in His institution of the Holy Supper, in which they were to eat His flesh and to drink His blood, Matthew 26:26-29, by which receiving Divine Good and Divine Truth from Him and making them their own was meant. Receiving Divine Good and Divine Truth from the Lord and making them their own is possible only with those who acknowledge the Lord's Divinity, for this is the first and most essential of all matters of belief within the Church. To no others can the way to heaven be opened, because the whole of heaven assents to that belief, and therefore Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good, meant here by 'blood', cannot be imparted to them. Therefore let anyone who is within the Church beware of refusing to believe in the Lord and also His Divinity; for heaven is closed and hell opened to that refusal. For those people are separated from the Lord, and so are separated from heaven, where the Lord's Divinity is the All in all since it composes heaven. And when heaven has been closed, knowledge of the truths of faith derived from the Word and from the teachings of the Church indeed exists, but not a particle of faith that is real faith because real faith comes from above, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven.
[9] The Lord spoke in this manner, that is to say, He called the Divine Good emanating from Himself His flesh, and the Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good His blood, because the Word, which sprang from Him, was His Divinity filling the whole of heaven. Such a Word must manifest itself through the use of correspondences, as a result of which it is representative and carries a spiritual meaning in every single part; for in this and no other way could it link members of the Church to angels in heaven. For when people in the world understand the Word according to its literal meaning angels understand it according to its inner meaning. Thus instead of the Lord's flesh they understand Divine Good, and instead of His blood they understand Divine Truth, both emanating from the Lord. As a consequence that which is holy flows in by way of the Word.
Deuteronomy 12
1
These are the statutes and the ordinances which you shall observe to do in the land which Yahweh, the God of your fathers, has given you to possess it, all the days that you live on the earth.
2
You shall surely destroy all the places in which the nations that you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains, and on the hills, and under every green tree:
3
and you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and burn their Asherim with fire; and you shall cut down the engraved images of their gods; and you shall destroy their name out of that place.
4
You shall not do so to Yahweh your God.
5
But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even to his habitation you shall seek, and there you shall come;
6
and there you shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and your vows, and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herd and of your flock:
7
and there you shall eat before Yahweh your God, and you shall rejoice in all that you put your hand to, you and your households, in which Yahweh your God has blessed you.
8
You shall not do after all the things that we do here this day, every man whatever is right in his own eyes;
9
for you haven't yet come to the rest and to the inheritance, which Yahweh your God gives you.
10
But when you go over the Jordan, and dwell in the land which Yahweh your God causes you to inherit, and he gives you rest from all your enemies around you, so that you dwell in safety;
11
then it shall happen that to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to cause his name to dwell there, there you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the wave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which you vow to Yahweh.
12
You shall rejoice before Yahweh your God, you, and your sons, and your daughters, and your male servants, and your female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, because he has no portion nor inheritance with you.
13
Take heed to yourself that you don't offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see;
14
but in the place which Yahweh shall choose in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you.
15
Notwithstanding, you may kill and eat flesh within all your gates, after all the desire of your soul, according to the blessing of Yahweh your God which he has given you: the unclean and the clean may eat of it, as of the gazelle, and as of the hart.
16
Only you shall not eat the blood; you shall pour it out on the earth as water.
17
You may not eat within your gates the tithe of your grain, or of your new wine, or of your oil, or the firstborn of your herd or of your flock, nor any of your vows which you vow, nor your freewill offerings, nor the wave offering of your hand;
18
but you shall eat them before Yahweh your God in the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, you, and your son, and your daughter, and your male servant, and your female servant, and the Levite who is within your gates: and you shall rejoice before Yahweh your God in all that you put your hand to.
19
Take heed to yourself that you don't forsake the Levite as long as you live in your land.
20
When Yahweh your God shall enlarge your border, as he has promised you, and you shall say, "I want to eat meat," because your soul desires to eat meat; you may eat meat, after all the desire of your soul.
21
If the place which Yahweh your God shall choose, to put his name there, is too far from you, then you shall kill of your herd and of your flock, which Yahweh has given you, as I have commanded you; and you may eat within your gates, after all the desire of your soul.
22
Even as the gazelle and as the hart is eaten, so you shall eat of it: the unclean and the clean may eat of it alike.
23
Only be sure that you don't eat the blood: for the blood is the life; and you shall not eat the life with the flesh.
24
You shall not eat it; you shall pour it out on the earth as water.
25
You shall not eat it; that it may go well with you, and with your children after you, when you shall do that which is right in the eyes of Yahweh.
26
Only your holy things which you have, and your vows, you shall take, and go to the place which Yahweh shall choose:
27
and you shall offer your burnt offerings, the flesh and the blood, on the altar of Yahweh your God; and the blood of your sacrifices shall be poured out on the altar of Yahweh your God; and you shall eat the flesh.
28
Observe and hear all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you, and with your children after you forever, when you do that which is good and right in the eyes of Yahweh your God.
29
When Yahweh your God shall cut off the nations from before you, where you go in to dispossess them, and you dispossess them, and dwell in their land;
30
take heed to yourself that you not be ensnared to follow them, after that they are destroyed from before you; and that you not inquire after their gods, saying, "How do these nations serve their gods? I will do likewise."
31
You shall not do so to Yahweh your God: for every abomination to Yahweh, which he hates, have they done to their gods; for even their sons and their daughters do they burn in the fire to their gods.
32
Whatever thing I command you, that you shall observe to do: you shall not add thereto, nor diminish from it.
