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Leviticus 22

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1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "Tell Aaron and his sons to separate themselves from the holy things of the children of Israel, which they make holy to me, and that they not profane my holy name. I am Yahweh.

3 "Tell them, 'If anyone of all your seed throughout your generations approaches the holy things, which the children of Israel make holy to Yahweh, having his uncleanness on him, that soul shall be cut off from before me. I am Yahweh.

4 "'Whoever of the seed of Aaron is a leper or has an issue; he shall not eat of the holy things, until he is clean. Whoever touches anything that is unclean by the dead, or a man whose seed goes from him;

5 or whoever touches any creeping thing, whereby he may be made unclean, or a man of whom he may take uncleanness, whatever uncleanness he has;

6 the person that touches any such shall be unclean until the evening, and shall not eat of the holy things, unless he bathe his body in water.

7 When the sun is down, he shall be clean; and afterward he shall eat of the holy things, because it is his bread.

8 That which dies of itself, or is torn by animals, he shall not eat, defiling himself by it. I am Yahweh.

9 "'They shall therefore follow my requirements, lest they bear sin for it, and die therein, if they profane it. I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.

10 "'No stranger shall eat of the holy thing: a foreigner living with the priests, or a hired servant, shall not eat of the holy thing.

11 But if a priest buys a slave, purchased by his money, he shall eat of it; and such as are born in his house, they shall eat of his bread.

12 If a priest's daughter is married to an outsider, she shall not eat of the heave offering of the holy things.

13 But if a priest's daughter is a widow, or divorced, and has no child, and has returned to her father's house, as in her youth, she may eat of her father's bread: but no stranger shall eat any of it.

14 "'If a man eats something holy unwittingly, then he shall add the fifth part of its value to it, and shall give the holy thing to the priest.

15 The priests shall not profane the holy things of the children of Israel, which they offer to Yahweh,

16 and so cause them to bear the iniquity that brings guilt, when they eat their holy things: for I am Yahweh who sanctifies them.'"

17 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

18 "Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them, 'Whoever is of the house of Israel, or of the foreigners in Israel, who offers his offering, whether it be any of their vows, or any of their freewill offerings, which they offer to Yahweh for a burnt offering;

19 that you may be accepted, you shall offer a male without blemish, of the bulls, of the sheep, or of the goats.

20 But whatever has a blemish, that you shall not offer: for it shall not be acceptable for you.

21 Whoever offers a sacrifice of peace offerings to Yahweh to accomplish a vow, or for a freewill offering, of the herd or of the flock, it shall be perfect to be accepted; no blemish shall be therein.

22 Blind, injured, maimed, having a wart, festering, or having a running sore, you shall not offer these to Yahweh, nor make an offering by fire of them on the altar to Yahweh.

23 Either a bull or a lamb that has any deformity or lacking in his parts, that you may offer for a freewill offering; but for a vow it shall not be accepted.

24 That which has its testicles bruised, crushed, broken, or cut, you shall not offer to Yahweh; neither shall you do thus in your land.

25 Neither shall you offer the bread of your God from the hand of a foreigner of any of these; because their corruption is in them. There is a blemish in them. They shall not be accepted for you.'"

26 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

27 "When a bull, or a sheep, or a goat, is born, then it shall remain seven days with its mother; and from the eighth day and thenceforth it shall be accepted for the offering of an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

28 Whether it is a cow or ewe, you shall not kill it and its young both in one day.

29 "When you sacrifice a sacrifice of thanksgiving to Yahweh, you shall sacrifice it so that you may be accepted.

30 It shall be eaten on the same day; you shall leave none of it until the morning. I am Yahweh.

31 "Therefore you shall keep my commandments, and do them. I am Yahweh.

32 You shall not profane my holy name, but I will be made holy among the children of Israel. I am Yahweh who makes you holy,

33 who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. I am Yahweh."

   

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Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture #35

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35. As we showed in no. 28, the prophets of the Old Testament represented the Lord in relation to the Word, and consequently represented the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, and for that reason they were called sons of man. It follows from this that by the various hardships they suffered and bore, they represented the violence done by the Jews to the Word’s literal sense.

For instance, the prophet Isaiah put off the sackcloth from his loins and put off the sandals from his feet, and went naked and barefoot for three years (Isaiah 20:2-3).

The prophet Ezekiel likewise drew a barber’s razor over his head and beard, burned a third part of the hair in the midst of the city, struck another third part with a sword, scattered the remaining third part into the wind, bound a few of the hairs in the edges of his garment, and finally threw them into the midst of the fire and burned them (Ezekiel 5:1-4).

[2] Because, as we said above, the prophets represented the Word and so symbolized the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, and because the head symbolizes wisdom from the Word, therefore the hair of the head and a beard symbolized the outmost expression of truth.

Because this is what they symbolized, therefore it was a sign of great mourning and also a great disgrace to make oneself bald or to be seen bald. It was for this reason and no other that the prophet shaved off the hair of his head and his beard, in order for him to represent by it the state of the Jewish church in relation to the Word. It was for this reason and no other that the forty-two she-bears tore apart the boys who called Elisha bald (2 Kings 2:23-24), inasmuch as the prophet represented the Word, as we said before, and baldness symbolized the Word without its outmost sense.

[3] Nazirites represented the Lord in relation to the Word in its outmost expressions, as will be seen in no. 49 in the next section. Therefore they were required to let their hair grow and not to shave any of it off. The word “Nazirite” in the Hebrew also means the hair.

The high priest, too, was required not to shave his head (Leviticus 21:10). Likewise those who were heads of families (Leviticus 21:5).

So it was that baldness was, for the people then, a great disgrace, as can be seen from the following:

On all their heads baldness, and every beard shaved. (Isaiah 15:2, cf. Jeremiah 48:37)

Shame on every face, and baldness on all their heads. (Ezekiel 7:18)

Every head made bald, and every shoulder shaved. (Ezekiel 29:18)

I will cause sackcloth to ascend upon all loins, and baldness on every head. (Amos 8:10)

Put on baldness and shave yourself for your precious children, and expand your baldness..., for they shall go from you.... (Micah 1:16)

To put on baldness here and expand it means, symbolically, to falsify the Word’s truths in its outmost expressions. When these are falsified, as they were by the Jews, the whole Word is destroyed. For the outmost expressions of the Word are its supports and underpinnings. Indeed, every single word supports and underpins its celestial and spiritual truths.

[4] Because the hair of the head symbolizes truth in outmost expressions, therefore all those in the spiritual world who scorn the Word and falsify its literal sense appear bald, whereas those who honor and love it appear to have attractive hair.

On this subject, see also no. 49 below.

  
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Thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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Jeremiah 48:37

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37 For every head is bald, and every beard clipped: on all the hands are cuttings, and on the waist sackcloth.