The Bible

 

Leviticus 23:14

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14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

Commentary

 

Explanation of Leviticus 23

By Henry MacLagan

On the successive states of the regenerate life in general, involving states of conflict against evil succeeded by states of rest.

The first subordinate state is one of deliverance from evil, involving the interior reception of truth conjoined with good, purification, and the arrangement of truths under good. Verses 4-8.

The second subordinate state is that of the implantation of truth in good. Verses 9-22.

Concerning revelation in consequence. Verses 23-25.

Also concerning the plenary removal of evil in consequence. Verses 26-32.

The third subordinate state is that of the implantation of good, involving gladness and joy of heart in all completeness and holiness, with states of peace and rest from the lowest principles to the highest, which are perpetually renewed. Verses 33-34.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #10054

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10054. 'It is an odour of rest' means the perception of peace. This is clear from the meaning of 'an odour' as perception, dealt with in 3577, 4624-4634, 4748; and from the meaning of 'rest' as peace. What Divine peace in the heavens is, see 92, 93, 2780, 5662, 8455, 8665, 8722; in the highest sense 'peace' means the Lord, and the Divine emanation from Him that influences at an inmost level the good which reigns in the heavens, 3780, 8517. The reason why the burnt offering is called 'an odour of rest to Jehovah' is that a burnt offering represented the uniting of the Lord's Divine Human to Divinity itself, dealt with above in 10053; and it was through that uniting that peace was attained in the heavens. For when the Lord was in the world all the hells were subdued by Him, and all the heavens were restored to order, 9715, 9809, 9937, 10019. From this it is evident how it comes about that a burnt offering is called 'an odour of rest to Jehovah', as it is many times elsewhere in which burnt offerings and minchah are the subject, such as Leviticus 1:9, 13, 17; 2:2, 9, 12; 3:5; 4:31; 6:15, 21; 8:28; 23:13, 18; Numbers 15:3, 7, 13; 28:6, 8, 13; 29:2, 6, 8, 13.

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