Numbers 35
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And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by Jordan near Jericho, saying,
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Command the children of Israel, that they give to the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and ye shall give also to the Levites suburbs for the cities around them.
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And they shall have the cities to dwell in; and the suburbs of them shall be for their cattle, and for their goods, and for all their beasts.
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And the suburbs of the cities which ye shall give to the Levites, shall reach from the wall of the city and outward a thousand cubits on all sides.
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And ye shall measure from without the city on the east side two thousand cubits, and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits; and the city shall be in the midst: this shall be to them the suburbs of the cities.
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And among the cities which ye shall give to the Levites there shall be six cities for refuge, which ye shall appoint for the man-slayer, that he may flee thither: and to them ye shall add forty and two cities.
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So all the cities which ye shall give to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities: them shall ye give with their suburbs.
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And the cities which ye shall give shall be of the possession of the children of Israel: from them that have many ye shall give many; but from them that have few ye shall give few: every one shall give of his cities to the Levites according to his inheritance which he inheriteth.
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And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
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Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When ye have passed over Jordan into the land of Canaan;
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Then ye shall appoint for you cities to be cities of refuge for you; that the slayer may flee thither, who killeth any person at unawares.
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And they shall be to you cities for refuge from the avenger; that the man-slayer may not die, until he stands before the congregation in judgment.
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And of these cities which ye shall give, six cities shall ye have for refuge.
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Ye shall give three cities on this side of Jordan, and three cities shall ye give in the land of Canaan, which shall be cities of refuge.
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These six cities shall be a refuge, both for the children of Israel, and for the stranger, and for the sojourner among them: that every one that killeth any person unawares may flee thither.
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And if he shall smite him with an instrument of iron, so that he shall die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.
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And if he shall smite him by throwing a stone, by which he may die, and he shall die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.
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Or if he shall smite him with a hand-weapon of wood, with which he may die, and he shall die, he is a murderer: the murderer shall surely be put to death.
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The avenger of blood himself shall slay the murderer: when he meeteth him, he shall slay him.
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But if he shall thrust him of hatred, or hurl at him by laying in wait, that he die.
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Or in enmity shall smite him with his hand, that he die: he that smote him shall surely be put to death; for he is a murderer: the avenger of blood shall slay the murderer, when he meeteth him.
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But if he shall thrust him suddenly without enmity, or shall have cast upon him any thing without laying in wait,
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Or with any stone, by which a man may die, seeing him not, and shall cast it upon him, that he die, and was not his enemy, neither sought his harm:
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Then the congregation shall judge between the slayer and the avenger of blood according to these judgments:
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And the congregation shall deliver the slayer out of the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall restore him to the city of his refuge, whither he had fled: and he shall abide in it to the death of the high priest, who was anointed with the holy oil.
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But if the slayer shall at any time come without the border of the city of his refuge, whither he had fled;
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And the avenger of blood find him without the borders of the city of his refuge, and the avenger of blood shall kill the slayer; he shall not be guilty of blood:
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Because he should have remained in the city of his refuge until the death of the high priest: but after the death of the high priest the slayer shall return into the land of his possession.
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So these things shall be for a statute of judgment to you throughout your generations in all your dwellings.
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Whoever killeth any person, the murderer shall be put to death by the mouth of witnesses: but one witness shall not testify against any person to cause him to die.
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Moreover, ye shall take no satisfaction for the life of a murderer, who is guilty of death: but he shall be surely put to death.
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And ye shall take no satisfaction for him that hath fled to the city of his refuge, that he should come again to dwell in the land, until the death of the priest.
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So ye shall not pollute the land in which ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed in it, but by the blood of him that shed it.
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Defile not therefore the land which ye shall inhabit, in which I dwell: for I the LORD dwell among the children of Israel.
Apocalypse Revealed #907
907. And he measured the city with the reed at twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height were equal. This symbolizes John shown the character of the New Church arising from its doctrine, that every part of it arose from the goodness of love.
To measure with a reed means, symbolically, to learn the character of a thing (no. 904); and because the angel measured in John's presence, it symbolizes showing it to John so that John might know it. The city here, Jerusalem, symbolizes the Lord's New Church in respect to its doctrine (nos. 879, 880). Twelve thousand furlongs symbolizes all of the goods and truths of that church. Twelve thousand has the same symbolic meaning as twelve, and twelve symbolizes all goods and truths, and is a number used in application to the church, as may be seen in no. 348 above.
Furlongs have the same symbolic meaning as any measures, and measures symbolize the character of a thing (nos. 313, 486).
The city's length, breadth and height are said to be equal in order to symbolize the fact that everything connected with that church springs from the goodness of love. For length symbolizes the goodness of love, and breadth the truth emanating from that love (no. 906), and height symbolizes goodness and truth together in every degree. For height extends from the highest point to the lowest, and the highest descends to the lowest by degrees, degrees we call degrees of height, in which the heavens exist from the highest or third heaven to the lowest or first heaven. A treatment of these degrees may be seen in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, Part Three.
The equality of the length, breadth and height symbolizes that everything springs from the goodness of love because the word "length" is put first, which symbolizes the goodness of love, and the breadth is then equal to that, being thus like the length, and so, too, the height. What would it mean otherwise, that the height of the city was 12,000 furlongs, 1 so immense as to rise above the clouds, even above the atmosphere, whose height does not exceed 30 furlongs? Indeed, it would be so immense as to rise into outer space as far as the eye can see.
That the three dimensions were equal symbolically means that everything connected with the New Church springs from the goodness of love, as is apparent from verses that follow, for we are told that the city was pure gold, like clear glass (verse 18), and that the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass (verse 21). Gold symbolizes the goodness of love.
That everything connected with heaven and the church springs from the goodness of love, and that the goodness of love comes from the Lord, will be seen in the next number.
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