The Bible

 

Exodus 23:14-19 : The Three Annual Festivals

Study

14 Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.

15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)

16 And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.

17 Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

18 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.

19 The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring into the house of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

Commentary

 

House

  
White House at Night by Vincent van Gogh

A "house" is essentially a container -- for a person, a family, several families or even a large group with shared interests (think of the term "houses of worship.") In the Bible, a "house" is also a container, but for spiritual things rather than natural things. In various uses a "house" can represent part of the mind, the whole mind, a whole person or even a church. The other nuance to the word "house" is that it is generally used in regards to our affections and desires rather than our thoughts and principles. This makes sense; we tend to engage our thoughts and rationality when we are out in the world doing our work, but when we are inside our houses we are driven most by love for our families and the desire to be good to those we love. So "house" tends to represent the things we want and care about -- which are ultimately the things that define us.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9298

Study this Passage

  
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9298. 'You shall not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice with anything made with yeast' means that worship of the Lord arising from the Church's truths must not be mingled together with falsities arising from evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'sacrificing' and 'sacrifice' as worship of the Lord, dealt with in 922, 923, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519, 6905, 8680, 8936; from the meaning of 'something made with yeast' as something falsified and falsity arising from evil, dealt with in 2342, 7906, 8051, 8058; and from the meaning of 'blood' as truth derived from good, thus the Church's truth, dealt with in 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7846, 7850, 7877, 9127. From these meanings it is evident that 'you shall not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice with anything made with yeast' means that worship of the Lord arising from the Church's truths must not be mingled together with falsities arising from evil. What falsity arising from evil and falsity not arising from evil are, see 1679, 2408, 4729, 6359, 7272, 8298, 9258.

[2] The reason why truths derived from good, which are the Church's truths, must not be mingled together with falsities arising from evil is that they are in total disagreement. They are opposites, which causes them to clash, as a result of which either good perishes or evil is put to flight; for good comes from heaven, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven, and evil from hell. Truths may, it is true, exist with the evil, and also falsities with the good; but truths present with the evil are not mingled together with falsities arising from evil present with them as long as they reside solely in the memory, serving as the means to evil. As long as this is so the truths are devoid of life. But if the truths are falsified to lend support to evil, which is also brought about by perverse interpretation, they are mingled together. This leads to the profanation of truth, the nature of which, see 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 2426, 3398, 3399, 3402, 3489, 4601, 6348, 6595, 6959, 6963, 6971, 8394, 8943, 9188.

[3] The fact that accompanying a sacrifice with something made with yeast was forbidden is evident from the following law regarding a minchah, which was burned on the altar together with a sacrifice, the words of that law in Moses being,

Every minchah which you bring to Jehovah shall be made without yeast; no yeast nor any honey shall be used along with the fire-offering you burn to Jehovah. Leviticus 2:11.

From all that has been said it is clear that the profanation of truth is meant by this law. It also explains why the words 'the blood of [My] sacrifice' are used and not simply 'the sacrifice'; for 'the blood' is truth derived from good.

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