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Exodus 24

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1 And he said to Moses: Come up to the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel, and you shall adore afar off.

2 And Moses alone shall come up to the Lord, but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people come up with him.

3 So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice: We will do all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken.

4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord: and rising in the morning he built an altar at the foot of the mount, and twelve titles according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

5 And he sent young men of the children of Israel, and they offered holocausts, and sacrificed pacific victims of calves to the Lord.

6 Then Moses took half of the blood, and put it into bowls: and the rest he poured upon the altar.

7 And taking the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people: and they said: All things that the Lord hath spoken we will do, we will be obedient.

8 And he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said: This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.

9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel went up:

10 And they saw the God of Israel: and under his feet as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as the heaven, when clear.

11 Neither did he lay his hand upon those of the children of Israel, that retired afar off, and they saw God, and they did eat and drink.

12 And the Lord said to Moses: Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and the law, and the commandments which I have written: that thou mayst teach them.

13 Moses rose up, and his minister Josue: and Moses going up into the mount of God,

14 Said to the ancients: Wait ye here till we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you: if any question shall arise, you shall refer it to them.

15 And when Moses was gone up, a cloud covered the mount.

16 And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai, covering it with a cloud six days: and the seventh day he called him out of the midst of the cloud.

17 And the sight of the glory of the Lord was like a burning fire upon the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel.

18 And Moses, entering into the midst of the cloud, went up into the mountain: and he was there forty days, and forty nights.

   

Commentaar

 

Nadab

  

'Nadab' signifies doctrine from the internal sense of the Word.

(Referenties: Arcana Coelestia 9375)

Van Swedenborgs Werken

 

Arcana Coelestia #9375

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9375. 'Nadab and Abihu' means teachings derived from both senses. This is clear from the fact that they were Aaron's sons; therefore when the Word is meant by 'Aaron', teachings are meant by 'his sons', teachings derived from the inward sense of the Word being meant by the older son, and teachings derived from the outward sense of it by the younger. Teachings derived from the inward sense of the Word and teachings derived from the outward sense of the Word make one with each other; for people alert to what lies on an inward level are aware also of what lies on an outward level. The Lord's Church exists everywhere on an inward level and on an outward level. The Church on an inward level resides in the heart, the Church on an outward level resides on the lips; that is, the inward Church resides in the will, the outward in action. When the inward level in a person makes one with the outward what resides in the heart then lies also on the lips, or what resides in the will then lies in action. Or what amounts to the same thing, what lies on the lips is then the heart speaking, and what lies in action is then the will acting, without any disagreement between the inward and the outward. Thus it is also faith speaking and love or charity acting, that is, it is the Lord, who is the Source of faith and charity, speaking and acting.

[2] Since Nadab and Abihu, Aaron's sons, represented teachings derived from the Word, they were therefore killed when they introduced worship based on teachings different from those derived from the Word. This was represented by the following incident involving them, recorded in Moses,

Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu each took his censer and put fire in it, onto which they placed incense, and in so doing offered to Jehovah foreign 1 fire, which He had not commanded them. Therefore fire went out from before Jehovah and devoured them, so that they died before Jehovah. And Moses said to Aaron, This is what Jehovah spoke, saying, In those who are near Me 2 I will be sanctified. Leviticus 10:1-3.

'Foreign fire in the censer' means teachings derived from a source other than the Word. For 'fire' means the good of love and 'incense' the truth of faith rising from it, and the good of love and the truth of faith are the realities which go to make teachings derived from the Word. From this it is evident why they were devoured by fire 'from before Jehovah'. 'Being sanctified through those who are near' means with those who are joined to the Lord through the good of love and the truth of faith derived from the Word. For the meaning of 'fire' as the good of heavenly love, see 934, 4906, 5071 (end), 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 7852, 9055; and the meaning of 'incense' as faith rising from the good of love will be shown elsewhere.

Voetnoten:

1. i.e. unauthorized or profane

2. literally, In My near ones

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