Numbers 31
1
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2
Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites: afterward shalt thou be gathered to thy people.
3
And Moses spoke to the people, saying, Arm some of yourselves for the war, and let them go against the Midianites, and avenge the LORD on Midian.
4
Of every tribe a thousand, throughout all the tribes of Israel, shall ye send to the war.
5
So there were delivered out of the thousands of Israel, a thousand of every tribe, twelve thousand armed for war.
6
And Moses sent them to the war, a thousand of every tribe, them and Phinehas the son of Eleazar the priest, to the war, with the holy instruments, and the trumpets to blow in his hand.
7
And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males.
8
And they slew the kings of Midian, besides the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword.
9
And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones, and took the spoil of all their cattle, and all their flocks, and all their goods.
10
And they burnt all their cities in which they dwelt, and all their goodly castles, with fire.
11
And they took all the spoil, and all the prey, both of men and of beasts.
12
And they brought the captives, and the prey, and the spoil to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the congregation of the children of Israel, to the camp at the plains of Moab, which are by Jordan near Jericho.
13
And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.
14
And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, who came from the battle.
15
And Moses said to them, Have ye saved all the women alive?
16
Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD, in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD.
17
Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
18
But all the female children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
19
And do ye abide without the camp seven days: whoever hath killed any person, and whoever hath touched any slain, purify both yourselves and your captives on the third day, and on the seventh day.
20
And purify all your raiment, and all that is made of skins, and all work of goats' hair, and all things made of wood.
21
And Eleazar the priest said to the men of war who went to the battle, This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD commanded Moses;
22
Only the gold, and the silver, the brass, the iron, the tin, and the lead,
23
Every thing that may abide the fire, ye shall make it go through the fire, and it shall be clean: nevertheless it shall be purified with the water of separation: and all that abideth not the fire ye shall make go through the water.
24
And ye shall wash your clothes on the seventh day, and ye shall be clean, and afterward ye shall come into the camp.
25
And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
26
Take the sum of the prey that was taken, both of man and of beast, thou, and Eleazar the priest, and the chief fathers of the congregation:
27
And divide the prey into two parts; between them that took the war upon them, who went out to battle, and between all the congregation:
28
And levy a tribute to the LORD of the men of war who went out to battle: one soul of five hundred, both of the persons, and of the beeves, and of the asses, and of the sheep:
29
Take it of their half, and give it to Eleazar the priest, for a heave-offering of the LORD.
30
And of the children of Israel's half, thou shalt take one portion of fifty, of the persons, of the beeves, of the asses, and of the flocks, of all manner of beasts, and give them to the Levites, who keep the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD.
31
And Moses and Eleazar the priest did as the LORD commanded Moses.
32
And the booty, being the rest of the prey which the men of war had taken, was six hundred thousand and seventy thousand and five thousand sheep,
33
And seventy two thousand beeves,
34
And sixty one thousand asses,
35
And thirty and two thousand persons in all, of women that had not known man by lying with him.
36
And the half which was the portion of them that went out to war, was in number three hundred thousand and seven and thirty thousand and five hundred sheep:
37
And the LORD'S tribute of the sheep was six hundred and seventy five.
38
And the beeves were thirty and six thousand; of which the LORD'S tribute was seventy two.
39
And the asses were thirty thousand and five hundred; of which the LORD'S tribute was sixty one.
40
And the persons were sixteen thousand, of which the LORD'S tribute was thirty and two persons.
41
And Moses gave the tribute, which was the LORD'S heave-offering, to Eleazar the priest, as the LORD commanded Moses.
42
And of the children of Israel's half, which Moses divided from the men that warred,
43
(Now the half that pertained to the congregation was three hundred thousand and thirty thousand and seven thousand and five hundred sheep,
44
And thirty and six thousand beeves,
45
And thirty thousand asses and five hundred,
46
And sixteen thousand persons;)
47
Even of the children of Israel's half, Moses took one portion of fifty, both of man and of beast, and gave them to the Levites, who kept the charge of the tabernacle of the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.
48
And the officers who were over thousands of the hosts, the captains of thousands, and captains of hundreds, came near to Moses:
49
And they said to Moses, Thy servants have taken the sum of the men of war who are under our charge, and there lacketh not one man of us.
50
We have therefore brought an oblation for the LORD, what every man hath obtained of jewels of gold, chains, and bracelets, rings, ear-rings, and tablets, to make an atonement for our souls before the LORD.
51
And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of them, even all wrought jewels.
52
And all the gold of the offering that they offered to the LORD, of the captains of thousands, and of the captains of hundreds, was sixteen thousand seven hundred and fifty shekels.
53
(For the men of war had taken spoil, every man for himself.)
54
And Moses and Eleazar the priest took the gold of the captains of thousands, and of hundreds, and brought it into the tabernacle of the congregation, for a memorial for the children of Israel before the LORD.
Arcana Coelestia #3412
3412. 'All the wells which his father's servants had dug in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines stopped them up' means that people who possessed knowledge of cognitions did not wish to know interior truths that came from the Divine and so effaced them. This is clear from the meaning of 'wells' as truths, dealt with in 2702, 3096, here interior truths coming from the Divine since the wells, which mean truths, are said to have been dug by 'his father's servants in the days of Abraham his father' - 'Abraham' representing the Lord's Divine itself, 2011, 2833, 2836, 3251, 3305 (end); from the meaning of 'stopping up' as not wishing to know and so effacing; and from the representation of 'the Philistines' as people who possess no more than a knowledge of cognitions, dealt with in 1197, 1198.
[2] The subject at this point is the appearances of truth that belong to the lower degree, which are able to exist with those who possess a knowledge of cognitions and whom 'the Philistines' are used to mean here. With regard to the interior truths that come from the Divine and are effaced by those called the Philistines, the position is that in the Ancient Church and after it the name Philistines was used for those who gave little thought to life and very much to doctrine, and who in course of time even rejected matters of life and acknowledged matters of faith - which faith was separated from life - as being the essential element of the Church. As a consequence they attached no importance at all to matters of doctrine concerning charity which in the Ancient Church constituted the all of doctrine, and so they effaced it. Instead they proclaimed matters of doctrine concerning faith and centred the whole of their religion in these. And since in this way they departed from the life of charity, that is, from charity as the sum and substance of life, they more than all others were called 'the uncircumcised'. For by 'the uncircumcised' were meant all in whom charity was not present, no matter how much doctrine they knew, 2049 (end).
[3] Because such people departed from charity they also removed themselves from wisdom and intelligence, for no one can have a wise and intelligent discernment of what truth is unless good, that is, charity, reigns in him. Indeed all truth originates in good and has regard to good, so that anyone who is devoid of good is unable to have an intelligent discernment of truth, and does not even wish to know it. When such people in the next life are far away from heaven, light bright as snow is sometimes seen to be with them. But that light is like the light in wintertime which, being devoid of warmth, is unproductive. This also explains why, when such persons draw near to heaven, their light is converted into utter darkness, and their minds into something akin to that darkness, which is stupidity. From these considerations it may now be seen what is meant by the statement that people who possessed no more than a knowledge of cognitions did not wish to know interior truths that came from the Divine and so effaced them.
