Numbers 14
1
Therefore the whole multitude crying wept that night.
2
And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron, saying:
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Would God that we had died in Egypt and would God we may die in this vast wilderness, and that the Lord may not bring us into this land, lest we fall by the sword, and our wives and children be led away captives. Is it not better to return into Egypt?
4
And they said one to another: Let us appoint a captain, and let us return into Egypt.
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And when Moses and Aaron heard this, they fell down flat upon the ground before the multitude of the children of Israel.
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But Josue the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephone, who themselves also had viewed the land, rent their garments,
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And said to all the multitude of the children of Israel: The land which we have gone round is very good:
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If the Lord be favourable, he will bring us into it, and give us a land flowing with milk and honey.
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Be not rebellious against the Lord: and fear ye not the people of this land, for we are able to eat them up as bread. All aid is gone from them: the Lord is with us, fear ye not.
10
And when all the multitude cried out, and would have stoned them, the glory of the Lord appeared over the tabernacle of the covenant to all the children of Israel.
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And the Lord said to Moses: How long will this people detract me? how long will they not believe me for all the signs that I have wrought before them?
12
I will strike them therefore with pestilence, and will consume them: but thee I will make a ruler over a great nation, and a mightier than this is.
13
And Moses said to the Lord: That the Egyptians, from the midst of whom thou hast brought forth this people,
14
And the inhabitants of this land, (who have heard that thou, O Lord, art among this people, and art seen face to face, and thy cloud protecteth them, and thou goest before them in a pillar of a cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night,)
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May hear that thou hast killed so great a multitude as it were one man and may say:
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He could not bring the people into the land for which he had sworn, therefore did he kill them in the wilderness.
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Let their the strength of the Lord be magnified, as thou hast sworn, saying:
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The Lord is patient and full of mercy, taking away iniquity and wickedness, and leaving no man clear, who visitest the sins of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.
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Forgive, I beseech thee, the sins of this people, according to the greatness of thy mercy, as thou hast been merciful to them from their going out of Egypt unto this place.
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And the Lord said: I have forgiven according to thy word.
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As I live: and the whole earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
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But yet all the men that have seen my majesty, and the signs that I have done in Egypt, and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now ten times, and have not obeyed my voice,
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Shall not see the land for which I aware to their fathers, neither shall any one of them that hath detracted me behold it.
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My servant Caleb, who being full of another spirit hath followed me, I will bring into this land which he hath gone round: and his seed shall possess it.
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For the Amalecite and the Chanaanite dwell in the valleys. To morrow remove the camp, and return into the wilderness by the way of the Red Sea.
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And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying:
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How long doth this wicked multitude murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel.
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Say therefore to them: As I live, saith the Lord: According as you have spoken in my hearing, so will I do to you.
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fin the wilderness shall your carcasses lie. All you that were numbered from twenty years old and upward, and have murmured against me,
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Shall not enter into the land, over which I lifted up my bend to make you dwell therein, except Caleb the son of Jephone, and Josue the son of Nun.
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But your children, of whom you said, that they should be a prey to the enemies, will I bring in: that they may see the land which you have despised.
32
Your carcasses shall lie in the wilderness.
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Your children shall wander in the desert forty years, and shall bear your fornication, until the carcasses of their fathers be consumed ill the desert,
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According to the number of the forty days, wherein you viewed the land: a year shall be counted for a day. And forty years you shall receive your iniquities, and shall know my revenge:
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For as I have spoken, so will I do to all this wicked multitude, that hath risen up together against me: in this wilderness shall it faint away and die.
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Therefore all the men, whom Moses had sent to view the land, and who at their return had made the whole multitude to murmur against him, speaking ill of the land that it was naught,
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Died and were struck in the sight of the Lord.
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But Josue .the son of Nun. and Caleb the son of Jephone lived, of all them that had gone to view the land.
39
And Moses spoke all these words to all the children of Israel, and the people mourned exceedingly.
40
And behold rising up very early in the morning, they went up to the top of the mountain, and said: We are ready to go up to the place, of which the Lord hath spoken: for we have sinned.
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And Moses said to them: Why transgress you the word of the Lord, which shall not succeed prosperously with you?
42
Go not up, for the Lord is not with you: lest you fall before your enemies.
43
The Amalecite and the Chanaanite are before you, and by their sword you shall fall, because you would not consent to the Lord, neither will the Lord be with you.
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But they being blinded went up to the top of the mountain. But the ark of the testament of the Lord and Moses departed not from the camp.
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And the Amalecite came down, and the Chanaanite that dwelt in the mountain: and smiting and slaying them pursued them as far as Horma.
Arcana Coelestia # 566
566. 'The face 1 of the ground' means the whole of that area where the Church was. This is clear from the meaning of 'the ground', for in the Word a careful distinction is made between ground (humus) and land or earth (terra). Whenever 'ground' is used it means the Church or some aspect of the Church. This too is the derivation of the name Man or Adam, which means ground. But when 'land' or earth' occurs in the Word it frequently means where the Church or some aspect of the Church does not exist, as in Chapter 1 where the word 'land' alone is used, because the Church or regenerate person did not as yet exist. Not until Chapter 2 is the word 'ground' used because the Church has by now come into being. The same applies in the present verse and in verses 4, 23, of the next chapter, where it is said that every being was to be wiped off the face 1 of the ground, meaning within that area where the Church was; and in verse 7 of the next chapter, where the subject is the Church that is to be created, 'to keep their seed alive on the face 1 of the ground'. 2 The same applies elsewhere in the Word, as in Isaiah,
Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob, and will still choose Israel, and will set them on their own ground. And the peoples will take them and bring them to their place, and the house of Israel will inherit them on Jehovah's ground. Isaiah 14:1-2.
This refers to the Church once it has come into being; but when in the same chapter the Church does not exist it is called the land, verses 9, 12, 16, 20, 21, 25, 26.
[2] In the same prophet,
And the ground of Judah will be a terror to Egypt. On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak the language 3 of Canaan. Isaiah 19:17-18.
Here 'the ground' means where the Church exists, and 'the land' where it does not. In the same prophet,
The land will surely stagger like a drunken man. Jehovah will visit the host of the height on high, and the kings of the ground on the ground. Isaiah 24:20-21.
Here the meaning is similar. In Jeremiah,
Because of the ground which was cracked since there was no rain on the land, the farmers were put to shame, and covered their heads. Even the hind in the field has calved. Jeremiah 14:4-5.
Here 'the land' stands for that which includes the ground, and 'the ground' for that which includes the field.
[3] In the same prophet,
He led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north land and out of all the lands to where I have driven them. And they will dwell on their own ground. Jeremiah 23:8.
Here 'land' and 'lands' mean where Churches do not exist, 'the ground' where the Church or true worship does exist. In the same prophet,
I will render the remnants of Jerusalem, those who are left in this land, and those who are dwelling in the land of Egypt, and I will render them as a horror for evil to all the kingdoms of the land. And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they are consumed from the ground which I gave to them and their fathers. Jeremiah 24:8-10.
'The ground' stands for doctrine and worship arising out of it. And something similar is found in 25:5 of the same book.
[4] In Ezekiel,
I will gather you out of the lands into which you have been scattered. And you will acknowledge that I am Jehovah when I bring you back to the ground of Israel, into the land which I lifted up My hand to give to your fathers. Ezekiel 20:41-42.
'The ground' stands for internal worship. It is called 'the land' when internal worship does not exist. In Malachi,
I will rebuke the devourer for you, and he will not ruin for you the fruit of the ground, nor will the vine in the field fail you. And all the nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of that which is pleasing. Malachi 3:11-12.
Here 'land' stands for that which includes, and so plainly stands for man who is actually called 'the land', when 'ground' stands for the Church or doctrine.
[5] In Moses,
Sing, O Nations, His people. He will reconcile His ground, His people. Deuteronomy 32:43.
This clearly stands for the Church of the gentiles, which is called 'the ground'. In Isaiah,
Before the boy knows to refuse evil and to choose good, the ground will be deserted which you loathe in the presence of its two kings. Isaiah 7:16.
This refers to the Coming of the Lord. 'The ground will be deserted' stands for the Church or true doctrine of faith. The words 'ground 'and 'field' are clearly used in this way because they are places that are sown, as in Isaiah,
He will give rain for your seed with which you may sow the ground. Oxen and young asses tilling the ground . . . Isaiah 30:23-24.
And in Joel,
The field has been laid waste, and the ground has been mourning because the corn has been laid waste. Joel 1:10.
From these quotations it is now clear that 'man', who in Hebrew is called Adam from the word for ground, means the Church.
Notas de rodapé:
1. literally, faces
2. The Hebrew in Genesis 7:3 in fact means earth or land. cf 722 below.
3. literally, lip.
