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Numbers 8

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1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "Speak to Aaron, and tell him, 'When you light the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.'"

3 Aaron did so. He lit its lamps to light the area in front of the lampstand, as Yahweh commanded Moses.

4 This was the workmanship of the lampstand, beaten work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was beaten work: according to the pattern which Yahweh had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.

5 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

6 "Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them.

7 You shall do this to them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of cleansing on them, let them shave their whole bodies with a razor, and let them wash their clothes, and cleanse themselves.

8 Then let them take a young bull, and its meal offering, fine flour mixed with oil; and another young bull you shall take for a sin offering.

9 You shall present the Levites before the Tent of Meeting. You shall assemble the whole congregation of the children of Israel.

10 You shall present the Levites before Yahweh. The children of Israel shall lay their hands on the Levites,

11 and Aaron shall offer the Levites before Yahweh for a wave offering, on the behalf of the children of Israel, that it may be theirs to do the service of Yahweh.

12 "The Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and you shall offer the one for a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering to Yahweh, to make atonement for the Levites.

13 You shall set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them as a wave offering to Yahweh.

14 Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine.

15 "After that, the Levites shall go in to do the service of the Tent of Meeting: and you shall cleanse them, and offer them as a wave offering.

16 For they are wholly given to me from among the children of Israel; instead of all who open the womb, even the firstborn of all the children of Israel, I have taken them to me.

17 For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both man and animal. On the day that I struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified them for myself.

18 I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel.

19 I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the Tent of Meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel; that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come near to the sanctuary."

20 Moses, and Aaron, and all the congregation of the children of Israel did so to the Levites. According to all that Yahweh commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so the children of Israel did to them.

21 The Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their clothes; and Aaron offered them for a wave offering before Yahweh; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.

22 After that, the Levites went in to do their service in the Tent of Meeting before Aaron, and before his sons: as Yahweh had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did to them.

23 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

24 "This is that which belongs to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward they shall go in to wait on the service in the work of the Tent of Meeting;

25 and from the age of fifty years they shall cease waiting on the work, and shall serve no more,

26 but shall minister with their brothers in the Tent of Meeting, to perform the duty, and shall do no service. You shall do thus to the Levites concerning their duties."

   

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Matrix

  

'Matrix' signifies the opening of the spiritual mind.

(Referencat: Apocalypse Explained 865)

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Apocalypse Explained #865

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865. These were bought from among men, firstfruits to God and the Lamb, signifies those received in the new church by the Lord. This is evident from the signification of "those bought by the Lord," as being those who receive instruction from the Word, especially respecting the Lord, and who live according to it (See above, n.860). The same are meant by those called "redeemed by the Lord;" and "the redeemed" are those who have been regenerated by the Lord and these are those who follow the Lord, that is, are led by Him (of whom just above). Also from the signification of "firstfruits of God and the Lamb," as being those who have given themselves to the Lord and have been adopted by Him. That those who are of the new church are meant is evident from their being called "firstfruits to God and to the Lamb," since those who are received in that church acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human and live according to His commandments. No others are received in the new church which is called "the New Jerusalem," because those who do not believe this and live thus are not in accord with the life of heaven, nor with the light there, nor with the heat there: for the light there is the Divine truth, which is the source of all intelligence and wisdom; and the heat there is the Divine good, which is the source of all love and charity. All man's affection and thought therefrom not only is within him and constitutes his life but is also outside of him and constitutes the sphere of his life. This is why heaven is divided into societies according to the varieties of the affections and their thoughts; consequently unless the affections and the thoughts therefrom are spiritual, which are formed solely by the acknowledgment of the Lord and a life according to His commandments, they cannot be admitted into any society of heaven, for they are repugnant thereto; and this is why those who do not acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human and do not live according to His commandments in the Word cannot be consociated with the angels of heaven. That this is so has been proved to me by much experience. There were some who had the same idea of the Lord as of any other man, and had lived in the faith of the present day, which is cogitation (or thought) without any good of life. As these believed that eternal life is merely being admitted into heaven, so according to their wish they were admitted into a certain society; but as soon as the light of heaven struck their eyes, their sight, and at the same time their understanding, began to be wholly darkened, and they began to fall into a stupor and into foolishness; and when the heat of heaven breathed upon them they began to be tormented in a direful manner, and their head and limbs began to writhe like serpents; consequently they cast themselves downwards, swearing that admission to heaven, unless they were in the light and heat of heaven, was hell to them, and that they had not known that everyone has heaven from love and its faith, or from a life according to the Lord's commandments in the Word, and from faith in the Lord, and not at all from faith without the life of faith, which is charity.

[2] It shall now be told briefly what "firstfruits" signify in the Word. The signification of firstfruits is similar to that of "firstborn;" but "firstborn" is predicated of animals, and "firstfruits" of vegetables; thus "the firstborn" are such as are born first, and "firstfruits" are from the first products; and both of them signify the spiritual good that is first formed, which in itself is truth from good which is from the Lord. This has its origin in the fact that there are two minds in man, a natural mind and a spiritual mind. From the natural mind alone nothing is produced but evil and its falsity; but as soon as the spiritual mind is opened, good and its truth are produced; and that which is first produced is meant by the "firstborn" and the "firstfruits." And as all things that are born and produced from the spiritual mind are from the Lord and not from man, these were sanctified to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, because they were His, and thus were holy. And as that which is born or produced first signifies all things that follow in their order, as a leader is followed by his people, or a shepherd by his flock, so "the giving of the firstborn and the firstfruits to the Lord" signified that all the rest were also His.

[3] But that this may come yet more clearly into the understanding it is to be known that the merely natural mind is formed to the idea or image of the world, but the spiritual mind to the idea or image of heaven; also that the spiritual mind is not opened to any man, except by the acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine and by a life according to His commandments; and until this mind has been opened no good and no truth therefrom are produced; but as soon as it is opened these are produced, and what is produced is from the Lord. Therefore the first thing that is produced is called holy, and signifies that all things that are afterwards produced are holy. This makes clear that the opening of the womb or matrix signifies the opening of the spiritual mind. This signification of opening the womb or matrix is from correspondence, the womb corresponding to the good of celestial love. (On this correspondence see above, n. 710, and in the Arcana Coelestia 4918, 5050-5062)

[4] Because this is what is signified by "firstfruits," and because the things pertaining to the harvest, as wheat, barley, and the rest, and also wool, signified the goods and truths of heaven and the church, and the clean and useful beasts had a similar signification, so the firstborn of the latter and the firstfruits of the former were given to the Lord; and as the high priest represented the Lord as to His priestly function, which is the good of love, these things were given to that priest, and thus all things that were products of the corn, wine, and oil were made holy. But respecting these firstfruits see the statutes for the sons of Israel in the law of Moses; as respecting the first of the products of all corn, of oil, of wine, of the fruit of the tree, also of the fleece, likewise of the firstborn of the herd and the flock; and that these were given as holy to Jehovah, and by Jehovah to Aaron, and after him to the high priest (Exodus 22:29; Numbers 13:20; 15:17-22; 18:8-20; Deuteronomy 18:4; 26 the end): also concerning the feast of the first fruits of harvest and of the first fruits of bread (Exodus 23:14-16, 19, 26; Leviticus 23:9-15, 20; 23:20-25; Numbers 28:26-31).

[5] From all this it can now be seen that "firstfruits to God and to the Lamb" mean those who will be of the new church which is called "the New Jerusalem," who acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human and live a life of love, that is, a life according to the Lord's commandments in the Word. In such and in no others is the spiritual mind opened; therefore no others are led by the Lord, or "follow Him whithersoever He goeth." That "God and the Lamb" means in Revelation the Lord as to the Divine Itself, and at the same time as to the Divine Human, may be seen above (n.297, 314, 343, 460, 482).

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.