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Deuteronomy 18

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1 The priests, the Levites, [and] the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion nor inheritance with Israel: Jehovah's offerings by fire, and his inheritance shall they eat,

2 but they shall have no inheritance among their brethren: Jehovah, he is their inheritance, as he hath said unto them.

3 And this shall be the priest's due from the people, from them that sacrifice a sacrifice, whether ox, or sheep: they shall give unto the priest the shoulder, and the jawbones, and the maw.

4 The firstfruits [also] of thy corn, of thy new wine, and of thine oil, and the firstfruits of the shearing of thy sheep, shalt thou give him;

5 for Jehovah thy God hath chosen him out of all thy tribes, that he may stand to serve in the name of Jehovah, he and his sons continually.

6 And if the Levite shall come from one of thy gates out of all Israel, where he sojourneth, and shall come according to all the desire of his soul unto the place which Jehovah will choose,

7 and shall serve in the name of Jehovah his God, as all his brethren the Levites that stand there before Jehovah,

8 -- they shall have like portions to eat, besides that which he hath sold of his patrimony.

9 When thou art come into the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations.

10 There shall not be found among you he that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, that useth divination, that useth auguries, or an enchanter, or a sorcerer,

11 or a charmer, or one that inquireth of a spirit of Python, or a soothsayer, or one that consulteth the dead.

12 For every one that doeth these things is an abomination to Jehovah, and because of these abominations Jehovah thy God doth dispossess them from before thee.

13 Thou shalt be perfect with Jehovah thy God.

14 For these nations, which thou shalt dispossess, hearkened unto those that use auguries, and that use divination; but as for thee, Jehovah thy God hath not suffered thee [to do] so.

15 Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him shall ye hearken;

16 according to all that thou desiredst of Jehovah thy God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of Jehovah my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not.

17 And Jehovah said unto me, They have well spoken that which they have spoken.

18 A prophet will I raise up unto them from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him.

19 And it shall come to pass that the man who hearkeneth not unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.

20 But the prophet who shall presume to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.

21 And if thou say in thy heart, How shall we know the word that Jehovah hath not spoken?

22 When a prophet speaketh in the name of Jehovah, and the thing followeth not, nor cometh to pass, that is the word which Jehovah hath not spoken; the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: be not afraid of him.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed #447

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447. Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million. (9:16) This symbolizes their reasonings concerning faith alone, with which they had filled the interiors of their minds, springing from nothing but an abundance of falsities accompanying evil.

Armies symbolize goods and truths, and in an opposite sense, evils and falsities - here falsities accompanying evil, as we will see presently. Horsemen symbolize reasonings concerning faith alone, because a horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word (no. 298) and also a destroyed understanding of the Word (nos. 305, 312, 320). Horsemen consequently symbolize reasonings based on a destroyed understanding of the Word - here reasonings concerning faith alone, because the subject is people caught up in that faith. Two hundred million does not mean two hundred million, but an abundance. The number two is used because two is said in application to goodness, and in an opposite sense, to evil (no. 322); and a hundred million, or ten thousand times ten thousand, is said in application to truths, and in an opposite sense, to falsities (no. 287).

It can be seen from this that the number of the army of horsemen being two hundred million symbolizes reasonings concerning faith alone, with which these people had filled the interiors of their minds, springing from nothing but an abundance of falsities accompanying evil.

[2] That armies in the Word symbolize the goods and truths of heaven and the church, and in an opposite sense, evils and falsities, can be seen from passages where the sun, moon and stars are called armies or hosts, and where the sun symbolizes the goodness of love, the moon the truth of faith, and stars concepts of goodness and truth, and the antithesis in an opposite sense (nos. 51, 53, 332, 413). All of these are called armies or hosts in the following passages:

Praise (Jehovah), all His hosts! Praise Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all you stars...! (Psalms 148:2-3)

My hands stretched out the heavens, and all their host I have commanded. (Isaiah 45:12)

By the word of Jehovah the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. (Psalms 33:6)

Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. (Genesis 2:1)

(The male goat's horn) grew up to the host of heaven; and it cast down some of the host and some of the stars to the ground... He even exalted himself as high as the Prince of the host... And the host was sent under the yoke for its transgression, (because) it cast truth to the ground... Then... a holy one said..., "How long will... the sanctuary and the host be trampled under foot?" (Daniel 8:10-14)

Jehovah has given forth His voice before His army. (Joel 2:11)

...(on the roofs of the houses) they have burned incense to all the host of heaven... (Jeremiah 19:13)

(Lest you bow down to and serve) the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the host of heaven... (Deuteronomy 4:19; cf. 17:3, Jeremiah 8:2)

So, too, Isaiah 13:4; 34:4; 40:26, Jeremiah 33:22, Zechariah 9:8, Revelation 19:14.

[3] Since the hosts of heaven symbolize the goods and truths of heaven and the church, therefore the Lord is called Jehovah Zebaoth, or Jehovah of Hosts. And therefore the ministry of the Levites was called military service (Numbers 4:3, 23, 30, 39).

Moreover, we read in the book of Psalms,

Bless Jehovah, all you His hosts, you ministers of His, who do His will. (Psalms 103:21)

Evils and falsities in the church are symbolically meant by the armies of the nations in Isaiah 34:2; and by the army of the king of the north with which he came against the king of the south, in Daniel 11:13, 15, 20. The king of the north is the falsity accompanying evil in the church, and the king of the south is the truth accompanying goodness in it.

The Lord says,

When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its devastation is near. (Luke 21:20)

Jerusalem there symbolizes the church, and the armies symbolize the evils and falsities that will devastate it. The subject is the end of the age, which is the final period of the church.

Evils and falsities are symbolically meant by armies in Joel,

I will restore to you the years that the locust, the beetle grub, the locust's larva, and the caterpillar has eaten, My great army which I sent among you. (Joel 2:25)

To be shown that the locust and the rest symbolize falsity of the lowest sort, see no. 424 above.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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Numbers 4:3

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3 from thirty years old and upward even until fifty years old, all who enter into the service, to do the work in the Tent of Meeting.