LEVITICUS 22
Summary of the Spiritual Sense
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It is necessary, in beginning to reflect upon what is now before us, to have a clear idea of what is meant spiritually by "the holy things of the children of Israel which they hallow to me." It is said, in the series, to mean the worship of the Lord, and the ministry of such worship; but what was offered to the Lord by the Israelites really represented the good affections which man, in worship, devotes to the service of the Lord, and acknowledges to be from the Lord. For all real worship consists in such devotion and such acknowledgement; and then the ministry of such worship is the external form which it takes, both in the performance of the uses which those good affections are intended to perform, and in the acknowledgement and worship of the Lord in the sanctuary. Hence, then, by the priests separating themselves from the holy things is strictly meant that in the performance of uses, and among those in public worship, any selfish motive which presents itself is to be carefully separated and rejected, this, of course, applying, not to the ministers of religion merely, but to every member of his congregation. This teaching, therefore, is very weighty teaching indeed, and is worthy of very serious consideration. For when we allow selfish motives to get mixed with the uses we perform, or with our worship, we then have our " uncleanness " upon us; and every one may know from experience how very apt he is to be troubled by selfish thoughts, more or less, in everything he does or says. And also we all know that if we indulge in and encourage these selfish feelings and thoughts we realty, just so far, are "cut off " or separated from the Divine presence.
But several things are mentioned which constitute such impurity as prevents man in worship from appropriating good and truth thence, which is signified by eating the holy things. These are leprosy, which, as we have seen, denotes the profanation of truth by applying it to selfish purposes externally; an issue, which signifies evil thoughts flowing from evil affections, and in this connection, because said of one representing worship from good, profanation internally; what is unclean by contact with a dead body or carcase, which denotes affection void of spiritual life, that is, without love; one whose seed goes from him, as representing truth separated from good; a creeping thing, as denoting what is merely sensual; that which dies of itself, which signifies affection merely natural which rejects good and truth; and what is torn of beasts, which denotes what is mixed with evil unconsciously. And it is easy to see that all these do prevent the spiritual man from receiving the Lord's life of good and truth; for we cannot properly worship and appropriate good and at the same time be contaminated with such things voluntarily; and if it is done involuntarily, that purification through sincere repentance, which is represented by washing, must follow. But here two things are to be very carefully noticed. Even after repentance, although this may appear paradoxical, a man is not wholly pure, as it is said, until even, that is, in the full sense, until his Judgement takes place, and the tares in him are separated from the wheat; and the reason why this is so is lest by a too sudden and violent removal of errors and their stimulating evils, good itself may be destroyed or suffer serious injury (Matt 13:29). And secondly, there must be, even during regeneration, and finally in the Judgement, that rejection of selfish love which is denoted by the sun going down. For while in one sense the going down of the sun signifies the decline of love to the Lord, in the other it denotes the passing away of selfish love. But it may be thought or said, "Can a person really cease to love himself, or to act from his own proper life?" And we must reply that this is not necessary, and would, in fact, be injurious, since the church is formed in the vivified proprium of man, and he could not otherwise reciprocate the Lord's love for him; he must, therefore, act as from himself, and, indeed, properly value his genuine spiritual heavenly function or use; but he can only do this by ceasing to be selfish in everything that he undertakes. It is not, therefore, the proper love of self that is the cause of all evil, but the perversion of it which is rightly called selfishness. And the truth of this view of the matter is strongly shown both in the literal and spiritual senses of the words, "They shall therefore keep my charge, lest they bear sin for it, and die therein if they profane it." It is a grand thing for us all that we must continually feel ourselves responsible for the proper use of the life which the Lord gives us.
In the next place it is to be observed that simply reading over the series of the spiritual sense of what now follows in the new period is sufficient in itself to show the great importance of the teaching that, so to speak, naturally arises in each sentence from the correspondences occurring. One out of the church may be capable of regeneration and of the appropriation of good, but yet he cannot advance, nor can his natural good become spiritual; nor can he who is only under instruction within the church do this, for both of these may not, as yet, have come into the proper exercise of the new will of good which is so essential to man's co-operation with the Lord. But the two cases that come next are very different, and we cannot fail to see their truth. We may note also the serious character of the following case. For this is a state of confirmed profanation. And it ought to have a very powerful influence upon every member of the church who has made some advance in the regenerate life so as to be in the affection of good, lest he might become a profaner as here described. But the case is different with one in the affection of good who is yet without the knowledge of good or truth, and the reason for it is obvious; and we may easily understand also how an error may be remedied by the acknowledgement of the Lord from a state of good through remains, as is described in the last instance given. But how do we, at any time, appropriate the holy thing unwittingly? We do so many times in our lives by being brought providentially under heavenly influences without any direct seeking on our part, as, for example, when we are reading a story it may be only for amusement, and something therein affects us by inspiring us with a good feeling or thought we did not anticipate, and which is stored up in our minds as remains afterwards to be implanted in our regenerated natural man when the right time or state comes. Let us reflect well, therefore, on those experiences, and gather strength from their remembrance in our serious conflicts and in the steady labours of our daily lives.
From a careful study of the following section two general and practical truths may be still more fully confirmed. First, in order to worship the Lord acceptably, that worship must not only be from good, or with affection, but it must be by means of truth; and this is signified by the oblation being a male; and secondly, it must be free from contamination by evils and falsities, this being denoted by its having no blemish. And, moreover, these general laws refer to the full consecration of the internal man to the Lord, which is denoted by a burnt offering, as well as to the devotion of the external man as to will and understanding in the same way, which is signified by vows and freewill offerings. And then the specific kinds of blemishes, or of falsities and evils, are worthy of attention. For there are six, the first three referring to the spiritual degree of the mind, and the other three to the natural degree. For to be blind, broken or maimed are more serious bodily troubles than to have sores, the scurvy or the scab, and consequently the former signify more serious spiritual defects than the latter, although these are bad enough. And who does not see at once from common perception, as well as from the mention of all these things in other parts of the Word, their natural correspondence? For surely an ignorant man, who is like one blind; a man whose affections are imperfect, who is like one broken; and one who not having these defects, but yet being unable to make progress in spiritual life, or to exhibit his knowledge or affection in his actions, who is like one lame, cannot acceptably worship the Lord! And so neither can he who, being enlightened internally and well disposed, and with no want of vigour, yet allows his merely natural affections, which may be compared to sores or a discharge; his merely sensual powers, which resemble the scurvy; or his merely corporeal delights, which may be compared to the scab, do so. We see that all this is true, and we feel bound, therefore, to heed well the Word in its internal sense as here set before us.
But now the next verse has a qualification which is not to be overlooked. Where there is defective worship proceeding from the heart, and thus free, which is accompanied by innocence external or internal, denoted by the bullock or the lamb respectively, that worship is taken as if it were perfect. But if it is confirmed by the understanding as well, it cannot be acceptable. And we see the reasonableness of this. A vow, in the best sense, of course, means the determination of the understanding from the will, or, in other words, a willingness that the Lord may provide, but here, as being connected with imperfect worship, it signifies that worship confirmed by the understanding. But see 388o9, and observe that in the quotations from the Word confession refers to the will, and vows to the understanding. And with regard to the other two verses of the section, what has already been said concerning the heavenly marriage, and here concerning a blemish, is sufficiently illustrative.
And now suppose we for a moment consider only the literal sense of the rest of this description. Then it is not easy to conceive why, on the birth of a certain animal to be sacrificed, it should remain exactly seven days under its dam, and not more nor less; why it might be offered on the eighth day in particular; and why a sacrifice of thanksgiving was to be eaten on the day when it was offered, and not on the next day; while also it seems strange that the children of Israel should be required to hallow and worship the Divine Being principally on account of their deliverance from Egyptian bondage. But when we are able, by the aid of the correspondences, and by enlightenment from the Lord, to enter into the internal sense, then we can understand why such particular directions were given even by the Lord Himself. It was in order that the Word might be written as it is for the benefit of the Spiritual Church which was to succeed the representative of a church in future ages. For the seven days denote the holy state of regeneration, and the eighth day the new state which succeeds; the mother and her young not being killed in one day denotes that the successive states of man's life ought not to be confused; the sacrifice of thanksgiving being eaten on the day in which it was offered, and none of it being left until the morning, signify that worship from gratitude should be conjoined with worship from love, and should not be contaminated with selfish love; and keeping the Lord's commandments, and not profaning His name, but hallowing Him, because of deliverance from Egyptian bondage, denote that obedience to the Lord with the holy states involved therein is to be because of deliverance from the bondage of the merely natural life, and consequent eternal conjunction with Him by love. But with regard to worship from gratitude, chap. vii. may also be reconsidered with advantage, as well as the commentary that follows it.
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