LEVITICUS 3
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Leviticus Chapter 3

Summary of the Spiritual Sense

1. The subject of the entire chapter is the worship of the Lord from a state of freedom when regeneration is completed, and also occasionally during regeneration; and such worship from natural good is described, vers. 1-5.
2. Then such worship from the good of innocence involved in charity, or love to the neighbour, vers. 6-11.
3. And lastly, such worship from the good of faith, which is charity manifested through the understanding, vers. 12-16.
4. But in every state of the worship of the Lord, no one can appropriate either truth or good as his own independently of the Lord, ver. 17.

1.  Here the peace offering signifies the worship of the Lord from freedom, 10097; it is said "promoting the conjunction of the External with the Internal," because when man has entered into the celestial state, described in the last chapter, and in consequence ceases to act from a principle of truth, and begins to act freely from love or good with delight and gratitude, this naturally brings the affections of the external man into conjunction and harmony with those of the internal, 3987; see also 93, 95; an offering of the herd signifies worship from the affections of the natural man, 5913, 6126; male and female signify as to truth and as to good, 725; and without blemish before the Lord signifies free from any admixture of evil and falsity, 7837.

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2.  This appears from the signification of laying his hand upon the head of the offering, as denoting the communication of power from the Internal to the External, 878, 10023; of killing it at the door of the tent of meeting, as denoting the preparation of the External by the acknowledgement of the Lord, and influx through the heavens, 10024, 2356, 3540³; and of sprinkling the blood on the altar round about, as denoting the conjunction of truth with good, and thus conjunction with the Lord, 9946, 10047.

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3.  The proofs are, that a peace offering denotes worship from freedom, 10097; an offering made by fire denotes the acknowledgement of the Lord from pure love, 10055; fat denotes good, 10033; the fat that covers the inwards or intestines and the fat that is upon them denote the lowest natural good as to understanding and will, because the understanding is not only, in the perfect man, the outward form and expression of the will, but is also the covering of the will, 10033, 353, 9632.

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4.  This is true, because as the inwards or intestines denote the lowest degree of good, so the two kidneys with the fat upon them denote a middle degree of truth and good, 10032, 10074, 353; the loins denote the conjunction of truth and good, 3915; the long lobe upon the liver denotes the interior good of the external or natural man, 10031; and this being taken away or separated with the kidneys, denotes that all these varieties of good are to be consecrated to the service of the Lord, as appears from the following verse.

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5.  Here, by Aaron's sons burning all this fat upon the altar upon the burnt offering, is denoted entire consecration to the Lord, as to the external or natural man, 10052; upon the wood, denotes acknowledgement at first as from a sense of meriting thereby, because the wood signifies the good of merit, 2784; upon the fire, denotes afterwards from pure love, 934; and an offering made by fire of a sweet savour to the Lord denotes worship from pure love, which is grateful and acceptable to the Lord, and productive of heavenly rest and peace, 10052, 10054.

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6.  This is shown as follows: a peace offering of the flock signifies worship from freedom under the influence of spiritual affection, 5913, 6126, 10097; male or female signifies as to truth or as to good, 725; and without blemish signifies free from contamination with evil and falsity, 7837.

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7.  This is demonstrated from the signification of a lamb as denoting the good of innocence, 3994; in this reference we are also told that the iamb may denote charity, and the reason why, namely, that the original Hebrew word means a sheep as well as a lamb, 4169; and to offer the sacrifice before the Lord evidently denotes to acknowledge the Lord in worship, 10227, 9373.

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8.  Here, laying his hand on the head of his oblation denotes the communication of power to worship from the Lord through inmost principles to the internal or spiritual principle, chap 1:4, 10023; killing the animal denotes preparation for worship, 10024, 2356, 3540³; 10025, by influx through the heavens, and conjunction with the Lord. Also sprinkling the blood on the altar round about denotes the conjunction of the spiritual man with the Lord, 10047.

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9.  In this verse, an offering made by fire to the Lord denotes that which brings joy and peace, because grounded in love, 10055; the fat thereof denotes celestial good internal, 10033; the fat tail entire denotes celestial good external, or in ultimates, and perfect, 10070, 7837; taken away hard by the backbone denotes separation from merely natural love, 10071; and the fat that covers the inwards and the fat that is upon them denote the lowest good of the natural man as to the understanding and as to the will, ver. 3.

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10.  This is true, because, as the inwards or intestines denote the lowest degree of good, so the two kidneys with the fat that is upon them denote a middle degree of truth and good, 10032, 10074, 353; the loins denote the conjunction of truth with good, 3915; the long lobe upon the liver denotes the interior good of the external or natural man, 10031; and this being taken away or separated with the kidneys, denotes that all these varieties of good are to be consecrated to the service of the Lord, as appears from the following verse.

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11.  This is true also, because burning the sacrifice upon the altar denotes consecration to the Lord, 10053; and the food, or bread of the offering made by fire to the Lord, denotes the celestial principle of love from Him, 276, 10055.

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12.  This may be seen from the signification of a goat, as denoting the good of faith, which is the same as the good of truth, 4169; and of its being offered before the Lord, as evidently denoting the acknowledgement of the Lord, 10227, 9373.

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13.  By laying the hand on the head of the offering is denoted that the internal man shall flow into the external, that is, into this good of faith, with power, 10023; killing the animal before the tent of meeting denotes preparation by influx through the heavens, 10024, 3540³; and the sons of Aaron, sprinkling the blood upon the altar round about denotes that Divine Truth is conjoined with Divine Good, by means of holy truths derived from celestial good, 10047, 9946.

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14.  The proofs are, that the oblation, which was a peace offering, denotes worship from freedom, 10097; that an offering made by fire to the Lord denotes the acknowledgement of the Lord from pure love, 10055; that fat denotes good, 10033; that the fat covering the inwards or intestines denotes the lowest natural good as to the understanding; and the fat upon them, the same as to the will, 10033, 353. 9632.

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15.  This is true, because, as the inwards or intestines denote the lowest degree of good, so the two kidneys with the fat upon them denote a middle degree of truth and good, 10032, 10074, 353; the loins denote the conjunction of truth with good, 3915; the long lobe upon the liver denotes the interior good of the external or natural man, 10031; and this being taken away or separated with the kidneys denotes that all these varieties of good are to be consecrated to the service of the Lord, as appears from the following verse.

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16.  This is true also, because burning the sacrifice on the altar denotes consecration to the Lord, 10052; the food, or bread of the offering made by fire to the Lord, denotes the celestial principle of love from Him, 276, 10055; a sweet savour, or an odour of rest, denotes what is productive of heavenly rest and peace, 10054; and all the fat being the Lord's, denotes that all celestial good is from the Lord, 10033.

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17.  This is demonstrated from the signification of a perpetual statute, as denoting a perpetual law of Divine Order, 7884, 7931; of throughout generations, as denoting regeneration by the reception of good, 1041; of eating, as denoting appropriation, 2187; of fat, as denoting celestial good, 10033; and of blood, as denoting Divine Truth, 10026.

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We now proceed to make some remarks of a general character on this whole chapter. When man has passed from the spiritual into the celestial state, and thus, when love prevails, it is evident that he comes into essential freedom, for all freedom is of the ruling love.

Yet it must not be supposed that his worship of the Lord was not free before. It was so, indeed, but it was not fully in freedom. In order to worship the Lord truly in any state the worshiper must freely choose to do so; and he may do this even by compelling himself to act decidedly against his merely natural inclinations, and, in that case, he may often appear to worship not freely. Let him not, however, be discouraged, but persevere; for in perseverance to accomplish a good end there lies concealed the genuine freedom described by the sacrifices in this chapter in the very best sense.

But again, like the meal offering, these peace-making sacrifices may, in some places, describe the imperfect states of freedom just hinted at. For many a time in the course of our spiritual trials and temptations there arises within us a season of joy and peace, and freedom from care and anxiety, which is a foretaste of the true heavenly freedom which will finally be ours. And in such states we shall be prompted by gratitude and affection spiritually to offer our free-will offerings, or to embody our inward state in some action expressive of gratitude and delight; and such offerings, like our final peace offering, will, in their degree, not fail to promote the harmony of the internal and external man, without which full heavenly freedom could not exist and be permanent.

And these thoughts lead immediately to another consideration. In proportion as our natural man is purified, in the same proportion is true freedom established. And this shows why we have in the chapter before us such particular mention of the respective offices of the intestines, the kidneys and the liver which so exactly correspond to the functions of our spiritual purification in various degrees. All our evils, in fact, originate in the natural degree, and therefore in the natural degree are found the means of our cleansing.

Another thought also worthy of our notice is that the natural processes for the preservation of our bodies in health are not under our own direction. We may, by some actions, either injure or promote the proper course of these processes. But we never direct them. The Lord alone does that. And when we consider this truth as regards our very bodies, we can see in it a wonderful and confirming evidence of the existence and universality of the continual Divine presence and power. And so undoubtedly it is spiritually. We cannot purify ourselves from evil and falsity; it is the Lord alone who purifies, and this by various methods. The goodness of the Lord, even the real celestial principle, is present even in the ultimates of our spiritual being; and this goodness it is which aids us, and which must be preserved and consecrated to the Lord, because it comes from Him. This is denoted all through by the fat, yea, even in that part of our life which is represented by the intestines.

But goodness alone does not purify. It operates by truth. And the share of truth in discriminating from good, between truth and falsity, is represented by the two kidneys, as we have already seen. And here again the discrimination is so perfect that we feel we cannot claim the direction of the process. The Lord directs, but we have the power of co-operation with Him, both as regards the acquisition of truth and goodness.

And finally, it is to be observed (a) that the whole process of man's purification, by the exercise of power from the Lord freely or voluntarily, results in complete and eternal conjunction with Him, the course of purification always being in the natural man in a threefold way, as represented by the functions of the intestines, the kidneys and the liver, whether the subject of regeneration be a natural or spiritual man; and (b) that it is impossible for any one to eternity to receive either truth or good from the Lord so as to have it inherent in himself, the regenerated man being only a continual receptacle of these blessings, and thus, too, continually dependent upon his Creator and Redeemer and Regenerator for every good and perfect spiritual power and natural delight.

LEVITICUS 3    Other translations  -  previous  -  next  -  notes  -  discussion  -  Leviticus  -  BM Home  -  Full Page