-
and the lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in
the tent of meeting, on the first day of the second month, in the second year
after they were come out of the land of Egypt, saying,
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There is revelation from the Lord by Divine Truth, or the Divine Law, to
the man of the Spiritual Church, through the heavens, when he is in a state of
obscure good because truths are not, as yet, implanted in good; and this
revelation gives the perception, in a state of faith about to be conjoined with
charity, and in a state of deliverance from evil by the Lord's work of
redemption.
[more]
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Take you the sum of all if congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to
the number of the names, every male, by their polls;
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That man ought to know from the Lord, who ordinates and arranges all his states, what his true quality is, not only in general
but also as to particulars, which particular quality is discerned from his
truths by investigation, and according to a certain order,
[more]
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From twenty years old and upward, all that are able to go forth to war in
Israel, you and Aaron shall number them by their hosts.
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In those who are in a state of intelligence, and in those who are in the
good of truth and who are prepared to engage in conflict against evil. And this
quality is discovered from the Word, and by the influx of Divine Good, according
to general and particular associated goods and truths,
[more]
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And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of his
fathers' house.
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And by the instrumentality of the general principles of the church, each
grounded in its own good.
[more]
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And these are the names of the men that shall stand with you: of Reuben;
Elizur the son of Shedeur.
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And the quality of these principles, thus subordinated to Divine Truth and
Divine Good, is as follows: faith in the understanding which is the foundation
of the church and is derived from charity;
[more]
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Of Simeon; Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai.
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Obedience giving interior peace with God, and founded on this protecting
faith;
[more]
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Of Judah; Nahshon the son of Amminadab.
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Celestial love endowed with the perception of truth, derived from primary
truth from good;
[more]
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Of Issachar; Nethanel the son of Zuar.
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The same externally, the good of celestial conjugial love, which is mutual
love in the celestial heavens, derived from a state of profound humility which
is the gift of God, or of the Divine Providence.
[more]
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Of Zebulun; Eliab the son of Helon.
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The heavenly marriage, or truth conjoined with good and derived therefrom;
[more]
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Of the children of Joseph: of Ephraim; Elishama the son of Ammihud: of
Manasseh; Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur.
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The inmost good of the spiritual heaven, or celestial spiritual good,
from which springs the new state of truth, embodied in obedience to truth
derived from the love of good; and the new will of good embodied in the love of
reward as if from self, the knowledge of the truth and separation from evil; and
derived from the Lord through the work of redemption;
[more]
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Of Benjamin; Abidan the son of Gideoni.
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The truth of the spiritual heaven, the medium between the spiritual and
the natural, appearing as truth from good springing from opposition to evil;
[more]
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Of Dan; Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai.
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The truth of the natural man, which is the affirmation of truth, grounded
in good which aids, derived from Divine Truth which protects man in temptation;
[more]
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Of Asher; Pagiel the son of Ochran.
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Inmost natural delight, appearing as opposition to evil by the power of
Divine Truth, and derived from a state of spiritual trial and affliction;
[more]
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Of Gad; Eliasaph the son of Deuel.
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Good works, or the good of life, the perfection of good and truth in act
derived from the revelation of truth from God;
[more]
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Of Naphtali; Ahira the son of Enan.
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And resistance to evil, temptation, and freedom thence, appearing as a
principle of good derived from the Divine Word.
[more]
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These are they that were called of the congregation, the princes of the tribes of their fathers;
they were the heads of the thousands of Israel.
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These are the general truths of the church, and their order with man during a state of instruction,
having relation respectively to the celestial, spiritual and natural degrees of
his mind.
[more]
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And Moses and Aaron took these men which are expressed by name:
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And these are subordinate to Divine Truth and Divine Good, having each a
specific quality.
[more]
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And they assembled all the congregation together on the first day of the
second month, and they declared their pedigrees after their families, by their
fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and
upward, by their polls.
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But when these truths are to be arranged under good during the process of
regeneration they are arranged according to the state as to their spiritual and
celestial life, and according to their specific quality in respect to
intelligence in truth, the acquirement of the good of truth, and individual
experience.
[more]
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As the lord commanded Moses, so he numbered them in the wilderness
of Sinai.
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And this can only be done by the Lord Himself from His Divine Love by His
Divine Truth, when man is passing from a state of instruction in which he is in
obscure good from deficiency of truths, to a state of regeneration in which he
advances towards a state of good.
[more]
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And the children of Reuben, Israel's firstborn, their generations, by
their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names,
by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all that were able
to go forth to war;
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And during regeneration faith in the understanding, which has priority
according to spiritual birth, as to its spiritual and celestial life, and
according to its specific quality, individual experience, intelligence in
truths, the reception of the good of truth, and capacity for spiritual conflict,
[more]
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Those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Reuben, were forty and six thousand and five hundred.
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Has a quality according to ordination and arrangement, of truth confirmed by victories in temptation both as to understanding
and will in all fullness.
[more]
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Of the children of Simeon, their generations, by their families, by their
fathers' houses, those that were numbered thereof, ac-cording to the number of
you names, by their polls, every male from twenty years old and upward, all
that were able to go forth to war;
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Also during regeneration, faith in the will, or obedience as to its
spiritual and celestial life, and according to its specific quality, individual
experience, intelligence in truths, the reception of the good of truth, and
capacity for spiritual conflict,
[more]
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Those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Simeon, were fifty and
nine thousand and three hundred.
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Has a quality, according to ordination and arrangement, of incipient
conjunction, and completeness as to truths.
[more]
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Of the children of Gad, their generations, by their families, by their
fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and
upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
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Also during regeneration, good works, or the good of life, as to
spiritual and celestial experience, and according to its specific quality,
intelligence in truths, the reception of the good of truth, and capacity for
spiritual conflict,
[more]
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Those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Gad, were forty and
five thousand six hundred and fifty.
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Has a quality, according to ordination and arrangement, of fullness of the
conjunction of good and truth through temptations.
[more]
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Of the children of Judah, their generations, by their families, by
their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years
old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
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Also during regeneration, celestial love, according to spiritual and
celestial life and as to its specific quality, intelligence in truths, the
reception of the good of truth, and capacity for spiritual conflict,
[more]
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Those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Judah, were threescore
find fourteen thousand and six hundred.
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Has a quality according to ordination and arrangement of a state of rest
and peace, arising from the conjunction of good and truth through victory in
temptations.
[more]
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Of the children of Issachar, their generations, by their
families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from
twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
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Also during regeneration, mutual love, as to its spiritual and celestial
life, and according to its specific quality, intelligence in truths, the
reception of the good of truth, and capacity for spiritual conflict,
[more]
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Those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Issachar, were fifty
and four thousand and four hundred.
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Has a quality, according to ordination and arrangement, of full
conjunction as to good and truth in the external celestial heaven, resulting
from a state of rest and peace internally.
[more]
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Of the children of Zebulun, their generations, by their families, by
their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years
old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
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Also during regeneration, the heavenly marriage as to its spiritual and
celestial life, and according to its specific quality, intelligence in truths,
the reception of the good of truth, and capacity for the spiritual conflict,
[more]
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Those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Zebulun, were fifty and
seven thousand and four hundred.
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Has a quality, according to ordination and arrangement, of fullness of the
conjunction of the celestial and spiritual heavens producing rest and peace in
the spiritual and natural degrees as well as in the celestial.
[more]
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Of the children of Joseph, namely, of the children of Ephraim,
their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to
go forth to war;
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Also during regeneration, the inmost good of the spiritual man, called
the celestial of the spiritual, from which springs the new understanding of
truth, as to its spiritual and celestial life thence, and as to its specific quality,
intelligence in truths, the reception of the good of truth, and capacity for
spiritual conflict,
[more]
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Those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Ephraim, were forty
thousand and five hundred.
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Has a quality, according to ordination and arrangement, of fullness of the
perception of good and truth as the result of spiritual conflict and victory.
[more]
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Of the children of Manasseh, their generations, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the
number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth
to war;
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Also during regeneration, the new will of good, derived from the
celestial of the spiritual, as to its spiritual and celestial life, and
according to its specific quality, intelligence in truths, the reception of the
good of truth, and capacity for spiritual conflict,
[more]
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Those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty and two thousand and two hundred.
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Has a quality according to ordination and arrangement, of completeness of
the conjunction of charity and faith.
[more]
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Of the children of Benjamin, their generations, by their families,
by their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty
years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
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Also during regeneration, the inmost truth of the spiritual man, called
the spiritual of the celestial, and the medium between the spiritual and the
natural, as to its spiritual and celestial life, and according to its specific
quality, intelligence in truths, the reception of the good of truth, and
capacity for spiritual conflict.
[more]
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Those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Benjamin, were thirty
and five thousand and four hundred.
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Has a quality, according to ordination and arrangement, of fullness and
rest and peace for the natural man, as the result of its conjunction with the
spiritual, through the activity of ultimate spiritual life.
[more]
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Of the children of Dan, their generations, by their families, by their
fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and
upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
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Also during regeneration, the affirmation of truth in the natural man, as
to its spiritual and celestial life, and according to its specific quality,
intelligence in truths, the reception of the good of truth and capacity for
spiritual conflict,
[more]
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Those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Dan, were threescore
and two thousand and seven hundred.
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Has a quality, according to ordination and arrangement, of fullness of the
conjunction of truth with good in the natural man producing a state of holiness
and peace there.
[more]
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Of the children of Asher, their generations, by their families, by their
fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and
upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
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Also during regeneration, inmost natural delight, as to its spiritual and
celestial life, and according -to its specific quality, intelligence in truths,
the reception of the good of truth, and capacity for spiritual conflict,
[more]
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Those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Asher, were forty and
one thousand and five hundred.
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Has a quality, according to ordination and arrangement, of delight
derived from a full course of spiritual temptations, a new state, and full
conjunction with truths affirmed.
[more]
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Of the children of Naphtali, their generations, by their families, by
their fathers' houses, according to the number of the names, from twenty years
old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war;
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And also during regeneration, resistance to evil, temptation, and freedom
thence, as to its spiritual and celestial life, and according to its specific
quality, intelligence in truths, the reception of the good of truth, and
capacity for spiritual conflict,
[more]
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Those that were numbered of them, of the tribe of Naphtali, were fifty
and three thousand and four hundred.
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Has a quality, according to ordination and arrangement, of fullness and
completeness as to good conjoined with truth, and perfect freedom even in ultimates.
[more]
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These are they that were numbered, which Moses and Aaron numbered, and
the princes of Israel, being twelve men: they were each one for his fathers'
house.
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And all these involve the particular truths of the church, which are
ordinated and arranged by Divine Truth and Divine Good, during man's
co-operation, in the process of regeneration; and by means of primary truths,
each grounded in its own good.
[more]
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So all they that were numbered of the children of Israel by their
fathers' houses, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go
forth to war in Israel;
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And thus they are ordinated and arranged with the man of the Spiritual
Church, according to primary good, commencing from an intelligent perception and
reception of the truths and goods of faith, and proceeding through conflicts
against
[more]
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Even all they that were numbered were six hundred thousand and three thousand and five hundred and fifty.
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Until, by this process, man acquires through a full course of temptation,
perfection of character both as to truth and as to good; or as to understanding
and will.
[more]
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But the Levites after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them.
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But, as yet, man is not permitted to know his quality as to love and
charity.
[more]
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For the lord spoke to Moses, saying,
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For it is according to Divine Good, giving perception to those who are in
Divine Truths,
[more]
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Only the tribe of Levi you shall not number, neither shall you take the sum of them among the children of Israel:
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That man, at first, shall not be in his true order and arrangement as to
good, and that neither can he know his genuine quality as to good by means of
truths.
[more]
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But appoint you the Levites over the tabernacle of the testimony, and over all the furniture
thereof, and over all that belongs to it: they shall bear the tabernacle, and
all the furniture thereof; and they shall minister to it, and shall encamp
round about the tabernacle.
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While yet good shall minister to Divine Truths, as to internals, as to exteriors, and as to
externals; and moreover, all procedure and progress shall be according to good
internally and externally, and good shall be primary as proceeding from Divine
Truth through the heavens.
[more]
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And when the tabernacle sets forward, the Levites shall take it down:
and when the tabernacle is to be pitched, the Levites shall set it up: and the
stranger that comes near shall be put to death.
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And thus when changes of state occur in the course of regeneration, the
old state shall pass away, and the new state shall be inaugurated according to
good, and by no means according to truths separated from good; for a state of
truth without good is a state of spiritual death.
[more]
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And the children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man by his own
camp, and every man by his own standard, according to their hosts.
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For the man of the church will take up his position, during regeneration,
according to the state of good in which he is as to general principles, and of
truth as agreeing therewith; and this as to particulars and generals together.
[more]
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But the Levites shall pitch round about the tabernacle of the testimony,
that there be no wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel: and the
Levites shall keep the charge of the tabernacle of the testimony.
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But love and charity shall be the central principles, immediately
subordinate to Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord through the heavens, in
order that man may not be averted from Him; and love and charity shall be the
governing principles in heaven and the church, whose inmost is Divine Truth from
the Lord Himself.
[more]
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Thus did the children of Israel; according to all that the lord
commanded Moses, so did they.
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And thus the man of the church is obedient to Divine Good manifested in
Divine Truth, and is established in the heavenly life.
[more]
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It is not the province of this work to provide an elaborate reply to the
merely rationalistic views on the Word, or to the arguments of the Higher
Criticism, as to the character and origin of its various parts; but as our
subject is the development of the spiritual teaching thereof, we adhere, as a
rule, to that. We cannot refrain, however, from pointing out and emphasizing the
integrity of the literal sense. For if the literal sense has not been preserved
since it was written, as to all its particulars, then it follows that it will
not be a proper vehicle for the conveyance of the spiritual sense; and,
moreover, if it is not, generally speaking, true history, then we have no
authentic history of the states of the ancient churches, of the lives of the
patriarchs, of the Israelites and their worship, of the Lord Himself in human
life, or of the first establishment of the Christian Church, with the promise of
its revival in the consummation of the age. It is as important, therefore, to
recognize and acknowledge that, on the one hand, the Word in its literal sense
is true history, and the work of the Lord, as it is, on the other, to understand
and apply to life the spiritual sense, 1408, SS 13. And this first chapter in
the book of Numbers, considered in its connection with the last chapter of the
book of Leviticus, supplies us with another example of the continuity of the
Word, because both have reference to the same subject internally, if not quite
to the same subject externally. Now this is evidently not the effect of an
accident, but is really owing to the continuation of the series in the internal
sense. For the literal sense is the result of the internal sense, and thence
corresponds to it. The estimation, therefore, in Leviticus and the numbering in
Numbers, refer respectively to internal and external things. The former is a
valuation as to capacity for worshiping the Lord, and the latter as to capacity
for engaging in the conflict of temptation.
Now, one of the most profound, comprehensive, and practical of the doctrines
of the Word and the teachings of the Writings of the church is that man is
created and regenerated into the image and likeness of the Lord; and that on
this account heaven, taken all together, resembles one Grand Man; that every
society in heaven is a man in a less form; and that every angel is a man in the
least form; from all which it follows that all men are created, and each man is
created, with a capacity for heaven, while at the same time no one is created or
born, distinctly, for heaven or for hell, but the final condition of each must
be the result of his own free choice, all this being involved in the idea of a
human being. And from this we may see how the twelve sons of Jacob, and thence
the twelve tribes of Israel, may represent all human beings, while, also,
each human being, or each angel, may be a miniature heaven, and yet have a
specific quality or ruling love of his own, just as no single son or tribe
represented and signified exactly the same general principle. And when we come
to see, also, that no two human beings can be exactly alike to eternity, because
of the infinity of the Creator, and because no one born can possibly have the
same hereditary basis as another, we also see why, in the Word, the
signification of each tribe is not always exactly the same. For the Word is
infinite as well as the Lord, and, therefore, the infinite meaning of each tribe
cannot be denied. And thus, to take one or two examples, the faith in the
understanding, denoted by Reuben, or the resistance to evil denoted by Naphtali,
cannot be exactly the same in two persons; and yet the correspondence is exact and true and good. And this should convince each of
us of his own importance in the best sense, and induce each of us above all
things to be himself from the Lord by earnest, constant, and patient endeavour.
Next, we want a comprehensive and practical view of the series of things so
often unavoidably repeated, and yet in each case expressing a different quality,
according to the tribe in connection with which it is used.
But there are, in heaven, families and houses, that is, general and
particular states of good. And we cannot separate these, although they are to be
distinguished. We must belong, for example, to some heavenly society, and, also,
we must have our own specific use or function in it. How relatively imperfect
are the associations of this world; and how often does it happen that a person
has a business in which he is engaged many years, or throughout life, which is
quite uncongenial. But it is not so in regeneration, nor will it be so in
heaven. Can we imagine anything so delightful as right associations, and the
perfect suitability of the function to the person, and of the person to the
function? Now this makes us understand how heaven is what it is from state, and
not from place. And therefore the Lord leads the regenerating man, by a way that
he knows not, into this true liberty of the children of God, even through the
adverse circumstances in which, nevertheless, he is faithful and obedient.
Again, by their polls, every male, must join the army of the Lord. This means
that a man must do so, as to his own particular understanding of truth, and as
to his own life thence derived, because the new life is formed by truths, into
which good is insinuated by the Lord; for the life which a man has by natural
birth cannot be regenerated, and vitiates the truths first received into the
memory and understanding. The reason is, because it is the selfish life. And
hence it is said, "by their polls," every male, evidently involving good
conjoined with truth, by the removal of evil internally, since faith in the best
sense implies this, 30, and the polling, or counting by heads, involves the
influence of good in the selection and arrangement of truths, 10217, 3728. The
practical teaching here involved, therefore, is that each ought carefully to
cultivate his own capacity for good.
But, further, the male must be from twenty years old and upward, rind this,
as we have already seen, denotes a state of intelligence as lo truths; and he
must be able to go forth to war, or, spiritually, to engage successfully in
temptations. What a very extensive and active life do these two requirements
include! He is not intelligent as to truths, who is simply a great man of
science, or a natural philosopher, or even a great theologian. Very few indeed,
comparatively, can be such. But every one is intelligent in truths, if he only
knows a few, and at the same time knows how to use them from the best and
highest motives. And hence it is said of the king that should one day reign over the Israelites, "He shall not multiply horses to
himself," because the horse denotes intelligence, and multiplying horses
signifies intelligence that is active from selfish motives, or for the sake of
worldly glory. And then, again, consider what is implied in spiritual conflicts
of the right kind. A man who has a strong natural tendency to be passionate, has
been known suddenly to restrain, and apparently to overcome that tendency from a
strong selfish desire not to offend a person in whose presence he was; and thus
to overcome the temptation, as we might say; but this was not properly a
spiritual temptation, which requires that the person tempted should resist evil,
because to do evil is to sin against the Lord; because he loves the truth; or
because he desires to be good.
With regard to the signification and order of the tribes, we do not need to
say more than is contained in the introductory note; but it is necessary to
consider the numbering of each tribe. Spiritually to number is to perceive the
quality of things; and, of course, the power to do this is from the Lord. And it
is interesting to observe, in this chapter, that the numbers of each of the
tribes do describe its quality in harmony with the signification of the tribe.
And this is easily ascertained by going through the series of the internal sense
of each verse and making the comparison, at the same time noting that the
correspondence of each number is according to the signification of the
fundamental numbers in each case, as the references show. And this holds good
not only as to each tribe, but also as to all the tribes taken together in
ver. 46.
The great lesson, therefore, that we may all learn from the study of this
subject, is that names and numbers are particularly applied and accepted, in the
Word throughout, to the requirement of the internal sense; and yet that, by
Divine Providence, they are harmonious also in the literal sense, since the sum
of all the numbers in each tribe is exactly equal to the total number for all
the tribes together. Now some people, while admitting a general providence, are
not disposed to think that there is a particular providence in regard to all
things, although we are assured that the very hairs of our head are numbered, in
order to impress this upon us. But the government of the Infinite Lord is not
like that of an earthly sovereign, who rules by means of subordinate officials;
for this is contrary to a just and intelligent idea of the Infinite. The Lord,
therefore, rules in particulars as the Infinite and not as the finite, at
the same time that there is also an orderly subordination on account of Divine
Providence being general as well as particular. And hence we arrive at the truth
that the Lord's operation is as much in particular things, as in general things,
and that He cares for each individual as much as for the whole community. And,
undoubtedly, the more we realize this particular providence of the Lord, the
more we shall feel content in Him. But if we indulge the notion that, so to
speak, He is too busy in governing generally to watch over ourselves and provide
for us, it follows that we must fall into doubts and anxieties. We have only to
look back over our own lives, however, in order to discover that unless we had
been particularly taken care of, we should certainly have been ruined by our own
waywardness and folly. And this is felt even by the angels, 868. We cannot
think, therefore, that any human being either in heaven or in hell is not
constantly protected by the infinite mercy and lovingkindness of the Lord in a
most particular manner. And all this happens without interfering in the
slightest degree with the proper exercise, by every one, of his own life.
But now, there is one more point which has not been considered. It is that
the tribe of Levi was not permitted to be numbered along with the other tribes,
but, as we shall see, afterwards distinctly by itself. What, then, does this
indicate spiritually? It is that, during regeneration, no one can know fully
what his true spiritual position is. That is, no one can discern his own
particular good, except very obscurely, in this life. For it is good, or
charity, or love, which is specifically denoted by the tribe of Levi. But this
want of perception, which is sure to cease in the end, need not discourage us.
It arises from our imperfect preparatory states; and every one knows that, in
his early life, he had not any idea, even of his natural capacities, such as he
knows them to be later on in life. In due time, therefore, we shall reap the
reward of all our earnest labours to attain to the higher life, if we faint not.