NUMBERS 19      Other translations  -  previous  -  next  -  notes  -  discussion  -  Numbers  -  BM Home  -  Full Page

Numbers Chapter 19

Summary of the Spiritual Sense

1. There is revelation that the impure truth of the natural man is to be devoted to the Lord through truth proceeding from good; that it is to be prepared for purification; that it must be acknowledged to come from the Lord and must, therefore, be conjoined with good in the course of regeneration, vers. 1-4.
2. All falsity and evil are to be separated from the truth; and through the influence of truth from good, purification shall be effected by the truths of the Word; and further particulars are then given concerning this process, vers. 5-10.
3. Several cases are given in which this law of purification is to be applied; and in short, every one who does not apply this law by the confession that of himself he is nothing but evil, must remain in a state of impurity and be separated from the church, vers. 9, 11-22.

1.  This is evident, because by Jehovah, is denoted the Divine Being as to His love, 2001; by speaking is denoted influx, 2951; by Moses is represented Divine Truth, or the Word, 7010; by Aaron is represented Divine Good, 9946; and by saying is denoted perception, 1822.

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2.  By the statute of the law, which the Lord has commanded, saying, is denoted the truth in reference to external things derived from internal, 7995; by "which the Lord has commanded saying," is denoted according to Divine Order by illustration from influx, 2001, 5486; speak to the children of Israel, denotes with the man of the Spiritual Church, 2951, 3654; their bringing a red heifer, denotes the impure truth of the natural man, 5198³; without spot denotes that, from the Lord, truth is perfect, 7837; wherein is no blemish, denotes free from falsity, 7837; and upon which never came yoke, denotes not having any conjunction with evil, 3603, 9262'.

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3.  Giving the heifer to Eleazar the priest, denotes devotion to the Lord through truth proceeding from good, 5619, 9812; bringing her forth without the camp, denotes that then it is seen to form no part of heavenly order, 4236; and one slaying her before his face, denotes that, therefore, interior good requires that it shall be prepared for purification, 10024.

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4.  Eleazar the priest taking of her blood with his finger, and sprinkling it toward the front of the tent of meeting seven times, denotes that truth must be acknowledged to come from the Lord through the heavens, 9812, 10047, 3540³ ; and sprinkling seven times, denotes conjunction with heavenly good in the course of regeneration, and thus a state of holiness, 10047, 84, 716.

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5.  One burning the heifer in the sight of Eleazar, denotes that falsity and evil are to be separated through the influence of truth from good, 10053, 9812 ; and her skin, and her flesh and her blood, with her dung being burnt, denotes separation completely, as to things most external, as to things interior, and as to inmost things, and thus as to all things unclean or infernal by enduring temptations, 10036, 1035, 5476, 10037, 7861.

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6.  The priest taking cedar wood, hyssop, and scarlet, and casting them into the midst of the burning of the heifer, denotes that through the influence of celestial good, purification shall be effected by truths interior and exterior, and by good, 7918, 4922, 9946, 7861.

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7.  By the priest washing his clothes, and bathing himself in water, is denoted that thus truth and good shall be purified from falsity, 5747, 5006, 683 ; by coming into the camp is denoted coming into heavenly order, 4236; and by being unclean until the evening is denoted until the state of purification is completed, 10130, 7844.

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8.  He that burns her washing his clothes in water, bathing his flesh in water, and being unclean until the evening, denotes that thus also interior good in the natural man, which rejects evil and falsity, must be cleansed until the state of purification is completed, ver. 5, 3147, 5006, 683, 10130, 7844. It is said here, "interior good in the natural man," because Eleazar the priest, denotes the interior good of the spiritual man, and Aaron the interior good of the celestial man; and also because we may assume very fairly that the person who burned the heifer was a Levite, 10017.

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9.  By a man that is clean is denoted the truth purified, 429, 4545; by gathering up the ashes of the heifer, is denoted the preservation of things that have served their use, 679, 9723; by laying them up without the camp in a clean place, is denoted the removal of such things, and their preservation in the memory separated from the heavenly life, the state of separation being pure, 4236, 2625, 4545; by being kept for the congregation, or rather assembly, of the children of Israel for a water of separation, is denoted what is preserved as an aid to man's purification by truth, 868; and by its being a sin offering, is denoted that it involves the confession on his part that, of himself, he is nothing but evil, 868, 3400.

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10.  He that gathers the ashes of the heifer, washing his clothes, and being unclean until the evening, denotes that even he who is in purified truth internally, is yet impure externally, and confesses this, being impure until the state ends, 429, 4545, 3147, 5006, 10130, 7844; and it being to the children of Israel, and to the stranger that sojourns among them, for a statute for ever, denotes that, indeed, this confession is to be made alike by the man of the internal church as by the man of the external, and is to be perpetual with him, 3654, 1463, 7884.

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11.  He that touches the dead body of any man being unclean seven days, denotes that every action from falsity derived from evil which has been acknowledged, produces a state of impurity, which can only be removed by regeneration and purification, 10130, 3900¹⁰, 429, 84, 716.

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12.  The same purifying himself with the water of separation on the third day, and on the seventh day being clean, denotes that purification must be perfect and complete both as to truth and as to good, 4545, ver. 9, 901, 84, 716, 720, 683; and if he purify not himself on the third day, on the seventh day not being clean, denotes that purification must be continual during regeneration, for if this is not so, then no state of perfect regeneration can be reached, because the third day and the seventh both denote completeness and holiness, and thus involve all the states of regeneration signified by the days of creation in Genesis i.

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13.  Whosoever touching the dead body of any man, and not purifying himself defiling the tabernacle of the Lord, denotes that therefore every one acting from the falsity of evil, which is no longer, with him, a ruling motive, and not confessing his error that the Lord may purify him, renders his worship of the Lord impure, 10130, 3900¹⁰, 3210; being cut off from Israel, denotes separation from the truth, 5302, 3654; and his being unclean because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, his uncleanness yet being upon him, denotes that he can only be restored by the application of the truth, which involves the confession that of himself he is nothing but evil, and hence that he is impure both as to the understanding and will, ver. 9, 10130, 683.

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14.  This being the law when a man dies in a tent: every one that comes into the tent and every one that is in the tent being unclean seven days, denotes the law for purification from falsity grounded in evil; namely, every one affected with it, although the evil of that falsity be not his own, is yet impure and must be purified according to the order of regeneration; and every one to whom that evil appertains is impure, and must be purified according to the order of regeneration, 5407, 1566, 6901, 1293, 10130, 84, 716.

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15.  Every open vessel which has no covering bound upon it being unclean, denotes that every one who is in spiritual truths, which are recipient of good; which, as yet, are not properly distinguished from natural things, and by which natural things are not regulated, is impure, 4875, 5145, 10130.

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16.  Whosoever in the open field touches one that is slain with the sword, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, being unclean seven days, denotes that every one, being a man of the church, who is contaminated with falsity, which is destruction of truth; by falsity from evil; by falsity from selfishness; or by falsity from the hells, is impure until fully regenerated, 6767, 3900¹⁰, 3812⁹, 2916⁶, 10130, 84, 716.

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17.  Taking, for the unclean, of the ashes of the burning of the sin offering, and running water being put thereto in a vessel, denotes that such impurity can only be removed by the confession that man of himself is nothing but evil, and by the application thereto of the living truths of the Word, which have been received into the memory, 10130, ver. 9, 3424, 3079.

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18.  A clean person taking hyssop and dipping it into the water, denotes that this must be effected by the operation of the truth of the Word as manifested in its literal sense, 4545, 7918, 3424; sprinkling denotes the conjunction of truth with good, and thus sanctification, 10047; the tent denotes the natural affections, 1566; the vessels denote the natural understanding, 3079; the persons that were there denote the interiors, 1293; and he who touched the bone, or the slain, or the dead, or the grave, denotes the spiritual or internal man which has been contaminated by selfish feelings, by false persuasions, by falsities from evil, or by falsities from the hells, ver. 16.

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19.  The clean person sprinkling upon the unclean on the third day and upon the seventh day, denotes that this purification must be effected successively during regeneration until a state of good prevails, ver. 12; on the seventh day purifying him, denotes the complete removal of interior evils, 84, 716; washing his clothes and bathing himself in water, denotes the removal of exterior falsities and evils, 3147, 5006, 683; and being clean at even, denotes a consequent state of purity even as to the comparative obscurity of the external or natural man, 4545, 7844.

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20.  The man that is unclean and who does not purify himself being cut off from the midst of the assembly, or rather congregation, denotes that the man of the church who is conscious of his impurity, and yet deliberately remains in it, must of necessity be separated from all interior truths and good affections, 10130, vers. 7, 8, 5302, 7843; defiling the sanctuary of the Lord, denotes to profane the holy principles of the church, 10130, 3210; and the water of separation not having been sprinkled upon him, and his being unclean, denotes that he has not confessed that, of himself, he is nothing but evil, and that without this, impurity must remain, ver. 9, 10047, 10130.

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21.  It being a perpetual statute to them, denotes that this confession must be perpetual with the man of the church, 868, 7884; he that sprinkles the water of separation washing his clothes, denotes that every one making it sincerely will be purified externally as well as internally, 10047, ver. 9, 3147, 5006; and he that touches the water of separation being unclean until the evening, denotes that indeed the slightest contact with truth contaminated by the persuasion that it is self-derived, must inevitably be impure, until the obscurity arising from such contact is at its end, 10130, ver. 9, 7844.

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22.  Whatsoever the unclean person touches being unclean; and the soul that touches it being unclean until even, denotes that every truth is rendered impure by contact with evil; and that every contact with impure truth, produces a state of impurity that can only be removed in the course of regeneration, 10130, 1000, 1040, 7844.

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Discussion

Every one surely may see that all the ceremonials of this chapter were not enjoined to the Israelites by a direct revelation of the Lord Himself to Moses for the benefit of the Israelites, without containing in themselves interior spiritual instruction for the man of the church in all ages. We may therefore reverently study those ceremonials in the light of the doctrine of correspondences now made known to mankind in the Arcana Coelestia. Why, then, it may be asked, was this red heifer to be taken and to be given to Eleazar the priest, to be slain before his face, and her blood to be sprinkled toward the tent of meeting exactly seven times? It was because the heifer signifies the impure truth of the natural man, which is to be purified during the course of regeneration. But what is impure truth? Can the truth which comes from the Lord through the Word be really impure? Certainly it cannot. And that is just why it was commanded that the heifer chosen should be without spot, perfect, and one not having borne the yoke. All these things the references show. And it is well for us that we should recognize this initial fact concerning the truth. It is holy and inviolable; and no effort of man can contaminate it. For if we always thought of truth in that light and remembered the Divine commandment, "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain," we should live purer lives than we do live. But also there is another point. Why was the heifer to be red? It was because red denotes good, or affection, and especially natural affection; and natural affection also, as well as truth, as given to man by the Lord, is pure. But since this good is, before regeneration, corrupted by man's selfishness, therefore it becomes impure good, and defiles the truth which we learn from the Word, by misapplication. And thus we see what is meant by impure good and thence by impure truth, and also why the heifer was to be red. Now it is well known that we all act in the beginning of our lives from natural affection, without much thinking of whether our actions are right or wrong; and when we have learned some truths, we very often either ignore them, or contaminate them, so to speak, with our impure and selfish affections. And therefore we can easily see that we must be purified from our selfishness in order that the truth with us may be pure; and besides, it must be evident that we cannot be purified by anything else but the pure truth and good that are from the Lord.

And therefore, secondly, we can comprehend why the heifer was required to be especially one not having borne the yoke. It was to represent the necessity of not deliberately contaminating our truths.

We notice, however, the other points in the section, so as to have a clear conception of its scope, as a general introduction, in the spiritual sense to all that follows. The heifer was to be given to the priest to denote the acknowledgement that our natural life, as to affection and intelligence, is the continual gift of the Lord, and is to be devoted to Him. Here, then, is another fundamental and practical truth in religion. And yet how unwilling the natural man is, at first, to do this! But we take another step. Somebody was to slay the heifer before the eyes of the priest. And this means, generally, that there must be a preparation for purification. For the old selfish affection must be slain before the truth in us can be kept pure. Thus, then, the slaying truly signifies the work of repentance, or the continual rejection of evil as a sin against the Lord, which is signified by the slaying of the animal before the eyes of the priest, or in the light of truth proceeding from good, on account of the priest being Eleazar, which means God my help, or the help of God. But not only so; for there is one thing more. The priest was required to sprinkle the blood of the heifer seven times in front of the tent of meeting, to denote that regeneration consists in a progressive conjunction of truth with good according to the order of the three heavens, since every one is first natural, then spiritual, and then celestial according to his degree, and sprinkling denotes conjunction, while seven times denotes the holy process of regeneration from beginning to end, as the references show.

Having thus seen the general process, we are now to consider the particulars as set forth in the second section. And, first, there is the burning of the heifer in the presence of Eleazar. A burnt offering in the best sense signifies entire devotion to the Lord, but of course such an offering was burned upon the altar, and denoted consecration to the Lord by love to Him, because fire corresponds to love; while this heifer was not burned upon the altar, and hence the burning denotes purification by temptations, which are excitements of the lusts of the unregenerate man, on the one hand, and the influence of truth from good on the other, so that a conflict is produced, in which lusts and falsities are rejected, and thus the natural life is purified. And in fact, there is no other way of being purified from evil and falsity but this. It was by this means that the Lord Himself glorified or made Divine His Human Nature while He was in the world, expelling from it all the hereditary tendencies to evil derived from the virgin mother, and thus it was in this way that, by His own power acting in His Human life, He offered Himself up as a burnt offering. And herein we may see the proper connection between the enduring of temptations, which is signified by burning, in one sense, and the consecration of the Human of the Lord to the Divine, or its union with the Divine signified by a burnt offering in another sense; for the former were the means by which the latter was effected. And, indeed, the former were the means by which all mankind were delivered from the absolute dominion of evil, on the one hand, which constitutes the work of Redemption, while the latter was the full identification of the Human with the Divine, which is properly meant by the Atonement, so that every man who is willing may approach the Lord in worship, as the manifested God, continually reconciling mankind to Himself, and actually delivering each individual from evil, by enabling him to endure and overcome in temptations, to be conjoined for ever with Himself, and at the same lime, so to make his external man a perfect image and likeness of his internal, that by regeneration completed, he becomes a perfect angel in heaven, and a form of beauty and usefulness for ever.

Hence we may see, therefore, how very much is involved in the internal sense by the burning of the heifer.

But passing over the remaining particulars of this description of the burning, the meaning of which sufficiently appears from what is said in giving the references, we have to consider those which immediately follow. Since the heifer represents the impure truth of the natural man, we first observe in general that the slightest contact with what is spiritually impure requires that man should be cleansed by the operation of the truth of the Word, which is denoted by washing in water; and this is a correspondence very well understood by almost every one, from its being so frequently named in the Word, and also from the general practice of baptism in the Christian Church from its commencement. But who could have conceived that in the church of the past, and even with some at the present time, the act of baptism itself should have come to be considered as producing regeneration, even in an infant. On the contrary, how much more reasonable is it, and how much more according to the teaching of the Word, to recognize that washing, or baptism, is but the representative of regeneration, and may, therefore, be properly applied to an infant!

Returning, however, from this slight digression, we have to notice that the priest, as well as he who burned the heifer, and he who gathered the ashes, required washing, this properly denoting spiritual purification by the truth in successive order from Internals to Externals; for this purification is from the Lord, and His procedure is thus, while, at the same time, it begins in the Externals and proceeds to the Internals according to the man's experience. And it is also to be observed, that, while the priest, and he who did the burning, were required to wash their clothes, and also their bodies, the "clean" man, who gathered the ashes, had only to wash his clothes, and yet remained unclean until the evening. That is, he was externally impure by only gathering the ashes of the heifer, but not internally impure, still requiring external purification on account of that act. Now the first two cases in vers. 7-8, denote the complete purification of man. as to the understanding and will, denoted by washing the clothes and also the body, and complete purification also as to the interior and exterior man signified respectively by the priest and by him who burned the heifer; and then it follows, that this clean man, now represented by one person, who had gathered up the ashes of the heifer, was also required to wash only his clothes. What, then, does this signify? It means spiritually that when man has been purified, yet still there must be the removal of what has served its use, denoted by the ashes of the heifer, by means of purified truth with him. For as the. heifer represents the impure truth of the natural man, so its ashes denote the remnants of impure states, which, although they cannot be absolutely abolished, as was the Lord's hereditary maternal life by His glorification, 2159, 2265, may yet be so separated in the heavenly state, as to occasion no disturbance, and this process of removal is denoted by the ashes being taken and preserved without the camp in a clean place, this clean place denoting, not only the memory of man from which in reality nothing can ever be obliterated, but the pure state in which the discordant things therein become quiescent (868, 1581). Thus, then, the "ashes," that is what is signified by them, are outside the camp, so to speak, and are preserved.

But now follows the most interesting and particular part of this wonderful process. For the ashes were to be kept, it is said, for a water of separation. That is, they were to be mingled with the water by which persons were representatively purified. In the internal sense, however, this keeping of the ashes for that purpose clearly denotes that the remembrance of past states of evil, error, and impurity, is useful to the man of the church, as an aid in his regeneration, because it teaches him that when left to himself, his tendency is to decline into evil, and that nothing can save him except good from the Lord received by means of truth, and that this truth, which is represented by water that purifies, necessarily involves the acknowledgement that of himself he is nothing but evil, since otherwise he would not need purification. And hence we learn that this acknowledgement is so important, that no one ever was, or ever can be, admitted into heaven, and remain there, without it. For "man, notwithstanding his being regenerated, is nothing but evil and falsity; and to souls after death, this fact is shown to the life." Also a man "has nothing of good and truth except from the Lord, and he has all evil and falsity from the proprium." And thus "every man, and every spirit, yea, and every angel, if left even in the least degree to himself, would rush spontaneously into hell.... This the angels acknowledge; and he who does not acknowledge it cannot be with the angels," 868. Hence, then, we now see what the ashes of the heifer, and the water of separation really signify, and thus that there is no one in heaven who has not been made conscious that of himself alone he is nothing but evil, and that he could not have become so conscious, but by having experienced regeneration, involving deliverance from evil by the Lord.

And now it follows, therefore, according to the series, that he who in the course of regeneration has been internally purified by the reception of good from the Lord, and also externally purified by overcoming the evils in his natural man, through victory in temptations, is yet liable, until his Judgement is accomplished, to a recurrence of evil thoughts, this fact being represented by the necessary washing of the clothes of him who only gathered up the ashes of the heifer, and of his being impure until the evening. This, then, is the interpretation of the last verse in the section, the actual washing denoting here the acknowledgement of the regenerated man that, of himself, he remains nothing but evil, and can only be withheld therefrom by the Lord through the state of heavenly good which he has realized.

But we come now to the last section, and notice, first, its contents from vers. 11 to 16, What, spiritually, is the dead body of a man? It is an evil state that has been acknowledged, repented of, and rejected. And how do we accidentally or otherwise touch that "dead body"? We do so when the thought of that evil recurs. And what is our duty in this case? We must again and again reject evil with abomination and horror, 125. But if our repentance has not been genuine, but only external, or from a selfish motive, then it does not constitute regeneration. We must mark well that teaching. Now look at ver. 13. We may become a tabernacle of the Lord, that is, we may be in genuine worship. But also we may at that time touch the body of a dead man, we may, that is, indulge in an evil thought. What shall we then do? We must purify ourselves with the water of separation, that is, we must strengthen the acknowledgement that, of ourselves, we are nothing but evil; or we may—for we are still as yet at liberty to choose—fall back into actual sin. Let us, then, pray to the Lord and choose the better part. Again: we may die in a tent only, without defiling the tabernacle of the Lord, that is, the state of evil or falsity that recurs, may be of the natural and not of the spiritual man with us. Or it may even be a delusion from some evil spirit coming into our tent, or indeed our own evil that thus troubles us. Yet still we require regeneration, and, of course, the water of separation, spiritually, which is implied. But still again: the trouble caused by recurring evil, may only affect the external of the natural degree as to the will, denoted by an open vessel, or as to the understanding, signified by being in the field, and even then there is impurity and regeneration is required. And thus we see very clearly, that the internal sense is here in a series from internal states to external, and that evils and falsities of various kinds may endeavour to assert themselves with us even when our regeneration may be advanced.

And now, finally, we are to consider our duty in respect to these things, and also the evil consequences resulting from them. We must, in short, be in the perpetual acknowledgement that, of ourselves, we are only evil; that regeneration must continue until it is fully accomplished; and that persistent watchfulness is necessary lest we should violate the law of our Lord, all these being essential to our ultimate deliverance from evil, and on full establishment in good. But the contents of each verse, as given in the series, are sufficient for the purpose here required, without further illustration, since the various points named have already received attention. Since, however, touching signifies communication, translation, and reception, 10130, and, consequently, spiritual infection, we may learn an important lesson from this chapter, and in particular from the last two verses. Let us beware of this spiritual infection. Let us separate ourselves diligently from every slightest tendency to evil in ourselves; and let us rather, by a good life from the Lord, eagerly cultivate association with good men and angels, in order that we ourselves may become angels, and be eternally delighted in continually receiving good from the Lord, and in communicating good to others.