The Book of Numbers Interpreted and Explained,
by Rev. Henry MacLagan, 1913.
www.biblemeanings.info

PREFACE

After the publication of The Two Books of Kings Explained, in the early part of the year 1905, several very favourable notices of that work appeared in various periodicals; and this fact, combined with the expressed wishes of some ministers and friends, induced the writer to attempt and carry to a completion a similar work on the books of Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. And these were selected for the purpose, in order that the internal or spiritual sense of all the books of the Pentateuch might thus be before the public, and might show clearly the inner signification of all the laws of Moses.

With sincere thankfulness to the Lord, therefore, Who alone can enable any one to perceive, explain, and apply daily to life the hidden treasures of His Holy Word; and, at the same time, with due acknowledgments to those friends who have so highly appreciated the former work, the present volumes are now placed before the Church.

But some introductory and explanatory remarks are necessary. The general plan of this work is as follows: the summary of the spiritual sense of each chapter is placed first, so that the reader may have a general idea of its contents to begin with, and may thence proceed to the study of the particulars in each verse as given in the connected series, which immediately follows, printed in a parallel column with the text of the Revised Version, permission for its use having been kindly granted by the authorities of the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, all editorial responsibility, however, resting with the author. The advantage of this arrangement is obvious, as it affords a ready means of comparing, sentence by sentence, the internal sense of each verse with the text, and, besides this, adequately shows how well the continuity of the spiritual sense is sustained. And, indeed, this is not a slight advantage, as it is not always easy, when the mind is intent upon the sense of a particular part, to see that well, in connection with what goes before and with what follows. No doubt it is a spiritually profitable and delightful thing to be able to read a long portion of the Word itself and perceive the inner sense as we read, without much concerning ourselves with the literal sense, or appearing to notice it; but comparatively few have this faculty at present, and this is another reason why the aid here supplied is valuable. And in addition to this, the student who learns by means of this regularly written series to apprehend the connection and continuity of the spiritual sense, may thus be aided in following the order of that sense while reading the text; and as he becomes more and more familiar with the correspondences, and especially as he comes to understand the various spiritual principles that combine to make up the complex life of man, will he find himself enlightened concerning spiritual laws in relation to his own progress and regeneration.

Now these remarks are made to show the value of a connected statement of the internal sense expressed in ordinary language, and also to indicate the way in which any work like this may be studied with advantage. And lastly, on this point, if, as we know, the summaries of the internal sense written by Swedenborg himself, and the interesting general outlines thereof written by the Rev. John Clowes, M.A., and others, have been found so valuable, much more must a complete exposition be of use, if it is carefully expressed, in humble reliance on the Divine aid.

But before quite leaving this subject of the continuous connected series, one or two possible objections and difficulties connected with it may be noticed. For it may be asked why such a plan was not adopted in the writing of the Arcana Coelestia? That a continuous series is there given is evident, but it was not connected, so as to appear as such. The reason for this, however, is also evident. It was because the writer had not only to give and explain the internal sense of each verse and each sentence as he proceeded, but it was also necessary, in his case, to give abundant demonstrations from the Word as to the particular correspondences occurring; and this he did by sometimes covering several pages with illustrations of the signification of one expression, thus providing the means for interpreting the Word generally as well as specifically, in Genesis and Exodus. And, in addition, his first great work is taken up with an account of things concerning the other life, and with expositions of doctrines and important spiritual principles! But the very fact that he gives general summaries shows that the full series is involved, and can be worked out with proper care and expressed intelligently; and it is evident that this might be done with any of the Prophets, or with portions of the Psalms; for the Lord has provided that there should be power given to do this; for it is written : "A time is about to come when there will be illustration" (A.C. 44023).

Again, it must be remembered that the connected series as given in ordinary language in the following work, although it involves, does not express, the full internal sense. Only the correspondential expressions of the Word itself can do both. And hence the internal sense, say, of any particular verse or sentence must itself be regarded as a summary. For ordinary language is not adequate to the full expression of Divine, celestial, and spiritual truths. But, on the other hand, care must be taken by no means to look upon the connected series as merely a commentary on the inner sense, and not a definite statement of it; for this would be a great mistake. And in order to see this, take here an illustration from the Arcana Coelestia: "And Abram went as Jehovah had spoken unto him, signifies that the Lord, in His Human, made progression to things Divine." Now is this a commentary on the internal sense? It is neither a commentary nor an explanation of it; but it is only a statement of what the internal sense is. And it is so in all the other cases where the writer makes similar statements, and afterwards explains them, and comments upon them. Exactly so it is, therefore, with every statement of the "contents of each verse," given in a regular manner throughout the chapters of this work. What is contained in the right-hand parallel columns all along is a continuous, or running statement of the internal sense in its series. And the illustration has been given in order that the reader may not confuse the explicit statements of what the spiritual sense of a verse is, with any explanation of them or commentary upon them that is afterwards given. The next division of this work consists of the references, with some notes combined. These are to the Arcana Coelestia, with a few exceptions, which occur in cases where the signification of certain terms has not been found there, or where a passage from some other book has been thought to be especially helpful. The order of the references also requires a word of explanation. Very often they are given separately at the end of the sentence, which states the internal sense as deduced from the correspondences, as in Lev. 1:7—8; but in other cases it has been found more convenient to give several references together, and indeed those relating to one whole verse at the end of it; and then the order is, as a rule, according to the order of the terms in the verse; and examples of this are to be seen in Lev. 23:12-13. Again, the reader will find that the references are not all given to demonstrate the correspondence of a term, or to show that Swedenborg himself has given us the explanation of certain passages, but often the place indicated illustrates some great spiritual principles involved in the verse under consideration. And again, the reason why the same reference is so repeatedly named is, not only because this is natural and easy, but because it shows that the general signification of a term is universally applicable, and also that the reader who consults, and wishes to develop any particular verse, may have all the particular correspondences before him.

And here it will be proper to observe that, by means of the references, and through them by means of the literal sense of the Word, which is written entirely in correspondences, the spiritual sense as contained in each verse, and stated in the right-hand parallel column, is truly doctrine from the word, being legitimately deduced from those correspondences; and is not the private opinion of the writer, any more than is a statement of the established laws of the material universe, legitimately deduced from the facts of that universe by a man of science like Sir Isaac Newton, the private opinion of that man of science.

The purpose of the notes, combined with the references, is, for the most part, to explain some points relating to doctrine, or to illustrate the spiritual sense; but those following the references at the end of each chapter are intended to form a fourth division of the work, involving a review of the subjects that have been explained, in order to show the application of the internal sense to the uses of life, and in connection with man's experience in regeneration.

I have been generously assisted in the reading of the proof-sheets by the Rev. Joseph Ashby of Southport, and he has my hearty thanks for his very valuable help.

H. M.
East Finchley, London, N.,
November
1911.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Having now completed the proofs of the internal sense of the book of Leviticus according to the law of correspondences as revealed by the Lord in the Arcana Coelestia; and having been greatly helped in the accomplishment of this work by perception from Him, according to the requirement in every case of difficulty, and indeed, in the interpretation of every sentence,—since it is well known that all life is continually from Him, with the power to perform every useful work, of whatever kind it may be,—it is next proposed to proceed in the same way with the book of Numbers, and as an introduction, to make some general remarks on the order in which the tribes of Israel are variously named in the Word, three distinct examples of which occur in the first two chapters. The twelve tribes signify the universal principles of good and truth from the Lord which make heaven and the church in man; and the various order in which they are named, indicates differences as to the state of man in the reception and application of those general and universal principles. "When the order commences from love, everything which follows thence, in genuine order, appears flaming : when, however, the order commences from faith, then everything which follows, in genuine order, appears lucid; but with every difference according to the things which follow. But, if not according to genuine order, everything appears obscure, with every difference. . . . Hence it is that the Lord gave answers by means of the Urim and Thummim, and that, according to the state of the case, they received answers by means of lights, and by the glittering thereof from the precious and transparent stones on which were inscribed the names of the twelve tribes, for, as has been stated, on the names were inscribed the universals of love and faith which are in the Lord's Kingdom, consequently the universals of flame and light whereby the things that belong to love and faith are represented in heaven," 3862.

Examples are then given of the different order of the tribes in different parts of the Word, showing that it is according to the subject in the internal sense, and among these the order of the encampment of the tribes as described in Num 2. And this order is particularly stated to be heavenly order, and the "camp of God" is said to signify heaven in another place, 4236.

Hence, then, we are sure that the general internal sense of this particular chapter is descriptive of heaven and the heavenly life; and we may be equally certain from this that the two orders in chap. 1. describe man's state in preparation for the heavenly life; and, in short, we may conclude that the first has reference to man in his state of instruction, and the second to his experiences when passing through regeneration, and when enduring spiritual temptations. And therefore it is to be observed that the first and second orders commence from faith, represented by Reuben, and the third from love, represented by Judah. Notice, also, that Levi does not appear at all in these three orders, the reason for which will be found in the spiritual teaching of chap. 1:49, 50, and in chap. 2:33. Again, it appears that the first order is not so perfect as the second, and that the second is not so perfect as the third, and yet that there is a general similarity, there being four triads in each order. If, however, the first order be considered, the triads will appear irregular, thus :

Reuben,
Simeon,
Judah,
Issachar,
Zebulun,
Ephraim,
Manasseh,
Benjamin,
Dan,
Asher,
Gad,
Naphtali.

But in the second order we have :

Reuben,
Simeon,
Gad,
Judah,
Issachar,
Zebulun,
Manasseh,
Ephraim,
Benjamin,
Dan,
Asher,
Naphtali.

This order, it will be seen, is more harmonious, and agrees altogether with the third, as far as the last six tribes are concerned, thus :

Judah,
Issachar,
Zebulun,
Reuben,
Simeon,
Gad,
Ephraim,
Manasseh,
Benjamin,
Dan,
Asher,
Naphtali.

Now what does this indicate? It is that, during regeneration, the natural degree, internally and externally, is brought into heavenly order, as to the outward appearance, before the spiritual and celestial man. The man who is passing through regeneration is not as yet so perfect internally as he appears externally. His outward life is orderly because, generally speaking, he is compelling himself to do what is orderly, but still his motives are not altogether pure, and faith is still his leading principle, rather than charity or love: hence Reuben and Simeon and Gad, in the second order, precede Judah and Issachar and Zebulun. A man, in fact, must be reformed before he can be fully regenerated; and, on this account, the quality of his good works, represented particularly by Gad in these orders, will vary. At first they are merely natural, and so his name appears in the triad which denotes the external of the natural degree; next, they are from a principle of faith, and his name appears, therefore, under that of Reuben in the first triad of the second order; and lastly they are from love as well as faith, and consequently the name appears in the third order as the ultimate degree of the second triad. Thus the internal sense of these orders describes the varying states of the life of man during regeneration, and when it is completed; and we need only further remark that the tribe of Naphtali has its position constant in each order, because it signifies, first of all, simple resistance to evil, as arising from the fear of the consequences under the state of instruction; secondly, resistance from a principle of faith, and under temptations; and, lastly, as resistance to evil in the full state of freedom which properly belongs to the heavenly life. But he who is in good does not so much resist evil as he contemns it, because temptations have ceased with him, and he enjoys heavenly freedom, while yet the sphere of good itself, in which he is from the Lord, is a full protection against the incursion of evil. For evil spirits cannot endure the heavenly atmosphere, but flee away from it, on which account those who are in heaven enjoy an eternal sabbath; nor can they any more fluctuate between good and evil.