Week 6    Day 5

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The Internal Sense of the Tribe of Levi and the Levite Cities

AE 444:1. “The tribe of Levi” here signifies good works because spiritual love or charity consists in doing things that are good, and these are good works. Charity itself, viewed in itself, is the affection of truth and good, and where that affection is, there is a life according to truths and goods, for there is no affection without a life according to the truths and goods for which there is affection. If such affection is thought to be possible and to be present [without a good life], it is a natural affection, not a spiritual one.

These two kinds of affection differ in this, that natural affection has self and the world for an end. Thus, the truths and goods by which it is affected are loved for the sake of reputation, so that honors and wealth may be acquired. And then a life according to the doctrinals that have been learned is put on merely from self for the sake of appearance, which is thus a feigned life and inwardly hypocritical.

But spiritual affection has the Lord, heaven, and eternal life for an end, and has regard to these in truths and goods; thus, it loves truths and goods spiritually. When this affection is with man he loves to think and to will these truths and goods, and consequently to live according to them. To live according to truths and goods is what is meant in the Word by “doing,” and the life itself is meant by “deeds” and “works,” which are so often mentioned in the Word. These, therefore, are what were represented and signified by “Levi” and his tribe in the church with the Jews.

AE 444:2. Because this affection is the very essential of the church, the tribe of Levi was assigned to the priesthood. This, too, is why Levi’s staff in the tent of meeting blossomed with almonds. And this is why no inheritance was given to that tribe, as it was to the other tribes, but [the Levites were] among them all. It is known that the tribe of Levi was appointed to the priesthood, for not only was Aaron made high priest, but also his sons after him, and all the Levites were made ministers to them. That Moses and Aaron were of the tribe of Levi may be seen in Exod. 6:20; Num. 18:2; and that the Levites were made ministers to Aaron and his sons, in Moses:

The tribe of Levi was taken for the priesthood, to keep the charge of the whole congregation before the tent of meeting, to serve the service of the tabernacle. And the Levites were given to Aaron, and received in place of all the firstborn; and further respecting their ministries and functions (Num. 3:1 to the end).

AE 444:3. The priesthood was given to this tribe because it represented and thence signified love and charity. Love and charity are the spiritual affection of good and truth; since affection is predicated of love in its continuity, for affection is the continuation of love. This, too, is what the priesthood and its ministry signify in the Word, for this affection is the essential of the church, for where it is there, the church is, and where it is not, there the church is not. For the affection of good and truth is the very spiritual life of man, and when man is affected by good and truth, he is in good and truth in respect to his life, and his thought itself is nothing but affection in a different form, for whatever a man thinks he derives from affection; no one can think without affection. This is why the tribe of Levi was appointed to the priesthood. The like is said of the Levites in Ezekiel, where a new land, a new city, and a new temple are treated of (40:46; 43:19; 44:15; 48:11, 12).

AE 444:4. Because the good of charity must be in all things of the church that the church may be in them, and because the affection itself of good and truth, which is charity, is what gives understanding and instruction to all, so not only was the tribe of Levi appointed to the priesthood, but there was no lot and inheritance granted to that tribe like that granted to the other tribes, but was among them all (as is evident in Moses, Num. 35:1 to the end; and in Josh. 21:1 to the end). So it is said in Moses:

Therefore no part or inheritance with his brothers fell to Levi; Jehovah Himself is his inheritance (Deut. 10:9).

AE 444:5. And because (as has been said) every man acquires knowledge (scientia), intelligence, and wisdom, according to the affection of good and truth that is in him, it is said in Moses:

Jehovah God has chosen the sons of Levi to minister to Him and to bless in His name, and according to their mouth shall every controversy and every stroke be [tried] (Deut. 21:5).

This signifies in the spiritual sense that the affection of good and truth, which is charity, ministers to the Lord, and teaches those things that are of the church and worship, and discerns between falsities and truths, and between evils and goods, for “the sons of Levi” signify in the spiritual sense the affection of good and truth, which is charity. From this it can be seen that the tribe of Levi was chosen for the priesthood, and an inheritance was given to it among all the tribes, not because that tribe was better than the others, but because it represented charity in act, and good works, which are the effects of all good and truth in man.

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