10214. Verses 11-16 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, When you take the sum of the children of Israel, as they have been numbereda, they shall give - each one - an expiation for his soul to Jehovah when they are numberedb, that there may be no plague among them when they are numberedb. This is what they shall give, everyone passing over to those who have been numbered - half a shekel according to the shekel of holiness (a shekel is twenty obolsc). Half a shekel shall be the offering to Jehovah. Everyone passing over to those who have been numbered, from a son of twenty yearsd and over, shall give the offering of Jehovah. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give the offering of Jehovah, to make expiation for your souls. And you shall take the silver of expiations from the children of Israel, and give it to the work of the tent of meeting; and to the children of Israel it shall be as a remembrance before Jehovah, to make expiation for your souls.
'And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying' means enlightenment from the Lord through the Word. 'When you take the sum of the children of Israel' means all things of the Church. 'As they have been numbered' means as they have been arranged and set in order. 'They shall give - each one - an expiation for his soul when they are numbered' means purification or deliverance from evil through the acknowledgement and belief that all the forms of good and the truths of faith and love come from the Lord, not at all from man, as does their being arranged in order. 'That there may be no plague among them when they are numbered' means in order that there may be no punishment of evil when they do good as from themselves. 'This is what everyone passing over to those who have been numbered shall give' means the attribution to the Lord of all that constitutes faith and love. 'Half a shekel according to the shekel of holiness' means all forms of truth springing from good. 'A shekel is twenty obols' means all the components of good. 'Half a shekel shall be the offering to Jehovah' means that all the constituents of truth springing from good are the Lord's alone. ['Everyone passing over to those who have been numbered' means that all truths and forms of good are to be attributed to the Lord alone.] 'From a son of twenty years and over' means the state in which the understanding of truth and good exists. 'Shall give the offering of Jehovah' means attribution to the Lord alone. 'The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give [the offering] of Jehovah' means that all equally, however much ability they possess, should attribute to the Lord all forms of truth springing from good. 'To make expiation for your souls' means in order that evils may be removed. 'And you shall take the silver of expiations from the children of Israel' means the purifying truths springing from good that are the Church's. 'And give it to the work of the tent of meeting' means being joined to heaven through the acknowledgement that all truths and forms of good come from the Lord. 'And to the children of Israel it shall be as a remembrance before Jehovah' means thus the preservation of the Church and of all things the Church has by the Lord. 'To make expiation for your souls' means since evils have thereby been removed.
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