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Exodus 29

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1 And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hallow them, to minister unto me in the priest's office: take one young bullock and two rams without blemish,

2 and unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened mingled with oil, and wafers unleavened anointed with oil: of fine wheaten flour shalt thou make them.

3 And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket, with the bullock and the two rams.

4 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tent of meeting, and shalt wash them with water.

5 And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the skilfully woven band of the ephod;

6 and thou shalt set the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre.

7 Then shalt thou take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him.

8 And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them.

9 And thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and bind head-tires on them: and they shall have the priesthood by a perpetual statute: and thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.

10 And thou shalt bring the bullock before the tent of meeting: and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock.

11 And thou shalt kill the bullock before Jehovah, at the door of the tent of meeting.

12 And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger; and thou shalt pour out all the blood at the base of the altar.

13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul upon the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar.

14 But the flesh of the bullock, and its skin, and it dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin-offering.

15 Thou shalt also take the one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the ram.

16 And thou shalt slay the ram, and thou shalt take its blood, and sprinkle it round about upon the altar.

17 And thou shalt cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its inwards, and its legs, and put them with its pieces, and with its head.

18 And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt-offering unto Jehovah; it is a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto Jehovah.

19 And thou shalt take the other ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the ram.

20 Then shalt thou kill the ram, and take of its blood, and put it upon the tip of the right ear of Aaron, and upon the tip of the right ear of his sons, and upon the thumb of their right hand, and upon the great toe of their right foot, and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about.

21 And thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it upon Aaron, and upon his garments, and upon his sons, and upon the garments of his sons with him: and he shall be hallowed, and his garments, and his sons, and his sons' garments with him.

22 Also thou shalt take of the ram the fat, and the fat tail, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right thigh (for it is a ram of consecration),

23 and one loaf of bread, and one cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before Jehovah.

24 And thou shalt put the whole upon the hands of Aaron, and upon the hands of his sons, and shalt wave them for a wave-offering before Jehovah.

25 And thou shalt take them from their hands, and burn them on the altar upon the burnt-offering, for a sweet savor before Jehovah: it is an offering made by fire unto Jehovah.

26 And thou shalt take the breast of Aaron's ram of consecration, and wave it for a wave-offering before Jehovah: and it shall be thy portion.

27 And thou shalt sanctify the breast of the wave-offering, and the thigh of the heave-offering, which is waved, and which is heaved up, of the ram of consecration, even of that which is for Aaron, and of that which is for his sons:

28 and it shall be for Aaron and his sons as [their] portion for ever from the children of Israel; for it is a heave-offering: and it shall be a heave-offering from the children of Israel of the sacrifices of their peace-offerings, even their heave-offering unto Jehovah.

29 And the holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to be consecrated in them.

30 Seven days shall the son that is priest in his stead put them on, when he cometh into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.

31 And thou shalt take the ram of consecration, and boil its flesh in a holy place.

32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the door of the tent of meeting.

33 And they shall eat those things wherewith atonement was made, to consecrate [and] to sanctify them: but a stranger shall not eat thereof, because they are holy.

34 And if aught of the flesh of the consecration, or of the bread, remain unto the morning, then thou shalt burn the remainder with fire: it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

35 And thus shalt thou do unto Aaron, and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded thee: seven days shalt thou consecrate them.

36 And every day shalt thou offer the bullock of sin-offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou makest atonement for it; and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it.

37 Seven days thou shalt make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it: and the altar shall be most holy; whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.

38 Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar: two lambs a year old day by day continually.

39 The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even:

40 and with the one lamb a tenth part [of an ephah] of fine flour mingled with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a hin of wine for a drink-offering.

41 And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meal-offering of the morning, and according to the drink-offering thereof, for a sweet savor, an offering made by fire unto Jehovah.

42 It shall be a continual burnt-offering throughout your generations at the door of the tent of meeting before Jehovah, where I will meet with you, to speak there unto thee.

43 And there I will meet with the children of Israel; and [the Tent] shall be sanctified by my glory.

44 And I will sanctify the tent of meeting, and the altar: Aaron also and his sons will I sanctify, to minister to me in the priest's office.

45 And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God.

46 And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them: I am Jehovah their God.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9714

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9714. 'And you shall make the altar' means that which was representative of the Lord and of the worship of Him. This is clear from the meaning of 'the altar' - the one to be used for burnt offerings and sacrifices - as that which was representative of the Lord; and since the burnt offerings and sacrifices were the signs of all that constituted worship of the Lord, the altar was also representative of the worship of Him. Not that the Lord is worshipped with burnt offerings and sacrifices but with what they represented, namely the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith, 922, 923, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519, 6905, 8680, 8936.

[2] There were two objects which served to represent the Lord's Divine Human - the temple and the altar. That the temple did so He Himself teaches in John,

Jesus said, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again. He was speaking of the temple of His body. John 2:19-21.

That the altar did so is likewise made clear by the Lord's own words, where He speaks in Matthew about the temple and at the same time the altar,

Fools and blind! For you say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is guilty. Which of the two is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy? In the same way, Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is guilty. Fools and blind! Which of the two is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? He who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything that is on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by Him who sits on it. Matthew 23:16-22.

From this it is evident that just as the temple was representative of the Lord's Divine Human, so too was the altar; for something similar is stated regarding the altar as is stated regarding the temple, namely that the altar is what makes the gift on it holy. This shows that the altar was a channel through which other things were rendered holy, and for this reason was also representative of the Lord's Divine Human, the Source of all holiness. But the altar was representative of the Lord in respect of His Divine Good, whereas the temple was representative of Him in respect of His Divine Truth, thus in respect of heaven since Divine Truth emanating from the Lord makes heaven. This explains why the Lord says in regard to the temple that he who swears by the temple swears by it and by Him who dwells in it, and goes on to say that he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by Him who sits on it. 'God's throne' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and so is heaven, while 'He who sits on it' is the Lord, 5313. Much the same as was represented by the temple was represented also by the dwelling-place; the Lord in respect of Divine Truth there is the Testimony which was within the ark, 9503.

[3] Since the altar represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good it was the real holy of holies, making everything that touched it holy, as is made clear later on in this Book of Exodus, where it says,

Seven days you shall make expiation on the altar and sanctify it, that the altar may be most holy, 1 and all that touches it may be made holy. Exodus 29:37.

This was the reason why fire burned unceasingly on the altar and was never put out, Leviticus 6:12-13; and from this fire and no other source the incense-fire was taken, Leviticus 10:1-6. For the fire on the altar was a sign of the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849.

[4] As regards the altar and its being representative of the Lord, this is evident from the following words in David,

Let Your light and truth lead me to Your holy mountain and to Your dwellings, that I may go in to the altar of God, to God ... Psalms 43:3-4.

And in the same author,

I wash my hands in innocence, and I go around Your altar, O Jehovah. Psalms 26:6-7.

[5] But as regards the altar and its being representative of worship of the Lord, this may be seen in Isaiah,

All the cattle of Arabia will be gathered to You, the rams of Nebaioth will minister to You; they will come up with acceptance on My altar. Isaiah 60:7.

In Jeremiah,

The Lord has abandoned His altar, He has abominated His sanctuary. Lamentations 2:7.

'Abandoning the altar' stands for doing away with what was representative of worshipping the Lord from the good of love, 'abominating the sanctuary' stands for doing away with what was representative of worshipping the Lord from the truths of faith.

[6] In Ezekiel,

Your altars will be destroyed, I will scatter your bones around your altars. Your altars will be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols will be broken and cease to be. Ezekiel 6:4-6.

'Altars being destroyed, laid waste, and made desolate' stands for the ruination of that which belongs to representative worship. In Isaiah,

The iniquity of Jacob will be expiated, when He makes all the stones of the altar like chalk-stones scattered about. Isaiah 27:9.

'The stones of the altar scattered about' stands for all the truths of worship.

[7] In the same prophet,

On that day a person will regard his Maker, and his eyes [will regard] the Holy One of Israel. But he will not regard the altars, the work of his hands, and what his fingers have made. Isaiah 17:7-8.

'Altars, the work of hands, and what fingers have made' stands for worship that is the product of self-intelligence.

[8] In Hosea,

Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning. Hosea 8:11.

'Multiplying altars for sinning' stands for devising meaningless forms of worship. In the same prophet,

Thistle and thorn will grow up on their altars. Hosea 10:8.

This describes how evils and falsities will come in and compose worship.

[9] In Isaiah,

On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of Egypt. Isaiah 19:19.

'An altar to Jehovah' stands for worship of the Lord.

[10] Because the altar that is the subject here was portable it was made from shittim wood and overlaid with bronze. But an altar that was to remain permanently in the same place was built either from soil or from unhewn stones. An altar of soil was the chief representative sign of worship of the Lord that springs from the good of love, whereas an altar of unhewn stones was the representative sign of worship springing from forms of the good and of the truth of faith, 8935, 8940. The portable altar however that is the subject here was representative of worship of the Lord that springs from the good of love; and this was why it was made from shittim wood and overlaid with bronze.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, holy of holies

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.