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Exodus 25

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1 And the Lord said to Moses,

2 Say to the children of Israel that they are to make me an offering; from every man who has the impulse in his heart take an offering for me.

3 And this is the offering you are to take from them: gold and silver and brass;

4 And blue and purple and red, and the best linen, and goats' hair;

5 And sheepskins coloured red, and leather, and hard wood;

6 Oil for the light, spices for the sweet-smelling Oil, sweet perfumes for burning;

7 Beryls and stones of value to be put on the ephod and on the priest's bag.

8 And let them make me a holy place, so that I may be ever present among them.

9 Make the House and everything in it from the designs which I will give you.

10 And they are to make an ark of hard wood; two and a half cubits long, and a cubit and a half wide and high.

11 It is to be plated inside and out with the best gold, with an edge of gold all round it

12 And make four rings of gold for it, to be fixed on its four feet, two rings on one side of it and two on the other.

13 And make rods of the same wood, plating them with gold.

14 And put the rods through the rings at the sides of the ark, for lifting it.

15 The rods are to be kept in the rings, and never taken out.

16 Inside the ark you are to put the record which I will give you.

17 And you are to make a cover of the best gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.

18 And at the two ends of the cover you are to make two winged ones of hammered gold,

19 One at One end and One at the other; the winged ones are to be part of the cover.

20 And their wings are to be outstretched over the cover, and the winged ones are to be opposite one another, facing the cover.

21 And put the cover over the ark, and in the ark the record which I will give you.

22 And there, between the two winged ones on the cover of the ark, I will come to you, face to face, and make clear to you all the orders I have to give you for the children of Israel.

23 And you are to make a table of the same wood, two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high,

24 Plated with the best gold, with a gold edge all round it;

25 And make a frame all round it, as wide as a man's hand, with a gold edge to the frame.

26 And make four gold rings and put them at the four angles, on the four feet of the table;

27 The rings are to be fixed under the frame to take the rods with which the table is to be lifted.

28 Make rods of the same wood, plated with gold, for lifting the table.

29 And make the table-vessels, the spoons and the cups and the basins for liquids, all of the best gold.

30 And on the table at all times you are to keep my holy bread.

31 And you are to make a support for lights, of the best gold; its base and its pillar are to be of hammered gold; its cups, its buds, and its flowers are to be made of the same metal.

32 It is to have six branches coming out from its sides; three branches from one side and three from the other.

33 Every branch having three cups made like almond flowers, every cup with a bud and a flower, on all the branches.

34 And on the pillar, four cups like almond flowers, every one with its bud and its flower:

35 And under every two branches a bud, made with the branch, for all the six branches of it.

36 The buds and the branches are to be made of the same metal; all together one complete work of hammered gold.

37 Then you are to make its seven vessels for the lights, putting them in their place so that they give light in front of it.

38 And the instruments and trays for use with it are all to be of the best gold.

39 A talent of gold will be needed for it, with all these vessels.

40 And see that you make them from the design which you saw on the mountain.

   

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True Christian Religion # 260

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260. It should furthermore be known that the literal sense is a protection to prevent the genuine truths hidden within being harmed. It acts as a protection because that sense can be twisted in different directions and explained as it is understood, without its internal being harmed or violated. For it does no harm for the literal sense to be understood differently by different people; but harm is done, if a person introduces falsities which are in opposition to the Divine truths, and this is only done by those who have convinced themselves of false ideas. This is what does violence to the Word. The literal sense acts as a protection to prevent this happening, and this occurs with those whose religion has given them false ideas, but who have not convinced themselves of these falsities. The literal sense of the Word acting as a protection is what is meant by cherubim in the Word, and it is there described by them. This protection is meant by the cherubim which were placed at the entrance to the garden of Eden after Adam and his wife were expelled from it. We read of these:

When Jehovah God had cast out the man, He made cherubim to dwell on the east of the garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword turning this way and that, to guard the way to the tree of life, Genesis 3:23-24.

[2] No one can know what this means, unless he knows the meaning of cherubim, of the garden of Eden and the tree of life in it; and also of the flame of a sword turning this way and that. These details have been explained in the section dealing with this chapter in ARCANA CAELESTIA, published in London. This shows that cherubim mean protection, the way to the tree of life means the approach to the Lord, which people make by means of the truths of the spiritual sense of the Word; the flame of a sword turning means Divine truth at the outermost level, which resembles the Word in its literal sense, in being capable of being twisted like this. The meaning of the cherubim made of gold placed on the two ends of the mercy-seat, which was above the ark in the tabernacle (Exodus 25:18-21), is similar. The ark meant the Word, because the Ten Commandments contained in it were the rudiments of the Word; the cherubim there meant protection, which is why the Lord spoke with Moses from between them (Exodus 25:22; 37:9; Numbers 7:89). He spoke in the natural sense, for He does not speak with man except in fulness, and in the literal sense Divine truth is in its fulness (214-224 above). Nor was anything else meant by the cherubim on the hangings of the tabernacle and on the veil (Exodus 26:1, 31). For the hangings and veils of the tabernacle meant the outermost of heaven and the church, and so also of the Word (220 above). Likewise the cherubim carved on the walls and the doors of the temple at Jerusalem (1 Kings 6:29, 32, 35; 221 above); and equally the cherubim in the new temple (Ezekiel 41:18-20).

[3] Since cherubim meant protection to prevent the Lord, heaven and Divine truth as it is inwardly in the Word, being directly approached, but only indirectly through the outermost, this is why it is said of the king of Tyre:

You who set the seal on your measured space, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, you were in Eden the garden. Every kind of precious stone was your covering. You, cherub, were the expanse of the covering. I have destroyed you, cherub who cover, in the midst of the stones of fire, Ezekiel 28:12-14, 16.

Tyre means the church as regards its knowledge of truth and good, and so the king of Tyre means the Word, which is the place and source of that knowledge. It is obvious that in this passage the king means the Word at the outermost level, and cherub means protection, for it says 'You who set the seal on your measured space; every kind of precious stone was your covering; you, cherub, were the expanse of the covering' as well as 'cherub who cover'. The precious stones which are also named there mean the contents of the literal sense (217-218 above).

Because cherubim mean the Word at the outermost level and also its protection, it is said in the Psalms of David:

Jehovah tilted the heavens and came down, and rode upon a cherub, Psalms 18:9-10.

Shepherd of Israel, who sits upon the cherubim, shine forth, Psalms 80:1. Jehovah that sits upon the cherubim, Psalms 99:1.

Riding on the cherubim or sitting on them means the outermost sense of the Word. The Divine truth in the Word and its nature are described by the four creatures, which are also called cherubim (in Ezekiel, chapters 1, 9-10); and also by the four creatures in the midst of the throne and beside the throne (Revelation 4:6ff). (See Apocalypse Revealed published by me at Amsterdam, 239, 275, 3-14.)

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