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Exodus 30

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1 And you are to make an altar for the burning of perfume; of hard wood let it be made.

2 The altar is to be square, a cubit long and a cubit wide, and two cubits high, and its horns are to be made of the same.

3 It is to be plated with the best gold, the top of it and the sides and the horns, with an edging of gold all round it.

4 Under the edge on the two opposite sides, you are to make two gold rings, to take the rods for lifting it.

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

6 And let it be placed in front of the veil before the ark of the law, before the cover which is over the law, where I will come face to face with you.

7 And on this altar sweet spices are to be burned by Aaron every morning when he sees to the lights.

8 And every evening, when he puts the lights up in their places, the spices are to be burned, a sweet-smelling smoke going up before the Lord from generation to generation for ever.

9 No strange perfume, no burned offering or meal offering, and no drink offering is to be offered on it.

10 And once every year Aaron is to make its horns clean: with the blood of the sin-offering he is to make it clean once every year from generation to generation: it is most holy to the Lord.

11 And the Lord said to Moses,

12 When you are taking the number of the children of Israel, let every man who is numbered give to the Lord a price for his life, so that no disease may come on them when they are numbered.

13 And this is what they are to give; let every man who is numbered give half a shekel, by the scale of the holy place: (the shekel being valued at twenty gerahs:) this money is an offering to the Lord.

14 Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, is to give an offering to the Lord.

15 The man of wealth is to give no more and the poor man no less than the half-shekel of silver, when the offering is made to the Lord as the price for your lives.

16 And you are to take this money from the children of Israel to be used for the work of the Tent of meeting, to keep the memory of the children of Israel before the Lord and to be the price of your lives.

17 And the Lord said to Moses,

18 You are to make a brass washing-vessel, with a brass base; and put it between the Tent of meeting and the altar, with water in it;

19 That it may be used by Aaron and his sons for washing their hands and feet;

20 Whenever they go into the Tent of meeting they are to be washed with water, to keep them from death; and whenever they come near to do the work of the altar, or to make an offering by fire to the Lord,

21 Their hands and feet are to be washed. so that they may be safe from death: this is an order to them for ever; to him and his seed from generation to generation.

22 And the Lord said to Moses,

23 Take the best spices, five hundred shekels' weight of liquid myrrh, and of sweet cinnamon half as much, that is, two hundred and fifty shekels, and two hundred and fifty shekels of sweet calamus,

24 And of cassia, five hundred shekels' weight measured by the scale of the holy place, and of olive oil a hin:

25 And make these into a holy oil, a perfume made by the art of the perfume-maker; it is to be a holy oil.

26 This oil is to be put on the Tent of meeting, and on the ark of the law,

27 And on the table and all its vessels, and on the support for the lights, with its vessels, and on the altar for burning spices,

28 And on the altar of burned offerings with its vessels, and on the washing-vessel and its base.

29 And you are to make them most holy; anything touching them will become holy.

30 And put the oil on Aaron and his sons, making them holy to do the work of priests to me.

31 And say to the children of Israel, This is to be the Lord's holy oil, from generation to generation.

32 It is not to be used for man's flesh, and no other is to be made like it: holy it is, and you are to keep it holy.

33 Whoever makes any like it, or puts it on one who is not a priest, will be cut off from his people.

34 And the Lord said to Moses, Take sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum, with the best frankincense, in equal weights;

35 And make from them a perfume, such as is made by the art of the perfume-maker, mixed with salt, and clean and holy.

36 And put some of it, crushed very small, in front of the ark in the Tent of meeting, where I will come face to face with you; it is to be most holy.

37 You are not to make any perfume like it for yourselves: it is to be kept holy to the Lord.

38 Whoever makes any like it, for its sweet smell, will be cut off from his people.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 10254

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10254. And aromatic cinnamon. That this signifies the perception and affection of natural truth, is evident from the signification of “aromatic cinnamon,” as being the perception and affection of natural truth, which truth is the interior truth of the external man; for with man there are sensuous life and natural life, both of the external man; but the sensuous life is exterior, deriving its truths from the objects which are on the earth and in the body; and the natural life is interior, deriving its truths from the causes of these objects. The life of the internal man is in like manner exterior and interior. The exterior derives its truths from those things which are in the ultimates of heaven; but the interior from those which are in the interiors of heaven; these latter truths are signified by the fragrant things which follow.

[2] That by “aromatic cinnamon” is signified the perception and affection of truth, is because by what is aromatic is signified perception that is grateful. Such perception is from the affection which is of love, for that which is grateful in perception is from no other source. (That all odors signify perception, see n. 3577, 4626, 4748; and that grateful odors signify the perception of truth from good, n. 1514, 1517-1519, 4628, 10054, thus from the affection which is of love; and that the spheres of perception are turned into odors with spirits and angels, n. 4626)

[3] Be it known further that all those sweet spices from which the oil of anointing was prepared, belong to the celestial class, that is, to those things which are of the celestial kingdom; whereas the spices of which the incense was compounded belong to the spiritual class, that is, to those things which are of the spiritual kingdom; and therefore in the original tongue the spices of which the oil of anointing was composed are from a different word and derivation than the spices of which the incense was composed; for there are in the Word special words to express those things which are of the celestial kingdom; and special words to express those of the spiritual kingdom; and still others which are common to both. But in order that it may be known what these words are, it must first be known that heaven is divided into two kingdoms; likewise the church; and that in the celestial kingdom the essential is the good of love to the Lord, whereas in the spiritual kingdom it is the good of charity toward the neighbor. (For the difference between these, see the numbers cited in n. 9277.)

[4] That the “spice” which is here mentioned signifies the perception and affection of celestial truth, is evident in Isaiah:

Instead of spice there shall be rottenness; and instead of a girdle a rent; and instead of braided work baldness (Isaiah 3:24);

The subject here treated of is the daughters of Zion, by whom is signified the celestial church, in this case perverted; and therefore “spice” is expressed by the same word as in the verse before us; and by “instead of spice rottenness” is signified that in the place of the perception and affection of truth from good, and of the consequent life, there shall be the perception and affection of falsity from evil, in which there is nothing of life.

[5] In Ezekiel:

The traders of Sheba and Raamah were thy traders in the chief of every spice, and in precious stone and gold (Ezekiel 27:22).

This was said of Tyre, by which are signified the knowledges of good and truth in the church; and by “Sheba and Raamah” are signified those who are in the knowledges of celestial things.

[6] In like manner where the queen of Sheba is treated of in the first book of Kings:

The queen of Sheba gave to Solomon a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stone; there came no more such a multitude of spice as this (1 Kings 10:10)

That “Sheba” chiefly denotes those who are in the knowledges of celestial things, see n. 1171, 3240. From all this it is evident that these spices from which the oil of anointing was prepared, signify the perception and affection of truth such as are possessed by those who are in the Lord’s celestial kingdom.

[7] The reason why the spices with which the anointing oil was prepared, which were noble myrrh, aromatic cinnamon, aromatic calamus, and cassia, belong to the celestial class, that is, to those things which are of the Lord’s celestial kingdom, is that the “oil of anointing” signified the Divine good of the Divine love in the Lord, which in heaven is His Divine celestial (that the “oil of anointing” has this signification, see n. 9954, 10019).

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