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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 # 9475

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9475. And for the incense of spices. That this signifies for acceptable perception, is evident from the signification of “incense,” as being the things of worship which are acceptably perceived, such as confessions, adorations, prayers, and the like; and from the signification of “spices,” as being the truths of faith which are acceptable because from good; for sweet odors signify what is acceptable, in accordance with their perfumes, and whatever is acceptable is so from good through truths. It is for this reason that by “the incense of spices” Is signified the acceptable perception of truth from good. The spices of which this incense was compounded are enumerated, and its preparation is described, in these words:

Take unto thee spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices, and pure frankincense. Thou shalt make them an incense salted, pure, holy. Thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting; it shall be to you the holy of holies. The incense shall be to thee holy for Jehovah (Exodus 30:34-37).

The altar of incense, and the burning of the incense itself, are thus described:

Thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon. Thou shalt overlay it with pure gold. Thou shalt put it before the veil that is over the ark of the testimony, before the propitiatory [mercy seat], that Aaron may burn thereon incense of spices every morning; when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn it; and between the evenings (Exodus 30:1-8; 37:25-29; 40:26-27).

When Aaron shall come into the holy place, he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar; and his fists full of incense of spices beaten small; then he shall bring it within the veil, so that he may put the incense upon the fire before Jehovah, and the cloud of the incense may cover the propitiatory [mercy seat] that is upon the testimony (Leviticus 16:3, 12-13).

[2] As by “incense” were signified such things of worship as are from good through truths-as are all the things that belong to the faith that is from the good of love-therefore fire was taken from the altar; for by “the fire of the altar” was signified the good of Divine love (n. 934, 4906, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 7852); and therefore when fire was taken from any other source, they were smitten with a plague, and died (Leviticus 10:1-2; Numbers 17:10-13); for by fire from some other source, or strange fire, was signified love not Divine.

[3] That such things as belong to the faith that is from the good of love and charity-as for instance confessions, adorations, and prayers-are signified by “incense,” is evident in David:

Accepted are my prayers as incense before Thee (Psalms 141:2).

The four animals, and the four and twenty elders, fell down before the Lamb, having each one of them a harp, and golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints (Revelation 5:8).

Another angel came, having a golden censer, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should add it to the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. The smoke of the incense went up from the prayers of the saints (Revelation 8:3-4).

[4] The reason why such things are signified by “incense” is that they belong to the thought and thence to the mouth; but the things which belong to affection, and thence to the heart, are signified by the “meat-offering” in Malachi:

From the rising of the sun even to its going down, the name of Jehovah shall be great among the nations, and in every place shall incense be offered to My name, and a clean meat-offering (Malachi 1:11);

and by “the burnt-offering” in Moses:

The sons of Leviticus shall teach Jacob Thy judgments, and Israel Thy law; they shall put incense in Thy nostrils, and a burnt-offering upon Thine altar (Deuteronomy 33:10).

Here “incense” denotes such things as belong to the thought and the mouth, and that bear relation to the truths of faith; and the “meat-offering” and “burnt-offering” denote such things as belong to the affection and the heart, and bear relation to the goods of love. Consequently in the opposite sense worship from falsities of faith is meant by “burning incense to other gods” (Jeremiah 1:16; 44:3, 5); and by “burning incense to idols” (Ezekiel 8:11; 16:18); and by “burning incense to the Baals” (Hosea 2:13).

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