Bible

 

Exodus 30

Studie

   

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.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 9506

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

9506. And thou shalt make a propitiatory [mercy seat] of pure gold. That this signifies the hearing and reception of all things that belong to worship from the good of love is evident from the signification of “a propitiatory [mercy seat]” as being a cleansing from evils, or the forgiveness of sins, consequently the hearing and reception of all things that belong to worship (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “gold” as being the good of love (see n. 113, 1551-1552, 5658, 6917). That “the propitiatory [mercy seat]” denotes a cleansing from evils and the forgiveness of sins is evident from the passages in the Word where “propitiation” or “expiation” is mentioned.

[2] That it also denotes the reception of all things of worship is because those only are heard who have been propitiated or expiated, that is, cleansed from evils; and their worship alone is received by the Lord; but those are not heard who are in evils, that is, who have not been expiated or propitiated. On this account also Aaron was not allowed to approach the propitiatory [mercy seat] until he had cleansed and expiated himself and the people. That for this reason “the propitiatory [mercy seat]” denotes the hearing and reception of all things of worship is also evident from the fact that Jehovah spoke with Moses over the propitiatory [mercy seat] between the two cherubs. That it is worship from the good of love that is received is because no one is admitted into heaven, thus to the Lord, except one who is in good, namely, in the good of love to the Lord and in the good of charity toward the neighbor (see n. 8516, 8539, 8722, 8772, 9139, 9227, 9230, 9274); consequently no one else is heard, and his worship received. For this reason also cherubs were over the propitiatory [mercy seat]; for by “the cherubs” is signified guard and providence lest the Lord be approached except through the good of love, thus lest any enter into heaven except those who are in good, and also lest those who are in heaven be approached and injured by those who are in hell. From all this it can be seen what was signified by the propitiatory [mercy seat] being upon the ark, and by the cherubs being over the propitiatory [mercy seat]; and further by the propitiatory [mercy seat] and the cherubs being of pure gold; for “gold” signifies the good of love, and “the ark” signifies heaven where the Lord is.

[3] That “the propitiatory [mercy seat]” signifies cleansing from evils, thus the forgiveness of sins, is evident from the passages in the Word where “propitiation” or “expiation” is mentioned; as in David:

O Jehovah, expiate our sins for Thy name’s sake (Psalms 79:9).

He, being merciful, expiated their iniquity (Psalms 78:38).

Thou shalt expiate me with hyssop, and I shall be made clean; Thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow (Psalms 51:7).

Evil shall come upon thee, which thou shalt not know how to avert by prayer; calamity shall fall upon thee, which thou shall not be able to expiate (Isaiah 47:11).

Sing, ye nations, His people; who will avenge the blood of His servants, and will make expiation for His land, for His people (Deuteronomy 32:43).

[4] Expiations were made by means of sacrifices, and after they had been made, we read, “The priest shall expiate him from sin, and he shall be forgiven” (Leviticus 4:26, 31, 35; 5:6, 10, 13, 16, 18; 9:7; 15:15, 30). Expiation was also made by means of silver (Exodus 30:16; Psalms 49:8). Therefore there was a day of expiations before the feast of tabernacles (Leviticus 23:27-32). But be it known that these expiations were not real cleansings from evils, nor forgivenesses of sins, but represented them; for every ritual with the Israelitish and Jewish nation was merely representative of the Lord, of His kingdom and church, and of such things as belong to heaven and the church. (In what manner the representations presented such things before the angels in heaven, see in n. 9229.)

[5] As cleansing from evils and forgiveness of sins were signified by “the propitiatory [mercy seat],” there were also signified by it the hearing and reception of all things that belong to worship; for he who has been cleansed from evils is heard, and his worship is received. This was represented by Jehovah speaking above the propitiatory [mercy seat] with Moses, and commanding what the sons of Israel should do, as is evident from verse 22 of the present chapter, where it is said, “There I will meet with thee, and I will speak with thee from above the propitiatory [mercy seat], from between the two cherubs that are over the ark of the testimony, all that I shall command thee for the sons of Israel.” In like manner in another place: “When Moses spoke with Jehovah, he heard the voice speaking from above the propitiatory [mercy seat] that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubs” (Numbers 7:89). That a man would be heard and his worship received after he had been cleansed from evils, was represented by Aaron’s not entering into the holy of holies within the veil before the propitiatory [mercy seat] until he had first expiated himself and the people, which was effected by means of washing, sacrifices, incense, and blood; and it is said, “So shall he expiate the holy place from the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel, and from their transgressions as to all their sins” (Leviticus 16:16); “and that Jehovah would appear there in a cloud” (verse 2). “In a cloud” denotes in Divine truth accommodated to the reception and apprehension of men, such as is the Word in the sense of the letter (n. 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343, 6752, 8106, 8443, 8781).

  
/ 10837  
  

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