Arcana Coelestia # 10296
10296. And pure frankincense. That this signifies inmost truth, which is spiritual good, is evident from the signification of “frankincense,” as being that which has been clarified from the falsity of evil. That the inmost truth which is signified by “frankincense” is spiritual good, is because the good with those who are in the Lord’s spiritual kingdom is nothing else than truth, which is called good when the man wills and does it from conscience and affection. For with the spiritual all the will has been destroyed, but the understanding is preserved entire by the Lord, and in it there is implanted by the Lord a new will by means of regeneration. This will is the conscience with them, which is a conscience of truth. For whatever is implanted in the understanding and proceeds from the understanding, is truth, because man’s understanding has been allotted to the reception of the truths of faith; but the will to the reception of the goods of love. From this it is evident that in its essence spiritual good is truth. (That with the spiritual a new will is implanted in their intellectual part, and that consequently the good with them is in its essence truth, see the places cited in n. 9277, 9596, 9684.) It is said of inmost truth that it is good, for the reason that the more interior things are, the more perfect they are; and because the inmost of man is his will, and that which belongs to the will is called good. (That “frankincense” denotes inmost truth, thus spiritual good, can be seen from the passages above adduced from the Word, n. 10177.)
[2] As “frankincense” denotes spiritual good, and good is that which reigns in all truths, disposes them, conjoins them, and gives affection to them, therefore frankincense is mentioned in the last place, and on this account the vessels of incense were called “censers 1 ;” for the name is from the essential, which is good; in like manner as the oil of anointing is named from the oil of olive, and not from the spices from which it was prepared; for a similar reason, namely, because “oil” signified good, and “spices” truths.
[3] It is called “pure frankincense” because “pure” signifies that which has been clarified from the falsities of evil; and in the original tongue by this word is signified what is interiorly pure, but by another word that which is exteriorly pure or clean. That what is interiorly pure is signified by this word is evident in Isaiah:
Wash you, make you pure, put away the wickedness of your works from before Mine eyes (Isaiah 1:16).
In vain have I rendered mine heart pure, and washed my hands in innocency (Psalms 73:13).
To “render the heart pure” denotes to be purified interiorly; and to “wash the hands in innocency” denotes the same exteriorly. And again:
Be thou pure when thou judgest (Psalms 51:4).
(That by the other word is signified what is exteriorly pure or clean, may be seen in Leviticus 11:32; 12:7-8; 13:6, 1 13:13, 17, 23, 28, 34, 37, 58; 14:7-8, 9, 20, 48, 53; 15:13, 28; 16:30; 22:7; Jeremiah 13:27; Ezekiel 24:13; 39:12)
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. “Censer” in the Latin is thuribulum, from thur, frankincense. [Reviser.]
Exodus 30
1
"You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood.
2
Its length shall be a cubit, and its breadth a cubit. It shall be square, and its height shall be two cubits. Its horns shall be of one piece with it.
3
You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides around it, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding around it.
4
You shall make two golden rings for it under its molding; on its two ribs, on its two sides you shall make them; and they shall be for places for poles with which to bear it.
5
You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.
6
You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you.
7
Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it.
8
When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh throughout your generations.
9
You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering; and you shall pour no drink offering on it.
10
Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once in the year; with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to Yahweh."
11
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
12
"When you take a census of the children of Israel, according to those who are numbered among them, then each man shall give a ransom for his soul to Yahweh, when you number them; that there be no plague among them when you number them.
13
They shall give this, everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary; (the shekel is twenty gerahs;) half a shekel for an offering to Yahweh.
14
Everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to Yahweh.
15
The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when they give the offering of Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls.
16
You shall take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the Tent of Meeting; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls."
17
Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
18
"You shall also make a basin of brass, and its base of brass, in which to wash. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.
19
Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it.
20
When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water, that they not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
21
So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die: and it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his descendants throughout their generations."
22
Moreover Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
23
"Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty; and of fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty;
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and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary; and a hin of olive oil.
25
You shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil.
26
You shall use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the testimony,
27
the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense,
28
the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base.
29
You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy.
30
You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office.
31
You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations.
32
It shall not be poured on man's flesh, neither shall you make any like it, according to its composition: it is holy. It shall be holy to you.
33
Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.'"
34
Yahweh said to Moses, "Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be an equal weight;
35
and you shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy:
36
and you shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy.
37
The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for Yahweh.
38
Whoever shall make any like that, to smell of it, he shall be cut off from his people."
