Arcana Coelestia # 10264
10264. An ointment of ointment. That this signifies in each and all things of His Human, is evident from the signification of “ointment,” when said of the oil of anointing, by which is signified a representative of the Divine good of the Lord’s Divine Human, as being what is Divine in each and all things of His Human. That this is signified by “an ointment of ointment” is because all the spices mentioned above, which were best myrrh, aromatic cinnamon, aromatic calamus, and cassia, are meant by the “ointment of ointment.” Moreover, in the original tongue what is aromatic in general is meant by this word (“spice,” or “aromatic”); but the translators call it “ointment” from anointing.
[2] That “aromatic of aromatic” signifies in each and all things of the Lord’s Human, is because there are signified the truths of the whole human, together with their perceptions and affections, namely, the ultimate truth of the sensuous mind, together with the perception of it, which is signified by “myrrh” (see n. 10252); the interior truth of the natural or external man, together with the perception and the affection of it, which is signified by “aromatic cinnamon” (see n. 10254); truth still more interior which is of the internal man, together with the perception and the affection of it, which is signified by “aromatic calamus” (n. 10256); and inmost truth, together with the perception and the affection of it, which is signified by “cassia” (n. 10258). Thus the whole human is signified by these, for each and all things in man bear relation to truths and their perceptions and affections, because these make man’s life.
[3] For it can be known that without the perception and affection of truth and good, a man is not a man, seeing that each and all things that he thinks bear relation to truths and their perceptions, and to goods and their affections. The thoughts and affections of man are nothing else; for man has an understanding and a will; and the understanding is made out of the perception of truth; and the will out of the affection of good. That the whole man from head to heel, both within and without, is nothing but his own truth or falsity, and his own good or evil, and that the body is the external form of these, is a secret which has not as yet been known in the world.
[4] From all this it can now be seen that by “aromatic of aromatic,” or “ointment of ointment,” by which are understood all truths from the ultimate to the inmost, thus truths in their whole complex, are signified each and all things in man, or from which he is man; consequently when this “aromatic” is predicated of the Lord, that it signifies each and all things of His Human.
[5] It is said, “thou shalt make it an oil of anointing, an aromatic of aromatic, the work of a perfumer,” because the “oil of anointing” signifies the Divine good itself of the Divine love which was in the Lord from conception (n. 9954, 10011, 10019); “an aromatic of aromatic” signifies this in each and all things of His Human; and “the work of a perfumer,” or of a “maker of ointment,” signifies from the influx and operation of the Divine Itself; for the Lord alone in respect to His Human was the anointed of Jehovah (n. 9954).
Exodus 30
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"You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.
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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.
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Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it.
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When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh throughout your generations.
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You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering; and you shall pour no drink offering on it.
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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."
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Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
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"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.
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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.
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Everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to Yahweh.
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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.
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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."
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Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
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"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.
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Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it.
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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.
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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."
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Moreover Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
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"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.
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You shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil.
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You shall use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the testimony,
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the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense,
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the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base.
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You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy.
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You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office.
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You shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'This shall be a holy anointing oil to me throughout your generations.
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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.
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Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.'"
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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;
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and you shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy:
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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.
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The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for Yahweh.
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Whoever shall make any like that, to smell of it, he shall be cut off from his people."
