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Exodus 28

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1 And thou shalt take thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may serve me as priest -- Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons.

2 And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for ornament.

3 And thou shalt speak with all [that are] wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to hallow him, that he may serve me as priest.

4 And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a cloak, and a checkered vest, a turban, and a girdle; and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may serve me as priest.

5 And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus,

6 and shall make the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, scarlet and twined byssus, of artistic work.

7 It shall have two shoulder-pieces joined at the two ends thereof, where it is joined together.

8 And the girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to its work of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet and twined byssus.

9 And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel:

10 six of their names on the one stone, and the six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth.

11 According to the work of an engraver in stone, as the engravings of a seal, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel; surrounded by enclosures of gold shalt thou make them.

12 And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulder-pieces of the ephod [as] stones of memorial for the children of Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names before Jehovah upon his two shoulders for a memorial.

13 And thou shalt make enclosures of gold;

14 and two chains of pure gold; of laced work shalt thou make them, of wreathen work, and fasten the wreathen chains to the enclosures.

15 And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment of artistic work, like the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus shalt thou make it.

16 Square shall it be, doubled; a span the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof.

17 And thou shalt set in it settings of stones -- four rows of stones: [one] row, a sardoin, a topaz, and an emerald -- the first row;

18 and the second row, a carbuncle, a sapphire, and a diamond;

19 and the third row, an opal, an agate, and an amethyst;

20 and the fourth row, a chrysolite, and an onyx, and a jasper; enclosed in gold shall they be in their settings.

21 And the stones shall be according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, engraved as a seal: every one according to his name shall they be for the twelve tribes.

22 And thou shalt make on the breastplate chains of laced work, of wreathen work, of pure gold.

23 And thou shalt make on the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.

24 And thou shalt put the two wreathen [cords] of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate;

25 and the two ends of the two wreathen [cords] thou shalt fasten to the two enclosures, and shalt put [them] on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, on the front thereof.

26 And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and shalt put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the border thereof, which faceth the ephod inwards.

27 And two rings of gold shalt thou make, and shalt put them upon the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, to the front thereof just by the coupling thereof, above the girdle of the ephod.

28 And they shall bind the breastplate with its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod.

29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment on his heart, when he goes in to the sanctuary, for a memorial before Jehovah continually.

30 And thou shalt put into the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, that they may be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in before Jehovah; and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before Jehovah continually.

31 And thou shalt make the cloak of the ephod all of blue.

32 And its opening for the head shall be in the midst thereof; there shall be a binding of woven work at its opening round about; as the opening of a coat of mail, it shall be in it -- it shall not rend.

33 And on the skirts thereof thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, round about the skirts thereof; and bells of gold between them round about:

34 a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, in the skirts of the cloak round about.

35 And it shall be on Aaron for service; that his sound may be heard when he goeth into the sanctuary before Jehovah, and when he cometh out, that he may not die.

36 And thou shalt make a thin plate of pure gold, and engrave on it, as the engravings of a seal, Holiness to Jehovah!

37 And thou shalt put it on a lace of blue, and it shall be upon the turban -- upon the front of the turban shall it be.

38 And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all gifts of their holy things; and it shall be continually on his forehead, that they may be accepted before Jehovah.

39 And thou shalt weave the vest of byssus; and thou shalt make a turban of byssus; and thou shalt make a girdle of embroidery.

40 And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make vests; and thou shalt make for them girdles; and high caps shalt thou make for them, for glory and for ornament.

41 And thou shalt clothe with them Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and hallow them, that they may serve me as priests.

42 And thou shalt make them linen trousers to cover the flesh of nakedness; from the loins even to the hips shall they reach.

43 And they shall be upon Aaron and his sons when they enter into the tent of meeting, or when they come near to the altar to serve in the sanctuary; that they may not bear iniquity and die -- an everlasting statute for him and his seed after him.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9873

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9873. All this now makes clear what the twelve precious stones in the breastplate of judgement served to mean, namely all the kinds of good and truth of heaven in their proper order. Heaven is divided into two kingdoms, the celestial and the spiritual. The good of the celestial kingdom was represented by the first two rows, which were on the right side of the breastplate, and the good of the spiritual kingdom by the next two rows, which were on the left side. The internal good of the celestial kingdom is the good of love to the Lord; this is the good that is meant by the celestial love of good. The external good of the celestial kingdom however is the good of mutual love; this is the good that is meant by the celestial love of truth. But the internal good of the spiritual kingdom is the good of charity towards the neighbour; this is the good that is meant by the spiritual love of good. And the external good of the spiritual kingdom is the good of faith; this is the good that is meant by the spiritual love of truth. These kinds of good and truth in this order constitute the heavens, see 9468, 9473, 9680, 9683, 9780.

[2] From this it is now evident what the twelve stones, which were called the Urim and Thummim, represented. But in what way the Divine Truths which were answers were made known by means of them will be stated below in 9905. The fact that the good of love occupied the first place there and the truth of faith the last is clear from the first stone's being a ruby and the last's being a jasper, thus from the first stone's being red in colour, and the last's being white, both of them translucent. For the meaning of 'red' as the good of love, see 3300, 9467; and for that of 'white' as the truth of faith, 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319.

[3] Much the same as is meant by the stones in the breastplate was also meant by the materials used in weaving the ephod. The ephod was woven from violet, purple, twice-dyed scarlet, and fine linen, as is evident from verse 6 of the present chapter, and 'violet' meant the truth of celestial love, 'purple' the good of celestial love, 'twice-dyed scarlet' the good of spiritual love, and 'fine linen' the truth of spiritual love, 9833. The reason why much the same was meant is that 'the ephod' meant heaven on last and outermost levels, in the same way as 'the breastplate' does, 9824. But the kinds of good and truth are listed in a different order there, because 'the ephod' meant the spiritual heaven, whereas 'the breastplate' means all heaven from first to last. And since the dwelling-place along with the tent also represented heaven, 9457, 9481, 9485, 9615, the material from which its curtains and veils were woven were likewise violet, purple, double-dyed scarlet, and fine twined linen, see the previous Chapters, 26:1, 31, 36; 27:16, and 9466-9469.

[4] In addition it should be recognized that in the general sense SAPPHIRE means the external part of the celestial kingdom and SHOHAM the external part of the spiritual kingdom. And because these two stones had this meaning they were the middle stones belonging to the secondary rows, that is to say, the sapphire was the middle stone in the second row, and the shoham the middle stone in the fourth row. The stones belonging to the second row meant the external good of the celestial kingdom, which has been called the celestial love of truth, and the stones belonging to the fourth row meant the external good of the spiritual kingdom, which has been called the spiritual love of truth, see what has been stated about them above in this paragraph 9873.

[5] The fact that 'sapphire' means the external part of the celestial kingdom is evident from places in the Word where it is mentioned, such as in the Book of Exodus,

Seventy of the elders saw the God of Israel, and under His feet there was so to speak a work of sapphire, and it was like the substance of the sky for clearness. Exodus 24:10.

The external part of the celestial kingdom is so described, because the words 'under His feet', meaning what is external, are used, and where 'the God of Israel', who is the Lord, is, there heaven is. In Isaiah,

O afflicted one and storm-tossed, and receiving no comfort! Behold, I am arranging your stones with antimony, and will lay your foundations in sapphires. Isaiah 54:11.

The subject in this chapter is the celestial kingdom. The foundations which will be laid in sapphires, are the external things there; for foundations lie underneath.

[6] In Jeremiah,

Her Nazirites were brighter than snow, they were whiter than milk. Their bones 1 were ruddier than pearls, 2 polished like sapphires. 3 Lamentations 4:7.

Nazirites represented the celestial man, which is why it says 'polished like sapphires', 'polished' referring to what is external. In Ezekiel,

Above the expanse that was above the heads of the cherubs, in appearance like a sapphire stone, there was the likeness of a throne, and above the likeness of a throne there was the appearance of a man (homo) sitting upon it. Ezekiel 1:26; 10:1.

Here also 'sapphire' is used to describe the external part of the celestial kingdom; for what is above the expanse or round about is outside, that which is inmost being the one 'sitting upon a throne'.

[7] Just as sapphire stone means the external part of the celestial kingdom, so shoham stone means the external part of the spiritual kingdom. Therefore also this was the stone which was placed on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod with the names of the sons of Israel inscribed on them, which are dealt with in verses 9-14 of the present chapter; for the ephod represented the external part of the spiritual kingdom, 9824. Since shoham and sapphire in the general sense meant the external parts of two heavens, they were placed in the middle of the sets of three stones forming the second and fourth rows, as stated above. For the middle includes the whole, as is also true of the robe, which in the general sense has represented the spiritual kingdom, because it comes in the middle, as shown above in 9825. Because those two stones include everything meant by all the other stones in those rows, it says in Job,

Wisdom cannot be compared with the gold of Ophir, with the precious shoham and the sapphire. Job 28:16.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. i.e. bodies

2. In other places Swedenborg has rubies or gem stones.

3. literally, sapphires their polishing

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