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Exodus 36

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1 Then wrought Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every man that was wise-hearted, in whom Jehovah had put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all manner of work of the service of the sanctuary -- according to all that Jehovah had commanded.

2 And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every man that was wise-hearted, in whose heart God had put wisdom, every one whose heart moved him to come to the work to do it.

3 And they took from Moses every heave-offering that the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it. And they still brought him voluntary offerings morning by morning.

4 And all the wise men that wrought all the work of the sanctuary came, every man from his work which they wrought,

5 and spoke to Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work that Jehovah commanded to be done.

6 Then Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed through the camp, saying, Let neither man nor woman make any more work for the heave-offering of the sanctuary! So the people were restrained from bringing;

7 for the work they had was sufficient for all the work to do it, and it was too much.

8 And every wise-hearted man among those that wrought the work of the tabernacle made ten curtains of twined byssus, and blue, and purple, and scarlet: [with] cherubim of artistic work did he make them.

9 The length of one curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits -- one measure for all the curtains.

10 And he coupled five of the curtains one to another, and [the other] five curtains coupled he one to another.

11 And he made loops of blue on the edge of one curtain at the edge of the coupling; he did likewise in the edge of the outermost curtain in the other coupling.

12 He made fifty loops in one curtain, and he made fifty loops at the end of the curtain that was in the other coupling: the loops were opposite to one another.

13 And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains together with the clasps, so that the tabernacle became one.

14 And he made curtains of goats' [hair] for the tent over the tabernacle: eleven curtains did he make them.

15 The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the breadth of one curtain -- one measure for the eleven curtains.

16 And he coupled five of the curtains by themselves, and six of the curtains by themselves.

17 And he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the coupling, and fifty loops made he on the edge of the curtain in the other coupling.

18 And he made fifty clasps of copper to couple the tent, that it might be one.

19 And he made a covering for the tent [of] rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of badgers' skins above [that].

20 And he made the boards for the tabernacle of acacia-wood, standing up;

21 ten cubits the length of the boards, and one cubit and a half the breadth of one board;

22 two tenons in one board, connected one with the other: thus did he make for all the boards of the tabernacle.

23 And he made the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side southward;

24 and he made forty bases of silver under the twenty boards, two bases under one board, for its two tenons, and two bases under another board for its two tenons.

25 And for the other side of the tabernacle, on the side toward the north, he made twenty boards,

26 and their forty bases of silver, two bases under one board, and two bases under another board.

27 And at the rear of the tabernacle, westward, he made six boards;

28 and he made two boards for the corners of the tabernacle at the rear;

29 and they were joined beneath, and were coupled together at the top thereof into one ring: thus he did to both of them in both the corners;

30 and there were eight boards, and their silver bases: sixteen bases, under every board two bases.

31 -- And he made bars of acacia-wood: five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,

32 and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle at the rear, westward.

33 And he made the middle bar in the midst of the boards reach from one end to the other.

34 And he overlaid the boards with gold; and made their rings of gold [as] receptacles for the bars; and overlaid the bars with gold.

35 And he made the veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus: of artistic work he made it [with] cherubim.

36 And he made four pillars of acacia[-wood] for it, and overlaid them with gold; their hooks were of gold; and he cast for them four bases of silver.

37 And he made a curtain for the entrance of the tent of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus, of embroidery;

38 and its five pillars with their hooks; and he overlaid their capitals and their connecting-rods with gold; and their five bases were of copper.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 3519

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3519. 'And take for me from there two good kids of the she-goats' means truths born from that good. This is clear from the meaning of 'kids of the she-goats' as truths born from good, dealt with below. The reason for having 'two' was that as in the rational so in the natural there are things of the will and those of the understanding. Things in the natural that belong to the will are delights, while those that belong to the understanding are facts. These two have to be joined together if they are to be anything at all.

[2] As regards 'kids of the she-goats' meaning truths born from good, this becomes clear from those places in the Word where kids and she-goats are mentioned. It should be recognized that all gentle and useful beasts mentioned in the Word mean in the genuine sense celestial things, which are forms of good, and spiritual things, which are forms of truth, see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776, 2179, 2180, 2781, 3218. And since there are various genera of celestial things or forms of good, and consequently there are various genera of spiritual things or forms of truth, one beast has a different meaning from another; that is to say, a lamb has one meaning, a kid another, and a sheep, she-goat, ram, he-goat, young bull, or ox another, while a horse or a camel has yet another meaning. Birds have a different meaning again, as also do beasts of the sea, such as sea monsters, and fish. The genera of celestial and spiritual things, and consequently of forms of good and truth, are more than anyone can number, even though when that which is celestial or good is mentioned, and also when that which is spiritual or truth, this is not envisaged as being anything complex, consisting of many parts, but as a single entity. Yet how complex both of these are, that is, how countless the genera are of which they consist, may be seen from what has been stated about heaven in 3241, to the effect that it is distinguished into countless separate communities, according to the genera of celestial and spiritual things, that is, of goods of love and of derivative truths of faith. Furthermore each genus of good and each genus of truth has countless species into which the communities of each genus are separated. And each species in a similar way has separate sub-species.

[3] The commonest genera of good and truth are what the living creatures offered as burnt offerings and sacrifices represented. And because the genera are quite distinct and separate, people were explicitly commanded to use those living creatures and no others, that is to say, in some sacrifices lambs and ewe-lambs, and also kids and female kids of she-goats were to be used, in other sacrifices rams and sheep, and also he-goats, were to be used, while in other sacrifices again, calves, young bulls, and oxen, or else pigeons and doves, were to be used, see 992, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3218. What kids and she-goats meant however becomes clear both from the sacrifices in which they used to be offered and from other places in the Word. These show that lambs and ewe-lambs meant innocence belonging to the internal or rational man, and kids and she-goats innocence belonging to the external or natural man, and so the truth and the good of the latter.

[4] The fact that truth and good present in the innocence that belongs to the external or natural man is meant by a kid and a she-goat is clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,

The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, the calf also and the young lion and the sheep together; and a little child will lead them. Isaiah 11:6.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom and to the state there in which people have no fear of evil, that is, no dread of hell, because they are with the Lord. 'The lamb' and 'the kid' stand for people who have innocence within them, and who, being the most secure of all, are mentioned first.

[5] When all the firstborn of Egypt were smitten the people were commanded to kill from among the lambs or among the kids a male without blemish, and to put some of the blood on the doorposts and on the lintel of their houses; and so the destroyer would not strike them with the plague, Exodus 12:5, 7, 13. 'The firstborn of Egypt' means the good of love and charity that was wiped out, 3325. 'The lambs' and 'the kids' are states of innocence, in which those with whom these exist are secure from evil. Indeed all in heaven are kept secure by the Lord through states of innocence. That security was represented by the killing of the lamb or kid, and putting the blood on the doorposts and on the lintel of the houses. .

[6] To avert his own death when a person saw Jehovah manifested as an angel he would sacrifice 'a kid of the she-goats', as Gideon did when he saw Him, Judges 6:19, and also Manoah, Judges 13:15-16, 19. The reason they offered a kid was that Jehovah or the Lord cannot appear to anybody, not even to an angel, unless the one to whom He appears is in a state of innocence. Therefore as soon as the Lord is present people are brought into a state of innocence, for the Lord enters in by way of innocence, even with angels in heaven. Consequently no one is able to enter heaven unless he has a measure of innocence, according to the Lord's words recorded in Matthew 18:3; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17. Regarding people's belief that they would die when Jehovah appeared to them if they did not offer such a burnt offering, see Judges 13:22-23.

[7] Since genuine conjugial love is innocence itself, 2736, it was customary in the representative Church for a man to go to his wife with the gift of a kid of the she-goats, as one reads of Samson in Judges 15:1, and also of Judah when he visited Tamar, Genesis 38:17, 20, 23. The fact that 'a kid' and 'a she-goat' meant innocence is also evident from the sacrifices made as guilt offerings that a person would offer if he had sinned through error, Leviticus 1:10; 4:28; 5:6. Sinning through error is sinning through ignorance that has innocence within it. The same is evident from the following Divine command in Moses,

You shall bring the first of the firstfruits of your land to the house of Jehovah your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. Exodus 23:19; 34:26.

Here the requirement 'to bring the firstfruits of the land to the house of Jehovah' means the state of innocence which exists in early childhood; and 'not boiling a kid in its mother's milk' means that they were not to destroy the innocence of early childhood. This being their meaning, the one command, in both places referred to, follows directly after the other. In the literal sense there seems to be no connection at all between them as there is in the internal sense.

[8] Because kids and she-goats, as has been stated, meant innocence it was also required that the curtains over the tabernacle should be made from she-goat hair, Exodus 25:4; 26:7; 35:5-6, 23, 26; 36:14, as a sign that all the holy things represented in it depended for their very being on innocence. 'She-goat hair' means the last or outermost degree of innocence present in ignorance, such as exists with gentiles who in the internal sense are meant by the curtains of the tabernacle. These considerations now show what truths born of good are, and what the nature of these is, meant by the two good kids of the she-goats which Rebekah his mother spoke about to Jacob. That is to say, they are truths belonging to innocence or early childhood, meant also by the things which Esau was to bring to Isaac his father, dealt with in 3501, 3508. They were not in fact such truths, but initially they appeared to be. Thus it was that Jacob pretended by means of them to be Esau.

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