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Exodus 35

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1 And all the multitude of the children of Israel being gathered together, he said to them: These are the things which the Lord hath commanded to be done.

2 Six days you shall do work: the seventh day shall be holy unto you, the sabbath, and the rest of the Lord: he that shall do any work on it, shall be put to death.

3 You shall kindle no fire in any of your habitations on the sabbath day.

4 And Moses said to all the assembly of the children of Israel: This is the word the Lord hath commanded, saying:

5 Set aside with you firstfuits to the Lord. Let every one that is willing and hath a ready heart, offer them to the Lord: gold, and silver, and brass,

6 Violet and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine linen, goats' hair,

7 And rams' skins dyed red, and violet coloured skins, setim wood,

8 And oil to maintain lights, and to make ointment, and most sweet incense.

9 Onyx stones, and precious stones, for the adorning of the ephod and the rational.

10 Whosoever of you is wise, let him come, and make that which the Lord hath commanded:

11 To wit, the tabernacle and the roof thereof, and the cover, the rings, and the board work with the oars, the pillars, and the sockets:

12 The ark and the staves, the propitiatory, and the veil that is drawn before it:

13 The table with the bars and the vessels, and the loaves of proposition:

14 The candlestick to bear up the lights, the vessels thereof and the lamps, and the oil for the nourishing of fires:

15 The altar of incense, and the bars, and the oil of unction and the incense of spices: the hanging at the door of the tabernacle:

16 The altar of holocaust, and its grate of brass, with the bars and vessels thereof: the laver and its foot:

17 The curtains of the court with the pillars and the sockets, the hanging in the doors of the entry,

18 The pins of the tabernacle and of the court with their little cords:

19 The vestments that are to be used in the ministry of the sanctuary, the vesture of Aaron the high priest, and of his sons, to do the office of priesthood to me.

20 And all the multitude of the children of Israel going out from the presence of Moses,

21 Offered firstfruits to the Lord with a most ready and devout mind, to make the work of the tabernacle of the testimony. Whatsoever was necessary to the service, and to the holy vestments,

22 Both men and women gave bracelets and earrings, rings and tablets: every vessel of gold was set aside to be offered to the Lord.

23 If any man had violet, and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, fine linen and goats' hair, rams' skins dyed red, and violet coloured skins,

24 Metal of silver and brass, they offered it to the Lord, and setim wood for divers uses.

25 The skilful women also gave such things as they had spun, violet, purple, and scarlet, and fine linen,

26 And goats' hair, giving all of their own accord.

27 But the princes offered onyx stone, and precious stones, for the ephod and the rational,

28 And spices and oil for the lights, and for the preparing of ointment, and to make the incense of most sweet savour.

29 All both men and women with devout mind offered gifts, that the works might be done which the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses. All the children of Israel dedicated voluntary offerings to the Lord.

30 And Moses said to the children of Israel: Behold the Lord hath called by name Beseleel the son of Uri the son of Hur of the tribe of Juda.

31 And hath filled him with the spirit of God, with wisdom and understanding and knowledge and all learning.

32 To devise and to work in gold and silver and brass,

33 And in engraving stones, and in carpenters' work. Whatsoever can be devised artificially,

34 He hath given in his heart: Ooliab also the son of Achisamech of the tribe of Dan:

35 Both of them hath he instructed with wisdom, to do carpenters' work and tapestry, and embroidery in blue and purple, and scarlet twice dyed, and fine linen, and to weave all things, and to invent all new things.

   

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Exodus 39:32

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32 And they offered the tabernacle and the roof and the whole furniture, the rings, the boards, the bars, the pillars, and their sockets,

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Arcana Coelestia # 8990

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8990. 'And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl' means a representative sign of obedience. This is clear from the meaning of 'ear' as obedience, dealt with in 2542, 3869, 4551, 4652-4660; and from the meaning of 'piercing it with an awl' - that is to say, onto the door or onto the doorpost - as affixing, or at this point pledging forever, since it refers to obedience; and this is why the words follow, 'he shall serve him forever', that is, be obedient to him forever. From this it is evident that his master's piercing his ear with an awl, fixing it to the door or to the doorpost, is representative of obedience.

[2] The implications of all this may become clear from matters stated previously, where it has been shown that those imbued solely with truths and not with complementary good, that is, with faith and not with charity, are not free but slaves. Those whose actions spring from good or charity are free. They act from themselves; for actions that spring from good or charity spring from the heart, that is, from the will, and so from what is a person's own, since what exists in a person's will is his own and a deed springing from the will is said to go out of the heart. But those who are imbued solely with the truths of faith and not with the good of charity are slaves in comparison. They do not act from themselves since they have no good within themselves for actions to spring from; instead good is outside them, and they base their actions on it as often as they call it to mind. Those who stay like this through to the end of their lives remain permanently in this state after death. They cannot be brought to a state in which their actions spring from charitable affection, that is, from good; they can act only in obedience. In the Grand Man, which is heaven, they constitute those parts that serve more internal ones, like membranes and skins, 8977, 8980.

[3] All this shows what the situation is with faith alone, that is, with those who doctrinally place faith first and the good of charity second, indeed last. Those who place them in this order in the actual lives they lead are 'Hebrew slaves' in the representative sense; but those who place charity first, in the actual lives they lead, are free or 'the children of Israel' in the representative sense. From all this one may also conclude what the situation is with those who make salvation rest entirely on the truths of faith and not at all on the good of charity, that is to say, not at all on the actual life they lead. One may conclude that they cannot enter heaven; for good reigns in heaven, not truth without good, and truth is not truth, nor is faith faith, except with those imbued with good

[4] That his master's piercing his ear with an awl, fixing it to the door, is representative of obedience is also evident from the consideration that fixing his ear to the door means causing him to attend to the things commanded by his master who is in the room, that is, to hear him at all times and obey his instructions. At this point the things which good wills and commands are meant in the spiritual sense, for spiritual good is represented by the slave's master, 8981, 8986. Since 'the ear' means the hearing of obedience, there flows into human speech from an origin in the spiritual world the expression to tweak the ear, which stands for causing a person to pay attention and remember, and in like manner the expressions to hear and to hearken to someone, which stands for obeying him. For the inner meaning that very many words possess has sprung from correspondences from the spiritual world, as with expressions such as spiritual light and being enlightened by it which people use when speaking about matters of faith, and also spiritual fire and being animated by it when speaking about matters of love.

[5] The reason why piercing the ear was done with an awl was that 'an awl' has the same meaning as a pin or peg, namely affixing and joining onto, and in the spiritual sense pledging something. But an awl was a tool used by a servant, and therefore it served to represent the pledge of everlasting obedience by a slave. The meaning of 'a pin' or 'a peg' as affixing and joining onto is clear from the places where this object is mentioned, as in Isaiah 22:23; 33:20; 41:7; 54:2; Jeremiah 10:4; Exodus 27:19; 38:31; Numbers 3:37; 4:32.

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