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Exode 36

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1 Et Betsaléel, et Aholiab, et tous les hommes d'esprit, auxquels l'Eternel avait donné de la sagesse, et de l'intelligence, pour savoir faire tout l'ouvrage du service du Sanctuaire, firent selon toutes les choses que l'Eternel avait commandées.

2 Moïse donc appela Betsaléel et Aholiab, et tous les hommes d'esprit, dans le cœur desquels l'Eternel avait mis de la sagesse, [et] tous ceux qui furent émus en leur cœur de se présenter pour faire cet ouvrage.

3 Lesquels emportèrent de devant Moïse toute l'offrande que les enfants d'Israël avaient apportée pour faire l'ouvrage du service du Sanctuaire. Or on apportait encore chaque matin quelque oblation volontaire.

4 C'est pourquoi tous les hommes d'esprit qui faisaient tout l'ouvrage du Sanctuaire, vinrent chacun d'auprès l'ouvrage qu'ils faisaient;

5 Et parlèrent à Moïse, en disant : le peuple ne cesse d'apporter plus qu'il ne faut pour le service, et pour l'ouvrage que l'Eternel a commandé de faire.

6 Alors par le commandement de Moïse on fit crier dans le camp : que ni homme ni femme ne fasse plus d'ouvrage pour l'offrande du Sanctuaire; et ainsi on empêcha le peuple d'offrir.

7 Car ils avaient de l'étoffe suffisamment pour faire tout l'ouvrage, et il y en avait même de reste.

8 Tous les hommes donc de plus grand esprit d'entre ceux qui faisaient l'ouvrage, firent le pavillon; [savoir] dix rouleaux de fin lin retors, de pourpre, d'écarlate, et de cramoisi; et ils les firent semés de Chérubins, d'un ouvrage exquis.

9 La longueur d'un rouleau était de vingt-huit coudées, et la largeur du même rouleau de quatre coudées; tous les rouleaux avaient une même mesure.

10 Et ils joignirent cinq rouleaux l'un à l'autre, et cinq autres rouleaux l'un à l'autre.

11 Et ils firent des lacets de pourpre sur le bord d'un rouleau, [savoir] au bord de celui qui était attaché; ils en firent ainsi au bord du dernier rouleau, dans l'assemblage de l'autre.

12 Ils firent cinquante lacets en un rouleau, et cinquante lacets au bord du rouleau qui était dans l'assemblage de l'autre; les lacets étant vis-à-vis l'un de l'autre.

13 Puis on fit cinquante crochets d'or, et on attacha les rouleaux l'un à l'autre avec les crochets; ainsi il fut fait un pavillon.

14 Puis on fit des rouleaux de poils de chèvres, pour [servir] de Tabernacle au dessus du pavillon; on fit onze de ces rouleaux.

15 La longueur d'un rouleau était de trente coudées, et la largeur du même rouleau, de quatre coudées; et les onze rouleaux étaient d'une même mesure.

16 Et on assembla cinq de ces rouleaux à part, et six rouleaux à part.

17 On fit aussi cinquante lacets sur le bord de l'un des rouleaux, [savoir] au dernier qui était attaché, et cinquante lacets sur le bord de l'autre rouleau, qui était attaché.

18 On fit aussi cinquante crochets d'airain pour attacher le Tabernacle, afin qu'il n'y en eût qu'un.

19 Puis on fît pour le Tabernacle une couverture de peaux de moutons teintes en rouge, et une couverture de peaux de taissons par dessus.

20 Et on fit pour le pavillon des ais de bois de Sittim, qu'on fit tenir debout.

21 La longueur d'un ais était de dix coudées, et la largeur du même ais d'une coudée et demie.

22 Il y avait deux tenons à chaque ais en façon d'échelons l'un après l'autre; on fit la même chose à tous les ais du pavillon.

23 On fit donc les ais pour le pavillon; [savoir] vingt ais au côté qui regardait directement vers le Midi.

24 Et au-dessous des vingt ais on fit quarante soubassements d'argent, deux soubassements sous un ais, pour ses deux tenons, et deux soubassements sous l'autre ais, pour ses deux tenons.

25 On fit aussi vingt ais à l'autre côté du pavillon, du côté du Septentrion.

26 Et leurs quarante soubassements, d'argent : deux soubassements sous un ais, et deux soubassements sous l'autre ais.

27 Et pour le fond du pavillon, vers l'Occident, on fit six ais.

28 Et on fit deux ais pour les encoignures du pavillon aux deux côtés du fond;

29 Qui étaient égaux par le bas, et qui étaient joints et unis par le haut avec un anneau; on fit la même chose aux deux [ais] qui étaient aux deux encoignures.

30 Il y avait donc huit ais et seize soubassements d'argent; [savoir] deux soubassements sous chaque ais.

31 Puis on fit cinq barres de bois de Sittim, pour les ais de l'un des côtés du pavillon.

32 Et cinq barres pour les ais de l'autre côté du pavillon; et cinq barres pour les ais du pavillon pour le fond, vers le côté de l'Occident;

33 Et on fit que la barre du milieu passait par le milieu des ais depuis un bout jusqu’à l'autre.

34 Et on couvrit d'or les ais, et on fit leurs anneaux d'or pour y faire passer les barres, et on couvrit d'or les barres.

35 n fit aussi le voile de pourpre, d'écarlate, de cramoisi, et de fin lin retors, on le fit d'ouvrage exquis, semé de Chérubins.

36 Et on lui fit quatre piliers de bois de Sittim, qu'on couvrit d'or, ayant leurs crochets d'or; et on fondit pour eux quatre soubassements d'argent.

37 n fit aussi à l'entrée du Tabernacle une tapisserie de pourpre, d'écarlate, de cramoisi, et de fin lin retors, d'ouvrage de broderie;

38 Et ses cinq piliers avec leurs crochets; et on couvrit d'or leurs chapiteaux et leurs filets; mais leurs cinq soubassements étaient d'airain.

   

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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.