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Esodo 27

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1 Farai anche un altare di legno d’acacia, lungo cinque cubiti e largo cinque cubiti; l’altare sarà quadrato, e avrà tre cubiti d’altezza.

2 Farai ai quattro angoli dei corni che spuntino dall’altare, il quale rivestirai di rame.

3 Farai pure i suoi vasi per raccoglier le ceneri, le sue palette, i suoi bacini, i suoi forchettoni e i suoi bracieri; tutti i suoi utensili li farai di rame.

4 E farai una gratella di rame in forma di rete; e sopra la rete, ai suoi quattro canti, farai quattro anelli di rame;

5 e la porrai sotto la cornice dell’altare, nella parte inferiore, in modo che la rete raggiunga la metà dell’altezza dell’altare.

6 Farai anche delle stanghe per l’altare: delle stanghe di legno d’acacia, e le rivestirai di rame.

7 E si faran passare le stanghe per gli anelli; e le stanghe saranno ai due lati dell’altare, quando lo si dovrà portare.

8 Lo farai di tavole, vuoto; dovrà esser fatto, conforme ti è stato mostrato sul monte.

9 Farai anche il cortile del tabernacolo; dal lato meridionale, ci saranno, per formare il cortile, delle cortine di lino fino ritorto, per una lunghezza di cento cubiti, per un lato.

10 Questo lato avrà venti colonne con le loro venti basi di rame; i chiodi e le aste delle colonne saranno d’argento.

11 Così pure per il lato di settentrione, per lungo, ci saranno delle cortine lunghe cento cubiti, con venti colonne e le loro venti basi di rame; i chiodi e le aste delle colonne saranno d’argento.

12 E per largo, dal lato d’occidente, il cortile avrà cinquanta cubiti di cortine, con dieci colonne e le loro dieci basi.

13 E per largo, sul davanti, dal lato orientale il cortile avrà cinquanta cubiti.

14 Da uno dei lati dell’ingresso ci saranno quindici cubiti di cortine, con tre colonne e le loro tre basi;

15 e dall’altro lato pure ci saranno quindici cubiti di cortine, con tre colonne e le loro tre basi.

16 Per l’ingresso del cortile ci sarà una portiera di venti cubiti, di filo violaceo, porporino, scarlatto, e di lino fino ritorto, in lavoro di ricamo, con quattro colonne e le loro quattro basi.

17 Tutte le colonne attorno al cortile saran congiunte con delle aste d’argento; i loro chiodi saranno d’argento, e le loro basi di rame.

18 La lunghezza del cortile sarà di cento cubiti; la larghezza, di cinquanta da ciascun lato; e l’altezza, di cinque cubiti; le cortine saranno di lino fino ritorto, e le basi delle colonne, di rame.

19 Tutti gli utensili destinati al servizio del tabernacolo, tutti i suoi piuoli e tutti i piuoli del cortile saranno di rame.

20 Ordinerai ai figliuoli d’Israele che ti portino dell’olio d’uliva puro, vergine, per il candelabro, per tener le lampade continuamente accese.

21 Nella tenda di convegno, fuori del velo che sta davanti alla testimonianza, Aaronne e i suoi figliuoli lo prepareranno perché le lampade ardano dalla sera al mattino davanti all’Eterno. Questa sarà una regola perpetua per i loro discendenti, da essere osservata dai figliuoli d’Israele.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 5077

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5077. 'The cupbearer of the king of Egypt' means among the things of the body which are subject to the understanding Part of the mind. This is clear from the meaning of 'the cupbearer' as the external or bodily senses that are subordinate or subject to the understanding part of the internal man, dealt with in what follows below; and from the meaning of 'the king of Egypt' as the natural man, dealt with below in 5079. Since the cupbearer and the baker are the subject of the narrative that follows and these mean the external senses belonging to the body, something must first be said about these. It is well known that the external or bodily senses are five in number - sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch - and also that these constitute the entire life of the body. For without those senses the body has no life at all, for which reason also when deprived of them it dies and becomes a corpse. The actual bodily part of the human being therefore is nothing else than a receiver of sensory impressions and consequently of the life resulting from these. The part played by the senses is the principal one and that by the body the instrumental. The instrumental without its principal which it is fitted to serve cannot even be called the body that a person carries around while living in the world; but the instrumental together with its principal, when they act as one, can be called such. The two together therefore constitute the body.

[2] A person's external senses are directly related to his internal ones, for they have been given to a person and placed within his body to serve his internal man while he is in the world and to exist subject to the sensory powers of that internal man. Consequently when a person's external senses begin to rule his internal ones he is done for. When this happens his internal sensory powers are regarded as no more than servants whose function is to reinforce whatever the external senses imperiously demand. When this is the state in which the external senses operate, order in their case has become turned around, a situation dealt with immediately above in 5076.

[3] A person's external senses are, as stated, directly related to his internal ones, in general to the understanding and to the will. Consequently some external senses are subject or subordinate to the understanding part of the human mind, others are subject to the will part. One sensory power specifically subject to the understanding is sight; another subject to the understanding, and after that to the will also, is hearing. Smell, and more especially taste, are subject to both simultaneously, while the power subject to the will is touch. Much evidence could be introduced to show that the external senses are subject to the understanding and the will, and also to show how they are subject; but it would take up too much space to carry the explanation so far. Something of what is involved may be recognized from what has been shown at the ends of preceding chapters about the correspondence of those senses.

[4] In addition it should be recognized that all truths that are called the truths of faith belong to the understanding part, and that all forms of good which are those of love and charity go with the will part. Consequently it is the function of the understanding to believe, acknowledge, know, and see truth - and good also. But the function of the will is to feel an affection for that truth and to love it; and whatever a person feels an affection for and loves is good. But how the understanding influences the will when truth passes into good, and how the will influences the understanding when it puts that good into effect, are matters for still deeper examination - In the Lord's Divine mercy those matters will be discussed at various points further on.

[5] The reason 'the cupbearer' means the senses subject or subordinate to the understanding Part of the internal man is that everything which serves as drink, or which is consumed as such, for example, wine, milk, or water, is related to truth, which feeds the understanding and so belongs to the understanding. Also, because the external or bodily senses play a ministering role, 'a cupbearer' therefore means those senses or what is perceived by them. For in general 'drinking' has reference to truths which feed the understanding, see 3069, 3071, 3168, 3772, 4017, 4018; the specific meaning of 'wine' is truth deriving from good, or faith from charity, 1071, 1798, while 'water' means truth, 680, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976. From all this one may now see what 'the cupbearer' means.

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