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Exodus 25

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1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

2 Speak to the sons of Israel, and let them take for Me an uplifted offering*; from every man whose heart is·​·freely·​·willing you shall take My uplifted offering.

3 And this is the uplifted offering which you shall take from them; gold, and silver, and bronze;

4 and blue, and crimson, and scarlet twice-dyed, and fine·​·linen, and goats wool;

5 and skins of red rams, and skins of badgers, and shittim* wood;

6 oil for the light, spices for the oil of anointing, and for the fragrant incense;

7 onyx stones, and stones of infilling for the ephod, and for the breastplate.

8 And let them make for Me a sanctuary, that I may reside in the midst of them.

9 According·​·to all that I show thee, the shape of the Habitation, and the shape of all its vessels, and so you shall make them.

10 And they shall make an ark of shittim wood; two·​·cubits and a half its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.

11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, from inside and from outside shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make on it a rim of gold all around.

12 And thou shalt cast for it four rings of gold, and put them upon its four corners*; and two rings shall be on its one rib, and two rings on its second rib*.

13 And thou shalt make poles of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.

14 And thou shalt bring the poles into the rings on the ribs of the ark, to bear the ark with them.

15 The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it.

16 And thou shalt put into the ark the Testimony which I shall give to thee.

17 And thou shalt make a place of atonement of pure gold; two·​·cubits and a half its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth.

18 And thou shalt make two cherubim, of solid gold shalt thou make them, at the two ends of the place of atonement.

19 And make one cherub at this end, and one cherub at that end; out·​·of the place of atonement you shall make the cherubim on its two ends.

20 And there shall be cherubim spreading their wings upward, sheltering with their wings over the place of atonement, and their faces of a man to his brother; toward the place of atonement shall be the faces of the cherubim.

21 And thou shalt put the place of atonement on the ark from above; and into the ark thou shalt put the Testimony that I shall give to thee.

22 And I will meet·​·together with thee there, and I will speak with thee from above the place of atonement, from between the two cherubim which are over the ark of the Testimony, all that I shall command thee to the sons of Israel.

23 And thou shalt make a table of shittim wood; two·​·cubits its length, and a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height.

24 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make for it a rim of gold around it.

25 And thou shalt make for it an enclosure of a hand·​·breadth all around it, and thou shalt make a rim of gold for its enclosure all around it.

26 And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings on the four quarters that are for its four feet.

27 Alongside the enclosure shall be the rings, for housings for the poles to bear the table.

28 And thou shalt make the poles of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and the table shall be carried with them.

29 And thou shalt make its platter, and its dishes*, and its saucers, and its little·​·brooms, with which it shall be covered; of pure gold shalt thou make them.

30 And thou shalt put upon the table the bread of faces, to My faces continually.

31 And thou shalt make a lampstand of pure gold; solid shall the lampstand be made; its shaft*, and its reed, its cups, its knobs*, and its blossoms, shall be from it;

32 and six reeds go·​·out from its sides; three reeds of the lampstand from its one side, and three reeds of the lampstand from its second side;

33 three almond-shaped cups in one reed, a knob and a blossom; and three almond-shaped cups in one reed, a knob and a blossom; so it was for the six reeds going·​·out of the lampstand.

34 And in the lampstand four almond-shaped cups, her knobs and her blossoms.

35 And a knob under two reeds out of it, and a knob under two reeds out of it, and a knob under two reeds out of it, for the six reeds going·​·out of the lampstand.

36 Their knobs and their reeds shall be out·​·of it, all of them, one solid thing of pure gold.

37 And thou shalt make its lamps seven; and cause the flame of its lamps to go·​·up* and give·​·light across the faces of it.

38 And its tongs, and its trowels, shall be of pure gold.

39 A talent of pure gold shall it be made, with all these vessels.

40 And see and make them in the shape which thou wast made to see in the mountain.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Arcana Coelestia # 9509

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9509. 'And you shall make two cherubs' means that there is no admission or access to the Lord except through the good of love. This is clear from the meaning of 'cherubs' as watchfulness and providence, guarding against access to the Lord except through the good of love. Since this was meant by the cherubs, they were placed over the mercy-seat that was over the ark; and they were for the same reason made from solid gold. For 'the ark' means heaven where the Lord is, 9485, and 'gold' means the good of love, 9490. The reason why there is no access to the Lord except through the good of love is that love is spiritual togetherness, and all good belongs to love. Those therefore who are governed by the good of love to the Lord are brought to Him in heaven, because they have been joined together with Him. So too are those who are governed by the good of love towards the neighbour; for the neighbour is the good of a fellow-citizen, the good of one's country, the good of the Church, the good of the whole of the Lord's kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself since He is the source of that good present with a person.

[2] There are two states that a person passes through while being regenerated, one of which follows the other. The first is a state during which he is led by means of the truths of faith to the good of love; the other is one in which he is governed by the good of love, and when governed by it he is in heaven with the Lord. From this it is evident that this good is heaven itself present with the person, that good being the Lord present with him because its source is the Lord. Regarding these two states that a person who is being regenerated passes through, one of which follows the other, see 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701, 9224, 9227, 9230, 9274; and the fact that a person comes into heaven when governed by good, that is, when led by the Lord by means of good, 8516, 8539, 8722, 8772, 9139.

[3] It is clear from places in the Word where 'cherubs' are mentioned that they mean watchfulness and providence, guarding against access to the Lord or to heaven except through the good of love, that is, except by those governed by the good of love, and also guarding against any harm being done to the good from the Lord which is present in heaven and with a person, as for instance in Genesis,

And He expelled the man, and away from the east towards the garden of Eden He caused the cherubs to dwell, and the flame of a sword turning itself this way and that to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:24.

Here it is self-evident that things which serve as guards are meant by 'the cherubs', since it says 'to guard the way to the tree of life'. 'The tree of life' is the good of love, which comes from the Lord and for that reason is the Lord; and it is guarded by the prevention of any access except through the good of love.

[4] It is thought that the Lord is accessible through the truths of faith. But there can be no access to Him, nor even to heaven, through those truths if they have been separated from the good of love. As soon as separated truths wish to enter, heaven, which is the way to the Lord, is closed. And since truth cannot enter by itself unless it has good within it, and by virtue of this has come to consist of good, neither can understanding do so, still less factual knowledge, if separated from good desired by the will.

[5] Because watchfulness and providence guarding against access to the Lord, or for that reason to heaven, except through the good of love is meant by 'the cherubs', the Word says that Jehovah is seated on the cherubs, also rides and dwells upon the cherubs, as in David,

Turn Your ears, O Shepherd of Israel; You who are seated upon the cherubs, shine forth. Psalms 80:1.

In the same author,

Jehovah will reign, the peoples will be shaken. He is seated on the cherubs. Psalms 99:1.

In the same author,

Jehovah rode on a cherub, and flew. Psalms 18:10.

And in Isaiah,

Jehovah Zebaoth is dwelling on the cherubs. Isaiah 37:16.

For the same reasons there were cherubs upon the curtains of the dwelling-place, and upon the veil, Exodus 26:1, 31; 36:35; they were also upon the walls of the temple round about and upon the doors there, 1 Kings 6:23-29, 31-35, and similarly in the new temple, as described in Ezekiel 41:18-20. The presence of the cherubs on the curtains of the dwelling-place, on the veil, on the walls of the temple, and on the doors there, was a sign of the Lord's watchfulness, guarding against access to Divine Holiness except through the good of love; and the presence of the cherubs over the ark was a sign that no one should gain access to the Lord Himself except through that good. This also explains why the cherubs were made from solid gold, and in the Jerusalem temple from olive wood; for 'gold' and 'olive oil' mean the good of love.

[6] That watchfulness and providence of the Lord is described in Ezekiel by 'the four living creatures', each of which had four faces, under the throne where the Lord was, Ezekiel 1:1-end; 10:1-end, and also in John by 'four living creatures' around the throne where the Lord was, 10:Revelation 4:6-10; 5:6, 8-9, 14. By 'the four living creatures' is meant the good, varying in appearance, which emanates from the Lord, and which watches and guards against the letting in of anything other than the good of love to the Lord and the good of love towards the neighbour. By 'the throne' on which the Lord was seated heaven is meant, 5313.

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