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Exodus 26

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1 And thou shalt make the Habitation, ten curtains; of fine· twined ·linen, and blue, and crimson, and scarlet twice-dyed, with cherubim, the work of a thinker, shalt thou make them.

2 The length of one curtain shall be eight and twenty cubits; and the breadth four cubits, for one curtain; one measure for all the curtains.

3 Five curtains shall be coupled one to the other*; and five curtains shall be coupled one to the other.

4 And thou shalt make loops of blue upon the lip of the one curtain at the edge in the coupling, and so shalt thou do in the lip of the curtain at the edge in the second coupling.

5 Fifty loops shalt thou make in the one curtain, and Fifty loops shalt thou make in the extremity of the curtain who is in the second coupling; the loops shall be received one to the other.

6 And thou shalt make fifty clasps of gold, and shalt couple the curtains one to the other by the clasps, and it shall be one Habitation.

7 And thou shalt make curtains of goatswool for a tent over the Habitation; eleven curtains shalt thou make them.

8 The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth four cubits, for one curtain; one measure for the eleven curtains.

9 And thou shalt couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain over against the faces of the Tabernacle.

10 And thou shalt make fifty loops on the lip of the one curtain at the edge in the coupling, and fifty loops on the lip of the curtain of the second coupling.

11 And thou shalt make fifty clasps of bronze, and shalt bring the clasps into the loops, and shalt couple the Tabernacle, that it may be one.

12 And the drape left·​·over in the curtains of the Tabernacle, the half of the curtain left·​·over, thou shalt drape over the back-parts of the Habitation.

13 And the cubit from this side, and the cubit from that, in what is left·​·over in the length of the curtains of the Tabernacle, shall drape over the sides of the Habitation, from this side and from that, to cover it.

14 And thou shalt make for the Tabernacle a covering of skins of red rams, and a covering of the skins of badgers from above.

15 And thou shalt make the planks for the Habitation of shittim* wood, standing up.

16 Ten cubits shall be the length of a plank, and a cubit and half a cubit the breadth of one plank.

17 Two hands shall there be for one plank connected, each to the other; so shalt thou make for all the planks of the Habitation.

18 And thou shalt make the planks for the Habitation, twenty planks for the quarter of the south toward the south.

19 And thou shalt make forty bases of silver under the twenty planks; two bases under one plank for its two hands, and two bases under one plank for its two hands.

20 And for the second rib of the Habitation, at the quarter of the north, twenty planks;

21 and their forty bases of silver; two bases under one plank, and two bases under one plank.

22 And for the two flanks of the Habitation toward the sea thou shalt make six planks.

23 And two planks shalt thou make for the edges of the Habitation in the two flanks.

24 And they shall be twinned from below, and they shall be twinned together at the head of it to one ring; so shall it be for the two of them; they shall be at the two edges*.

25 And there shall be eight planks, and their bases of silver, sixteen bases; two bases under one plank, and two bases under one plank.

26 And thou shalt make bars of shittim wood; five for the planks of the one rib of the Habitation;

27 and five bars for the planks of the second rib of the Habitation, and five bars for the planks of the rib of the Habitation at the two·​·flanks toward the sea*.

28 And the middle bar in the middle of the planks shall pass through from extremity to extremity.

29 And thou shalt overlay the planks with gold, and make their rings of gold, houses for the bars; and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold.

30 And thou shalt raise·​·up the Habitation according·​·to the manner which thou wast made to see in the mountain.

31 And thou shalt make a veil of blue, and crimson, and scarlet twice-dyed, and fine· twined ·linen; the work of a thinker shall he make it, with cherubim;

32 and thou shalt put it on four pillars of shittim overlaid with gold, and their links of gold, on four bases of silver.

33 And thou shalt put the veil under the clasps, and shalt bring in thither inside the veil the ark of the Testimony; and the veil shall make·​·a·​·distinction for you between the holy place and the holy of holies.

34 And thou shalt put the place of atonement upon the ark of the Testimony in the holy of the holies.

35 And thou shalt set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand opposite the table on the rib of the Habitation toward the south; and thou shalt put the table on the north rib.

36 And thou shalt make a sheltering for the entrance of the Tabernacle of blue, and crimson, and scarlet twice-dyed, and fine· twined ·linen, the work of the embroiderer.

37 And thou shalt make for the sheltering five pillars of shittim, and overlay them with gold; and their links shall be of gold; and thou shalt cast for them five bases of bronze.

   


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

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Sacred Scripture # 97

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97. Further still, we need to realize that the literal meaning of the Word serves to protect the real truths that lie hidden within it. Its protection consists of its being susceptible to being turned in different directions and interpreted to agree with our own grasp of it, so that the inner content is not damaged or transgressed. It does no harm if different people understand the literal meaning of the Word differently. It does do harm, though, if the divine truths that lie hidden within are distorted. This in fact does violence to the Word.

To prevent this from happening, the literal meaning offers protection, and it offers protection for people who take for granted the false beliefs of their religion but do not convince themselves that those false beliefs are true. These people do no harm.

[2] This protection is the meaning of angel guardians in the Word, and the description of angel guardians [in Ezekiel] is a depiction of this protection.

This protection is the meaning of the angel guardians stationed at the entrance after Adam and his wife were expelled from the Garden of Eden, of whom we read,

When Jehovah God drove them out, he made angel guardians dwell to the east of the Garden of Eden, and the flame of a sword turning this way and that, to guard the way of the tree of life. (Genesis 3:24)

The angel guardians mean protection; the way of the tree of life means entrance to the Lord, which we have through the Word; the flame of a sword turning this way and that means divine truth at its very boundaries, which is like the Word in its literal meaning - it too can be turned this way and that.

[3] There is a similar meaning to the angel guardians of gold placed on top of the two ends of the mercy seat that was on the ark in the tabernacle (Exodus 25:18-21). Because this was what the angel guardians meant, the Lord talked with Moses between them (Exodus 25:22; 37:9; Numbers 7:89). As noted in §§37-49 above, the Lord does not say anything to us unless it is complete, and divine truth is in its fullness in the literal meaning of the Word; so that is why the Lord talked with Moses between the angel guardians.

The meaning of the angel guardians on the curtains of the tabernacle and on its veils (Exodus 26:31) is no different, since the curtains and veils represent the boundaries of heaven and the church and therefore of the Word as well (see §46 above). The meaning of the angel guardians in the middle of the Jerusalem temple (1 Kings 6:23-28) and the angel guardians carved on the walls and gates of the Temple (1 Kings 6:29, 32, 35) is no different either. The same holds for the angel guardians in the new temple (Ezekiel 41:18-20; again, see §47 above).

[4] Since the angel guardians mean protection that keeps us from going straight to the Lord, heaven, and the divine truth of the Word as it is inwardly, and makes us instead move indirectly through its outermost forms, we read of the King of Tyre,

You had sealed your full measure and were full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. You were in the Garden of Eden. Every precious stone was your covering. You, angel guardian, were the spreading of a covering. I destroyed you, covering angel guardian, in the midst of stones of fire. (Ezekiel 28:12-14, 16)

Tyre means the church in respect to its concepts of what is true and good, so the king of Tyre means the Word where these concepts can be found and where they come from. We can see that Tyre and the protecting angel guardians here mean the Word in its outermost form, which is its literal meaning, because it says “you had sealed your full measure,” “every precious stone was your covering,” and “you, angel guardian, were the spreading of a covering, ” as well as mentioning a “covering angel guardian.” The precious stones that are also mentioned mean truths of the literal meaning of the Word (see §45 above).

Since angel guardians mean the outermost form of divine truth as protection, it says in David,

Jehovah bowed the heavens and came down, riding upon angel guardians. (Psalms 18:9-10)

O Shepherd of Israel, who sits upon the angel guardians, shine forth! (Psalms 80:1)

and

... Jehovah who sits upon the angel guardians. (Psalms 99:1)

To ride and to sit upon angel guardians is [to rest] on the outermost meaning of the Word.

[5] The divine truth in the Word and its nature are described [through correspondences] as angel guardians in chapters 1, 9, and 10 of Ezekiel; but since no one can know what the details of the description mean except those for whom the spiritual meaning has been opened, the meaning of all the things it says about the angel guardians in the first chapter of Ezekiel has been disclosed to me in summary form, as follows:

There is a depiction of the outward divine aura of the Word (verse 4); that aura is represented as a human being (verse 5); it is shown to be united to spiritual and heavenly realities (verse 6). There is a depiction of the nature of the earthly level of the Word (verse 7), and of the nature of the spiritual and heavenly levels of the Word that are united to its earthly level (verses 8-9). There is a depiction of the divine love within the heavenly, spiritual, and earthly levels of goodness and truth in the Word, together as one and also distinct from one another (verses 10-11), and an indication that they share a common goal (verse 12). There is a depiction of the aura of the Word that comes from the Lord’s divine goodness and divine truth, which give life to the Word (verses 13-14), of the teachings of what is good and true that are in the Word and from the Word (verses 15-21), and of the divine nature of the Lord that is above it and within it (verses 22-23) and that comes from it (verses 24-25). It is shown that the Lord is above the heavens (verse 26) and that to him belong divine love and divine wisdom (verses 27-28).

These summary statements have been checked against the Word in heaven and are in accord with it.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for their permission to use this translation.