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Exodus 29

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1 And this is the word that thou shalt do to them, to sanctify them, to be·​·priests to Me. Take one bullock, a son of the herd, and two perfect rams;

2 and bread of what is unleavened, and cakes of what is unleavened mixed with oil, and wafers of what is unleavened anointed with oil; of the flour of wheat shalt thou make them.

3 And thou shalt put them on one basket, and offer them in the basket, and the bullock and the two rams.

4 And Aaron and his sons thou shalt cause to come·​·near to the entrance of the Tabernacle of the congregation, and thou shalt bathe them with waters.

5 And thou shalt take the garments, and shalt clothe Aaron with the tunic, and the mantle of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the girding of the ephod.

6 And thou shalt set the miter on his head, and put the crown of holiness on the miter.

7 And thou shalt take the oil of anointing, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him.

8 And thou shalt cause his sons to come·​·near, and clothe them with tunics.

9 And thou shalt gird them with a belt, Aaron and his sons, and shalt bind the caps upon them, and the priesthood shall be to them for a statute of an age; and thou shalt fill the hand of Aaron and the hand of his sons.

10 And thou shalt offer the bullock before the Tabernacle of the congregation; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock.

11 And thou shalt slaughter the bullock before Jehovah, at the entrance of the Tabernacle of the congregation.

12 And thou shalt take from the blood of the bullock, and shalt put it on the horns of the altar with thy finger; and all the blood thou shalt spill at the foundation of the altar.

13 And thou shalt take all the fat that covers the inwards, and the caul on the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and shalt burn· them ·for·​·incense on the altar.

14 And the flesh of the bullock, and its skin, and its dung, shalt thou burn·​·up with fire outside the camp; this is a sin offering.

15 And thou shalt take one ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

16 And thou shalt slaughter the ram, and thou shalt take its blood, and sprinkle it on the altar all around.

17 And thou shalt section the ram into its sections, and shalt bathe its intestines, and its legs, and put them upon its sections, and upon its head.

18 And thou shalt burn·​·incense with all the ram upon the altar; this is a burnt·​·offering to Jehovah, a restful smell, it is a fire·​·offering to Jehovah.

19 And thou shalt take the second ram; and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

20 And thou shalt slaughter the ram, and shalt take from its blood, and shalt put it upon the lobe of the ear of Aaron, and upon the lobe of the right ear of his sons, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big·​·toe of their right foot, and thou shalt sprinkle the blood on the altar all around.

21 And thou shalt take of the blood that is on the altar, and of the oil of anointing, and shalt spatter it upon Aaron, and on his garments, and on his sons, and on the garments of his sons with him; and he shall be·​·holy, and his garments, and his sons, and the garments of his sons with him.

22 And thou shalt take from the ram the fat, and the tail, and the fat covering the inwards, and the caul of the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right hind·​·quarter, for it is a ram of infillings;

23 and one loaf of bread, and one cake of bread with oil, and one wafer, from the basket of unleavened things that is before Jehovah

24 and thou shalt set all of it on the palms of Aaron, and upon the palms of his sons; and shalt wave them a wave offering before Jehovah.

25 And thou shalt take them from their hand, and shalt burn· them ·for·​·incense on the altar on the burnt·​·offering, for a restful smell before Jehovah; a fire·​·offering is this to Jehovah.

26 And thou shalt take the chest portion from the ram of infillings, which is for Aaron, and shalt wave it a wave·​·offering before Jehovah; and it shall be for thee for a portion.

27 And thou shalt sanctify the chest portion of the waving, and the hind·​·quarter of the uplifting, which is waved, and which is uplifted, from the ram of infillings, from that which is for Aaron, and from that which is for his sons;

28 and it shall be to Aaron and his sons for a statute of an age from among the sons of Israel; for it is an uplifting; and it shall be an uplifting from among the sons of Israel of their peace sacrifices, their uplifting to Jehovah.

29 And the garments of holiness which are for Aaron shall be for his sons after him, for anointing in them, and for filling their hand in them.

30 The one from among his sons who becomes the priest instead of him shall clothe himself with them seven days; then he shall come into the Tabernacle of the congregation to minister in the holy place.

31 And thou shalt take the ram of infillings, and cook its flesh in a holy place.

32 And Aaron and his sons shall eat the flesh of the ram, and the bread that is in the basket, at the entrance of the Tabernacle of the congregation.

33 And they shall eat those things with which atonement· was ·made, to·​·fill their hand, to sanctify them; and a stranger shall not eat of them, for they are holy.

34 And if anything from the flesh of infillings and from the bread remain until the morning, then thou shalt burn·​·up the remainder with fire; it shall not be eaten, for it is holy.

35 And thus shalt thou do to Aaron and to his sons, according·​·to all that I have commanded thee; seven days shalt thou fill their hand.

36 And a bullock of a sin offering thou shalt make for the day on the atonements; and thou shalt purge· it ·from·​·sin on the altar when thou makest·​·atonement on it; and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it.

37 Seven days thou shalt make·​·atonement on the altar, and shalt sanctify it, and the altar shall be a holy of holies; all who touch the altar shall be sanctified.

38 And this is what thou shalt make upon the altar: two lambs, sons of a year, for the day, continually.

39 The one lamb thou shalt make in the morning; and the second lamb thou shalt make between the two·​·evenings*;

40 and a tenth of flour mixed with beaten oil, a fourth of the hin, and a poured·​·offering of a fourth of the hin of wine for the one lamb.

41 And the second lamb thou shalt make between the two·​·evenings; as the gift·​·offering of the morning, and as its poured·​·offering, thou shalt do for it, for a restful smell, a fire·​·offering to Jehovah;

42 a continual burnt·​·offering for your generations at the entrance of the Tabernacle of the congregation before Jehovah; where I will meet·​·together with you, to speak to thee there.

43 And there I will meet·​·together with the sons of Israel, and it shall be sanctified in My glory.

44 And I will sanctify the Tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar; and Aaron and his sons I will sanctify to be·​·priests for Me.

45 And I will abide in the midst of the sons of Israel, and will be to them for God.

46 And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God, who brought· them ·out of the land of Egypt, that I may reside in the midst of them; I am Jehovah their God.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 9714

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9714. 'And you shall make the altar' means that which was representative of the Lord and of the worship of Him. This is clear from the meaning of 'the altar' - the one to be used for burnt offerings and sacrifices - as that which was representative of the Lord; and since the burnt offerings and sacrifices were the signs of all that constituted worship of the Lord, the altar was also representative of the worship of Him. Not that the Lord is worshipped with burnt offerings and sacrifices but with what they represented, namely the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith, 922, 923, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519, 6905, 8680, 8936.

[2] There were two objects which served to represent the Lord's Divine Human - the temple and the altar. That the temple did so He Himself teaches in John,

Jesus said, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again. He was speaking of the temple of His body. John 2:19-21.

That the altar did so is likewise made clear by the Lord's own words, where He speaks in Matthew about the temple and at the same time the altar,

Fools and blind! For you say, Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is guilty. Which of the two is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold holy? In the same way, Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is guilty. Fools and blind! Which of the two is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift holy? He who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything that is on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by Him who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by Him who sits on it. Matthew 23:16-22.

From this it is evident that just as the temple was representative of the Lord's Divine Human, so too was the altar; for something similar is stated regarding the altar as is stated regarding the temple, namely that the altar is what makes the gift on it holy. This shows that the altar was a channel through which other things were rendered holy, and for this reason was also representative of the Lord's Divine Human, the Source of all holiness. But the altar was representative of the Lord in respect of His Divine Good, whereas the temple was representative of Him in respect of His Divine Truth, thus in respect of heaven since Divine Truth emanating from the Lord makes heaven. This explains why the Lord says in regard to the temple that he who swears by the temple swears by it and by Him who dwells in it, and goes on to say that he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by Him who sits on it. 'God's throne' is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and so is heaven, while 'He who sits on it' is the Lord, 5313. Much the same as was represented by the temple was represented also by the dwelling-place; the Lord in respect of Divine Truth there is the Testimony which was within the ark, 9503.

[3] Since the altar represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good it was the real holy of holies, making everything that touched it holy, as is made clear later on in this Book of Exodus, where it says,

Seven days you shall make expiation on the altar and sanctify it, that the altar may be most holy, 1 and all that touches it may be made holy. Exodus 29:37.

This was the reason why fire burned unceasingly on the altar and was never put out, Leviticus 6:12-13; and from this fire and no other source the incense-fire was taken, Leviticus 10:1-6. For the fire on the altar was a sign of the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849.

[4] As regards the altar and its being representative of the Lord, this is evident from the following words in David,

Let Your light and truth lead me to Your holy mountain and to Your dwellings, that I may go in to the altar of God, to God ... Psalms 43:3-4.

And in the same author,

I wash my hands in innocence, and I go around Your altar, O Jehovah. Psalms 26:6-7.

[5] But as regards the altar and its being representative of worship of the Lord, this may be seen in Isaiah,

All the cattle of Arabia will be gathered to You, the rams of Nebaioth will minister to You; they will come up with acceptance on My altar. Isaiah 60:7.

In Jeremiah,

The Lord has abandoned His altar, He has abominated His sanctuary. Lamentations 2:7.

'Abandoning the altar' stands for doing away with what was representative of worshipping the Lord from the good of love, 'abominating the sanctuary' stands for doing away with what was representative of worshipping the Lord from the truths of faith.

[6] In Ezekiel,

Your altars will be destroyed, I will scatter your bones around your altars. Your altars will be laid waste and made desolate, and your idols will be broken and cease to be. Ezekiel 6:4-6.

'Altars being destroyed, laid waste, and made desolate' stands for the ruination of that which belongs to representative worship. In Isaiah,

The iniquity of Jacob will be expiated, when He makes all the stones of the altar like chalk-stones scattered about. Isaiah 27:9.

'The stones of the altar scattered about' stands for all the truths of worship.

[7] In the same prophet,

On that day a person will regard his Maker, and his eyes [will regard] the Holy One of Israel. But he will not regard the altars, the work of his hands, and what his fingers have made. Isaiah 17:7-8.

'Altars, the work of hands, and what fingers have made' stands for worship that is the product of self-intelligence.

[8] In Hosea,

Ephraim has multiplied altars for sinning. Hosea 8:11.

'Multiplying altars for sinning' stands for devising meaningless forms of worship. In the same prophet,

Thistle and thorn will grow up on their altars. Hosea 10:8.

This describes how evils and falsities will come in and compose worship.

[9] In Isaiah,

On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of Egypt. Isaiah 19:19.

'An altar to Jehovah' stands for worship of the Lord.

[10] Because the altar that is the subject here was portable it was made from shittim wood and overlaid with bronze. But an altar that was to remain permanently in the same place was built either from soil or from unhewn stones. An altar of soil was the chief representative sign of worship of the Lord that springs from the good of love, whereas an altar of unhewn stones was the representative sign of worship springing from forms of the good and of the truth of faith, 8935, 8940. The portable altar however that is the subject here was representative of worship of the Lord that springs from the good of love; and this was why it was made from shittim wood and overlaid with bronze.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, holy of holies

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