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Exodus 30

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1 And thou shalt make an altar for the burning· of incense ·as·​·incense; of shittim* wood shalt thou make it.

2 A cubit its length, and a cubit its breadth; foursquare shall it be; and two cubits its height; out of it shall be its horns.

3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, its roof and its walls round·​·about, and its horns; and thou shalt make for it a rim of gold all around.

4 And thou shalt make for it two rings of gold beneath its rim, upon its two ribs; upon its two ribs shalt thou make them; and it shall be for the housings for the poles, to carry it in them.

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

6 And thou shalt put it before the veil that is over the ark of the Testimony, before the place of atonement that is over the Testimony, whither I will meet·​·together with thee.

7 And Aaron shall burn·​·incense on it, fragrant incense in the morning by the morning; in his adorning the lamps* he shall burn· it ·for·​·incense.

8 And when Aaron causes the flame of the lamps to go·​·up* between the two·​·evenings*, he shall burn· it ·for·​·incense, a continual incense before Jehovah for your generations.

9 You shall not offer·​·up strange incense nor burnt·​·offering nor gift·​·offering upon it; and you shall not pour·​·out a poured·​·offering upon it.

10 And Aaron shall make·​·atonement upon the horns of it once in the year, from the blood of the sin offering of atonements; once in the year he shall make·​·atonement upon it to your generations; a holy of holies is this to Jehovah.

11 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

12 When thou shalt take·​·up the sum of the sons of Israel, as to those who are numbered of them, then they shall give, each·​·man, an atonement of his soul to Jehovah when numbering them, that there be not among them a plague striking when numbering them.

13 This they shall give, everyone that passes·​·by upon those who are numbered, half a shekel, in the shekel of holiness, a shekel of twenty gerahs, the half of a shekel an uplifting to Jehovah.

14 Everyone that passes·​·by upon those who are numbered, from a son of twenty years and upward, shall give an uplifting to Jehovah.

15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half of the shekel, to give the uplifting to Jehovah, to make·​·atonement on your souls.

16 And thou shalt take the silver of atonements from among the sons of Israel, and thou shalt give it for the service of the Tabernacle of the congregation; and it shall be to the sons of Israel for a memorial before Jehovah, to make·​·atonement upon your souls.

17 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

18 And thou shalt make a laver of bronze, and its base of bronze, for bathing; and thou shalt put it between the Tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put waters there.

19 And Aaron and his sons shall bathe from it their hands and their feet.

20 When they come into the Tabernacle of the congregation they shall bathe with waters, that they die not; or when they approach the altar to minister, to burn·​·for·​·incense a fire·​·offering to Jehovah.

21 And they shall bathe their hands and their feet, that they die not; and it shall be to them a statute of an age, to him and to his seed, to their generations.

22 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

23 And take thou for thee the foremost spices, the best myrrh* five hundred, and cinnamon spice the half of it, fifty and two·​·hundred, and calamus spice, fifty and two·​·hundred;

24 and cassia five hundred, in the shekel of holiness; and oil of olive a hin.

25 And thou shalt make it an oil of anointing of holiness, an ointment of ointment, made·​·by the ointment·​·maker; an oil of anointing of holiness it shall be.

26 And thou shalt anoint with it the Tabernacle of the congregation, and the ark of the Testimony;

27 and the table and all its vessels, and the lampstand and its vessels, and the altar of incense;

28 and the altar of burnt·​·offering and all its vessels, and the laver and its base.

29 And thou shalt sanctify them, and they shall be a holy of holies; whoever touches them shall be made·​·holy.

30 And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and shalt sanctify them, to be·​·priests to Me.

31 And thou shalt speak to the sons of Israel, saying, This shall be for Me an oil of anointing of holiness for your generations.

32 On the flesh of man shall it not be poured·​·out; and according to its fixed·​·measure you shall not make any like it; holy it is; holy shall it be to you.

33 The man who shall make·​·ointment like it, and who shall put of it on a stranger, even he shall be cut·​·off from his peoples.

34 And Jehovah said to Moses, Take for thee fragrances, a drop, and onycha, and galbanum, fragrances, and pure frankincense, so much in so much shall it be.

35 And thou shalt make it an incense, an ointment made·​·by the ointment·​·maker, salted, pure, holy.

36 And thou shalt pound some of it, making· it ·thin, and shalt put some of it before the Testimony in the Tabernacle of the congregation, whither I will meet·​·together with thee, a holy of holies shall it be to you.

37 And the incense which thou makest in its fixed·​·measure, you shall not make for yourselves; holy to Jehovah shall it be to thee.

38 The man who shall make like to it, to cause a smell with it, even he shall be cut·​·off from his peoples.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 10284

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10284. 'And as to the composition of it, you shall not make any other like it' means no imitations produced by human endeavour. This is clear from the meaning of 'as to the composition, making some like it' - that is, making a similar oil with similar spices - as making a preparation in imitation of it by means of human endeavour. This meaning of these words follows from the train of thought in the internal sense; for first it says, 'It shall not be poured onto the flesh of a person', which means no imparting [of what is the Lord's] to a person's proprium or self, and finally, 'it shall be holy to you'. But anything done by a person, by his own endeavour, begins in his proprium or self and is unholy. The reason is that any endeavour a person makes from his proprium consists entirely of falsity arising from evil, since it has self and the world, not the neighbour and God, as its end in view, which also explains why it is called an imitation.

[2] The implications of all this are that everything which comes from the Lord is good and true; but anything good or true produced by man in imitation of it is neither good nor true. The reason for this is that everything good and true has life within it by virtue of the end in view. An end that begins in man is entirely selfish; but that which is good and true, coming from the Lord, exists for the sake of goodness and truth themselves as ends in view, and so for the Lord's sake, because the Lord is the source of everything good and true. With man the end in view is himself, since it constitutes his will and his love; for what a person loves and wills he has as his end in view. All the love in a person that originates in himself is self-love and a selfish love of the world; but the love in a person that originates in the Lord is love towards the neighbour and love to God. The difference between the two kinds of love is as great as that between hell and heaven. Furthermore self-love and a selfish love of the world reign in hell and constitute hell, whereas love towards the neighbour and love to the Lord reign in heaven and constitute heaven. Also a person's character is such and remains forever such as his love is; for love composes the whole of a person's will, and consequently of his understanding since the love that constitutes the will flows unceasingly into the understanding, kindling it and illuminating it. So it is that when those who love evil think within themselves, their thoughts consist of falsity that is in keeping with the evil they love, though they are moved by hypocrisy to express different ideas to others; some are moved by faith that is no more than persuasion, for the nature of which, see 9364, 9369.

[3] It should be recognized that by his own endeavour a person is able to simulate what is actually Divine and to present himself before others as an angel of light. But what is seen by the Lord and by angels is not the outward form he presents but the form that exists inwardly, which is foul when the proprium is the source of it. With people like this everything within them is merely natural and not at all spiritual. They see everything in natural light alone and nothing in the light of heaven; indeed they do not know what the light of heaven is, nor what anything spiritual is. All their inner powers are turned to things of an external nature, in almost the same way as those of living creatures are; nor do they allow themselves to be raised by the Lord to anything higher. Yet the human being, superior to animals, has a special ability, namely the ability to be raised by the Lord towards heaven and the Lord, and so be led by Him. All those are raised in this manner who love goodness and truth for their own sake, which is the same thing as loving the neighbour and God since in a general sense the neighbour means that which is good and true, and in a lower sense that which is right and fair; and also God constitutes what is good and true, and what is right and fair, since God is the source of them.

[4] From all this it may be seen what imitating Divine things by human endeavour is. In places throughout the Word 'Egypt' and 'Pharaoh' are used to describe people such as this; for factual knowledge belonging to the natural man is meant by 'Egypt' and 'Pharaoh'. 'Asshur' too, meaning reasoning based on factual knowledge, is used to describe them. Regarding 'Egypt', see in the places referred to in 9340, 9391; and regarding 'Asshur', 1186. Among spirits there are very many who by their own endeavour and cunning can imitate what is Divine; for they counterfeit sincerity, uprightness, and godliness, so cunningly that good spirits would be led astray unless the Lord enlightened them and enabled them to see what the interiors of those other spirits are like. And when these interiors are revealed the good spirits are filled with horror and run away. But such spirits are stripped of their outward pretences and brought into a state in which their devilish interiors are laid bare; and in this condition they sink automatically into hell. For more about these spirits, see paragraph 10286 below.

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