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Exodus 36

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1 And Bezaleel and Aholiab made, and every man wise in heart, in whom Jehovah put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work*

2 And Moses called to Bezaleel and to Aholiab, and to every man wise in heart, to whom Jehovah gave wisdom in his heart, everyone whom his heart lifted up to come·​·near to the work to do it.

3 And they took from before Moses all the uplifted offering which the sons of Israel brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, to make it. And they brought yet to him a freewill offering morning by morning.

4 And all of the wise doing all the work of the sanctuary, brought, a man by a man, of his work which they did.

5 And they said to Moses, saying, The people bring much more than enough of the service for the work, which Jehovah commanded to do.

6 And Moses commanded, and the voice passed among the camp, saying, Let not a man nor a woman do any·​·more work for the uplifted offering of the sanctuary; and he held·​·back the people from bringing.

7 And the work was enough for all the work to do it, and there was that which remained over.

8 And everyone wise in heart among those who did the work, made for the Habitation ten curtains of fine· twined ·linen, and blue, and crimson, and scarlet twice-dyed, and cherubim, the making of a thinker he made them.

9 The length of one curtain was eight and twenty cubits, and the breadth four cubits, of one curtain; one measure for all the curtains.

10 And he coupled five curtains, one to one; and five curtains he coupled, one to one.

11 And he made loops of blue on the lip of the one curtain from the end in the coupling, so he made in the lip of the curtain at the end in the second coupling.

12 Fifty loops made he in the one curtain, and Fifty loops made he in the end of the curtain that was in the second coupling; the loops received, one to one.

13 And he made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to one with the clasps; and it was one Habitation.

14 And he made curtains of goatswool for a Tabernacle over the Habitation; eleven curtains he made them.

15 The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and the breadth four cubits, of one curtain; one measure for the eleven curtains.

16 And he coupled five curtains only, and six curtains only.

17 And he made fifty loops on the lip of the curtain at the edge in the coupling, and fifty loops made he on the lip of the curtain of the second coupling.

18 And he made fifty clasps of bronze to couple the Tabernacle, to be one.

19 And he made a covering for the Tabernacle of skins of red rams, and a covering of the skins of badgers from above.

20 And he made the planks for the Habitation of shittim* wood, standing up.

21 Ten cubits the length of a plank, and a cubit and half a cubit the breadth of one plank.

22 Two hands for the one plank connected one to one; so did he do for all the planks of the Habitation.

23 And he made the planks for the Habitation twenty planks for the quarter of the south southward;

24 and he made 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.

25 And for the second rib of the Habitation, for the quarter of the north, he made twenty planks.

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

27 And for the flanks of the Habitation toward the sea* he made six planks.

28 And two planks made he for the edges of the Habitation in the flanks.

29 And they were twinned from below, and they were as·​·one entire at the head of it to one ring; so he did for these two, for the two edges.

30 And there were eight planks, and their bases of silver, sixteen bases; two bases under one plank.

31 And he made five bars of shittim wood for the planks of the one rib of the Habitation.

32 And five bars for the planks of the second rib of the Habitation, and five bars for the planks of the Habitation, for the flanks toward the sea.

33 And he made the middle bar to pass through in the middle of the planks, from end to end.

34 And he overlaid the planks with gold, and made their rings of gold, the housings for the bars, and he overlaid the bars with gold.

35 And he made the veil of blue, and crimson, and scarlet twice-dyed, and fine· twined ·linen; the work of a thinker he made it with cherubim.

36 And he made for it four pillars of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold, their links of gold; and he cast for them four bases of silver.

37 And he made a sheltering for the entrance of the Tabernacle, of blue, and crimson, and scarlet twice-dyed, and fine· twined ·linen, with the work of the embroiderer.

38 And its five pillars, and their links; and he overlaid their heads and their collars with gold; and their five bases with bronze.

   


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

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Arcana Coelestia # 5319

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5319. 'And clothed him in robes of fine linen' means an outward sign denoting the celestial of the spiritual, 'robes of fine linen' being truths going forth from the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'robes' as truths, dealt with in 1073, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248. The reason 'robes of fine linen' means truths going forth from the Divine is that a robe made of fine linen was absolutely white and at the same time shining, and truth going forth from the Divine is represented by robes which have that kind of brightness and splendour. And the reason for this is that heaven derives its brightness and splendour from the light that flows from the Lord; and the light that flows from the Lord is Divine Truth itself, 1053, 1521-1533, 1619-1632, 1776, 3195, 3222, 3339, 3485, 3636, 3643, 3862, 4415, 4419, 4526, 5219. This explains why, when the Lord was transfigured before Peter, James, and John, His clothing appeared as the light, Matthew 17:2; glistening, intensely white like snow, as no fuller on earth could bleach them, Mark 9:3; and dazzling, Luke 9:29. It was Divine Truth itself going forth from the Lord's Divine Human that was represented in this manner. But they are exterior truths that are represented in heaven by the brightness of robes, whereas interior truths are represented by the brightness and splendour of the face. This is why 'being clothed in robes of fine linen' at this point means an outward sign denoting truth going forth from the celestial of the spiritual, for this was what the Lord's Divine consisted in at this time.

[2] There are other places too in the Word where truth going forth from the Divine is meant by 'fine linen' and 'robes of fine linen', as in Ezekiel,

I clothed you with embroidered cloth, and shed you with badger, and swathed you in fine linen, and covered you in silk. Thus were you adorned with gold and silver, and your robes were fine linen, and silk, and embroidered cloth. Ezekiel 16:10, 13.

This refers to Jerusalem, which is used in these verses to mean the Ancient Church. The truths of this Church are described by robes made of embroidered cloth, fine linen, and silk, and by being adorned with gold and silver. 'Embroidered cloth' means truths existing as facts, 'fine linen' natural truths, and 'silk' spiritual truths.

[3] In the same prophet,

Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail, that it might be to you an ensign; violet and purple from the islands of Elishah was your covering. Ezekiel 27:7.

This refers to Tyre, which too is used to mean the Ancient Church, but so far as cognitions of good and truth are concerned. 'Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt, which was its sail' means truth obtained from factual knowledge, which was the outward sign of that Church.

[4] In John,

The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over Babylon, since no one buys their wares any more, wares of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of most precious wood, and bronze, and iron, and marble. Revelation 18:11-12.

All the specific commodities mentioned here mean the kinds of things that have to do with the Church and so truth and goodness. Here however they are used in the contrary sense because they are spoken of in reference to Babylon. Anyone may see that such commodities would never have been listed in the Word which has come down from heaven unless each one held something heavenly within it. What other reason can there be for a list of worldly wares when Babylon, meaning an unholy Church, is the subject? Similarly in the same book,

Woe, woe, the great city, you that were clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, covered 1 with gold, and precious stones, and pearls. Revelation 18:16.

[5] The fact that each commodity means something Divine and heavenly is quite evident in the same book where it states what fine linen is, namely the righteous acts of the saints,

The time of the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. At that time she was given fine linen, clean and shining, to wear; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Revelation 19:7-8.

'Fine linen' is 'the righteous acts of the saints' for the reason that all those with whom truth received from the Divine exists are clothed with the Lord's righteousness. For their robes which are bright and shining are products of the light which flows from the Lord. Therefore in heaven truth itself is represented by 'brightness', 3301, 3997, 4007; and people who are being raised to heaven from a state of vastation are seen to be clothed with brightness because they are at this point casting off the robe of their own righteousness and putting on that of the Lord's righteousness.

[6] So that truth from the Divine might be represented in the Jewish Church, they were commanded to use cotton or fine linen in Aaron's vestments, and also in the curtains around the Ark, referred to in Moses as follows,

You shall make in chequered pattern for Aaron a tunic of cotton, and you shall make a turban of cotton. Exodus 28:39.

They made tunics of cotton, the work of a weaver, for Aaron and his sons. Exodus 39:27.

You shall make the Dwelling-place, ten curtains - fine-twined cotton, violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet. Exodus 26:1; 36:8.

You shall make the court of the Dwelling-place. The hangings for the court shall be of fine-twined cotton. Exodus 27:9, 18; 38:9.

The screen for the gate of the court, the work of an embroiderer, violet and purple, and twice-dyed scarlet, and fine-twined cotton. Exodus 38:18.

Cotton is fine linen, which they were commanded to use because each object in the Ark and around the Ark, also every detail of Aaron's vestments, were representative of spiritual and celestial realities. From this one may see that a person has only a meagre understanding of the Word if he does not know what such things represent, and scarcely any understanding at all if he thinks that the Word possesses no holiness other than that which presents itself in the letter.

[7] When angels with whom truth from the Divine is present are seen by anyone they are clothed so to speak in fine linen, that is, in shining brightness, as is evident in John where 'a white horse' is referred to,

The One seated on a white horse was clothed in a garment dyed with blood, and His name is called the Word. His armies in heaven were following Him on white horses; they were clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Revelation 19:11, 13-14.

These words show quite plainly that 'fine linen' is an outward sign denoting truth from the Divine, for 'the One seated on a white horse' is the Lord as to the Word; indeed those words state quite explicitly that He is the Word. The Word is truth itself received from the Divine, and 'a white horse' is the internal sense of the Word, see 2760-2762. Consequently truths received from the Divine are meant by 'white horses', for such truths constitute the whole of the internal sense of the Word. This was why His armies were seen 'on white horses' and why 'they were clothed in fine linen, white and clean'.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, gilded

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