10176. [10175(a)] Exodus 30

1. And you shall make an altar for burning incense; with pieces of shittim wood you shall make it.

2. A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth; square shall it be. And two cubits shall its height be. Its horns shall be of one piece with it ¹ .

3. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, its roof and its walls ² round about and its horns; and you shall make for it a rim of gold round about.

4. And two rings of gold you shall make for it under its rim on its two ribs; you shall make [them] on its two sides. And they shall serve as ³ receptacles for the poles, to carry it on them.

5. And you shall make the poles from pieces of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.

6. And you shall put it before the veil that is over the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy-seat which is above the Testimony, where I will meet with you.

7. And Aaron shall burn on it incense of spices morning by morning ⁴ ; when adorning ⁵ the lamps he shall burn it.

8. And when Aaron causes the lamps to go up ⁶ between the evenings he shall burn it; incense shall be continual before Jehovah throughout ⁷ your generations.

9. You shall not cause strange ⁸ incense to go up on it, or a burnt offering, or a minchah; and you shall not pour a drink offering on it.

10. And Aaron shall make expiation on its horns once a year with the blood of the sin [offering] of expiations; once a year he shall make expiation on it throughout ⁷ your generations. It is the holy of holies ⁹ to Jehovah.

11. And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

12. When you take the sum of the children of Israel, as they have been numbered ¹⁰ , they shall give - each one - an expiation for his soul to Jehovah when they are numbered ¹¹ , that there may be no plague among them when they are numbered ¹⁰ .

13. This is what they shall give, everyone passing over to those who have been numbered - half a shekel according to the shekel of holiness (a shekel is twenty obols ¹² ). Half a shekel shall be the offering to Jehovah.

14. Everyone passing over to those who have been numbered, from a son of twenty years ¹³ and over, shall give the offering of Jehovah.

15. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give the offering of Jehovah, to make expiation for your souls.

16. And you shall take the silver of expiations from the children of Israel, and give it to the work of the tent of meeting; and to the children of Israel it shall be as a remembrance before Jehovah, to make expiation for your souls.

17. And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

18. And you shall make a laver of bronze, and its pedestal from bronze, for washing; and you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.

19. And Aaron and his sons shall wash in it ¹⁴ their hands and their feet.

20. When they go into the tent of meeting they shall wash with water, that they may not die, or when they approach the altar to minister, to burn a fire offering to Jehovah.

21. And they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they may not die; and it shall be the statute of an age ¹⁵ to them - for him and his seed [throughout] their generations.

22. And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

23. And you, take for yourself the chief spices - the best myrrh, five hundred [shekels]; and sweet-smelling cinnamon, half of that, two hundred and fifty; and sweet-smelling calamus, two hundred and fifty;

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

25. And you shall make it a holy anointing oil ¹⁶ , a compounded ointment ¹⁷ , the work of an ointment-maker; it shall be the holy anointing oil ¹⁶ .

26. And with it you shall anoint the tent of meeting, 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 pedestal.

29. And you shall sanctify them, and they shall be the holy of holies ¹⁷ ; everyone touching them will be sanctified.

30. And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them to serve Me in the priestly office.

31. And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, This shall be a holy anointing oil ¹⁹ to Me throughout ²⁰ your generations.

32. It shall not be poured onto the flesh of a person, and as to the composition of it, you shall not make any other like it ²¹ . It is holy; it shall be holy to you.

33. The man who makes an ointment like it, and he who puts any of it on a foreigner, shall be cut off from his people.

34. And Jehovah said to Moses, Take for yourself sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum - [these] sweet ones, and pure frankincense; amount for amount there shall be ²² .

35. And you shall make this an incense, an ointment, the work of an ointment-maker - salted, pure, holy.

36. And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the Testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. The holy of holies ²³ it shall be to you.

37. And the incense which you make, according to its composition ²⁴ , you shall not make for yourselves; it shall be to you holy for Jehovah.

38. The man who makes any like it, to make an odour with it, will be cut off from his people.

CONTENTS

This chapter deals with the altar of incense, the expiation of everyone by means of silver, the laver and washing [with water] from it, and the preparation of the anointing oil and of the incense. The burning of incense in the internal sense means the Lord, His hearing and receiving with pleasure everything of worship that springs from love and charity. Expiating every person by means of silver means ascribing everything of worship to the Lord and none of it to self, in order that no one may claim merit. The laver and washing mean the purification from evils that comes first in all worship. The preparation of the anointing oil means the essential nature of the love in worship, and the preparation of the incense the essential nature of worship arising from it.

THE INTERNAL SENSE

Verses 1-10 And you shall make an altar for burning incense; with pieces of shittim wood you shall make it. A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth; square shall it be. And two cubits shall its height be. Its horns shall be of one piece with it ²⁵ . And you shall overlay it with pure gold, its roof and its walls ²⁶ round about and its horns; and you shall make for it a rim of gold round about. And two rings of gold you shall make for it under its rim on its two ribs; you shall make [them] on its two sides. And they shall serve as receptacles for the poles, to carry it on them. And you shall make the poles from pieces of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And you shall put it before the veil that is over the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy-seat which is above the Testimony, where I will meet with you. And Aaron shall burn on it incense of spices morning by morning ²⁷ ; when adorning ²⁸ the lamps he shall burn it. And when Aaron causes the lamps to go up ²⁹ between the evenings he shall burn it; incense shall be continual before Jehovah throughout ³⁰ your generations. You shall not cause strange ³¹ incense to go up on it, or a burnt offering, or a minchah; and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. And Aaron shall make expiation on its horns once a year with the blood of the sin [offering] of expiations; once a year he shall make expiation on it throughout ³⁰ your generations. It is the holy of holies ³² to Jehovah.

'And you shall make an altar for burning incense' means that which is representative of the Lord, of His hearing and receiving with pleasure everything of worship that springs from love and charity. 'With pieces of shittim wood you shall make it' means from love that is Divine. 'A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth' means consisting equally of good and of truth. 'Square shall it be' means that which is therefore perfect. 'And two cubits shall its height be' means degrees of the good and truth, and the joining together of them. 'Its horns shall be of one piece with it' means the powers of truth derived from the good of love and charity. 'And you shall overlay it with pure gold' means a representative sign of everything of worship that arises from good. 'Its roof' means what is inmost. 'Its walls' means inner levels. 'And its horns' means outer levels. 'And you shall make for it a rim of gold round about' means a border of good, serving to defend them from the approach of evils and the harm these can do. 'And two rings of gold you shall make for it under the rim' means the sphere of Divine Good by means of which a joining together and preservation are effected. 'On its two ribs' means with truths lying in one direction. 'You shall make [them] on its two sides' means with good lying in the other. 'And they shall serve as receptacles for the poles' means the power there of truth derived from good. 'To carry it on them' means the resulting preservation in that condition. 'And you shall make the poles from pieces of shittim wood' means the power derived from the good of the Lord's love. 'And overlay them with gold' means the founding of all things on good. 'And you shall put it before the veil that is over the ark of the Testimony' means in the inner heaven, at the point where it is joined to the inmost heaven. 'Before the mercy-seat which is above the Testimony' means where the Lord hears and receives everything of worship arising from the good of love. 'Where I will meet with you' means the resulting presence and influx of the Lord. 'And Aaron shall burn on it' means the raising up by the Lord of worship springing from love and charity. 'Incense of spices' means hearing and receiving with pleasure. 'Morning by morning' means whenever a state of love in clearness exists. 'When adorning the lamps he shall burn it' means whenever truth as well comes into its own light. 'And when Aaron causes the lamps to go up between the evenings he shall burn it' means the raising up also in an obscure state of love, when also truth exists in its shade. 'Incense shall be continual before Jehovah' means in all worship springing from love received from the Lord. 'Throughout your generations' means to eternity among those with faith springing from love. 'You shall not cause strange incense to go up on it' means no worship springing from any love other than that of the Lord. 'Or a burnt offering, or a minchah' means that nothing representative of regeneration by means of the truths and forms of good belonging to celestial love should be there. 'And you shall not pour a drink offering on it' means that nothing representative of regeneration by means of the truths and forms of good belonging to spiritual love should be there. 'And Aaron shall make expiation on its horns' means purification from evils by means of the truths of faith which spring from the good of love. 'Once a year' means everlastingly. 'With the blood of the sin [offering] of expiations' means by means of truths which spring from the good of innocence. 'Once a year he shall make expiation on it' means the everlasting removal of evils. 'Throughout your generations' means members of the Church with whom the truths and forms of the good of faith are present. 'It is the holy of holies to Jehovah' means since it comes from the Divine Celestial.

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9485. 'And they are to make an ark' means the inmost heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'an ark' as the inmost heaven; for 'the Testimony' or 'the Law' in the ark means the Lord, the reason for this being that 'the Testimony' is Divine Truth, and Divine Truth is the Lord in heaven, see below in 9503. So this then is why 'an ark' means the inmost heaven. The ark was therefore a most holy object, and it was worshipped by the people as Jehovah since Jehovah was thought to dwell there, between the cherubs, as is clear in David,

We heard [of Him] in Ephrathah. We will enter His dwelling-place, we will bow down at His footstool. Arise, O Jehovah, to Your resting-place, You and the ark of Your strength. Psalms 132:6-8.

This refers to the Lord, Ephrathah being Bethlehem, where the Lord was born, Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:6. 'Dwelling-place' means heaven where the Lord is; and 'You and the ark of Your strength' means the Lord and a representative of Him.

[2] The fact that the ark is a representative of the Lord is evident in Jeremiah,

I will bring you back to Zion. In those days they will say no more The ark of the covenant; neither will it come to mind, ¹ nor will they make mention of it, nor will they desire it, nor will it be restored any more. At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all the nations will be gathered to it, because of Jehovah's name, to Jerusalem. Jeremiah 3:14, 16-17.

This refers to a new Church. The representative of the former Church, which representative is to be done away with at that time, is meant by 'the ark', which will not be spoken of any more, come to mind, or be restored - 'Jerusalem', to which the nations will be gathered, being that new Church. From this it evident that 'the ark' means a representative of the Lord and the worship of Him in the Church, in the same way as 'the continual [sacrifice]' and 'the dwelling-place of [His] sanctuary' do in Daniel 8:11.

[3] The fact that the ark was worshipped as Jehovah by the Israelite and Jewish people and the fact that He was thought to dwell there, between the cherubs, is evident in the second Book of Samuel,

David caused the ark of God to go up, [the ark] on which His name is invoked - the name of Jehovah Zebaoth, who sits above it on the cherubs. 2 Samuel 6:2.

And in Moses,

Whenever the ark travelled Moses said, Arise, O Jehovah, let Your enemies be scattered, and let those who hate You flee before Your face. Whenever it came to rest he said, Return, O Jehovah, to the myriads of the thousands of Israel. Numbers 10:33-36.

The reason why the inmost heaven was meant by 'the ark' was that all the tabernacle or tent represented the whole angelic heaven, the lowest part of it being represented by the court, the middle part of it by the dwelling-place where the priest ministered, and the inmost by the dwelling-place inside the veil where the ark containing the Testimony was.

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