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Exodus 28

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1 And take thou to thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may minister to me in the priest's office, even Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons.

2 And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for beauty.

3 And thou shalt speak to all that are wise in heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister to me in the priest's office.

4 And these are the garments which they shall make; a breast-plate, and an ephod, and a robe, and a broidered coat, a miter, and a girdle; and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may minister to me in the priest's office.

5 And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen.

6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and of purple, of scarlet, and fine twined linen, with curious work.

7 It shall have the two shoulder-pieces thereof joined at the two edges thereof; and so it shall be joined together.

8 And the curious girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to its work; even of gold, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen.

9 And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel:

10 Six of their names on one stone, and the Six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth.

11 With the work of an engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the children of Israel: thou shalt make them to be set in ouches of gold.

12 And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial to the children of Israel: and Aaron shall bear their names before the LORD upon his two shoulders for a memorial.

13 And thou shalt make ouches of gold;

14 And two chains of pure gold at the ends; of wreathed work shalt thou make them, and fasten the wreathed chains to the ouches.

15 And thou shalt make the breast-plate of judgment with curious work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen shalt thou make it.

16 Foursquare it shall be, being doubled; a span shall be its length, and a span shall be its breadth.

17 And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row.

18 And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond.

19 And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst.

20 And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings.

21 And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes.

22 And thou shalt make upon the breast-plate chains at the ends of wreathed work of pure gold.

23 And thou shalt make upon the breast-plate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breast-plate.

24 And thou shalt put the two wreathed chains of gold in the two rings which are on the ends of the breast-plate.

25 And the other two ends of the two wreathed chains thou shalt fasten in the two ouches, and put them on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod before it.

26 And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and thou shalt put them upon the two ends of the breast-plate in its border, which is in the side of the ephod inward.

27 And two other rings of gold thou shalt make, and shalt put them on the two sides of the ephod underneath, towards the forepart of it, over against the other coupling thereof, above the curious girdle of the ephod.

28 And they shall bind the breast-plate by its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the curious girdle of the ephod, and that the breast-plate be not loosed from the ephod.

29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breast-plate of judgment upon his heart, when he entereth into the holy place, for a memorial before the LORD continually.

30 And thou shalt put in the breast-plate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim; and they shall be upon Aaron's heart, when he goeth in before the LORD: and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before the LORD continually.

31 And thou shalt make the robe of the ephod all of blue.

32 And there shall be a hole in the top of it, in the midst of it: it shall have a binding of woven work round about the hole of it, as the hole of an habergeon, that it be not rent.

33 And beneath, upon the hem of it thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, round about its hem; and bells of gold between them around it.

34 A golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, upon the hem of the robe around it.

35 And it shall be upon Aaron, to minister: and his sound shall be heard when he goeth in to the holy place before the LORD, and when he cometh out; that he may not die.

36 And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and engrave upon it, like the engravings of a signet, HOLINESS TO THE LORD.

37 And thou shalt put it on a blue lace, that it may be upon the miter; upon the front of the miter it shall be.

38 And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; and it shall be always upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the LORD.

39 And thou shalt embroider the coat of fine linen, and thou shalt make the miter of fine linen, and thou shalt make the girdle of needle-work.

40 And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make coats, and thou shalt make for them girdles, and bonnets shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.

41 And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and on his sons with him: and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office.

42 And thou shalt make them linen breeches to cover their nakedness: from the loins even to the thighs they shall reach:

43 And they shall be upon Aaron, and upon his sons, when they enter in to the tabernacle of the congregation, or when they come near to the altar to minister in the holy place; that they bear not iniquity, and die. It shall be a statute for ever to him, and to his seed after him.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9814

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9814. 'And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother' means a representative sign of the spiritual kingdom lying adjacent to the celestial kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'garments' in general as truths, and more particularly as truths clothing good, dealt with in 5954, 9212, 9216. The meaning of 'garments' as truths owes its origin to things in heaven, where angels appear dressed in clothes in keeping with the truths they have that spring from good, 165, 5248, 5954, 9212; and from this it may be recognized that Aaron's garments represented the Lord's spiritual kingdom lying adjacent to His celestial kingdom. For Aaron represented the Lord in respect of the Divine Celestial, 9810, and therefore the garments he wore represented the Divine Spiritual adjacent to the celestial kingdom like clothing next to the body, the Divine Spiritual being Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good. It presents itself in heaven as light, indeed it is the light which illuminates both the outward and the inward powers of sight that angels possess. Modifications of this light - which are determined by the subjects, that is, the angels, that receive it - produce different visible phenomena, such as clouds, rainbows, and various colours and brightnesses; they also produce shining garments about the angels. From all this it may be recognized that the Lord's spiritual kingdom was represented by Aaron's holy garments. For there are two kingdoms into which the heavens are divided, the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom, regarding which, see 9277. Those in the celestial kingdom appear naked, but those in the spiritual kingdom appear in clothing. From this it is again clear that Divine Truth, or the Divine Spiritual, which appears as light, is that which serves to clothe.

[2] But who would ever credit it that, even though the Word exists within the Church and consequently enlightenment regarding Divine and heavenly realities, ignorance reigns there, so great that no one knows that angels and spirits take on the human form, appear to themselves as human beings, and see, hear, and talk to one another? Still less does anyone know that they appear clothed in garments. The idea that they do so is met not merely with doubt but also with complete denial on the part of those so blind to everything other than external things, that they think that the body alone lives, and that what they cannot see with the eyes in their body or touch with the hands on their body has no existence whatever, see 1881. But in actual fact the heavens are full of human beings, who are angels, and these are clothed with garments shining in varied degrees of brightness. But these beings cannot at all be seen by a person on earth through the eyes of his body, only through the eyes of his spirit, when the Lord opens them. The angels who were seen by the ancients, such as Abraham, Sarah, Lot, Jacob, Joshua, Gideon, and also the Prophets, were not seen by those persons' bodily eyes but by those of their spirit which had been opened then. The fact that they would also have appeared clothed in robes is clear from the angels sitting at the Lord's tomb, whom Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James saw, and who were wearing shining white garments, Matthew 28:3; Mark 16:5; Luke 24:4, and in particular from the Lord Himself when seen in His glory by Peter, James, and John, in that His clothing was dazzling white and like the light, Matthew 17:2; Luke 9:29. This clothing too represented the Divine Spiritual, or the Divine Truth that emanated from Him.

[3] All this makes clear what 'white garments' means in the Book of Revelation,

You have a few names also in Sardis, who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white ones, for they are worthy. He who conquers will be clad in white garments. Revelation 3:4-5.

'Garments' here are spiritual truths, which are truths springing from good, as shown above; and 'white' is authentic truth, 3301, 4007, 5319. The following words that occur elsewhere in the same book are similarly made clear,

I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and He who sat on it was called faithful and true, and in righteousness He judges and goes into battle. His armies in heaven were following Him, clothed in linen white and clean. Revelation 19:11, 14.

And elsewhere again in that book,

On the thrones I saw twenty-four elders, clad in white garments. Revelation 4:4.

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