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Exodus 30

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1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.

2 A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth; foursquare shall it be; and two cubits shall be its hight: its horns shall be of the same.

3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, its top, and its sides round about, and its horns; and thou shalt make to it a crown of gold round about.

4 And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by its two corners, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staffs to bear it with.

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

6 And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.

7 And Aaron shall burn upon it sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.

8 And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at evening, he shall burn incense upon it; a perpetual incense before the LORD, throughout your generations.

9 Ye shall offer no strange incense upon it, nor burnt-sacrifice, nor meat-offering; neither shall ye pour drink-offering upon it.

10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year, with the blood of the sin-offering of atonements: once in a year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy to the LORD.

11 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul to the LORD, when thou numberest them: that there may be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) a half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.

14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the LORD.

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

16 And thou shalt take the atonement-money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial to the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.

17 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

18 Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and its foot also of brass, to wash in: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.

19 For Aaron and their sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat:

20 When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not: or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire to the LORD.

21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

22 Moreover the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

23 Take thou also to thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels,

24 And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive-oil a hin:

25 And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be a holy anointing oil.

26 And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation with it, and the ark of the testimony,

27 And the table and all its vessels, and the candlestick and its vessels, and the altar of incense,

28 And the altar of burnt-offering with all its vessels, and the laver and its foot.

29 And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatever toucheth them shall be holy.

30 And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office.

31 And thou shalt speak to the children of Israel, saying, This shall be a holy anointing oil to me, throughout your generations.

32 Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be holy to you.

33 Whoever compoundeth any like it, or whoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people.

34 And the LORD said to Moses, Take to thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight:

35 And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy:

36 And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be to you most holy:

37 And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to its composition: it shall be to thee holy for the LORD.

38 Whoever shall make the like to that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 10309

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10309. 'The man who makes any like it, to make an odour with it' means an imitation - springing from self - of the worship of God expressed through affections for truth and good. This is clear from the meaning of 'making any like it' as imitating the worship of God, for 'making' means imitating, and the incense to which this refers means the worship of God, as above; and from the meaning of 'making an odour' as producing what is pleasing. And since this is done through affections for truth and good, these affections are what is meant by such pleasure; for 'odour' means the perception of something enjoyable, and so means that which is pleasing, 10292. It is evident that any imitation of this springs from self, for it says that 'he who makes it will be cut off from his people'. The proprium or self is the source of any endeavour that springs from an affection which desires truth and good not for their own sake but for a selfish reason; and doing something for a selfish reason implies doing it for the sake of personal gain, important positions, and reputation as the ends in view, and not for the sake of the welfare of one's neighbour and the glory of the Lord. Consequently that endeavour springs from evil and not from good; or what amounts to the same thing, it springs from hell and not from the Lord. This therefore is what should be understood by an imitation - springing from self - of the worship of God expressed through affections for truth and good, meant by 'making an incense like it, to make an odour with it'. The people therefore who do this are those who love the world more than heaven, and themselves more than God. Also, when they think secretly within themselves they have no belief at all in heaven nor in the Lord; but when they think openly, as they do when talking in the presence of other people, they talk about heaven and the Lord with more emotion and conviction than others express. How much more depends on the degree to which they burn with the desire for personal gain, important positions, and reputation. Their condition at this time is such that inwardly they are black and outwardly shining white, that is, they are devils in the shape of angels of light. For their interiors which ought to lie exposed to heaven are closed, and their exteriors which lie exposed to the world are open. And if they are moved at this time by an affection that seemingly belongs to love to raise their eyes and hands towards heaven, they are nevertheless like statues skillfully made to portray that pose; and they also appear to angels as such statues. Indeed, can you believe it, there are in hell very many such as these who are present with and inspire people like them in the world, especially with preachers who for selfish reasons imitate the worship of God by expressing affections for truth and good. Furthermore the Lord allows them to act in this way, because at the same time they also perform a useful function; for good people can still receive the Word properly from them. They can do so because the reception of the Word by a person, no matter whose mouth it goes out of, depends on the character of the good governing that person. But such externals, being mere postures, are stripped away from them in the next life, and then their spirit is shown to be black, as it had been while they were in the body.

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