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Ezekiel 40

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1 In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after the city was smitten, in the same day the hand of the LORD was upon me, and brought me thither.

2 In the visions of God he brought me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south.

3 And he brought me thither, and behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.

4 And the man said to me, Son of man, behold with thy eyes, and hear with thy ears, and set thy heart upon all that I shall show thee; for, to the intent that I might show them to thee art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.

5 And behold a wall on the outside of the house around, and in the man's hand a measuring reed of six cubits long by the cubit and a hand-breadth: so he measured the breadth of the building, one reed: and the hight, one reed.

6 Then he came to the gate which looketh towards the east, and ascended its stairs, and measured the threshhold of the gate, which was one reed broad; and the other threshhold of the gate, which was one reed broad.

7 And every little chamber was one reed long, and one reed broad; and between the little chambers were five cubits; and the threshhold of the gate by the porch of the gate within was one reed.

8 He measured also the porch of the gate within, one reed.

9 Then he measured the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and its posts, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was inward.

10 And the little chambers of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.

11 And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits.

12 The space also before the little chambers was one cubit on this side, and the space was one cubit on that side: and the little chambers were six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side.

13 He measured then the gate from the roof of one little chamber to the roof of another: the breadth was five and twenty cubits, door against door.

14 He made also posts of sixty cubits; even to the post of the court around the gate.

15 And from the face of the gate of the entrance to the face of the porch of the inner gate were fifty cubits.

16 And there were narrow windows to the little chambers, and to their posts within the gate around, and likewise to the arches: and windows were around inward: and upon each post were palm-trees.

17 Then he brought me into the outward court, and lo, there were chambers, and a pavement made for the court around: thirty chambers were upon the pavement.

18 And the pavement by the side of the gates over against the length of the gates was the lower pavement.

19 Then he measured the breadth from the front of the lower gate to the front of the inner court without, a hundred cubits eastward and northward.

20 And the gate of the outward court that looked towards the north, he measured its length, and its breadth.

21 And the little chambers of it were three on this side and three on that side; and its posts and its arches were after the measure of the first gate; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth five and twenty cubits.

22 And their windows, and their arches, and their palm-trees, were after the measure of the gate that looketh towards the east; and they went up to it by seven steps; and its arches were before them.

23 And the gate of the inner court was over against the gate towards the north, and towards the east; and he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits.

24 After that he brought me towards the south, and behold a gate towards the south: and he measured its posts and its arches according to these measures.

25 And there were windows in it and in its arches around, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.

26 And there were seven steps to go up to it, and its arches were before them: and it had palm-trees, one on this side, and another on that side, upon its posts.

27 And there was a gate in the inner court towards the south: and he measured from gate to gate towards the south a hundred cubits.

28 And he brought me to the inner court by the south gate; and he measured the south gate according to these measures;

29 And its little chambers, and its posts, and its arches, according to these measures; and there were windows in it and in its arches around: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.

30 And the arches around were five and twenty cubits long, and five cubits broad.

31 And its arches were towards the outer court; and palm-trees were upon its posts: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

32 And he brought me into the inner court towards the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures.

33 And its little chambers, and its posts, and its arches, were according to these measures; and there were windows in it and in its arches around: it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.

34 And its arches were towards the outward court; and palm-trees were upon its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

35 And he brought me to the north gate, and measured it according to these measures;

36 Its little chambers, its posts, and its arches, and the windows to it around: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.

37 And its posts were towards the outer court; and palm-trees were upon its posts, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

38 And the chambers and its entries were by the posts of the gates, where they washed the burnt-offering.

39 And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slay upon it the burnt-offering and the sin-offering and the trespass-offering.

40 And at the side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side, which was at the porch of the gate, were two tables.

41 Four tables were on this side, and Four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, upon which they slew their sacrifices.

42 And the four tables were of hewn stone for the burnt-offering, of a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high: upon which also they laid the instruments with which they slew the burnt-offering and the sacrifice.

43 And within were hooks, a hand broad, fastened around: and upon the tables was the flesh of the offering.

44 And without the inner gate were the chambers of the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was towards the south: one at the side of the east gate having the prospect towards the north.

45 And he said to me, This chamber, whose prospect is towards the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house.

46 And the chamber whose prospect is towards the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok among the sons of Levi, who come near to the LORD to minister to him.

47 So he measured the court, a hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar that was before the house.

48 And he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side.

49 The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; and he brought me by the steps by which they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 3857

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3857. 'And Rachel was barren' means that interior truths were not received. This is clear from the representation of 'Rachel' as the affection for interior truth, dealt with already, and from the meaning of 'barren' as not giving rise to doctrines, nor thus Churches. This statement expresses the opposite of what is said in reference to Leah, that is, that 'Jehovah opened her womb', meaning that the affection represented by her gave rise to the doctrines taught by the Churches. The reason interior truths were not received is that interior truths are such as go above the range of man's belief, that is to say, they do not fall into ideas he has and are not conditioned by the outward appearances or the illusions of the senses by which everyone allows himself to be led. He does not believe interior truths unless in some way they coincide with those appearances or illusions.

[2] For example, it is an interior truth that intervals of time and of space do not exist in the next life, but states instead. Man who is within time and space while he lives in the world forms all his ideas from these, so much so that he cannot have any thought without them, 3404. Consequently unless the states which exist in the next life were described by means of the intervals of time and space which man experiences, that is, by means of the kind of things that are moulded by time and space, he would perceive nothing and so believe nothing, and as a consequence would receive nothing. Doctrine would in that case be barren and no Church would arise from it.

[3] Take another example. Unless celestial and spiritual affections were described by means of such things as constitute worldly and bodily affections man would not perceive anything, for these are the affections he experiences, and it is from them that he is able to have notions about celestial and spiritual affections. Yet the two types of affections are as different from each other, or as far apart, as heaven from earth. Take for example the glory of heaven, that is, of the angels in heaven, 3839. Unless man modelled his idea of the glory of heaven on the idea of the glory which exists in the world he would not grasp it at all and so would not acknowledge it. The same applies to all other interior or heavenly things.

[4] For this reason the Lord has spoken in the Word in accordance with man's own ability to grasp things and with the appearances that go with that grasp of them. The literal sense of the Word is such, yet at the same time is of such a nature that it holds within it the internal sense which contains interior truths. This then explains why it is said in reference to Leah that 'Jehovah opened her womb', and that 'Rachel was barren'; for as has been stated, 'Leah' represents the affection for exterior truth, 'Rachel' the affection for interior truth. But because exterior truths are the first truths which a person learns, the Lord has provided that by means of them he can be introduced into interior truths. This provision is meant by the statement in Genesis 30:22 that God at last remembered Rachel, hearkened to her, and opened her womb.

[5] The truth of all this may be seen from the Churches which existed in ancient times, and from their doctrinal teachings, namely that their teachings were formed from external truths. With the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood their doctrinal teachings were for the most part external representatives and meaningful signs which had internal truths stored within them. For the majority of its members holy worship consisted in those external representatives and signs. If anyone had told them that the essential ingredients of Divine worship were not those representatives and meaningful signs but the spiritual and celestial realities represented and meant by these, they would have rejected them altogether, and so the Church would have ceased to exist. This applied even more to the Jewish Church. If anyone had told them that their religious observances received their holiness from the Divine things that were the Lord's within them they would not have acknowledged them at all.

[6] Such also was mankind when the Lord came into the world. They had grown even more bodily-minded, especially so those who were members of the Church. This is quite evident even from the disciples who, though with the Lord constantly and hearing so many things about His kingdom, were as yet unable to perceive interior truths. They were still unable to have any other concept of the Lord than such as exists with the Jews at the present day about the Messiah whom they are still awaiting. They imagined that He would promote that people to a position of dominion and glory over all nations throughout the world. And after hearing so many things from the Lord about the heavenly kingdom the disciples were still unable to think anything else than that the heavenly kingdom would be like an earthly kingdom, where God the Father would be supreme, after Him the Son, and then themselves the twelve, and so would reign in this order. For the same reasons also James and John asked to sit one on His right and the other on the left, Mark 10:35-37; and the rest of the disciples were angry at these two wishing to be greater than the rest, Mark 10:41; Matthew 20:24. For the same reason also, after teaching them what it was to be greatest in heaven, Matthew 20:25-28; Mark 10:42-45, the Lord still spoke in the way that they themselves thought. That is to say, He spoke of them sitting on twelve thrones and judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Luke 22:24, 30; Matthew 19:28.

[7] If they had been told that the word 'disciples' was not used to mean themselves but all people in whom the good of love and faith dwells, 3354, 3488, and also that in the Lord's kingdom there are no thrones, nor positions of government and dominion, as in the world, and that they would not be able to pass judgement on even the smallest aspect of any one person, 2129, 2553, they would have rejected that saying, and each would have left the Lord and gone back to his own employment. The reason why the Lord spoke in the way He did was so that they would receive those things and through them be introduced into internal truths. For within the external truths which the Lord spoke internal truths lay stored away which in course of time are laid bare. And when these are laid bare those external truths are dispelled and serve solely as the objects or the means for thought about internal ones. From these considerations one may recognize what is meant by the fact that Jehovah opened Leah's womb first and she bore sons to Jacob, and that Rachel did so subsequently.

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

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Revelation 7:4-8

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4 I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel:

5 of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand, of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,

6 of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,

7 of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,

8 of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.