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Ezekiel 41

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1 Afterward he brought me to the temple, and measured the posts, six cubits broad on the one side, and six cubits broad on the other side, which was the breadth of the tabernacle.

2 And the breadth of the door was ten cubits; and the sides of the door were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured the length of it forty cubits: and the breadth, twenty cubits.

3 Then he went inward, and measured the post of the door, two cubits; and the door, six cubits; and the breadth of the door, seven cubits.

4 So he measured the length of it twenty cubits; and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said to me, This is the most holy place.

5 Afterward he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side-chamber, four cubits, round the house on every side.

6 And the side-chambers were three, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which was of the house for the side-chambers around, that they might have hold, but they had not hold in the wall of the house.

7 And there was an enlarging, and a winding about still upward to the side-chambers: for the winding about of the house went still upward around the house; therefore the breadth of the house was still upward, and so increased from the lowest chamber to the highest by the midst.

8 I saw also the hight of the house around: the foundations of the side-chambers were a full reed of six great cubits.

9 The thickness of the wall, which was for the side-chamber without, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side-chambers that were within.

10 And between the chambers was the width of twenty cubits around the house on every side.

11 And the doors of the side-chambers were towards the place that was left, one door towards the north, and another door towards the south: and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits around.

12 Now the building that was before the separate place at the end towards the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick around, and its length ninety cubits.

13 So he measured the house, a hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, a hundred cubits long;

14 Also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place towards the east, a hundred cubits.

15 And he measured the length of the building over against the separate place which was behind it, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, a hundred cubits, with the inner temple, and the porches of the court;

16 The door posts, and the narrow windows, and the galleries around on their three stories, over against the door, ceiled with wood around, and from the ground up to the windows, and the windows were covered;

17 To that above the door, even to the inner house, and without, and by all the wall around within and without, by measure.

18 And it was made with cherubim and palm-trees, so that a palm-tree was between a cherub and a cherub; and every cherub had two faces;

19 So that the face of a man was towards the palm-tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion towards the palm-tree on the other side: it was made through all the house around.

20 From the ground to above the door were cherubim and palm-trees made, and on the wall of the temple.

21 The posts of the temple were squared, and the face of the sanctuary; the appearance of the one as the appearance of the other.

22 The altar of wood was three cubits high, and its length two cubits; and its corners, and its length, and its walls, were of wood: and he said to me, This is the table that is before the LORD.

23 And the temple and the sanctuary had two doors.

24 And the doors had two leaves each, two turning leaves; two leaves for the one door, and two leaves for the other door.

25 And there were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm-trees, as were made upon the walls; and there were thick planks upon the face of the porch without.

26 And there were narrow windows and palm-trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch, and upon the side-chambers of the house, and thick planks.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 8369

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8369. 'And seventy palm trees' means forms of the good of truth in like measure, that is to say, in full abundance. This is clear from the meaning of 'seventy' - like 'twelve' - as all things in their entirety, dealt with in 7973; and from the meaning of 'palm trees' as forms of good in the spiritual Church, which are forms of the good of truth. And since forms of good are meant by 'palm trees', an affection for good and the delight resulting from it are meant, for an affection for good is the source of all delight. Since 'palm trees' had this meaning they were also used in sacred festivities, such as the feast of tabernacles, in accordance with the following in Moses,

You shall take on the first day the fruit of a fine tree, 1 fronds of palm trees, the bough of a thick tree, and willows of the powerful stream; and you shall be glad before Jehovah your God seven days. Leviticus 23:40.

'The fruit of a fine tree' means celestial good, 'palm trees' spiritual good or the good of truth, 'the bough of a thick tree' truth in the form of factual knowledge, and 'willows of the powerful stream' lowest truths belonging to the natural. The four accordingly mean all forms of good and truths in their proper order.

[2] The fact that 'palm trees' were signs of sacred festivity springing from good is also clear from the following in John,

A great crowd who had come to the feast, when they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of palm trees, and went to meet Him, and cried, Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord, even the King of Israel. John 12:12-13.

And in the same author, in Revelation,

I saw, and behold a large crowd standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches in their hands. Revelation 7:9.

In Joel,

The vine has withered and the fig tree languishes, the pomegranate tree and also the palm; all joy has withered away from the sons of man. Joel 1:12.

In David,

The righteous will flourish like a palm tree; he will grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Psalms 92:12.

Here 'a palm tree' stands for good and 'a cedar' for truth.

[3] Since 'a palm tree' means good it also means wisdom, for wisdom is the discernment of good. The palm trees which were carved along with the cherubs and flowers on the walls of the temple were signs meaning such wisdom. 'The temple' meant the Lord Himself, and in the representative sense it meant heaven, 2777, 3720; 'the cherubs, palm trees, and flowers' on the walls meant providence, wisdom, and intelligence that are the Lord's, and so meant all things belonging to heaven. The fact that they were carved on the walls of the temple is clear in the first Book of Kings,

Solomon carved all the walls of the house all around with openings of carvings of cherubs, 2 and of palm trees, and with openings of flowers. And on the two doors of olive wood he carved carvings of cherubs and of palm trees, and openings of flowers, and overlaid them with gold, so that he spread gold over the cherubs and over the palm trees. 1 Kings 6:29, 32.

These 'carvings' represented the heavenly state; 'the cherubs' represented the Lord's Providence, thus the truth that all things come from Him (for the meaning of 'cherubs' as providence, see 308); 'the palm trees' represented wisdom that is a discernment of good coming from the Lord; and 'the flowers' represented intelligence that is an understanding of truth coming from Him. 'Gold' with which the cherubs and palm trees were overlaid meant the good of love, which holds sway throughout heaven (for the meaning of 'gold' as the good of love, see 113, 1551, 1552, 5658). All this also explains why in the description in Ezekiel of the new temple, meaning the Lord's heaven, it says that 'cherubs and palm trees' were on the walls everywhere, Ezekiel 41:17-18, 20, 25-26.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, a tree of honour

2. i.e. carved figures of cherubs

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