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Exodus 30

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1 "You shall make an altar to burn incense on. You shall make it of acacia wood.

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

3 You shall overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides around it, and its horns; and you shall make a gold molding around it.

4 You shall make two golden rings for it under its molding; on its two ribs, on its two sides you shall make them; and they shall be for places for poles with which to bear it.

5 You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.

6 You shall put it before the veil that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with you.

7 Aaron shall burn incense of sweet spices on it every morning. When he tends the lamps, he shall burn it.

8 When Aaron lights the lamps at evening, he shall burn it, a perpetual incense before Yahweh throughout your generations.

9 You shall offer no strange incense on it, nor burnt offering, nor meal offering; and you shall pour no drink offering on it.

10 Aaron shall make atonement on its horns once in the year; with the blood of the sin offering of atonement once in the year he shall make atonement for it throughout your generations. It is most holy to Yahweh."

11 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

12 "When you take a census of the children of Israel, according to those who are numbered among them, then each man shall give a ransom for his soul to Yahweh, when you number them; that there be no plague among them when you number them.

13 They shall give this, everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary; (the shekel is twenty gerahs;) half a shekel for an offering to Yahweh.

14 Everyone who passes over to those who are numbered, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the offering to Yahweh.

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

16 You shall take the atonement money from the children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the Tent of Meeting; that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before Yahweh, to make atonement for your souls."

17 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

18 "You shall also make a basin of brass, and its base of brass, in which to wash. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.

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

20 When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water, that they not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to Yahweh.

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

22 Moreover Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

23 "Also take fine spices: of liquid myrrh, five hundred shekels; and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty; and of fragrant cane, two hundred and fifty;

24 and of cassia five hundred, after the shekel of the sanctuary; and a hin of olive oil.

25 You shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfume compounded after the art of the perfumer: it shall be a holy anointing oil.

26 You shall use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the ark of the testimony,

27 the table and all its articles, the lampstand and its accessories, the altar of incense,

28 the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the basin with its base.

29 You shall sanctify them, that they may be most holy. Whatever touches them shall be holy.

30 You shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office.

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

32 It shall not be poured on man's flesh, neither shall you make any like it, according to its composition: it is holy. It shall be holy to you.

33 Whoever compounds any like it, or whoever puts any of it on a stranger, he shall be cut off from his people.'"

34 Yahweh said to Moses, "Take to yourself sweet spices, gum resin, and onycha, and galbanum; sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be an equal weight;

35 and you shall make incense of it, a perfume after the art of the perfumer, seasoned with salt, pure and holy:

36 and you shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the testimony in the Tent of Meeting, where I will meet with you. It shall be to you most holy.

37 The incense which you shall make, according to its composition you shall not make for yourselves: it shall be to you holy for Yahweh.

38 Whoever shall make any like that, to smell of it, he shall be cut off from his people."

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 10201

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10201. 'When adorning the lamps he shall burn it' means whenever truth as well comes into its own light. This is clear from the meaning of 'the lamps' as Divine Truth, and therefore intelligence and wisdom, dealt with in 9548, 9783, 'adorning' them or making them burn more brightly, it is evident, meaning whenever they come into their own light; and from the meaning of 'burning incense' as a hearing and receiving of everything of worship, dealt with above in 10177, 10198. From this it is clear that burning incense every single morning when the lamps were 'adorned' means that the hearing and receiving of everything of worship takes place first and foremost whenever people enter a clear state of love, and consequently possess intelligence and wisdom with which to see truth.

[2] The reason for saying that they consequently possess intelligence and wisdom with which to see truth is that the nature of the light of truth present with a person is conditioned altogether by the state of his love; how much love is kindled determines how much truth shines there. For the good of love is the actual fire of life burning in him, while the truth of faith is the actual light, that is, intelligence and wisdom, shining in his understanding. The love and truth go together, in step with each other.

[3] The words 'intelligence and wisdom' are not used to mean the ability to think and reason about any matter whatever, for this ability exists with the evil just as much as it does with the good. Instead they are used to mean the ability to see and perceive the truths and forms of good that belong to faith and charity, and that go with love to the Lord. This ability exists only with those who receive enlightenment from the Lord; and the amount of enlightenment they receive is determined by the amount of love to Him and charity towards the neighbour which they possess. For the Lord comes in through the good, that is, through the love and charity present in the person, and leads him to truths in agreement with that good. But if alien loves - which is what loves turned away from the Lord and the neighbour towards self and the world are - reign there, then these loves lead the person. They lead away from truths to falsities; yet the ability to think and reason still remains.

[4] The reason for all this is that these people do not receive enlightenment from the Lord, only from self and the world, and such enlightenment consists of thick and total darkness in spiritual matters, that is, in things which have to do with heaven and the Church. With those people the internal man seeing things in the light of heaven is closed and the external man seeing them in the light of the world is open. But seeing something in the light of the world without the light from heaven flowing in means that things belonging to heaven are seen in thick darkness. Indeed to the extent that the person has at this time through self-love and love of the world fostered inferior natural light, he plunges into falsities and consequently annihilates the truths of faith. This is why the learned people of the world who are ruled by self-love, having a greater opportunity to substantiate falsities, are blinder than simple people.

[5] These things have been stated in order that people may know that as is anyone's love, so is his faith, and in order that they may understand how it is that truth comes into its own light when love comes into clearness, meant by burning incense every single morning when the lamps were 'adorned'.

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