Ezekiel 41
1
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 tent.
2
The breadth of the entrance was ten cubits; and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on the one side, and five cubits on the other side: and he measured its length, forty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits.
3
Then went he inward, and measured each post of the entrance, two cubits; and the entrance, six cubits; and the breadth of the entrance, seven cubits.
4
He measured its length, twenty cubits, and the breadth, twenty cubits, before the temple: and he said to me, This is the most holy place.
5
Then he measured the wall of the house, six cubits; and the breadth of every side room, four cubits, all around the house on every side.
6
The side rooms were in three stories, one over another, and thirty in order; and they entered into the wall which belonged to the house for the side rooms all around, that they might have hold [therein], and not have hold in the wall of the house.
7
The side rooms were broader as they encompassed [the house] higher and higher; for the encompassing of the house went higher and higher around the house: therefore the breadth of the house [continued] upward; and so one went up [from] the lowest [room] to the highest by the middle [room].
8
I saw also that the house had a raised base all around: the foundations of the side rooms were a full reed of six great cubits.
9
The thickness of the wall, which was for the side rooms, on the outside, was five cubits: and that which was left was the place of the side rooms that belonged to the house.
10
Between the rooms was a breadth of twenty cubits around the house on every side.
11
The doors of the side rooms were toward [the place] that was left, one door toward the north, and another door toward the south: and the breadth of the place that was left was five cubits all around.
12
The building that was before the separate place at the side toward the west was seventy cubits broad; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length ninety cubits.
13
So he measured the house, one hundred cubits long; and the separate place, and the building, with its walls, one hundred cubits long;
14
also the breadth of the face of the house, and of the separate place toward the east, one hundred cubits.
15
He measured the length of the building before the separate place which was at its back, and its galleries on the one side and on the other side, one hundred cubits; and the inner temple, and the porches of the court;
16
the thresholds, and the closed windows, and the galleries around on their three stories, over against the threshold, with wood ceilings all around, and [from] the ground up to the windows, (now the windows were covered),
17
to [the space] above the door, even to the inner house, and outside, and by all the wall all around inside and outside, by measure.
18
It was made with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces;
19
so that there was the face of a man toward the palm tree on the one side, and the face of a young lion toward the palm tree on the other side. [thus was it] made through all the house all around:
20
from the ground to above the door were cherubim and palm trees made: thus was the wall of the temple.
21
As for the temple, the door posts were squared; and as for the face of the sanctuary, the appearance [of it] was as the appearance [of the temple].
22
The altar was of wood, 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 Yahweh.
23
The temple and the sanctuary had two doors.
24
The doors had two leaves [apiece], two turning leaves: two [leaves] for the one door, and two leaves for the other.
25
There were made on them, on the doors of the temple, cherubim and palm trees, like as were made on the walls; and there was a threshold of wood on the face of the porch outside.
26
There were closed windows and palm trees on the one side and on the other side, on the sides of the porch: thus were the side rooms of the house, and the thresholds.
Arcana Coelestia # 10261
10261. 'And olive oil' means the Lord's celestial Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of 'oil' as good, both celestial and spiritual, dealt with in 886, 4582, 9780; and from the meaning of 'olive' as celestial love, dealt with below, so that 'olive oil' means the good of celestial love, or what amounts to the same thing, celestial good. The expression 'the Lord's celestial Divine Good' is used because the origin of all good that really is good and exists in the heavens lies in what is Divine and the Lord's.
[2] But it should be remembered that in itself the Lord's Divine Good is a single whole; for it is infinite and contains infinite characteristics. What is infinite is a single whole, because the infinite characteristics it contains make one. But the distinguishing of that Good into celestial and spiritual is due to the different ways in which angels in heaven and people on earth receive it. That received by angels and people belonging to the Lord's celestial kingdom is called celestial Divine Good, whereas that received by angels and people belonging to the Lord's spiritual kingdom is called spiritual Divine Good. For all angels in heaven and people on earth receive the Lord's Good, which is a single whole, in various or dissimilar ways. This may be compared to the heat and light from the sun in the world. Though these regarded in themselves are a single whole, they nevertheless vary according to the seasons of the year and times of the day, and are also different in each region of the planet. Such variations of heat and light are due not to the sun but to the changing conditions on the planet brought about by variations as it orbits round the sun and revolves on its axis, so that again the reception is the determining factor. The variations of the one same light as it falls on individual objects, producing different colours, is also attributable to the ways in which it is received. From all this it may now be recognized why it is that the Lord's Divine Good, which is a single whole because it is infinite, is called celestial and spiritual.
[3] The meaning of 'oil' as good, both celestial and spiritual, is clear in the places referred to above. But the fact that 'olive' means celestial love, and 'olive tree' the perception and affection belonging to that love, is clear from the places in the Word where 'olive tree' and 'olive' are mentioned, as in the following: In Zechariah,
The prophet saw a lampstand all of gold. It had seven lamps on it, [and had] two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl, and one on the left of it. He said to the angel, What are these two olive trees, and what are the two olive berries which are in the spouts 1 of the two tubes of gold? He said, These are the two sons of olives, standing beside the Lord of the whole earth. Zechariah 4:2-3, 11-12, 14.
[4] What these prophetic utterances imply none can know unless they know from the internal sense what 'a lampstand' means and what 'an olive tree' means. 'A lampstand' means the spiritual heaven, and its 'lamps' the holy truths there, see 9548, 9551, 9555, 9558, 9561, 9684. From these meanings it is clear that 'an olive tree' means the celestial kingdom born from the perception of and affection for good, and 'olive berries' the holy forms of good there, their truths being meant by 'the sons of olives'. 'Two' means the internal and the external parts of that kingdom, and a joining together.
[5] 'Oil' and 'lampstand' are used with similar meanings in John,
I will give [power] to My two witnesses, that they may prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth. Revelation 11:3-4.
In Isaiah,
I will plant 2 in the wilderness the cedar of shittah, and the myrtle, and olive wood 3 . Isaiah 41:19.
'The cedar' and 'olive wood' are mentioned because 'the cedar' means spiritual good and 'olive wood' celestial good, spiritual good being charity towards the neighbour and celestial good being love to the Lord. 'Planting them in the wilderness' means doing so in lands outside the Church, thus among gentile nations.
[6] In Hosea,
His branches will go out and his beauty will be like that of the olive, and his smell like Lebanon. Hosea 14:6.
Here also 'the olive' means celestial good, and 'Lebanon' means spiritual good, so that 'Lebanon' is similar in meaning to 'the cedar'; for Lebanon was a forest consisting of cedars.
[7] In Isaiah,
Thus will it be in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the peoples, like the stripping of the olive tree, like the gleaning of grapes when the harvesting of them has finished. Isaiah 24:13.
Also Isaiah 17:6. Comparison is made with 'the stripping of the olive tree' and 'the gleaning of grapes after the harvesting has finished' because 'the olive tree' means a Church that is governed by celestial good, and 'the vine' a Church that is governed by spiritual good. For in the Word wherever good is the subject, truth is also, on account of the marriage of them. In like manner wherever the celestial is the subject, the spiritual is also. Furthermore the term 'celestial' is used in reference to good, and 'spiritual' to truth, see in the places referred to in 9263, 9314; therefore the terms are also used in reference to the vine and the olive tree. As regards 'the vine', that it means the spiritual Church, and its goodness and truth, see 1069, 5113, 6376, 9277.
[8] Here also is the reason why elsewhere the vine and the olive tree are spoken of together, as in David,
[Your] wife will be like a fruitful vine on the sides of your house, your sons will be like olive shoots, round about your table. Psalms 128:3-4.
In Habakkuk,
The fig tree will not blossom, neither will there be any produce on the vines; the olive crop will fail 4 . Habakkuk 3:17.
In Amos,
Your very many gardens, and your vineyards, and your fig trees, and your olive trees the caterpillar devoured. Amos 4:9.
The fig tree as well is mentioned, because 'the fig' means the external Church's good, 5113, whereas 'the vine' means the good of the internal spiritual Church, and 'the olive tree' the good of the internal celestial Church. Similar instances occur elsewhere.
[9] Since 'olive wood' meant the good of celestial love the two cherubs which were in the sanctuary in the temple were made from pieces of olive wood, as were the double doors, lintel, and posts, 1 Kings 6:23, 31-32. For the sanctuary in the temple represented the inmost heaven, where celestial good is present, and therefore everything in the sanctuary was a sign of something celestial. The ark there, for the sake of which the sanctuary existed, was a sign of the inmost heaven, where the Lord is, see 9485.
[10] 'The Mount of Olives', which was opposite the temple, had a similar meaning to 'the olive tree', just as 'Lebanon' had to 'the cedar'. Therefore in order that all the things the Lord did when He was in the world, especially Divine celestial ones, might be represented in the heavens, the Lord was very often on the Mount of Olives when He was in Jerusalem, as is clear in Luke,
By day Jesus was teaching in the temple, but by night He went out and spent the night on the mountain which is called Olivet 5 . Luke 21:37.
And elsewhere,
Jesus came out and went away, as was His custom 6 , to the Mount of Olives. Luke 22:39.
Regarding this mountain, that it was opposite the temple, see Mark 13:3; Matthew 24:3.
[11] The fact that 'the Mount of Olives' was a sign of celestial Divine Good is clear in Zechariah, where it is stated,
Jehovah's feet will stand upon the Mount of Olives, which faces 7 Jerusalem; and there He will fight against the nations. And the mountain will be split, part towards the east and towards the sea 8 , with a large valley; and part of it will move away towards the north, and part towards the south. Zechariah 14:3-4.
This is a description of the state of heaven and the Church when the Lord was in the world, fighting against the hells, conquering them, and at the same time restoring the heavens to order. 'The nations' there which He fought against are the evils coming from hell; 'the Mount of Olives' on which His feet stood is the Divine Good of Divine Love, for by this Good He fought and conquered. 'The splitting of the mountain with a large valley, towards the east and towards the sea' means the separation of heaven and hell; and the like is meant by 'its moving away towards the north and the south'. Those living in the light of truth are said to be in the south, and those in the love of good to be in the east, whereas those immersed in evils are said to be towards the sea, and those in falsities towards the north.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. literally, the hand
2. literally, give
3. literally, wood of the oil tree
4. literally, the work of the olive will lie (i.e. prove false)
5. literally, [the Mount] of Olives
6. literally, according to custom
7. literally, which is before the face of
8. i.e. the west
