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Exodus 25

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1 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

2 `Speak unto the sons of Israel, and they take for Me a heave-offering; from every man whose heart impelleth him ye do take My heave-offering.

3 `And this [is] the heave-offering which ye take from them; gold, and silver, and brass,

4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and linen, and goats' [hair],

5 and rams' skins made red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood,

6 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the perfume of the spices,

7 shoham stones, and stones for setting for an ephod, and for a breastplate.

8 `And they have made for Me a sanctuary, and I have tabernacled in their midst;

9 according to all that which I am shewing thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all its vessels, even so ye do make [it].

10 `And they have made an ark of shittim wood; two cubits and a half its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height;

11 and thou hast overlaid it [with] pure gold, within and without thou dost overlay it, and thou hast made on it a ring of gold round about.

12 `And thou hast cast for it four rings of gold, and hast put [them] on its four feet, even two rings on its one side, and two rings on its second side;

13 and thou hast made staves of shittim wood, and hast overlaid them [with] gold,

14 and hast brought the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark by them,

15 in the rings of the ark are the staves, they are not turned aside from it;

16 and thou hast put unto the ark the testimony which I give unto thee.

17 `And thou hast made a mercy-seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth;

18 and thou hast made two cherubs of gold, beaten work dost thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat;

19 and make thou one cherub at the end on this side, and one cherub at the end on that; at the mercy-seat ye do make the cherubs on its two ends.

20 `And the cherubs have been spreading out wings on high, covering the mercy-seat over with their wings, and their faces [are] one towards another -- towards the mercy-seat are the faces of the cherubs.

21 `And thou hast put the mercy-seat on the ark above, and unto the ark thou dost put the testimony which I give unto thee;

22 and I have met with thee there, and have spoken with thee from off the mercy-seat (from between the two cherubs, which [are] on the ark of the testimony) all that which I command thee concerning the sons of Israel.

23 `And thou hast made a table of shittim wood, two cubits its length, and a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height,

24 and hast overlaid it [with] pure gold, and hast made for it a crown of gold round about,

25 and hast made for it a border of a handbreadth round about, and hast made a crown of gold to its border round about.

26 `And thou hast made to it four rings of gold, and hast put the rings on the four corners, which [are] to its four feet;

27 over-against the border are the rings for places for staves to bear the table;

28 and thou hast made the staves of shittim wood, and hast overlaid them with gold, and the table hath been borne with them;

29 and thou hast made its dishes, and its bowls, and its covers, and its cups, with which they pour out; of pure gold thou dost make them;

30 and thou hast put on the table bread of the presence before Me continually.

31 `And thou hast made a candlestick of pure gold, of beaten work is the candlestick made; its base, and its branch, its calyxes, its knops, and its flowers are of the same;

32 and six branches are coming out of its sides, three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the second side;

33 three calyxes made like almonds in the one branch, a knop and a flower, and three calyxes made like almonds in one branch, a knop and a flower; so for the six branches which are coming out from the candlestick.

34 `And in the candlestick [are] four calyxes made like almonds, its knops and its flowers;

35 and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, [are] to the six branches which are coming out of the candlestick;

36 their knops and their branches are of the same, all of it one beaten work of pure gold;

37 and thou hast made its seven lamps, and [one] hath caused its lights to go up, and it hath given light over-against its front.

38 `And its snuffers and its snuff dishes [are] of pure gold;

39 of a talent of pure gold he doth make it, with all these vessels.

40 And see thou and do [them] by their pattern which thou art shewn in the mount.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9475

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9475. 'And for the incense of spices' means for delightful perception. This is clear from the meaning of 'incense' as the things of worship that are perceived with delight, such as acts of thanksgiving, adoration, prayer, and the like; and from the meaning of 'spices' as truths of faith which are delightful because they originate in good. For sweet odours, such as spicy ones, mean that which is delightful; and whatever is delightful is such by virtue of the good made known through truths. So it is that 'the incense of spices' means the delightful perception that belongs to truth originating in good. The spices which went into the making of that incense are listed, and the preparation of it is described in the following words,

Take for yourself spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum - [these] spices, and pure frankincense. You shall make them an incense, salted, pure, holy. You shall beat some of it very small, and put some of it before the Testimony in the tent of meeting. Most holy 1 shall it be to you. The incense shall be to you holy for Jehovah. Exodus 30:34-38.

The altar of incense, along with the incense itself, is described as follows,

You shall make an altar for burning incense. You shall overlay it with pure gold. You shall put it before the veil that is over the ark of the Testimony before the mercy-seat, that Aaron may burn on it spicy incense every morning; when he trims the lamps he shall burn it, and between the evenings. Exodus 30:1-10; 37:25-end; 40:26-27.

And elsewhere,

When Aaron comes into the Holy Place he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire 2 from upon the altar, with his hands full of spicy incense beaten fine. 3 Then he shall bring it inside the veil, in order that he may put the incense onto the fire before Jehovah, and the cloud of incense may cover the mercy-seat which is over the Testimony. Leviticus 16:12-13.

[2] Since 'incense' meant acts of worship such as had their origin in good made known through truths, as do all expressions of faith that have their origin in the good of love, the fire was taken from the altar; for the fire on the altar meant the good of God's love, 934, 4906, 5071 (end), 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 7852. On this account when fire had been taken from any other source they were struck down by a plague and died, Leviticus 10:1-2ff; Numbers 16:45-48; for fire from any other source, or 'foreign fire', meant love that was not God's.

[3] The fact that expressions of faith having their origin in the good of love and charity, for example thanksgivings, acts of adoration, and prayers, are meant by 'incense' is clear in David,

My prayers are acceptable, [as] incense before You. Psalms 141:2.

In John,

The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. Revelation 5:8.

In the same book,

An angel holding a golden censer ... And much incense was given to him, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar which was before the throne. The smoke of the incense went up from the prayers of the saints. Revelation 8:3-4.

[4] The reason why such expressions of faith are meant by 'incense' is that they are matters of thought and consequently of the lips. But matters of affection and consequently of the heart are meant by 'the minchah' in Malachi 1:11, where it says that from the rising of the sun even to its setting Jehovah's name will be great among the nations, and 'in every place incense has been offered to My name, and a pure minchah'; and the same things are meant by 'the burnt offering' in Moses,

The sons of Levi will teach Jacob Your judgements and Israel Your law. They will put incense in Your nose, and burnt offering on Your altar. Deuteronomy 33:10.

'Incense' in these places stands for such things as are matters of thought and the lips and have regard to the truths of faith; 'minchah' and 'burnt offering' stand for such things as are matters of affection and the heart and have regard to forms of the good of love. All this being so, in the contrary sense worship arising from falsities of faith is meant by burning incense to other gods, Jeremiah 1:16; 44:3, 5; burning incense to idols, Ezekiel 8:11; 16:18; and burning incense to the baalim, Hosea 2:13.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. literally, The holy thing of holy things

2. literally, the fullness of a censer, burning coals of fire

3. literally, the fullness of his fists, spicy incense [beaten] fine

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