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Exodus 27

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1 `And thou hast made the altar of shittim wood, five cubits the length, and five cubits the breadth -- the altar is square -- and three cubits its height.

2 And thou hast made its horns on its four corners, its horns are of the same, and thou hast overlaid it [with] brass.

3 And thou hast made its pots to remove its ashes, and its shovels, and its bowls, and its forks, and its fire-pans, even all its vessels thou dost make of brass.

4 `And thou hast made for it a grate of net-work of brass, and hast made on the net four rings of brass on its four extremities,

5 and hast put it under the compass of the altar beneath, and the net hath been unto the middle of the altar.

6 `And thou hast made staves for the altar, staves of shittim wood, and hast overlaid them [with] brass.

7 And the staves have been brought into the rings, and the staves have been on the two sides of the altar in bearing it.

8 Hollow with boards thou dost make it, as it hath been shewed thee in the mount, so do they make [it].

9 `And thou hast made the court of the tabernacle: for the south side southward, hangings for the court of twined linen, a hundred by the cubit [is] the length for the one side,

10 and its twenty pillars and their twenty sockets [are] of brass, the pegs of the pillars and their fillets [are] of silver;

11 and so for the north side in length, hangings of a hundred [cubits] in length, and its twenty pillars and their twenty sockets [are] of brass, the pegs of the pillars and their fillets [are] of silver.

12 `And [for] the breadth of the court at the west side [are] hangings of fifty cubits, their pillars ten, and their sockets ten.

13 And [for] the breadth of the court at the east side, eastward, [are] fifty cubits.

14 And the hangings at the side [are] fifteen cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three.

15 And at the second side [are] hangings fifteen [cubits], their pillars three, and their sockets three.

16 `And for the gate of the court a covering of twenty cubits, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen, work of an embroiderer; their pillars four, their sockets four.

17 All the pillars of the court round about [are] filleted [with] silver, their pegs [are] silver, and their sockets brass.

18 `The length of the court [is] a hundred by the cubit, and the breadth fifty by fifty, and the height five cubits, of twined linen, and their sockets [are] brass,

19 even all the vessels of the tabernacle, in all its service, and all its pins, and all the pins of the court, [are] brass.

20 `And thou -- thou dost command the sons of Israel, and they bring unto thee pure beaten olive oil for the light, to cause the lamp to go up continually;

21 in the tent of meeting, at the outside of the vail, which [is] over the testimony, doth Aaron -- his sons also -- arrange it from evening till morning before Jehovah -- a statute age-during to their generations, from the sons of Israel.

   

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Works

  

'Works,' as in Revelation 16:11, signify falsities of faith, and the resulting evils of life.

In Revelation, 'I know thy works,' is said frequently. This makes it clear that 'works' signify, generally, every aspect of the church.

'Works,' as in Genesis 46:33, denote goods, because they are from the will, and anything from the will is either good or evil, but anything from the understanding, like spoken words, are either truths or falsities.

In Genesis 2:2, the work signifies the celestial man, the highest use of God; or the accomplishment when the spiritual man becomes celestial. (Arcana Coelestia 84, 88)

In Exodus 5:9, work signifies assault for the purpose of subjugation. (Arcana Coelestia 7120)

In Genesis 39:11, it signifies the process when the Lord was conjoining Himself with spiritual good in the natural. (Arcana Coelestia 5004)

In Genesis 47:3; Psalms 8:3; 44:1; 63:12, works concern offices and uses which are done for the neighbor, the country, the church, and the Lord's kingdom.

In Exodus 5:4, work signifies that the people were not to be exempted from things that were hard to bear. (Arcana Coelestia 6073, Arcana Coelestia 7104)

In Revelation 2:2, works signify that the Lord sees man's exterior as well as his interior things. (Apocalypse Revealed 76)

In Revelation 2:6, it signifies that people do not want to claim personal merit. (Apocalypse Revealed 86)

In Revelation 2:19, 23, 26, it signifies all things of charity and faith. (Apocalypse Revealed 138, 141)

In Revelation 9:20, it signifies that they did not shun as sins their own things, which are evils of every kind. (Apocalypse Revealed 457)

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 6048)


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Apocalypse Revealed # 457

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457. Still did not repent of the works of their hands. This symbolically means, nor did they refrain from their native proclivities, which are evils of every kind, as being sins.

The works of a person's hands symbolize a person's native proclivities, which are evils and their attendant falsities, because the hands symbolize in summary the things that emanate from a person; for the forces of the mind and consequently of the body are directed into the hands and terminate there. Consequently the hands in the Word symbolize power. For the same reason the works of a person's hands symbolize his native proclivities, which are evils and falsities of every kind. Evils are the native proclivities of his will, and the attendant falsities the native proclivities of his intellect.

We are told regarding the people who are the subject here that they did not repent, because people who make faith alone the totality of religion say to themselves, "What need do I have of repentance, when through faith alone our sins are forgiven and we are saved? What do our works contribute to this? I know that I was born in sin and that I am a sinner. If I confess this and pray that my faults not be imputed to me, then I have repented. What need do I have of anything more?"

Thus the person then gives no thought to sin, even to the point of not knowing what sins are. Consequently the delight and gratification they afford continually carry him along in them and into them, the way a favorable wind and current carry a ship onto rocks when both captain and crew are asleep.

[2] In the natural sense of the Word, the works of a person's hands mean carved images, cast images, and idols; but in its spiritual sense, they symbolize evils and falsities of every kind, which are a person's native proclivities. As, for example, in the following passages:

...do not provoke Me to anger by the work of your hands...; (if you were) to provoke Me to anger by the work of your hands to your own hurt..., I will repay them according to their work and according to the deeds of their hands. (Jeremiah 25:6-7, 14)

...the children of Israel have provoked Me... to anger by the work of their hands... (Jeremiah 32:30, cf. 44:8)

I will utter My judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, because they... bowed themselves to the works of their hands. (Jeremiah 1:16)

In that day... people's eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel, and... not to the altars, the work of their hands, and... what their fingers have made... (Isaiah 17:7-8, cf. 31:7; 37:19, Jeremiah 10:9)

[3] The work of a person's hands is his own doing, thus evil and falsity, and this can be clearly seen from the fact that it was for this reason that the Israelites were forbidden to built an altar or temple out of hewn stones, or to use an iron tool on those stones; for they symbolized the work of a person's hands:

If you make Me an altar of stones, you shall not build it of hewn stones; for if you use your chisel on it, you will profane it. (Exodus 20:25)

Joshua built... an altar of... stones, on which he did not use an iron tool. (Joshua 8:30-31)

The temple (at Jerusalem)...was built of whole stone, and no hammer or axe or any iron tool was heard... while it was being built. (1 Kings 6:7)

[4] Everything that the Lord does is likewise called the work of His hands, and these are His inherent attributes, which in themselves are goods and truths. As, for example, in the following places:

The works of (Jehovah's) hands are truth and judgment. (Psalms 111:7)

Your mercy, O Jehovah, endures forever; do not cease the works of Your hands. (Psalms 138:8)

Thus said Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: "Seek from Me signs concerning My children; concerning the work of My hands, command Me." (Isaiah 45:11)

Your people are all just..., the offshoot of My planting, the work of My hands... (Isaiah 60:21)

...O Jehovah, You are our Father, we are the clay, and You our potter, and all we the work of Your hands. (Isaiah 64:8)

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.