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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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Apocalypse Revealed # 393

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393. And he was given much incense, that he should offer it for the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. This symbolizes a propitiation, lest angels of the Lord's spiritual kingdom be harmed by the spirits of the satanic kingdom situated below.

The incense and golden altar symbolize worship of the Lord springing from a spiritual love (nos. 277, 392). Prayers symbolize those expressions of charity and so of faith that are found in worship (no. 278). And saints mean people who are of the Lord's spiritual kingdom, while the just or righteous are those of His celestial kingdom (no. 173). It can be seen from this that people in the Lord's spiritual kingdom are the subject here.

The much incense here, given for the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar, symbolizes a propitiation lest the angels be harmed by the spirits of the satanic kingdom situated below, because incense was used for propitiations and expiations, especially when dangers threatened - as can be seen from the following:

When the congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron and they suffered a plague, Aaron took fire from the altar, put incense in the censer, and ran between the living and the dead to make atonement, and the plague was stopped. (Numbers 16:42-50)

The altar of incense also was placed in the Tabernacle in front of the mercy seat upon the ark, and incense was offered on it every morning when they trimmed the lamps. (Exodus 30:1-10)

Moreover, Aaron was commanded to offer incense whenever he entered inside the veil, and a cloud of incense would cover the mercy seat, lest he die. (Leviticus 16:11-13)

It can be seen from this that in the representational Israelite Church, propitiations were made with the burning of incense. So, too, here, lest the angels be harmed by the satanic spirits living below.

  
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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.