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Exodus 30

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1 `And thou hast made an altar [for] making perfume; [of] shittim wood thou dost make it;

2 a cubit its length, and a cubit its breadth, (it is square), and two cubits its height; its horns [are] of the same.

3 `And thou hast overlaid it with pure gold, its top, and its sides round about, and its horns; and thou hast made to it a crown of gold round about;

4 and two rings of gold thou dost make to it under its crown; on its two ribs thou dost make [them], on its two sides, and they have become places for staves, to bear it with them.

5 `And thou hast made the staves of shittim wood, and hast overlaid them with gold;

6 and thou hast put it before the vail, which [is] by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat which [is] over the testimony, whither I am met with thee.

7 `And Aaron hath made perfume on it, perfume of spices, morning by morning; in his making the lamps right he doth perfume it,

8 and in Aaron's causing the lamps to go up between the evenings, he doth perfume it; a continual perfume before Jehovah to your generations.

9 `Ye do not cause strange perfume to go up upon it, and burnt-offering, and present, and libation ye do not pour out on it;

10 and Aaron hath made atonement on its horns, once in a year, by the blood of the sin-offering of atonements; once in a year doth he make atonement for it, to your generations; it [is] most holy to Jehovah.'

11 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

12 `When thou takest up the sum of the sons of Israel for their numbers, then they have given each an atonement [for] his soul to Jehovah in their being numbered, and there is no plague among them in their being numbered.

13 `This they do give, every one passing over unto those numbered, half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel [is] twenty gerahs); half a shekel [is] the heave-offering to Jehovah;

14 every one passing over unto those numbered, from a son of twenty years and upwards, doth give the heave-offering of Jehovah;

15 the rich doth not multiply, and the poor doth not diminish from the half-shekel, to give the heave-offering of Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls.

16 `And thou hast taken the atonement-money from the sons of Israel, and hast given it for the service of the tent of meeting; and it hath been to the sons of Israel for a memorial before Jehovah, to make atonement for your souls.'

17 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

18 `And thou hast made a laver of brass (and its base of brass), for washing; and thou hast put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and hast put water there;

19 and Aaron and his sons have washed at it their hands and their feet,

20 in their going in unto the tent of meeting they wash [with] water, and die not; or in their drawing nigh unto the altar to minister, to perfume a fire-offering to Jehovah,

21 then they have washed their hands and their feet, and they die not, and it hath been to them a statute age-during, to him and to his seed to their generations.'

22 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

23 `And thou, take to thyself principal spices, wild honey five hundred [shekels]; and spice-cinnamon, the half of that, two hundred and fifty; and spice-cane two hundred and fifty;

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

25 and thou hast made it a holy anointing oil, a compound mixture, work of a compounder; it is a holy anointing oil.

26 `And thou hast anointed with it the tent of meeting, and the ark of the testimony,

27 and the table and all its vessels, and the candlestick and its vessels, and the altar of perfume,

28 and the altar of burnt-offering and all its vessels, and the laver and its base;

29 and thou hast sanctified them, and they have been most holy; all that is coming against them is holy;

30 and Aaron and his sons thou dost anoint, and hast sanctified them for being priests to Me.

31 `And unto the sons of Israel thou dost speak, saying, A holy anointing oil is this to Me, to your generations;

32 on flesh of man it is not poured, and with its proper proportion ye make none like it; it [is] holy; it is holy to you;

33 a man who compoundeth [any] like it, or who putteth of it on a stranger -- hath even been cut off from his people.'

34 And Jehovah saith unto Moses, `Take to thee spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, spices and pure frankincense; they are part for part;

35 and thou hast made it a perfume, a compound, work of a compounder, salted, pure, holy;

36 and thou hast beaten [some] of it small, and hast put of it before the testimony, in the tent of meeting, whither I am met with thee; most holy it is to you.

37 `As to the perfume which thou makest, with its proper proportion ye do not make to yourselves, holy it is to thee to Jehovah;

38 a man who maketh [any] like it -- to be refreshed by it -- hath even been cut off from his people.'

   

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Apocalypse Explained # 1150

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1150. And cinnamon and incense.- That these signify worship from celestial love, profaned, is evident from the signification of cinnamon, which denotes the good of celestial love, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of incense or perfume, which denotes the truth of celestial love, which truth is the good of wisdom, because it is from the good of celestial love.

Worship from celestial love is signified, because in this verse those things that belong to worship are enumerated, while those things that belong to doctrine are enumerated in the former verse. That those things that belong to worship are here signified, is evident from what follows, and it can also be seen from the enumeration of so many particulars; this would not have been done, but for the purpose of describing the profanation of every thing belonging to worship from first to last. There is this distinction between doctrine and worship, that doctrine teaches how God ought to be worshipped, and how man ought to live, in order that he may depart from hell, and draw near to heaven; but these things are accomplished by worship, for worship is oral as well as actual.

[2] The reason why cinnamon signifies celestial love, is that it is the most excellent of aromatics, and on this account the anointing oil of holiness was prepared from it together with other aromatics, as in Exodus (30:23, 24). The anointing oil of holiness signified the Divine Love, and the aromatics, which were noble myrrh, aromatic cinnamon, sweet cane and cassia, signified the Divine Wisdom, which, together with the oil of the olive, signified the Divine Wisdom united to the Divine Love of the Lord. The Divine Wisdom was signified by those aromatics, because odour signifies perception, and perception pertains to wisdom. As this was signified by the oil of anointing, therefore every thing serving for worship was sanctified thereby, as the altar, the tent of meeting, the ark with the propitiatory and cherubs, similarly Aaron's garments of holiness, and Aaron himself. It is therefore evident that cinnamon signifies celestial good, and that incense or perfumes signify those things that proceed from that good, all of which things have reference to truth, and truth in its own form is wisdom. This truth is called the good of wisdom, because it derives its essence from the good of celestial love. That worship from that love is profaned, is evident from what has been said previously concerning the profanation of all things of doctrine. And when every thing belonging to doctrine is profaned, then every thing belonging to worship is also profaned, for worship is from doctrine and according to doctrine.

[3] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- The fourth law of the Divine Providence is, That the understanding and will ought not to be in the least compelled by another, since all compulsion takes away freedom; but that man ought to compel himself, for to compel one's self is to act from freedom. Man's freedom belongs to his will; from the will it exists in the thought of the understanding, and by means of the thought it shows itself in the speech and in the action of the body. For a man says, when he wills any thing from freedom, "I choose to think this, I choose to speak this, and I choose to do this." From freedom of will he has also the power to think, speak, and act, for the will gives this power, because it is free. Since freedom belongs to man's will, it belongs also to his love, for nothing else in man constitutes freedom but the love which belongs to his will. The reason of this is, that love is the life of man; for man is of the same quality as his love, consequently that which proceeds from the love of his will, proceeds also from his life. Hence it is evident, that freedom belongs to man's will, to his love, and to his life, consequently that it makes one with his proprium, and with his nature and disposition.

[4] Now, because the Lord desires that everything which comes from Himself to man, should be appropriated to man as if it were his own - for otherwise there would be in man no means of reciprocation by which conjunction is effected - therefore it is a law of the Divine Providence, that the understanding and will of man should not be at all compelled by another. For who has not the power to think and will both evil and good? against the laws and in conformity with them? against the king and in agreement with him? even against God and in obedience to God? But he is not allowed to speak and do everything that he thinks and wills; for there are fears which compel externals, but not internals. The reason is, that externals must be reformed by internals, and not internals by externals; for the internal enters by influx into the external, but not the external into the internal. Internals also belong to man's spirit, and externals to his body; and because the spirit of man is to be reformed, therefore it is not compelled. There are fears that compel internals, or the spirit of man, but they are those only which enter by influx from the spiritual world, and refer on the one hand to the punishments of hell, and, on the other, to the loss of favour with God. But fear of the punishments of hell is an outward fear belonging to the thought and will, whereas the fear of the loss of favour with God is an inward fear belonging to these; it is that holy fear which adds and joins itself to love, and which at length forms one essence with it. It resembles the case of one man who loves another, whom, from his love towards him, he is fearful of injuring.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.