Bible

 

Exodus 35

Studie

   

1 And Moses assembleth all the company of the sons of Israel, and saith unto them, `These [are] the things which Jehovah hath commanded -- to do them:

2 Six days is work done, and on the seventh day there is to you a holy [day], a sabbath of rest to Jehovah; any who doeth work in it is put to death;

3 ye do not burn a fire in any of your dwellings on the sabbath-day.'

4 And Moses speaketh unto all the company of the sons of Israel, saying, `This [is] the thing which Jehovah hath commanded, saying,

5 Take ye from among you a heave-offering to Jehovah; every one whose heart [is] willing doth bring it, -- the heave-offering of Jehovah, -- gold, and silver, and brass,

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

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

8 and oil for the light, and spices for the anointing oil, and for the spice perfume,

9 and shoham stones, and stones for settings, for an ephod, and for a breastplate.

10 `And all the wise-hearted among you come in, and make all that Jehovah hath commanded:

11 `The tabernacle, its tent, and its covering, its hooks, and its boards, its bars, its pillars, and its sockets,

12 `The ark and its staves, the mercy-seat, and the vail of the covering,

13 `The table and its staves, and all its vessels, and the bread of the presence,

14 `And the candlestick for the light, and its vessels, and its lamps, and the oil for the light,

15 `And the altar of perfume, and its staves, and the anointing oil, and the spice perfume, and the covering of the opening at the opening of the tabernacle,

16 `The altar of burnt-offering and the brazen grate which it hath, its staves, and all its vessels, the laver and its base,

17 `The hangings of the court, its pillars, and their sockets, and the covering of the gate of the court,

18 `The pins of the tabernacle, and the pins of the court, and their cords,

19 `The coloured garments, to do service in the sanctuary, the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the garments of his sons to act as priest in.'

20 And all the company of the sons of Israel go out from the presence of Moses,

21 and they come in -- every man whom his heart hath lifted up, and every one whom his spirit hath made willing -- they have brought in the heave-offering of Jehovah for the work of the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments.

22 And they come in -- the men with the women -- every willing-hearted one -- they have brought in nose-ring, and ear-ring, and seal-ring, and necklace, all golden goods, even every one who hath waved a wave-offering of gold to Jehovah.

23 And every man with whom hath been found blue, and purple, and scarlet, and linen, and goats' [hair], and rams' skins made red, and badgers' skins, have brought [them] in;

24 every one lifting up a heave-offering of silver and brass have brought in the heave-offering of Jehovah; and every one with whom hath been found shittim wood for any work of the service brought [it] in.

25 And every wise-hearted woman hath spun with her hands, and they bring in yarn, the blue, and the purple, the scarlet, and the linen;

26 and all the women whose heart hath lifted them up in wisdom, have spun the goats' [hair].

27 And the princes have brought in the shoham stones, and the stones for settings, for the ephod, and for the breastplate,

28 and the spices, and the oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the spice perfume;

29 every man and woman (whom their heart hath made willing to bring in for all the work which Jehovah commanded to be done by the hand of Moses) [of] the sons of Israel brought in a willing-offering to Jehovah.

30 And Moses saith unto the sons of Israel, `See, Jehovah hath called by name Bezaleel, son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,

31 and He doth fill him [with] the Spirit of God, in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all work,

32 even to devise devices to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass,

33 and in graving of stones for settings, and in graving of wood to work in any work of design.

34 `And to direct He hath put in his heart, he and Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan;

35 He hath filled them with wisdom of heart to do every work, of engraver, and designer, and embroiderer (in blue, and in purple, in scarlet, and in linen), and weaver, who do any work, and of designers of designs.

   

Ze Swedenborgových děl

 

Arcana Coelestia # 3519

Prostudujte si tuto pasáž

  
/ 10837  
  

3519. 'And take for me from there two good kids of the she-goats' means truths born from that good. This is clear from the meaning of 'kids of the she-goats' as truths born from good, dealt with below. The reason for having 'two' was that as in the rational so in the natural there are things of the will and those of the understanding. Things in the natural that belong to the will are delights, while those that belong to the understanding are facts. These two have to be joined together if they are to be anything at all.

[2] As regards 'kids of the she-goats' meaning truths born from good, this becomes clear from those places in the Word where kids and she-goats are mentioned. It should be recognized that all gentle and useful beasts mentioned in the Word mean in the genuine sense celestial things, which are forms of good, and spiritual things, which are forms of truth, see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776, 2179, 2180, 2781, 3218. And since there are various genera of celestial things or forms of good, and consequently there are various genera of spiritual things or forms of truth, one beast has a different meaning from another; that is to say, a lamb has one meaning, a kid another, and a sheep, she-goat, ram, he-goat, young bull, or ox another, while a horse or a camel has yet another meaning. Birds have a different meaning again, as also do beasts of the sea, such as sea monsters, and fish. The genera of celestial and spiritual things, and consequently of forms of good and truth, are more than anyone can number, even though when that which is celestial or good is mentioned, and also when that which is spiritual or truth, this is not envisaged as being anything complex, consisting of many parts, but as a single entity. Yet how complex both of these are, that is, how countless the genera are of which they consist, may be seen from what has been stated about heaven in 3241, to the effect that it is distinguished into countless separate communities, according to the genera of celestial and spiritual things, that is, of goods of love and of derivative truths of faith. Furthermore each genus of good and each genus of truth has countless species into which the communities of each genus are separated. And each species in a similar way has separate sub-species.

[3] The commonest genera of good and truth are what the living creatures offered as burnt offerings and sacrifices represented. And because the genera are quite distinct and separate, people were explicitly commanded to use those living creatures and no others, that is to say, in some sacrifices lambs and ewe-lambs, and also kids and female kids of she-goats were to be used, in other sacrifices rams and sheep, and also he-goats, were to be used, while in other sacrifices again, calves, young bulls, and oxen, or else pigeons and doves, were to be used, see 992, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3218. What kids and she-goats meant however becomes clear both from the sacrifices in which they used to be offered and from other places in the Word. These show that lambs and ewe-lambs meant innocence belonging to the internal or rational man, and kids and she-goats innocence belonging to the external or natural man, and so the truth and the good of the latter.

[4] The fact that truth and good present in the innocence that belongs to the external or natural man is meant by a kid and a she-goat is clear from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,

The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, the calf also and the young lion and the sheep together; and a little child will lead them. Isaiah 11:6.

This refers to the Lord's kingdom and to the state there in which people have no fear of evil, that is, no dread of hell, because they are with the Lord. 'The lamb' and 'the kid' stand for people who have innocence within them, and who, being the most secure of all, are mentioned first.

[5] When all the firstborn of Egypt were smitten the people were commanded to kill from among the lambs or among the kids a male without blemish, and to put some of the blood on the doorposts and on the lintel of their houses; and so the destroyer would not strike them with the plague, Exodus 12:5, 7, 13. 'The firstborn of Egypt' means the good of love and charity that was wiped out, 3325. 'The lambs' and 'the kids' are states of innocence, in which those with whom these exist are secure from evil. Indeed all in heaven are kept secure by the Lord through states of innocence. That security was represented by the killing of the lamb or kid, and putting the blood on the doorposts and on the lintel of the houses. .

[6] To avert his own death when a person saw Jehovah manifested as an angel he would sacrifice 'a kid of the she-goats', as Gideon did when he saw Him, Judges 6:19, and also Manoah, Judges 13:15-16, 19. The reason they offered a kid was that Jehovah or the Lord cannot appear to anybody, not even to an angel, unless the one to whom He appears is in a state of innocence. Therefore as soon as the Lord is present people are brought into a state of innocence, for the Lord enters in by way of innocence, even with angels in heaven. Consequently no one is able to enter heaven unless he has a measure of innocence, according to the Lord's words recorded in Matthew 18:3; Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17. Regarding people's belief that they would die when Jehovah appeared to them if they did not offer such a burnt offering, see Judges 13:22-23.

[7] Since genuine conjugial love is innocence itself, 2736, it was customary in the representative Church for a man to go to his wife with the gift of a kid of the she-goats, as one reads of Samson in Judges 15:1, and also of Judah when he visited Tamar, Genesis 38:17, 20, 23. The fact that 'a kid' and 'a she-goat' meant innocence is also evident from the sacrifices made as guilt offerings that a person would offer if he had sinned through error, Leviticus 1:10; 4:28; 5:6. Sinning through error is sinning through ignorance that has innocence within it. The same is evident from the following Divine command in Moses,

You shall bring the first of the firstfruits of your land to the house of Jehovah your God. You shall not boil a kid in its mother's milk. Exodus 23:19; 34:26.

Here the requirement 'to bring the firstfruits of the land to the house of Jehovah' means the state of innocence which exists in early childhood; and 'not boiling a kid in its mother's milk' means that they were not to destroy the innocence of early childhood. This being their meaning, the one command, in both places referred to, follows directly after the other. In the literal sense there seems to be no connection at all between them as there is in the internal sense.

[8] Because kids and she-goats, as has been stated, meant innocence it was also required that the curtains over the tabernacle should be made from she-goat hair, Exodus 25:4; 26:7; 35:5-6, 23, 26; 36:14, as a sign that all the holy things represented in it depended for their very being on innocence. 'She-goat hair' means the last or outermost degree of innocence present in ignorance, such as exists with gentiles who in the internal sense are meant by the curtains of the tabernacle. These considerations now show what truths born of good are, and what the nature of these is, meant by the two good kids of the she-goats which Rebekah his mother spoke about to Jacob. That is to say, they are truths belonging to innocence or early childhood, meant also by the things which Esau was to bring to Isaac his father, dealt with in 3501, 3508. They were not in fact such truths, but initially they appeared to be. Thus it was that Jacob pretended by means of them to be Esau.

  
/ 10837  
  

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