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Exodus 38

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1 And he maketh the altar of burnt-offering of shittim wood, five cubits its length, and five cubits its breadth (square), and three cubits its height;

2 and he maketh its horns on its four corners; its horns have been of the same; and he overlayeth it with brass;

3 and he maketh all the vessels of the altar, the pots, and the shovels, and the sprinkling-pans, the forks, and the fire-pans; all its vessels he hath made of brass.

4 And he maketh for the altar a brazen grate of net-work, under its border beneath, unto its midst;

5 and he casteth four rings for the four ends of the brazen grate -- places for bars;

6 and he maketh the staves of shittim wood, and overlayeth them with brass;

7 and he bringeth in the staves into the rings on the sides of the altar, to bear it with them; hollow [with] boards he made it.

8 And he maketh the laver of brass, and its base of brass, with the looking-glasses of the women assembling, who have assembled at the opening of the tent of meeting.

9 And he maketh the court; at the south side southward, the hangings of the court of twined linen, a hundred by the cubit,

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

11 and at the north side, a hundred by the cubit, their pillars [are] twenty, and their sockets of brass twenty; the pegs of the pillars and their fillets [are] silver;

12 and at the west side [are] hangings, fifty by the cubit; their pillars [are] ten, and their sockets ten; the pegs of the pillars and their fillets [are] silver;

13 and at the east side eastward fifty cubits.

14 The hangings on the side [are] fifteen cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three,

15 and at the second side at the gate of the court, on this and on that, [are] hangings, fifteen cubits, their pillars three, and their sockets three;

16 all the hangings of the court round about [are] of twined linen,

17 and the sockets for the pillars of brass, the pegs of the pillars and their fillets of silver, and the overlaying of their tops of silver, and all the pillars of the court are filleted with silver.

18 And the covering of the gate of the court [is] the work of an embroiderer, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined linen; and twenty cubits [is] the length, and the height with the breadth five cubits, over-against the hangings of the court;

19 and their pillars [are] four, and their sockets of brass four, their pegs [are] of silver, and the overlaying of their tops and their fillets [are] of silver;

20 and all the pins for the tabernacle, and for the court round about, [are] of brass.

21 These are the numberings of the tabernacle (the tabernacle of testimony), which hath been numbered by the command of Moses, the service of the Levites, by the hand of Ithamar son of Aaron the priest.

22 And Bezaleel son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, hath made all that Jehovah commanded Moses;

23 and with him [is] Aholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and designer, and embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and in linen.

24 All the gold which is prepared for the work in all the work of the sanctuary (and it is the gold of the wave-offering) [is] twenty and nine talents, and seven hundred and thirty shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary.

25 And the silver of those numbered of the company [is] a hundred talents, and a thousand and seven hundred and five and seventy shekels, by the shekel of the sanctuary;

26 a bekah for a poll (half a shekel, by the shekel of the sanctuary,) for every one who is passing over unto those numbered, from a son of twenty years and upwards, for six hundred thousand, and three thousand, and five hundred and fifty.

27 And a hundred talents of silver are to cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the vail; a hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket;

28 and the thousand and seven hundred and five and seventy he hath made pegs for the pillars, and overlaid their tops, and filleted them.

29 And the brass of the wave-offering [is] seventy talents, and two thousand and four hundred shekels;

30 and he maketh with it the sockets of the opening of the tent of meeting, and the brazen altar, and the brazen grate which it hath, and all the vessels of the altar,

31 and the sockets of the court round about, and the sockets of the gate of the court, and all the pins of the tabernacle, and all the pins of the court round about.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 9688

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9688. 'The work of an embroiderer' means things that belong to factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'the work of an embroiderer', or embroidery, as factual knowledge. A large number of places in the Word speak of that which has been embroidered and of embroidery, and in every case factual knowledge is meant by it. The reason for this goes back to representatives in the next life; there garments embroidered in various ways are seen, and by these garments truths on the level of factual knowledge are meant.

[2] Truths on the level of factual knowledge differ from those on the level of the understanding in the same way as outward things differ from inward ones, or as the natural level with a person differs from the spiritual. Facts serve the understanding as objects from which it may deduce truths; for the power of understanding is the internal or spiritual man's power of sight, and known facts are its objects in the external or natural man. These facts are meant by 'the work of an embroiderer' whereas that power of understanding is meant by 'the work of a designer', 9598, for designing is a function of the understanding, and embroidering a function of the knowledge and skill employed by the understanding. This explains why the objects within the dwelling-place, which were signs meaning inner realities, were the work of a designer, such as the curtains that formed it, verse 1, and the veil between the holy place and the holy of holies, verse 31. But the objects which were signs meaning outer realities were the work of an embroiderer, such as the screen in place of a tent door, and the screen in place of a gate of the court, Exodus 38:18, and also the girdle, Exodus 39:29, 'the girdle' being what is external linking everything internal, 'the court' being the lowest part of heaven, and 'the tent door' the place where there is an exit from the middle heaven into the lowest.

[3] The fact that 'embroidery' and that which has been 'embroidered' mean factual knowledge belonging to the external or natural man is clear from the following places in the Word: In Ezekiel,

Fine linen with embroidery from Egypt was your sail; violet and purple from the islands of Elishah was your covering. Syria was your merchant by reason of the multitude of your handiworks; [they exchanged for your wares] chrysoprase and purple, and embroidered work, and fine linen. The merchants of Sheba [came] with balls of violet and with embroidered work. Ezekiel 27:7, 16, 24.

This refers to Tyre, by which those in possession of cognitions or knowledge of truth and good are meant, and in the abstract sense those cognitions themselves, 1201. 'Fine linen with embroidery' means truth on the level of factual knowledge, for 'fine linen' means truth from a celestial origin, 5319, 9469, and 'embroidery' is factual knowledge. This also is the reason why it says that it came from Egypt - for 'Egypt' means factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 2588, 4749, 4964, 4966, 5700, 5702, 6004, 6015, 6125, 6651, 6679, 6683, 6692, 6750, 7779 (end), 9391 - and also from Syria and from Sheba, since cognitions of truth and good are meant by 'Syria', 1232, 1234, 3051, 3249, 3664, 3680, 4112, and in like manner by 'Sheba', 1171, 3240. Cognitions of truth and good constitute the Church's factual knowledge. Anybody endowed with the ability to think intelligently and weigh things up can see that in these verses from Ezekiel one should not understand embroidery, fine linen, violet, or purple, but that these commodities mean things such as are worthy of mention in the Word, namely spiritual realities that belong to heaven and the Church.

[4] In the same prophet,

All the princes of the sea will step down from upon their thrones, and will cast away their robes and will strip off their embroidered garments. They will clothe themselves with tremblings. Ezekiel 26:16.

This too refers to Tyre. 'The princes of the sea' are the first and foremost known facts, which are called dogmas, 'princes' meaning things which are first and foremost, see 1482, 2089, 5044, and 'the sea' factual knowledge in general 28, 2850. 'Robes' are external truths, 'embroidered' are truths on the level of factual knowledge, which too are external ones. For the meaning of 'garments' as truths, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6917, 6918, 9093, 9158, 9212, 9216.

[5] In the same prophet,

I clothed you with embroidered cloth, and shod you with badger; I swathed you in fine linen and covered you with silk. Thus were you adorned with gold and silver; and your garments were fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth. But you took your embroidered garments and covered the images, with which you committed whoredom. 1 Ezekiel 16:10, 13, 18.

This refers to Jerusalem, by which the Church is meant. 'Embroidered garments' stands for truths on the level of factual knowledge. 'Covering the images, with which she committed whoredom' stands for giving strength to falsities, for 'committing whoredom' means perverting truths by bringing them into contact with falsities or with evils. Is there anyone who cannot see that since these verses describe Jerusalem 'fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth' are not used to mean fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth? Yet what they really mean the Christian world does not seek to know, because it supposes that heavenly and spiritual matters in the Word reside in its literal sense; the more internal contents of the Word it calls mystical, but has no interest in them.

[6] In the same prophet,

A great eagle with great wings, with long pinions, full of feathers, 2 which had embroidery ... Ezekiel 17:3.

This refers to the house of Israel, which means the spiritual Church; and this Church is called 'an eagle' by virtue of its perception of truth, 3901, 8764, 'which had embroidery' standing for its possession of factual knowledge. In David,

All glorious is the king's daughter within, in her clothing with gold interweavings; in an embroidered [robe] she will be led to the king. Psalms 45:13-14.

'The king's daughter' stands for an affection for truth, 'an embroidered [robe]' for factual knowledge of truth. In the Book of Judges,

Will they not divide the spoil, ... the spoil of colours for Sisera, the spoil of colours of embroidered work, embroiderers' colour - on the necks of the spoil? 3 Judges 5:30.

In this verse, which is part of the Song of Deborah and Barak, 'embroidered [work]' stands for factual knowledge belonging to the natural man.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. Here verse 18 of Ezekiel 16 has become confused with the preceding verse 17.

2. literally, A great eagle, great with wings, long with pinions, and full with feathers,

3. The meaning in the Hebrew of this verse is very obscure. The Latin rendering by Sebastian Schmidt, which Swedenborg relies on here, is literal and equally difficult to make sense of.

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