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Exodus 40

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1 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

2 `On the first day of the month, in the first month, thou dost raise up the tabernacle of the tent of meeting,

3 and hast set there the ark of the testimony, and hast covered over the ark with the vail,

4 and hast brought in the table, and set its arrangement in order, and hast brought in the candlestick, and caused its lamps to go up.

5 `And thou hast put the golden altar for perfume before the ark of the testimony, and hast put the covering of the opening to the tabernacle,

6 and hast put the altar of the burnt-offering before the opening of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting,

7 and hast put the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and hast put water there.

8 `And thou hast set the court round about, and hast placed the covering of the gate of the court,

9 and hast taken the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle, and all that [is] in it, and hallowed it, and all its vessels, and it hath been holy;

10 and thou hast anointed the altar of the burnt-offering, and all its vessels, and sanctified the altar, and the altar hath been most holy;

11 and thou hast anointed the laver and its base, and sanctified it.

12 `And thou hast brought near Aaron and his sons unto the opening of the tent of meeting, and hast bathed them with water;

13 and thou hast clothed Aaron with the holy garments, and anointed him, and sanctified him, and he hath acted as priest to Me.

14 `And his sons thou dost bring near, and hast clothed them with coats,

15 and anointed them as thou hast anointed their father, and they have acted as priests to Me, and their anointing hath been to be to them for a priesthood age-during, to their generations.'

16 And Moses doth according to all that Jehovah hath commanded him; so he hath done.

17 And it cometh to pass, in the first month, in the second year, in the first of the month, the tabernacle hath been raised up;

18 and Moses raiseth up the tabernacle, and setteth its sockets, and placeth its boards, and placeth its bars, and raiseth its pillars,

19 and spreadeth the tent over the tabernacle, and putteth the covering of the tent upon it above, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

20 And he taketh and putteth the testimony unto the ark, and setteth the staves on the ark, and putteth the mercy-seat on the ark above;

21 and bringeth in the ark unto the tabernacle, and placeth the vail of the covering, and covereth over the ark of the testimony, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

22 And he putteth the table in the tent of meeting, on the side of the tabernacle northward, at the outside of the vail,

23 and setteth in order upon it the arrangement of bread, before Jehovah, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

24 And he putteth the candlestick in the tent of meeting, over-against the table, on the side of the tabernacle southward,

25 and causeth the lamps to go up before Jehovah, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

26 And he setteth the golden altar in the tent of meeting, before the vail,

27 and maketh perfume on it -- spice-perfume -- as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

28 And he setteth the covering of the opening to the tabernacle,

29 and the altar of the burnt-offering he hath set at the opening of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting, and causeth the burnt-offering to go up upon it, and the present, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

30 And he putteth the laver between the tent of meeting and the altar, and putteth water there for washing,

31 and Moses and Aaron and his sons have washed their hands and their feet at the same;

32 in their going in unto the tent of meeting, and in their drawing near unto the altar, they wash, as Jehovah hath commanded Moses.

33 And he raiseth up the court round about the tabernacle, and about the altar, and placeth the covering of the gate of the court; and Moses completeth the work.

34 And the cloud covereth the tent of meeting, and the honour of Jehovah hath filled the tabernacle;

35 and Moses hath not been able to go in unto the tent of meeting, for the cloud hath tabernacled on it, and the honour of Jehovah hath filled the tabernacle.

36 And in the going up of the cloud from off the tabernacle the sons of Israel journey in all their journeys;

37 and if the cloud go not up then they journey not, until the day of its going up:

38 for the cloud of Jehovah [is] on the tabernacle by day, and fire is in it by night, before the eyes of all the house of Israel in all their journeys.

   

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Arcana Coelestia # 2165

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2165. I will take a piece of bread. That this signifies something celestial adjoined, is evident from the signification of “bread,” as being what is celestial (explained before, n. 276, 680-681, 1798). That “bread” signifies what is celestial, is because “bread” means all food in general, and thus in the internal sense all celestial food. What celestial food is, has been stated in Part First (n. 56-58, 680-681, 1480, 1695). That “bread” means all food in general, is evident from the following passages of the Word. We read of Joseph that:

He said to him who was over his house, that he should bring the men-his brethren-home, and should slay what was to be slain, and should make ready; and afterwards, when they had made ready, and were to eat, he said, Set on bread (Genesis 43:16, 31);

meaning that they should make ready the table; “bread” thus denoting all kinds of food. We read concerning Jethro that,

Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God (Exodus 18:12),

where also “bread” denotes all kinds of food. Concerning Manoah, in the Book of Judges:

Manoah said unto the Angel of Jehovah, Let us I pray detain thee, and let us make ready before thee a kid of the goats. And the Angel of Jehovah said unto Manoah, Though thou detain me, I will not eat of thy bread (Judg. 13:15-16),

where “bread” denotes a kid of the goats. When Jonathan ate of the honeycomb, they told him that Saul had adjured the people, saying:

Cursed be the man that shall eat bread this day (1 Samuel 14:27-28),

where “bread” denotes all food. Again, concerning Saul:

When Saul sat down to eat bread, he said unto Jonathan, Wherefore cometh not the son of Jesse to bread either yesterday or today? (1 Samuel 20:24, 27),

meaning to the table, where were all kinds of food. We read concerning David that he said to Mephibosheth the son of Jonathan:

Thou shalt eat bread on my table continually (2 Samuel 9:7, 10).

So too concerning Evil-merodach, who said that,

Jehoiachin king of Judah should eat bread before him continually, all the days of his life (2 Kings 25:29).

Concerning Solomon also:

Solomon’s bread for each day was thirty cors of fine flour, and sixty cors of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen of the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides the hart and the wild she-goat, and the antelope, and fatted fowl (1 Kings 4:22-23),

where “bread” plainly denotes all of these things.

[2] Now as “bread” means all kinds of food in general, it therefore signifies in the internal sense all those things which are called celestial foods, as may be still more evident from the burnt-offerings and sacrifices that were made of lambs, sheep, she-goats, kids, he-goats, heifers, and oxen, which were called in one word the “bread of the offering made by fire unto Jehovah,” as is clearly evident from the following passages in Moses, where the various sacrifices are treated of, of which it is said that,

The priest should burn them upon the altar, the bread of the offering made by fire unto Jehovah, for an odor of rest (Leviticus 3:11, 16),

all those sacrifices and burnt-offerings being so called. Again:

The sons of Aaron shall be holy unto their God, neither shall they profane the name of their God; because the offerings to Jehovah made by fire, the bread of their God, they do offer. Thou shalt sanctify him, because he offereth the bread of thy God. A man of the seed of Aaron in whom there shall be a blemish, shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God (Leviticus 21:6, 8, 17, 21),

where also sacrifices and burnt-offerings are the “bread.” The same is true of Leviticus 22:25. Again:

Command the sons of Israel, and say unto them, My oblation, My bread for offerings made by fire, of an odor of rest, shall ye observe, to offer unto Me at their appointed time (Numbers 28:2).

Here also “bread” denotes all the sacrifices which are there enumerated.

In Malachi:

Offering polluted bread upon Mine altar (Malachi 1:7),

where also the sacrifices are spoken of. The hallowed things of the sacrifices, which they ate, were also called “bread,” as is evident from these words in Moses:

He that toucheth an unclean thing shall not eat of the hallowed things, but he shall wash his flesh in water, and when the sun is down, he shall be clean; and afterwards he shall eat of the hallowed things, because this is his bread (Leviticus 22:6-7).

[3] The burnt-offerings and sacrifices in the Jewish Church represented nothing else than the celestial things of the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, and of the Lord’s kingdom on earth (that is, in the church), also of the Lord’s kingdom or church with each person, and in general all those things which are of love and charity, for these are things celestial; and each kind of sacrifice represented something special and peculiar. All these were at that time called BREAD, and therefore when sacrifices were abolished, and other things succeeded in their place for external worship, it was commanded that bread and wine should be made use of.

[4] From all this we may now see what the “bread” [in the Holy Supper] signifies, namely, all the things represented by the sacrifices, thus in the internal sense the Lord Himself. And because the “bread” signifies the Lord Himself, it signifies love itself toward the universal human race, and what belongs to love; as also man’s reciprocal love to the Lord and toward the neighbor. The “bread” thus signifies all celestial things, and in the same way the “wine” signifies all spiritual things, as the Lord also teaches in plain words in John. They said,

Our fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but My Father giveth you the true bread from heaven; for the bread of God is He that cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. They said unto Him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life; he that cometh to Me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on Me shall never thirst (John 6:31-35).

Verily I say unto you, he that believeth on Me hath eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers did eat the manna in the wilderness, and are dead; this is the bread that cometh down from heaven, that one may eat thereof and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eat of this bread, he shall live to eternity (John 6:47-51).

[5] Now because the “bread” is the Lord, it belongs to the celestial things which are of love, which are the Lord’s; for the Lord is the celestial itself, because He is love itself, that is, mercy itself; and because this is so, “bread” means all the celestial, that is, all the love and charity with man, for these are from the Lord; and therefore they who are not in love and charity have not the Lord with them, and thus are not gifted with the good and happy things that in the internal sense are signified by “bread.” This outward symbol was commanded because the greatest part of the human race are in external worship, and therefore without some outward symbol there would be scarcely anything holy with them. And therefore when they live in love to the Lord and in charity toward the neighbor, they nevertheless have appertaining to them what is internal, although they do not know that this love and charity is the veriest internal of worship. Thus in their external worship they are confirmed in the goods which are signified by the “bread.”

[6] In the Prophets also the celestial things of love are signified by “bread” (as in Isaiah 3:1, 7; 30:23; 33:15-16; 55:2; 58:7-8; Lam. 5:9; Ezekiel 4:16-17; 5:16; 14:13; Amos 4:6; 8:11; Psalms 105:16), in like manner by the “bread of faces” upon the table (mentioned Leviticus 24:5-9; Exodus 25:30; 40:23; Numbers 4:7; 1 Kings 7:48).

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