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Ezekiel 42

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1 And he bringeth me forth unto the outer court, the way northward, and he bringeth me in unto the chamber that [is] over-against the separate place, and that [is] over-against the building at the north.

2 At the front of the length [is] a hundred cubits [at] the north opening, and the breadth fifty cubits.

3 Over-against the twenty [cubits] that are to the inner court, and Over-against the pavement that [is] to the outer court, [is] gallery Over-against gallery, in the three [storeys].

4 And at the front of the chambers [is] a walk of ten cubits in breadth unto the inner part, a way of one cubit, and their openings [are] at the north.

5 And the upper chambers [are] short, for the galleries contain more than these, than the lower, and than the middle one, of the building;

6 for they [are] threefold, and they have no pillars as the pillars of the court, therefore it hath been kept back -- more than the lower and than the middle one -- from the ground.

7 As to the wall that [is] at the outside, over-against the chambers, the way of the outer-court at the front of the chambers, its length [is] fifty cubits;

8 for the length of the chambers that [are] to the outer court [is] fifty cubits, and of those on the front of the temple a hundred cubits.

9 And under these chambers [is] the entrance from the east, in one's going into them from the outer court.

10 In the breadth of the wall of the court eastward, unto the front of the separate place, and unto the front of the building, [are] chambers.

11 And the way before them [is] as the appearance of the chambers that [are] northward, according to their length so [is] their breadth, and all their outlets, and according to their fashions, and according to their openings.

12 And according to the openings of the chambers that [are] southward [is] an opening at the head of the way, the way directly in the front of the wall eastward in entering them.

13 And he saith unto me, `The north chambers, the south chambers, that [are] at the front of the separate place, they [are] holy chambers, where the priests (who [are] near to Jehovah) eat the most holy things, there they place the most holy things, and the present, and the sin-offering, and the guilt-offering, for the place [is] holy.

14 In the priests' going in, they come not out from the sanctuary unto the outer court, and there they place their garments with which they minister, for they [are] holy, and have put on other garments, and have drawn near unto that which [is] for the people.'

15 And he hath finished the measurements of the inner house, and hath brought me forth the way of the gate whose front [is] eastward, and he hath measured it all round about.

16 He hath measured the east side with the measuring-reed, five hundred reeds, with the measuring-reed round about.

17 He hath measured the north side, five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.

18 The south side he hath measured, five hundred reeds, with the measuring-reed.

19 He hath turned round unto the west side, he hath measured five hundred reeds with the measuring-reed.

20 At the four sides he hath measured it, a wall [is] to it all round about, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to separate between the holy and the profane place.

   

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Heaven and Hell # 197

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197. This is why places and spaces in the Word (and everything that involves space) mean matters that involve state - distances, for instance, and nearness and remoteness, paths, journeys, emigrations, miles, stadia, plains, fields, gardens, cities, streets, motion, various kinds of measurement, length, breadth, height, and depth, and countless other things - for so many things that enter our thought from our world derive something from space and time.

[2] I should like only to highlight what length, breadth, and height mean in the Word. In this world we call something long and broad if it is long and broad spatially, and the same holds true for "high." In heaven, though, where thinking does not involve space, people understand length as a state of good and breadth as a state of truth, while height is their difference in regard to level (discussed above in 38). The reason these three dimensions are understood in this way is that length in heaven is from east to west, which is where people live who are in the good of love. Breadth in heaven is from south to north, where people live who are in truth because of what is good (see above, 148); and height in heaven applies to both in regard to their level. This is why qualities of this sort are meant in the Word by length and breadth and height as in Ezekiel 40-48, where the measurements are given of the new temple and the new earth, with its courts, rooms, doors, gates, windows, and surroundings, referring to the new church and the good and true things that are in it. So too all the measurements elsewhere.

[3] The New Jerusalem is similarly described in Revelation, as follows:

The city was laid out foursquare, its length the same as its breadth; and [the angel] measured the city with the reed at twelve thousand stadia; the length and breadth and height were equal. (Revelation 21:16)

Here the New Jerusalem means a new church, so its measurements mean attributes of that church, length referring to the good of its love, breadth to the truth that derives from that good, and height to both the good and the true in respect to their level. Twelve thousand stadia means everything good and true taken together. Otherwise, what would be the point of having its height be twelve thousand stadia like its length and its breadth?

We can see in David that breadth in the Word means truth:

Jehovah, you have not left me in the grasp of my enemy's hand; you have made my feet stand in a broad place. (Psalms 31:8)

I called on Jah from my constraint; he answered me in a broad place. (Psalms 118:5)

There are other passages as well; for example, Isaiah 8:8 and Habakkuk 1:6. It also holds true elsewhere.

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