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Ezekiel 46

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1 `Thus said the Lord Jehovah: The gate of the inner court that is looking eastward is shut the six days of work, and on the day of rest it is opened, and in the day of the new moon it is opened;

2 and come in hath the prince the way of the porch of the gate at the outside, and he hath stood by the post of the gate, and the priests have made his burnt-offering, and his peace-offerings, and he hath bowed himself by the opening of the gate, and hath gone forth, and the gate is not shut till the evening.

3 And bowed themselves have the people of the land at the opening of that gate, on sabbaths, and on new moons, before Jehovah.

4 `And the burnt-offering that the prince bringeth near to Jehovah on the day of rest [is] six lambs, perfect ones, and a ram, a perfect one.

5 And the present [is] an ephah for a ram, and for the lambs a present, the gift of his hand, and of oil a hin for an ephah.

6 And on the day of the new moon a bullock, a son of the herd, a perfect one, and six lambs and a ram, they are perfect.

7 And with an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, he prepareth a present, and for the lambs as his hand attaineth, and of oil a hin for an ephah.

8 `And in the coming in of the prince, the way of the porch of the gate he cometh in, and by its way he goeth out.

9 And in the coming in of the people of the land before Jehovah at appointed times, he who hath come in the way of the north gate to bow himself, goeth out the way of the south gate, and he who hath come in the way of the south gate, goeth out by the way of the north gate: he doth not turn back the way of the gate by which he came in, but over-against it he goeth out.

10 And the prince in their midst in their coming in cometh in, and in their going out he goeth out.

11 `And in feasts, and in appointed times, the present is an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and for lambs the gift of his hand, and of oil a hin for an ephah.

12 And when the prince maketh a free-will burnt-offering, or free-will peace-offerings, to Jehovah, then he hath opened for himself the gate that is looking eastward, and he hath made his burnt-offering and his peace-offerings as he doth in the day of rest, and he hath gone out, and he hath shut the gate after his going out.

13 `And a lamb, son of a year, a perfect one, thou dost make a burnt-offering daily to Jehovah; morning by morning thou dost make it.

14 And a present thou dost make for it morning by morning, a sixth part of the ephah, and of oil a third part of the hin, to temper with the fine flour, a present to Jehovah, by a statute age-during -- continually;

15 and prepare ye the lamb, and the present, and the oil, morning by morning, a continual burnt-offering.

16 `Thus said the Lord Jehovah: When the prince giveth a gift to any of his sons, his inheritance it [is], to his sons it [is]; their possession it [is] by inheritance.

17 And when he giveth a gift out of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it hath been to him till the year of freedom, and it hath turned back to the prince, only the inheritance of his sons is theirs.

18 And the prince doth not take of the inheritance of the people to oppress them, out of their possession, out of his own possession he doth cause his sons to inherit, so that My people are not scattered each from his possession.'

19 And he bringeth me in through the entrance that [is] by the side of the gate, unto the holy chambers, unto the priests, that are looking northward, and lo, there [is] a place in their two sides westward.

20 And he saith unto me, `This [is] the place where the priests do boil the guilt-offering and the sin-offering, where they bake the present, so as not to bring [it] out unto the outer court, to sanctify the people.'

21 And he bringeth me out unto the outer court, and causeth me to pass over unto the four corners of the court, and lo, a court in a corner of the court, a court in a corner of the corner.

22 In the four corners of the court [are] perfume courts, forty long, and thirty broad, one measure [is] to the four corners.

23 And a row [is] round about in them, round about to them four, and made with boilers under the rows round about.

24 And he saith unto me, `These [are] the houses of those boiling where the ministrants of the house boil the sacrifice of the people.'

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 861

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861. 20:9 And they went up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. This symbolically means that, being roused up by followers of the dragon, these people scorned every truth in the church and attempted to destroy everything connected with the New Church and its fundamental doctrine regarding the Lord and life.

To go up over the breadth of the earth means, symbolically, to scorn every truth in the church, because going up over symbolically means to transcend and bypass, thus to scorn. And the breadth of the earth symbolizes the truth in the church, as will be seen below. To surround the camp of the saints means, symbolically, to besiege and try to destroy everything connected with the New Church, as will be seen in the number following next. And the beloved city symbolizes the doctrine of the New Church. That a city symbolizes a church's doctrine may be seen in nos. 194, 501, 502, 712 above. The city is called beloved because its doctrine teaches about the Lord and how to live, as it is the doctrine of the New Jerusalem that is meant here.

That this is the symbolic meaning of these words, no one can see except as a consequence of the Word's spiritual sense. For it cannot possibly enter a person's thought that the breadth of the earth symbolizes the truth in a church, that the camp of the saints symbolizes everything connected with the New Church, both its truths and its goods, and that the city symbolizes its doctrine. Lest the mind remain in a state of doubt, therefore, we must demonstrate what breadth and the camp of the saints symbolize in the spiritual sense, which will make it possible for one to see afterward that the meaning of these words is as we have said.

[2] The breadth of the earth symbolizes the truth in a church because the spiritual world has in it four zones - eastern, western, southern and northern - and the eastern and western zones form its longitude or length, while the southern and northern zones form its latitude or breadth. Moreover, because the inhabitants in the eastern and western zones are ones impelled by the goodness of love, and therefore the east and west symbolize goodness, so likewise does longitude or length. And because the inhabitants in the southern and northern zones are ones impelled by truths of wisdom, and therefore the south and north symbolize truth, so likewise does latitude or breadth. But for more on this subject, see the book Heaven and Hell (London, 1758), nos. 141-153.

That breadth symbolizes truth can be seen from the following passages in the Word:

You (Jehovah) have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in the broad place. (Psalms 31:8)

Out of distress I called on Yah; He answered me in the broad place. (Psalms 118:5)

(Jehovah) led me out into the broad place; He delivered me... (Psalms 18:19)

...I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and impetuous nation which marches into the breadths of the earth... (Habakkuk 1:6)

(The Assyrian) will pass through Judah, He will overflow and pass over..., and the spreading of his wings will fill the breadth... (Isaiah 8:8)

...Jehovah will pasture them like a lamb in broad pasture. (Hosea 4:16)

And so on elsewhere, as in Psalms 4:1; 66:12, Deuteronomy 33:20.

[3] Nothing else is meant by the breadth of the city New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:16). For since the New Jerusalem means the New Church, its breadth and length cannot symbolically mean its breadth and length, but its truth and goodness. These, indeed, are the measures of a church.

So also in Zechariah:

I said (to the angel), "Where are you going?" He said..., "To measure Jerusalem, to see how great its width is and how great its length." (Zechariah 2:2)

So likewise the breadth and length of the new temple and new earth in Ezekiel, chapters 40-47.

So, too, the length and breadth of the altar of burnt offering, of the Tabernacle, of the table of showbread, of the altar of incense, and of the ark within. So also the length and breadth of the temple in Jerusalem, and of many other things whose dimensions are given.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.