Arcana Coelestia #8934
8934. Verses 24-26 An altar of soil 1 you shall make for Me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your eucharistic offerings, your flocks and your herds; in every place where I shall put the memory of My name I will come to you and bless you. And if you make for Me an altar of stones, you shall not build it with hewn ones; for if you move your chisel over it you will profane it. And you shall not go up to My altar by steps, in order that your nakedness may not be revealed on it.
'An altar of soil you shall make for Me' means something which in a general way represents worship that springs from good. 'And shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your eucharistic offerings' means worship in particular according to each person's state of spiritual life. 'Your flocks and your herds' means forms of good, internal and external. 'In every place where I shall put the memory of My name' means the state of faith in the Lord with each individual person. 'I will come to you and bless you' means God's presence at that time, and influx. 'And if you make for Me an altar of stones' means a representative kind of worship in general that is composed of truths. 'You shall not build it with hewn ones' means that it must not be a product of self-intelligence. 'For if you move your chisel over it' means if a product of the proprium or self. 'You will profane it' means that no worship in that case exists. 'And you shall not go up to My altar by steps' means not raising themselves to more internal levels, that is, celestial ones. 'In order that your nakedness may not be revealed on it' means the mental picture of those things, which in that event is full of falsities, will then be disclosed.
Fußnoten:
1. literally, the ground (humus)
Exodus 20
1
God spoke all these words, saying,
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"I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
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"You shall have no other gods before me.
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"You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:
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you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Yahweh your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me,
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and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
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"You shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain, for Yahweh will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
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"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
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You shall labor six days, and do all your work,
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but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates;
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for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.
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"Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
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"You shall not murder.
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"You shall not commit adultery.
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"You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
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"You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's."
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All the people perceived the thunderings, the lightnings, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled, and stayed at a distance.
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They said to Moses, "Speak with us yourself, and we will listen; but don't let God Speak with us, lest we die."
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Moses said to the people, "Don't be afraid, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, that you won't sin."
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The people stayed at a distance, and Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
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Yahweh said to Moses, "This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: 'You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
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You shall most certainly not make alongside of me gods of silver, or gods of gold for yourselves.
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You shall make an altar of earth for me, and shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings, your sheep and your cattle. In every place where I record my name I will come to you and I will bless you.
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If you make me an altar of stone, you shall not build it of cut stones; for if you lift up your tool on it, you have polluted it.
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Neither shall you go up by steps to my altar, that your nakedness may not be exposed to it.'
