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Exodus 36

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1 "Bezalel and Oholiab shall work with every wise-hearted man, in whom Yahweh has put wisdom and understanding to know how to work all the work for the service of the sanctuary, according to all that Yahweh has commanded."

2 Moses called Bezalel and Oholiab, and every wise-hearted man, in whose heart Yahweh had put wisdom, even everyone whose heart stirred him up to come to the work to do it:

3 and they received from Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of the sanctuary, with which to make it. They brought yet to him freewill offerings every morning.

4 All the wise men, who performed all the work of the sanctuary, each came from his work which they did.

5 They spoke to Moses, saying, "The people bring much more than enough for the service of the work which Yahweh commanded to make."

6 Moses gave commandment, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp, saying, "Let neither man nor woman make anything else for the offering for the sanctuary." So the people were restrained from bringing.

7 For the stuff they had was sufficient for all the work to make it, and too much.

8 All the wise-hearted men among those who did the work made the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, blue, purple, and scarlet, with cherubim, the work of the skillful workman, they made them.

9 The length of each curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits. All the curtains had one measure.

10 He coupled five curtains to one another, and the other five curtains he coupled one to another.

11 He made loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain from the edge in the coupling. Likewise he made in the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the second coupling.

12 He made fifty loops in the one curtain, and he made fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that was in the second coupling. The loops were opposite one to another.

13 He made fifty clasps of gold, and coupled the curtains one to another with the clasps: so the tabernacle was a unit.

14 He made curtains of goats' hair for a covering over the tabernacle. He made them eleven curtains.

15 The length of each curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits the breadth of each curtain. The eleven curtains had one measure.

16 He coupled five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.

17 He made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain that was outmost in the coupling, and he made fifty loops on the edge of the curtain which was outmost in the second coupling.

18 He made fifty clasps of brass to couple the tent together, that it might be a unit.

19 He made a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sea cow hides above.

20 He made the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing up.

21 Ten cubits was the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the breadth of each board.

22 Each board had two tenons, joined one to another. He made all the boards of the tabernacle this way.

23 He made the boards for the tabernacle: twenty boards for the south side southward.

24 He made forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons.

25 For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, he made twenty boards,

26 and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

27 For the far part of the tabernacle westward he made six boards.

28 He made two boards for the corners of the tabernacle in the far part.

29 They were double beneath, and in the same way they were all the way to its top to one ring. He did thus to both of them in the two corners.

30 There were eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; under every board two sockets.

31 He made bars of acacia wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,

32 and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the tabernacle for the hinder part westward.

33 He made the middle bar to pass through in the midst of the boards from the one end to the other.

34 He overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings of gold for places for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.

35 He made the veil of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen: with cherubim. He made it the work of a skillful workman.

36 He made four pillars of acacia for it, and overlaid them with gold. Their hooks were of gold. He cast four sockets of silver for them.

37 He made a screen for the door of the tent, of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer;

38 and the five pillars of it with their hooks. He overlaid their capitals and their fillets with gold, and their five sockets were of brass.

   

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Measure

  

'To measure' signifies knowing and exploring the quality of something.

(Referencias: Apocalypse Revealed 486, 904)

De obras de Swedenborg

 

Apocalypse Revealed #486

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486. And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there." This symbolizes the Lord's presence and His command to see and learn the state of the church in the New Heaven.

The Lord is meant by the angel, here as in nos. 5, 415, and elsewhere, since an angel does nothing of himself but is impelled by the Lord. That is why the angel said, "I will give power to my two witnesses" (verse 3), when they were the Lord's witnesses. The angel's standing by symbolizes the Lord's presence, and his speaking symbolizes the Lord's command. To rise and measure means, symbolically, to see and learn. We will see below that to measure means, symbolically, to learn and investigate the character of a state.

The temple, altar, and those who worship there symbolize the state of the church in the New Heaven - the temple symbolizing the church in respect to its doctrinal truth (no. 191), the altar symbolizing the church in respect to the goodness of its love (no. 392), and those who worship there symbolizing the church in respect to its formal worship as a result of those two elements. Those who worship symbolize here the reverence that is a part of formal worship, since the spiritual sense is a sense abstracted from persons (nos. 78, 79, 96), as is apparent here also from the fact that John is told to measure the worshipers. These three elements are what form the church: doctrinal truth, goodness of love, and formal worship as a result of these.

[2] That the church meant is the church in the New Heaven is apparent from the last verse of this chapter, where we are told that "the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple" (verse 19).

This chapter begins with the measuring of the temple in order that the state of the church in heaven might be seen and learned before its conjunction with the church in the world. The church in the world is meant by the court outside the temple, which John was not to measure, because it had been given to the gentiles (verse 2). The same church is then described by the great city called Sodom and Egypt (verses 7, 8). But after that great city fell (verse 13), it follows that the church became the Lord's (verses 15ff.).

It should be known that the church exists in the heavens just as on earth, and that the two are united like the inner and outer selves in people. Consequently the Lord provides the church in heaven first, and from it, or by means of it, then the church on earth. That is why the New Jerusalem is said to come down from God out of the New Heaven (Revelation 21:1-2).

The New Heaven means a new heaven formed from Christians, as described several times in the following chapters.

[3] To measure means, symbolically, to learn and investigate the character of a thing because the measure of something symbolizes its character or state. All the measurements of the New Jerusalem (chapter 21) have this symbolic meaning, as does the statement there that the angel who had the gold reed measured the city and its gates, and that he measured the wall to be one hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man which is that of an angel (verses 15, 17). Moreover, because the New Jerusalem symbolizes the New Church, is it apparent that to measure it and its component parts means, symbolically, to learn its character.

Measuring has the same symbolic meaning in Ezekiel, where we read that an angel measured the house of God: the temple, the altar, the court, and the chambers (Ezekiel 40:3-17; 41:1-5, 13-14, 22; 42:1-20, and 43:1-27). Also that he measured the waters (47:3-5, 9). Therefore the prophet is told:

...show the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the pattern... and... its exits and its entrances, and all its patterns..., so that they may keep its whole design... (Ezekiel 43:10-11)

Measuring has the same symbolic meaning in the following places:

I raised my eyes..., and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem...." (Zechariah 2:1-2)

He stood and measured the earth. (Habakkuk 3:6)

(The Lord Jehovih) has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and gauged heaven with a span... and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. (Isaiah 40:12)

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? ...Who determined its measurements? ...Or who stretched the line upon it? (Job 38:4-5)

  
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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.