Arcana Coelestia #10750
10750. Exodus 36
1. And Bezalel and Aholiab, and every man wise at heart, in whom Jehovah had put wisdom and understanding to know how to do all the work of the service of the holy place, did according to all that Jehovah had commanded.
2. And Moses called Bezalel and Aholiab and every man wise at heart in whose heart Jehovah had put wisdom, everyone whose heart stirred him to come and do the work 1 .
3. And they took from before Moses all the offering which the children of Israel had brought for the work of the service of making the holy place 2 ; and they continued to bring him freewill offerings every morning 3 .
4. And all the wise ones doing all the work of the holy place came 4 , man [by] man from his work which they were doing.
5. And they spoke to Moses, saying, The people are bringing more than enough for the service of the work which Jehovah has commanded to be done.
6. And Moses gave a command, and they caused it to be proclaimed throughout the camp 5 , saying, Let no man or woman do any more work for the offering of the holy place. And he restrained the people from bringing [any more].
7. And the work was sufficient for all the work that had to be done 6 , and there was some left over.
8. And everyone wise at heart among those doing the work made the dwelling-place with ten curtains, from fine twined linen, and violet, and purple, and twice-dyed scarlet; and the cherubs, the work of a designer he made them.
9. The length of one curtain was twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of one curtain four cubits. All the curtains had one measure.
10. And he joined five curtains together, one to another; and five curtains he joined together, one to another.
11. And he made loops from violet on the edge of the one curtain that was in the joining-place, and did the same on the edge of the outermost curtain in the second joining-place.
12. Fifty loops he made in one curtain, and fifty loops he made in the end of the curtain in the second joining-place, the loops taking themselves up one towards one another.
13. And he made fifty clasps of gold, and joined the curtains together, one to the next in the clasps; and the dwelling-place was one.
14. And he made curtains of she-goats 7 , for a tent over the dwelling-place; eleven curtains he made them.
15. The length of one curtain was thirty cubits, and four cubits was the breadth of one curtain. The eleven curtains had one measure.
16. And he joined together five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves.
17. And he made fifty loops on the edge of the outermost curtain in the joining-place, and fifty loops he made on the edge of the curtain in the second joining-place.
18. And he made fifty clasps of bronze to join the tent together, that it might be one.
19. And he made a covering for the tent from the skins of red rams, and a covering from the skins of badgers above that.
20. And he made the boards for the dwelling-place from shittim wood, standing up 8 .
21. Ten cubits was the length of a board, and a cubit and a half the breadth of one board.
22. There were two hands 9 to one board, connected one to the other. Thus he made all the boards of the dwelling-place.
23. And he made the boards for the dwelling-place, twenty boards for the south side 10 , southwards.
24. And he made forty bases of silver under the twenty boards, two bases under one board for its two hands 9 , and two bases under one board 11 for its two hands 9 .
25. And for the other side of the dwelling-place - on the north side 12 - he made twenty boards,
26. And their forty bases [made] from silver, two bases under one board and two bases under one board 11 .
27. And for the legs 13 of the dwelling-place towards the sea 14 he made six boards.
28. And he made two boards for the corners of the dwelling-place at the legs 15 .
29. And they were paired from below, and went together all the way up to its head, up to one ring. Thus he did for the two at the two corners.
30. And there were eight boards and their bases [made] from silver, sixteen bases - two bases [each], two bases under one board.
31. And he made bars from shittim wood, five for the boards of the first side of the dwelling-place,
32. And five bars for the boards of the second side of the dwelling-place, and five bars for the boards of the dwelling-place for the legs towards the sea 14 .
33. And he made the middle bar to pass through into the middle of the boards from end to end.
34. And he overlaid the boards with gold, and made their rings from gold, receptacles for the bars; and he overlaid the bars with gold.
35. And he made a veil from violet, and purple, and twice-dyed scarlet, and fine twined linen; with the work of a designer he made it, with cherubs.
36. And he made for it four pillars of shittim [wood], and overlaid them with gold; [he made] their hooks from gold, and he cast four bases of silver for them.
37. And he made a screen for the tent door from violet, and purple, and twice-dyed scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer,
38. And its five pillars, and their hooks. And he overlaid their heads and their bands with gold; and their five bases [were made] from bronze.
CONTENTS
What all these things mean in the internal sense is clear from the explanation previously of Chapter Exodus 26, for they are the same things as occur there. That being so, they are passed over in the present chapter without any further explanation.
Notas a pie de página:
1. literally, to approach the work, to do it
2. literally, of the service of the holy place, to do it
3. literally, and they brought to him still a freewill offering morning by morning
4. Reading venerunt (they came) for adduxerunt (they brought)
5. literally, And Moses commanded, and they proclaimed the voice or word in the camp
6. literally, all the work, to do it
7. i.e. goats' wool, see 9470.
8. i.e. they were vertical boards
9. i.e. tenons
10. literally, corner or angle
11. i.e. another board
12. i.e. rear parts
13. i.e. at the west end
14. i.e. the rear parts at the east end [sea]
15. i.e. the rear parts at the west end
Arcana Coelestia #9470
9470. 'And wool of she-goats' means the good from this, that is to say, from the good of mutual love. The reason why 'wool of she-goats' means this good is that 'a she-goat' means the good of innocence in the external or natural man, 3519, 7840, and therefore 'wool' means the truth belonging to that good. However, since not truth but good is meant, the original language does not actually say 'wool of she-goats', only 'she-goats', as is also the case in other places, such as in the following words in Exodus,
All the skilled 1 women brought what they had spun, violet, purple, twice-dyed scarlet, [and] fine linen thread; and all the women whose heart stirred them up in wisdom spun she-goats. Exodus 35:25-26.
'Spinning she-goats' stands for producing things woven from the wool of she-goats.
[2] The fact that 'wool' means truth from a celestial origin, which in itself is good, is clear from places in the Word where the actual word is used, as in Hosea,
[Their mother has committed whoredom.] She said, I will go after my lovers, those giving me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen. Therefore I will return and take back My grain in its season, and I will snatch away My wool and My linen. Hosea 2:5, 9.
This refers to a corrupted Church, meant here by 'mother'. 'The lovers' with whom she is said to have committed whoredom are those who pervert forms of good and truths. 'Bread' and 'water' mean internal forms of the good of love, and the internal truths of faith; 'wool' and 'flax' mean external ones.
[3] In Daniel,
I saw until thrones were placed, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His clothing was white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. Daniel 7:9.
This refers to the Church laid waste so far as every truth of faith was concerned, and then restored by the Lord, its having been completely laid waste being meant in the words 'thrones were placed'. 'The Ancient of Days' is the Lord in respect of celestial good as this existed in the Most Ancient Church, which was a celestial Church. In the Word that good is called 'ancient', its external truth being meant by clothing which was 'white as snow', and its external good by hair of the head which was 'like pure wool'. Similar words occur in John,
... in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man. His head and hair were white, like white wool, like snow. Revelation 1:13-14.
[4] This kind of truth, being in itself good because it is the outward form of celestial good, is again meant by 'wool' in Ezekiel,
Damascus was your merchant in the wine of Helbon and the wool of Zachar. 2 Ezekiel 27:18.
And in Isaiah,
Though your sins are like twice-dyed, they will be as white as snow. Though they are as red as scarlet, they will be as wool. Isaiah 1:18.
[5] Because Aaron's garments represented the kinds of realities that belong to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, thus the spiritual realities that belong to truth, his 'holy garments' were made of linen and not of wool. For 'linen' is spiritual truth, whereas 'wool' is celestial truth, which in comparison is good. On this account it says in Ezekiel,
The priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, when they enter the gates of the inner court they shall put on the linen garments, and no wool shall come upon them. The linen turbans shall be on their heads, the linen undergarments shall be over their loins. Ezekiel 44:17-18.
The fact that Aaron's garments were made not of wool but of linen is clear from Leviticus 16:4, 32.
[6] From all this it becomes clear that 'linen' means spiritual truth, which is the truth of the good of faith, whereas 'wool' means celestial truth, which is the truth of the good of love. And since those endued with the latter kind of truth cannot be endued with the former, because the two are as different as the light of the sun is from the light of the stars, it was laid down that no one should wear a garment made of wool and linen mixed together, Deuteronomy 22:10-11. The fact that between what is celestial and what is spiritual there is such a difference, and that both cannot be together in one and the same person, see the places referred to in 9277.
Notas a pie de página:
1. literally, wise
2. The Hebrew word which Swedenborg, following the Latin version of Sebastian Schmidt, renders Zachar is not usually considered to be a proper name.
