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Esekiel 43

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1 Så førte han mig til porten, den port som vendte mot øst.

2 Og se, Israels Guds herlighet kom fra øst, og lyden av den var som lyden av store vann, og jorden lyste av hans herlighet.

3 Og det var å se til som det syn jeg før hadde sett, som det syn jeg så da jeg kom for å ødelegge staden*, og synene var som det syn jeg hadde sett ved elven Kebar, og jeg falt ned på mitt ansikt. / {* d.e. forkynne staden at den skulde ødelegges; ESK 9, 1 fg. 1, 1. 28.}

4 Og Herrens herlighet drog inn i huset gjennem den port som vendte mot øst.

5 Og Ånden løftet mig op og førte mig inn i den indre forgård, og se, Herrens herlighet fylte huset.

6 Og jeg hørte en som talte til mig ut fra huset, mens en mann stod ved siden av mig.

7 Og han sa til mig: Menneskesønn! Dette er stedet for min trone, det sted hvor mine føtter skal stå, og der vil jeg bo blandt Israels barn til evig tid, og Israels hus skal ikke mere gjøre mitt hellige navn urent, hverken de eller deres konger, med sitt horelevnet og med sine kongers* døde kropper og med sine offerhauger, / {* d.e. sine avguders.}

8 således som de gjorde da de satte deres treskel ved min treskel og deres dørstolpe ved siden av min dørstolpe, så bare veggen var imellem mig og dem, og de gjorde mitt hellige navn urent med de vederstyggelige ting som de fór med, så jeg måtte gjøre ende på dem i min vrede.

9 Nu skal de ha sitt horelevnet og sine kongers døde kropper langt bort fra mig, og da vil jeg bo iblandt dem til evig tid.

10 Du menneskesønn! Tal til Israels hus om dette hus, så de må skamme sig over sine misgjerninger og måle den velordnede bygning.

11 Og når de skammer sig over alt det de har gjort, da skal du kunngjøre dem husets skikkelse og dets innredning, dets utganger og innganger, hele dets skikkelse og alle forskriftene om det - hele dets skikkelse og alle lovene om det, og skriv det op for deres øine, sa de må akte på hele dets skikkelse og alle forskriftene om det og gjøre efter dem.

12 Dette er loven om huset: På toppen av fjellet skal hele dets område rundt omkring være høihellig. Se, dette er loven om huset.

13 Og dette er alterets mål i alen - hver alen regnet til en almindelig alen og en håndsbredd: Der skal være et fotstykke, én alen høit og én alen bredt, og kantlisten på randen av det skal være et spann rundt omkring; dette er alterets underlag.

14 Og fra fotstykket på jorden til den nedre avsats skal det være to alen, og bredden skal være én alen, og fra den lille avsats til den store avsats skal det være fire alen, og bredden skal være én alen.

15 Og Har'el* skal være fire alen, og fra Ariel* og opefter skal det være fire horn**. / {* Har'el (Guds berg) er hele alterets øverste del, og Ariel (Guds arne) dets ildsted.} / {** 2MO 27, 2.}

16 Og Ariel skal være tolv alen lang og tolv alen bred, firkantet med fire like lange sider.

17 Og avsatsen skal være fjorten alen lang og fjorten alen bred, med fire like lange sider, og kantlisten omkring den skal være en halv alen, og fotstykket dertil en alen rundt omkring, og dets trapper skal vende mot øst.

18 Og han sa til mig: Menneskesønn! Så sier Herren, Israels Gud: Dette er forskriftene om alteret på den dag det blir gjort, så en kan ofre brennoffer og sprenge blod på det.

19 Du skal gi de levittiske prester, de som er av Sadoks ætt, som står mig nær og tjener mig, en ung okse til syndoffer, sier Herren, Israels Gud.

20 Og du skal ta noget av dens blod og stryke på dets fire horn og på avsatsens fire hjørner og på kantlisten rundt omkring, og du skal rense det fra synd og gjøre soning for det.

21 Så skal du ta syndofferoksen, og den skal brennes på det foreskrevne sted i huset, utenfor helligdommen.

22 Og den annen dag skal du ofre en gjetebukk uten lyte til syndoffer, og de skal rense alteret fra synd, likesom de renset det med oksen.

23 Når du er ferdig med å rense det, skal du ofre en ung okse uten lyte og en vær uten lyte av småfeet.

24 Og du skal føre dem frem for Herrens åsyn, og prestene skal strø salt på dem og ofre dem til brennoffer for Herren.

25 I syv dager skal du ofre en bukk til syndoffer hver dag, og en ung okse og en vær av småfeet, begge uten lyte, skal ofres.

26 I syv dager skal de gjøre soning for alteret og rense det og innvie det.

27 Og når disse dager er til ende, da skal prestene på den åttende dag og alltid senere ofre eders brennoffer og takkoffer på alteret, og jeg vil ha behag i eder, sier Herren, Israels Gud.

   

Commento

 

Four

  
Four Mandalas

The number "four" in the Bible represents things being linked together or joined. This is partly because four is two times two, and two represents the ultimate linking between our desire to be good and our understanding of truth. We can also see this in the fact that most buildings are rectangular, with the four sides linking together to make a whole. We also divide directions into four -- north, east, south and west -- and talk about the "four corners" of something meaning all of it. So our special thinking naturally looks at four sides as linking together into a whole.

(Riferimenti: Apocalypse Explained 417; Arcana Coelestia 1686, 9103, 9601, 9767, 9864)

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Arcana Coelestia #9103

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9103. 'And four of the flock for the member of the flock' also means the corresponding punishment carried out in full. This is clear from the meaning of 'four' as joined together, for 'four' is similar in meaning to 'two' because four is the product of two times two (for the meaning of 'two' as joined together, see 5194, 8423, and therefore also 'four', 1686, 8877), from which it follows that those numbers also mean to the complete amount, since what has been joined together is complete; and from the meaning of 'a member of the flock' as interior good, dealt with just above in 9099. The corresponding punishment is meant by 'repaying', at this point 'four of the flock for one member of the flock', 9102. Interior good is what charity in the interior man is called, exterior good being charity in the exterior man. The latter good must receive life from the former, for the good of charity in the interior man is the good of spiritual life, and the good of charity in the exterior man is the good of natural life from the spiritual. This exterior good enters a person's feelings as delight, but not so interior good. Instead this enters his awareness that it ought to be so, and enables his mind to feel contented. In the next life however interior good too enters into a person's feelings.

[2] No one can know the reason why five oxen were to be used in repayment for an ox, and four of the flock for the member of the flock, unless he knows what 'theft' is in the spiritual sense, and also what 'an ox' and 'a member of the flock' are. What these things mean has been explained, namely taking away and alienating exterior and interior good, the taking away being done by evil and the alienation by falsity. Consequently punishment and the restoration of them are meant by 'five' end 'four'; for all numbers in the Word serve to mean spiritual things, see 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175, at this point things having to do with restoration. That is to say, the number 'five' refers to restoration of exterior good to a great degree, and the number 'four' to restoration of interior good in full. The reason why interior good must be restored completely is that this good constitutes a person's spiritual life; and unless his spiritual life is restored completely the exterior good constituting his natural life cannot be restored; for the latter life is restored by means of the former, as may be recognized from a person's regeneration. The external man is regenerated by means of the internal, see 9043, 9046, 9061; but good in the external or natural man cannot be restored completely because the blow it has been struck remains there as a scar that becomes hardened. These are the things implied by those numbers.

[3] Something further must be said briefly about the restoration of the exterior good constituting a person's natural life by means of the interior good constituting his spiritual life. The natural level of a person's mind sees things in the light of the world, the light that is called natural illumination. A person acquires this illumination through objects entering his awareness by means of sight and hearing, that is, by impressions of objects received from the world. Thus the person sees those objects with his mind's eye almost exactly as his physical eye sees them. Initially the objects that he is made aware of through those senses are all a pleasure and delight to him. Later on, when still a young child, he makes distinctions among the objects that are a delight to him, and thereby learns to discriminate, gradually doing so more and more accurately. When the light from heaven flows into these things the person begins to see them spiritually, discriminating initially between the ones that are useful and those that are not useful. As a consequence he starts to see the truth clearly; for that which he sees to be useful he sees to be true, and that which he does not see to be useful he sees to be not true. This ability to see truth increases as the inflowing light from heaven grows brighter, until eventually he discriminates not only between truths, but even between truths within these truths. And this he does ever more clearly, as the communication between the internal man and the external man is improved and opened up; for the light of heaven flows in from the Lord through the internal man into the external. From this the person now has perception; nevertheless this is still not spiritual perception.

[4] Spiritual perception does not grow out of natural truths but out of spiritual truths, spiritual truths being what are called the truths of faith. The reason why spiritual perception grows out of these truths is that the light of heaven is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord. It is the light that shines for the angels' eyes; it also shines in their understanding and imparts intelligence and wisdom to them, in varying amounts, depending on its reception within good. Therefore, if spiritual perception is to grow a person must have cognitions or knowledge of spiritual things in his natural, and such knowledge of spiritual things must come from revelation. When the light of heaven flows into them it flows into what are its own; for as has been stated, that light is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, see 1053, 1521-1533, 1619-1632, 2776, 3138, 3167, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3341, 3636, 3643, 4180, 4302, 4408, 4415, 4527, 5400, 6032, 6313, 6608. This is how a person acquires intelligence and wisdom in such matters as belong to eternal life; and they increase in the measure that such light - that is, in the measure that the truths of faith - are received within good, the good being charity.

[5] The fact that the natural or external man is regenerated, and also undergoes amendment and is restored by means of the internal, may be recognized from what has now been stated. Things in the external or natural man receive life from the light of heaven; for this light is living, because it emanates from the Lord, who is Life itself. They do not receive their life from natural light, since this light is in itself dead. If therefore things in natural light are to have life there must be an inflow of the living light, coming from the Lord through the internal man. This inflow adjusts itself to cognitions of truth present in the natural that are analogous and correspond, and to other things there that can serve. From this it is evident that a person's external or natural must be regenerated by means of his internal; and the good in the natural that has been taken away or alienated has to be amended and restored by the same means.

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