10176. [10175(a)] Exodus 30
1. And you shall make an altar for burning incense; with pieces of shittim wood you shall make it.
2. A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth; square shall it be. And two cubits shall its height be. Its horns shall be of one piece with it 1
.
3. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, its roof and its walls 2
round about and its horns; and you shall make for it a rim of gold round about.
4. And two rings of gold you shall make for it under its rim on its two ribs; you shall make [them] on its two sides. And they shall serve as 3
receptacles for the poles, to carry it on them.
5. And you shall make the poles from pieces of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.
6. And you shall put it before the veil that is over the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy-seat which is above the Testimony, where I will meet with you.
7. And Aaron shall burn on it incense of spices morning by morning 4
; when adorning 5
the lamps he shall burn it.
8. And when Aaron causes the lamps to go up 6
between the evenings he shall burn it; incense shall be continual before Jehovah throughout 7
your generations.
9. You shall not cause strange 8
incense to go up on it, or a burnt offering, or a minchah; and you shall not pour a drink offering on it.
10. And Aaron shall make expiation on its horns once a year with the blood of the sin [offering] of expiations; once a year he shall make expiation on it throughout 7
your generations. It is the holy of holies 9
to Jehovah.
11. And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
12. When you take the sum of the children of Israel, as they have been numbered 10
, they shall give - each one - an expiation for his soul to Jehovah when they are numbered 11
, that there may be no plague among them when they are numbered 10
.
13. This is what they shall give, everyone passing over to those who have been numbered - half a shekel according to the shekel of holiness (a shekel is twenty obols 12
). Half a shekel shall be the offering to Jehovah.
14. Everyone passing over to those who have been numbered, from a son of twenty years 13
and over, shall give the offering of Jehovah.
15. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they give the offering of Jehovah, to make expiation for your souls.
16. And you shall take the silver of expiations from the children of Israel, and give it to the work of the tent of meeting; and to the children of Israel it shall be as a remembrance before Jehovah, to make expiation for your souls.
17. And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
18. And you shall make a laver of bronze, and its pedestal from bronze, for washing; and you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and put water in it.
19. And Aaron and his sons shall wash in it 14
their hands and their feet.
20. When they go into the tent of meeting they shall wash with water, that they may not die, or when they approach the altar to minister, to burn a fire offering to Jehovah.
21. And they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they may not die; and it shall be the statute of an age 15
to them - for him and his seed [throughout] their generations.
22. And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,
23. And you, take for yourself the chief spices - the best myrrh, five hundred [shekels]; and sweet-smelling cinnamon, half of that, two hundred and fifty; and sweet-smelling calamus, two hundred and fifty;
24. And cassia, five hundred, according to the shekel of holiness; and olive oil, a hin.
25. And you shall make it a holy anointing oil 16
, a compounded ointment 17
, the work of an ointment-maker; it shall be the holy anointing oil 16
.
26. And with it you shall anoint the tent of meeting, and the ark of the Testimony,
27. And the table and all its vessels, and the lampstand and its vessels, and the altar of incense,
28. And the altar of burnt offering and all its vessels, and the laver and its pedestal.
29. And you shall sanctify them, and they shall be the holy of holies 17
; everyone touching them will be sanctified.
30. And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons, and sanctify them to serve Me in the priestly office.
31. And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying, This shall be a holy anointing oil 19
to Me throughout 20
your generations.
32. It shall not be poured onto the flesh of a person, and as to the composition of it, you shall not make any other like it 21
. It is holy; it shall be holy to you.
33. The man who makes an ointment like it, and he who puts any of it on a foreigner, shall be cut off from his people.
34. And Jehovah said to Moses, Take for yourself sweet spices, stacte and onycha and galbanum - [these] sweet ones, and pure frankincense; amount for amount there shall be 22
.
35. And you shall make this an incense, an ointment, the work of an ointment-maker - salted, pure, holy.
36. And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put some of it before the Testimony in the tent of meeting, where I will meet with you. The holy of holies 23
it shall be to you.
37. And the incense which you make, according to its composition 24
, you shall not make for yourselves; it shall be to you holy for Jehovah.
38. The man who makes any like it, to make an odour with it, will be cut off from his people.
CONTENTS
This chapter deals with the altar of incense, the expiation of everyone by means of silver, the laver and washing [with water] from it, and the preparation of the anointing oil and of the incense. The burning of incense in the internal sense means the Lord, His hearing and receiving with pleasure everything of worship that springs from love and charity. Expiating every person by means of silver means ascribing everything of worship to the Lord and none of it to self, in order that no one may claim merit. The laver and washing mean the purification from evils that comes first in all worship. The preparation of the anointing oil means the essential nature of the love in worship, and the preparation of the incense the essential nature of worship arising from it.
THE INTERNAL SENSE
Verses 1-10 And you shall make an altar for burning incense; with pieces of shittim wood you shall make it. A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth; square shall it be. And two cubits shall its height be. Its horns shall be of one piece with it 25
. And you shall overlay it with pure gold, its roof and its walls 26
round about and its horns; and you shall make for it a rim of gold round about. And two rings of gold you shall make for it under its rim on its two ribs; you shall make [them] on its two sides. And they shall serve as receptacles for the poles, to carry it on them. And you shall make the poles from pieces of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold. And you shall put it before the veil that is over the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy-seat which is above the Testimony, where I will meet with you. And Aaron shall burn on it incense of spices morning by morning 27
; when adorning 28
the lamps he shall burn it. And when Aaron causes the lamps to go up 29
between the evenings he shall burn it; incense shall be continual before Jehovah throughout 30
your generations. You shall not cause strange 31
incense to go up on it, or a burnt offering, or a minchah; and you shall not pour a drink offering on it. And Aaron shall make expiation on its horns once a year with the blood of the sin [offering] of expiations; once a year he shall make expiation on it throughout 30
your generations. It is the holy of holies 32
to Jehovah.
'And you shall make an altar for burning incense' means that which is representative of the Lord, of His hearing and receiving with pleasure everything of worship that springs from love and charity. 'With pieces of shittim wood you shall make it' means from love that is Divine. 'A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth' means consisting equally of good and of truth. 'Square shall it be' means that which is therefore perfect. 'And two cubits shall its height be' means degrees of the good and truth, and the joining together of them. 'Its horns shall be of one piece with it' means the powers of truth derived from the good of love and charity. 'And you shall overlay it with pure gold' means a representative sign of everything of worship that arises from good. 'Its roof' means what is inmost. 'Its walls' means inner levels. 'And its horns' means outer levels. 'And you shall make for it a rim of gold round about' means a border of good, serving to defend them from the approach of evils and the harm these can do. 'And two rings of gold you shall make for it under the rim' means the sphere of Divine Good by means of which a joining together and preservation are effected. 'On its two ribs' means with truths lying in one direction. 'You shall make [them] on its two sides' means with good lying in the other. 'And they shall serve as receptacles for the poles' means the power there of truth derived from good. 'To carry it on them' means the resulting preservation in that condition. 'And you shall make the poles from pieces of shittim wood' means the power derived from the good of the Lord's love. 'And overlay them with gold' means the founding of all things on good. 'And you shall put it before the veil that is over the ark of the Testimony' means in the inner heaven, at the point where it is joined to the inmost heaven. 'Before the mercy-seat which is above the Testimony' means where the Lord hears and receives everything of worship arising from the good of love. 'Where I will meet with you' means the resulting presence and influx of the Lord. 'And Aaron shall burn on it' means the raising up by the Lord of worship springing from love and charity. 'Incense of spices' means hearing and receiving with pleasure. 'Morning by morning' means whenever a state of love in clearness exists. 'When adorning the lamps he shall burn it' means whenever truth as well comes into its own light. 'And when Aaron causes the lamps to go up between the evenings he shall burn it' means the raising up also in an obscure state of love, when also truth exists in its shade. 'Incense shall be continual before Jehovah' means in all worship springing from love received from the Lord. 'Throughout your generations' means to eternity among those with faith springing from love. 'You shall not cause strange incense to go up on it' means no worship springing from any love other than that of the Lord. 'Or a burnt offering, or a minchah' means that nothing representative of regeneration by means of the truths and forms of good belonging to celestial love should be there. 'And you shall not pour a drink offering on it' means that nothing representative of regeneration by means of the truths and forms of good belonging to spiritual love should be there. 'And Aaron shall make expiation on its horns' means purification from evils by means of the truths of faith which spring from the good of love. 'Once a year' means everlastingly. 'With the blood of the sin [offering] of expiations' means by means of truths which spring from the good of innocence. 'Once a year he shall make expiation on it' means the everlasting removal of evils. 'Throughout your generations' means members of the Church with whom the truths and forms of the good of faith are present. 'It is the holy of holies to Jehovah' means since it comes from the Divine Celestial.
V:
