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Exodus 28

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1 And thou shalt take thee Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him, from among the children of Israel, that he may serve me as priest -- Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar, Aaron's sons.

2 And thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, for glory and for ornament.

3 And thou shalt speak with all [that are] wise-hearted, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to hallow him, that he may serve me as priest.

4 And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, and an ephod, and a cloak, and a checkered vest, a turban, and a girdle; and they shall make holy garments for Aaron thy brother, and his sons, that he may serve me as priest.

5 And they shall take gold, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus,

6 and shall make the ephod of gold, blue, and purple, scarlet and twined byssus, of artistic work.

7 It shall have two shoulder-pieces joined at the two ends thereof, where it is joined together.

8 And the girdle of the ephod, which is upon it, shall be of the same, according to its work of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet and twined byssus.

9 And thou shalt take two onyx stones, and engrave on them the names of the children of Israel:

10 six of their names on the one stone, and the six names of the rest on the other stone, according to their birth.

11 According to the work of an engraver in stone, as the engravings of a seal, shalt thou engrave the two stones with the names of the sons of Israel; surrounded by enclosures of gold shalt thou make them.

12 And thou shalt put the two stones upon the shoulder-pieces of the ephod [as] stones of memorial for the children of Israel; and Aaron shall bear their names before Jehovah upon his two shoulders for a memorial.

13 And thou shalt make enclosures of gold;

14 and two chains of pure gold; of laced work shalt thou make them, of wreathen work, and fasten the wreathen chains to the enclosures.

15 And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment of artistic work, like the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, blue, and purple, and scarlet, and twined byssus shalt thou make it.

16 Square shall it be, doubled; a span the length thereof, and a span the breadth thereof.

17 And thou shalt set in it settings of stones -- four rows of stones: [one] row, a sardoin, a topaz, and an emerald -- the first row;

18 and the second row, a carbuncle, a sapphire, and a diamond;

19 and the third row, an opal, an agate, and an amethyst;

20 and the fourth row, a chrysolite, and an onyx, and a jasper; enclosed in gold shall they be in their settings.

21 And the stones shall be according to the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, engraved as a seal: every one according to his name shall they be for the twelve tribes.

22 And thou shalt make on the breastplate chains of laced work, of wreathen work, of pure gold.

23 And thou shalt make on the breastplate two rings of gold, and shalt put the two rings on the two ends of the breastplate.

24 And thou shalt put the two wreathen [cords] of gold in the two rings on the ends of the breastplate;

25 and the two ends of the two wreathen [cords] thou shalt fasten to the two enclosures, and shalt put [them] on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, on the front thereof.

26 And thou shalt make two rings of gold, and shalt put them on the two ends of the breastplate, on the border thereof, which faceth the ephod inwards.

27 And two rings of gold shalt thou make, and shalt put them upon the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod underneath, to the front thereof just by the coupling thereof, above the girdle of the ephod.

28 And they shall bind the breastplate with its rings to the rings of the ephod with a lace of blue, that it may be above the girdle of the ephod, and that the breastplate be not loosed from the ephod.

29 And Aaron shall bear the names of the children of Israel in the breastplate of judgment on his heart, when he goes in to the sanctuary, for a memorial before Jehovah continually.

30 And thou shalt put into the breastplate of judgment the Urim and the Thummim, that they may be upon Aaron's heart when he goeth in before Jehovah; and Aaron shall bear the judgment of the children of Israel upon his heart before Jehovah continually.

31 And thou shalt make the cloak of the ephod all of blue.

32 And its opening for the head shall be in the midst thereof; there shall be a binding of woven work at its opening round about; as the opening of a coat of mail, it shall be in it -- it shall not rend.

33 And on the skirts thereof thou shalt make pomegranates of blue, and purple, and scarlet, round about the skirts thereof; and bells of gold between them round about:

34 a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, in the skirts of the cloak round about.

35 And it shall be on Aaron for service; that his sound may be heard when he goeth into the sanctuary before Jehovah, and when he cometh out, that he may not die.

36 And thou shalt make a thin plate of pure gold, and engrave on it, as the engravings of a seal, Holiness to Jehovah!

37 And thou shalt put it on a lace of blue, and it shall be upon the turban -- upon the front of the turban shall it be.

38 And it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, and Aaron shall bear the iniquity of the holy things, which the children of Israel shall hallow in all gifts of their holy things; and it shall be continually on his forehead, that they may be accepted before Jehovah.

39 And thou shalt weave the vest of byssus; and thou shalt make a turban of byssus; and thou shalt make a girdle of embroidery.

40 And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make vests; and thou shalt make for them girdles; and high caps shalt thou make for them, for glory and for ornament.

41 And thou shalt clothe with them Aaron thy brother, and his sons with him; and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and hallow them, that they may serve me as priests.

42 And thou shalt make them linen trousers to cover the flesh of nakedness; from the loins even to the hips shall they reach.

43 And they shall be upon Aaron and his sons when they enter into the tent of meeting, or when they come near to the altar to serve in the sanctuary; that they may not bear iniquity and die -- an everlasting statute for him and his seed after him.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #9825

Studere hoc loco

  
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9825. And a robe. That this signifies Divine truth there in the internal form, is evident from the signification of “the robe,” as being the middle of the spiritual kingdom, thus the truth itself which is there; for by Aaron’s garments was represented the Lord’s spiritual kingdom (n. 9814), thus the truths which are there, in their order (see n. 9822); and as this kingdom has been distinguished into three degrees, the inmost, the middle, and the external, therefore by “the robe” was signified that which is in the middle of this kingdom. The reason why this kingdom has been distinguished into three degrees, is that the inmost there communicates with the celestial, and the external with the natural, and therefore the middle partakes equally of both. Moreover, in order that anything may be perfect, it must be distinguished into three degrees. This is the case with heaven, and with the goods and the truths in it. That there are three heavens is known; consequently there are three degrees of goods and truths there. Each heaven also is distinguished into three degrees; for its inmost must communicate immediately with what is higher, and its external with what is lower, and so, through these, its middle must communicate with both, whence comes its perfection. The case is the same with the interiors of man, which in general have been distinguished into three degrees, namely, into the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural; in like manner each of these into its own three degrees; for a man who is in the good of faith and of love to the Lord is a heaven in the least form corresponding to the greatest (n. 9279). Such also is the case in all things of nature. (That the natural of man has been distinguished into three degrees, see n. 4570, and in general all his interior and exterior things, n. 4154.) The reason of its being so is that everywhere there must be end, cause, and effect; the end must be the inmost, the cause the middle, and the effect the ultimate, in order that the thing may be perfect. It is from this that in the Word “three” signifies what is complete from beginning to end (n. 2788, 4495, 7715, 9198, 9488, 9489). From all this it can be known why Aaron’s garments of holiness were an ephod, a robe, and a tunic; and that the ephod represented the external, the robe the middle, and the tunic the inmost, of the spiritual kingdom.

[2] As the robe represented the middle in the spiritual kingdom, and the middle partakes of both the others, it is taken representatively for that kingdom itself, as in the first book of Samuel:

Samuel turned about to go away, but Saul laid hold upon the skirt of his robe, and it was rent; wherefore Samuel said, Jehovah shall rend the kingdom of Israel from upon thee this day, and shall give it to thy companion who is better than thou (1 Samuel 15:27-28);

from these words it is evident that “the rending of the skirt of Samuel’s robe” signified the rending of the kingdom of Israel from Saul, for “the kingdom of Israel” signifies the Lord’s spiritual kingdom (n. 4286, 4598, 6424, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223, 8805). In like manner in the same:

David cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe privily; and when he showed it to Saul, Saul said, Now I know that reigning thou shalt reign, and the kingdom of Israel shall continue in thine hand (1 Samuel 24:4-5, 11, 20).

When Jonathan made a covenant with David, he stripped himself of his robe, and gave it to David, even to his sword, to his bow, and to his girdle (1 Samuel 18:3-4);

by which was represented that Jonathan, who was the heir, abdicated the kingdom of Israel and transferred it to David.

[3] As a robe represented the spiritual kingdom, so likewise it represented the truths of this kingdom in general. The truths of this kingdom are what are called spiritual truths, which are in the intellectual part of man. These are signified by “robes” in Ezekiel:

All the princes of the sea shall come down from upon their thrones, and shall cast away their robes, and put off the garments of their embroidery (Ezekiel 26:16);

this is said of Tyre, by which are signified the knowledges of good and truth (n. 1201); the vastation of these in the church is here described; “the robes which they shall cast away” denote the truths of faith which are in the intellectual part; but “the garments of embroidery” denote the memory-knowledges which are in the natural (n. 9688). The reason why these truths are signified, is that the truth which belongs to the understanding reigns in the Lord’s spiritual kingdom; but in the celestial kingdom the good which belongs to the will.

In Matthew:

The scribes and Pharisees do all their works to be seen of men, and enlarge the borders of their robes (Matthew 23:5); where “enlarging the borders of the robes” denotes to speak truths grandiloquently, merely to be heard and seen by men. That such things are signified by “the robe,” will be seen still better from the description of it below in this chapter (verses 31-35).

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