Bibliorum

 

Esekiel 45

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1 Og når I lodder ut landet til eiendom, skal I avgi en gave til Herren, et hellig stykke av landet, fem og tyve tusen stenger langt og ti tusen bredt; det skal være hellig så langt det rekker rundt omkring.

2 Av det skal det tas til helligdommen fem hundre stenger i lengde og fem hundre i bredde, i firkant rundt omkring, og femti alen til en fri plass for den rundt omkring.

3 Således skal du efter dette mål måle fem og tyve tusen stenger i lengde og ti tusen i bredde; og der skal helligdommen, det høihellige, være.

4 Det er en hellig del av landet, den skal tilhøre prestene, helligdommens tjenere, som nærmer sig for å tjene Herren, og det skal være til hustomter for dem og en hellig plass for helligdommen.

5 Og fem og tyve tusen stenger i lengde og ti tusen i bredde skal tilhøre levittene, husets tjenere; de skal ha tyve gårder til eiendom.

6 Og som stadens eiendom skal I avgi fem tusen stenger i bredde og fem og tyve tusen i lengde, ved siden av helligdommens lodd; det skal tilhøre hele Israels hus.

7 Og fyrsten skal ha sin lodd på begge sider av helligdommens lodd og av stadens eiendom, langsmed helligdommens lodd og stadens eiendom, dels på vestsiden, mot vest, og dels på østsiden, mot øst, og i lengde svarende til én av stammenes lodder fra vestgrensen til østgrensen.

8 Dette skal han ha som sitt land, som sin eiendom i Israel, og mine fyrster skal ikke mere undertrykke mitt folk, men overlate landet til Israels hus efter deres stammer.

9 sier Herren, Israels Gud: Nu får det være nok, I Israels fyrster! Få bort vold og ødeleggelse og gjør rett og rettferdighet, hør op med å drive mitt folk fra gård og grunn, sier Herren, Israels Gud.

10 ette vektskåler og rett efa og rett bat skal I ha.

11 En efa og En bat skal ha samme mål, så En bat er tiendedelen av En homer, og En efa tiendedelen av En homer; efter homeren skal deres mål rette sig.

12 En sekel skal være tyve gera; en mine skal hos eder være tyve sekel, fem og tyve sekel, femten sekel.

13 Dette er den offergave I skal gi: en sjettedel efa av en homer hvete, og likeså skal I gi en sjettedel efa av en homer bygg.

14 Og den fastsatte avgift av olje, av en bat olje, er en tiendedel bat av en kor* - det går ti bat på en homer; for en homer er ti bat - / {* en kor er så stor som en homer.}

15 og av småfeet ett lam av to hundre fra Israels vannrike beitemark til matoffer og til brennoffer og takkoffer, til å gjøre soning for dem, sier Herren, Israels Gud.

16 Alt folket i landet skal være skyldig til å yde denne offergave til fyrsten i Israel.

17 Og fyrsten skal det påligge å ofre brennofferne og matofferet og drikkofferet på festene og nymånedagene og sabbatene, på alle Israels høitider; han skal ofre syndofferet og matofferet og brennofferet og takkofferne for å gjøre soning for Israels hus.

18 sier Herren, Israels Gud: I den første måned, på den første dag i måneden, skal du ta en ung okse uten lyte, og du skal rense helligdommen fra synd.

19 Og presten skal ta noget av syndofferets blod og stryke på husets dørstolper og på de fire hjørner av alterets avsats og på dørstolpene i den indre forgårds port.

20 Og likeså skal du gjøre på den syvende dag i måneden for deres skyld som har syndet av vanvare eller uvitenhet, og således skal I gjøre soning for huset.

21 I den første måned, på den fjortende dag i måneden, skal I holde påske; på denne fest skal I ete usyret brød i syv dager.

22 På den dag skal fyrsten ofre en okse til syndoffer for sig og for alt folket i landet.

23 Og på festens syv dager skal han ofre Herren et brennoffer, syv okser uten lyte og syv værer uten lyte hver dag i de syv dager, og som syndoffer en gjetebukk hver dag.

24 Og som matoffer skal han ofre en efa til hver okse og en efa til hver vær og en hin olje til hver efa.

25 I den syvende måned, på den femtende dag i måneden, på festen, skal han ofre lignende offer i syv dager, både syndofferet og brennofferet, både matofferet og oljen.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #10262

Studere hoc loco

  
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10262. 'A hin' means how far things are joined together. This is clear from the meaning of 'a hin' - which was a liquid measure, at this point a measure of oil - as the extent to which things are joined together. 'Oil' means the Lord's celestial Divine Good, which is the essential power that binds all things together in heaven; consequently the measure of the oil means how far things are joined together, and the fullness of their being joined together. The reason why the Lord's celestial Divine Good is the essential power that binds all things together is that it is the essential being (ipsum esse) of the life that all things have. For that Divine Good imparts life to all things through the Divine Truth emanating from itself; and it imparts life in accordance with the specific character of whatever receives it. Angels are recipients; so too are people in the world. The truths and forms of good they have form their specific character, and this conditions the reception that takes place within them, and so conditions any joining together.

[2] Two measures which were used for sacred purposes are mentioned in the Word; one was for liquids, which was called the hin, the other was for dry substances, which was called the ephah. The hin served to measure oil and wine, and the ephah to measure flour and fine flour. The hin, used for oil and wine, was divided into four, whereas the ephah was divided into ten. The reason why the hin was divided into four was in order that it might mean that which binds things together; for 'four' means a joining together. But the reason why the ephah was divided into ten was in order that it might mean reception, the nature of which was indicated by the numbers; for 'ten' means much, all, and what is complete.

'Four' means a joining together, see 8877, 9601, 9674, 10136, 10137.

'Ten' means much, all, and what is complete, as 'a hundred' does, 1988, 3107, 4400, 4638, 8468, 8540, 9745, 10253.

[3] The fact that the hin was used for the oil and wine in the sacrifices, and was divided into four, whereas the ephah was used for the flour and fine flour, which were for the minchah in the sacrifices, and that it was divided into ten, becomes clear in Exodus 29:40; Leviticus 5:11; 23:13; Numbers 15:3-10; 28:5, 7, 14. From these verses it is evident that 'a hin' means the extent to which things are joined together, and 'an ephah' the amount of reception. Furthermore the oil served to bind the fine flour together, and the fine flour to receive the oil; for a minchah consisted of oil and fine flour.

[4] In addition there were other measures that were used for ordinary purposes, both for dry substances and for liquids. The measures for dry substances were called the homer and the omer, and the measures for liquids the cor and the bath. A homer contained ten ephahs, and an ephah ten omers, whereas a cor contained ten baths, and a bath ten smaller parts; regarding all these, see Exodus 16:36; Ezekiel 45:11, 13, 24.

[5] But where the new temple is dealt with in Ezekiel a different division of the ephah and the bath occurs. There the ephah and the bath are divided not into ten but into six, and the hin corresponds to the ephah, as is evident in the same prophet, in Ezekiel 45:13-14, 24; 46:5, 7, 11, 14. The reason for this is that in those places the subject is not celestial good and its ability to bind things together, but spiritual good and its ability to do so; and the numbers 'twelve', 'six', and 'three' have their correspondence in the spiritual kingdom, because they mean all and, when used in reference to truths and forms of good, mean all aspects of truth and good in their entirety. The fact that these are meant by 'twelve', see 3272, 3858, 3913, 7973, also by 'six', 3960(end), 7973, 8148, 10217; and in like manner 'three', by which from beginning to end, thus what is complete, is meant, and - in respect of real things - all, 2788, 4495, 5159, 7715, 9825, 10127. The reason why these numbers imply similar things is that larger numbers are similar in meaning to the simple ones which when multiplied produce them, 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973.

[6] Since 'a hin' also means how far something is joined to spiritual truth, a third part of a hin of oil was taken for the minchah in the sacrifices of a ram, and a third part of wine for the drink offering, Numbers 15:6-7; for spiritual good is meant by 'a ram', 2830, 9991. From all this it is again plainly evident that numbers are used in the Word to mean real things. What other reason could there be for the numbers used so often in Moses, Ezekiel, and elsewhere to specify amounts and measures?

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

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #3769

Studere hoc loco

  
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3769. 'And there was a large stone over the mouth of the well' means that it, that is to say, the Word, was closed up. This becomes clear without explanation. The Word is said to be closed up when it is understood purely according to the sense of the letter and everything there is taken for doctrine. It is even more closed up when those things are acknowledged as doctrine which show favour to the desires that go with self-love and love of the world, for these especially roll the large stone over the mouth of the well, that is, they close the Word up. In this case people neither know nor wish to know that any interior sense exists within the Word. Yet they can see that the Word has an interior sense from the many places where the interior sense is used to explain the literal, and also from the generally accepted teachings within the Church which, by means of various explanations, are brought to bear on the literal sense.

[2] What is meant by the Word's being closed up becomes particularly clear from the Jews who explain every single thing literally, and as a consequence believe that they have been chosen in preference to everybody else in all the world, and that the Messiah is coming who will lead them into the land of Canaan and will exalt them above all nations and peoples of the world. For the Jews are governed by loves of an earthly and bodily nature, which are such that they close the Word altogether so far as interior teachings are concerned. What is more, they do not even know whether any heavenly kingdom exists, whether they are going to live after death, what the internal man is, or even the existence of anything spiritual, let alone that the Messiah has come to save souls. The fact that the Word is in their case closed up may also be seen quite clearly from the consideration that although they live among Christians they nevertheless accept nothing whatever of Christian teaching, in accordance with the following words in Isaiah,

Say to this people, Hearing hear, and do not understand; and seeing see, and do not comprehend. Make the hearts of this people fat and their ears heavy, and plaster over their eyes. And I said, How long, O Lord? And He said, Until cities have been laid waste till no inhabitant [is left], and houses till no man [is left], and the land has been laid waste as a desolation. Isaiah 6:9-11; Matthew 13:14-15; John 12:40-41.

[3] To the extent that someone is under the influence of self-love and love of the world, and of the desires that go with these loves, the Word is to him closed up. For those loves have self as the end in view, an end which fosters natural light but extinguishes heavenly light. As a result people see clearly the things that belong to self and the world but nothing whatever of those that belong to the Lord and to His kingdom. When this is so they may indeed read the Word, but their end in view is the increase of personal position and wealth, or that they may be seen by others; or else they read it because it is the done thing and therefore merely from force of habit, or they read it as a religious duty, but without any amendment of life in view. To these people the Word has in different ways become closed up, for some so closed that they do not wish to know anything at all apart from that which their own teachings - whatever these may be - declare.

[4] If anyone were to say, for example, that the power of opening and of shutting heaven has not been granted to Peter but to faith rooted in love, which faith is meant by Peter's keys, they would never acknowledge it because self-love and love of the world stand in the way. Or if anyone were to say that the saints ought not to be worshipped but the Lord alone, they would not accept that either. Nor would they believe it if someone were to say that the bread and wine in the Holy Supper mean the Lord's love towards the whole human race and man's love for the Lord in return. And if anyone were to say that faith - other than the good of faith, which is charity - does not achieve anything, they would give a completely contrary explanation. And so it would be with everything else. People like these can see nothing at all of the truth contained in the Word and do not wish to see it. Instead they adhere rigidly to their own doctrinal opinions. They do not even wish to hear of the existence of the internal sense in which the holiness and the glory of the Word reside. Indeed when they hear about the existence of it they are revolted because of their detestation of the mere mention of it. So the Word has been closed up. Yet the Word is such that it is open right into heaven, and through heaven towards the Lord, and is closed only in relation to man, that is, insofar as he is subject to the evils of self-love and love of the world where the ends in view of his life are concerned, and is subject to false assumptions resulting from those evils. From this one may see what is meant by 'a large stone over the mouth of the well'.

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