Bibliorum

 

Exodus 30

Study

   

1 And thou shalt make an altar to burn incense upon: of shittim wood shalt thou make it.

2 A cubit shall be its length, and a cubit its breadth; foursquare shall it be; and two cubits shall be its hight: its horns shall be of the same.

3 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, its top, and its sides round about, and its horns; and thou shalt make to it a crown of gold round about.

4 And two golden rings shalt thou make to it under the crown of it, by its two corners, upon the two sides of it shalt thou make it; and they shall be for places for the staffs to bear it with.

5 And thou shalt make the staffs of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold.

6 And thou shalt put it before the vail that is by the ark of the testimony, before the mercy-seat that is over the testimony, where I will meet with thee.

7 And Aaron shall burn upon it sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.

8 And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at evening, he shall burn incense upon it; a perpetual incense before the LORD, throughout your generations.

9 Ye shall offer no strange incense upon it, nor burnt-sacrifice, nor meat-offering; neither shall ye pour drink-offering upon it.

10 And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year, with the blood of the sin-offering of atonements: once in a year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy to the LORD.

11 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul to the LORD, when thou numberest them: that there may be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

13 This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel, after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) a half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD.

14 Every one that passeth among them that are numbered from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering to the LORD.

15 The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering to the LORD to make an atonement for your souls.

16 And thou shalt take the atonement-money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial to the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.

17 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

18 Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and its foot also of brass, to wash in: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein.

19 For Aaron and their sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat:

20 When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not: or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire to the LORD.

21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations.

22 Moreover the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

23 Take thou also to thee principal spices, of pure myrrh five hundred shekels, and of sweet cinnamon half as much, even two hundred and fifty shekels, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty shekels,

24 And of cassia five hundred shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, and of olive-oil a hin:

25 And thou shalt make it an oil of holy ointment, an ointment compound after the art of the apothecary: it shall be a holy anointing oil.

26 And thou shalt anoint the tabernacle of the congregation with it, and the ark of the testimony,

27 And the table and all its vessels, and the candlestick and its vessels, and the altar of incense,

28 And the altar of burnt-offering with all its vessels, and the laver and its foot.

29 And thou shalt sanctify them, that they may be most holy: whatever toucheth them shall be holy.

30 And thou shalt anoint Aaron and his sons, and consecrate them, that they may minister to me in the priest's office.

31 And thou shalt speak to the children of Israel, saying, This shall be a holy anointing oil to me, throughout your generations.

32 Upon man's flesh shall it not be poured, neither shall ye make any other like it, after the composition of it: it is holy, and it shall be holy to you.

33 Whoever compoundeth any like it, or whoever putteth any of it upon a stranger, shall even be cut off from his people.

34 And the LORD said to Moses, Take to thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight:

35 And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy:

36 And thou shalt beat some of it very small, and put of it before the testimony in the tabernacle of the congregation, where I will meet with thee: it shall be to you most holy:

37 And as for the perfume which thou shalt make, ye shall not make to yourselves according to its composition: it shall be to thee holy for the LORD.

38 Whoever shall make the like to that, to smell thereto, shall even be cut off from his people.

   

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #10277

Studere hoc loco

  
/ 10837  
  

10277. 'Everyone touching them will be sanctified' means an imparting [of what is His] to all who receive [Him] in love and faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'touching' as an imparting, dealt with in 10130; and from the meaning of 'being sanctified' as the inflow and presence of the Lord, dealt with immediately above in 10276. And since the inflow and presence of the Lord are accomplished within love and faith, thus with those who receive Him in love and faith, these are the ones who are here said to be the sanctified. But what is Divine with them is holy, and nothing at all of their own.

  
/ 10837  
  

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

from the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

 

Arcana Coelestia #9825

Studere hoc loco

  
/ 10837  
  

9825. 'And a robe' means Divine Truth there in its inward form. This is clear from the meaning of 'a robe' as the middle of the spiritual kingdom, thus the actual truth that is there. For Aaron's garments represented the Lord's spiritual kingdom, 9814, and so represented the forms of truth present in their proper order there, 9822; and since that kingdom was divided into three degrees - the inmost, the middle, and the outermost - 'the robe' was a sign of what belongs in the middle of that kingdom. That kingdom was divided into three degrees because the inmost part there is in touch with the celestial [heaven], and the outermost with the natural; and the middle part thereby draws equally on both. Indeed for anything to be perfect it must be divided into three degrees. This is so with heaven, and it is so with the forms of good and truth there. As is well known, there are three heavens; consequently there are three degrees of good and truth there. Each heaven too is divided into three degrees. The inmost part of it must be in direct touch with what lies above, and the outermost with what lies below, and so the middle through them with what lies both above and below, all of which brings perfection to that heaven. The situation is just the same with a person's interiors. These in general have been divided into three degrees - into celestial, spiritual, and natural. And each of these has in like manner been divided into its own three degrees. For a person who has the good of faith and love to the Lord within him is heaven in the smallest form it takes, corresponding to the largest, 9279. The situation is also the same in everything belonging to the natural order. The natural level of a person too has been divided into three degrees, see 4570, as generally have all things present in him on interior and exterior levels, 4154. The reason why this should be so is that end, cause, and effect must be present everywhere. The end must be that which is inmost, the cause that which comes in the middle, and the effect that which is last, if a thing is to be perfect. This is why 'three' in the Word means what is complete from beginning to end, 2788, 4495, 7715, 9198, 9488, 9489. From all this people may know why Aaron's holy garments consisted of an ephod, a robe, and a tunic, and that the ephod represented the outermost part there, the robe the middle, and the tunic the inmost.

[2] Since the robe represented the middle in the spiritual kingdom, and the middle draws on both the other parts, this robe stood in a representative sense for that very kingdom, as in the first Book of Samuel,

Samuel turned to go away, but Saul took hold of the skirt of his robe, and it was torn away. Consequently Samuel said to him, Jehovah will tear away the kingdom of Israel from upon you this day, and He has given it to your companion, who is better than you. 1 Samuel 15:27-28.

From these words it is evident that the tearing off of the skirt of Samuel's robe was a sign of the tearing away of the kingdom of Israel from Saul; for 'the kingdom of Israel' means the Lord's spiritual kingdom, see 4286, 4598, 6426, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223, 8805. Something similar occurs again in the same book,

David secretly cut off the skirt of Saul's robe. And when he showed it to Saul, Saul said, Now I know that you will indeed reign, and the kingdom of Israel will be firmly established in your hand. 1 Samuel 24:4-5, 11, 20.

Also, when Jonathan made a covenant with David he took off the robe from upon himself and gave it to David, [with his armour,] even to his sword, bow, and belt, 1 Samuel 18:3-4. All this represented the renunciation of the kingdom of Israel by Jonathan, who was the heir, and his passing it over to David.

[3] Since the robe represented the spiritual kingdom, it also represented the truths of that kingdom generally, the truths of that kingdom being what are called the spiritual truths that are present in the understanding part of a person's mind. These truths are meant by 'robes' in Ezekiel, All the princes of the sea will step down from upon their thrones, and will cast away their robes and will strip off their embroidered garments. Ezekiel 26:16.

This refers to Tyre, by which cognitions or knowledge of good and truth are meant, 1201; the ruination of them in the Church is described here. 'The robes' which they will cast away are truths of faith present in the understanding part of the mind; but 'the embroidered garments' are truths on the level of factual knowledge that are present in the natural, 9688. The reason why those truths are meant is that in the Lord's spiritual kingdom truth, which belongs to the understanding, holds sway, whereas in His celestial kingdom good, which belongs to the will, holds sway. In Matthew,

The scribes and Pharisees do all their works to be seen by people, and they enlarge the hems of their robes. Matthew 23:5, 6.

'Enlarging the hems of robes' stands for speaking about truths in a majestic way solely in order that they may be heard and regarded by other people. The fact that such things are meant by 'a robe' will become clearer still from the description of it further on, in verses 31-35 of this chapter.

  
/ 10837  
  

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