8540. 'And an omer is the tenth part of an ephah' means the amount of good then. This is clear from the meaning of 'an omer', in that it was the tenth part of an ephah, as the sufficient amount, for 'ten' means that which is complete, 3107, so that 'the tenth part' means the sufficient amount, 8468; and from the meaning of 'an ephah' as good. The reason why 'an ephah' means good is that the ephah and the homer were used to measure dry commodities that served as food, such as wheat, barley, or fine flour; and things that serve as food mean forms of good. And the bath and the hin were used to measure liquid commodities that served as drink; therefore these latter measures mean truths. The container takes its meaning from it contents.

[2] The fact that 'an ephah' was used as a measure is evident from the following places: In Moses,

You shall have a just ephah, and a just hin. Leviticus 19:36.

In Ezekiel,

You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. Ezekiel 45:10.

In the same prophet, The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, for the ephah is a tenth of a homer. Ezekiel 44:11.

A like use of it as a measure occurs in Amos 8:5.

[3] The meaning of 'an ephah' as good is evident from places where the minchah is referred to; the amount of flour or fine flour for it is measured by the ephah, for example at Leviticus 5:11; Numbers 5:15; 28:5; Ezekiel 45:24; 26:7, 11. And 'minchah' too means good, 4581. That meaning is also evident from the following in Zechariah,

The angel talking to me said to me, Lift your eyes now; what is this going out? And I said, What is this? He said, This is an ephah going out. He said further, This is their eye in all the earth. And behold, a talent of lead was lifted up, and at the same time a woman ¹ sitting in the middle of the ephah. Then he said, She is wickedness. ² And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah, and threw a stone of lead ³ over the mouth of it. And I raised my eyes and saw, and behold, two women going out, and the wind was in their wings. Each had two wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven. And I said to the angel talking to me, Where are they taking away the ephah? And he said to me, To build her a house in the land of Shinar; and she will be prepared and will remain there on her seat. Zechariah 5:5-11.

[4] No one can ever know what all this means except from the internal sense. He will never know unless he knows from that sense what 'an ephah' means, and what 'the woman in the middle of it', 'the stone of lead over the mouth of the ephah', and also 'Shinar' mean. Once these particular meanings have been brought to the surface it is plain that the profanation existing in the Church at that time is meant. For 'an ephah' means good; 'the woman' means wickedness or evil, as it is explicitly stated there; and 'a stone of lead' means falsity arising from evil which shuts it away, 'a stone' being outward truth, and therefore in the contrary sense falsity, 643, 1298, 3720, 6426, and 'lead' evil, 8298. So it is that the woman in the middle of the ephah, over the mouth of which a stone of lead was placed, means evil shut up in good by falsity, which is the same thing as profanation. For profanation is evil joined to good, 6348. The two women lifting up the ephah between earth and heaven are Churches, 252, 253, by which the profanation was banished. 'Shinar', to which the woman in the ephah was taken away, is external worship that has profanity within it, 1183, 1292

Bilješke:

1292. That 'they found a valley in the land of Shinar' means that worship became more unclean and unholy is clear from the meaning of 'a valley' and from the meaning of 'the land of Shinar'. As regards the meaning of 'a valley', in the Word 'mountains' means love or charity because these are the highest points, or what amounts to the same, inmost features of worship, as shown already in 795. Consequently 'a valley' means that which is below the mountains, that is, the lower, or what amounts to the same, exterior aspect of worship. 'The land of Shinar' however means external worship which has unholiness within it, as shown already in 1183. Thus in this verse the statement that 'they found a valley in the land of Shinar' means that worship became more unclean and unholy.

[2] Verse one dealt with the Church having one lip and its words being one that is, one doctrine in general and in particular. This verse however deals with the decline of the Church - 'they travelled from the east' that is, they began to depart from charity. For to the extent that the Church, or a member of the Church, departs from charity, its worship departs from what is holy, or its worship approaches what is unclean and unholy. The reason 'they found a valley in the land of Shinar' means the decline of the Church, that is, of worship, into unholiness is that a valley is a low-lying area between mountains, which, as has been stated, mean the holy things of love or of charity within worship. This also becomes clear from the meaning of 'a valley' in the Word where in the original language several expressions for valley occur which mean, when used in that sense, things present in worship that are less or more unholy.

[3] That 'valleys' means such things is clear in Isaiah,

The burden of the valley of vision; for the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth has a day of tumult and of trampling and of confusion in the valley of vision. Isaiah 22:1, 5.

'The valley of vision' stands for delusions and for reasonings by which worship is rendered false and at length profaned. In Jeremiah,

How do you say, I have not been defiled, I have not walked after the baals? Look at your way in the valley. Jeremiah 2:23.

'The valley' stands for unclean worship. In the same prophet, They have built the high places of Topheth, which are in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Therefore, behold, the days are coming when it will no more be called Topheth or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter. Jeremiah 7:31, 34; 19:6.

'The valley of Hinnom' stands for hell, also for the profanation of truth and good.

[4] In Ezekiel,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih to the mountains and hills, to the ravines and valleys Behold, I, even I, am bringing a sword places. Ezekiel 6:3.

In the same prophet,

I will give to Gog a place there for burial in Israel, the valley of those that pass over towards the east of the sea. And they will call it the valley of the multitude of Gog. Ezekiel 39:11, 15.

This refers to worship in external things, 'the valley' standing for such worship. But when worship has not yet become unholy to that extent, it is described by the word for a valley used here in Genesis 11:2, as in Isaiah,

I will open rivers on the sloping heights, and I will place springs in the midst of valleys; I will make the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into streams of water. Isaiah 41:18.

This refers to people who are in ignorance, that is, without cognitions of faith and charity, and who yet have charity. 'valley' here stands for those people, as does 'valley' in Ezekiel 37:1.