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Exodus 37

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1 And Bezaleel made the ark of shittim wood: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and a cubit and a half the breadth of it, and a cubit and a half the hight of it:

2 And he overlaid it with pure gold within and without, and made a crown of gold to it round about.

3 And he cast for it four rings of gold, to be set by the four corners of it; even two rings upon the one side of it, and two rings upon the other side of it.

4 And he made staffs of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold.

5 And he put the staffs into the rings by the sides of the ark, to bear the ark.

6 And he made the mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half was the length of it, and one cubit and a half the breadth of it.

7 And he made two cherubim of gold, beaten out of one piece he made them, on the two ends of the mercy-seat;

8 One cherub on the end on this side, and another cherub on the other end on that side: out of the mercy-seat made he the cherubim on the two ends of it.

9 And the cherubim spread out their wings on high, and covered with their wings over the mercy-seat, with their faces one to another; even towards the mercy-seat were the faces of the cherubim.

10 And he made the table of shittim wood: two cubits was its length, and a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its hight:

11 And he overlaid it with pure gold, and made to it a crown of gold round about.

12 Also he made to it a border of a hand-breadth round about; and made a crown of gold for its border round about.

13 And he cast for it four rings of gold, and put the rings upon the four corners that were in its four feet.

14 Over against the border were the rings, the places for the staffs, to bear the table.

15 And he made the staffs of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold, to bear the table.

16 And he made the vessels which were upon the table, its dishes, and its spoons, and its bowls, and its covers to cover with, of pure gold.

17 And he made the candlestick of pure gold; of beaten work he made the candlestick; its shaft, and its branch, its bowls, its knobs, and its flowers were of the same:

18 And six branches proceeding from its sides; three branches of the candlestick from the one side of it, and three branches of the candlestick from the other side of it.

19 Three bowls made after the fashion of almonds in one branch, a knob and a flower; and Three bowls made like almonds in another branch, a knob and a flower: so throughout the six branches proceeding from the candlestick.

20 And in the candlestick were four bowls made like almonds, its knobs, and its flowers:

21 And a knob under two branches of the same, and a knob under two branches of the same, and a knob under two branches of the same, according to the six branches proceeding from it.

22 Their knobs and their branches were of the same: all of it was one beaten work of pure gold.

23 And he made its seven lamps, and its snuffers, and its snuff-dishes, of pure gold.

24 Of a talent of pure gold he made it, and all its vessels.

25 And he made the incense-altar of shittim wood: the length of it was a cubit, and the breadth of it a cubit; it was foursquare; and two cubits was the hight of it; the horns of it were of the same.

26 And he overlaid it with pure gold, both the top of it, and its sides round about, and its horns: also he made to it a crown of gold round about.

27 And he made two rings of gold for it under its crown, by the two corners of it, upon its two sides, to be places for the staffs to bear it with.

28 And he made the staffs of shittim wood, and overlaid them with gold.

29 And he made the holy anointing oil, and the pure incense of sweet spices, according to the work of the apothecary.

   

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Instruments

  

'Instruments of music' have sometimes an opposite or bad sense in the Word, and signify gladness and joy resulting from the affections of evil and the falsity. (See Isaiah 5:11, 12, 23:15, 16) 'Instruments of music' in other places signify the pleasant and delightful affection of spiritual and celestial things.

(Референци: Arcana Coelestia 8337)


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Arcana Coelestia #8337

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8337. 'And Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a timbrel in her hand' means ascribing glory to the Lord from the good of faith. This is clear from the representation of 'Miriam' as the good of faith, for 'Moses' represents the truth of faith that goes forth directly from the Lord, thus inward truth, whereas 'Aaron' represents the truth of faith that goes forth from the Lord in an indirect way, thus outward truth, 7009, 7089, 7382, so that 'Miriam' is the good of faith which goes forth in an indirect way from the Lord, for when 'men' represent truth, 'their womenfolk' represent good, 6014 (since Miriam along with the women represents external good she is in addition referred to as 'Aaron's sister', though she is not called Moses' sister, the relation between good and truth being like that of sister and brother, 3160. But it should be remembered that 'women' represent good and 'men' truth when the spiritual Church is the subject, whereas 'women' represent truth and 'men' good when the celestial Church is the subject, 4823); from the meaning of 'the prophetess' as one who teaches, dealt with in 2534, 7269, at this point one who joins in praising the Lord, or what amounts to the same thing, one who ascribes glory to Him from the good of faith, since she sang to Jehovah, as Moses and the men of Israel had done (for the meaning of 'singing' as ascribing glory, see 8261, 8263, 8267); and from the meaning of 'taking a timbrel in one's hand' as ascribing glory from the good of faith, since 'a timbrel' has reference to spiritual good, or what amounts to the same thing, to the good of faith, 4138.

[2] In former times many types of musical instruments were used when God was worshipped, but with much discrimination. In general wind instruments were used to express affections for good, and stringed instruments affections for truth; and the origin of this was the correspondence of every sound to the affections. It is well known that some types of musical instruments are used to express one kind of natural affections and other types to express another kind, and that when a fitting melody is played they in actual fact stir the affections. Skilled musicians know all about this and also make proper use of it. The reason for it lies in the very nature of sound, and its accord with the affections. Mankind at first learned about it not from science and art but through the ear and its keen sense of hearing. From this it is plain that the ability does not have its origin in the natural world but in the spiritual world; it, springs from the correspondence of things in the natural world - which flow into it in accordance with true order - with realities in the spiritual world. Harmonious sound and various forms it takes correspond to states of joy and gladness in the spiritual world, and states of joy and gladness there spring from affections, which in that world are affections for what is good and true. From this one may now recognize that musical instruments correspond to delights and pleasures belonging to spiritual and celestial affections, and that some instruments correspond to celestial affections, others to spiritual ones; see what has been stated and shown about them previously in 418-420, 4138.

[3] As regards 'a timbrel' in particular, this corresponds to spiritual good, that is, to the good of truth. This is because a timbrel is neither a stringed nor a wind instrument but, being made of skin, is an instrument of one continuous string so to speak; and it is also because it has a heavier and deeper sound than that made by stringed instruments. This may also be recognized from the Word, in places in which 'a timbrel' is mentioned, as in Isaiah,

The joy of timbrels will cease, the noise of merry ones will cease, the joy of the harp will cease. Isaiah 24:8.

'The joy of timbrels' stands for delights that belong to affections for the good of faith; 'the joy of the harp' stands for delight that belongs to an affection for the truth of faith.

In Jeremiah,

Again I will build you, that you may be built, O virgin of Israel! Again you will adorn your timbrels, 1 and will go forth in the dance of the merrymakers. Jeremiah 31:4.

'Adorning timbrels' stands for ascribing glory to God from spiritual good, for it refers to the spiritual Church, meant by 'the virgin of Israel'.

[4] Similarly in Ezekiel,

You were in Eden, the garden of God. The workmanship of your timbrels and your pipes was within you; on the day you were created they were prepared. Ezekiel 28:13.

This refers to Tyre, by which cognitions or knowledge of good and of truth are meant, 'timbrels' meaning affections for the former and 'pipes' feelings of joy in the latter.

In David,

They have seen Your goings, O God, the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. The singers went before, players [of stringed instruments] after, in the midst of the virgins playing timbrels. Psalms 68:24-25.

In the same author,

Shout to the God of Jacob; raise a song, and sound the timbrel, the delightful harp with the lyre. Psalms 81:1-2.

In the same author,

Sing to Jehovah a new song; let them praise His name in dancing, with timbrel and harp let them make melody to Him. Psalms 149:1, 3.

Here 'praising with timbrel' stands for ascribing glory from the feeling of delight that belongs to an affection for the good of faith, and 'praising with harp' for the pleasant feeling that belongs to an affection for the truth of faith.

[5] In the same author,

Praise God with timbrel and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and organ praise Him with sounding cymbals 2 ; praise Him with clanging cymbals. 3 Psalms 150:3-5

'Praising with timbrel and dance' stands for doing so from the good and truth of faith; 'on stringed instruments and organ' stands for doing so from truths and consequently from good. Since all instruments corresponded to and were signs of the delights and pleasant feelings that belong to spiritual and celestial affections a large number of the Psalms of David have titles indicating how they were to be accompanied, such as On Neginoth, On the Nehiloth, On the Octave, 4 Shiggaion, the Gittith Muthlabben, the Sheminith, Shoshannim, or Mahalath.

Фусноти:

1. The Latin here and in 153, 1069:2, 3081:4 means literally will adorn your timbrels, but the Hebrew is generally taken to mean adorn yourself with timbrels.

2. lit. cymbals of sound

3. lit. cymbals of clangour

4. The Hebrew means On the Sheminith.

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