The Bible

 

Ezekiel 40

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1 In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth [day] of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day, the hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he brought me thither.

2 In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain, whereon was as it were the frame of a city on the south.

3 And he brought me thither; and, behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed; and he stood in the gate.

4 And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thy heart upon all that I shall show thee; for, to the intent that I may show them unto thee, art thou brought hither: declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.

5 And, behold, a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring reed six cubits long, of a cubit and a handbreadth each: so he measured the thickness of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed.

6 Then came he unto the gate which looketh toward the east, and went up the steps thereof: and he measured the threshold of the gate, one reed broad; and the other threshold, one reed broad.

7 And every lodge was one reed long, and one reed broad; and [the space] between the lodges was five cubits; and the threshold of the gate by the porch of the gate toward the house was one reed.

8 He measured also the porch of the gate toward the house, one reed.

9 Then measured he the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the posts thereof, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was toward the house.

10 And the lodges of the gate eastward were three on this side, and three on that side; they three were of one measure: and the posts had one measure on this side and on that side.

11 And he measured the breadth of the opening of the gate, ten cubits; and the length of the gate, thirteen cubits;

12 and a border before the lodges, one cubit [on this side], and a border, one cubit on that side; and the lodges, six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side.

13 And he measured the gate from the roof of the one lodge to the roof of the other, a breadth of five and twenty cubits; door against door.

14 He made also posts, threescore cubits; and the court [reached] unto the posts, round about the gate.

15 And [from] the forefront of the gate at the entrance unto the forefront of the inner porch of the gate were fifty cubits.

16 And there were closed windows to the lodges, and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the arches; and windows were round about inward; and upon [each] post were palm-trees.

17 Then brought he me into the outer court; and, lo, there were chambers and a pavement, made for the court round about: thirty chambers were upon the pavement.

18 And the pavement was by the side of the gates, answerable unto the length of the gates, even the lower pavement.

19 Then he measured the breadth from the forefront of the lower gate unto the forefront of the inner court without, a hundred cubits, [both] on the east and on the north.

20 And the gate of the outer court whose prospect is toward the north, he measured the length thereof and the breadth thereof.

21 And the lodges thereof were three on this side and three on that side; and the posts thereof and the arches thereof were after the measure of the first gate: the length thereof was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.

22 And the windows thereof, and the arches thereof, and the palm-trees thereof, were after the measure of the gate whose prospect is toward the east; and they went up unto it by seven steps; and the arches thereof were before them.

23 And there was a gate to the inner court over against the [other] gate, [both] on the north and on the east; and he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits.

24 And he led me toward the south; and, behold, a gate toward the south: and he measured the posts thereof and the arches thereof according to these measures.

25 And there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.

26 And there were seven steps to go up to it, and the arches thereof were before them; and it had palm-trees, one on this side, and another on that side, upon the posts thereof.

27 And there was a gate to the inner court toward the south: and he measured from gate to gate toward the south a hundred cubits.

28 Then he brought me to the inner court by the south gate: and he measured the south gate according to these measures;

29 and the lodges thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, according to these measures: and there were windows in it and in the arches thereof round about; it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.

30 And there were arches round about, five and twenty cubits long, and five cubits broad.

31 And the arches thereof were toward the outer court; and palm-trees were upon the posts thereof: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

32 And he brought me into the inner court toward the east: and he measured the gate according to these measures;

33 and the lodges thereof, and the posts thereof, and the arches thereof, according to these measures: and there were windows therein and in the arches thereof round about; it was fifty cubits long, and five and twenty cubits broad.

34 And the arches thereof were toward the outer court; and palm-trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

35 And he brought me to the north gate: and he measured [it] according to these measures;

36 the lodges thereof, the posts thereof, and the arches thereof: and there were windows therein round about; the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits.

37 And the posts thereof were toward the outer court; and palm-trees were upon the posts thereof, on this side, and on that side: and the ascent to it had eight steps.

38 And a chamber with the door thereof was by the posts at the gates; there they washed the burnt-offering.

39 And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slay thereon the burnt-offering and the sin-offering and the trespass-offering.

40 And on the [one] side without, as one goeth up to the entry of the gate toward the north, were two tables; and on the other side, which belonged to the porch of the gate, were two tables.

41 Four tables were on this side, and Four tables on that side, by the side of the gate; eight tables, whereupon they slew [the sacrifices].

42 And there were four tables for the burnt-offering, of hewn stone, a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high; whereupon they laid the instruments wherewith they slew the burnt-offering and the sacrifice.

43 And the hooks, a handbreadth long, were fastened within round about: and upon the tables was the flesh of the oblation.

44 And without the inner gate were chambers for the singers in the inner court, which was at the side of the north gate; and their prospect was toward the south; one at the side of the east gate having the prospect toward the north.

45 And he said unto me, This chamber, whose prospect is toward the south, is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house;

46 and the chamber whose prospect is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar: these are the sons of Zadok, who from among the sons of Levi come near to Jehovah to minister unto him.

47 And he measured the court, a hundred cubits long, and a hundred cubits broad, foursquare; and the altar was before the house.

48 Then he brought me to the porch of the house, and measured each post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side: and the breadth of the gate was three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side.

49 The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits; even by the steps whereby they went up to it: and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and another on that side.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #7847

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7847. 'And put it onto the two doorposts and onto the lintel' means the truths and forms of good of the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'the doorposts' as the truths of the natural; and from the meaning of 'the lintel' as the forms of good belonging to it. The reason why the doorposts and lintel have this meaning is that 'the house' means the actual person or his mind, and parts forming the door mean the things that serve to lead into it. These, it may be evident, are the truths and forms of good of the natural; for the natural man receives instruction first, before the rational man, and the ideas he learns during that time are natural ones, into which spiritual ideas, which are more internal, are gradually instilled. From this one may see in what way the truths and forms of good of the natural serve to lead in. Furthermore lintel and doorposts are similar in meaning to a person's frontlets and hands; for it is in the nature of angelic ideas to associate natural objects with human characteristics. The reason for this is that the spiritual world or heaven is in form like a person, and therefore all things in that world - that is, all spiritual realities, which are truths and forms of good - have connection with that form, as has been shown where correspondences are the subject, at the ends of quite a number of chapters. And since in angelic ideas natural objects become spiritual realities a house does so too. To them it is a person's mind; the bedrooms and other rooms are the inner parts of the mind, and the windows, doors, doorposts, and lintels are the outer parts leading in. Since angelic ideas are like this they are also filled with life; and that being so, things which in the natural world are lifeless objects become objects filled with life when they pass into the spiritual world. For everything spiritual is filled with life since it comes from the Lord.

[2] The fact that 'doorposts and lintel' is similar in meaning to a person's 'frontlets and hands' may be seen from the following words in Moses,

You shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. You are to bind them as a sign onto your hand, and let them be as frontlets between your eyes. And you are to write them onto the doorposts of your house, and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:5, 8-9; 11:13, 18, 20.

Since they hold a similar meaning to each other both observances have been stated here.

[3] As regards the meaning of 'lintel and doorposts' in the spiritual sense as the forms of good and the truths of the natural which lead into spiritual things, this is clear from the description in Ezekiel of the new temple, which means the spiritual Church. There reference is made many times to doorposts and lintels, objects which were also measured. This would never have been done unless those details had also meant something descriptive of the Church or of heaven, that is, something spiritual, such as the following details in that prophet,

The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering, and put it onto the doorpost of the house, and onto the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and onto the post of the gate of the inner court, on the first day of the month. Ezekiel 45:19.

[4] In the same prophet,

The prince shall enter by the way of the portico outside, and stand by the gate post; and the priests shall make his burnt offering. At that time he shall worship on the threshold of the gate. Ezekiel 46:2.

Anyone may recognize that 'the temple' here is not used to mean the temple but the Lord's Church, for the kinds of things described here in a number of chapters have never come about, and never will. In the highest sense 'the temple' is used to mean the Lord's Divine Human. He Himself teaches this meaning in John 2:19, 21-22; and in the representative sense 'the temple is therefore used to mean His Church. For statements that the angel measured the lintels of this new temple, see Ezekiel 40:9-10, 14, 16, 24; 41:21, 25. This measuring of them would have had no importance unless 'the lintels', and also the numbers involved, had meant some aspect of the Church. Because 'the doorposts and lintel' meant the truths and forms of good in the natural, which serve to lead in, the ones in this new temple were square, Ezekiel 41:21. For the same reason the doorposts in Solomon's temple were made of planks of olive wood, 1 Kings 6:31, 33. 'Olive wood' meant the good of truth or the good which is that of the spiritual Church.

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