The Bible

 

Ezekiel 42

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1 Then he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north: and he brought me into the chamber that was over against the separate place, and which was over against the building toward the north.

2 Before the length of a hundred cubits was the north door, and the breadth was fifty cubits.

3 Over against the twenty [cubits] which belonged to the inner court, and Over against the pavement which belonged to the outer court, was gallery against gallery in the third story.

4 And before the chambers was a walk of ten cubits' breadth inward, a way of one cubit; and their doors were toward the north.

5 Now the upper chambers were shorter; for the galleries took away from these, more than from the lower and the middlemost, in the building.

6 For they were in three stories, and they had not pillars as the pillars of the courts: therefore [the uppermost] was straitened more than the lowest and the middlemost from the ground.

7 And the wall that was without by the side of the chambers, toward the outer court before the chambers, the length thereof was fifty cubits.

8 For the length of the chambers that were in the outer court was fifty cubits: and, lo, before the temple were a hundred cubits.

9 And from under these chambers was the entry on the east side, as one goeth into them from the outer court.

10 In the thickness of the wall of the court toward the east, before the separate place, and before the building, there were chambers.

11 And the way before them was like the appearance of [the way of] the chambers which were toward the north; according to their length so was their breadth: and all their egresses were both according to their fashions, and according to their doors.

12 And according to the doors of the chambers that were toward the south was a door at the head of the way, even the way directly before the wall toward the east, as one entereth into them.

13 Then said he unto me, The north chambers and the south chambers, which are before the separate place, they are the holy chambers, where the priests that are near unto Jehovah shall eat the most holy things: there shall they lay the most holy things, and the meal-offering, and the sin-offering, and the trespass-offering; for the place is holy.

14 When the priests enter in, then shall they not go out of the holy place into the outer court, but there they shall lay their garments wherein they minister; for they are holy: and they shall put on other garments, and shall approach to that which pertaineth to the people.

15 Now when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth by the way of the gate whose prospect is toward the east, and measured it round about.

16 He measured on the east side with the measuring reed five hundred reeds, with the measuring reed round about.

17 He measured on the north side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed round about.

18 He measured on the south side five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

19 He turned about to the west side, and measured five hundred reeds with the measuring reed.

20 He measured it on the four sides: it had a wall round about, the length five hundred, and the breadth five hundred, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.

   

Commentary

 

Pillar

  

In Exodus 13:21, this signifies a state of illumination tempered by the obscurity of truth, and a state of obscurity tempered by illumination from good. (Arcana Coelestia 8106, 8108)

In Revelation 10:1, this signifies that the Lord's Divine Natural, which in itself is the Divine Humanity which He took in the world, sustains and supports His Eternal Divinity as the body does the soul, and as the natural sense of the Word does its spiritual and celestial senses; for feet signifies the natural, pillars signify support, and fire, the Divine Love. (Apocalypse Revealed 468)

In Exodus 26:32, this signifies what supports heaven and the church, namely the goods of love and of faith from the Lord. (Arcana Coelestia 9674)

(References: Exodus 8, 8:21, 21)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8108

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8108. 'And by night in a pillar of fire to give them light' means that when there was a state of dimness, this was moderated by enlightenment from good. This is clear from the meaning of 'night' as a state of obscurity or dimness, dealt with in 1712, 6000; from the meaning of 'fire' as the good of love, dealt with in 934, 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 7852; and from the meaning of 'giving light' as enlightenment. The reason why Jehovah or the Lord appeared or led the way in a pillar of cloud during the daytime and in a pillar of fire by night was that the state of heaven was represented thereby. In heaven variations and changes of state occur unceasingly; for angels are being perfected constantly, and without unceasing changes of states this perfecting could not possibly take place. In general those variations and changes are like the cyclic changes in the world - like the round of yearly seasons, which are spring, summer, autumn, winter, and spring again, and like the round of times of day, which are morning, midday, evening, night, and morning again. Morning and midday in heaven occurs when the understanding is being enlightened by the Lord; but in this state the light is moderated by a dimming of truth, as if by a cloud. And evening and night there occur when the understanding grows dim; but the Lord moderates that dimness by means of the good of love, as if by means of a fire giving light. These provisions by the Lord are what were represented by the pillar of cloud during the daytime, and the pillar of fire by night, present with the children of Israel in the wilderness.

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