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Ezekiel 45

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1 Moreover, when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer an oblation unto Jehovah, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand [reeds], and the breadth shall be ten thousand: it shall be holy in all the border thereof round about.

2 Of this there shall be for the holy place five hundred [in length] by five hundred [in breadth], square round about; and fifty cubits for the suburbs thereof round about.

3 And of this measure shalt thou measure a length of five and twenty thousand, and a breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary, which is most holy.

4 It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, that come near to minister unto Jehovah; and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary.

5 And five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth, shall be unto the Levites, the ministers of the house, for a possession unto themselves, [for] twenty chambers.

6 And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, side by side with the oblation of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel.

7 And [whatsoever is] for the prince [shall be] on the one side and on the other side of the holy oblation and of the possession of the city, in front of the holy oblation and in front of the possession of the city, on the west side westward, and on the east side eastward; and in length answerable unto one of the portions, from the west border unto the east border.

8 In the land it shall be to him for a possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

9 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute justice and righteousness; take away your exactions from my people, saith the Lord Jehovah.

10 Ye shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.

11 The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of a homer, and the ephah the tenth part of a homer: the measure thereof shall be after the homer.

12 And the shekel shall be twenty gerahs; twenty shekels, five and twenty shekels, fifteen shekels, shall be your maneh.

13 This is the oblation that ye shall offer: the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of wheat; and ye shall give the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of barley;

14 and the set portion of oil, of the bath of oil, the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, [which is] ten baths, even a homer; (for ten baths are a homer;)

15 and one lamb of the flock, out of two hundred, from the well-watered pastures of Israel; -for a meal-offering, and for a burnt-offering, and for peace-offerings, to make atonement for them, saith the Lord Jehovah.

16 All the people of the land shall give unto this oblation for the prince in Israel.

17 And it shall be the prince's part to give the burnt-offerings, and the meal-offerings, and the drink-offerings, in the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the sabbaths, in all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin-offering, and the meal-offering, and the burnt-offering, and the peace-offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.

18 Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: In the first [month], in the first [day] of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock without blemish; and thou shalt cleanse the sanctuary.

19 And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin-offering, and put it upon the door-posts of the house, and upon the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and upon the posts of the gate of the inner court.

20 And so thou shalt do on the seventh [day] of the month for every one that erreth, and for him that is simple: so shall ye make atonement for the house.

21 In the first [month], in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

22 And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin-offering.

23 And the seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt-offering to Jehovah, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a he-goat daily for a sin-offering.

24 And he shall prepare a meal-offering, an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

25 In the seventh [month], in the fifteenth day of the month, in the feast, shall he do the like the seven days; according to the sin-offering, according to the burnt-offering, and according to the meal-offering, and according to the oil.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #576

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576. That the number ten means remnants, just as tenths do, becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Many houses will be a desolation, large and beautiful ones, without inhabitant, for ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bath, and a homer of seed will yield an ephah. Isaiah 5:9-10.

This refers to the vastation of spiritual and celestial things. 'Ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bath' stands for remnants of spiritual things being so few, while 'a homer of seed will yield an ephah' stands for remnants of celestial things being so few. In the same prophet,

And there will be many forsaken places in the midst of the land; and yet there will be a tenth part in it, and this will return; it will be however an uprooting. Isaiah 6:12-13.

'The midst of the land' stands for the internal man, 'a tenth part' for such a small quantity of remnants. In Ezekiel,

You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, the bath containing a tenth of a homer; and the ephah a tenth of a homer, the measure for it shall be after the homer. And the fixed portion of oil, of the bath of oil, shall be a tenth of a bath from a cor, which is ten baths to the homer; for ten baths are a homer. Ezekiel 45:10-11, 14.

The quantities mentioned here relate to holy things, which are Jehovah's. They mean different kinds of holy things. 'Ten' here means remnants of celestial things and so of spiritual things. For what are the specific numerical quantities mentioned in this and in previous chapters of this prophet where the heavenly Jerusalem and the new Temple are the subject, and in other prophets, and also in the various rites of the Jewish Church, if they do not contain sacred arcana?

[2] In Amos,

She has fallen, no more to rise, the virgin of Israel. Thus said the Lord Jehovah, The city that goes forth a thousand will have remnants of a hundred, and that which goes forth a hundred will have remnants of ten to the house of Israel. Amos 5:2-3.

The word 'remnants' is used here, of which only a fraction will remain, for this is only a tenth part, or the remnants of remnants. In the same prophet,

I hate the pride of Jacob and his palaces, and I will shut up the city and all that is in it. And it will be that if ten men will have remained in one house, they will die. Amos 6:8-9.

'Ten' stands for remnants that are not likely to remain. In Moses,

The Ammonite and the Moabite shall not come into the assembly of Jehovah; even the tenth generation belonging to them shall not come into the assembly of Jehovah forever. Deuteronomy 23:3.

'The Ammonite and the Moabite' stands for the profanation of the celestial and the spiritual things of faith, the remnants of which have been dealt with already.

[3] From this it is clear that 'tenths' represents remnants, of which Malachi speaks as follows,

Bring all the tithes 1 to the treasure-house, that there may be plunder in My house, and let them put Me to the test in this matter whether I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing for you. Malachi 3:10.

'That there may be plunder in My house stands for remnants in the internal man, which are likened to 'plunder' because they are implanted, so to speak, by stealth among so many evils and falsities; and by way of such remnants comes every blessing. The fact that the whole of a person's charity comes to him by way of the remnants that are in the internal man was also represented in the Jewish Church by the requirement that once they had paid their tithes, 1 they were then to give to the Levite, the stranger, the orphan, and the widow, Deuteronomy 26:12 and following verses.

[4] Since remnants are the Lord' s alone, tenths are therefore called 'Holiness to Jehovah', and are spoken of in Moses as follows,

All the tithes 1 of the land - of the seed of the land, of the fruit of the tree - are Jehovah's; they are Holiness to Jehovah. All tithes 1 of the herd and of the flock, every tenth one that passes under the (herdsman's) staff shall be Holiness to Jehovah. Leviticus 27:30, 32.

Since the Decalogue consisted of Ten Commandments, or Ten Words, and Jehovah wrote them on tablets, Deuteronomy 10:4, remnants are meant; and the fact that they were written by the hand of Jehovah means that such remnants are the Lord's alone. Their presence in the internal man was represented by the tablets.

Footnotes:

1. or tenths

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

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