The Bible

 

Ezekijel 43

Study

   

1 Zatim me povede k vratima što gledaju na istok.

2 I gle, Slava Boga Izraelova dolazi od istoka; šum joj kao šum velikih voda: i zemlja se sjala od slave njegove.

3 To viđenje koje gledah bijaše kao viđenje što ga vidjeh kad dođoh da uništim grad i kao viđenje koje vidjeh na rijeci Kebaru. Padoh ničice.

4 A Slava Jahvina uđe u Dom na vrata koja gledaju na istok.

5 Tada me duh podiže i odvede u unutrašnje predvorje. I gle: Dom bijaše pun Slave Jahvine.

6 I čuh glas koji mi iz Doma govori, a kraj mene netko stajaše.

7 I reče mi: "Sine čovječji, ovo je mjesto mojega prijestolja, ovo je mjesto stopa mojih nogu: ovdje ću, posred sinova Izraelovih, prebivati zauvijek. Izraelov dom neće više oskvrnjivati moje sveto ime - ni oni ni njihovi kraljevi - svojim bludništvom i truplima svojih kraljeva:

8 stavili su svoj prag do moga, svoje dovratnike do mojih, tako da je bio samo zid između mene i njih, i oskvrnjivali su moje sveto ime gnusobama koje počiniše. I zato ih zatrijeh u svojem gnjevu.

9 Sada će oni ukloniti daleko od mene svoje bludništvo i trupla svojih kraljeva, a ja ću zauvijek prebivati posred njih.

10 Sine čovječji, pokaži domu Izraelovu ovaj Dom da se posrame sa svojih bezakonja. Neka mu izmjere razmjere.

11 Ako se posrame zbog svega što učiniše, opiši im Dom i njegove razmjere, njegove izlaze i ulaze, sve njegovo obličje, sve propise i sve zakone; upoznaj ih i nacrtaj im da vide i da čuvaju i provedu sve njegovo obličje i sve propise o njemu.

12 A ovo je zakon za Dom: navrh gore, sav prostor uokolo, bit će najsvetija svetinja.

13 Ovo su mjere žrtvenika, na laktove - a lakat je ovdje jedan lakat i pedalj: podnožje žrtvenika lakat dugo, lakat široko; obrub kojim je obrubljen uokolo - jedan pedalj. Visina žrtvenika:

14 od podnožja na zemlji do donjega pojasa žrtvenika - dva lakta, a u širinu jedan lakat; od manjeg pojasa do većega četiri lakta, a u širinu jedan lakat.

15 A samo žrtvište: četiri lakta visoko. A sa žrtvišta dižu se uvis četiri roga.

16 Žrtvište: dvanaest lakata dugo, dvanaest lakata široko, četvorina, na sve četiri strane.

17 A pojas: četrnaest lakata dug i četrnaest lakata širok, na četiri strane; njegov rub uokolo pol lakta, a podnožje oko njega uokolo jedan lakat; stepenice mu gledaju na istok."

18 I reče mi: "Sine čovječji, ovako govori Jahve Gospod: 'Ovo su propisi žrtveni po kojima se u svoje vrijeme mora podići žrtvenik da se na njemu prinose paljenice i da se po njemu škropi krvlju.

19 Svećenicima levitima, potomcima Sadokovim, koji pristupaju k meni da mi služe - riječ je Jahve Gospoda - dat ćeš june za žrtvu okajnicu.

20 Uzet ćeš njegove krvi i njome pomazati četiri roga žrtvišta i četiri ugla pojasa i obrub sve uokolo da okajnicom pomiriš žrtvenik.

21 Zatim uzmi june i spali ga na odijeljenom mjestu Doma, izvan Svetišta.

22 Sutradan prinesi jarca bez mane kao okajnicu, neka se njime okaje žrtvenik kao što je okajan junetom.

23 A kad ga okaješ, prinesi junca bez mane i ovna bez mane iz stada:

24 prikaži ih pred Jahvom, a svećenici neka ih pospu solju i neka ih prinesu kao paljenicu Jahvi.

25 Sedam dana svaki dan prinesi jednog jarca za grijeh; i neka se prinese june i ovan iz stada, oba bez mane.

26 Sedam dana neka se pomiruje žrtvenik i neka se čisti i posvećuje.

27 Pošto se navrše ti dani, od osmoga dana unapredak neka svećenici žrtvuju na žrtveniku vaše paljenice i pričesnice; i omiljet ćete mi' - riječ je Jahve Gospoda."

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #904

Study this Passage

  
/ 962  
  

904. 21:15 And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. This symbolically means that to people who possess the goodness of love, the Lord grants a faculty for understanding and knowing the nature of the Lord's New Church as regards its doctrine and its introductory truths, and as regards the Word from which they are drawn.

He who spoke with me symbolizes the Lord speaking from heaven, because it was an angel speaking, one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls mentioned in verse 9, who means the Lord speaking from heaven (no. 895). A reed symbolizes a power or ability springing from the goodness of love - a reed symbolizing power or ability (no. 485), and gold the goodness of love (nos. 211, 726). To measure means, symbolically, to learn the character of a thing, thus to understand and know it (no. 486). The city, the holy Jerusalem, symbolizes the church in respect to its doctrine (nos. 879, 880). Its gates symbolize concepts of truth and goodness from the Word's literal sense, which are truths and goods owing to the spiritual life in them (no. 899). And the wall symbolizes the Word in its literal sense from which the doctrine and concepts come (no. 898).

It is apparent from this that "he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall," symbolically means that to people who possess the goodness of love, the Lord grants a faculty for understanding and knowing the nature of the Lord's New Church as regards its doctrine and its introductory truths, and as regards the Word from which they are drawn.

[2] These symbolic meanings cannot be seen at all in the literal sense, for one sees in it only that an angel speaking with John had a gold reed with which to measure the city and its gates and wall. But even so, that these words contain another meaning, a spiritual meaning, is clearly apparent from the fact that the city Jerusalem does not mean a real city, but the church. Consequently everything said about Jerusalem as a city symbolizes such things as have to do with the church, and everything having to do with the church is, in itself, spiritual.

Such a spiritual meaning is present also in what is said in chapter 11 above, where we are told the following:

I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there." (Revelation 11:1)

A similar spiritual meaning is present, too, in everything that the angel measured with a reed in Ezekiel 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48. Also in these verses in Zechariah:

I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what its width is and what its length." (Zechariah 2:1-2)

Indeed, such a spiritual meaning is present in everything connected with the Tabernacle and in everything connected with the Temple in Jerusalem, whose measurements we are told, and also in the measurements themselves. And yet nothing of this can be seen in the literal sense.

  
/ 962  
  

Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.