The Bible

 

Exodus 25

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1 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying,

2 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me a heave-offering: of every one whose heart prompteth him, ye shall take my heave-offering.

3 And this is the heave-offering that ye shall take of them: gold, and silver, and copper,

4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and byssus, and goats' [hair],

5 and rams' skins dyed red, and badgers' skins; and acacia-wood;

6 oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil, and for the incense of fragrant drugs;

7 onyx stones, and stones to be set in the ephod, and in the breastplate.

8 And they shall make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.

9 According to all that I shall shew thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the utensils thereof, even so shall ye make [it].

10 And they shall make an ark of acacia-wood; two cubits and a half the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.

11 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold: inside and outside shalt thou overlay it; and shalt make upon it a border of gold round about.

12 And cast four rings of gold for it, and put [them] at the four corners thereof, that two rings may be upon the one side thereof and two rings upon the other side thereof.

13 And make staves of acacia-wood and overlay them with gold.

14 And put the staves into the rings upon the sides of the ark, that the ark may be borne with them.

15 The staves shall be in the rings of the ark: they shall not come out from it.

16 And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony that I shall give thee.

17 And thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold: two cubits and a half the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof.

18 And thou shalt make two cherubim of gold; [of] beaten work shalt thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat.

19 And make one cherub at the end of the one side, and one cherub at the end of the other side; out of the mercy-seat shall ye make the cherubim at the two ends thereof.

20 And the cherubim shall stretch out [their] wings over it, covering over with their wings the mercy-seat, and their faces opposite to one another: toward the mercy-seat shall the faces of the cherubim be [turned].

21 And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above on the ark, and shalt put in the ark the testimony that I shall give thee.

22 And there will I meet with thee, and will speak with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony, everything that I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

23 And thou shalt make a table of acacia-wood, two cubits the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof.

24 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make upon it a border of gold round about.

25 And thou shalt make for it a margin of a handbreadth round about, and shalt make a border of gold for the margin thereof round about.

26 And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings at the four corners that are on the four feet thereof.

27 Close to the margin shall the rings be, as receptacles of the staves to carry the table.

28 And thou shalt make the staves of acacia-wood, and overlay them with gold; and the table shall be carried upon them.

29 And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and cups thereof, and goblets thereof, and bowls thereof, with which to pour out: of pure gold shalt thou make them.

30 And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me continually.

31 And thou shalt make a lamp-stand of pure gold; [of] beaten work shall the lamp-stand be made: its base and its shaft, its cups, its knobs, and its flowers shall be of the same.

32 And six branches shall come out of the sides thereof -- three branches of the lamp-stand out of one side thereof, and three branches of the lamp-stand out of the other side thereof;

33 three cups shaped like almonds in the one branch, a knob and a flower: and three cups shaped like almonds in the other branch, a knob and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the lamp-stand.

34 And in the lamp-stand four cups shaped like almonds, its knobs and its flowers;

35 and a knob under two branches of it, and [again] a knob under two branches of it, and [again] a knob under two branches of it, for the six branches that proceed out of the lamp-stand.

36 Their knobs and their branches shall be of itself -- all of one beaten work of pure gold.

37 And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof, and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may shine out before it;

38 and the snuffers thereof, and the snuff-trays thereof, of pure gold.

39 Of a talent of pure gold shall they make it, with all these utensils.

40 And see that thou make [them] according to their pattern, which hath been shewn to thee in the mountain.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9543

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9543. 'And the table shall be carried with them' means being thereby held firmly in being. This is clear from the meaning of 'being carried' as being brought into being and kept in being, dealt with above in 9540, thus also being held firmly in being; and from the meaning of 'the table' as the receptacle of heavenly blessings, dealt with in 9527. All this serves to describe the manner in which the inmost or third heaven receives good from the Lord; for the loaves of the Presence are heavenly good that comes from the Lord, and the table on which the loaves were laid is the receptacle of that good. But I am not allowed to present a detailed description of the nature of this reality, because the majority of the things that exist in the Lord's celestial kingdom lie beyond the range of human thought and almost beyond that of the angelic spirits who live in the lowest heaven. For everything in the Lord's celestial kingdom is founded on the good that belongs to love, and not on the truth that belongs to faith. The fact that those there also communicate with one another through forms of the good of love, and not through the truths of faith as those in the Lord's spiritual kingdom do, see the places referred to in 9277.

[2] The Lord's celestial kingdom is the inmost or third heaven, and within it there exist realities beyond comprehension or description, that is, things which have never entered anyone's mind, and which eye has not seen and ear has not heard, as everyone knows. For this reason those realities existing in that heaven are brought before the eyes of spirits below by means of objects that represent them, and from these representatives they form some idea of the incomprehensible and indescribable realities that exist there. The same realities were represented in the world by the ark, mercy-seat, cherubs, table on which the loaves of the Presence were laid, and the lampstand; and these objects serve to present visually all the realities in that kingdom. In like manner the dwelling-place and court of the tent, also the curtains and veils there, served to represent the realities existing in the Lord's spiritual kingdom, which is the second or middle heaven.

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