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Ezekiel 42

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1 And he brought me forth into the outer court, the way toward the north; and he brought me to the cells that were over against the separate place and which were over against the building, toward the north,

2 before the length of the hundred cubits: the entry was on the north, and the breadth was fifty cubits,

3 over against the twenty [cubits] that pertained to the inner court, and over against the pavement that pertained to the outer court; there was gallery against gallery in the third [story];

4 and before the cells was a walk of ten cubits in breadth, [and] a way of a hundred cubits inward; and their entries were toward the north.

5 And the upper cells, because the galleries encroached on them, were shorter than the lower, and than the middle-most of the building.

6 For they were in three [stories], but had not pillars as the pillars of the courts; therefore [the third story] was straitened more than the lowest and the middle-most from the ground.

7 And the wall that was without, answering to the cells, toward the outer court in the front of the cells, its length was fifty cubits:

8 for the length of the cells that were against the outer court was fifty cubits; but behold, before the temple it was a hundred cubits.

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

10 In the breadth of the wall of the court toward the south, before the separate place, and before the building, were cells;

11 and a passage before them, like the appearance of the cells that were toward the north, according to their length, according to their breadth and all their goings out, and according to their fashions, and according to their doors.

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

13 And he said unto me, The north cells [and] the south cells, which are before the separate place, they are holy cells, where the priests that come near unto Jehovah shall eat the most holy things; there shall they lay the most holy things, both the oblation and the sin-offering and the trespass-offering: for the place is holy.

14 When the priests enter in, they shall not go forth from the sanctuary 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 is for the people.

15 And when he had made an end of measuring the inner house, he brought me forth toward the gate whose front was toward the east, and measured [the enclosure] round about.

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

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

18 He measured 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, five hundred long, and five hundred broad, to make a separation between that which was holy and that which was common.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #487

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487. "But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it." (11:2) This symbolically means that the state of the church on earth, as it is still, must be set aside and not learned.

The court outside the temple symbolizes the church on earth, because that church is outside heaven, heaven being the temple (no. 486). To leave out means, symbolically, to remove, here to remove from heaven, because its state is of such a character. And not to measure means, symbolically, not to learn or investigate its character (no. 486). The reason follows: "for has been given to the gentiles, and they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months."

That the court outside the temple here symbolizes the church on earth as it is still, is apparent from the following particulars in this chapter, where it is described by the great city called Sodom and Egypt, in which the Lord's two witnesses lay dead, and which afterward fell in a great earthquake, and seven thousand people by name were killed in it - and many other particulars besides.

[2] Elsewhere in the Word the court symbolizes the outward aspect of the church. For there were two courts 1 to be crossed when entering the Temple itself in Jerusalem, and as the Temple symbolized the church in respect to its inner aspect, therefore the courts symbolized the church in respect to its outward one. Consequently strangers who came from the surrounding nations were admitted into the courts, but not into the Temple itself.

Moreover, because the court symbolized the outward aspect of the church, it symbolized therefore also the church on earth, and heaven as well in its outmost manifestations, inasmuch as the church on earth is an entryway into heaven, and so is heaven in its outmost manifestations.

[3] A court has this symbolic meaning in the following places:

Blessed is he whom You choose... He shall dwell in Your courts. We shall be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, with the holiness of Your temple. (Psalms 65:4)

Praise the name of Jehovah..., O you... who stand in (His) house, in the courts of the house of our God. (Psalms 135:1-2)

How lovely are Your habitations, O Jehovah...! My soul... indeed faints for the courts of Jehovah. (Psalms 84:1-2)

Enter into His gates with confession, His courts with praise. (Psalms 100:4)

The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree... Those who are planted in the house of Jehovah shall sprout in the courts of our God. (Psalms 92:12-13)

...a day in Your courts is better than thousands. I have chosen to stand at the door in the house of my God... (Psalms 84:10)

And so on elsewhere, as in Psalms 96:8; 116:18-19, Isaiah 1:12; 62:9, Zechariah 3:7, Ezekiel 10:3-5.

Regarding the courts of the Temple in Jerusalem, see 1 Kings 6:36; 7:12.

Regarding the courts of the new Temple, Ezekiel 40:17-44; 42:1-14; 43:4-7.

And regarding the court outside the Tabernacle, Exodus 27:9-18.

Footnotes:

1. I.e., the inner court or court of priests, and the outer court or great court. See 1 Kings 6:36; 7:12

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #486

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486. And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there." This symbolizes the Lord's presence and His command to see and learn the state of the church in the New Heaven.

The Lord is meant by the angel, here as in nos. 5, 415, and elsewhere, since an angel does nothing of himself but is impelled by the Lord. That is why the angel said, "I will give power to my two witnesses" (verse 3), when they were the Lord's witnesses. The angel's standing by symbolizes the Lord's presence, and his speaking symbolizes the Lord's command. To rise and measure means, symbolically, to see and learn. We will see below that to measure means, symbolically, to learn and investigate the character of a state.

The temple, altar, and those who worship there symbolize the state of the church in the New Heaven - the temple symbolizing the church in respect to its doctrinal truth (no. 191), the altar symbolizing the church in respect to the goodness of its love (no. 392), and those who worship there symbolizing the church in respect to its formal worship as a result of those two elements. Those who worship symbolize here the reverence that is a part of formal worship, since the spiritual sense is a sense abstracted from persons (nos. 78, 79, 96), as is apparent here also from the fact that John is told to measure the worshipers. These three elements are what form the church: doctrinal truth, goodness of love, and formal worship as a result of these.

[2] That the church meant is the church in the New Heaven is apparent from the last verse of this chapter, where we are told that "the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple" (verse 19).

This chapter begins with the measuring of the temple in order that the state of the church in heaven might be seen and learned before its conjunction with the church in the world. The church in the world is meant by the court outside the temple, which John was not to measure, because it had been given to the gentiles (verse 2). The same church is then described by the great city called Sodom and Egypt (verses 7, 8). But after that great city fell (verse 13), it follows that the church became the Lord's (verses 15ff.).

It should be known that the church exists in the heavens just as on earth, and that the two are united like the inner and outer selves in people. Consequently the Lord provides the church in heaven first, and from it, or by means of it, then the church on earth. That is why the New Jerusalem is said to come down from God out of the New Heaven (Revelation 21:1-2).

The New Heaven means a new heaven formed from Christians, as described several times in the following chapters.

[3] To measure means, symbolically, to learn and investigate the character of a thing because the measure of something symbolizes its character or state. All the measurements of the New Jerusalem (chapter 21) have this symbolic meaning, as does the statement there that the angel who had the gold reed measured the city and its gates, and that he measured the wall to be one hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man which is that of an angel (verses 15, 17). Moreover, because the New Jerusalem symbolizes the New Church, is it apparent that to measure it and its component parts means, symbolically, to learn its character.

Measuring has the same symbolic meaning in Ezekiel, where we read that an angel measured the house of God: the temple, the altar, the court, and the chambers (Ezekiel 40:3-17; 41:1-5, 13-14, 22; 42:1-20, and 43:1-27). Also that he measured the waters (47:3-5, 9). Therefore the prophet is told:

...show the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the pattern... and... its exits and its entrances, and all its patterns..., so that they may keep its whole design... (Ezekiel 43:10-11)

Measuring has the same symbolic meaning in the following places:

I raised my eyes..., 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...." (Zechariah 2:1-2)

He stood and measured the earth. (Habakkuk 3:6)

(The Lord Jehovih) has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and gauged heaven with a span... and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. (Isaiah 40:12)

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? ...Who determined its measurements? ...Or who stretched the line upon it? (Job 38:4-5)

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