The Bible

 

Ezekiel 45

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1 And when ye shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, ye shall offer a heave-offering unto Jehovah, a holy portion of the land: the length shall be the length of five and twenty thousand [cubits], and the breadth ten thousand. This shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.

2 Of this there shall be for the sanctuary five hundred [reeds] by five hundred, square round about; and fifty cubits round about for the suburbs thereof.

3 And of this measure shalt thou measure the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand; and in it shall be the sanctuary, the holy of holies.

4 This is the holy [portion] of the land; it shall be for the priests who do the service of the sanctuary, who draw near to serve Jehovah, and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary.

5 And [a space of] five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth, shall the Levites, who do the service of the house, have for themselves, for a possession, for their habitations.

6 And ye shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand in breadth, and five and twenty thousand in length, alongside of the holy heave-offering: it shall be for the whole house of Israel.

7 And the prince shall have [his portion] on the one side and on the other side of the holy heave-offering and of the possession of the city, over against the holy heave-offering, and over against the possession of the city, from the west side westward, and from the east side eastward; and in length answering to one of the portions [of the tribes] from the west border unto the east border.

8 As land shall it be his 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, princes of Israel! Put away violence and spoil, and execute judgment and justice; take off 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, so 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 according to 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 heave-offering which ye shall offer: the sixth part of an ephah out of a homer of wheat, and ye shall give the sixth part of an ephah out of a homer of barley;

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

15 and one lamb out of the flock, out of two hundred, from the well-watered pastures of Israel; -- for an oblation, 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 be [held] to this heave-offering for the prince in Israel.

17 And it shall be the prince's part [to supply] the burnt-offerings, and the oblation, and the drink-offering, at the feasts, and at the new moons, and on the sabbaths, in all the solemnities of the house of Israel: it is he that shall prepare the sin-offering, and the oblation, 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], on the first of the month, thou shalt take a young bullock, without blemish, and thou shalt purge the sanctuary.

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

20 So thou shalt do also on the seventh of the month for every one that erreth, and for the simple; and ye shall make atonement for the house.

21 In the first [month], on 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 offer 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 offer a burnt-offering to Jehovah, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily for the seven days; and a he-goat daily for a sin-offering.

24 And he shall offer an oblation of an ephah for a bullock, and an ephah for a ram; and oil, a hin for an ephah.

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

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #2928

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2928. 'To the people of the land, to the sons of Heth' means by those who belonged to the [new] spiritual Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the people' as those who are governed by truths, and so those who are spiritual, dealt with in 1259, 1260; from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church dealt with in 662, 1066, 1068, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end); and from the meaning of 'the sons of Heth' as those who belonged to the new spiritual Church, dealt with above in 2913. The expression 'the people of the land' is used in various places in the Word when the subject is Israel and Jerusalem, and by those people is meant in the internal sense the spiritual Church or those who belong to the spiritual Church, for Israel and Jerusalem are used to mean that Church. When Judah and Zion are the subject however the expression 'the nation' is used. 'The nation' means the celestial Church, for Judah and Zion are used to mean that Church.

[2] That the expression 'the people of the land' is used when Israel and Jerusalem, and so when the spiritual Church are the subject, is clear from many places in the Word, as in Ezekiel,

Say to the people of the land, Thus says the Lord Jehovih to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, to the land of Israel, They will eat their bread in sorrow, and drink their waters in vastation, that her land may be devastated. The inhabited cities will be vastated and the land made desolate. Ezekiel 12:19-20.

Here in the internal sense 'Jerusalem' and 'the land of Israel' stand for the spiritual Church, 'bread' and 'waters' for charity and faith, or good and truth. 'The land' stands for the Church itself which as regards good is said to be 'vastated' and as regards truth to be 'made desolate'.

[3] In the same prophet,

The house of Israel will bury Gog and his multitude so that they will cleanse the land in seven months, and all the people of the land will bury them. Ezekiel 39:11-13.

'Gog' stands for external worship separated from internal, which is idolatrous, 1151. 'The house of Israel' stands for the spiritual Church as regards good, 'the people of the land' as regards truth, 'the land' for the Church itself. The reason 'the land' is the Church is that 'the land of Canaan' represented the Lord's kingdom and so the Church, since the Lord's kingdom on earth is the Church.

[4] In the same prophet,

All the people of the land will give 1 this thruma (oblation) to the prince of Israel. And the prince will prepare for himself on that day, and for all the people of the land a young bull for a sin offering. The people of the land will bow down at the door of the gate on the sabbaths and at new moons. And the people of the land will enter at the appointed feasts. Ezekiel 45:16, 22; 46:3, 9.

This refers to the New Jerusalem, that is, to the Lord's spiritual kingdom, whose subjects are here called 'the people of the land'. 'The prince' is Divine truth coming from the Lord. The expression 'the sons of Heth' is used because 'sons' means truths, see 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623.

[5] The reason why truths are attributable to those who are spiritual is that these people are introduced to good by way of truths, that is, to charity by way of faith. And because the good they do is done from an affection for truth - for they do not know otherwise than that it is good because they have been taught that it is - their conscience too is founded on these truths of faith, see 1155, 1577, 2046, 2088, 2184, 2507, 2715, 2716, 2718.

Footnotes:

1. literally, will be to

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