The Bible

 

Ezekiel 48

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1 And these are the names of the tribes: From the north end along the way of Hethlon, as one entereth into Hamath, Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus northward unto near Hamath -- the east and west side [belonging] to him -- shall Dan have one [portion].

2 And by the border of Dan, from the east side unto the west side, Asher one.

3 And by the border of Asher, from the east side even unto the west side, Naphtali one.

4 And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side unto the west side, Manasseh one.

5 And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side unto the west side, Ephraim one.

6 And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even unto the west side, Reuben one.

7 And by the border of Reuben, from the east side unto the west side, Judah one.

8 And by the border of Judah, from the east side unto the west side, shall be the heave-offering that ye shall offer, five and twenty thousand [cubits] in breadth, and in length as one of the parts from the east side unto the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it.

9 The heave-offering that ye shall offer unto Jehovah shall be five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth.

10 And for them, for the priests, shall be the holy heave-offering, toward the north five and twenty thousand, and toward the west the breadth ten thousand, and toward the east the breadth ten thousand, and toward the south the length five and twenty thousand: and the sanctuary of Jehovah shall be in the midst of it.

11 [It shall be] for the priests that are hallowed of the sons of Zadok, who kept my charge and went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.

12 And this offering heaved from the heave-offering of the land shall be unto them a thing most holy, by the border of the Levites.

13 And answering to the border of the priests, the Levites shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: the whole length shall be five and twenty thousand, and the breadth ten thousand.

14 And they shall not sell of it, neither exchange, nor alienate the first-fruits of the land: for it is holy unto Jehovah.

15 And the five thousand that are left in the breadth over against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a common [place] for the city, for dwellings and for suburbs: and the city shall be in the midst of it.

16 And these shall be the measures thereof: the north side four thousand and five hundred [cubits], and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred.

17 And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty [cubits], and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty.

18 And the residue in length, alongside the holy heave-offering, shall be ten thousand eastward and ten thousand westward: it shall be alongside the holy heave-offering; and the increase thereof shall be for the support of them that serve the city.

19 And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel.

20 The whole heave-offering shall be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand; ye shall offer the holy heave-offering foursquare with the possession of the city.

21 And the rest shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy heave-offering and of the possession of the city, in front of the five and twenty thousand of the heave-offering toward the east border, and westward in front of the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, answering to the [other] portions: it shall be for the prince; and the holy heave-offering and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst of it.

22 And from the possession of the Levites and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which shall be the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince.

23 And as for the rest of the tribes: from the east side unto the west side, Benjamin one [portion].

24 And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side unto the west side, Simeon one.

25 And by the border of Simeon, from the east side unto the west side, Issachar one.

26 And by the border of Issachar, from the east side unto the west side, Zebulun one.

27 And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side unto the west side, Gad one.

28 And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be from Tamar [to] the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, by the torrent, unto the great sea.

29 This is the land which ye shall divide by lot unto the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their portions, saith the Lord Jehovah.

30 And these are the goings out of the city. On the north side, four thousand and five hundred [cubits] by measure.

31 And the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel: three gates northward: the gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; the gate of Levi, one.

32 And at the east side four thousand and five hundred, and three gates: the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one.

33 And at the south side four thousand and five hundred [cubits] by measure, and three gates: the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; the gate of Zebulun, one.

34 At the west side four thousand and five hundred, [and] their three gates: the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naphtali, one.

35 Round about it was eighteen thousand [cubits]; and the name of the city from that day, Jehovah is there.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #935

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935. Yielding its fruit according to the month. This symbolically means that the Lord produces the goods in a person in accordance with every state of truth in him.

A month symbolizes a person's state of life in respect to truth, as will be seen below. To yield fruit means, symbolically, to produce goods. That fruits are goods of love and charity is something we just showed in no. 934 above. Moreover, because it is the Lord who essentially produces these in a person - even though the person does them as though of himself, thus apparently, as we said in no. 934 above - it follows that the symbolic meaning here is that the Lord produces them inmostly when He is present there.

But we must say how one is to understand the Lord's producing goods of charity in a person in accordance with every state of truth in him.

Someone who believes that a person does good acceptable to the Lord, good that is called spiritual good, without possessing in him truths from the Word, is much mistaken. Goods without truths are not good, and truths without goods are not true in the person, even though they are true in themselves. For good without truth is like something a person wills without understanding, a volition that is not human, but one like that of an animal, or like that of a robot that an operator causes to function.

On the other hand, volition together with comprehension becomes human in accordance with the state of the intellect by which it finds expression. For the condition of everyone's life is such that a person's will can do nothing without the instrumentality of the intellect, nor can the intellect entertain any thought without doing so from the will. The case is the same with goodness and truth, since goodness has to do with the will, and truth with the intellect.

[2] It is apparent from this that the good that the Lord produces in a person accords with the state of truth in him that forms his understanding.

This is what the tree of life yielding its fruit every month symbolizes, because a month symbolizes the state of truth in a person.

All periods of time, such as hours, days, weeks, months, years, and centuries, symbolize states of life, as may be seen in nos. 476, 562. Months symbolize states of life in respect to truths, because months mean times determined by the moon, and the moon symbolizes the truth of the intellect and of faith (nos. 332, 413, 414, 919).

Months have the same meaning in the following:

Blessed of Jehovah is (Joseph's) land..., with the precious fruits of the sun, and with the precious produce of the months... (Deuteronomy 33:13-14)

It shall come to pass that from month to month, and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all flesh shall come to bow down before (Jehovah).... (Isaiah 66:23)

Because of the symbolic meaning of a month, which is the same as that of the moon, sacrifices were made at the beginnings of each month or new moon (Numbers 29:1-6, Isaiah 1:14). The Israelites also sounded the trumpets then (Numbers 10:10, Psalms 81:3). And they were commanded to observe the month of Abib, in which they celebrated Passover (Exodus 12:2, Deuteronomy 16:1).

Months symbolize states of truth in a person, and in an opposite sense states of falsity in him, as may also be seen above in Revelation 9:5, 10, 15; 11:2, and 13:5.

A month has the same symbolic meaning here as in Ezekiel 47:12.

  
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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.

The Bible

 

Revelation 13:5

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5 A mouth speaking great things and blasphemy was given to him. Authority to make war for forty-two months was given to him.