The Bible

 

maastamuutto 30

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1 "Tee myös alttari suitsutuksen polttamista varten; tee se akasiapuusta.

2 Olkoon se kyynärän pituinen ja kyynärän levyinen, siis neliskulmainen, ja kahta kyynärää korkea; sen sarvet olkoot samaa kappaletta kuin sekin.

3 Ja päällystä se puhtaalla kullalla, sekä sen levy että sivut ympärinsä ja sen sarvet; ja tee kultareunus sen ympäri.

4 Ja tee siihen kaksi kultarengasta; pane ne reunuksen alle, kummallekin sivulle, molempiin sivukappaleihin. Ne olkoot niiden korentojen pitiminä, joilla alttari on kannettava.

5 Ja tee korennotkin akasiapuusta ja päällystä ne kullalla.

6 Ja aseta se lain arkin edessä olevan esiripun eteen, niin että se tulee armoistuimen kohdalle, joka on lain arkin päällä ja jossa minä sinulle ilmestyn.

7 Ja Aaron polttakoon sen päällä hyvänhajuista suitsutusta; joka aamu, kun hän laittaa lamput kuntoon, hän polttakoon sitä.

8 Samoin myös, kun Aaron iltahämärässä nostaa lamput paikoilleen, hän polttakoon sitä. Tämä olkoon teillä jokapäiväinen suitsutusuhri Herran edessä sukupolvesta sukupolveen.

9 Älkää uhratko sen päällä vierasta suitsutusta älkääkä polttouhria tai ruokauhria; älkää myöskään vuodattako juomauhria sen päällä.

10 Ja Aaron toimittakoon kerran vuodessa sen sarvien sovituksen; sovitukseksi uhratun syntiuhrin verellä hän toimittakoon kerran vuodessa sen sovituksen, sukupolvesta sukupolveen. Se on korkeasti-pyhä Herralle."

11 Ja Herra puhui Moosekselle sanoen:

12 "Kun sinä lasket israelilaisten lukumäärän-niiden, joiden on oltava katselmuksessa-niin jokainen heistä suorittakoon, heistä katselmusta pidettäessä, hengestään sovitusmaksun Herralle, ettei mikään rangaistus heitä kohtaisi, heistä katselmusta pidettäessä.

13 Jokainen katselmuksessa oleva antakoon puoli sekeliä, pyhäkkösekelin painon mukaan, kaksikymmentä geeraa laskettuna sekeliin; puoli sekeliä olkoon anti Herralle.

14 Kaikki katselmuksessa olevat, kaksikymmenvuotiaat ja sitä vanhemmat, antakoot tämän annin Herralle.

15 Rikas älköön antako enemmän älköönkä köyhä vähemmän kuin puoli sekeliä, antina Herralle, maksaaksenne sovituksen hengestänne.

16 Ja ota sovitusrahat israelilaisilta ja käytä ne palvelukseen ilmestysmajassa, että israelilaiset johdatettaisiin muistoon Herran edessä teidän henkenne sovitukseksi."

17 Ja Herra puhui Moosekselle sanoen:

18 "Tee myös vaskiallas vaskijalustoineen peseytymistä varten ja aseta se ilmestysmajan ja alttarin välille ja kaada siihen vettä;

19 ja Aaron ja hänen poikansa peskööt siinä kätensä ja jalkansa.

20 Kun he menevät ilmestysmajaan, peseytykööt vedessä, etteivät kuolisi; samoin myös, kun he lähestyvät alttaria ja käyvät toimittamaan virkaansa polttamalla uhrin Herralle.

21 He peskööt kätensä ja jalkansa, etteivät kuolisi. Ja tämä olkoon heille ikuinen säädös, hänelle itselleen ja hänen jälkeläisillensä, sukupolvesta sukupolveen."

22 Ja Herra puhui Moosekselle sanoen:

23 "Ota itsellesi hajuaineita parasta lajia: sulavaa mirhaa viisisataa sekeliä, hyvänhajuista kanelia puolet siitä eli kaksisataa viisikymmentä sekeliä ja hyvänhajuista kalmoruokoa samoin kaksisataa viisikymmentä sekeliä,

24 sitten vielä kassiaa viisisataa sekeliä, pyhäkkösekelin painon mukaan, ja hiin-mitta öljypuun öljyä.

25 Ja tee siitä pyhä voiteluöljy, höystetty voide, jollaista voiteensekoittaja valmistaa; se olkoon pyhä voiteluöljy.

26 Voitele sillä ilmestysmaja, lain arkki

27 ja pöytä kaikkine kaluineen, seitsenhaarainen lamppu kaluineen, niin myös suitsutusalttari,

28 polttouhrialttari kaikkine kaluineen ynnä allas jalustoineen.

29 Ja pyhitä ne, niin että ne tulevat korkeasti-pyhiksi. Jokainen, joka niihin koskee, tulee pyhäksi.

30 Voitele myös Aaron ja hänen poikansa ja pyhitä heidät pappeina palvelemaan minua.

31 Puhu myös israelilaisille ja sano: Tämä olkoon teillä minun pyhä voiteluöljyni sukupolvesta sukupolveen.

32 Kenenkään muun ihmisen ruumiille älköön sitä vuodatettako, älkääkä sen sekoitusta jäljitelkö. Pyhä se on, ja pyhänä se pitäkää.

33 Jokainen, joka valmistaa sellaisen voiteen, ja jokainen, joka sivelee sitä syrjäiseen, hävitettäköön kansastansa."

34 Ja Herra sanoi Moosekselle vielä: "Ota itsellesi hyvänhajuisia aineita, hajupihkaa, simpukankuorta, tuoksukumia, näitä hyvänhajuisia aineita, ja puhdasta suitsuketta, yhtä paljon kutakin lajia,

35 ja tee niistä suitsutus, höystesekoitus, jollaista voiteensekoittaja valmistaa, suolansekainen, puhdas ja pyhä.

36 Ja hienonna osa siitä jauhoksi ja pane sitä lain arkin eteen ilmestysmajaan, jossa minä ilmestyn sinulle. Korkeasti-pyhänä se pitäkää.

37 Älkää valmistako itsellenne mitään muuta suitsutusta tämän sekoituksen mukaan. Pidä tämä Herralle pyhitettynä.

38 Jokainen, joka sellaista tekee nauttiaksensa sen tuoksusta, hävitettäköön kansastansa."

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #10300

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10300. 'Salted' means the desire which truth has for good. This is clear from the meaning of 'salt' as desire belonging to the love which truth has for good, dealt with below, so that 'salted' means something in which that desire is present. The reason why the desire which truth has for good needs to be present is that this desire causes the two to be joined together; for to the extent that truth desires good it becomes joined to it. Truth and good joined together is what is called the heavenly marriage, which constitutes heaven itself with a person. Therefore when the desire for them to be joined together exists within the worship of God, within every single part of it, heaven - and accordingly the Lord - is present there within every single part. This is meant by the requirement for the incense to be salted. 'Salt' receives this meaning from its conjunctive properties; for it makes ingredients all combine and consequently brings out their flavour. Indeed it causes water and oil to combine, which otherwise do not combine.

[2] When it is known that 'salt' means the desire for truth and good to be joined together it may be seen what the Lord's words in Mark mean,

Everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt. Salt is good; but if the salt becomes tasteless, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves. Mark 9:49-50.

'Everyone will be salted with fire' means that each person must have a desire that is present as a result of true love. 'Every sacrifice will be salted with salt' means that the desire present as a result of true love must exist within all worship. 'Tasteless salt' means a desire present as a result of a love other than that true love. 'Having salt in themselves' means possessing truth that has a desire for good.

Love is meant by 'fire', see 4906, 5071(end), 5215, 6314, 6832, 10055.

Worship in general is meant by 'sacrifice', 922, 6905, 8680, 8936.

Can anyone without knowledge of what 'fire' means, or what 'salt' and 'being salted' mean, know what 'being salted with fire' means, why a sacrifice had to be salted, or what the command to have salt in themselves means?

[3] Something similar occurs in Luke,

Any of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be My disciple. Salt is good; but if the salt is made tasteless, by what will it be seasoned? It is fit neither for the land nor for the dunghill; people will throw it outdoors. Luke 14:33-35.

'Renouncing all their possessions' means loving the Lord above all things, 'possessions' being what is a person's own. 'Tasteless salt' means desire that springs from the proprium or self, thus from self-love and love of the world. This kind of desire is meant by salt that is tasteless, fit for nothing, as also in Matthew,

You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt is tasteless, by what will it be made salty? It no longer has any use, except to be thrown outdoors and trodden down by people. Matthew 5:13-14.

[4] The need for all worship to contain truth that has a desire for good is also meant by the requirement that every offering of a minchah should be salted, and that the salt of Jehovah's covenant should be on every offering, Leviticus 2:13. By 'the minchah and offering' which compose the sacrifice worship is meant, as above; and the salt is called in that verse 'the salt of Jehovah's covenant' because 'covenant' means a joining together, see 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778, 9396, 9416. Also desire is the actual ardour that flames from and so is an extension of love, and love is spiritual togetherness.

[5] Just as truth's desire for good has the capacity to link things together, so falsity's desire for evil has the capacity to separate them; and that which has the capacity to separate them also has the capacity to destroy them. For this reason 'salt' in the contrary sense means the destruction and laying waste of truth and good, as in Jeremiah,

Cursed is the man (vir) who makes flesh his arm. He will not see when good comes; but he will inhabit very hot places, a salt land which is not inhabited. Jeremiah 17:5-6.

'Making flesh his arm' means trusting in himself, in his proprium, and not in the Divine, 10283; and since the proprium consists in loving self more than God and the neighbour, self-love is what those words describe. This is why it says that he will not see when good comes, and that he will inhabit very hot places and a salt land, that is, will lead a life ruled by foul kinds of love and their desires, which have destroyed the Church's goodness and truth.

[6] In Zephaniah,

It will be like Gomorrah, a place abandoned to the nettle, and a saltpit, and a waste forever. Zephaniah 2:9.

'A place abandoned to the nettle' stands for the ardour and passion in a person's life that spring from self-love. 'A saltpit' stands for the desire falsity possesses; and because this is destructive of truth and good, the expression 'a waste forever' is used. The reason for its being said that 'it will be like Gomorrah' is that Gomorrah and Sodom mean self-love, 2220.

[7] Where it said at Genesis 19:26 that Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt because she turned her face towards those cities, the meaning was the laying waste of truth and good; for in the internal sense 'turning the face' towards something means loving it, 10189. This explains why the Lord says,

Let him not return to the things behind him. Remember Lot's wife. Luke 17:31-32.

And in Moses,

Its whole land will be brimstone and salt, and a burning, as at the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. Deuteronomy 29:23.

Here, as also elsewhere in the Word, 'land' is used to mean the Church, see in the places referred to in 9325.

[8] So it was that cities which were not to be inhabited any longer were sown with salt after they had been destroyed, Judges 9:45.

From all this it is evident that in the genuine sense 'salt' means the desire that truth has for good, thus its conjunctive power, and in the contrary sense the desire that falsity has for evil, thus its destructive power.

[9] Anyone therefore who knows that 'salt' means truth's desire for good and the force that joins the two together is also able to know what is meant where it says that the water of Jericho was healed by Elisha, by his throwing salt into its source, 2 Kings 2:19-22. For Elisha, like Elijah, represented the Lord in respect of the Word, 2762, 8029; 'water' means the truths of the Word, 'the water of Jericho', and in like manner 'the source' of that water, meaning the truths of the Word in the literal sense; and 'salt' means the desire truth has for good, the joining together of the two, and consequent healing.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3570

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3570. 'And he brought it to him, and he ate' means first of all a conjunction of good, 'and he brought him wine, and he drank' means followed by a conjunction of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'eating' as being joined and being made one's own as regards good, dealt with just above in 3568; from the meaning of 'wine' as truth deriving from good, dealt with in 1071, 1798; and from the meaning of 'drinking' as being joined and being made one's own as regards truth, 3168. The implications of this - that the good of the rational, represented by Isaac, first of all joins good to itself, then it joins truth to itself, which it does through the natural, represented by Jacob - are as follows: While the natural dwells in that state when good occupies the external position and truth the internal one, dealt with above in 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, many things are allowed to come in which are not good but which are nevertheless useful - such things as serve as means towards good in their own order. But the good of the rational does not join to itself and make its own anything from that source apart from that which is suited to its own good, for it receives no other kind of good. Whatever is unsuited it rejects. All else in the natural it leaves behind to serve as the means for allowing in and introducing further things suited to itself.

[2] It is the rational that exists within the internal man. What goes on there is unknown to the natural since it is above its range of discernment. Consequently anyone who leads a merely natural life cannot know anything whatever about those things that are going on with him in his internal man, that is, in his rational. The Lord re-arranges those things without a person's being at all conscious of it. Consequently he knows nothing at all about how he is regenerated; indeed he is scarcely aware of his being regenerated. If he does wish to know however let him merely pay attention to his ultimate intentions, which are rarely disclosed to anyone. If those intentions are directed towards good, that is to say, if he considers the neighbour and the Lord more than he does himself he is in a state of regeneration. But if his intentions are directed towards evil, that is to say, if he considers himself more than he does the neighbour and the Lord, let him realize that he is not in any state of regeneration.

[3] A person's ultimate aims and intentions in life determine where he is in the next life, aims which look towards what is good placing him among angels in heaven, aims which look towards what is evil placing him among devils in hell. A person's ultimate intentions are nothing else than his loves; for what a person loves he has as his end in view. And being his loves, his ultimate aims and intentions constitute his inmost life, see 1317, 1568, 1571, 1645, 1909, 3425, 3562, 3565. Aims present in a person which look towards what is good reside in his rational, and are called the rational as regards good or the good of the rational. Through those aims residing there, that is, by means of the good there, the Lord re-arranges all things that are in the natural; for the end in view is like the soul, and the natural like the body belonging to that soul. The nature of the soul determines that of the body which surrounds it, as does the nature of the rational as regards good determine that of the natural clothing it.

[4] It is well known that a person's soul begins in the mother's ovum, and is after that developed in her womb, and is there surrounded with a tiny body, which indeed is such that by means of it the soul is able to function properly in the world into which it is born. A similar situation exists when a person is born again, that is, when he is regenerated. The new soul which he acquires at that time is an end which has good in view. This end in view has its beginnings in the rational, where first of all it is so to speak in the ovum, and is after that developed so to speak in the womb. The tiny body with which that soul is surrounded is the natural, and the good there comes to be of such a nature that it acts in obedience to the soul's ends in view. The truths there are like fibres in the body, for it is from good that truths take shape, 3470. From this it is clear that a person's reformation is imaged by the formation of him in the womb. And if you are willing to believe it, it is also celestial good and spiritual truth from the Lord that are shaping him and at that time endowing him with power that enables him to receive that good and that truth gradually - and indeed in the manner and to the extent that he looks as a human being towards ends that are of heaven and not as an animal towards those that are of the world.

[5] The matter of the rational as regards good first of all joining the good, then the truth, to itself by means of the natural - meant by Jacob's bringing savoury food and bread to Isaac and his eating it, and bringing him wine and his drinking it - may also be illustrated by means of the duties the body performs for its soul. It is the soul that enables the body to desire food and it is also the soul that enables the body to savour it. Different kinds of food are introduced through the delight that goes with appetite and the delight that goes with taste, thus through external good; but not all of these pass into the life of the body. Rather, some kinds of food serve as solvents to digest food, some as neutralizers, some as openers of and others as introducers into vessels. But good types of food are selected and introduced into the bloodstream, and then become blood. And from the latter the soul joins to itself such things as are of use to it.

[6] A similar situation exists with the rational and the natural. Corresponding to the desire for food and to taste are the desire and the affection for knowing truth; and corresponding to different kinds of food are facts and cognitions, 1480. And because they so correspond a similar situation exists with them. The soul which is the good of the rational provides the desire for those things and is moved by them, so that the things which belong to knowledge and doctrine are introduced through the delight that belongs to desire, and through the good that belongs to affection. But not everything that is introduced is such that it becomes the good which nourishes life; instead some things serve as the means so to speak to digest and neutralize, some to open up and introduce. But goods which nourish life are applied by the soul, and so joined by the soul, to itself, and from these it forms truths for itself. From this it is evident how the rational re-arranges the natural so that the rational as the soul may be served by it, or what amounts to the same, so that the natural may serve the end in view, which is the soul, in developing itself so that it may be of use in the Lord's kingdom.

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