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Ezékiel 45

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1 És mikor a földet sorsvetéssel elosztjátok örökségül, adjatok áldozatot az Úrnak, szent részt a földbõl; hosszúsága legyen huszonötezer és szélessége tízezer [sing,] szent legyen az egész határában köröskörül.

2 Ebbõl legyen a szenthelyé ötszáz [sing,] ötszáz [singgel] mérve egy négyszög minden oldalát, és mellette ötven sing tágasság legyen minden oldalon.

3 És ebbõl a megmért helybõl mérj ki huszonötezer [sing] hosszúságot és tízezer [sing] szélességet, és ebben lesz a szenthely, [mint] igen szent hely.

4 Szent rész ez a földbõl; legyen a papoké, a szenthely szolgáié, a kik [ide] járulnak szolgálni az Urat; és legyen ez nékik házaik helye, és Szent hely a szenthely számára.

5 És huszonötezer [sing] hosszában és tízezer [sing] széltében legyen a Lévitáké, a ház szolgáié tulajdonukul, húszkamarául,

6 És a város tulajdonául adjatok ötezer [sing] szélességet és huszonötezer [sing] hosszúságot a szent áldozat mentén; az egész Izráel házáért legyen ez.

7 És a fejedelem [tulajdona] lészen a szent áldozatnak és a város tulajdonának mind a két oldalán a szent áldozat elõtt és a város tulajdona elõtt a napnyugoti oldalon nyugotra és a napkeleti oldalon keletre, és hosszúsága olyan lesz, mint a részek közül egyé, a napnyugoti határtól a napkeleti határig.

8 Földje legyen az néki, tulajdona Izráelben; és többé ne sanyargassák fejedelmeim az én népemet, hanem adják át a [többi] földet Izráel házának az õ nemzetségei szerint.

9 Ezt mondja az Úr Isten: Legyen elég már néktek, Izráel fejedelmei! A törvénytelenséget és erõszaktételt távoztassátok el, és cselekedjetek törvény szerint és igazságot. Vegyétek le népemrõl sarczolástokat, ezt mondja az Úr Isten.

10 Igaz mérõserpenyõitek legyenek és igaz éfátok és igaz báthotok:

11 Az éfa és a báth egy mértékûek legyenek, úgy hogy a hómernek tizedét fogadja be a báth, és a hómernek tizede legyen az éfa, a hómerhez kell mértéköket igazítani.

12 És a sekelnek húsz gérája legyen; húsz sekel, huszonöt sekel, tizenöt sekel legyen a mina nálatok.

13 Ez az áldozat, melyet fel kell vinnetek: egy hómer búzából egy hatodrész éfa, és egy hómer árpából is az éfa hatodrészét adjátok.

14 És az olajból rendelt rész egy báth olajból: a báth tizede a kórból, tíz báthból, egy hómerbõl, mert tíz báth egy hómer.

15 És egy darab a nyájból, kétszáz darab után Izráel bõvizû földjérõl ételáldozatra és égõáldozatra és hálaadó áldozatokra, az õ megszentelésökre, ezt mondja az Úr Isten.

16 A földnek egész népe köteles legyen erre az áldozatra a fejedelem részére Izráelben.

17 A fejedelem tiszte pedig lészen, hogy vigyen egészen égõáldozatokat és ételáldozatot és italáldozatot az ünnepeken és az újholdak napján és a szombatokon, Izráel házának minden ünnepein: õ teljesítse a bûnért való áldozatot és az ételáldozatot és az egészen égõáldozatot és a hálaadó áldozatokat, hogy megszentelje Izráel házát.

18 Ezt mondja az Úr Isten: Az elsõ [hónap]ban, a hónap elsején végy egy fiatal, hibátlan bikát és tisztítsd meg a szenthelyet.

19 És vegyen a pap a bûnért való áldozat vérébõl, és hintse a ház ajtófélfáira és az oltár bekerítésének négy szegletére és a belsõ pitvar kapufélfáira.

20 És így cselekedjél a hónap hetedik napján a tudatlanságból vétkezõért és a vigyázatlanságért, és így tisztítsátok meg a házat.

21 Az elsõ [hónap]ban, a hónap tizennegyedik napján legyen a ti páskátok; a hét napos ünnepen kovásztalan kenyeret egyetek.

22 És a fejedelem azon a napon áldozzék õ magáért és a föld egész népéért egy bikával, bûnért való áldozatul.

23 És az ünnep hét napján tegyen egészen égõáldozatot az Úrnak hét bikával és hét kossal, épekkel, naponként hét napon át, és bûnért való áldozatot egy kecskebakkal naponként;

24 És ételáldozatul tegyen egy éfát a bika mellé és egy éfát a kos mellé, és az olajból egy hínt az éfához.

25 A hetedik [hónap]ban, a hónap tizenötödik napján, az ünnepen hasonlóképen cselekedjék hét napon át: a bûnért való áldozattal, az egészen égõáldozattal, az ételáldozattal és az olajjal.

   

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1 Királyok 7:26

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26 És a vastagsága egy tenyérnyi volt, és a pereme olyan, mint a pohár ajaka, [vagy] a liliom virága, és kétezer báth fért bele.

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Arcana Coelestia #10235

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10235. 'And you shall make a laver of bronze' means the good within the natural degree in a person, in which purification takes place. This is clear from the meaning of 'the laver', in which there is water for washing, as the natural degree within a person, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'bronze' as its good, dealt with in 425, 1551. Washing is the subject in the verses that come now. They state that Aaron and his sons were to wash their hands and their feet whenever they entered the tent of meeting or approached the altar to minister; and elsewhere it is stated that those who became unclean should wash themselves and their garments, and that if they did so they would be clean. From all this it may be recognized that washing represented purification from evils, so that the washing of body and garments represented the purification of heart and mind. Everyone who is at all enlightened in his thinking may see that washing does not purge away evils in the heart and mind, only dirt on the body and clothes, and that after this has been purged away the evils still remain; also that evils could not ever be washed away by means of water, only through repentance.

[2] All this shows yet again that what had been established among the Israelite nation consisted of external forms which represented internal realities, and that the internal realities were the real holy things of the Church among them, not the external forms without those realities. But that nation nevertheless thought that holiness lay entirely in the external forms and not at all in internal realities, as is clear from the Lord's words in Matthew,

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You cleanse the exterior of the cup and the plate, but the interiors are full of pillage and lack of restraint. Blind Pharisee! Cleanse first the internal of the cup and the plate, in order that the external may be made clean also. You make yourselves like white-washed sepulchres, which outwardly do indeed appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and of all uncleanness. Matthew 23:25-27.

See also Mark 7:2-8 and Luke 11:39.

[3] The reason why 'the laver' means the natural degree is that 'washing' in the laver means purification from evils, and purification from evils takes place in the natural degree. Furthermore vessels in general mean those things that belong to the natural man, 3068, 3079, 9394, since the natural is a recipient of spiritual realities belonging to the internal man. By the natural degree the external part of a person should be understood, that is, the part that is called the external man. The idea that 'the laver' means the natural degree within a person may seem to be far-fetched, but it should be remembered that purification from evils is the subject at this point in the internal sense; and that which undergoes purification is a person. From this it follows that some part of a person is meant by that object in which washing - meaning purification - took place. That part is the natural degree, because this is where purification takes place, as has been stated. Furthermore all the objects which had been made among the Israelite and Jewish nation for the sake of worship were signs of those things that belong to heaven and the Church and therefore of such things as exist within a person; for unless they had been signs of something that exists within a person they would not have represented anything at all.

[4] 'The laver' means the natural degree within a person, 'the water' in the laver means the truths of faith, and 'washing' purification from evils. From this it may be seen what the bronze sea next to the temple meant, and also what the twelve oxen which were carrying it meant. In like manner it may be seen what the other ten lavers, also placed next to the temple, meant; what the engraved lions, oxen, and cherubs there 1 meant; and also what the chariot-like wheels underneath them meant. What all these were signs of is evident once it is known what the laver, water, and washing mean, and once it is known what the purification from evils that takes place with a person entails. For all these things without exception were representative of celestial and spiritual realities.

[5] The bronze sea made by Solomon and placed next to the temple is described as follows,

He made the sea [of] cast [bronze], ten cubits from brim to brim, completely round 2 ; five cubits was its height; and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference 3 . Below the brim were gourds going round, ten to a cubit 4 , all the way around the sea 5 . It was standing on twelve oxen, three looking north, and three looking west, and three looking south, and three looking east; but the sea was upon them above, and all their hinder parts were inwards. Its thickness was a hand's breadth; its brim was shaped like 6 the brim of a cup, [like] the flower of a lily. It contained two thousand baths 7 . And the sea was placed on the right side 8 of the house towards the southeast 9 . 1 Kings 7:23-26, 39.

[6] This vessel or laver is called a sea because a sea means factual knowledge in general, and all factual knowledge belongs to the natural man.

'A sea' means factual knowledge in general, see 28, 2850, 8184.

Factual knowledge belongs to the natural man, 1486, 3019, 3020, 3309, 3310, 5373, 6004, 6023, 6071, 6077, 9918.

The reason why this laver was shaped like the rim of a cup was that 'a cup' too means factual knowledge present in the natural man, on the level of the senses, 9557, 9996. 'Twelve oxen' served to mean all forms of good in their entirety present in the natural man, on the level of the senses, because they existed there in place of a pedestal, and 'a pedestal' means that which is last and lowest and provides support - 'twelve' meaning all things in their entirety, see 3272, 3858, 3913, and 'ox' the good of the natural man, 2781, 9135.

[7] The reason why the oxen looked towards all four quarters of the world was that the good present in the natural man is the receptacle of all things that flow in from the world, both those connected with good and those connected with truth. A diameter of ten cubits meant that which is complete, 3107, and a circumference of thirty cubits meant completeness all round, 9082. 'Two thousand baths' meant goodness and truth joined together, thus purification and regeneration; for regeneration is nothing other than the joining together of goodness and truth. Two thousand has the same meaning as two, for compound numbers are similar in meaning to the simple ones of which they the product, 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973, 'two' meaning a joining together, see 5194, 8423. The placement of the bronze sea on the right side towards the southeast meant that it was directed towards the Lord, for the Lord is the East, 101, 9668; the house or temple is heaven and the Church, where the Lord is, 3720. From all this it now becomes clear what 'the bronze sea' meant, and consequently what 'the laver' means, namely the natural degree within a person, in which purification takes place.

Footnotes:

1. i.e. on the sides of the carts carrying the lavers

2. literally, round, around about

3. literally, went round it, around about

4. The Latin means literally of ten cubits, as does the Hebrew; but how to understand this is uncertain. Some suggest that the Hebrew implies ten to a cubit, others for ten cubits, while others again think that the words are an intrusion from verse 23 and should therefore be ignored.

5. literally, going round the sea, around about

6. literally, its brim was according to the work of

7. A bath was a liquid measure of approximately 22 litres or 5 gallons.

8. literally, shoulder

9. literally, towards the east over against the south

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