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Esekiel 46

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1 sier Herren, Israels Gud: Den indre forgårds port, den som vender mot øst, skal være lukket de seks arbeidsdager; men på sabbatens dag skal den åpnes, og likeså på nymånedagen.

2 Og fyrsten skal da gå inn gjennem portens forhall utenfra og stå ved portens dørstolpe; prestene skal ofre hans brennoffer og hans takkoffer, og han skal tilbede på portens treskel og så gå ut igjen; men porten skal ikke lukkes før om aftenen.

3 Og folket i landet skal på sabbatene og nymånedagene tilbede for Herrens åsyn ved inngangen til denne port.

4 Og brennofferet som fyrsten skal ofre til Herren på sabbatens dag, skal være seks lam uten lyte og en vær uten lyte,

5 og som matoffer en efa til væren, og som matoffer til lammene så meget som han finner for godt å gi, og en hin olje til hver efa.

6 Og på nymånedagen en ung okse uten lyte og seks lam og en vær; uten lyte skal de være.

7 Og som matoffer skal han ofre en efa til oksen og en efa til væren, og til lammene så meget som han har råd til, og en hin olje til hver efa.

8 Og når fyrsten går inn, skal han gå inn gjennem portens forhall, og samme vei skal han gå ut igjen.

9 Men når folket i landet går inn for Herrens åsyn på høitidene, skal den som går inn igjennem nordporten for å tilbede, gå ut igjennem sydporten, og den som går inn igjennem sydporten, gå ut igjennem porten mot nord; han skal ikke vende tilbake gjennem den port som han gikk inn gjennem, men de skal gå ut rett frem for sig.

10 Og fyrsten skal gå inn blandt de andre, når de går inn; og når de går ut, skal de gå ut sammen.

11 Og på festene og høitidene skal matofferet være en efa til hver okse og en efa til hver vær, og til lammene så meget som han finner for godt å gi, og en hin olje til hver efa.

12 Når fyrsten vil ofre et frivillig offer - et brennoffer eller takkoffere som frivillig offer til Herren, da skal de åpne for ham den port som vender mot øst, og han skal ofre sitt brennoffer og sine takkoffer således som han gjør det på sabbatens dag; og så skal han gå ut igjen, og når han er gått ut, skal porten lukkes.

13 Som brennoffer til Herren skal du hver dag ofre et årsgammelt lam uten lyte; hver morgen skal du ofre det.

14 Og som matoffer dertil skal du hver morgen ofre en sjettedel efa og en tredjedel hin olje til å væte melet med; det er et matoffer for Herren - forskrifter som skal gjelde evig, for all tid.

15 Således skal de hver morgen ofre lammet og matofferet og oljen; det skal være et stadig brennoffer.

16 sier Herren, Israels Gud: Når fyrsten gir nogen av sine sønner en gave, så er det hans arv; det skal tilhøre hans sønner, det er deres arv og eie.

17 Men når han gir en gave av sin arv til en av sine tjenere, så skal det tilhøre ham inntil frihetsåret, men så komme tilbake til fyrsten; bare hans sønner skal hans arv tilhøre.

18 Fyrsten må ikke ta noget av folkets arv, så han driver dem bort fra deres eiendom; av sin egen eiendom skal han la sine sønner arve, så mitt folk ikke skal bli spredt ved å miste sine eiendommer.

19 Så førte han mig gjennem den inngang som var ved siden av porten, til de hellige kammer som var bestemt for prestene, og som vendte mot nord, og se, der var en plass ytterst mot vest.

20 Og han sa til mig: Dette er den plass hvor prestene skal koke skyldofferet og syndofferet, og hvor de skal bake matofferet, så de ikke har nødig å bære det ut i den ytre forgård og således hellige folket.

21 Så lot han mig gå ut i den ytre forgård, og førte mig omkring til forgårdens fire hjørner, og se, der var en mindre gård i hvert hjørne av forgården.

22 I forgårdens fire hjørner var det lukkede gårder, firti alen lange og tretti alen brede; de fire gårder i hjørnene hadde samme mål.

23 Og det gikk en muret ring rundt om i dem, rundt om i alle fire, og det var gjort kokesteder under de murede ringer rundt om.

24 Og han sa til mig: Dette er de kokehus hvor husets tjenere* skal koke folkets slaktoffer. / {* ESK 44, 11.}

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #861

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861. 20:9 And they went up over the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. This symbolically means that, being roused up by followers of the dragon, these people scorned every truth in the church and attempted to destroy everything connected with the New Church and its fundamental doctrine regarding the Lord and life.

To go up over the breadth of the earth means, symbolically, to scorn every truth in the church, because going up over symbolically means to transcend and bypass, thus to scorn. And the breadth of the earth symbolizes the truth in the church, as will be seen below. To surround the camp of the saints means, symbolically, to besiege and try to destroy everything connected with the New Church, as will be seen in the number following next. And the beloved city symbolizes the doctrine of the New Church. That a city symbolizes a church's doctrine may be seen in nos. 194, 501, 502, 712 above. The city is called beloved because its doctrine teaches about the Lord and how to live, as it is the doctrine of the New Jerusalem that is meant here.

That this is the symbolic meaning of these words, no one can see except as a consequence of the Word's spiritual sense. For it cannot possibly enter a person's thought that the breadth of the earth symbolizes the truth in a church, that the camp of the saints symbolizes everything connected with the New Church, both its truths and its goods, and that the city symbolizes its doctrine. Lest the mind remain in a state of doubt, therefore, we must demonstrate what breadth and the camp of the saints symbolize in the spiritual sense, which will make it possible for one to see afterward that the meaning of these words is as we have said.

[2] The breadth of the earth symbolizes the truth in a church because the spiritual world has in it four zones - eastern, western, southern and northern - and the eastern and western zones form its longitude or length, while the southern and northern zones form its latitude or breadth. Moreover, because the inhabitants in the eastern and western zones are ones impelled by the goodness of love, and therefore the east and west symbolize goodness, so likewise does longitude or length. And because the inhabitants in the southern and northern zones are ones impelled by truths of wisdom, and therefore the south and north symbolize truth, so likewise does latitude or breadth. But for more on this subject, see the book Heaven and Hell (London, 1758), nos. 141-153.

That breadth symbolizes truth can be seen from the following passages in the Word:

You (Jehovah) have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy; You have set my feet in the broad place. (Psalms 31:8)

Out of distress I called on Yah; He answered me in the broad place. (Psalms 118:5)

(Jehovah) led me out into the broad place; He delivered me... (Psalms 18:19)

...I am raising up the Chaldeans, a bitter and impetuous nation which marches into the breadths of the earth... (Habakkuk 1:6)

(The Assyrian) will pass through Judah, He will overflow and pass over..., and the spreading of his wings will fill the breadth... (Isaiah 8:8)

...Jehovah will pasture them like a lamb in broad pasture. (Hosea 4:16)

And so on elsewhere, as in Psalms 4:1; 66:12, Deuteronomy 33:20.

[3] Nothing else is meant by the breadth of the city New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:16). For since the New Jerusalem means the New Church, its breadth and length cannot symbolically mean its breadth and length, but its truth and goodness. These, indeed, are the measures of a church.

So also in Zechariah:

I said (to the angel), "Where are you going?" He said..., "To measure Jerusalem, to see how great its width is and how great its length." (Zechariah 2:2)

So likewise the breadth and length of the new temple and new earth in Ezekiel, chapters 40-47.

So, too, the length and breadth of the altar of burnt offering, of the Tabernacle, of the table of showbread, of the altar of incense, and of the ark within. So also the length and breadth of the temple in Jerusalem, and of many other things whose dimensions are given.

  
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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 #194

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194. "'And the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem.'" This symbolically means that they will have the doctrine of the New Church engraved on their hearts.

The New Jerusalem symbolizes the New Church, and when it is called a city, it symbolizes the New Church in respect to its doctrine. Therefore to "write on him the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem," means, symbolically, that they will have the doctrine of the New Church engraved on their hearts.

To be shown that Jerusalem symbolizes the church, and that as a city it means the church in respect to its doctrine, see nos. 880, 881, below.

A city symbolizes doctrine because a land, and particularly the land of Canaan, symbolizes a church in its entirety; and the inheritances into which the land of Canaan was divided consequently symbolized various components of the church, and the cities in it doctrines. Because of this, when cities are mentioned in the Word, the angels understand them to mean nothing else. I have also had this attested for me through a good deal of experience.

The case with this is the same as with the symbolic meanings of mountains, hills, valleys, springs, and rivers, all of which symbolize such things as have to do with the church.

[2] That cities symbolize doctrines can be seen to some extent from the following passages:

The land shall be... emptied..., the land shall be turned upside down..., the land shall be profaned... The empty city shall be broken down... What is left in the city shall be waste, and the gate shall be stricken even to its destruction. (Isaiah 3; 4; 5; 10; 11; 12)

The lion has come up from his thicket..., to make your land a wasteland. Your cities will be destroyed... I beheld... Carmel a wilderness, and all its cities desolate... ...the land shall mourn... The whole city shall flee..., forsaken... (Jeremiah 4:7, 26-29)

The land there is the church, and the city is its doctrine. The devastation of the church by doctrinal falsities is described in this way.

The despoiler shall come upon every city, so that no city escapes. The valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed... (Jeremiah 48:8)

Likewise:

Behold, I have made you this day as a fortified city... against the whole land... (Jeremiah 1:18)

This was addressed to the prophet because a prophet symbolizes the doctrine of the church (no. 8).

On that day they will sing... in the land of Judah: "We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks." (Isaiah 26:1-2)

...the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. (Revelation 16:18-19)

(The prophet saw) on a very high mountain... the structure of a city to the south... (And an angel measured the wall, the gates, their chambers, and the vestibule of the gate,) and the name of the city... shall be JEHOVAH IS THERE. (Ezekiel 40:1ff., 48:35)

There is a river whose streams have made glad the city of God? (Psalms 46:4-5)

I will embroil Egypt with Egypt, so that... city (fights) against city, and kingdom against kingdom. (Isaiah 19:2)

Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city... divided against itself will not stand. (Matthew 12:25)

Cities in these passages mean, in the spiritual sense, doctrines, as is the case also in Isaiah 6:11; 14:4, 17, 21; 19:18-19; 25:1-3; 33:8-9; 54:3; 64:10, and elsewhere.

[3] From the symbolic meaning of a city it can be seen what cities mean in this parable of the Lord:

A... nobleman (going) into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom..., delivered to (his servants) minas (with which to) do business... ...when he returned..., he (called the) servants... The first came, saying, ."..your mina has earned ten minas," and he said to him, ."..good servant..., you shall have authority over ten cities." And the second came, saying, ."..your mina has earned five minas." And he said... to him, "You also be over five cities." (Luke 19:12-19)

Cities here likewise symbolize doctrines or doctrinal truths, and to be over them is to be intelligent and wise. Thus to give power over them is to impart intelligence and wisdom. Ten symbolizes much, and five some. It is apparent that to do business and earn a profit means to acquire intelligence for oneself by making use of one's abilities.

[4] That the holy city Jerusalem symbolizes the doctrine of the New Church is clearly apparent from its description in chapter 21 of the book of Revelation, for it is described in respect to its dimensions, its gates, and its wall and foundations, and inasmuch as Jerusalem symbolizes the church, these can symbolize nothing other than matters having to do with its doctrine. Neither is the church a church on any other basis.

Because the city Jerusalem means the church in respect to doctrine, it is therefore called the City of Truth (Zechariah 8:3-4), and in many places a holy city, and this because holiness is predicated of truths derived from the Lord (no. 173).

  
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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.