The Bible

 

Jezekilj 45

Study

   

1 A kad stanete deliti zemlju u nasledstvo, prinesite prinos Gospodu, sveti deo od zemlje, u dužinu dvadeset i pet hiljada lakata, i u širinu deset hiljada, to neka bude sveto po svim međama svojim unaokolo.

2 Od toga neka bude za svetinju pet stotina lakata u dužinu i pet stotina u širinu, četvrtasto od svuda, i pedeset lakata u naokolo za podgrađa.

3 Po toj meri izmeri u dužinu dvadeset i pet hiljada i u širinu deset hiljada, i tu neka bude svetinja i svetinja nad svetinjama.

4 To neka bude svet deo od zemlje sveštenicima, koji služe u svetinji, koji pristupaju da služe Gospodu, i neka im bude mesto za kuće i sveto mesto za svetinju.

5 A dvadeset i pet hiljada lakata u dužinu i deset hiljada u širinu neka bude Levitima koji služe u domu u državu s dvadeset kleti.

6 I gradu podajte dostojanje pet hiljada lakata u širinu i dvadeset i pet hiljada u dužinu prema svetom delu; to neka je za sav dom Izrailjev.

7 A knezu neka bude s obe strane svetog dela i dostojanja gradskog pred svetim delom i pred gradskim dostojanjem, sa zapadne strane na zapad i s istočne strane na istok, a dužina da bude prema svakom od tih delova od zapadne međe do istočne međe.

8 Ta zemlja da mu je dostojanje u Izrailju, da više ne otimaju knezovi moji od naroda mog, nego ostalu zemlju da daju domu Izrailjevom po plemenima njihovim.

9 Ovako veli Gospod Gospod: Dosta je, knezovi Izrailjevi; prođite se nasilja i otimanja, i tvorite sud i pravdu, i skinite teške poslove svoje s mog naroda, govori Gospod Gospod.

10 Merila da su vam prava, i efa prava, i vat prav.

11 Efa i vat da su jedne mere, da vat bere desetinu homora, i efa desetinu homora; mera da im je prema homoru.

12 I sikal da je dvadeset gera, a mina da vam je dvadeset sikala, dvadeset i pet sikala, i petnaest sikala.

13 Ovo je prinos što ćete prinositi: Šestina efe od homora pšenice, tako i od ječma dajte šestinu efe od homora.

14 A za ulje je uredba ova: vat je mera za ulje; desetina vata od jednog kora, koji je homor od deset vata, jer je deset vata homor.

15 A od sitne stoke jedno od dve stotine s dobrih pasišta sinova Izrailjevih za dar i za žrtvu paljenicu i za žrtvu zahvalnu, da se čini očišćenje za njih, govori Gospod Gospod.

16 Sav narod zemaljski da daje ovaj prinos knezu Izrailjevom.

17 A knez je dužan davati žrtve paljenice s darom i nalivom na praznike i na mladine i u subote, o svim svetkovinama doma Izrailjevog; on neka prinosi žrtvu za greh s darom i žrtvu paljenicu i zahvalnu da čini očišćenje za dom Izrailjev.

18 Ovako veli Gospod Gospod: Prvog dana prvog meseca uzmi junca zdravog, i očisti svetinju njim.

19 I neka sveštenik uzme krvi od te žrtve za greh, i pomaže njom dovratnike na domu i četiri ugla od pojasa na oltaru i dovratnike od vrata na unutrašnjem tremu.

20 Tako učini i sedmog dana istog meseca za svakog koji zgreši iz neznanja i za prostog; tako ćete očistiti dom.

21 Prvog meseca četrnaestog dana da vam je pasha, praznik sedam dana, hlebovi presni da se jedu.

22 I taj dan neka prinese knez za se i za sav narod zemaljski junca na žrtvu za greh.

23 A za sedam dana praznika neka prinosi na žrtvu paljenicu Gospodu po sedam junaca i sedam ovnova zdravih na dan, za onih sedam dana, i na žrtvu za greh jarca na dan.

24 I za dar po efu na junca i efu na ovna neka prinosi, i in ulja na svaku efu.

25 Sedmog meseca petnaestog dana na praznik neka prinosi isto tako za sedam dana i žrtvu za greh i žrtvu paljenicu i dar i ulje.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #904

Study this Passage

  
/ 962  
  

904. 21:15 And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. This symbolically means that to people who possess the goodness of love, the Lord grants a faculty for understanding and knowing the nature of the Lord's New Church as regards its doctrine and its introductory truths, and as regards the Word from which they are drawn.

He who spoke with me symbolizes the Lord speaking from heaven, because it was an angel speaking, one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls mentioned in verse 9, who means the Lord speaking from heaven (no. 895). A reed symbolizes a power or ability springing from the goodness of love - a reed symbolizing power or ability (no. 485), and gold the goodness of love (nos. 211, 726). To measure means, symbolically, to learn the character of a thing, thus to understand and know it (no. 486). The city, the holy Jerusalem, symbolizes the church in respect to its doctrine (nos. 879, 880). Its gates symbolize concepts of truth and goodness from the Word's literal sense, which are truths and goods owing to the spiritual life in them (no. 899). And the wall symbolizes the Word in its literal sense from which the doctrine and concepts come (no. 898).

It is apparent from this that "he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall," symbolically means that to people who possess the goodness of love, the Lord grants a faculty for understanding and knowing the nature of the Lord's New Church as regards its doctrine and its introductory truths, and as regards the Word from which they are drawn.

[2] These symbolic meanings cannot be seen at all in the literal sense, for one sees in it only that an angel speaking with John had a gold reed with which to measure the city and its gates and wall. But even so, that these words contain another meaning, a spiritual meaning, is clearly apparent from the fact that the city Jerusalem does not mean a real city, but the church. Consequently everything said about Jerusalem as a city symbolizes such things as have to do with the church, and everything having to do with the church is, in itself, spiritual.

Such a spiritual meaning is present also in what is said in chapter 11 above, where we are told the following:

I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there." (Revelation 11:1)

A similar spiritual meaning is present, too, in everything that the angel measured with a reed in Ezekiel 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48. Also in these verses in Zechariah:

I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what its width is and what its length." (Zechariah 2:1-2)

Indeed, such a spiritual meaning is present in everything connected with the Tabernacle and in everything connected with the Temple in Jerusalem, whose measurements we are told, and also in the measurements themselves. And yet nothing of this can be seen in the literal sense.

  
/ 962  
  

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

 

Ezekiel 47

Study

   

1 He brought me back to the door of the house; and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward; (for the forefront of the house was toward the east;) and the waters came down from under, from the right side of the house, on the south of the altar.

2 Then he brought me out by the way of the gate northward, and led me round by the way outside to the outer gate, by the way of [the gate] that looks toward the east; and behold, there ran out waters on the right side.

3 When the man went forth eastward with the line in his hand, he measured one thousand cubits, and he caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the ankles.

4 Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through the waters, waters that were to the knees. Again he measured one thousand, and caused me to pass through [the waters], waters that were to the waist.

5 Afterward he measured one thousand; [and it was] a river that I could not pass through; for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed through.

6 He said to me, Son of man, have you seen [this]? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the bank of the river.

7 Now when I had returned, behold, on the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other.

8 Then he said to me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern region, and shall go down into the Arabah; and they shall go toward the sea; into the sea [shall the waters go] which were made to issue forth; and the waters shall be healed.

9 It shall happen, that every living creature which swarms, in every place where the rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish; for these waters are come there, and [the waters of the sea] shall be healed, and everything shall live wherever the river comes.

10 It shall happen, that fishermen shall stand by it: from En Gedi even to En Eglaim shall be a place for the spreading of nets; their fish shall be after their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many.

11 But the miry places of it, and its marshes, shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt.

12 By the river on its bank, on this side and on that side, shall grow every tree for food, whose leaf shall not wither, neither shall its fruit fail: it shall bring forth new fruit every month, because its waters issue out of the sanctuary; and its fruit shall be for food, and its leaf for healing.

13 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: This shall be the border, by which you shall divide the land for inheritance according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph [shall have two] portions.

14 You shall inherit it, one as well as another; for I swore to give it to your fathers: and this land shall fall to you for inheritance.

15 This shall be the border of the land: On the north side, from the great sea, by the way of Hethlon, to the entrance of Zedad;

16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazer Hatticon, which is by the border of Hauran.

17 The border from the sea, shall be Hazar Enon at the border of Damascus; and on the north northward is the border of Hamath. This is the north side.

18 The east side, between Hauran and Damascus and Gilead, and the land of Israel, shall be the Jordan; from the [north] border to the east sea you shall measure. This is the east side.

19 The south side southward shall be from Tamar as far as the waters of Meriboth Kadesh, to the brook [of Egypt], to the great sea. This is the south side southward.

20 The west side shall be the great sea, from the [south] border as far as over against the entrance of Hamath. This is the west side.

21 So you shall divide this land to you according to the tribes of Israel.

22 It shall happen, that you shall divide it by lot for an inheritance to you and to the aliens who live among you, who shall father children among you; and they shall be to you as the native-born among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.

23 It shall happen, that in what tribe the stranger lives, there you shall give him his inheritance, says the Lord Yahweh.