The Bible

 

Ezekiel 48

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1 Now these are the names of the tribes. From the north end to the border of the way of Hethlon, as one goeth to Hamath, Hazar-enan, the border of Damascus northward, to the limit of Hamath; for these are his sides east and west; a portion for Dan.

2 And by the border of Dan, from the east side to the west side, a portion for Asher.

3 And by the border of Asher, from the east side even to the west side, a portion for Naphtali.

4 And by the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side, a portion for Manasseh.

5 And by the border of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side, a portion for Ephraim.

6 And by the border of Ephraim, from the east side even to the west side, a portion for Reuben.

7 And by the border of Reuben, from the east side to the west side, a portion for Judah.

8 And by the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the offering which ye shall offer of five and twenty thousand reeds in breadth, and in length as one of the other parts, from the east side to the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in the midst of it.

9 The oblation that ye shall offer to the LORD shall be of five and twenty thousand in length, and of ten thousand in breadth.

10 And for them, even for the priests, shall be this holy oblation; towards the north five and twenty thousand in length, and towards the west ten thousand in breadth, and towards the east ten thousand in breadth, and towards the south five and twenty thousand in length: and the sanctuary of the LORD shall be in the midst of it.

11 It shall be for the priests that are sanctified of the sons of Zadok; who have kept my charge, who went not astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.

12 And this oblation of the land that is offered shall be to them a thing most holy, by the border of the Levites.

13 And over against the border of the priests the Levites shall have five and twenty thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: all the 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 to the LORD.

15 And the five thousand, that are left in the breadth over against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a profane place for the city, for dwelling, and for suburbs, and the city shall be in the midst of it.

16 And these shall be the measures of it; the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on 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 towards the north two hundred and fifty, and towards the south two hundred and fifty, and towards the east two hundred and fifty, and towards the west two hundred and fifty.

18 And the residue in length over against the oblation of the holy portion shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward: and it shall be over against the oblation of the holy portion; and its increase shall be for food to them that serve the city.

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

20 All the oblation shall be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand: ye shall offer the holy oblation foursquare, with the possession of the city.

21 And the residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy oblation, and of the possession of the city, over against the five and twenty thousand of the oblation towards the east border, and westward over against the five and twenty thousand towards the west border, over against the portions for the prince: and it shall be the holy oblation; and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst of it.

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

23 As for the rest of the tribes, from the east side to the west side, Benjamin shall have a portion.

24 And by the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon shall have a portion.

25 And by the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar a portion.

26 And by the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun a portion.

27 And by the border of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, Gad a portion.

28 And by the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar to the waters of strife in Kadesh, and to the river towards the great sea.

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

30 And these are the goings out of the city on the north side, four thousand and five hundred measures.

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

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

33 And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures: and three gates; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of Zebulun.

34 And the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their three gates: one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali.

35 The circuit was eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #4482

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4482. 'Behold, the land is broad and spacious before them' means extension, that is to say, of truth which is the truth of doctrine. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land' as the Church, dealt with just above in 4480, and from the meaning of 'broad and spacious' as extension as regards truths, and so as regards those taught by doctrine. When in the Word the measurements of something are given, it is not those measurements that are meant in the internal sense but the essential characteristics of a state that is being described. For measurements involve spatial dimensions and in the next life there are no intervals of space, as there are no periods of time, but states which correspond to these, see 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387, 3404, 4321. That being so, lengths, breadths, and heights, which are spatial measurements, mean the aspects of a state - length meaning holiness, height good, and breadth truth, see 650, 1613, 3433, 3434. This then is why 'the land is broad and spacious' means the extension of truth which is the truth of doctrine within the Church.

[2] Anyone who does not know of the existence of anything spiritual in the Word other than that which stands out in the literal sense is bound to be amazed by the statement that 'the land is broad and specious' means the extension of truth which is the truth of doctrine within the Church. But the truth of this statement may be established from places where 'breadth' is mentioned in the Word, as in Isaiah,

Asshur will go through Judah, it will deluge it and pass through and will reach even to the neck; and the outstretchings of its wings will fill the breadth of the land. Isaiah 8:8.

In David,

O Jehovah, You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have made my feet stand in a broad place. Psalms 31:8.

In the same author,

Out of my distress I called on Jah; He answered me in a broad place. Psalms 118:5.

In Habakkuk,

I am rousing the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation, marching' into the breadths of the earth. Habakkuk 1:6.

'Breadths' here means nothing other than the truth of the Church.

[3] The reason why breadth has this meaning is that in the spiritual world, that is, in heaven, the Lord is the centre of all, for He is the Sun there. Those in a state of good are more interior, their exact position towards the middle being determined by the character and the amount of the good present in them. This is why 'height' is used in reference to good. Those who are in a similar degree of good are also in a similar degree of truth, and so dwell so to speak at the same distance from the centre, or one might say, dwell on the same contour; and this is why 'breadth' is used in reference to truths. Therefore when a person reads the Word the angels present with him do not understand by 'breadth' anything other than truths. When in the Historical sections, for example, the ark, the altar, the temple, and the spaces outside cities are referred to, states of good and truth are perceived by the dimensions indicating the lengths, breadths, and heights of these. The same is so with the new earth, new Jerusalem, and new Temple - described in Chapters 40-47 of Ezekiel - by which heaven and a new Church are meant, as may be seen from the detailed descriptions in those chapters. So also in John where it is said of the New Jerusalem that it will be foursquare, 'its length being as great as its breadth', Revelation 21:16.

[4] Things which in the spiritual world are interior are described as those that are higher, while those that are exterior are described by those that are lower, 2148, for while in the world, no one can conceive of interior things and exterior ones in any other way, for the reason that he dwells within space and time, and things that belong to space and time have entered in among the ideas comprising his thought and have conditioned the majority of these. From this it is also evident that expressions which give the spatial measurements of things such as the height, length, and breadth of them, are in the spiritual sense expressions used to indicate the magnitude of affections for good and affections for truth.

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