The Bible

 

Ezekiel 44

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1 Then he brought me back by the way of the outer gate of the sanctuary, which looks toward the east; and it was shut.

2 Yahweh said to me, This gate shall be shut; it shall not be opened, neither shall any man enter in by it; for Yahweh, the God of Israel, has entered in by it; therefore it shall be shut.

3 As for the prince, he shall sit therein as prince to eat bread before Yahweh; he shall enter by the way of the porch of the gate, and shall go out by the way of the same.

4 Then he brought me by the way of the north gate before the house; and I looked, and behold, the glory of Yahweh filled the house of Yahweh: and I fell on my face.

5 Yahweh said to me, Son of man, mark well, and see with your eyes, and hear with your ears all that I tell you concerning all the ordinances of the house of Yahweh, and all its laws; and mark well the entrance of the house, with every exit of the sanctuary.

6 You shall tell the rebellious, even to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord Yahweh: you house of Israel, let it suffice you of all your abominations,

7 in that you have brought in foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, to be in my sanctuary, to profane it, even my house, when you offer my bread, the fat and the blood, and they have broken my covenant, [to add] to all your abominations.

8 You have not performed the duty of my holy things; but you have set performers of my duty in my sanctuary for yourselves.

9 Thus says the Lord Yahweh, No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into my sanctuary, of any foreigners who are among the children of Israel.

10 But the Levites who went far from me, when Israel went astray, who went astray from me after their idols, they shall bear their iniquity.

11 Yet they shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the house, and ministering in the house: they shall kill the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall stand before them to minister to them.

12 Because they ministered to them before their idols, and became a stumbling block of iniquity to the house of Israel; therefore have I lifted up my hand against them, says the Lord Yahweh, and they shall bear their iniquity.

13 They shall not come near to me, to execute the office of priest to me, nor to come near to any of my holy things, to the things that are most holy; but they shall bear their shame, and their abominations which they have committed.

14 Yet will I make them performers of the duty of the house, for all its service, and for all that shall be done therein.

15 But the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, who performed the duty of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall come near to me to minister to me; and they shall stand before me to offer to me the fat and the blood, says the Lord Yahweh:

16 they shall enter into my sanctuary, and they shall come near to my table, to minister to me, and they shall keep my instruction.

17 It shall be that, when they enter in at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and no wool shall come on them, while they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within.

18 They shall have linen tires on their heads, and shall have linen breeches on their waists; they shall not clothe themselves with [anything that causes] sweat.

19 When they go forth into the outer court, even into the outer court to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they minister, and lay them in the holy rooms; and they shall put on other garments, that they not sanctify the people with their garments.

20 Neither shall they shave their heads, nor allow their locks to grow long; they shall only cut off the hair of their heads.

21 Neither shall any of the priests drink wine, when they enter into the inner court.

22 Neither shall they take for their wives a widow, nor her who is put away; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel, or a widow who is the widow of a priest.

23 They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

24 In a controversy they shall stand to judge; according to my ordinances shall they judge it: and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my appointed feasts; and they shall make my Sabbaths holy.

25 They shall go in to no dead person to defile themselves; but for father, or for mother, or for son, or for daughter, for brother, or for sister who has had no husband, they may defile themselves.

26 After he is cleansed, they shall reckon to him seven days.

27 In the day that he goes into the sanctuary, into the inner court, to minister in the sanctuary, he shall offer his sin offering, says the Lord Yahweh.

28 They shall have an inheritance: I am their inheritance; and you shall give them no possession in Israel; I am their possession.

29 They shall eat the meal offering, and the sin offering, and the trespass offering; and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.

30 The first of all the first fruits of every thing, and every offering of everything, of all your offerings, shall be for the priest: you shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, to cause a blessing to rest on your house.

31 The priests shall not eat of anything that dies of itself, or is torn, whether it be bird or animal.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9457

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9457. 'And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying' means instructions regarding the holy things of heaven which had to be represented. This is clear from the verses that follow, for the things which Jehovah told Moses mean the holy things of heaven that were to be represented. Among the Israelite people a Church was being established in which outward forms would exist displaying in a representative fashion the celestial realities belonging to the good of love, and the spiritual realities belonging to the good and truth of faith, as such realities exist in heaven and ought to do so in the Church. From all this it is clear that 'Jehovah spoke' means instructions regarding the holy things of heaven which had to be represented. Since the matters described in the verses that follow are representative of the celestial and spiritual realities from the Lord in the heavens, something needs to be said about what a representative Church is and why it exists.

[2] There are three heavens - the inmost or third, the middle or second, and the lowest or first. In the inmost heaven the good of love to the Lord reigns, in the middle heaven the good of charity towards the neighbour reigns, and in the lowest the things which are thought, spoken, and come into being in the middle and inmost heavens are represented. The representatives there are countless, such as paradise parks, gardens, forests, fields, plains, as well as cities, palaces, and houses; also flocks and herds, as well as very many kinds of animals and birds; and countless other phenomena. These appear before the eyes of angelic spirits in that heaven more plainly than any such things do on earth in the light at midday; and what is astonishing, those spirits also discern what realities are meant by the things which appear.

[3] Such phenomena also appeared to prophets when their inner sight, which is the sight of the spirit, had been opened, for instance the horses that appeared to Zechariah, 6:1-8; the living creatures which were cherubs, and afterwards the new temple and everything in it that appeared to Ezekiel, Chapters 1, 9, 10, 40-48; the lampstand, thrones, living creatures (which again were cherubs), horses, new Jerusalem, and very many other phenomena, which appeared to John and are described in the Book of Revelation; and similarly the fiery horses and chariots that appeared to Elisha's servant, 2 Kings 6:17. Things such as these are constantly making their appearance in heaven before the eyes of spirits and angels. They are natural forms in which the inward things of heaven terminate and are given shape. The things which present themselves visually before the spirits and angels' actual eyes in this way are representations.

[4] A representative Church exists therefore when the holy, inner realities of love and faith which are derived from the Lord and look towards the Lord present themselves by means of visual forms in the world, such as those which are the subject in this and following chapters - the ark, the mercy-seat, the cherubs, the tables there, the lampstand, and everything else that was part of the tabernacle. For that tabernacle was constructed in such a way that it might represent the three heavens and everything there, the ark which contained the Testimony representing the inmost heaven and the Lord Himself there. This is why, when Moses was shown on the mountain the form it should take, Jehovah said at the same time, To the end that they may make for Him a sanctuary and He may dwell in their midst, verse 8. Everyone endowed with any ability to think on a deeper level can see that Jehovah could not have dwelt in a tent but that He dwells in heaven, and that this tent is called the sanctuary only because it presents an image of heaven, and the celestial and spiritual realities there. Let everyone ask himself, What would it have been for Jehovah, Creator of heaven and earth, to dwell in a small dwelling-place that was made of wood, overlaid with gold, and surrounded by curtains, if heaven and the things of heaven had not been represented there in outward forms?

[5] For the realities which are represented in outward forms do indeed reveal themselves in a similar way in the lowest or first heaven before the spirits there. But those in the higher heavens perceive the inner things that are being represented, which, as has been stated, are the celestial realities belonging to love to the Lord and the spiritual realities belonging to faith in the Lord. It was things of this nature that filled heaven when Moses and the people, moved by outward holiness, venerated that tent as the dwelling-place of Jehovah Himself. From this it is evident what a representative was, and also that by means of it heaven, and so the Lord, was present with mankind.

[6] A representative Church therefore was established among the Israelite people, when the ancient Church came to an end, in order that by means of such representatives heaven, and so the Lord, might be joined to the human race. (If the Lord did not join Himself to people through heaven they would cease to exist; for it is as a result of this joining of Himself to them that people possess the life they have.) Those representatives however were no more than outward means serving to conjoin, yet to which the Lord joined heaven in a wondrous manner, 4311. But when the joining together through those means also was about to perish the Lord came into the world and laid bare the actual realities which were being merely represented up to then, that is, the inner realities which belong to love to and faith in Him. These realities themselves now effect that joining together. But the only means by which such a joining together is effected at the present day is still the Word, since this has been written in such a way that every single part of it has a correspondence and as a consequence represents and serves to mean the Divine realities present in the heavens.

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

The Bible

 

Exodus 26

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1 "Moreover you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple, and scarlet, with cherubim. The work of the skillful workman you shall make them.

2 The length of each curtain shall be twenty-eight cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits: all the curtains shall have one measure.

3 Five curtains shall be coupled together one to another; and the other five curtains shall be coupled one to another.

4 You shall make loops of blue on the edge of the one curtain from the edge in the coupling; and likewise you shall make in the edge of the curtain that is outmost in the second coupling.

5 You shall make fifty loops in the one curtain, and you shall make fifty loops in the edge of the curtain that is in the second coupling. The loops shall be opposite one to another.

6 You shall make fifty clasps of gold, and couple the curtains one to another with the clasps: and the tabernacle shall be a unit.

7 "You shall make curtains of goats' hair for a covering over the tabernacle. You shall make them eleven curtains.

8 The length of each curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the breadth of each curtain four cubits: the eleven curtains shall have one measure.

9 You shall couple five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shall double over the sixth curtain in the forefront of the tent.

10 You shall make fifty loops on the edge of the one curtain that is outmost in the coupling, and fifty loops on the edge of the curtain which is outmost in the second coupling.

11 You shall make fifty clasps of brass, and put the clasps into the loops, and couple the tent together, that it may be one.

12 The overhanging part that remains of the curtains of the tent, the half curtain that remains, shall hang over the back of the tabernacle.

13 The cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side, of that which remains in the length of the curtains of the tent, shall hang over the sides of the tabernacle on this side and on that side, to cover it.

14 You shall make a covering for the tent of rams' skins dyed red, and a covering of sea cow hides above.

15 "You shall make the boards for the tabernacle of acacia wood, standing up.

16 Ten cubits shall be the length of a board, and one and a half cubits the breadth of each board.

17 There shall be two tenons in each board, joined to one another: thus you shall make for all the boards of the tabernacle.

18 You shall make the boards for the tabernacle, twenty boards for the south side southward.

19 You shall make forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards; two sockets under one board for its two tenons, and two sockets under another board for its two tenons.

20 For the second side of the tabernacle, on the north side, twenty boards,

21 and their forty sockets of silver; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

22 For the far part of the tabernacle westward you shall make six boards.

23 You shall make two boards for the corners of the tabernacle in the far part.

24 They shall be double beneath, and in the same way they shall be whole to its top to one ring: thus shall it be for them both; they shall be for the two corners.

25 There shall be eight boards, and their sockets of silver, sixteen sockets; two sockets under one board, and two sockets under another board.

26 "You shall make bars of acacia wood: five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle,

27 and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the far part westward.

28 The middle bar in the midst of the boards shall pass through from end to end.

29 You shall overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for places for the bars: and you shall overlay the bars with gold.

30 You shall set up the tabernacle according to the way that it was shown to you on the mountain.

31 "You shall make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, with cherubim. The work of the skillful workman shall it be made.

32 You shall hang it on four pillars of acacia overlaid with gold; their hooks shall be of gold, on four sockets of silver.

33 You shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and shall bring the ark of the testimony in there within the veil: and the veil shall separate the holy place from the most holy for you.

34 You shall put the mercy seat on the ark of the testimony in the most holy place.

35 You shall set the table outside the veil, and the lampstand over against the table on the side of the tabernacle toward the south: and you shall put the table on the north side.

36 "You shall make a screen for the door of the Tent, of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the embroiderer.

37 You shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia, and overlay them with gold: their hooks shall be of gold: and you shall cast five sockets of brass for them.