The Bible

 

Ezekiel 45

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1 Moreover, when you shall divide by lot the land for inheritance, you shall offer an offering to Yahweh, a holy portion of the land; the length shall be the length of twenty-five thousand [reeds], and the breadth shall be ten thousand: it shall be holy in all its border all around.

2 Of this there shall be for the holy place five hundred [in length] by five hundred [in breadth], square all around; and fifty cubits for its suburbs all around.

3 Of this measure you shall measure a length of twenty-five thousand, and a breadth of ten thousand: and in it shall be the sanctuary, which is most holy.

4 It is a holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to Yahweh; and it shall be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary.

5 Twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth, shall be to the Levites, the ministers of the house, for a possession to themselves, [for] Twenty rooms.

6 You shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and twenty-five thousand long, side by side with the offering of the holy portion: it shall be for the whole house of Israel.

7 [Whatever is] for the prince [shall be] on the one side and on the other side of the holy offering and of the possession of the city, in front of the holy offering and in front of the possession of the city, on the west side westward, and on the east side eastward; and in length answerable to one of the portions, from the west border to the east border.

8 In the land it shall be to him for a possession in Israel: and my princes shall no more oppress my people; but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

9 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: Let it suffice you, princes of Israel: remove violence and spoil, and execute justice and righteousness; dispossessing my people, says the Lord Yahweh.

10 You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath.

11 The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, that the bath may contain the tenth part of a homer, and the ephah the tenth part of a homer: its measure shall be after the homer.

12 The shekel shall be twenty gerahs. twenty shekels plus twenty-five shekels plus fifteen shekels shall be your mina.

13 This is the offering that you shall offer: the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of wheat; and you shall give the sixth part of an ephah from a homer of barley;

14 and the set portion of oil, of the bath of oil, the tenth part of a bath out of the cor, [which is] ten baths, even a homer; (for ten baths are a homer;)

15 and one lamb of the flock, out of two hundred, from the well-watered pastures of Israel--for a meal offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them, says the Lord Yahweh.

16 All the people of the land shall give to this offering for the prince in Israel.

17 It shall be the prince's part to give the burnt offerings, and the meal offerings, and the drink offerings, in the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the Sabbaths, in all the appointed feasts of the house of Israel: he shall prepare the sin offering, and the meal offering, and the burnt offering, and the peace offerings, to make atonement for the house of Israel.

18 Thus says the Lord Yahweh: In the first [month], in the first [day] of the month, you shall take a young bull without blemish; and you shall cleanse the sanctuary.

19 The priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering, and put it on the door posts of the house, and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court.

20 So you shall do on the seventh [day] of the month for everyone who errs, and for him who is simple: so you shall make atonement for the house.

21 In the first [month], in the fourteenth day of the month, you shall have the Passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

22 On that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bull for a sin offering.

23 The seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to Yahweh, seven bulls and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a male goat daily for a sin offering.

24 He shall prepare a meal offering, an ephah for a bull, and an ephah for a ram, and a hin of oil to an ephah.

25 In the seventh [month], in the fifteenth day of the month, in the feast, shall he do the like the seven days; according to the sin offering, according to the burnt offering, and according to the meal offering, and according to the oil.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #8468

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8468. 'An omer a head' means the amount for each individual. This is clear from the meaning of 'an omer' as the sufficient amount, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'a head' as for each person. The reason why 'an omer' means the sufficient amount is that it was the tenth part of an ephah, as is evident from the final verse of the present chapter; and 'ten' means what is complete, 3107, so that 'a tenth part' means the sufficient amount, at this point for each individual, meant by 'a head'. 'An omer' is mentioned in the present chapter alone; the term used elsewhere is 'a homer', which was a measure that held ten ephahs, and therefore meant what was complete, as in Hosea,

I acquired an adulterous woman for fifteen [shekels] of silver, and a homer of barley and half a homer of barley. Hosea 3:2.

Here 'an adulterous woman' is used to mean the house of Israel, in the spiritual sense the Church there. Her being acquired for the full price is meant by 'fifteen [shekels] of silver' and 'a homer of barley' - 'fifteen [shekels] of silver' having reference to truth and 'a homer of barley' to good.

[2] In Ezekiel,

You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, so that a tenth of a homer is offered for a bath, and a tenth of a homer for an ephah; your measure shall be after the homer. This is the offering which you shall offer: A sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, ... from the barley. And the fixed portion of oil, the bath for oil, shall be a tenth of a bath from a cor, which is ten baths to the homer; for ten baths are a homer. Ezekiel 45:10-11, 13-14.

This refers to a new earth or land and new temple, meaning the Lord's spiritual kingdom. Anyone may see that there will be no homer, ephah, bath, or cor there, and no wheat, barley, or oil either. From this it is clear that these objects mean the kinds of things that belong to that spiritual kingdom, which things, it is evident, are spiritual realities, that is, they are connected with either the good of charity or the truth of faith. 'Homer' has reference to good because it is a measure of wheat or barley, and so does 'ephah'; but 'bath' has reference to truth because it is a measure of wine. Yet being also a measure of oil, by which the good of love is meant, it says that a bath shall be the same part of a homer as an ephah is, which means in the spiritual sense that everything there will have a connection with good, and also that truth there will be good. It will also exist in full measure, for 'a homer' means what is complete.

[3] In Isaiah,

Many houses will be a ruination, large and beautiful ones, so that there is no inhabitant; for ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bath, and the sowing of a homer will yield an ephah. Isaiah 5:9-10.

Here 'ten acres' stands for complete and also for much, and so does 'a homer'; but 'a bath' and 'an ephah' stand for little. For when 'ten' means much, 'a tenth part' means little. In Moses,

If a man sanctifies to Jehovah part of a field of his possession, your valuation shall be according to its sowing; the sowing of a homer of barley [shall be valued] at fifty shekels of silver. Leviticus 27:16.

Here 'the sowing of a homer' and also 'fifty shekels' stand for the full or complete valuation. Since 'a homer' means what is complete, ten homers means at Numbers 11:32 what is in excess and superfluous.

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