The Bible

 

Exodus 25

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1 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

2 `Speak unto the sons of Israel, and they take for Me a heave-offering; from every man whose heart impelleth him ye do take My heave-offering.

3 `And this [is] the heave-offering which ye take from them; gold, and silver, and brass,

4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and linen, and goats' [hair],

5 and rams' skins made red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood,

6 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the perfume of the spices,

7 shoham stones, and stones for setting for an ephod, and for a breastplate.

8 `And they have made for Me a sanctuary, and I have tabernacled in their midst;

9 according to all that which I am shewing thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all its vessels, even so ye do make [it].

10 `And they have made an ark of shittim wood; two cubits and a half its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height;

11 and thou hast overlaid it [with] pure gold, within and without thou dost overlay it, and thou hast made on it a ring of gold round about.

12 `And thou hast cast for it four rings of gold, and hast put [them] on its four feet, even two rings on its one side, and two rings on its second side;

13 and thou hast made staves of shittim wood, and hast overlaid them [with] gold,

14 and hast brought the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark by them,

15 in the rings of the ark are the staves, they are not turned aside from it;

16 and thou hast put unto the ark the testimony which I give unto thee.

17 `And thou hast made a mercy-seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth;

18 and thou hast made two cherubs of gold, beaten work dost thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat;

19 and make thou one cherub at the end on this side, and one cherub at the end on that; at the mercy-seat ye do make the cherubs on its two ends.

20 `And the cherubs have been spreading out wings on high, covering the mercy-seat over with their wings, and their faces [are] one towards another -- towards the mercy-seat are the faces of the cherubs.

21 `And thou hast put the mercy-seat on the ark above, and unto the ark thou dost put the testimony which I give unto thee;

22 and I have met with thee there, and have spoken with thee from off the mercy-seat (from between the two cherubs, which [are] on the ark of the testimony) all that which I command thee concerning the sons of Israel.

23 `And thou hast made a table of shittim wood, two cubits its length, and a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height,

24 and hast overlaid it [with] pure gold, and hast made for it a crown of gold round about,

25 and hast made for it a border of a handbreadth round about, and hast made a crown of gold to its border round about.

26 `And thou hast made to it four rings of gold, and hast put the rings on the four corners, which [are] to its four feet;

27 over-against the border are the rings for places for staves to bear the table;

28 and thou hast made the staves of shittim wood, and hast overlaid them with gold, and the table hath been borne with them;

29 and thou hast made its dishes, and its bowls, and its covers, and its cups, with which they pour out; of pure gold thou dost make them;

30 and thou hast put on the table bread of the presence before Me continually.

31 `And thou hast made a candlestick of pure gold, of beaten work is the candlestick made; its base, and its branch, its calyxes, its knops, and its flowers are of the same;

32 and six branches are coming out of its sides, three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the second side;

33 three calyxes made like almonds in the one branch, a knop and a flower, and three calyxes made like almonds in one branch, a knop and a flower; so for the six branches which are coming out from the candlestick.

34 `And in the candlestick [are] four calyxes made like almonds, its knops and its flowers;

35 and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, [are] to the six branches which are coming out of the candlestick;

36 their knops and their branches are of the same, all of it one beaten work of pure gold;

37 and thou hast made its seven lamps, and [one] hath caused its lights to go up, and it hath given light over-against its front.

38 `And its snuffers and its snuff dishes [are] of pure gold;

39 of a talent of pure gold he doth make it, with all these vessels.

40 And see thou and do [them] by their pattern which thou art shewn in the mount.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #9460

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9460. 'From everyone whose heart is willing' means that all things should be offered out of love, and so in freedom. This is clear from the meaning of 'whose heart is willing' as in freedom. The reason why offering them out of love is meant is that all freedom is rooted in love; for what a person does out of love he does in freedom.

'Heart' has to do with love because it has to do with the will, see 7542, 8910, 9050, 9113, 9300.

All freedom is rooted in love or affection, 2870-2893, 3158, 9096, and this is why all worship must be offered in freedom, 1947, 2880, 2881, 7349.

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3158

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3158. 'Tell me; and if not, tell me' means a state in which they are free to deliberate. This is evident from the sense of the words themselves. From all that has gone before it is clear that while the sense of the letter in this chapter is dealing with the betrothal and marriage of Rebekah to Isaac, the internal sense is dealing with the introduction and joining together of truth and good, for the introduction and joining together of truth and good is spiritual betrothal and spiritual marriage. In both instances a free state to deliberate is necessary. The necessity for it in betrothal and marriage is well known, but the necessity for it in the introduction and joining together of truth and good is not so well known because it is not visible to the natural man and belongs among the things that go on quite apart from any reflecting on them. Yet this activity continues moment by moment in one who is being reformed and regenerated, that is to say, he experiences a free state when truth is being joined to good.

[2] Everyone may know, if he merely stops to think, that nothing ever exists as a person's own unless it forms part of his will. That which belongs solely to the understanding does not become a person's own until it belongs also to his will, for what belongs to the will constitutes the essential being (esse) of a person's life, whereas what belongs to the understanding constitutes the manifestation (existere) of that essential being. Consent flowing from the understanding alone is not consent, but all consent springs from the will. Unless therefore the truth of faith which belongs to the understanding is received by the good of love which belongs to the will it is in no sense truth that has been acknowledged, and so is not faith. In order that it may be received by good that belongs to the will it is necessary that a free state should exist. Everything that belongs in the will looks to be free. The state itself of the will is freedom, for what I will, I choose and desire since that is what I love and acknowledge as that which is good. From this it becomes clear that the truth of faith in no sense becomes a person's own until it has been accepted by the will, that is, introduced and joined to the good there, which cannot happen except in a free state.

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