The Bible

 

Exodus 25

Study

   

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 #9538

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

9538. 'Which are on its four feet' means in the natural sphere. This is clear from the meaning of 'four' as that which implies a joining together, dealt with in 1686, 8877; and from the meaning of 'feet' as the natural, dealt with in 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, 5327, 5328. The firmness resides in the natural sphere because everything spiritual reaches down to and rests on that which is called natural truth, and everything celestial down to and on that which is called natural good. So it is that the natural is their foundation and consequently firm support. Few as yet know of this; therefore something will in the Lord's Divine mercy be said from experience about it elsewhere.

  
/ 10837  
  

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #3761

Study this Passage

  
/ 10837  
  

3761. 'Jacob lifted up his feet' means a raising up of the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'lifting up' as a raising up, and from the meaning of 'the feet' as the natural, dealt with below. The raising up meant here is the subject of the chapter itself, namely a raising up from external truth towards internal good. In the highest sense the subject is how the Lord according to order raised His Natural even up to the Divine, rising up step by step from external truth towards internal good. In the representative sense it is how the Lord according to a similar order makes man's natural new when regenerating him. The fact that a person who is being regenerated in adult life progresses according to the order described in the internal sense of this chapter and of those that follow is known to few. This fact is known to few because few stop to reflect on the matter and also because few at the present day are able to be regenerated; for the last days of the Church have arrived when no charity exists any longer, nor consequently any faith. This being so, people do not even know what faith is, even though the assertion 'men is saved by faith' is on everyone's lips; and not knowing this they therefore have even less knowledge of what charity is. And since they know no more than the terms faith and charity and have no knowledge of what these are essentially, it has therefore been stated that few are able to reflect on the order in accordance with which a person is made new or regenerated, and also that few are able to be regenerated.

[2] Because the subject here is the natural, and the latter is represented by 'Jacob', it is not said that he rose up and went to the land of the sons of the east but that 'he lifted up his feet'. Both these expressions mean a raising up. As regards 'rising up' having this meaning, see 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171; and as regards the expression 'lifting up the feet' which occurs here, this is used in reference to the natural - 'the feet' meaning the natural, see 2162, 3147. 'The feet' means the natural or natural things because of their correspondence with the Grand Man - currently the subject at the ends of chapters. In the Grand Man those belonging to the province of the feet are those who dwell in natural light and little spiritual light. This also is why the parts beneath the foot - the sole and the heel - mean the lowest natural things, see 259, and why 'a shoe', which is also mentioned several times in the Word, means the bodily-natural, which is the lowest part of all, 1748.

  
/ 10837  
  

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