The Bible

 

Ezekiel 43

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1 And he causeth me to go to the gate, the gate that is looking eastward.

2 And lo, the honour of the God of Israel hath come from the way of the east, and His voice [is] as the noise of many waters, and the earth hath shone from His honour.

3 And according to the appearance [is] the appearance that I saw, as the appearance that I saw in my coming in to destroy the city, and the appearances [are] as the appearance that I saw at the river Chebar, and I fall on my face.

4 And the honour of Jehovah hath come in unto the house, the way of the gate whose face [is] eastward.

5 And take me up doth the Spirit, and bringeth me in unto the inner court, and lo, the honour of Jehovah hath filled the house.

6 And I hear one speaking unto me from the house, and a man hath been standing near me,

7 and He saith unto me: `Son of man, the place of My throne, And the place of the soles of My feet, Where I dwell in the midst of the sons of Israel to the age, Defile no more do the house of Israel My holy name, They, and their kings, by their whoredom, And by the carcases of their kings -- their high places.

8 In their putting their threshold with My threshold, And their door-post near My door-post, And the wall between Me and them, And they have defiled My holy name, By their abominations that they have done, And I consume them in Mine anger.

9 Now do they put far off their whoredom, And the carcases of their kings -- from Me, And I have dwelt in their midst to the age.

10 Thou, son of man, Shew the house of Israel the house, And they are ashamed of their iniquities, And they have measured the measurement.

11 And since they have been ashamed of all that they have done, The form of the house, and its measurement, And its outlets, and its inlets, and all its forms, And all its statutes, even all its forms, And all its laws cause them to know, And write [it] before their eyes, And they observe all its forms, And all its statutes, and have done them.

12 This [is] a law of the house: on the top of the mountain, all its border all round about [is] most holy; lo, this [is] a law of the house.

13 `And these [are] measures of the altar by cubits: The cubit [is] a cubit and a handbreadth, and the centre [is] a cubit, and a cubit the breadth; and its border on its edge round about [is] one span, and this [is] the upper part of the altar.

14 And from the centre of the ground unto the lower border [is] two cubits, and the breadth one cubit, and from the lesser border unto the greater border four cubits, and the breadth a cubit.

15 `And the altar [is] four cubits, and from the altar and upward [are] four horns.

16 And the altar [is] twelve long by twelve broad, square in its four squares.

17 And the border [is] fourteen long by fourteen broad, at its four squares, and the border round about it [is] half a cubit, and the centre to it [is] a cubit round about, and its steps are looking eastward.'

18 And He saith unto me, `Son of man, Thus said the Lord Jehovah: These [are] statutes of the altar in the day of its being made to cause burnt-offering to go up on it, and to sprinkle on it blood.

19 And thou hast given unto the priests, the Levites, who [are] of the seed of Zadok -- who are near unto Me, an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah, to serve Me -- a calf from the herd, for a sin-offering.

20 And thou hast taken of its blood, and hast put it on its four horns, and on the four corners of its border, and on the border round about, and hast cleansed it, and purified it.

21 And thou hast taken the bullock of the sin-offering, and hast burnt it in the appointed place of the house at the outside of the sanctuary.

22 And on the second day thou dost bring near a kid of the goats, a perfect one, for a sin-offering, and they have cleansed the altar, as they cleansed [it] for the bullock.

23 In thy finishing cleansing, thou dost bring near a calf, a son of the herd, a perfect one, and a ram out of the flock, a perfect one.

24 And thou hast brought them near before Jehovah, and the priests have cast upon them salt, and have caused them to go up, a burnt-offering to Jehovah.

25 Seven days thou dost prepare a goat for a sin-offering daily, and a bullock, a son of the herd, and a ram out of the flock, perfect ones, do they prepare.

26 Seven days they purify the altar, and have cleansed it, and filled their hand.

27 And the days are completed, and it hath come to pass on the eighth day, and henceforth, the priests prepare on the altar your burnt-offerings and your peace-offerings, and I have accepted you -- an affirmation of the Lord Jehovah.'

   

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.