圣经文本

 

Exodus第25章

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1 And the Lord said to Moses,

2 Say to the children of Israel that they are to make me an offering; from every man who has the impulse in his heart take an offering for me.

3 And this is the offering you are to take from them: gold and silver and brass;

4 And blue and purple and red, and the best linen, and goats' hair;

5 And sheepskins coloured red, and leather, and hard wood;

6 Oil for the light, spices for the sweet-smelling Oil, sweet perfumes for burning;

7 Beryls and stones of value to be put on the ephod and on the priest's bag.

8 And let them make me a holy place, so that I may be ever present among them.

9 Make the House and everything in it from the designs which I will give you.

10 And they are to make an ark of hard wood; two and a half cubits long, and a cubit and a half wide and high.

11 It is to be plated inside and out with the best gold, with an edge of gold all round it

12 And make four rings of gold for it, to be fixed on its four feet, two rings on one side of it and two on the other.

13 And make rods of the same wood, plating them with gold.

14 And put the rods through the rings at the sides of the ark, for lifting it.

15 The rods are to be kept in the rings, and never taken out.

16 Inside the ark you are to put the record which I will give you.

17 And you are to make a cover of the best gold, two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide.

18 And at the two ends of the cover you are to make two winged ones of hammered gold,

19 One at One end and One at the other; the winged ones are to be part of the cover.

20 And their wings are to be outstretched over the cover, and the winged ones are to be opposite one another, facing the cover.

21 And put the cover over the ark, and in the ark the record which I will give you.

22 And there, between the two winged ones on the cover of the ark, I will come to you, face to face, and make clear to you all the orders I have to give you for the children of Israel.

23 And you are to make a table of the same wood, two cubits long, a cubit wide and a cubit and a half high,

24 Plated with the best gold, with a gold edge all round it;

25 And make a frame all round it, as wide as a man's hand, with a gold edge to the frame.

26 And make four gold rings and put them at the four angles, on the four feet of the table;

27 The rings are to be fixed under the frame to take the rods with which the table is to be lifted.

28 Make rods of the same wood, plated with gold, for lifting the table.

29 And make the table-vessels, the spoons and the cups and the basins for liquids, all of the best gold.

30 And on the table at all times you are to keep my holy bread.

31 And you are to make a support for lights, of the best gold; its base and its pillar are to be of hammered gold; its cups, its buds, and its flowers are to be made of the same metal.

32 It is to have six branches coming out from its sides; three branches from one side and three from the other.

33 Every branch having three cups made like almond flowers, every cup with a bud and a flower, on all the branches.

34 And on the pillar, four cups like almond flowers, every one with its bud and its flower:

35 And under every two branches a bud, made with the branch, for all the six branches of it.

36 The buds and the branches are to be made of the same metal; all together one complete work of hammered gold.

37 Then you are to make its seven vessels for the lights, putting them in their place so that they give light in front of it.

38 And the instruments and trays for use with it are all to be of the best gold.

39 A talent of gold will be needed for it, with all these vessels.

40 And see that you make them from the design which you saw on the mountain.

   

来自斯威登堡的著作

 

Apocalypse Revealed#774

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774. "Every kind of thyine wood, 1 every kind of ivory vessel." This symbolically means that these Roman Catholics no longer have these because they do not have any of the natural goods and truths to which such things correspond.

This statement is similar to the ones explained in nos. 772 and 773 above, the only difference being that the valuables named first mean spiritual goods and truths (as explained in no. 772 above), and that those named second mean celestial goods and truths (as explained just above in no. 773), while those named now - thyine wood and ivory vessel - mean natural goods and truths.

[2] To explain: There are three degrees of wisdom and love, and so three degrees of truth and goodness. We call the first degree celestial, the second spiritual, and the third natural. These three degrees are present from birth in every person, and they are present in general also in heaven and in the church. Because of this there are three heavens, a highest one, an intermediate one, and a lowest one, altogether distinct from each other in accordance with these degrees. The same is true of the Lord's church on earth. But this is not the place to explain the nature of the church with people in the celestial degree, with people in the spiritual degree, and with people in the natural degree. See instead what we said about them in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, Part Three, where we dealt with degrees. Here we will say only that in the case of people coming from Babylon, they have no spiritual goods and truths, no celestial goods and truths, and not even any natural goods and truths.

Spiritual goods and truths are mentioned first, because many of those coming from Babylon can be spiritual, provided they hold the Word holy at heart, as they do with the mouth. But they cannot become celestial, because they do not turn to the Lord, but turn to people living and dead and worship them. It is for this reason that celestial goods and truths are mentioned second.

[3] Thyine wood symbolizes natural good because wood in the Word symbolizes goodness, and stone truth, and thyine wood derives its name from a word meaning two, and the number two also symbolizes goodness.

The good symbolized is natural good, because wood is not a valuable material like gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet. The same is true of stone. The case is similar with ivory, which symbolizes natural truth. Ivory symbolizes natural truth because it is white and can be polished, and because it protrudes from the mouth of an elephant and also constitutes its might. In order for ivory to symbolize the natural truth of the goodness symbolized by thyine wood, the text specifies a vessel of ivory, as a vessel symbolizes something that contains, here truth that contains good.

[4] That wood symbolizes goodness can be seen to some extent from the following considerations: That the bitter waters at Marah were made sweet by casting in something wooden (Exodus 15:25). That the tables of stone on which the Law was written were placed in an ark made of acacia wood (Exodus 25:10-16). That the Temple in Jerusalem was roofed with wood and paneled inside with wood (1 Kings 6:9, 15). And that the altar in the wilderness was made of wood (Exodus 27:1, 6).

It can be seen to some extent also from the following:

...the stone will cry out from the wall, and the beam from the wood answers it. (Habakkuk 2:11)

They will plunder your riches and pillage your merchandise..., and they will cast your stones and your timber... into the midst of the sea. (Ezekiel 26:12)

The prophet Ezekiel was told to take a piece of wood and write on it the names of Judah and the children of Israel, and also on another piece of wood the names of Joseph and Ephraim; and that the Lord Jehovih would make them into one piece of wood (Ezekiel 37:16, 19).

We drink our water in exchange for silver, and our wood comes at a price. (Lamentations 5:4)

If someone goes with his neighbor into a forest..., and the ax head (falls) from the wooden handle...(onto) his neighbor so that he dies, he shall flee to (a city of refuge). (Deuteronomy 19:5)

The latter is said because wood symbolizes goodness, and so because the person did not kill his neighbor out of evil or with evil intention, therefore, but by accident, being impelled by good. And so on elsewhere.

[5] In an opposite sense, however, wood symbolizes something evil or cursed. So for example, they made graven images out of wood and worshiped them (Deuteronomy 4:23-28; Isaiah 37:19; 40:20; Jeremiah 10:3, 8; Ezekiel 20:32). Also, being hanged from a tree was a curse (Deuteronomy 21:22-23).

That ivory symbolizes natural truth can be seen moreover from passages which mention ivory, such as Ezekiel 27:6, 15; Amos 3:15; 6:4; Psalms 45:8.

脚注:

1. Thyine wood has not been identified. It has been associated with citron wood, and also with scented wood in general.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.