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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

 

Arcana Coelestia#9509

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9509. 'And you shall make two cherubs' means that there is no admission or access to the Lord except through the good of love. This is clear from the meaning of 'cherubs' as watchfulness and providence, guarding against access to the Lord except through the good of love. Since this was meant by the cherubs, they were placed over the mercy-seat that was over the ark; and they were for the same reason made from solid gold. For 'the ark' means heaven where the Lord is, 9485, and 'gold' means the good of love, 9490. The reason why there is no access to the Lord except through the good of love is that love is spiritual togetherness, and all good belongs to love. Those therefore who are governed by the good of love to the Lord are brought to Him in heaven, because they have been joined together with Him. So too are those who are governed by the good of love towards the neighbour; for the neighbour is the good of a fellow-citizen, the good of one's country, the good of the Church, the good of the whole of the Lord's kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself since He is the source of that good present with a person.

[2] There are two states that a person passes through while being regenerated, one of which follows the other. The first is a state during which he is led by means of the truths of faith to the good of love; the other is one in which he is governed by the good of love, and when governed by it he is in heaven with the Lord. From this it is evident that this good is heaven itself present with the person, that good being the Lord present with him because its source is the Lord. Regarding these two states that a person who is being regenerated passes through, one of which follows the other, see 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701, 9224, 9227, 9230, 9274; and the fact that a person comes into heaven when governed by good, that is, when led by the Lord by means of good, 8516, 8539, 8722, 8772, 9139.

[3] It is clear from places in the Word where 'cherubs' are mentioned that they mean watchfulness and providence, guarding against access to the Lord or to heaven except through the good of love, that is, except by those governed by the good of love, and also guarding against any harm being done to the good from the Lord which is present in heaven and with a person, as for instance in Genesis,

And He expelled the man, and away from the east towards the garden of Eden He caused the cherubs to dwell, and the flame of a sword turning itself this way and that to guard the way to the tree of life. Genesis 3:24.

Here it is self-evident that things which serve as guards are meant by 'the cherubs', since it says 'to guard the way to the tree of life'. 'The tree of life' is the good of love, which comes from the Lord and for that reason is the Lord; and it is guarded by the prevention of any access except through the good of love.

[4] It is thought that the Lord is accessible through the truths of faith. But there can be no access to Him, nor even to heaven, through those truths if they have been separated from the good of love. As soon as separated truths wish to enter, heaven, which is the way to the Lord, is closed. And since truth cannot enter by itself unless it has good within it, and by virtue of this has come to consist of good, neither can understanding do so, still less factual knowledge, if separated from good desired by the will.

[5] Because watchfulness and providence guarding against access to the Lord, or for that reason to heaven, except through the good of love is meant by 'the cherubs', the Word says that Jehovah is seated on the cherubs, also rides and dwells upon the cherubs, as in David,

Turn Your ears, O Shepherd of Israel; You who are seated upon the cherubs, shine forth. Psalms 80:1.

In the same author,

Jehovah will reign, the peoples will be shaken. He is seated on the cherubs. Psalms 99:1.

In the same author,

Jehovah rode on a cherub, and flew. Psalms 18:10.

And in Isaiah,

Jehovah Zebaoth is dwelling on the cherubs. Isaiah 37:16.

For the same reasons there were cherubs upon the curtains of the dwelling-place, and upon the veil, Exodus 26:1, 31; 36:35; they were also upon the walls of the temple round about and upon the doors there, 1 Kings 6:23-29, 31-35, and similarly in the new temple, as described in Ezekiel 41:18-20. The presence of the cherubs on the curtains of the dwelling-place, on the veil, on the walls of the temple, and on the doors there, was a sign of the Lord's watchfulness, guarding against access to Divine Holiness except through the good of love; and the presence of the cherubs over the ark was a sign that no one should gain access to the Lord Himself except through that good. This also explains why the cherubs were made from solid gold, and in the Jerusalem temple from olive wood; for 'gold' and 'olive oil' mean the good of love.

[6] That watchfulness and providence of the Lord is described in Ezekiel by 'the four living creatures', each of which had four faces, under the throne where the Lord was, Ezekiel 1:1-end; 10:1-end, and also in John by 'four living creatures' around the throne where the Lord was, 10:Revelation 4:6-10; 5:6, 8-9, 14. By 'the four living creatures' is meant the good, varying in appearance, which emanates from the Lord, and which watches and guards against the letting in of anything other than the good of love to the Lord and the good of love towards the neighbour. By 'the throne' on which the Lord was seated heaven is meant, 5313.

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