AC 10252 - More on Measures; AC 10266 - In the Beginning of a Person's Formation

AC 10252 [2, 4-5]

Two measures are mentioned in the Word,
which were in holy use,
one for liquids, which was called the "hin,"
the other for dry things,
which was called the "ephah;"
by the hin were measured oil and wine,
and by the ephah, meal and fine flour;
the measure hin, which was for oil and wine,
was divided into four parts,
but the measure ephah was divided into ten.
The reason why the measure hin was divided into four,
was that it might signify what is conjunctive,
for "four" denotes conjunction;
but that the measure ephah was divided into ten
was that it might signify what is receptive,
the quality whereof was marked by the numbers,
for "ten" signifies much, all, and what is full.

There were other measures besides,
which were in common use
both for dry things and for liquids;
the dry measures were called the "homer" and the "omer,"
and the liquid measures the "cor" and the "bath."
The homer contained ten ephahs,
and the ephah ten omers;
but the cor contained ten baths,
and the bath ten lesser parts.

But in Ezekiel, where the new temple is treated of,
there appears a different division of the ephah and the bath;
the ephah and the bath not being there divided into ten,
but into six;
and the hin there corresponds to the ephah . . ..
The reason is that the subject there treated of
is not celestial good and its conjunction,
but spiritual good and its conjunction;
and in the spiritual kingdom
the corresponding numbers are twelve, six, and three,
because by these numbers are signified all things,
and when they are predicated of truths and goods,
all things of truth and of good in the complex.


AC 10266

It matters not if in the beginning,
when the man begins to be formed,
his affection of truth is also
for the sake of himself and the world.
But this affection must be put off
as good increases by means of truths;
and moreover the man is afterward
continually being purified from such things;
as are the digestive organs,
from what is of no use.
He who believes
that a man can be endowed with the good of love,
without the truths of faith,
and without a life in accordance with these,
is very much mistaken.