AC 2576 - Rational Truths and the Veils (or Curtains) of the Tabernacle

AC 2576 [2-7]

As regards rational truth being like
a covering or clothing to spiritual truths . . .
things that are mentioned in the Word . . .
in all cases their exteriors are a covering or clothing;
as for example the ark of the covenant
and the tent that was round about it;
the ark, being the inmost,
represented the Lord Himself,
for therein was the Testimony;
and the tent outside of it
represented the Lord's kingdom.
The clothing, that is, the veils and coverings,
each and all represented the more exterior
celestial and spiritual things in His kingdom,
that is, in the three heavens;
as is evident from the fact that the form of the Tent
was shown to Moses on Mount Sinai.
From this it had its holiness,
and not from the gold, the silver, and the carvings,
that were in it.

Since rational truths are now treated of,
as being a kind of veil or clothing to spiritual truths,
and as the tent is described in Moses
in respect to its clothing or coverings,
and also in respect to its veils
which were before the entrance,
for the sake of illustration we may explain
what was specifically signified by the veils;
but what was signified by the encompassing coverings
will of the Lord's Divine mercy be told elsewhere.
The veils of the tent were three:
the first, which made the division
between the holy and the holy of holies;
the second, which is called
the hanging for the door of the tent;
and the third,
which was the hanging for the gate of the court.

[4] Concerning the veil itself,
which was the first, before the ark,
we read in Moses:

You shall make a veil
of violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet
and fine-twined linen.
The work of a designer,
you shall make it with cherubs on it.
And you shall hang it on four pillars of shittim,
overlaid with gold, 
a
nd their hooks shall be of gold;
[they shall stand] on four bases of silver.
And you shall hang the veil under the clasps.
And you shall bring in, within the veil,
the Ark of the Testimony,
and the veil shall divide for you
the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies.
(Exodus 26: 31-34; 36: 35, 36).

This veil represented
the nearest and inmost appearances
of rational good and truth,
in which are the angels of the third heaven;
which appearances are described by
the hyacinthine, the bright crimson,
the double-dyed scarlet, and the fine twined linen;
in which the red color represented the goods of love,
and the white its truths.
The same is true also of the gold and silver
with which the pillars were overlaid,
and of which the hooks and the bases were made.
(. . . "gold" is the good of love,
and that "silver" is truth.)

From this we can see what is signified
by the veil of the temple being rent in twain
(Matt. 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45),
namely, that the Lord
entered into the Divine Itself
by dispersing all appearances;
and that He at the same time
opened the way to His Divine Itself
through His Human made Divine. 

Concerning the second veil,
or the hanging for the door of the tent,
we read in Moses:

You shall make a screen for a door of the tent,
of violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet
and fine-twined linen,
the work of an embroiderer.
And you shall make for the screen
five pillars of shittim and overlay them with gold,
and their hooks shall be of gold;
and you shall cast for them five bases of bronze.
(Exodus 26: 36, 37; 36 37, 38)

By this hanging were represented
appearances of good and truth
that are lower or more external than the former,
that is, the middle ones of the rational,
in which are the angels of the second heaven;
which appearances are described
almost in the same manner as the first,
with the difference however
that for this hanging
there were five pillars and five bases,
by which number is signified
what is comparatively but little;
for these appearances do not so cohere together,
or are not so heavenly,
as are the appearances of the inmost or third heaven.
And because these appearances look to natural things,
it was commanded
that the bases should be cast of brass;
for by brass was represented and signified natural good.

Concerning the third veil,
or the hanging for the gate of the court,
we read in Moses:

The screen for a gate of the court
shall be twenty cubits [long],
of violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet
and fine-twined linen,
the work of an embroiderer;
the pillars of it shall be four
and the bases of these four.
All the pillars of the surrounding court
shall be fastened with silver;
their hooks shall be of silver
but their bases of bronze.
(Exodus 27: 16, 17; 38)
 
By this hanging were represented
still lower or more external appearances
of good and truth,
which are the lowest ones of the rational,
in which are the angels of the first heaven.
As these appearances correspond to interior things,
they are described in a similar manner,
yet with the difference
that these pillars were not overlaid with gold,
but filleted with silver,
and that the hooks were of silver,
by which are signified rational truths
that derive their origin immediately
from memory-knowledges;
and the bases were of brass,
by which are signified natural goods.
All this shows that there was nothing in the Tent
that was not representative
of the celestial and spiritual things
of the Lord's kingdom,
or that all things were made according to
the type of celestial and spiritual things
in the three heavens;
also that the veilings or coverings
signified the things that are like a body or dress
around or without that which is inmost.