According to Swedenborg, varieties of food in the Bible represent the many ways we experience a desire for good; varieties of drink represent the many ways we can gain knowledge and understanding. Measurements in the Bible are, according to Swedenborg, a way of showing the quality of a spiritual state – “six omers of barley,” for instance, would apply the meaning of “six” to the spiritual value represented by “barley.”
In general, then, measurements of dry food – omers, ephahs, etc. – relate to good, and measurements of liquids relate to truth.
A “bath” in Biblical times was a measurement of liquid – most authorities put it between six and eight gallons. We would expect it to relate to truth, then. The bath, however, was also used to measure oil, a liquid which was not a drink, and which represents the very highest and most holy states of love and caring. So the “bath” generally represents what Sweddenborg calls “truth from good,” worthy ideas inspired by a genuine desire to be good and loving.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8468 [2]
In Ezekiel,
You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, so that a tenth of a homer is offered for a bath, and a tenth of a homer for an ephah; your measure shall be after the homer. This is the offering which you shall offer: A sixth of an ephah from a homer of wheat, … from the barley. And the fixed portion of oil, the bath for oil, shall be a tenth of a bath from a cor, which is ten baths to the homer; for ten baths area homer. Ezek. 45:10, 11, 13, 14.
This refers to a new earth or land and new temple, meaning the Lord’s spiritual kingdom. Anyone may see that there will be no homer, ephah, bath, or cor there, and no wheat, barley, or oil either. From this it is clear that these objects mean the kinds of things that belong to that spiritual kingdom, which things, it is evident, are spiritual realities, that is, they are connected with either the good of charity or the truth of faith. ‘Homer’ has reference to good because it is a measure of wheat or barley, and so does ‘ephah’; but ‘bath’ has reference to truth because it is a measure of wine. Yet being also a measure of oil, by which the good of love is meant, it says that a bath shall be the same part of a homer as an ephah is, which means in the spiritual sense that everything there will have a connection with good, and also that truth there will be good. It will also exist in full measure, for ‘a homer’ means what is complete.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8540
8540. ‘And an omer is the tenth part of an ephah’ means the amount of good then. This is clear from the meaning of ‘an omer’, in that it was the tenth part of an ephah, as the sufficient amount, for ‘ten’ means that which is complete, 3107, so that ‘the tenth part’ means the sufficient amount, 8468; and from the meaning of ‘an ephah’ as good. The reason why ‘an ephah’ means good is that the ephah and the homer were used to measure dry commodities that served as food, such as wheat, barley, or fine flour; and things that serve as food mean forms of good. And the bath and the hin were used to measure liquid commodities that served as drink; therefore these latter measures mean truths. The container takes its meaning from it contents.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10235 [5]
The bronze sea made by Solomon and placed next to the temple is described as follows,
He made the sea [of] cast [bronze], ten cubits from brim to brim, completely round**; five cubits was its height; and a line of thirty cubits measured its circumference***. Below the brim were gourds going round, ten to a cubit****, all the way around the sea*****. It was standing on twelve oxen, three looking north, and three looking west, and three looking south, and three looking east; but the sea was upon them above, and all their hinder parts were inwards. Its thickness was a hand’s breadth; its brim was shaped like****** the brim of a cup, [like] the flower of a lily. It contained two thousand baths*******. And the sea was placed on the right side******** of the house towards the southeast*********. 1 Kings 7:23-26, 39.
[6] This vessel or laver is called a sea because a sea means factual knowledge in general, and all factual knowledge belongs to the natural man.
‘A sea’ means factual knowledge in general, see 28, 2850, 8184.
Factual knowledge belongs to the natural man, 1486, 3019, 3020, 3309, 3310, 5373, 6004, 6023, 6071, 6077, 9918.
The reason why this laver was shaped like the rim of a cup was that ‘a cup’ too means factual knowledge present in the natural man, on the level of the senses, 9557, 9996. ‘Twelve oxen’ served to mean all forms of good in their entirety present in the natural man, on the level of the senses, because they existed there in place of a pedestal, and ‘a pedestal’ means that which is last and lowest and provides support – ‘twelve’ meaning all things in their entirety, see 3272, 3858, 3913, and ‘ox’ the good of the natural man, 2781, 9135.
[7] The reason why the oxen looked towards all four quarters of the world was that the good present in the natural man is the receptacle of all things that flow in from the world, both those connected with good and those connected with truth. A diameter of ten cubits meant that which is complete, 3107, and a circumference of thirty cubits meant completeness all round, 9082. ‘Two thousand baths’ meant goodness and truth joined together, thus purification and regeneration; for regeneration is nothing other than the joining together of goodness and truth. Two thousand has the same meaning as two, for compound numbers are similar in meaning to the simple ones of which they the product, 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973, ‘two’ meaning a joining together, see 5194, 8423. The placement of the bronze sea on the right side towards the southeast meant that it was directed towards the Lord, for the Lord is the East, 101, 9668; the house or temple is heaven and the Church, where the Lord is, 3720. From all this it now becomes clear what ‘the bronze sea’ meant, and consequently what ‘the laver’ means, namely the natural degree within a person, in which purification takes place.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 629[17]
Since measures signify the quality of a thing, the meaning of “the house of measures” (Jer. xxii. 14), and “the portion of measures” (Jer. xiii. 25), is evident; also of “the men of measures” (Isai. xlv. 14). Here measures signify quality in every connection.
In Moses:
“Ye shall not act perversely in judgment, in measure, in weight, and in dimension; balances of justice, stones of justice, an ephah of justice, and a hin of justice, shall ye have” (Levit. xix. 35, 36);
again:
“There shall not be in thy bag divers stones, a great and a small; there shall not be in thy house divers ephahs, great and small; thou shalt have a perfect and a just stone, a perfect and a just ephah shalt thou have” (Deut. xxv. 13-15);
and in Ezekiel:
“Scales of justice, and an ephah of justice, and a bath of justice shall ye have” (xlv. 10).
That these measures and weights signify estimation of a thing according to the quality of truth and good, may be seen above (n. 373:5).
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 675 [11]
Ten signifies all and much also in the following passages.
In Isaiah:
“Many houses, great and fair, shall be a devastation, without inhabitant; for ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath” (v. 9, 10).
This is said of the desolation of truth with those who are of the church; many houses which shall be a desolation signify the men of the church, in particular these as to truths from good; great and fair, that is, houses, signify the affection for good and the understanding of truth; for great is used in reference to good and affection for it, and fair is used in reference to truth and the understanding of it. Ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath signifies that in all things pertaining to the church with man, there is scarcely any truth from good, for bath has a signification similar to that of wine, that is, truth from good; therefore ten acres of vineyard signify all things of the church with man.