The Bible uses a somewhat dizzying array of unfamiliar measurement, leaving translators a choice between being accurate and confusing or inaccurate and clear. According to Swedenborg, they all have spiritual meanings, though, so it’s worth trying to keep them straight.
In terms of dry goods – grain and other foodstuffs – the basic measurement in the Old Testament is the “omer,” which is enough for one person for a day. Ten omers made an “ephah,” and 10 ephahs made a “homer,” which is in some cases also called a “cor.”
In Swedenborg, these measurements all relate to a person’s desire for good, since they are measurements of food and that is what food represents. An omer represents sufficiency, enough good feeling for a person to continue his spiritual life; an ephah relates more to the internal good desires the Lord implants in us that can be brought to the surface later; and a homer represents completeness, or being filled with a desire for good.
The ephah has special significance because it is used in connection with preparing food in the tabernacle.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 576
576. That the number ten means remnants, just as tenths do, becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
Many houses will be a desolation, large and beautiful ones, without inhabitant, for ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bath, and a homer of seed will yield an ephah. Isa. 5:9, 10.
This refers to the vastation of spiritual and celestial things. ‘Ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bath’ stands for remnants of spiritual things being so few, while ‘a homer of seed will yield an ephah’ stands for remnants of celestial things being so few. In the same prophet,
And there will be many forsaken places in the midst of the land; and yet there will be a tenth part in it, and this will return; it will be however an uprooting. Isa. 6:12, 13.
‘The midst of the land’ stands for the internal man, ‘a tenth part’ for such a small quantity of remnants. 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, the bath containing a tenth of a homer; and the ephah a tenth of a homer, the measure for it shall be after the homer. And the fixed portion of oil, of the bath of oil, shall be a tenth of a bath from a cor, which is ten baths to the homer; for ten baths are a homer. Ezek. 45:10, 11, 14.
The quantities mentioned here relate to holy things, which are Jehovah’s. They mean different kinds of holy things. ‘Ten’ here means remnants of celestial things and so of spiritual things. For what are the specific numerical quantities mentioned in this and in previous chapters of this prophet where the heavenly Jerusalem and the new Temple are the subject, and in other prophets, and also in the various rites of the Jewish Church, if they do not contain sacred arcana?
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8468
8468. ‘An omer a head’ means the amount for each individual. This is clear from the meaning of ‘an omer’ as the sufficient amount, dealt with below; and from the meaning of ‘a head’ as for each person. The reason why ‘an omer’ means the sufficient amount is that it was the tenth part of an ephah, as is evident from the final verse of the present chapter; and ‘ten’ means what is complete, 3107, so that ‘a tenth part’ means the sufficient amount, at this point for each individual, meant by ‘a head’. ‘An omer’ is mentioned in the present chapter alone; the term used elsewhere is ‘a homer’, which was a measure that held ten ephahs, and therefore meant what was complete, as in Hosea,
I acquired an adulterous woman for fifteen [shekels] of silver, and a homer of barley and half a homer of barley. Hosea 3:2.
Here ‘an adulterous woman’ is used to mean the house of Israel, in the spiritual sense the Church there. Her being acquired for the full price is meant by ‘fifteen [shekels] of silver’ and ‘a homer of barley’ – ‘fifteen [shekels] of silver’ having reference to truth and ‘a homer of barley’ to good.
[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.
[3] In Isaiah,
Many houses will be a ruination, large and beautiful ones, so that there is no inhabitant; for ten acres of vineyard will yield but one bath, and the sowing of a homer will yield an ephah. Isa. 5:9, 10.
Here ‘ten acres’ stands for complete and also for much, and so does ‘a homer’; but ‘a bath’ and ‘an ephah’ stand for little. For when ‘ten’ means much, ‘a tenth part’ means little. In Moses,
If a man sanctifies to Jehovah part of a field of his possession, your valuation shall be according to its sowing; the sowing of a homer of barley [shall be valued] at fifty shekels of silver. Lev. 27:16.
Here ‘the sowing of a homer’ and also ‘fifty shekels’ stand for the full or complete valuation. Since ‘a homer’ means what is complete, ten homers means at Num. 11:32 what is in excess and superfluous.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8469
8469. ‘The number of your souls’ means the amount for all in a community, that is to say, the amount of the good of truth meant by ‘the manna’. This is clear from the meaning of ‘according to the number of souls’ as the amount sufficient for all in a community. For when ‘an omer a head’ means the amount sufficient for each individual, ‘according to the number of souls’ means the amount for all in a community. The subject here is good as it exists with those who belong to the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, the good which is meant by ‘the manna’ and which will be given in an amount sufficient for each person and sufficient for a community. For each household among the children of Israel represented one community in heaven, 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997.
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.
[2] The fact that ‘an ephah’ was used as a measure is evident from the following places: In Moses,
You shall have a just ephah, and a just hin. Lev. 19:36.
In Ezekiel,
You shall have just balances, and a just ephah, and a just bath. Ezek. 45:10.
In the same prophet, The ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, for the ephah is a tenth of ahomer. Ezek. 44:11.
A like use of it as a measure occurs in Amos 8:5.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 10262
[4] In addition there were other measures that were used for ordinary purposes, both for dry substances and for liquids. The measures for dry substances were called the homer and the omer, and the measures for liquids the cor and the bath. A homer contained ten ephahs, and an ephah ten omers, whereas a cor contained ten baths, and a bath ten smaller parts; regarding all these, see Exod. 16:36; Ezek. 45:11, 13, 24. [5] But where the new temple is dealt with in Ezekiel a different division of the ephah and the bath occurs. There the ephah and the bath are divided not into ten but into six, and the hin corresponds to the ephah, as is evident in the same prophet, in Ezek. 45:13, 14, 24; 46:5, 7, 11, 14. The reason for this is that in those places the subject is not celestial good and its ability to bind things together, but spiritual good and its ability to do so; and the numbers ‘twelve’, ‘six’, and ‘three’ have their correspondence in the spiritual kingdom, because they mean all and, when used in reference to truths and forms of good, mean all aspects of truth and good in their entirety. The fact that these are meant by ‘twelve’, see 3272, 3858, 3913, 7973, also by ‘six’, 3960(end), 7973, 8148, 10217; and in like manner ‘three’, by which from beginning to end, thus what is complete, is meant, and – in respect of real things – all, 2788, 4495, 5159, 7715, 9825, 10127. The reason why these numbers imply similar things is that larger numbers are similar in meaning to the simple ones which when multiplied produce them, 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973.