ELEVEN >> Redundancy, Superabundance in comparison with  Ten 
>> Not yet full in comparison with Twelve

 And thou shalt make curtains of goats' [hair] for a Tent over the Habitation, eleven curtains shalt thou make them. The length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits, and the  breadth four cubits, for one curtain; one measure for the eleven curtains. And thou shalt join together five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves, and shalt double the sixth curtain over against the faces of the Tent. And thou shalt make fifty loops upon the edge of the one uttermost curtain in the joining, and fifty loops upon the edge of the curtain of the second joining. And thou shalt make fifty hooks of brass, and thou shalt bring the hooks into the loops, and shalt join together the Tent, that it may be one. And that which superaboundeth over and above in the curtains of the Tent, the half of the curtain that is over and above thou shalt make to superabound over the hinder parts of the Habitation. And the cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side, in that which is over and above in the length of the curtains of the Tent, shall superabound over the sides of the Habitation on this side and on that, to cover it. And thou shalt make for the Tent a covering of skins of red rams, and a covering of badgers' skins above. "And thou shalt make curtains of goats' [hair] for a tent over the Habitation" signifies the external of heaven, which is from the truths that are from external celestial good; "eleven curtains shalt thou make them" signifies all the truths from which it is; "the length of one curtain shall be thirty cubits" signifies the fullness of truth from good; "and the breadth four cubits" signifies the marriage of truth with good; "for one curtain" signifies thus in each of the truths; "one measure for the eleven curtains" signifies a like state of the matter; "and thou shalt join together five curtains by themselves, and six curtains by themselves" signifies the constant communication of truth with good, and of good with truth; "and shalt double the sixth curtain over against the faces of the Tent" signifies the communication of all who are of that heaven with the extremes there, and influx thence into the ultimate heaven; "and thou shalt make fifty loops upon the edge of the one uttermost curtain in the joining" signifies the complete conjunction of one sphere with the other; "and fifty loops upon the edge of the curtain of the second joining" signifies in like manner reciprocally; "and thou shalt make fifty hooks of brass" signifies a full capability of conjunction by external good; "and thou shalt bring the hooks into the loops" signifies the method of the conjunction; "and shalt join together the Tent, that it may be one" signifies the external of heaven thus altogether one; "and that which superaboundeth over and above in the curtains of the Tent" signifies that which proceeds; "the half of the curtain that is over and above, thou shalt make to superabound over the hinder parts of the Habitation" signifies to the ultimate of this heaven; "and the cubit on the one side, and the cubit on the other side, in that which is over and above in the length of the curtains of the Tent, shall superabound over the sides of the habitation, on this side and that, to cover it" signifies the method by which this ultimate proceeds from good, in order that heaven may be rendered safe; "and thou shalt make a covering for the Tent" signifies the circumference of this heaven; "of skins of red rams" signifies external truths from good; "and a covering of badgers' skins above" signifies outside of these from external good.  [AC 9614]

Eleven curtains shalt thou make them. That this signifies all the truths from which it is, is evident from the signification of "eleven," as being all (of which below); and from the signification of "the curtains of goats' hair," as being truths from external celestial good (of which just above, n. 9615). That "eleven" signifies all, is because ten curtains constituted the Tent itself, and the eleventh superabounded as what was over and above upon the hinder parts of the Habitation (as can be seen from verses 9, 12, 13, which follow). That "ten" denotes all, may be seen above (n. 4638, 9595). [AC 9616]

And lo my sheaf arose, and also stood upright. That this signifies what is doctrinal concerning the Lord's Divine Human is evident from the signification of a "sheaf" as being doctrine (see just above); and from the signification of "arising and standing upright," as being the supreme that should reign, and that they would adore. That this is the Lord's Divine Human is evident from what follows, namely, that the eleven sheaves bowed down themselves to that sheaf, and in the second dream, that the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down themselves to Joseph, whereby is signified the supreme that should reign, and that they would adore; wherefore also Jacob says, "Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?" As before said the Divine truth of the Lord is what is represented by Joseph; the supreme of this is the Lord Himself, and the supreme among doctrinal things is that His Human is Divine.

[2] With this supreme of doctrinal things the case is this: The Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, and which above all others was called Man, adored the infinite being, and the derivative infinite coming-forth; and because, from the things which could be perceived in their internal man and those which could be felt in their external, and from the visible things in the world, the men of that church could have no perception of the infinite being, but could have some perception of the derivative infinite coming-forth, they therefore adored the infinite coming forth in which is the infinite being. The infinite coming-forth in which is the infinite being they perceived as a Divine Man, because they knew that the infinite coming-forth was brought forth through heaven from the infinite being; and as heaven is the Grand Man, corresponding to each and all things that are in man (as has been shown at the end of the preceding chapters, and will be shown at the end of several to follow), they therefore could have no other idea of perception concerning the infinite coming forth from the infinite being, than as of a Divine Man; for whatever from the infinite being passes through heaven as the Grand Man is attended with an image thereof in each and all things. When that celestial church began to fall away, they foresaw that the infinite coming forth could no longer have influx into the minds of men, and that so the human race would perish; therefore it was revealed to them that One should be born who would make the Human in Himself Divine, and in this way become the same infinite coming-forth as had been before, and would at last become one with the infinite being as also it had been before. From this came their prophecy in Genesis concerning the Lord (Gen. 3:15).

[3] This is described in John in these words:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:1-4, 14);

the "Word" is the Divine truth, which in its essence is the infinite coming-forth from the infinite being, and is the Lord Himself as to His Human. This very Human it is from which truth Divine now proceeds and flows into heaven, and through heaven into the minds of men; consequently which rules and governs the universe, as it has ruled and governed it from eternity; for it is one and the same with the infinite being, because He conjoined the Human with the Divine, which was done by this, that He made the Human in Himself also Divine. From this it is now evident that the supreme of truth Divine is the Lord's Divine Human, and hence that the supreme among the doctrinal things of the church is that His Human is Divine. [AC4687]

Author: EMANUEL SWEDENBORG (1688-1772)