9685. 'And you shall put the table on the north side' means good dwelling in obscurity. This is clear from the meaning of 'the table', on which the loaves of the Presence were laid, as a receptacle of heavenly blessings, dealt with in 9527, 'the loaves' being celestial good, which comes from the Lord, 9545; and from the meaning of 'the north' as obscurity so far as the truths of faith are concerned, dealt with in 3708, and since truth is in obscurity, so too is good. For in the Lord's spiritual kingdom good manifests itself by means of truth, and truth is perceived as good when it passes from the understanding into the will. This good is the good of charity towards the neighbour, and it is called spiritual good. It is different in the Lord's celestial kingdom. There good does not manifest itself as such by means of truth; rather those there enjoy direct insight into that good. From this it becomes clear why that table was placed on the side towards the north, and the lampstand on the side towards the south. But see what has been stated and shown immediately above in 9684 on these matters.

1283. THE INTERNAL SENSE

The subject now is the Ancient Church in general and the fact that its internal worship in process of time was falsified and adulterated; and so as a consequence was its external worship, for the character of external worship depends on that of internal. The falsification and adulteration of internal worship is meant here by Babel. The fact that the historical events mentioned up to now, apart from those concerning Eber, are not true but made-up may also be seen from the details given in this chapter concerning the tower of Babel - men set out to build a tower whose head was in heaven; their lips were confused so that no one could hear another; it was Jehovah who confused them in this way. This fact may also be seen from the assertion that this was the origin of Babel and yet verse 10 of the previous chapter says that Babel was built by Nimrod. From this it is also clear that Babel does not mean a city, but some real thing, and that here it means worship whose interior features are not holy though its external appear so.