9467. 'And purple' means the celestial love of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'purple' as the celestial love of good, the reason why this love is meant by 'purple' being that by the colour red the good of celestial love is meant. For there are two basic colours from which all others are derived, the colour red and the colour white. The colour red means good which belongs to love, while the colour white means truth which belongs to faith. The reason why red means good belonging to love is that this colour exists before all else as fire, and fire means the good of love; and the reason why white means truth belonging to faith is that before all else that colour is light, and light means the truth of faith.

'Fire' means the good of love, see 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 9434.

'Light' means the truth of faith, 2776, 3195, 3636, 3643, 3993, 4302, 4413, 4415, 5400, 8644, 8707, 8861, 9399, 9407.

'Red' means the good of love, 3300.

'White' means the truth of faith, 3993, 4007, 5319.

[2] From all this it is evident what all other colours mean; for in the measure that they are derived from red they mean good belonging to love, and in the measure that they are derived from white they mean truth belonging to faith. All the colours that appear in heaven are modifications of heavenly light and flame, on those two levels. For heavenly light is real light; and essentially it is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good. Therefore modifications of that light and flame are different variations of truth and good, and so of intelligence and wisdom.

[3] All this now shows how it came about that the veils and curtains of the tent, and also Aaron's garments, were to be woven out of violet, purple, twice-dyed scarlet, and linen thread, Exodus 25:4; 26:31, 36; 27:16; 28:6, 15, namely in order that celestial realities belonging to good and spiritual realities belonging to truth, which are the subject in what follows below, might be represented by them.

[4] Good from a celestial origin is again meant by 'purple' in Ezekiel,

Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail; violet and purple from the islands of Elishah was your covering. Ezekiel 27:7.

This refers to Tyre, by which cognitions or knowledge of truth and good are meant. 'Violet and purple covering' stands for cognitions of truth and good from a heavenly origin.

[5] Similar things are meant by 'purple and fine linen' in Luke,

There was a certain rich man (homo) who was clothed in purple and fine linen and indulged in delicacies splendidly every day. Luke 16:19.

'A rich man' is used to mean in the internal sense the Jewish nation, and the Church there, which was said to be 'rich' because of the cognitions or knowledge of good and truth from the Word which existed there. Garments of 'purple and fine linen' are those cognitions, 'of purple' meaning cognitions of good, and 'of fine linen' cognitions of truth, both from a heavenly origin because they come from the Divine. 'Purple' also has a similar meaning in the Book of Revelation,

The woman sitting on a scarlet beast was clothed in purple and scarlet. Revelation 17:3-4.

This refers to Babylon, which means the Church where the holy things of the Word are put to unholy ends, that is, to exercising control in heaven and on earth, and so to ends that spring from hellish self-love and love of the world.

9380. 'And the people shall not come up with him' means no joining whatever to the outward without the inward. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming up' as being joined to, as above in 9373, at this point no joining since it says 'shall not come up'. The reason why no joining to the outward sense of the Word without the inward is meant is that the children of Jacob, to whom 'the people' refers here, were restricted to external things devoid of anything internal, see 3479, 4281, 4293, 4307, 4429, 4433, 4680, 4844, 4847, 4865, 4868, 4874, 4899, 4903, 4911, 4913, 6304, 8588, 8788, 8806, 8871. Their devotion to external things devoid of anything internal is plainly evident from their worship of the golden calf forty days on from that time. They would have behaved differently if they had been conscious at the same time of internal things, that is, of the good of love to and faith in Jehovah, that good being what is inward. Those who have been joined to Him by this good cannot depart into the worship of an idol, because their heart is far away from this. But since that people were not joined to the Lord except through outward forms, by which inward realities were represented, it says that 'the people shall not come up', meaning that there shall be no joining whatever to the outward without the inward. Representations without any knowledge of, belief in, or affection for the inner realities that are represented cause the thing to be joined but not the person.

[2] The situation is similar with those who keep solely to the literal sense of the Word and acquire no teaching at all from the Word, because they are separated from the internal sense, the internal sense being such teaching itself. The Lord joins Himself to outward images of the Word through its inner contents. Therefore if the inner contents have been separated no joining of the Lord to the outward images can exist other than one resembling a bodily gesture that is not in accord with the heart. The situation is similar also with those who have a perfect, detailed knowledge of the teachings of their Church, yet do not apply them to life. They too are restricted to external things devoid of anything inward, for the truths contained in such teachings occupy an external position with those people if they have not been inscribed on their life. There is no joining of the Lord to these people's truths, because the Lord enters a person's truths of faith by way of his life, thus by way of the soul within the truths.