6503. 'To embalm his father' means to prevent it from being ruined by any corruption. This is clear from the meaning of 'embalming' as a means of preservation from corruption; and from the representation of Israel, as the good of the spiritual Church, dealt with above in 6499. From this it is evident that 'to embalm his father' means a means of preservation to prevent the good of the spiritual Church from being ruined by any corruption. The reason why 'embalming' means a means of preservation from corruption is that embalmings took place so that the body might be preserved from putrefaction. Reference is also made in what follows immediately below to the means by which spiritual good is preserved from corruption.

103. The reason trees here mean perceptions is that the celestial man is the subject of the spiritual man were the subject the meaning would be different, for the character of the subject determines that of the predicate.