9962. 'And they shall be on Aaron and on his sons' means safety from the hells. This is clear from the meaning of 'the undergarments', to which 'they shall be on Aaron and on his sons' refers, as the things composing the external level of conjugial love, dealt with in 9959; and from the meaning of their 'nakedness', which the undergarments were to cover, as the inner desires of that love when they are foul and hellish, also dealt with above in 9960. And since 'nakedness' had that meaning, the purpose of the undergarments which were on Aaron and his sons was to keep them safe from the hells. The implications of all this are that so far as their interiors were concerned members of the Jewish and Israelite nation were steeped in self-love and love of the world, and so in hellish kinds of love, more than all the other nations; but so far as their exteriors were concerned they could be in a state of holiness, again more than all the other nations. For that reason when they were in a state of holiness their interiors were closed off; for then through that nation outwardly holy things were communicable to the heavens, and in this way they could be linked to heaven. It would have been altogether different if their internals, which were foul and hellish, as has been stated, had not been closed off. This is why no Church existed among them, only what was representative of the Church; for a Church that is indeed a Church resides in things of an internal nature, which are those of faith and love, not in those of an external nature separated from them. The things of an external nature among them were all representative.

[2] Since then things composing the external level of conjugial love - and in general those composing the external levels of all heavenly kinds of love - are meant by 'the undergarments', and since external levels were what covered internal ones, and since the internals with that nation were foul and hellish, the declaration that the undergarments should be on Aaron and on his sons means safety from the hells. For, as long as they were in a state of outward holiness, their internals having been covered or closed off, they were also remote from the hells and consequently in safety.

Internals with the Jewish and Israelite nation were foul and hellish, therefore no Church existed among them, only a representative of the Church, see the places referred to in 9320 (end), 9380.

When engaged in worship they were in a state of solely outward holiness, 3479, 4293, 4311, 6304, 8588, 9373, 9380.

And their interiors at such times were closed off, 8788, 8806.

7850. 'And they shall eat the flesh' means enjoyment of what is good. This is clear from the meaning of 'eating' as enjoyment, dealt with immediately above in 7849; and from the meaning of 'the flesh' as the human proprium made alive by the Lord's Divine Human, thus all the celestial and spiritual good present with a person, dealt with in 3813, 6968. The fact that 'flesh' has this meaning was very well known among the ancients; but at the present day people are so ignorant of it that everyone is amazed when 'flesh' is said to mean such. If one speaks of the proprium as the spiritual entity to which 'flesh' corresponds, people have no understanding of this. If one speaks of it as the symbolic meaning of 'flesh' they do, it is true, understand that, yet their idea is entirely different from that in which the natural object corresponds to the entity it symbolizes; that is to say, they see it as something completely separate. But in actual fact the spiritual or symbolized entity to which it corresponds is linked to it as a person's sight is linked to his eye and his hearing to his ear, and as his thought, which is spiritual, is linked to the form his interiors assume, and through that form to his organs of speech, or as his will, which too is spiritual, is linked to the fibres forming his muscles with which he acts. The same kind of relationship exists with every spiritual entity and its counterpart, that is, with every entity that is symbolized and the natural object that has a correspondence with it.

[2] Who can fail to see that 'flesh' is not used by the Lord to mean flesh or 'blood' to mean blood in John,

Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. John 6:53-56.

Few at the present day know that 'flesh' was used to mean the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love, which comes from His Divine Human, and 'blood' to mean the Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good, and also a person's reciprocation. And those who are capable of knowing this have no wish to know it. They have no wish to know it because they have no affection for truth for its own sake, only for the sake of inducements the world offers, and also because people who think on a natural level wish to understand everything on that level.

[3] These matters have been stated in order that people may know what is meant by 'eating flesh' in the Passover supper, and what is consequently meant by it in the Holy Supper, which was instituted at the Passover supper. Regarding the bread and wine, which have the same meaning as flesh and blood, in the Holy Supper, see 2165, 2177, 2187, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915. The fact that 'flesh' is not flesh in the spiritual sense of the Word is, in addition to other places, plainly evident from the following in John,

Come and gather yourselves to the supper of the great God, so that you may eat [the flesh of kings, and] the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and those seated on them, and the flesh of all free men and slaves, both small and great. Revelation 19:17-18.

'The flesh', as it is used here, means varying kinds of good.