10083. And shalt wave them a wave-offering before Jehovah. That this signifies the consequent Divine life, is evident from the signification of “waving a wave-offering,” as being to vivify, thus life; and because it is said “before Jehovah,” Divine life is signified. That “to wave a wave-offering” denotes to vivify, that is, to give Divine life, is evident from the passages in the Word where “waving a wave-offering” is mentioned, as in Moses:

When ye shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest, he shall wave the sheaf before Jehovah to make you well pleasing; on the morrow of the Sabbath the priest shall wave it (Leviticus 23:10-11).

by the “harvest” is signified the state of the truth of faith from good, thus the state of good (see n. 9295); by “the sheaf of the firstfruits” is signified its state collectively; hence by “being waved by the priest” is signified being vivified to receive a blessing; for every blessing, in order to be a blessing, must have life in it from the Divine.

[2] Again:

Aaron shall wave the Levites a wave-offering before Jehovah from among the sons of Israel, that they may be for ministering the ministry to Jehovah. Thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and shalt wave them a wave-offering to Jehovah. Afterward shall the Levites come to minister in the Tent of meeting; and thou shalt purify them, and shalt wave them a wave-offering. And when the Levites were purified, and Aaron waved them a wave-offering before Jehovah; and expiated them to purify them (Numbers 8:11, 13, 15, 21).

From all this it can be seen what is meant by “waving a wave offering,” namely, that it denotes to vivify by acknowledgment, which is the first of life from the Divine with man. Knowledge does indeed precede acknowledgment, but there is nothing of Divine life in knowledge until it becomes acknowledgment, and then faith. The Levites represented truths ministering to good, and Aaron represented the good to which they ministered; therefore the Levites were “waved,” that is, were vivified; and therefore it is also said that they were to be “purified,” for life from the Divine must be in truths in order that they may minister to good, and this life first flows in by means of acknowledgment.

[3] The like is signified by the “waving of gold” in Moses:

The men came with the women, and brought a clasp, a nose-ring, gold, a girdle, all vessels of gold, every man who waved a wave-offering of gold to Jehovah (Exodus 35:22);

“to wave a wave-offering of gold to Jehovah” denotes to vivify by the acknowledgment that it was Jehovah’s, that is, the Lord’s. That “to wave a wave-offering” has such a signification is from correspondence, for all motion corresponds to a state of thought; hence progressions, journeyings, and the like, which belong to motion, in the Word signify states of life (n. 3335, 4882, 5493, 5605, 8103, 8417, 8420, 8557).

[4] In John:

At the pool of Bethesda lay a great multitude of them that were sick. And at a certain time an angel went down unto the pool, and troubled the water; whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in, was made whole, with whatever disease he was holden (John 5:2-7).

By “troubling the water” was here likewise signified vivification through acknowledgment and faith, thus also purification through truths. (That motion signifies states of life, see n. 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381, 9440, 9967; and that “waters” denote the truths of faith, n. 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 8568, 9323; that all purifications are effected through the truths of faith, n. 2799, 5954, 7044, 7918, 9088; and that healings represented restorations of spiritual life, n. 8365, 9031)

[5] As by the “waving upon the palms of Aaron” is signified vivification through the acknowledgment of the Lord, and that all things are from Him, therefore a few words shall be said about this acknowledgment and the faith thence derived. It was often said by the Lord, when the sick were healed, that they should “have faith,” and that it would be done to them “according to their faith” (as Matthew 8:10-13; 9:2, (Matthew 9:2) 22, 27-29; 13:57-58; 15:28; 21:21-22, 31-32; Mark 5:34, 36; 10:49, 52; Luke 7:9, 48-50; 8:48; 17:19; 18:42-43). The reason was that the first of all is to acknowledge that the Lord is the Savior of the world, for without this acknowledgment no one can receive anything of truth and good from heaven, thus no faith; and because this is the first and most essential of all, therefore in order that the Lord might be acknowledged when He came into the world, in healing the sick He questioned them concerning their faith, and those who had faith were healed. The faith was that He was the Son of God who was to come into the world, and that He had power to heal and to save. Moreover, all the healings of diseases by the Lord, when He was in the world, signified healings of the spiritual life, thus the things that belong to salvation (n. 8364, 9031, 9086).

[6] Because the acknowledgment of the Lord is the first of all things of spiritual life, and the most essential thing of the church, and because without it no one can receive from heaven anything of the truth of faith and the good of love, therefore the Lord often says that he who “believeth in Him hath eternal life,” that he who “doth not believe hath not life” (as John 1:1, 4, (John 1:4) 12-13; 3:14-16, 36; 5:39-40; 6:28-30, 34-35, 40, 47-48; 7:37-38; 8:24; 11:25-26; 20:30-31); but He also teaches at the same time that those have faith in Him who “live according to His precepts,” so that the consequent life may enter into the faith. All this has been said to illustrate and confirm the fact, that the acknowledgment of the Lord, and that from Him is all salvation, is the first of life from the Divine with man. This first of life is signified by the “wavings upon the palms of Aaron.”

7381. Say unto Aaron. That this signifies the influx of the internal law into the external law, is evident from the representation of Moses, as being the law Divine (see n. 6723, 6752); and from the representation of Aaron, as being the doctrine of good and truth (n. 6998, 7089); the doctrine of good and truth which Aaron represents is nothing else than the external law coming forth from the internal law, that is, through the internal law from the Divine; and from the signification of “saying,” as being influx (n. 6152, 6291, 7291). That “to say” here denotes influx is because Moses was to say to Aaron, and Moses is the internal law, and Aaron the external, and influx from the Divine takes place through the internal into the external. The internal law is the truth Divine itself such as it is in heaven, and the external law is the truth Divine such as it is on earth; thus the internal law is truth accommodated to angels, and the external law is truth accommodated to men.

[2] As the internal law which Moses represents is truth accommodated to angels, and the external law which Aaron represents is truth accommodated to men, I may here say something about them. Truth accommodated to angels is for the most part incomprehensible to men, as is evident from the fact that things are seen and said in heaven such as eye has never seen, nor ear has ever heard. The reason is that the things said among the angels are spiritual things which have been abstracted from natural things, and consequently are remote from the ideas and expressions of human speech; for man has formed his ideas from the things in nature, and indeed in grosser nature, that is, from those which he has seen in the world and upon the earth, and has touched by sense, which things are material. The ideas of interior thought with man, although they are above material things, nevertheless terminate in material things, and where they terminate, there they appear to be, and from this he perceives that which he is thinking. Hence it is evident how the case is with that truth of faith, and what is its quality, which falls into the thought of man, and is called the external law, and is represented by Aaron.

[3] To illustrate this by an example: man cannot possibly think without the idea of time and space, which idea adheres to almost everything which he thinks; if idea from time and space were taken away from man, he would not know what he is thinking; and scarcely whether he is thinking. But in the ideas of the angels there is nothing from time and space, but instead of these there are states, and this because the natural world is distinguished from the spiritual world by time and space. The reason why there are time and space in the natural world, and instead of these there are states in the spiritual world, is that in the natural world the sun seems by apparent revolutions to make days and years, and to divide the days into four times, night, morning, noon, and evening; and the years also into four times, winter, spring, summer, and autumn; and also to do this by means of variations of light and shade, and of heat and cold. From this come the ideas of time and of its variations. The ideas of space arise from measuring by times, and therefore where the one is, there is the other.

[4] But in the spiritual world, the sun of heaven, whence come spiritual light and spiritual heat, does not make apparent rotations and revolutions, and thus induce ideas of time and space. The light which is from that sun is truth Divine; and the heat which is from that sun is good Divine. From these arise with the angels ideas of states; states of intelligence and faith from truth Divine; and states of wisdom and love from good Divine. To the variations of these states with the angels correspond the states of light and shade in the world, and also states of heat and cold, which are from the sun when it makes times and measures spaces. From this example it may to a certain extent appear what is the quality of that internal truth, or truth accommodated to angels, which is called the “internal law;” and also what is the quality of that external truth, or truth accommodated to men, which is called the “external law;” also whence it is that the things which the angels speak among themselves are to man incomprehensible, and also unutterable.