10208. And Aaron shall make expiation upon the horns of it. That this signifies purification from evils through the truths of faith which are from the good of love, is evident from the signification of “expiating,” as being purification from evils (see n. 9506); from the representation of Aaron, as being the Lord as to Divine good and as to the work of salvation (n. 9806, 9946, 10017); and from the signification of “horns,” as being powers (n. 10182), and also the exteriors (n. 10186). That it signifies purification through the truths of faith which are from the good of love, is because expiation was made by blood, and by “blood” is signified the truth of faith which is from the good of love (n. 4735, 7317, 7326, 7846, 7850, 7877, 9127, 9393, 10026, 10033, 10047); and all purification from evils is effected by means of the truths of faith which are from the good of love (n. 2799, 5954, 7044, 7918, 9088). That expiations were made with blood upon the horns of the altar of burnt-offering and of the altar of incense, is evident in Leviticus 4:3, 7, 18, 25, 30, 34; 16:18.

[2] The reason why the altars were expiated in this way, was because the holy things were defiled by the sins of the people, for the people represented the church; and therefore the things that belonged to the church, and were called its sanctuaries, as the altar and the Tent, together with the things that were therein, were defiled when the people itself sinned; seeing that these sanctuaries belonged to the church. The same can be seen in Moses:

Ye shall separate the sons of Israel from their uncleanness, that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile My Habitation that is in the midst of them (Leviticus 15:31).

Aaron shall make expiation for the holy place, from the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel. Thus shall he make expiation for the sanctuary of holiness, and for the Tent of meeting, and for the altar (Leviticus 16:16, 33).

[3] The case herein is this. What are called the holy things of the church are not holy unless they are solemnly received; for unless they are solemnly received, the Divine does not flow into them, and all the holy things with man are holy merely from the Divine influx. For instance, holy edifices, the altars there, the bread and wine for the Holy Supper, become holy solely through the presence of the Lord; and therefore if the Lord cannot be present there because of the sins of the people, what is holy is absent, because the Divine is absent. Moreover, the holy things of the church are profaned by sins, because these remove from them what is Divine.

[4] This then is the reason why the sanctuaries are said to be defiled by the uncleanness of the people, and that on this account they were to be expiated every year. That expiations were made by blood upon the horns of the altars, and not upon the altars themselves, was because the horns were their extremes, and nothing of man has been purified unless the extremes have been purified; for it is the extremes into which the interiors flow, and the influx takes place in accordance with their state; and therefore if the extremes have been perverted, the interiors are perverted therein; for when these flow in, the recipient forms of the interiors accommodate themselves to the state of the extremes. When there is something wrong with the eye, the sight which comes from within sees no otherwise than according to this state of the eye. Or when there is something wrong with the arms, the powers which come from within must needs put themselves forth accordingly. Wherefore, if the natural man has been perverted, the spiritual man must needs act into him in a perverted manner. From this it is that the spiritual or internal man is then closed.

[5] But see what has been shown above on this subject, namely, that in order to effect man’s purification, he must be purified as to the natural or external man (see the places cited in n. 9325); for the reason that all influx is from the internal into the external, and not the reverse (n. 5119, 6322 for the natural of man is the plane in which influx from the spiritual world terminates (n. 5651); and the externals of man have been formed to be of service to the internals (n. 5947, 9216, 9828). Thus the external man must be wholly subject to the internal (n. 5786, 6275, 6284, 6299); for the reason that the internal man is in heaven, and the external in the world (n. 3167, 10156); and of himself, or left to himself alone, the external man is opposite to the internal (n. 3913, 3928 moreover what the internal man is, and what the external, may be seen in n. 9701-9709).