10198. 'And Aaron shall burn on it' means the raising up by the Lord of worship springing from love and charity. This is clear from the meaning of 'burning incense' as the raising up of everything of worship springing from love and charity, dealt with above in 10177; and from the representation of 'Aaron', the high priest, as the Lord in respect of Divine Good and in respect of the work of salvation, dealt with in 9806, 9965, 10068. 'Burning incense' means the raising up of worship because 'the fire' was a sign of the good of love, so that all that came forth from the fire was a sign of such things as emanate from love. This was why not only the light but also the smoke was representative. For the meaning of 'the fire' as the good of love, see 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 10055; and the fact that 'the smoke' too represented it is clear in Isaiah,

Jehovah will create over every habitation of Zion a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a fire by night. Isaiah 4:5.

And in John,

The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power. Revelation 15:8.

The fact that 'the smoke of the incense' means the raising up of prayers, and so in general the raising up of everything of worship, is evident in the same book,

The smoke of the incense went up from the prayers of the saints. Revelation 8:4.

4906. 'Bring her out, and let her be burnt' means that it - that is to say, the internal aspect of the Church which Tamar represented - should be exterminated. This is clear from the meaning of 'bringing her out, and burning her' as exterminating, 'bringing out' having reference to the truth and 'burning' to the good which were to be exterminated. The use of 'burning' in reference to the extermination of good is clear from many places in the Word. The reason for the usage is that in the spiritual sense 'fire' and 'flame' mean good, 934, and the heat radiated from them the affection for good, while 'fire' and 'flame' in the contrary sense mean evil, and the heat radiated from these the affection for evil, 1297, 1861, 2446. Also, in actual fact good is spiritual fire from which spiritual heat which is life-giving is radiated; and evil too is a fire, but from this a heat which is a consuming one is radiated. Anyone who turns his attention to this matter and reflects on it can plainly see that the good of love is spiritual fire, and that the affection for that good is spiritual heat if he reflects on the question where do man's vital fire and heat come from, he will discover that love is the source of it; for as soon as love departs a person begins to grow cold, but as love increases in him he becomes warmer. Unless man's vital fire and heat came from that source he could not possibly have life at all. But this life-bringing fire or spiritual heat becomes among the evil a destroying and consuming fire, for in their case it is converted into this kind of fire. Among living creatures which do not possess reason spiritual heat likewise flows in and brings life, but life which is varied, depending on the ways in which their organic forms, and therefore their knowledge and innate affections receive that life, as with bees and all other creatures.