922. “拿各类洁净的牲畜, 各类洁净的飞鸟” 表仁之善和信之真. 这一点前面已予以说明: “牲畜” 表仁之善 (45, 46, 142, 143, 246节), “飞鸟” 表信之真 (40, 776节). 牛, 羔羊和公山羊, 以及斑鸠和雏鸽被用来献为燔祭 (利未记 1:3-17; 民数记 15:2-15; 28:1-31). 这些是洁净的畜类, 各自都表示某种特定的天堂品质. 由于它们在古教会中表示这些事物, 并在随后的教会中代表它们, 故显而易见, 燔祭和祭物无非是内在敬拜的代表. 当脱离内在敬拜时, 它们就变成了偶像崇拜. 凡理智正常的人都能明白这一点, 因为祭坛不就是石头制成的东西吗? 燔祭和祭物不就是宰杀牲畜吗? 若敬拜是神圣的, 那它必代表敬拜者所了解和承认的某种天堂品质, 他们由此敬拜这些事物所代表的那一位.

除了根本不愿去理解有关主的事物之人外, 谁不知道这些事物是主的代表? 正是通过内在事物, 即仁和源于仁的信, 被代表的那一位才会被看到, 承认和相信, 这在先知书中非常清楚地看出来, 如耶利米书:

万军之耶和华, 以色列的神如此说, 你们将燔祭加在祭物上, 吃肉吧! 我将你们列祖从埃及陆地领出来的那日, 燔祭和献祭的事我并没有向他们提说, 也没有吩咐他们. 我只吩咐他们这一件, 说, 当听从我的声音, 我就作你们的神. (耶利米书 7:21-23)

“听从” 或服从祂的声音就是服从律法, 而全部律法聚焦于这一条诫命: 爱主高于一切, 爱邻如己, 因为这是律法和先知一切道理的总纲 (马太福音 22:37-40; 7:12). 诗篇:

耶和华啊, 祭物和礼物, 你不喜悦; 燔祭和赎罪祭非你主人所要. 我的神啊, 我乐意遵行你的旨意, 你的律法在我心里. (诗篇 40:6, 8)

在撒母耳记, 撒母耳对扫罗说:

耶和华喜悦燔祭和祭物, 岂如喜悦人听从耶和华的声音呢? 看哪, 听从胜于献祭, 顺从胜于公羊的脂油. (撒母耳记上 15:22)

“听从祂的声音” 所表示的意思明显可见于弥迦书:

我朝见耶和华岂可献一岁的牛犊为燔祭吗? 耶和华岂喜悦千千的公羊, 或是万万的油河吗? 世人哪, 耶和华已指示你何为善, 祂向你所要的行公义, 好怜悯, 存谦卑的心, 与你的神同行. (弥迦书 6:6-8)

这就是 “拿洁净的牲畜和鸟类献为燔祭” 所表示的意义. 阿摩司书:

你们虽然向我献燔祭和礼物, 我却不悦纳, 也不顾你们用肥畜献的平安祭. 惟愿公平如大水滚滚, 使公义如江河滔滔. (阿摩司书 5:22, 24)

“公平” 表真理, “公义” 表良善. 二者皆源于仁爱, 是内在人的燔祭和祭物. 何西阿书:

我喜爱怜恤, 不喜爱祭祀, 喜爱认识神, 胜于燔祭. (何西阿书 6:6)

由上述经文明显可知, 当仁与信不存在时, 祭物和燔祭是何性质, 还明显可知, 洁净的畜类和洁净的鸟类由于表源于仁和信的良善, 故也代表它们.

2342. 'And he baked unleavened bread' means purification. This is clear from the meaning of 'unleavened' or without yeast. In the Word 'bread' means in general every celestial and spiritual food, and so in general everything celestial and spiritual, see 276, 680, 1798, 2165, 2177. The need for the latter to be free of all impurities or unholiness was represented by 'unleavened bread'; for 'yeast' means the evil and falsity by means of which celestial and spiritual things are rendered impure and profane. On account of this representation those who belonged to the representative Church were forbidden in sacrifices to offer any bread or minchah other than bread without yeast, that is, unleavened, as is clear in Moses,

Every minchah which you bring to Jehovah shall be made without yeast. Leviticus 2:11. In the same author,

You shall not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice with that made with yeast. Exodus 23:18; 34:25.

[2] They were also forbidden therefore to eat any other bread during the seven days of the Passover than bread without yeast, that is, which was unleavened. This prohibition occurs in the following verses in Moses,

For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even on the first day you shall remove yeast from your houses, for anyone eating that made with yeast, that soul shall be cut off from Israel, from the first day until the seventh. In the first [month], on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month, in the evening. For seven days no yeast shall be found in your houses, for anyone eating that made with yeast, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether a settler or one born in the land. Exodus 12:15, 19-20.

The same prohibition appears in other places as well, such as Exodus 13:6-7; 23:15; 34:18; Deuteronomy 16:3-4. Consequently the Passover is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread, Leviticus 23:6; Numbers 28:16-17; Matthew 26:17; Luke 22:1, 7.

[3] That the Passover represented the glorification of the Lord and so the conjunction of the Divine with the human race will in the Lord's Divine mercy be shown elsewhere. And because the conjunction of the Lord with the human race is effected by means of love and charity, and by means of the faith deriving from these, celestial and spiritual things were represented by the unleavened bread which they were to eat each day during the Passover. Consequently to prevent the defilement of those things by anything unholy they were strictly forbidden to eat anything made with yeast, so strictly that any who did so were to be cut off; for those who profane celestial and spiritual things inevitably perish. Anyone may see that but for this arcanum within it that observance, together with so harsh a penalty, would never have been introduced.

[4] Everything that was commanded in that Church represented some arcanum, even the actual cooking, as with every instruction which the children of Israel carried out when they were leaving Egypt, namely that they were to eat that night flesh roasted by fire, and unleavened bread on bitter herbs; they were not to eat it raw or cooked in water; the head had to be on its legs; they were to let none of it remain until the morning; they were to burn what was left over with fire, Exodus 12:8-10. Every detail of these instructions was representative - eating it at night; flesh roasted by fire; unleavened bread on bitter herbs; the head on the legs; not raw; not cooked in water; not leaving any until the morning; and burning what was left with fire. But the arcana represented are in no way apparent unless they are disclosed by means of the internal sense. That sense alone shows that all these details are Divine.

[5] Something similar was done in the ritual for the taking of a Nazirite vow. The priest was to take the cooked shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and he was to place them on the palms of the Nazirite after he had shaved his consecrated head, Numbers 6:19. Anyone who does not know that a Nazirite represented the celestial man himself does not know either that every detail of these instructions embodies celestial things, and so arcana, which are not apparent in the letter, namely the instructions to take the cooked shoulder of a ram, an unleavened cake, an unleavened wafer, and to shave off his hair. This also shows what kind of opinion regarding the Word can be gained by people who do not believe in the existence of an internal sense, for without the internal sense such details are of no consequence at all. But when the ceremonial or ritualistic element has been stripped away everything becomes Divine and holy. Everything else has a deeper meaning, as does 'unleavened bread' which means the holiness of love, or what is most holy, as it is also called in Moses,

The unleavened bread that was left over was to be eaten by Aaron and his sons in a holy place, for it was most holy. Leviticus 6:16-17.

'Unleavened bread' therefore means pure love, and 'the baking of that which is unleavened' purification.