9952. 'And with these you shall clothe Aaron your brother' means such a state of Divine Good in the spiritual kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'to clothe' as to bring about the state of whatever reality is represented by garments, in this instance the state of Divine Truth in the spiritual kingdom. For 'Aaron' represents the Lord in respect of Divine Good, and so also Divine Good that comes from the Lord, dealt with in 9806, and 'his garments' the Lord's spiritual kingdom lying adjacent to His celestial kingdom, 9814. The meaning of 'to clothe' as to bring about the state which is represented by garments that are put on has its origin in representatives in the next life. Spirits there and angels all appear wearing garments, each wearing ones that accord with the state of the truth that governs him, thus each wearing ones that accord with his power of understanding that harmonizes with the power of will within it. The reason why this should be so is that a person's understanding serves to clothe his will, the understanding being formed from truths, and the will from forms of good, and that good is what is clothed, 5248. So it is that in the Word truths are meant by 'garments', see 165, 1073, 4545, 4763, 5954, 6378, 6914, 6917, 9093, 9814, and that this has its origin in representatives in the next life, 9212, 9216, 9814.

4009. 'And he gave them into the hand of his sons' means that they were given to truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'sons' as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 2623, 3373. 'Giving into their hand' means giving them the right of control, for 'the hand' means power, 878, 3387. The truths which are meant by 'sons' in this case are those which are called sensory truths, for what the senses perceive as truths exist as the boundaries of the natural mind. For the natural degree of man's mind communicates on one side with sensory impressions which belong to the body and on the other side with the rational concepts which belong to the rational mind. By means of what lies in between a way of ascent so to speak is provided from sensory impressions which belong to the body, and are open in the direction of the world, up to the rational concepts which belong to the rational mind and are open in the direction of heaven. And in the same manner they provide a way of descent, that is to say, from heaven down to the world. This situation exists only with man. It is this ascent and descent that is dealt with in the internal sense of the chapters at this point in Genesis. And in order that every single thing may be expressed representatively, the rational is represented by Isaac and Rebekah, the natural by Jacob and both his wives, and the sensory awareness by the latters' sons. But since the sensory awareness as the ultimate degree of order incorporates everything prior to it each son represents something general in which those things are present, as shown above.