7859. 'Its head over its legs and over its middle' means from what is inmost to what is external. This is clear from the meaning of 'the head', when said to be 'over the head and middle', as what is inmost, for the head is on top, and what is on top is in the spiritual sense what is inmost, 2148, 3084, 4599, 5146 (for the meaning of 'the head' as the interiors and 'the body' as the exteriors, see 6436); from the meaning of 'the legs' as exteriors, for in relation to the head the legs are lower, and just as higher parts mean more internal ones, so lower parts mean more external ones; and from the meaning of 'the middle' as the parts that are lower still, as those of the belly and intestines are. The command that they were to roast the head over the legs and over the middle represented the necessity for interiors and exteriors to be combined, that is, to act as one. The interiors are what constitute the internal man, the exteriors what constitute the external man; or, the interiors are what constitute the spiritual man, while the exteriors are what constitute the natural man. These must be combined, that is, act as one, if a person is to have the Lord's kingdom within him. They are separated when the natural or external man acts differently from what the spiritual or internal man desires. These considerations go to prove what was meant by the regulation that the Passover lamb should be roasted with fire, the head over the legs and middle. 'The middle' is used to mean the even more external part of the natural, which is the level of the senses. Anyone may see that a Divine arcanum is present within these commands, for the Passover lamb was the most holy thing in that Church. But that holy arcanum is indiscernible except through a spiritual understanding, such as is presented here, of the subject matter involved and the words used.

3084. 'And went up' means a raising up. This is clear from the meaning of 'going up' as being raised up. The expression 'raised up' is used to describe from what is lower to what is higher, and because it is used to describe this it is also used to describe from what is exterior to what is interior, for the two are one and the same. Indeed what is lower and higher in human thought is exterior and interior in angelic thought, as with the idea of heaven. By men heaven is seen as that which is higher, but by angels as that which is interior. It is similarly so with the natural with man. In relation to his spiritual it is exterior, while the spiritual in turn is exterior in relation to the celestial. Or what amounts to the same, factual knowledge which belongs to the natural man is exterior in relation to truth, while truth is exterior in relation to good. Therefore also factual knowledge in relation to truth is called a covering as well as a garment, and so in a similar way is truth in relation to good.

[2] This explains why the expressions 'going up' to Jerusalem, but 'coming down' from Jerusalem are used; also 'going up' from Jerusalem to Zion, and 'coming down' from Zion to Jerusalem; for the parts surrounding Jerusalem mean the exterior features of the Church, Jerusalem meaning the more interior features and Zion the inmost. Since in the internal sense this verse describes the initial stage in the raising up of truth from the natural man to the rational man, therefore it is first of all said here that the affection for truth represented by Rebekah 'went down to the spring' and shortly after that 'went up'. For as stated above in 3074, Divine love flows into the affection for good, and from there into the affection for truth, and in so doing brings life and light to the things that are in the natural man, and at the same time orders them. This is the meaning of 'going down'. In this way truths are raised up from the natural man into the rational man where they are joined to good. This is the meaning of 'going up'.