9681. Verses 34-37 And you shall put the mercy-seat onto the ark of the Testimony in the holy of holies. And you shall place the table outside the veil, and the lampstand across from the table, at the side of the dwelling-place towards the south; and you shall put the table on the north side. And you shall make a screen for the tent door from violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer. And you shall make for the screen five pillars of shittim [wood], and you shall overlay them with gold; and their hooks [shall be made] from gold; and you shall cast for them five bases of bronze.

'And you shall put the mercy-seat onto the ark of the Testimony in the holy of holies' means the hearing and reception of all things which in the inmost heaven belong to worship arising from the good of love from the Lord. 'And you shall place the table outside the veil' means influx through heavenly blessings belonging to love. 'And the lampstand across from the table, at the side of the dwelling-place towards the south' means the enlightenment of the spiritual kingdom by means of the Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Human to those who are governed by good. 'And you shall put the table on the north side' means good dwelling in obscurity. 'And you shall make a screen for the tent door' means the intermediary uniting the second or middle heaven to the first or lowest heaven. 'From violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet and fine twined linen' means composed of the good of charity and faith. 'The work of an embroiderer' means things that belong to factual knowledge. 'And you shall make for the screen five pillars of shittim [wood]' means a sufficient amount of support provided by the uniting intermediary through the good of merit belonging to the Lord's Divine Human. 'And you shall overlay them with gold' means a representative sign of the good. 'And their hooks [shall be made] from gold' means the modes by which they are linked together through good. 'And you shall cast for them five bases of bronze' means power derived from external good.

1098. What 'Shem' and 'Japheth' mean - that is, who the member of the internal Church is and who the member of the external - and from this what 'Canaan' means, becomes clear from the following considerations: The member of the internal Church ascribes to the Lord all the good he does and all the truth he thinks, whereas the member of the external Church has no knowledge of this but nevertheless does what is good. The member of the internal Church makes worship of the Lord from charity - and especially internal worship - the essential, and external worship not so essential. The member of the external Church makes external worship the essential. He does not know what internal worship is, even though he has it. Consequently the member of the internal Church believes that he is acting contrary to conscience if he does not worship the Lord from what is internal, whereas the member of the external Church believes he is acting contrary to conscience if he does not reverently observe external rites. The conscience of the member of the internal Church contains more things because he knows more things from the internal sense of the Word, whereas the conscience of the member of the external Church contains fewer because he knows few things from the internal sense of the Word. The former - the member of the internal Church - is called 'Shem', whereas the latter - the member of the external Church - is called 'Japheth'. The person however who makes worship consist solely in external things and who has no charity, and consequently no conscience, is called 'Canaan'.