10. X. The ultimate sense of the Word, ¹ which is the literal sense alone, corresponds to the beard and hair of the head of an angelic person.

It may seem surprising the first time it is said or we hear it said that the hair of the head and the beard correspond to the Word at its ultimate level. But this correspondence is due to the fact that everything in the Word corresponds to everything in heaven, and heaven corresponds to everything in a person. For heaven taken as a whole is like a single person in the Lord's sight; on this correspondence see Heaven and Hell [87-102, 307].

[2] I was allowed to perceive that everything in the Word corresponds to everything in heaven from the fact that each chapter in the books of the prophets corresponds to one particular community in heaven. For on reading through the prophetic parts of the word from Isaiah to Malachi, I was allowed to see that the communities of heaven were aroused one after the other, and they perceived the spiritual sense which corresponded to them. So from this and other proofs it was plain to me that the whole of heaven has, part by part, a correspondence to the Word. Now since there is such a correspondence of the Word to heaven, and heaven as a whole and in its parts corresponds to a person, this is why the ultimate level of the Word corresponds to the ultimate in a person. The ultimate level in the Word is the literal sense, and the ultimate level in a person is the hair of his head and his beard.

[3] This is why when people who have loved the Word even at its ultimate level after death become spirits, they are to be seen with a fair head of hair; and so are the angels. When these same people become angels, they also let their beards grow. On the other hand, all who have despised the literal sense of the Word, on becoming spirits after death, turn bald. This is also a sign that they are devoid of truths. So to avoid embarrassing others, they cover their heads with a head-dress.

[4] Since the hair and the beard mean the ultimate level of heaven, and so also the ultimate level of Divine Truth or the Word, the Ancient of Days is described as having the hair of his head like clean wool (Daniel 7:9). Likewise the Son of Man or the Lord as regards the Word (Revelation 1:14). For the same reason the strength of Samson lay in his hair, and he was weakened by having it cut off. The condition of a Nazarite also lay in his hair; for the Nazarite represented the Lord at His ultimate level, and so also heaven at its ultimate level. This was the reason why the forty-two children were torn in pieces by bears for calling Elisha bald (2 Kings 2:23-24).

[5] Elisha, like Elijah and the other prophets, represented the Lord as regards the Word; and the Word without its ultimate, that is, its literal sense, is no longer the Word. For the literal sense of the Word is like a bottle filled with fine wine; so if the bottle is broken, all the wine is lost. The literal sense of the Word is like the bones and skin of the human body; take them away and the whole person falls to pieces. That is why what holds the Word together and in fact gives it its power is its ultimate sense, the literal sense; for this sustains and holds together all the Divine truth it contains.

[6] Since baldness means the absence of truth, when the Jewish church, since it lacks the ultimate level, abandoned Jehovah and despised the Word, it was called bald, as in Jeremiah:

Every head is bald and every beard is shorn. Jeremiah 48:37.

In Isaiah:

Baldness on their heads, and a shorn beard. Isaiah 15:2.

In Ezekiel:

To shave his head and beard with a razor. Ezekiel 5:1.

Shame on all their faces, and baldness on all heads. Ezekiel 7:18.

Every head has been made bald. Ezekiel 29:18.

And in other places, such as Amos 8:10, Micah 1:16.

[7] But the sense of the Word known as the literal sense corresponds at its ultimate level to the hair of the head, but in other respects to various parts of the human body, as its head, chest, loins and feet. But where those correspondences occur in that sense, the Word is so to speak clothed, and so corresponds to the clothing of those parts. For in general clothes mean truths, and really correspond to them. But there are still many things in the literal sense of the Word which are bare and so to speak unclothed; and they correspond to a person's face and his hands, which are the parts left uncovered. Those parts of the Word serve for the teaching of the church, because they are in themselves spiritual-natural truths. From this it can be established that there is no obstacle to prevent a person being able to find and see bare truths there too.

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223. (vii) THE POWER OF THE WORD AT ITS OUTERMOST LEVEL WAS REPRESENTED BY THE NAZIRITES.

We read in the Book of Judges that Samson was a Nazirite from his mother's womb, and that his strength lay in his hair. A Nazirite and the fact of being one also means having hair. He himself showed that his strength lay in his hair when he said:

A razor has not gone over my head, because I have been a Nazirite from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, then my strength will depart from me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man, Judges 16:17.

No one can know why the institution of Naziriteship, standing for hair, took place, or why Samson's strength came from his hair, unless he knows the meaning of the head in the Word. The head stands for the intelligence angels and men have from the Lord by means of Divine truth. Thus the hair stands for intelligence derived from Divine truth at the outermost or remotest level. It was this meaning of the hair that caused the rule to be made for Nazirites that they should not shave the hair of their heads, for this is the Naziriteship of God upon their heads (Numbers 6:1-21). There was also a rule that the highest priest and his sons should not shave their head, lest they die and the whole house of Israel incur anger ¹ (Leviticus 10:6).

[2] It was because the hair was sacred on account of its meaning, which is due to its correspondence, that the Son of Man, who is the Lord in respect of the Word, is also described as having hair like wool, white as snow (Revelation 1:14), and likewise the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9). Since the hair means truth at the outermost level, or the literal sense of the Word, those who despise the Word become bald in the spiritual world, while on the other hand those who made much of the Word and held it sacred have a good head of hair. It was because of this correspondence that the forty-two children were torn apart by two she-bears, for calling Elisha bald (2 Kings 2:23-24); for Elisha represented the church as regards its teaching from the Word, and she-bears stand for the power of truth at the outermost level. The power of Divine truth, or the Word, lies in its literal sense, because the Word is there in all its fulness, and this is the sense possessed alike by the angels of each of the Lord's kingdoms and by men.

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