10184. Its roof. That this signifies the inmost, is evident from the signification of a “roof,” as being the inmost. A “roof” denotes the inmost because it is supreme or highest, and what is supreme or highest signifies inmost, according to what was shown above (n. 10181); and because a “roof” signifies the like as the head with man. For all the representatives in nature bear relation to the human form, and have a signification according to this relation (see n. 9496). (That the “head” signifies the inmost, see n. 5328, 6436, 7859, 9656, 9913, 9914.) The inmost here signified by the roof of the altar of incense is the inmost of worship; for in worship there are similar things to those which are in the man himself from whom the worship proceeds; namely, an internal, a middle, and an external. The inmost is called celestial, the middle spiritual, and the external natural (n. 4938, 4939, 9992, 10005, 10017, 10068). From the correspondence these degrees are signified by the “head,” the “breast,” and the “feet;” in like manner by the “roof,” the “sides,” and the “horns,” of the altar of incense.

[2] As by the “roof” is signified the celestial, which is inmost, good is also signified, for good is everywhere the inmost, and truth proceeds from it, as, to speak comparatively, light does from flame. This is meant by the “roof” in Matthew:

Let him that is on the roof of the house not go down to take anything out of his house (Matthew 24:17; Mark 13:15; Luke 17:31).

The subject here treated of is the last times of the church, and by being “on the roof” is signified the state of a man who is in good; and by “going down to take anything out of the house,” is signified a return to the former state (n. 3652). As in Jeremiah:

On all the roofs of Moab, and in the streets thereof, all is mourning (Jeremiah 48:38);

by a “mourning on all the roofs” is signified the vastation of all goods with those who in the representative sense are meant by Moab, namely, those who are in natural good, who easily suffer themselves to be seduced (n. 2468); and by a “mourning in the streets” is signified the vastation of all truths (that “streets” denote truths, see n. 2336).

[3] As a “roof” signified good, therefore the ancients had roofs on their houses where they walked, and also where they worshiped, as can be seen in 1 Samuel 9:25-26; 2 Samuel 11:2; Zeph. 1:5.

In Moses:

When thou buildest a new house, thou shalt make a parapet for thy roof, that thou bring not bloods on thine house if anyone fall from it. Thou shalt not sow thy vineyard with mixed seed, lest the gathering from the seed which thou hast sowed, and from the produce of the vineyard, be forfeited. Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together. Thou shalt not put on a garment mixed with wool and linen together (Deuteronomy 22:8-11).

[4] From all this it is also evident that by a “roof” is signified the good of love; for each of these precepts involves similar things, which are not disclosed except by means of the internal sense. This sense is that he who is in good, which is the state of a regenerate man, shall not return into a state of truth, which is his prior state, namely, during regeneration; for in this state man is led by means of truth to good, thus partly by himself; but in the later or posterior state, namely when he has been regenerated, man is led by good, that is, through good by the Lord.

[5] This is the secret which lies hidden within each of these precepts; thus the same as is contained in the Lord’s words in Matthew:

Then he who is upon the house, let him not go down to take anything out of his house; and he who is in the field, let him not return back to take his clothes (Matthew 24:17-18).

He who is up on the roof, let him not go down into the house, neither let him enter to take away anything out of his house; and he who shall be in the field, let him no more turn back to take his raiment (Mark 13:16).

In that day, whosoever shall be upon the house, and his vessels in the house, let him not go down to take them away; and whosoever shall be in the field, let him likewise not return to the things behind him; Remember Lot’s wife (Luke 17:31-32).

[6] Who cannot see that arcana of heaven are contained in these passages? For otherwise what could be meant by its being said that they should not go down from the house, or return back from the field, and that they should remember Lot’s wife? In like manner in what is said in Moses, that they should make a parapet about the roof lest blood should be shed if people fell down; and that a field should not be sown mixedly with seed, and also about the produce of a vineyard; and that they should not plough with an ox and an ass together; nor wear a garment mixed with wool and linen. For by “the roof” is signified good, and by being “upon the house,” or “upon the roof,” is signified the state when a man is in good; by “falling from it” is signified a relapse to the former state; and by “bloods” is signified the violence then offered to good and truth (n. 374, 1005, 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326); by a “vineyard” is signified the church with man; by the “produce of the vineyard,” a state of truth (n. 9139); by “the seed of wheat or barley,” a state of good (n. 3941, 7605); by an “ox” also is signified good, and by “ploughing with an ox,” a state of good (n. 2781, 9135); in like manner by “wool,” and by “putting on a garment of wool” (n. 9470); and by an “ass” is signified truth (n. 2781, 5741); and also by “linen” (n. 7601, 9959). But how the case is with this secret, see unfolded in the places cited in n. 9274.

10181. And two cubits the height thereof. That this signifies the degrees of good and of truth, and their conjunction, is evident from the signification of “two,” as being conjunction (see n. 1686, 5194, 8423); and from the signification of “height,” as being the degrees of good and of the derivative truth (n. 9489, 9773). By degrees of height are meant degrees from interiors to exteriors, or from inmosts to outermosts, the nature of which degrees may be seen illustrated and shown above (n. 3405, 3691, 4145, 5114, 5146, 8603, 8945, 10099).

[2] Degrees are of two kinds, namely, degrees in length and breadth, and degrees in respect to height and depth; the latter differ greatly from the former. Degrees of length and breadth are those which succeed each other from the middle to the circumference; but degrees of height proceed from interiors to exteriors. The former degrees, namely of length and breadth, are degrees which continually decrease toward the circumferences, as light decreases from a flame down to its obscurity, and as the sight of the eye decreases from the nearest objects to those which are most remote, and as the intellectual sight decreases from those things which are in light to those which enter into shade. But degrees of height, which proceed from inmosts to outermosts, or from highests to lowests, are not continuous, but discrete. They are circumstanced as are the inmosts of a seed in respect to its exteriors; and as are the inmosts of a man in respect to his outermosts; and as the inmost of the angelic heaven is in respect to its outermost. These degrees are discriminated from each other, and are thus distinct, as are that which produces and that which is produced.

[3] Things which are in an interior degree are more perfect than those which are in an exterior degree, and there is no likeness between them except through correspondences. From this it is that those who are in the inmost heaven are more perfect than those who are in the middle heaven, and that these are more perfect than those who are in the ultimate heaven. It is the same with a man in whom is heaven; his inmost is in a more perfect state than his middle, and this is in a more perfect state than his ultimate; and they are associated together in no other way than through correspondences, the nature of which has been abundantly shown in the preceding explications.

[4] He who does not acquire a perception of these degrees cannot possibly know the differences between the heavens, and those between the interior and exterior faculties of man, thus neither can he know the difference between the soul and the body. Nay, he cannot at all apprehend what the internal sense of the Word is, and its difference from the external sense, nor even the difference between the spiritual world and the natural. He cannot even understand what and whence correspondences and representations are, and scarcely what influx is. Sensuous men do not apprehend these differences, for they regard as continuous any increase or decrease according to these degrees, thus they regard these degrees as being like those of length and breadth, and therefore they stand outside, and far away from intelligence.

[5] These degrees are degrees of height, and therefore by what is high in the Word is meant what is interior (n. 2148, 4210, 4599), and because interior, also more perfect. From this it is that in the Word the Lord is called “the Highest,” because He is perfection itself, intelligence and wisdom itself, and good and truth itself; and from this it is that heaven is said to be on high, because it is in perfection, intelligence, wisdom, good, and truth, from the Lord; and therefore hell is said to be in the deep, because there is in it no perfection, no intelligence and wisdom, and no good and truth.