9486. 'Of shittim wood' means righteousness. This is clear from the meaning of 'shittim wood' as the good of merit which is the Lord's alone, dealt with above in 9472, and therefore also righteousness, which is the good of merit. For by His own power the Lord restored the whole of heaven to order and subdued the hells, and at the same time made Divine the Human within Himself; therefore to Him belong merit and righteousness. For this reason the one and only good that reigns in heaven and that makes heaven is the Lord's good of merit and His righteousness, thus His Divine Human since This was made merit and righteousness. The fact that the Lord accomplished these things by His own power is clear in Isaiah,

Who is this who comes from Edom? I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save. I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples not a man (vir) was with Me. I looked around, but there was no helper, and I wondered, but there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation to Me. Isaiah 63:1-5.

In the same prophet,

He saw that there was no man (vir), and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness lifted Him up. He put on righteousness as a breastplate. Isaiah 59:16-17.

[2] In Jeremiah,

This is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jeremiah 23:6; 33:15-16.

And in John,

I lay down My life, ¹ so that I may receive it again. No one takes it from Me, I lay it down of Myself; I have power to lay it down and I have power to receive it again. John 10:17-18.

From these places it is evident that the Lord in His Divine Human possesses merit and righteousness acquired by Himself. Since 'the ark' means heaven where the Lord is, shittim wood, by which that good is meant, was used in the making of it; for 'wood' in general means good, 643, 3720, 8354. This explains why people who assume that merit lies in works are seen in the next life to be cutting wood, under which there is something of the Lord, 1110, 4943, 8740. And so it is that 'splitting pieces of wood for a burnt offering' means the good of merit, or good belonging to works, 2784, 2812.

Poznámky pod čarou:

9992. 'And unleavened bread' means purification of what is celestial in the inmost part of a person. This is clear from the meaning of 'bread' as that which is celestial, dealt with in 2165, 2177, 3478, 9545; and from the meaning of what is 'unleavened' as what has been purified, dealt with below. The inmost part of a person is meant because what is celestial consists in the good of love, and the good of love is inmost. There are three degrees in a person that follow one another in order; and these three are called celestial, spiritual, and natural. The celestial degree is the good of love to the Lord, the spiritual is the good of charity towards the neighbour, and the natural descending from this is the good of faith, which, since it descends from the spiritual, is called spiritual-natural. The situation with a person resembles that in the heavens. The inmost heaven, also called the third heaven, is where the celestial degree is situated; the second or middle heaven is where the spiritual degree does so; and the first or lowest heaven is where the natural descending from the spiritual, or the spiritual-natural degree, does so. The reason why the situation with a person resembles that in the heavens is that a person in whom good is present is heaven in the smallest form it takes, see the places referred to in 9279. The celestial heaven or kingdom and the division of this too into three will be spoken of in what follows next where cakes and wafers made from fine wheat flour are the subject.

[2] 'Unleavened' means what has been purified because 'yeast' means falsity arising from evil, 2342, 7906, so that 'unleavened' or made without yeast means pure or free from that falsity. 'Yeast' means falsity arising from evil because such falsity defiles good, and truth as well, and also because it gives rise to conflict; for when that falsity gets near good, agitation occurs, and when it gets near truth, a collision takes place. All this explains why a minchah consisting of unleavened bread was included in burnt offerings and sacrifices. Therefore it was decreed that every minchah which they brought to Jehovah should be made without yeast, Leviticus 2:11; that they should not sacrifice the blood of a sacrifice with anything made with yeast, Exodus 23:18; and that during the feast of Passover they should not eat anything made with yeast, and that anyone eating it should be cut off from Israel, Exodus 12:15, 18-20. The reason why anyone who ate anything made with yeast during the feast of Passover should be cut off from Israel was that the feast of Passover was a sign of deliverance from damnation, and in particular of deliverance from falsities arising from evil, accomplished with those who allow themselves to be regenerated by the Lord, see 7093, 9286-9292. This also explains why it was called the feast of unleavened bread.