10267. 'It shall be the holy anointing oil' means a representative sign of the Lord as regards His Divine Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'the anointing oil' as a representative sign of the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love, dealt with in 9954, 10011, 10019. Here it is called 'the holy anointing oil' to the end that the Lord as regards His Divine Human may be understood by it. For in heaven that Human is holiness itself. Indeed the angels in heaven know and acknowledge nothing else Divine than the Lord's Divine Human; for this they can form a mental picture of and can love. But they cannot form any such picture of, nor therefore love, the Divine, called the Father, since this is incomprehensible, in keeping with the Lord's words stating that they have never heard His voice nor seen His shape, John 5:37. What is incapable of being seen or heard is incapable also of passing into the mind to form a mental picture and is incapable of passing into any affection and love. That which is to be comprehended in faith and love must be given objective reality in a suitable image. The incomprehensible Divine, called the Father, is worshipped at the same time when the Lord's Divine Human is worshipped. This too is clear from the Lord's own words, stating that He is the way, and no one comes to the Father except through Him, John 14:6; that no one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him, Matthew 11:27; and that nobody has ever seen the Father except the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father and who makes Him known, John 1:18. This explains why the Lord says,

Come to Me, all ..., and I will refresh you. Matthew 11:28.

The Lord's Divine Human is the All in all of heaven, and is Holiness itself there, see 9933, 9972, 10067, 10159.

The Lord alone is Holy, and everything holy comes from Him, 9229, 9479, 9680, 9818, 9820, 9956.

9474. 'Spices for the anointing oil' means internal truths belonging to the good that consecrates. This is clear from the meaning of 'spices' as interior truths, which are the truths of internal good, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'oil' as the good of love, as above in 9473; and from the meaning of 'anointing' as consecrating to serve as a representative sign. For objects which were to represent realities that were holy were anointed with oil smelling sweetly of spices and thereby consecrated, as is clear from these words later on in Exodus,

Take for yourself the chief spices - best myrrh, sweet-smelling cinnamon, sweet-scented cane, cassia, olive oil. Afterwards you shall make it a holy anointing oil, a perfect ointment; ¹ a holy anointing oil it shall be. With it you shall anoint the tent, the ark of the Testimony, the table and all its vessels, the lampstand and its vessels, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and all its vessels, and the laver and its base. Thus shall you sanctify them, that they may be most holy. ² And you shall anoint Aaron and his sons. Exodus 30:23-31.

The reason why objects were holy when they had been anointed was that they then represented realities that were holy; and from this it is evident that the anointing of something was the consecration of it to serve as a representative sign.

[2] The reason why oil was used for anointing was that oil was the sign of celestial good, and celestial good is the good of love received from the Lord, and consequently is the good of love to the Lord. This good is the indispensable element within every single aspect of heaven and eternal life. Sweet-smelling spices were used to make that oil sweet-scented, to the end that what was delightful might be represented; for 'odour' means perception, and 'a pleasant and sweet odour' means a delightful perception, see 925, 1514, 1517-1519, 3577, 4624-4634, 4748. And since every perception of good comes through truth, spices were used, by which interior truths are meant, 4748, 5621.

[3] Something more must be stated briefly about why the anointing oil and also the incense were to be made sweet-smelling. As stated above, 'oil' means the good of love, and 'spice' internal truth. But the good of love cannot come to be perceived except through truths; for truth bears witness to good, indeed is the revealer of it, and may be called the outward form of good. This is like the situation with human will and understanding, in that the will cannot make itself known except through the understanding. For the understanding takes to itself and reveals the good of the will; also the understanding is the outward form of the will, in addition to which truth belongs to the understanding and good to the will. From all this it becomes clear why the anointing oil was made to smell sweetly of spices, as also was the incense. But the difference between them is that the spicy smell of the anointing oil means the delightfulness of internal perception, whereas the spicy smell of incense means the delightfulness of external perception. For the spicy smell of the anointing oil was given off without any smoke, and so presented a sweet odour without any external appearance, whereas the spicy smell of incense was given off with the smoke.

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