7839. 'The son of a year it shall be to you' means a complete state. This is clear from the meaning of 'the son' as truth, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 1803, 1813, 3373, 3704; and from the meaning of 'a year' as a whole period from start to finish, dealt with in 2906, and so a complete state. What a complete state is must be explained. The expression 'complete state' is used when good is such that it lacks nothing it needs for receiving the inflow of innocence. The truths of faith when they have been joined to the good of charity cause good to be such; for spiritual good receives its specific quality from the truths of faith. This is how to understand what a complete state is, meant by 'the son of a year'. But the state is not complete when truths have not as yet brought a specific quality to good, enabling it to receive a corresponding state of innocence. That complete state begins to exist when people look from good towards truths; it is not yet complete while they are looking from truths towards good. The second of these is the state of those undergoing regeneration, whereas the first is that of those who have been regenerated. Those undergoing regeneration are guided by truth that leads to good, those who have been regenerated by truth that springs from good; that is, the former live in obedience to truth, the latter are led by an affection to do it. The former are therefore members of the external Church, whereas the latter are members of the internal. Since 'the son of a year' meant a complete state, the command occurs so many times for a lamb or a kid, the son of a year, to be sacrificed, as in Exodus 29:38; Leviticus 9:3; 12:6; 14:10; 23:12, 18-19; Numbers 6:12; 7:15ff, 87-88; 15:27; 28:9, 11; and where the new temple is the subject in Ezekiel,

The prince shall make ¹ a burnt offering of a lamb, a perfect, year-old lamb, ² daily, to Jehovah; each morning he shall make ¹ it. Ezekiel 46:13.

Here 'the new temple' is used to mean the Lord's spiritual kingdom. 'The prince' is those who know genuine truths and are led by them to good; 'a burnt offering of a lamb' is worship of the Lord that springs from the good of innocence; and 'year-old' means a complete state.

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