Verse 8. When the Lord from the inmost principles of the soul began to arrange the affections in heavenly order by regeneration, when He separated what could be regenerated by love to Himself, He furnished the mind with truths necessary for salvation in complete order. [Note.—With reference to the last two verses the following passage is given in the Arcana Coelestia 6075: "Remember the days of eternity, understand the years of generation and generation. When the Most High gave an inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of man, He appointed the boundaries of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel. When Jeshurun waxed fat he forsook God. He sacrificed to demons, to gods who came not near, and your fathers knew not" (Deuteronomy 32:7-8, 15, 17). This passage occurs in the prophetic song of Moses, wherein the Ancient Church is treated of from verses 7-15, and the posterity of Jacob from verses 15-44; the state of the Most Ancient Church, which was before the Flood, is signified by the days of eternity; and the state of the Ancient Church, which was after the Flood, by the years of generation and generation; the state of their good by the inheritance which the Most High gave to the nations, and the state of their truth by the Most High separating the sons of men, appointing the boundaries of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel; this number, or twelve, denotes all the truths of faith in the complex. As explained in the preface, the endeavour is made in this Study of the Book of Deuteronomy to develop the internal sense as it applies to the individual soul, and not as it applies to mankind as a whole: but the one sense is involved within the other; for the mind of man is a microcosm, and an individual in regeneration has to go through the same changes that mankind has gone through collectively. We have had our Most Ancient Church in the innocence of infancy; our Ancient Church in the period of youth; and the destiny desired for us by the Lord, if we will follow Him, is that we should ultimately be brought to that state which is described by the New Jerusalem in the Revelation (Revelation 19:0—22:0), and by verses 36-43 of this chapter; in which the innocence of infancy is united to the wisdom of adult age.]

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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