9471. 'And skins of red rams, and skins of badgers' means the external truths and forms of good that contain them. This is clear from the meaning of 'skins' as external things, dealt with in 3540; from the meaning of 'rams' as the spiritual realities that belong to truth, dealt with in 2830, 4170; from the meaning of 'red' as good, dealt with in 3300, so that 'skins of red rams' are external truths emanating from good; and from the meaning of 'badgers' as forms of good. This meaning of 'badgers' is clear from the consideration that when truth is spoken of in the Word so too is good, on account of the heavenly marriage of truth and good, 9263, 9314; and therefore, since 'skins of red rams' means external truths emanating from good, 'skins of badgers' means actual forms of good. The reason why these truths and forms of good serve as containers is that all external things contain internal ones, as is also evident here from the use of those very skins, in that they served as coverings, the things covered by the badgers' skins being holier than those covered by the rams' skins, Exodus 26:14; Numbers 4:6, 8, 10-12, 14.

2359. 'No, my brothers, do not act wickedly' means that no violence should be done to these, that is to say, to the good that flows from charity, or to the Lord's Divine Human and His Holy proceeding. This is clear from the meaning of 'acting wickedly' as doing violence. All these considerations show that the subject is people inside the Church and that it is these who are meant by 'the men of Sodom', for nobody is capable of violating those things except him who possesses the Word. The utter holiness of those things becomes clear from the consideration that nobody can be admitted into the Lord's kingdom, that is, into heaven, unless the good of love and charity exists in him; and that cannot exist with anyone unless he acknowledges the Lord's Divinity and [proceeding] Holiness. It is from Him alone that this good flows in, and indeed into good itself of which He is the source. The Divine cannot flow in except into that which is Divine; nor can it be communicated to man except through the Lord's Divine Human and His Holy deriving from this. From this one can understand what is implied when it is said that the Lord is the All in all of His kingdom, and that no good at all residing with man is man's but the Lord's.