10265. 'The work of an ointment-maker' means as a result of the influx and operation of Divinity itself, who was within the Lord from conception. This is clear from the meaning of 'an ointment-maker (or perfumer)' as one who performs that work, and therefore when this expression is used in regard to the Lord, Divinity itself is meant by it, and His operation by 'the work'. Any expression at all that occurs in the Word should be understood in relation to whatever it refers to, and therefore whenever an expression refers to God, God and His operation, influx, and attributes should be understood, no matter what the literal sense declares. In the inmost heaven angels relate everything in the Word to the Lord's Divine Human, for their thoughts come directly from the Lord, and they perceive the Word on its inmost level of meaning, which is the celestial sense. Here therefore they have no other perception of 'a compounded ointment, the work of an ointment-maker' than that of Divinity itself, within the Lord from conception, and of an influx and operation within every single part of His Human. For with them the Lord's Human is Divinity itself. They know that the Divine Good of Divine Love, called the Father, exists within the Lord's Divine Human, called the Son, in a reciprocal manner, as accords with the Lord's words stating that The Father is within Him and He within the Father, John 14:10-11, and that They are one, John 10:30. Do not be surprised that 'an ointment-maker (or perfumer)' means Divinity itself, seeing that Jehovah in various places in the Word calls Himself 'One who forms', 'a Workman', even indeed 'a Potter', as in Isaiah,

O Jehovah, You are our Father, we are the clay and You are our Potter; and we are all the work of Your hands. Isaiah 64:8.

Also elsewhere in the same prophet, and in Jeremiah 18:2-4, 6.