10054. 'It is an odour of rest' means the perception of peace. This is clear from the meaning of 'an odour' as perception, dealt with in 3577, 4624-4634, 4748; and from the meaning of 'rest' as peace. What Divine peace in the heavens is, see 92, 93, 2780, 5662, 8455, 8665, 8722; in the highest sense 'peace' means the Lord, and the Divine emanation from Him that influences at an inmost level the good which reigns in the heavens, 3780, 8517. The reason why the burnt offering is called 'an odour of rest to Jehovah' is that a burnt offering represented the uniting of the Lord's Divine Human to Divinity itself, dealt with above in 10053; and it was through that uniting that peace was attained in the heavens. For when the Lord was in the world all the hells were subdued by Him, and all the heavens were restored to order, 9715, 9809, 9937, 10019. From this it is evident how it comes about that a burnt offering is called 'an odour of rest to Jehovah', as it is many times elsewhere in which burnt offerings and minchah are the subject, such as Leviticus 1:9, 13, 17; 2:2, 9, 12; 3:5; 4:31; 6:15, 21; 8:28; 23:13, 18; Numbers 15:3, 7, 13; 28:6, 8, 13; 29:2, 6, 8, 13.

8658. 'Where he was encamped at the mountain of God' means near to the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'encamping' as an arrangement into order of the Church's truth and good with a person, dealt with in 8103 (end), 8130, 8131, 8155; and from the meaning of 'the mountain of God' as the good of love, dealt with in 795, 796, 2722, 4210, 6435, 8327, at this point the good of truth, since the subject is the good of those belonging to the spiritual Church, who are represented by 'the children of Israel'. Good as it exists with them is the good of truth, and this good is also the good of charity. This also accounts for the words 'the mountain of God', for 'God' is used when truth is the subject, and 'Jehovah' when good is the subject, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921 (end), 4295, 4402, 7268, 7873. From all this it is evident that 'he was encamped at the mountain of God' means an arrangement into order of the Church's good and truth near to the good of truth.

[2] How to understand all this must also be stated briefly. When a person is in the first state, that is to say, when his actions spring from truth but not as yet from good, that is, when they spring from faith but not as yet from charity, he is in the state in which temptations have to be undergone. By means of these he is brought step by step to the second state - to the one in which his actions spring from good, that is, from charity and the affection belonging to it. When therefore he is getting near to that state he is said 'to be encamped at the mountain of God', that is, at the good from which his actions later on spring. This is said because what follows refers to a new arrangement or re-ordering of truths for entrance into that state, to which members of the Church also come after they have undergone temptations and before God's law is written on their hearts. In what has gone before temptations have been the subject, and in what now follows the subject is the law issued from Mount Sinai, 'Mount Sinai' being good which holds truth within it.