10109. And they shall eat those things wherein expiation was made. That this signifies the appropriation of good with those who are purified from evils and the falsities thence derived, is evident from the signification of “eating,” as being appropriation (see above, n. 10106); and from the signification of “expiated,” as being that which has been purified from evils and the falsities thence derived (n. 9506). It is said “purified from evils and the falsities thence derived,” because there are falsities, and also truths, with those who are in evil; and likewise falsities and truths with those who are in good; the falsities with those who are in evil are falsities of evil, and the truths with them are truths falsified, which are dead; but the falsities with those who are in good are accepted as truths, for they are rendered mild by good, and are applied to good uses; and the truths with such persons are truths of good, which are living. (Concerning both kinds of falsity and truth, see what was shown in n. 2243, 2408, 2863, 4736, 4822, 6359, 7272, 7437, 7574, 7577, 8051, 8137, 8138, 8149, 8298, 8311, 8318, 9258, 9298)

[2] As by “eating holy things wherein expiation was made” is signified the appropriation of good with those who have been purified from evils and the falsities thence derived, it was therefore strictly forbidden that any unclean person should eat of them, for by “uncleanness” is signified defilement from evils and the falsities thence derived. For the case herein is that so long as a man is in evils and in the falsities thence derived, it is impossible for any good to be appropriated to him, for evil ascends from hell, and good descends from heaven; and where hell is, there heaven cannot be, because they are diametrically opposite. In order therefore that heaven, that is, good from heaven, may have room, hell must be removed, that is, evil from hell; from which it can be seen that good cannot possibly be appropriated to man so long as he is in evil. By the appropriation of good is meant the implantation of good in the will, for good cannot be said to be appropriated to man until it becomes of his will, because the will of man is the man himself, and his understanding is only so far the man as it partakes of the will. For that which is of the will belongs to the man’s love, and from this to his life, because that which a man wills he loves and also calls good, and moreover when it is done, he feels it as good. The case is otherwise with those things which are of the understanding, and not at the same time of the will. Be it also known that by the appropriation of good with man is meant only the capability to receive good from the Lord, with which capability he is endowed by regeneration; hence the good with a man is not the man’s, but is the Lord’s with him, and the man is held in it so far as he suffers himself to be withheld from evils. As good cannot be appropriated, that is, communicated to man, so long as he is in evil, it was therefore forbidden that any unclean person should eat the flesh and bread of the sacrifice, for by such an eating was represented the appropriation of good, as has been said above.

[3] That the unclean were forbidden under penalty of death to eat of the sanctified things, is evident in Moses:

Everyone that is clean shall eat of the flesh; but the soul that should eat of the flesh of the sacrifices, having his uncleanness upon him, shall be cut off from his peoples. The soul that hath touched any unclean thing, the uncleanness of man, or an unclean beast, or any unclean creeping thing, and shall eat of the flesh of the eucharistic sacrifice, shall be cut off from the peoples (Leviticus 7:19-21).

All these external uncleannesses represented internal uncleannesses, which are evils pertaining to man, and such evils as are of his will, appropriated by actual life.

[4] This is further described in another passage in Moses:

Whatsoever man of the seed of Aaron who is a leper, or suffereth from an issue, shall not eat of the holy things even until he has been cleansed. Whoso hath touched anything unclean on account of soul, the man from whom hath gone forth seed of copulation, or the man who hath touched any creeping thing, with which he is defiled, or a man with whom he may himself be defiled in respect to all his uncleanness, the soul which hath touched it shall be unclean until the even, and shall not eat of the holy things; but when he hath washed his flesh with water, and the sun hath set, he shall be clean; and afterward he shall eat of the holy things, because this is his bread. No stranger shall eat of the holy thing; a lodger of the priest, or a hireling, shall not eat of the holy thing. If a priest shall buy a soul with the purchase of his silver, he can eat of it; and he that is born of his house, they shall eat of his bread. When a priest’s daughter shall have married a strange man, she shall not eat of the uplifting of holy things. But if a priest’s daughter shall have become a widow, or divorced, and she hath no seed, and so shall have returned unto her father’s house, as in her youth, she shall eat of her father’s bread (Leviticus 22:4-13).

That all these things are significative of interior things is very manifest, thus that they involve the communication and appropriation of holy things with those who are in a state for receiving. That “no stranger should eat” signifies those within the church who do not acknowledge the Lord, thus who are not in the truths and goods of the church; that “a lodger and a hireling should not be allowed to eat,” signified those who are in natural good without the good of faith, and also those who do what is good for the sake of recompense; that those who were “bought with silver” and “born in the house” should eat, signified those who are converted, and who are in the truth and good of the church from faith and love; that “a priest’s daughter married to a strange man should not eat” signified that the holy things of the church cannot be appropriated to the good which has not been conjoined with the truths of the church; but that “a widow and one that is divorced, if she had no seed, should eat,” signified the appropriation of good after those things have been removed which are not of the church, if from their conjunction nothing has been hatched or born which has been made a matter of faith. That these things are signified is plain from the internal sense of the particulars.

[5] That hereditary evils do not hinder the appropriation of good is also described in Moses:

Every man of the seed of Aaron in whom is a blemish, let him not come near to offer the bread of God; a man blind, lame, mutilated, or very tall, he who hath a fracture of foot or of hand, is hump-backed, bruised, confused of eye, scurfy, warty, or bruised in the testicle, he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God. But he shall eat the bread of the holies of holies and of the holy things (Leviticus 21:17-23);

by these words, as before said, are signified hereditary evils, and some specific evil by each of them. That such men should not offer bread nor come near the altar as priests, was because these blemishes-that is, these evils-thus stood forth before the people, and those things which stood forth fell into a kind of representation, as did not those which lay hidden. For although the priest, the Levite, or the people, were unclean as to their interiors, they were nevertheless called clean, and were also believed to be holy, provided they outwardly appeared washed and clean.

2708. And he dwelt in the wilderness. That this signifies in what is relatively obscure, is evident from the signification of “dwelling,” as being to live (see n. 2451); and from the signification of “wilderness,” as being that which has little vitality (see n. 1927); here what is obscure, but relatively. By what is relatively obscure is meant the state of the spiritual church relatively to the state of the celestial church, or the state of those who are spiritual relatively to that of those who are celestial. The celestial are in the affection of good, the spiritual in the affection of truth; the celestial have perception, but the spiritual a dictate of conscience; to the celestial the Lord appears as a Sun, but to the spiritual as a Moon (n. 1521, 1530, 1531, 2495). The former have light from the Lord, but giving both sight and the perception of good and truth, like the light of day from the sun; but the latter have light from the Lord like the light of night from the moon, and thus they are in relative obscurity. The reason is that the celestial are in love to the Lord, and thus in the Lord’s life itself; but the spiritual are in charity toward the neighbor and in faith, and thus in the Lord’s life indeed, but more obscurely. Hence it is that the celestial never reason about faith and its truths, but being in perception of truth from good, they say that it is so; whereas the spiritual speak and reason concerning the truths of faith, because they are in the conscience of good from truth; and also because with the celestial the good of love has been implanted in their will part, wherein is the chief life of man, but with the spiritual in their intellectual part, wherein is the secondary life of man; this is the reason why the spiritual are in what is relatively obscure (see n. 81, 202, 337, 765, 784, 895, 1114-1125, 1155, 1577, 1824, 2048, 2088, 2227, 2454, 2507).

[2] This comparative obscurity is here called a “wilderness.” In the Word a “wilderness” signifies what is little inhabited and cultivated, and also signifies what is not at all inhabited and cultivated, and is thus used in a twofold sense. Where it signifies what is little inhabited and cultivated, or where there are few habitations, folds of flocks, pastures, and waters, it signifies what has relatively little life and light-as what is spiritual, or those who are spiritual, in comparison with what is celestial, or those who are celestial. But where it signifies what is not inhabited or cultivated at all, or where there are no habitations, folds of flocks, pastures, or waters, it signifies those who are in vastation as to good and in desolation as to truth.

[3] That a “wilderness” signifies what is comparatively little inhabited and cultivated, or where there are few habitations, folds of flocks, pastures, and waters, is evident from the following passages.

In Isaiah:

Sing unto Jehovah a new song and His praise from the end of the earth; ye that go down to the sea, and the fullness thereof, the isles and the inhabitants thereof; let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up, the villages ¹ that Kedar doth inhabit; let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains (Isaiah 42:10-11).

In Ezekiel:

I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil wild beast to cease out of the land, and they shall dwell securely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods; and I will make them and the places round about My hill a blessing; the tree of the field shall yield its fruit, and the earth shall yield her fruit (Ezekiel 34:25-27);

here the spiritual are treated of.

In Hosea:

I will bring her into the wilderness, and will speak to her heart; and I will give her her vineyards from thence (Hos. 2:14-15); where the desolation of truth, and consolation afterwards, are treated of.

In David:

The folds of the wilderness do drop, and the hills are girded with rejoicing; the pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are covered over with corn (Psalms 65:12-13).

[4] In Isaiah:

I will make the wilderness a pool of waters, and the dry land springs of waters. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar of Shittim, and the myrtle, and the oil-tree; I will set in the desert the fir-tree; that they may see, and know, and consider, and understand together, that the hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it (Isaiah 41:18-20); where the regeneration of those who are in ignorance of truth, or the Gentiles, and the enlightenment and instruction of those who are in desolation, are treated of; the “wilderness” is predicated of these; the “cedar, myrtle, and oil-tree” denote the truths and goods of the interior man; the “fir-tree” denotes those of the exterior.

In David:

Jehovah maketh rivers into a wilderness, and watersprings into dry ground; He maketh a wilderness into a pool of waters, and a dry land into watersprings (Psalms 107:33, 35); where the meaning is the same.

In Isaiah:

The wilderness and the parched land shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose; budding it shall bud; in the wilderness shall waters break out, ² and streams in the desert (Isaiah 35:1-2, 6).

In the same:

Thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail; and they that be of thee shall build the deserts of old (Isaiah 58:11-12).

In the same:

Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness become Carmel, and Carmel be counted for a forest; and judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness in Carmel (Isaiah 32:15-16); where the spiritual church is treated of, which though inhabited and cultivated is called relatively a “wilderness;” for it is said, “judgment shall dwell in the wilderness and righteousness in Carmel.” That a “wilderness” denotes a comparatively obscure state, is plain from these passages by its being called a “wilderness” and also a “forest;” and very evidently so in Jeremiah:

O generation, see ye the Word of Jehovah. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? or a land of darkness? (Jeremiah 2:31).

[5] That a “wilderness” signifies what is not at all inhabited or cultivated, or where there are no habitations, folds of flocks, pastures, and waters, and thus those who are in vastation as to good and in desolation as to truth, is also evident from the Word. This kind of “wilderness” is predicated in a double sense, namely, of those who are afterwards reformed, and of those who cannot be reformed. Concerning those who are afterwards reformed (as here in regard to Hagar and her son) we read in Jeremiah:

Thus saith Jehovah, I remember for thee the mercy of thy youth, thy going after Me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown (Jeremiah 2:2); where Jerusalem is treated of, which here is the Ancient Church that was spiritual.

In Moses:

Jehovah’s portion is His people, Jacob is the line of His inheritance; He found him in a desert land, and in a waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He made him understand, He kept him as the pupil of His eye (Deuteronomy 32:9-10).

In David:

They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way, they found no city of habitation (Psalms 107:4); where those who have been in desolation of truth and are being reformed are treated of.

In Ezekiel:

I will bring you to the wilderness of the peoples, and I will judge with you there, as I judged with your fathers in the wilderness of the land of Egypt (Ezekiel 20:35-36); where in like manner the vastation and desolation of those who are being reformed are treated of.

[6] The journeyings and wanderings of the people of Israel in the wilderness represented nothing but the vastation and desolation of believers before reformation; consequently their temptation, if indeed they are in vastation and desolation when they are in spiritual temptations; as may also be seen from the following passages in Moses:

Jehovah bare them in the wilderness as a man beareth his son, in the way, even unto this place (Deuteronomy 1:31).

And in another place:

Thou shalt remember all the way which Jehovah thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to afflict thee, to tempt thee, and to know what is in thy heart; whether thou wouldest keep His commandments or no. He afflicted thee, He suffered thee to hunger, He made thee to eat manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that thou mightiest know that man doth not live by bread only, but by everything that proceedeth out of the mouth of Jehovah doth man live (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).

And again in the same chapter:

Lest thou forget that Jehovah led thee in the great and terrible wilderness, where were serpents, fiery serpents, and scorpions; a thirsty land where was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; He fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that He might afflict thee, and might tempt thee, to do thee good at thy latter end (Deuteronomy 8:15-16).

Here the “wilderness” denotes vastation and desolation, such as those are in who are in temptations. By their journeyings and wanderings in the wilderness forty years, all the state of the combating church is described-how of itself it yields, but conquers from the Lord.

[7] By the “woman who fled into the wilderness,” in John, nothing else is signified than the temptation of the church, thus described:

The woman who brought forth a son, a man child, fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God; there were given unto the woman two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place; and the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a flood, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. But the earth helped the woman; for the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth (Revelation 12:6, 14-16).

[8] That “wilderness” is predicated of a church altogether vastated, and of those who are altogether vastated as to good and truth, who cannot be reformed, is thus shown in Isaiah:

I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish stink because there is no water, and die for thirst; I clothe the heavens with thick darkness (Isaiah 50:2-3).

In the same:

Thy holy cities were become a wilderness, Zion was become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation (Isaiah 64:10).

In Jeremiah:

I beheld and lo Carmel was a wilderness, and all her cities were broken down at the presence of Jehovah (Jeremiah 4:26).

In the same:

Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trodden My portion under foot; they have made My pleasant portion a wilderness of desolation, they have made it a desolation, it hath mourned unto Me, being desolate; the whole land is made desolate, because no man layeth it to heart. Spoilers are come upon all the hillsides in the wilderness (Jeremiah 12:10-12).

In Joel:

The fire hath devoured the folds of the wilderness, and the flame hath burned all the trees of the field, the water brooks are dried up, the fire hath devoured the folds of the wilderness (Joel 1:19-20).

In Isaiah:

He made the world as a wilderness, and overthrew the cities thereof (Isaiah 14:17); where Lucifer is spoken of. In the same:

The prophecy of the wilderness of the sea. As whirlwinds in the south, it cometh from the wilderness, from a terrible land (Isaiah 21:1).

The “wilderness of the sea” denotes truth vastated by memory-knowledges and the reasonings from them.

[9] From all this it may be seen what is signified by the following concerning John the Baptist:

It was said by Isaiah, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way for the Lord, make His paths straight (Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23; Isaiah 40:3);

which means that the church was then altogether vastated, so that there was no longer any good, nor any truth; which is plainly manifest from the fact, that then no one knew that man had any internal, nor that there was any internal in the Word, and thus that no one knew that the Messiah or Christ was to come to eternally save them. Hence it is also manifest what is signified by John being in the wilderness until the days of his appearing to Israel (Luke 1:80); and by his preaching in the wilderness of Judea (Matthew 3:1-17 and following verses); and by his baptizing in the wilderness (Mark 1:4); for by that he also represented the state of the church. From the signification of a “wilderness” it may also be seen why the Lord so often withdrew into the wilderness (see for examples Matthew 4:1; 15:32 to the end; Mark 1:12-13, 35-40, 45; 6:31-36; Luke 4:1; 5:16; 9:10, John 11:54, and the following verses). From the signification of a “mountain” also it is manifest why the Lord withdrew into the mountains (as in Matthew 14:23; 15:29-31; 17:1; 28:16-17; Mark 3:13-14; 6:46; 9:2-9; Luke 6:12-13; 9:28; John 6:15).

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