9959. 'And make for them linen undergarments' means an external level of conjugial love. This is clear from the meaning of 'undergarments' as an external level of conjugial love, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'linen' as external truth or natural truth, also dealt with below. The reason why an external level of conjugial love is meant by 'undergarments' is that garments or coverings derive their meaning from the part of the body they cover, 9827, and the loins and genital organs, which the undergarments clothe or cover, mean conjugial love. For 'the loins' and their meaning this love, see 3021, 4280, 4575; and for 'the genital organs' and their meaning it, 4462, 5050-5062. What truly conjugial love is will be stated below in 9960.

[2] The undergarments were made from linen because 'linen' or 'flax' means external truth or natural truth, 7601, and what constitutes the actual external is truth. The reason why truth constitutes the external is that internal things terminate in external ones and rest on them as their underlying supports, and the underlying supports of good are truths. These are like the foundations on which a house is built or on which a house rests, which is why the truths of faith springing from good are meant by the foundations of a house, 9643. Truths furthermore are what protect forms of good from and withstand evils and falsities, all the power that good possesses being exerted by means of truths, 9643. So it is also that the last and lowest part of heaven is inhabited by those who are guided by truths of faith springing from good. So it is also therefore that what is last or most external with a person, namely his external skin, corresponds to those in heaven who are guided by the truths of faith, 5552-5559, 8980, yet not to those who uphold faith separated from good, since they are not in heaven. From all this it may now be recognized why the undergarments were made from linen or flax. Aaron's undergarment however, when he was clothed with the garments which were 'for glorious adornment', and which have been the subject in the present chapter, was made of fine linen together with interwoven fine linen, as is evident from a later chapter where it says,

They made tunics of fine linen, the work of a weaver, and a turban of fine linen, and attractive headdresses ¹ from fine linen, and linen undergarments with fine twined linen. Exodus 39:27-28.

But when he was clothed with the 'holy garments' Aaron's undergarment was made of linen alone, as is clear from the following in Moses,

When Aaron comes into the sanctuary within the veil he shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarment shall be over his flesh, and he shall gird himself with the linen belt, and place the linen turban on himself. These are holy garments. He shall also wash his flesh with water when he puts them on. He shall then first offer burnt offerings and sacrifices, by means of which he will expiate the holy place from uncleannesses. Leviticus 16:1-end.

[3] The reason why Aaron was to go at that time clothed in the linen garments, which were also called 'the holy garments', was that at that time he was performing the duty of expiating the tent, and also the people and himself from uncleannesses. And every expiation, which was accomplished by means of washings, burnt offerings, and sacrifices, represented purification of the heart from evils and falsities, and so represented regeneration; and purification from evils and falsities, or regeneration, is accomplished by means of the truths of faith. This was why Aaron wore the linen garments then, for the truths of faith are meant by 'linen garments', as stated above.

All purification from evils and falsities is accomplished by means of the truths of faith, see 2799, 5954 (end), 7044, 7918, 9089. So therefore is regeneration, 1555, 2046, 2063, 2979, 3332, 3665, 3690, 3786, 3876, 3877, 4096, 4097, 5893, 6247, 8635, 8638-8640, 8772, 9088, 9089, 9103.

[4] It was for the same reason also that the priest was to put on the linen robe and the linen undergarment when he carried the ash away from the altar, Leviticus 6:9-11, and also that 'the priests, the Levites, from the sons of Zadok' were to put it on, when they entered the sanctuary, regarding whom the following is stated in Ezekiel,

The priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, shall enter My sanctuary, and they shall draw near My table to minister to Me. When they enter the gates of the inner court they shall put on the linen garments, and no wool shall come upon them. When they minister in the gates of the inner court, and within, the linen turbans shall be on their heads, and the linen undergarments shall be over their loins. They shall not gird themselves with sweat. ² Ezekiel 44:15-18.

The subject in this passage is the new temple, by which a new Church is meant. By 'the priests, the Levites' those guided by truths springing from good are meant, and by 'the linen garments' the truths of faith by means of which purification and regeneration are accomplished. 'Not girding themselves with sweat' means that the holy things of worship should not be mingled with the human self; for 'sweat' means the human self or proprium, and the human proprium is nothing but evil and falsity, 210, 215, 694, 874-876, 987, 1047, 3812 (end), 8480, 8941.

[5] The reason why the undergarment Aaron wore when he was clothed with the garments 'for glorious adornment' was made of linen together with fine twined linen, as is evident from Exodus 39:27-28, quoted above, was that Aaron in those garments represented the Lord in respect of Divine Good in the heavens, Aaron himself representing the Lord in respect of the Divine Celestial there, his garments the Lord in respect of the Divine Spiritual there emanating from the Divine Celestial, 9814, and fine linen the Divine Spiritual emanating from the Divine Celestial, 5319, 9469.

Poznámky pod čarou:

3690. 'Jacob went out from Beersheba' means life more remote from matters of doctrine that are Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'going' as living, dealt with in 3335, 3685, and so of 'going away' as living more remotely; and from the meaning of 'Beersheba' as doctrine that is Divine, dealt with in 2723, 2858, 2859, 3466. From this it is evident that 'Jacob went out from Beersheba' means life more remote from matters of doctrine that are Divine. Life is said to be more remote when it consists in external truths and is governed by these, as was the case in the early and later childhood of those who are being regenerated, dealt with just above in 3688.

[2] To demonstrate more fully what that life is, and what it is like, let a further brief statement be made about it. All the details of the historical tales contained in the Word are truths more remote from the actual matters of doctrine that are Divine. Nevertheless they are of service to young and older children in that by means of those tales they are led gradually into more interior matters of doctrine concerning what is true and good, and at length into Divine ones; for inmostly those tales hold what is Divine within them. When young children read them and in innocence are filled with affection for them, the angels present with them experience a delightful heavenly state, for the Lord fills those angels with affection for the internal sense and so for the things which the events of the historical tales represent and mean. It is that heavenly delight experienced by angels which flows in and causes the young children to take delight in those tales. In order that this first state may exist, that is, the state in early and later childhood of those who are to be regenerated, the historical tales in the Word have therefore been provided and written in such a way that every single detail there contains that which is Divine within them.

[3] How remote they are from matters of doctrine that are Divine may be seen from an example taken from those historical tales. When at first someone knows merely that God came down on Mount Sinai and gave Moses the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written, and that Moses smashed them and God wrote similar commandments on another set of tablets, and this historical description in itself delights him, his life is governed by external truth and is remote from matters of doctrine that are Divine. Later on however when he starts to take delight in and have an affection for the commands or precepts there, and lives according to them, his life is now governed by actual truth; yet his life is still remote from matters of doctrine that are Divine. For the life he leads in keeping with those commands is no more than a morally correct life, the precepts of which are well known to everyone living in human society from the life of the community and from the laws existing there, such as worship of the Supreme Being, honouring parents, not committing murder, not committing adultery, and not stealing.

[4] But a person who is being regenerated is gradually led away from this more remote or morally correct life to life that comes closer to matters of doctrine that are Divine, that is, closer to spiritual life. When this happens he starts to wonder why such commands or precepts were sent down from heaven in so miraculous a fashion and why they were written on tablets with the finger of God, when they are in fact known to all peoples and are also written in the laws of those who have never heard anything from the Word. When he enters into this state of thinking he is then led by the Lord, if he belongs among those who are able to be regenerated, into a state more interior still, that is to say, into a state when he thinks that deeper things lie within which he does not as yet know. And when he reads the Word in this state he discovers in various places in the Prophets, and especially in the Gospels, that every one of those precepts contains within it things more heavenly still.

[5] In the commandment about honouring parents, for example, he discovers that when people are born anew, that is, are being regenerated, they receive another Father, and in that case become His sons, and that He is the one who is to be honoured, thus that this is the meaning which lies more interiorly in that commandment. He also gradually learns who that new Father is, namely the Lord, and at length how He is to be honoured, that is to say, worshipped, and that He is worshipped when He is loved. When a person who is being regenerated possesses this truth and lives according to it, a matter of doctrine that is Divine exists with him. His state at that time is an angelic state, and from this he now sees the things he had known previously as things which follow in order one after another and which flow from the Divine, like the steps of a stairway, at the top of which is Jehovah or the Lord, and on the steps themselves His angels going up and coming down. So he sees things that had previously delighted him as steps more remote from himself. The same may be said of the rest of the Ten Commandments, see 2609. From this one may now see what the life more remote from matters of doctrine that are Divine is, meant by the statement that Jacob went out from Beersheba.