67. As white wool, as snow, signifies in respect to good and truth therein. This is evident from the signification of "white wool" as being good in ultimates (of which presently); and from the signification of "snow," as being truth in ultimates. "Snow" means truth in ultimates by reason of the water of which it is composed, and its whiteness and brightness. (That "water" signifies truth, see below, n. 71; and that "whiteness," and "brightness," signify truth from the transparency of light, see Arcana Coelestia 3301, 3993, 4007, 5319, 8459.)

"White wool," signifies good in ultimates, because wool upon lambs and sheep has a signification like that of hair upon man; and "lambs," and "sheep" signify good, "lambs" celestial good (See Arcana Coelestia 3519, 3994, 10132), and "sheep" spiritual good (n. 4169, 4809). From this it is that the "hairs," by which Divine truth in ultimates is signified, are said to be "white as white wool, and as snow." So also of the Lord, when He was transfigured:

His garments became glistening, exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth can whiten them (Mark 9:3);

and of the "Ancient of Days" in Daniel:

I beheld till thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit; His raiment was white as snow, and the hair of His head was white wool ¹ (Daniel 7:9).

"Raiment" signifies the Divine in ultimates (See above, n. 64); and "the Ancient of Days," the Lord from eternity.

[2] Because "wool" signifies good in ultimates, good is sometimes described in the Word by "wool," and truth by "linen" and by "snow," as in Hosea:

She said, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my waters, my wool and my flax. Therefore will I return and take my corn in the time thereof, and I will pluck away my wool and my flax (Hosea 2:5, 9).

In Ezekiel:

Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool; ye slaughter that which is the best; ye feed not the flock (Ezekiel 34:3).

In David:

Jehovah will send ² out His word upon the earth; He giveth snow like wool (Psalms 147:15-16).

In Isaiah:

Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow; though they be red like purple they shall be as wool (Isaiah 1:18).

"Snow" is predicated of sins that were as scarlet, and "wool" of sins that were red like purple, because "scarlet" signifies truth from good, and in a contrary sense, falsity from evil (See Arcana Coelestia 4922, 9468); and "red" and "purple" signify good, and in a contrary sense, evil of every kind (See Arcana Coelestia 3300, 9467, 9865).

Poznámky pod čarou:

3138. These three verses deal with the preparation and enlightenment of the natural man so that the truth which was to be joined to good in the Rational might be summoned from there. With regard to that preparation and enlightenment the position is that there are two kinds of light which shape man's intellectual concepts - the light of heaven, and the light of the world. The light of heaven comes from the Lord who to angels in the next life is the Sun and Moon, see 1053, 1521, 1529, 1530. The light of the world comes from the sun and moon which a person sees with his physical eyes. The internal man receives his sight and understanding from the light of heaven whereas the external man receives his sight and understanding from the light of the world. The influx of the light of heaven into ideas formed in the light of the world produces enlightenment and at the same time recognition - the recognition of truth if a correspondence exists, the recognition of falsity instead of truth if that correspondence does not exist. But enlightenment and recognition are not possible unless affection or love is present, which is spiritual warmth and imparts life to the things illumined by the light. This may be compared to the light of the sun. It is not the light of the sun but the warmth within the light that imparts life to plants, as is evident from the seasons of the year.

[2] The verses which follow immediately after this describe the preparation further - the light of heaven, which is the Lord's Divine light, flowed into the ideas formed in the light of the world in His natural man so that He might bring forth from there the truth that was to be joined to good in the Rational. Thus it was to be brought forth in what is the ordinary way. Therefore to make His Human Divine the Lord came into the world in the ordinary way, that is, He was willing to be born as any other person is born, to receive instruction as any other does, and to be born again as any other, but with this difference: Man is born again from the Lord, whereas the Lord not only regenerated Himself from Himself, but also glorified Himself, that is, made Himself Divine; also man is made new through the influx of charity and faith, whereas the Lord was made so through the influx of Divine Love that was within Him and that was His own. From this it may be seen that man's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, or what amounts to the same, that in the process of man's regeneration as the image one can envisage, though remotely, the process of the Lord's glorification.