9938. 'Which the children of Israel shall sanctify, even in all their gifts of holy things' means acts of worship representative of removal from sins. This is clear from the meaning of 'gifts' - or presents, which among the Israelite and Jewish nation were primarily burnt offerings, sacrifices, and minchahs - as the inner realities of acts of worship; for those realities were represented by these acts. The inner realities of worship are the fruits of love and faith; they are therefore pardonings of sins, that is, removals from them, since faith and love are the means by which the Lord moves sins away. For in the measure that the good of love and faith comes in, or what amounts to the same thing, heaven comes in, sins are removed, that is, hell is removed - the hell within the person as well as the hell outside him. From this it is evident what should be understood by the gifts which they made holy, that is, offered. The gifts were called holy, and giving or offering them was called sanctifying them, because they represented holy realities. For they were offered to expiate people, thus to remove them from their sins, which is accomplished by means of faith in and love to the Lord received from the Lord.

[2] Gifts and presents were said to be made to Jehovah, though Jehovah, that is, the Lord, is not the receiver of gifts or presents, but the giver of them, freely to everyone. Even so, His will is that they should come from a person as though they did so from that person himself, provided the person acknowledges that they do not actually come from him but from the Lord. For the Lord imparts a desire to do good because he loves it, and a desire to speak the truth because he believes it. The actual desire flows in from the Lord, yet appears to be inherent in the person and so to flow from the person. For whatever a person does out of love and desire for it, he does from his life, love being what composes anyone's life. From this it is evident that the things that are called gifts and presents made to the Lord by a person are essentially gifts and presents made to a person by the Lord, and that they are called gifts and presents on account of what they appear to be. All who are wise at heart recognize this appearance, but not so the simple. Yet their gifts and presents are acceptable, so far as they are made in ignorance that has innocence within it. Innocence is the good of love to God, and dwells within ignorance, especially with the wise at heart. Those who are wise at heart know, indeed perceive, that nothing whatever of the wisdom within themselves originates in themselves, but that the all of wisdom is attributable to the Lord, that is, the all of the good of love and the all of the truth of faith are attributable to Him, and that for this reason even with the wise innocence dwells in ignorance. From this it is evident that the acknowledgement of this matter, and especially the perception of it, constitutes the innocence of wisdom.

[3] The gifts offered in the Jewish Church, which were primarily burnt offerings, sacrifices, and minchahs, were also spoken of as offerings made for the expiations of sins; for they were offered for the sake of being pardoned from sins, that is, being removed from them. Those who belonged to that Church also thought that sins were pardoned, indeed completely taken away, by means of these offerings; for it is said of people who have offered them that they will be pardoned, see Leviticus 4:26, 31, 35; 5:6, 10, 13, 16, 18; 6:7; 9:7; 15:15, 30. But they were unaware of the fact that their gifts represented more internal things, thus the kinds of things that are done by a person from love and faith received from the Lord; that these are what expiate, that is, remove sins; and that when they have been removed they appear to have been completely removed or banished, as has been shown above in the present paragraph and the one before it. The worship of that nation was representative, and so was external devoid of anything internal; and it was by means of this worship that heaven was joined to mankind, in those times, see the places referred to in 9320 (end), 9380.

8172. 'Stand firm and see the salvation of Jehovah' means salvation from the Lord alone and not at all from themselves. This is clear from the meaning of 'standing firm and seeing' as faithfully believing ('seeing' means understanding, acknowledging, and faithfully believing, see 897, 2150, 2325, 2807, 3863, 3869, 4403-4421, 5400); and from the meaning of 'the salvation of Jehovah' as salvation from the Lord. At this point, where deliverance from temptations is the subject, salvation from the Lord alone and not at all from themselves is meant, the Lord being meant in the Word by 'Jehovah', see 1343, 1736, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5041, 5663, 6281, 6303, 6905, 6945, 6956. It is said here that they should faithfully believe that salvation comes from the Lord alone and not at all from themselves, because this is the chief thing to be believed in temptations. The person who believes when he is tempted that he has strength of his own with which he can offer resistance goes under. The reason for this is that he is subject to a falsity that leads him to ascribe merit to himself; and in doing this he claims that he himself accomplishes his salvation, in which case he shuts out influx from the Divine. But the person who believes that the Lord alone offers resistance in temptations is victorious, for he is guided by the truth and ascribes merit to the Lord; and he perceives that his salvation is accomplished by the Lord alone. A person whose faith is bonded to charity ascribes salvation wholly to the Lord and not at all to himself.