10031. 'And the omentum over the liver' means the more internal good of the external or natural man. This is clear from the meaning of 'the omentum', which is over the liver, as the more internal good of the external or natural man. 'The omentum' means this good because it consists wholly of fat, and by 'fat' good is meant, dealt with above in 10029. The reason why the good is more internal is that this fat is higher in the body or more internal than the fat covering the intestines, which is spoken of immediately above. Also 'the liver' means more internal purification, for the liver purifies the blood, whereas the intestines purify the substances from which blood is produced. And the reason why that good belongs to the external or natural man is that 'the young bull' in which this omentum resided means the good of innocence and of charity in the external or natural man, 9990. In other places 'the liver' means the external good of innocence, the kind of good that exists with young children or infants. The reason for this is that before every other organ has been fully formed to serve its particular function, which is done while they are still in the womb, infants are fed through the liver; for it is to this organ that all their fluid nourishment is brought from their mother's womb by way of the placenta and umbilical cord. This fluid corresponds to the good of innocence.

[2] The fact that this good is meant by 'the liver' is clear in Jeremiah,

My eyes have been consumed by tears, my internal organs have been disturbed, ¹ my liver has been poured out onto the earth, because of the destruction ² of the daughter of my people, while the infant and the suckling faint in the streets; they say to their mothers, Where is grain and wine? Lamentations 2:11-12.

This describes the grief of a Church when it has been laid waste. Grief on account of truth that has been lost is meant by 'eyes have been consumed by tears'; grief on account of the truth of innocence which has been lost is meant by 'internal organs have been disturbed'; and grief on account of the good of innocence which has been lost is meant by 'liver has been poured out onto the earth'. This is the reason for the words, 'While the infant and the suckling faint in the streets', and 'they say to their mothers, Where is grain and wine?' 'The daughter of my people' because of whose destruction that grief exists is the Church, 2362, 3963, 6729; 'eyes' are the powers of inward sight, thus the truths of faith, 4526, 4528, 9051; 'internal organs' or 'bowels' are the truths of innocence, 3294; 'liver' is the good of innocence, since the infants and sucklings who faint in the streets are those with whom the good of innocence is present, 430, 3183, 4563, 5608; 'the grain and wine' - about which they say to their mothers, Where are they? - are the good of truth and the truth of good, 'grain' being the good of truth, 5959, and 'wine' the truth of good, 1071, 1798.

9990. 'Take one young bull, a son of the herd' means purification of the natural or external man. This is clear from the meaning of 'a young bull' as the good of innocence and charity in the natural or external man, dealt with in 9391. And since the words 'a son of the herd' are used, the truth of that good is also meant, truth being meant by 'a son', and the natural level by 'the herd'. For the meaning of 'a son' as truth, see 489, 491, 533, 2623, 3373, 9807, and for that of 'the herd' as the natural level, 2566, 5913, 8937. The reason why purification of the natural or external man is meant here by 'a young bull, a son of the herd' is that the animal was offered in sacrifice, and sacrifices were signs of purification from evils and falsities, or expiation, in this instance purification from evils and falsities present in the natural or external man. But purification in the spiritual or internal man is meant by the burnt offering of a ram.

[2] To know what each kind of burnt offering or sacrifice represented one must first know that in a human being there is the external and the internal, and that in each there is that which belongs to truth and that which belongs to good. Therefore when a person is to be regenerated he must be regenerated as to the external and as to the internal, and in each as to truth and as to good. But before a person can be regenerated he must be purified from evils and from falsities, for these stand in the way. Purifications of the external man were represented by burnt offerings and sacrifices of oxen, young bulls, and he-goats, but purifications of the internal man by burnt offerings and sacrifices of rams, kids, and she-goats, and purification of the internal itself, or that which is inmost, by those of lambs. Consequently from the actual animals offered in sacrifice one may see what kind of purification or expiation was being represented.

[3] The reason for saying 'was being represented' is that burnt offerings and sacrifices did not purify or expiate a person, but merely served to represent purification or expiation. For is there anyone who fails to recognize that such offerings of animals do not take away any evil or falsity at all that is present with a person? - see the places in the Word quoted in 2180. The reason why those offerings did not take evil or falsity away, but merely represented such a removal of it, was that only a representative of the Church was established among the Israelite and Jewish nation, which served to join them to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord, see what has been shown on this subject in the places referred to in 9320 (end), 9380. But what was represented specifically by burnt offerings and sacrifices of young bulls, rams, and lambs, will be seen in what follows in the present chapter, since they are the subject there.