9396. And he took the book of the covenant. That this signifies the Word in the letter with which the Word in heaven has been conjoined, is evident from the signification of “the book,” as being the Word in the whole complex (of which in what follows); and from the signification of a “covenant,” as being conjunction (n. 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 6804, 8767, 8778). By “the book of the covenant” is here meant everything the Lord spoke from Mount Sinai, for it is said just above (verse 4) “and Moses wrote all the words of Jehovah.” Consequently by “the book of the covenant” in a narrow sense is meant the Word revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai, and in a wide sense the Word in the whole complex, because this is the Divine truth revealed by the Lord. And as the Lord thereby conjoins Himself with the man of the church, it is “the book of the covenant,” because “covenant” denotes conjunction.

[2] But at the present day it is not known what is the conjunction of the Lord with the man of the church through the Word, because heaven is now closed. For at the present day scarcely anyone speaks with angels and spirits, and thereby knows how they perceive the Word; when yet this was known to the ancient, and especially to the most ancient people, for it was a common thing with them to speak with spirits and angels. The reason was that in ancient times, and especially in the most ancient times, men were interior men, for they thought in the spirit almost abstractedly from the body; whereas modern men are exterior men, and think in the body almost abstractedly from the spirit. Hence it is that heaven has as it were gone away from man; for the communication of heaven is with the internal man when this can be abstracted from the body, but not with the external man immediately. Consequently the nature of the conjunction of the Lord with man through the Word is not now known.

[3] Those who think from the sensuous of the body, and not from the sensuous of the spirit, must needs conceive that the sense of the Word in heaven is such as it is in the world, that is, such as it is in the letter. If it be said that the sense of the Word in heaven is such as is the thought of the internal man, which is devoid of material ideas, that is, of worldly, bodily, and earthly ideas, this would now be a paradox; and especially if it should be said that the sense of the Word in heaven differs as much from its sense in the world (that is, in the letter), as a heavenly paradise differs from an earthly one, and as heavenly food and drink differ from earthly. How great the difference is, appears from the fact that the heavenly paradise is intelligence and wisdom; that heavenly food is all the good of love and charity; and heavenly drink all the truth of faith from this good. At the present day who would not marvel if he should hear that when mention is made in the Word of a “paradise,” a “garden,” a “vineyard,” in heaven there are perceived no paradise, garden, or vineyard; but instead of these such things as belong to intelligence and wisdom from the Lord; and that when mention is made of meat and drink, such as “bread,” “flesh,” “wine,” “water,” instead of these there are perceived in heaven such things as belong to the good of love and truth of faith from the Lord; and this not by unfoldings nor in a comparative manner, but in actuality from correspondences; because the heavenly things that pertain to wisdom, intelligence, the good of love, and the truth of faith, correspond in actuality to these earthly things. And into this correspondence was the internal man created relatively to the external man; thus heaven which is in the internal man relatively to the world which is in the external man. And such is the case in general. That in heaven the Word is understood and perceived according to correspondences, and that this sense is the internal sense, has been shown throughout in the preceding pages.

[4] He who apprehends what has just been said, can know, and in some measure perceive, that through the Word there is a conjunction of man with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord; and that without the Word there would be no conjunction. (See what has been shown on this subject in n. 2143, 7153, 7381, 8920, 9094, 9212, 9216, 9357, and in many other places.) From this it is now evident why Moses took the book of the covenant and read it before the people; and why he then sprinkled the blood on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant.” This was done for the reason that in heaven the blood of the sacrifice denotes the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, thus on our earth the Word (n. 9393). As by a “covenant” is signified conjunction, and as conjunction is effected through the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord, that is, the Word, therefore all things that belong to the Divine truth from the Lord, or to the Word, are called a “covenant,” such as the tables on which the ten commandments were written, and also the judgments, statutes, and all other things contained in the books of Moses, and in general all things contained in the Word of both Old and New Testaments.

[5] That the tables on which the ten commandments were written were called a “covenant,” is evident from Moses:

Jehovah wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten words (Exodus 34:28).

I went up into the mountain to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which Jehovah made with you; Jehovah gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant. I came down from the mountain, when the mountain was burning with fire; and the two tables of the covenant were on my two hands (Deuteronomy 9:9, 11, 15).

Jehovah declared unto you His covenant, which He commanded you to do, even the ten words, which He wrote upon the tables of stone. Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of Jehovah your God, which He made with you (Deuteronomy 4:13, 23).

As the two tables were deposited in the ark, which was in the middle, that is, in the inmost, of the tabernacle, therefore the ark was called “the ark of the covenant” (Numbers 10:33; 14:44; Deuteronomy 10:8; 31:9, 25-26; Josh. 3:3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17; 4:7, 9, 18; 6:6, 8; 8:33; Judges 20:27; 1 Samuel 4:3-5; 2 Samuel 15:24; 1 Kings 3:15; 6:19; 8:1, 6; Jeremiah 3:16)

[6] That the books of Moses were called “the book of the covenant,” is evident from the finding of them by Hilkiah the priest in the temple, of which we read in the second book of the Kings:

Hilkiah the high priest found the book of the law in the house of Jehovah; and they read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant found in the house of Jehovah (2 Kings 22:7; 23:2).

[7] That the Word of the Old Testament was called a “covenant,” is evident from Isaiah:

To them that hold fast My covenant will I give in My house, and within My walls, a place and a name better than sons and daughters (Isaiah 56:4-5).

Hear ye the words of this covenant, which I commanded your fathers. Obey My voice, and do them, according to all which I command you (Jeremiah 11:2, 4).

All the ways of Jehovah are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies (Psalms 25:10).

The mercy of Jehovah is from eternity to eternity upon them that fear Him, and His righteousness to the sons of sons; to such as keep His covenant, and to those that remember His commandments (Psalms 103:17-18).

They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in His law (Psalms 78:10); where the covenant of God is called “the law” of God. (That by “the law” in a wide sense is meant the whole Word; in a less wide sense the historic Word; in a narrow sense the Word written by Moses; and in the narrowest sense the ten commandments of the Decalogue, see n. 6752)

[8] That the Word of the New Testament also is a “covenant,” is evident in Jeremiah:

Behold the days come that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah. This is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, I will put My law in the midst of them, and I will write it on their heart (Jeremiah 31:31, 33).

“The house of Israel” denotes the spiritual church; and “the house of Judah,” the celestial church. And in David:

I also will make him the firstborn, high among the kings of the earth, and My covenant shall stand fast with him. My covenant will I not make vile, nor change the declaration of My lips (Psalms 89:27-28, 34);

speaking of the Lord; “My covenant shall stand fast with him” denotes the union of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human; thus also the Word, for the Lord as to the Divine Human was the Word that was made flesh, that is, man (John 1:1-3, 14).

[9] That the Divine truth or the Word is a covenant or conjunction, is because it is the Divine from the Lord, thus the Lord Himself. And therefore when the Word is received by man, the Lord Himself is received. From this it is evident that through the Word there is conjunction of the Lord with man; and because there is conjunction of the Lord with man, there is also conjunction of heaven with man, for heaven is called heaven from the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord, consequently from what is Divine; and therefore those who are in heaven are said to be “in the Lord.” That the Divine conjoins Itself with those who love the Lord, and keep His Word, may be seen in John 14:23.

[10] From all this it can be seen that by “the blood of the covenant” is meant the conjunction of the Lord through heaven with man by means of the Word. Also in Zechariah:

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the war bow shall be cut off; and He shall speak peace unto the nations; His dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. As for thee also, through the blood of thy covenant, I will send forth thy bound ones out of the pit wherein is no water (Zech. 9:10-11).

[11] He who knows nothing of the internal sense cannot conceive here anything but what is contained in the sense of the letter; namely, that the chariot shall be cut off from Ephraim, the horse from Jerusalem, and the war bow, and finally that by “the blood of the covenant” is meant the blood of the Lord, by which those who are in sins should be set free; explaining in various ways who are meant by “the bound ones in the pit wherein is no water.” But he who is acquainted with the internal sense of the Word conceives that Divine truth is here treated of, and that after this has been laid waste, or vastated, that is, after it is no longer received in faith and heart by man, it will be restored through the truth Divine that proceeds from the Lord’s Divine Human; and thus that those who believe and do it will be conjoined with the Lord Himself. This can be more clearly seen from the internal sense of the several words of the passage; as from the signification of a “chariot” as being the doctrine of the church (n. 2760, 5321, 5945, 8215); of “Ephraim” as being the enlightened understanding of the church (n. 5354, 6222, 6238); from the signification of a “horse” as being the understanding of the Word (n. 2760-2762, 3217, 5321, 6125, 6534, 8029, 8146, 8148); and of “Jerusalem” as being the spiritual church (n. 2117, 3654, 9166); from the signification of a “bow” as being the doctrine of truth (n. 2686, 2709); and of “war” as being a combat about truths (n. 1664, 2686, 8295).

[12] From this it is evident that by “cutting off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the war bow,” is signified the vastation of truth Divine in the church in respect to all the understanding of it; and that by “the bound ones in the pit wherein was no water being sent forth through the blood of the covenant,” is signified restoration through the Divine truth that proceeds from the Divine Human of the Lord. (That “blood” denotes Divine truth, and that a “covenant” denotes conjunction, has been shown above; also that “the bound ones in the pit” denote those of the spiritual church who were saved by the Lord’s coming into the world, n. 6854.) It is said “a pit wherein is no water,” because by “water” is signified truth (n. 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, 7307, 8137, 8138, 8568, 9323).

2702. And she saw a well of water. That this signifies the Lord’s Word from which are truths, is evident from the signification of a “well of water,” and of a “fountain,” as being the Word, and also doctrine from the Word, consequently also truth itself; and from the signification of “water,” as being truth. That a “well in which there is water,” and a “fountain,” denote the Lord’s Word, and also doctrine from the Word, consequently also truth itself, may be seen from very many passages. A “well,” and not a “fountain,” is spoken of here, because the spiritual church is treated of, as also in the following verses of this chapter:

Abraham reproved Abimelech because of the well which the servants of Abimelech had taken away (Genesis 22:25).

So too in the twenty-sixth chapter:

All the wells which the servants of Isaac’s father digged in the days of Abraham his father, the Philistines had stopped up. And Isaac returned, and digged the wells of water which they had digged in the days of Abraham his father, and the Philistines had stopped them up after the death of Abraham. And Isaac’s servants digged in the valley, and found there a well of living water. And they digged another well, and for that they strove not. And it came to pass in that day that Isaac’s servants came and told him concerning the well which they had digged, and said unto him, We have found water (Genesis 26:15, 18-22, 22, 25, 32).

Here by “wells” nothing else is signified than doctrinal matters about which they contended, and those about which they did not contend. Otherwise their digging wells and contending so many times about them would not be of so much importance as to be worthy of mention in the Divine Word.

[2] The “well” spoken of by Moses signifies in like manner the Word, or doctrine:

They journeyed to Beer; this is the well whereof Jehovah said unto Moses, Gather the people together, and I will give them water. Then sang Israel this song: Spring up, O well; answer ye from it. The princes digged the well, the willing of the people digged it, in the lawgiver, with their staves (Numbers 21:16-18).

As a “well” signified these things, there was therefore this prophetic song in Israel, in which the doctrine of truth is treated of, as is evident from every particular in the internal sense. Hence came the name “Beer” [a well], and hence the name “Beersheba,” and its signification in the internal sense, as being doctrine itself.

[3] But doctrine in which there are no truths is called a “pit,” or a “well in which there is no water” as in Jeremiah:

Their nobles have sent their little ones to the water; they came to the pits, they found no water; they returned with their vessels empty (Jeremiah 14:3); where “waters” denote truths; and “pits where they found no water,” doctrine in which there is no truth. In the same:

My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me the fountain of living waters, to hew them out pits, broken pits, that can hold no waters (Jeremiah 2:13); where “pits” in like manner denote doctrines that are not true; and “broken pits,” fabricated doctrines.

[4] That a “fountain” is the Word, and also doctrine, consequently truth, may be seen in Isaiah:

The afflicted and the needy seek waters, and there are none; their tongue faileth for thirst. I Jehovah will hear them, the God of Israel will not forsake them; I will open rivers upon the hillsides, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of waters, and the dry land springs of waters (Isaiah 41:17-18); where the desolation of truth is treated of, which is signified by the afflicted and needy seeking for waters when there are none, and by their tongue failing for thirst; and then their consolation, refreshment, and instruction after desolation are treated of (as in the verses about Hagar now being explained), signified by Jehovah opening rivers upon the hillsides, making fountains in the midst of the valleys, and the wilderness into a pool of waters, and the dry land into springs of waters; all which things relate to the doctrine of truth, and to the affection thence derived.

[5] In Moses:

Israel dwelt securely alone at the fountain of Jacob, in a land of corn and new wine; yea, his heavens drop down dew (Deuteronomy 33:28).

The “fountain of Jacob” denotes the Word and the doctrine of truth therefrom. Because the “fountain of Jacob” signified the Word and the doctrine of truth therefrom, when the Lord came to the fountain of Jacob, He spoke with the woman of Samaria, and taught what is signified by a “fountain” and by “water,” as described in John:

Jesus came to a city of Samaria called Sychar, and Jacob’s fountain was there; Jesus therefore being wearied with His journey, sat thus by the fountain. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give Me to drink: Jesus said, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldst ask of Him that He should give thee living water. Everyone that drinketh of this water shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life (John 4:5-7, 10, 13-14).

As “Jacob’s fountain” signified the Word, the “water” truth, and “Samaria” the spiritual church (as is frequently the case in the Word), the Lord spoke with the woman of Samaria, and taught that the doctrine of truth is from Him; and that when it is from Him, or what is the same, from His Word, it is a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life; and that truth itself is living water.

[6] Again:

Jesus said, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink; whosoever believeth in Me, as the Scripture saith, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water (John 7:37-38).

And in the same:

The Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water; and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes (Revelation 7:17).

In the same:

I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely (Revelation 21:6);

“rivers of living water,” and “living fountains of waters,” denote truths that are from the Lord, or from His Word; for the Lord is the Word. The good of love and of charity, which is solely from the Lord, is the life of truth. He is said to be “athirst” who is in the love and affection of truth; no other can “thirst.”

[7] These truths are also called “fountains of salvation” in Isaiah:

With joy shall ye draw waters out of the fountains of salvation; and in that day shall ye say, Confess to Jehovah, call upon His name (Isaiah 12:3-4).

That a “fountain” is the Word, or doctrine from it, is plain also in Joel:

It shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the streams of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall go forth out of the house of Jehovah, and shall water the stream of Shittim (Joel 3:18); where “waters” denote truths; and a “fountain out of the house of Jehovah,” the Lord’s Word.

[8] In Jeremiah:

Behold I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the sides of the earth; and among them the blind and the lame; they shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I bring them unto fountains of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble (Jeremiah 31:8-9);

“fountains of waters in a straight way” manifestly denote the doctrinal things of truth; the “north country,” ignorance or desolation of truth; “weeping” and “supplications,” their state of grief and despair; and to be “brought to the fountains of waters,” refreshment and instruction in truths (as here, where Hagar and her son are treated of).

[9] The same things are also thus described 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, and shall rejoice even with rejoicing and singing; the glory of Lebanon has been given unto it, the honor of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of Jehovah, the honor of our God. Make ye firm the enfeebled hands, and strengthen the tottering knees. The eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped; in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert; and the dry place shall become a pool, and the thirsty ground springs of waters (Isaiah 35:1-3, 5-7); where the “wilderness” denotes the desolation of truth; “waters,” “streams,” “lakes,” and “springs of waters,” the truths that are a refreshment and joy to those who have been in vastation, whose joys are there described with many words.

[10] In David:

Jehovah sendeth forth fountains into the valleys, they shall run among the mountains; they shall give drink to every wild beast of the field, the wild asses shall quench their thirst. He watereth the mountains from His chambers (Psalms 104:10-11, 13);

“fountains” denote truths; “mountains,” the love of good and truth; to “give drink,” instructing; “wild beasts of the field,” those who live from this (see n. 774, 841, 908); “wild asses,” those who are solely in rational truth (n. 1949-1951).

[11] In Moses:

Joseph is the son of a fruitful one, the son of a fruitful one by a fountain (Genesis 49:22);

a “fountain” denotes doctrine from the Lord. In the same:

Jehovah thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of rivers, of waters, of fountains, and of depths going forth in valley and in mountain (Deuteronomy 8:7).

The “land” denotes the Lord’s kingdom and church (n. 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1413, 2571); which is called “good” from the good of love and charity; “rivers,” “waters,” “fountains,” and “depths,” denote the truths thence derived. In the same:

The land of Canaan, a land of mountains and valleys, that drinketh water of the rain of heaven (Deuteronomy 11:11).

[12] That “waters” are truths, both spiritual and rational, and also those of memory-knowledge, is manifest from these passages in Isaiah:

Behold the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth doth take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the whole staff of bread, and the whole staff of water (Isaiah 3:1).

In the same:

Bring ye waters to him that is thirsty; meet the fugitive with his bread (Isaiah 21:14).

In the same:

Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters (Isaiah 32:20).

In the same:

He that walketh in righteousnesses, and speaketh uprightnesses, shall dwell on high; his bread shall be given, his waters shall be faithful (Isaiah 33:15-16).

In the same:

Then shall they not thirst, He shall lead them in the desert, He shall cause the waters to flow out of the rock for them; He cleaveth the rock also, and the waters flow out (Isaiah 48:21; Exodus 17:1-8; Numbers 20:11, 13).

[13] In David:

He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them to drink abundantly as out of the deeps. He brought streams out of the rock and caused waters to run down like a river (Psalms 78:15-16); where the “rock” denotes the Lord; “waters,” “rivers,” and “deeps” from it, denote truths from Him. In the same:

Jehovah maketh rivers into a wilderness, and water-springs into dry ground; He maketh a wilderness into a pool of waters, and a dry land into water-springs (Psalms 107:33, 35).

In the same:

The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters; Jehovah is upon many waters (Psalms 29:3).

In the same:

A river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the Most High (Psalms 46:4).

In the same:

By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the army of them by the breath of His mouth; He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap, He layeth up the deeps in storehouses (Psalms 33:6-7).

In the same:

Thou dost visit the earth, and delightest in it greatly; thou enrichest it, the river of God is full of waters (Psalms 65:9).

In the same:

The waters saw Thee, O God, the waters saw Thee, the deeps also trembled; the clouds poured out waters; Thy way was in the sea, and Thy path in many waters (Psalms 77:16-17, 19).

It is manifest to everyone that the “waters” here do not signify waters, and that it is not meant that the deeps trembled, nor that the way of Jehovah was in the sea, and His path in the waters; but that spiritual waters are meant, that is, spiritual things which are of truth; otherwise this would be a heap of empty words.

In Isaiah:

Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters and he that hath no silver, come ye, buy (Isaiah 55:1).

In Zechariah:

It shall come to pass in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea, and half of them toward the western sea (Zech. 14:8).

[14] Moreover where the church is treated of in the Word as about to be planted and as having been planted, and where it is described by a paradise, a garden, a grove, or by trees, it is usual for it to be also described by waters or rivers which irrigate; by which either spiritual, rational, or memory things (which are of truth) are signified-as in the description of Paradise in Genesis (2:8-9); which is also described by the rivers there (verses 10 to 14), signifying the things of wisdom and intelligence (see n. 107-121). The same is true in many other places in the Word, as in Moses:

As valleys are they planted, as gardens by the river, as sandal-wood trees which Jehovah hath planted, as cedars beside the waters; waters shall flow from his buckets, and his seed shall be in many waters (Numbers 24:6-7).

In Ezekiel:

He took of the seed of the land, and planted it in a field of sowing, he placed it beside many waters; it budded, and became a luxuriant vine (Ezekiel 17:5-6).

That a “vine” and a “vineyard” signify the spiritual church may be seen above (n. 1069). In the same:

Thy mother was like a vine in thy likeness, planted by the waters; she became fruitful and full of branches by reason of many waters (Ezekiel 19:10).

In the same:

Behold Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon; the waters nourished him, the deep made him high, going with her rivers round about his plant; and she sent out her canals unto all the trees of the field (Ezekiel 31:4).

[15] In the same:

Behold upon the bank of the river were very many trees on this side and on that. He said unto me, These waters issue forth toward the eastern border, and shall go down into the plain, and shall go toward the sea; and being sent into the sea the waters are healed. And it shall be that every living soul that creepeth, in every place whither the two rivers come, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters are come thither; and they shall be healed, so that everything whithersoever the river cometh shall live. The miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given up to salt (Ezekiel 47:7-9, 11).

Here the New Jerusalem, or the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, is described: the “waters going forth to the eastern border,” signify spiritual things from celestial things, which are truths from a celestial origin; that is, faith from love and charity (n. 101, 1250). To “go down into the plain,” signifies doctrinal things which are of the rational (n. 2418, 2450). To “go toward the sea,” signifies to memory-knowledges; the “sea” is the collection of them (n. 28); the “living soul which creepeth,” signifies their delights (n. 746, 909, 994); which will “live from the waters of the river,” that is, from spiritual things from a celestial origin. “Much fish” denotes an abundance of applicable memory-knowledges (n. 40, 991). The “miry places and the marshes” denote things not applicable and impure; being “given up to salt,” denotes being vastated (n. 2455).

In Jeremiah:

Blessed is the man that trusteth in Jehovah; he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, and that sendeth forth its roots by the river (Jeremiah 17:7-8).

In David:

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth its fruit in its season (Psalms 1:3).

In John:

He showed me a pure river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb; in the midst of the street of it, and on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life bearing twelve fruits (Revelation 22:1-2).

[16] Seeing that in the internal sense of the Word “waters” signify truths, therefore in the Jewish Church, for the sake of representation before the angels with whom the rituals were viewed spiritually, it was commanded that the priests and Levites should wash themselves with water when they came near to minister, and indeed out of the laver between the tent and the altar; and later, out of the brazen sea and the other lavers around the temple, which were in place of a fountain. So too for the sake of the representation was the institution of the water of sin or of purgation that was to be sprinkled upon the Levites (Numbers 8:7); also that of the water of separation, from the ashes of the red heifer (Numbers 19:2-19); and that the spoils from the Midianites should be cleansed by water (Numbers 31:19-25).

[17] The waters which were given out of the rock (Exodus 17:1-8; Numbers 20:1-13; Deuteronomy 8:15) represented and signified an abundance of spiritual things or truths of faith from the Lord. The bitter waters which were healed by the wood (Exodus 15:23-25) represented and signified that the truths which are not pleasing become acceptable and grateful from good, that is, from the affection of it. (That “wood” signifies good which is of affection, or of the will, may be seen ab ove, n. 643.) From all this it may now be known what “water” denotes in the Word, and hence what the water in baptism denotes, of which the Lord speaks thus in John:

Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God (John 3:5);

namely, that “water” is the spiritual of faith, and the “spirit” the celestial of it; thus that baptism is the symbol of the regeneration of man by the Lord by means of the truths and goods of faith. Not that regeneration is effected by baptism, but by the life signified in baptism, into which life Christians who have the truths of faith, because they have the Word, must come.