9781. 'Pure, beaten' means what is [therefore] authentic and perceptible. This is clear from the meaning of 'pure' - when it refers to the good meant by 'oil' - as what is authentic, for the more heavenly and so more authentic the good is, the purer it is; and from the meaning of 'beaten' - when it refers to the good meant by 'oil' - as what is perceptible. Good is said to be perceptible when it is converted into truth, for good reveals itself through truth. Indeed truth is the outward form of good, and the good cannot be seen in light except within that form. The more perfect the form in which good presents itself therefore, the more clearly perceptible it becomes. For the good itself shines so plainly from that form that it moves both the understanding part of another person's mind and at the same time the will part. For what applies to goodness and truth applies also to a person's will and understanding, since the will has been dedicated to the reception of good and the understanding to the reception of truth. The will cannot manifest itself in light except through the understanding, for the understanding serves the will as its outward form and renders it perceptible. When a thing receives outward form it can be divided into its parts, and the various relationships and connections among the parts can be established when analysis shows how they are tied together. This is how good is presented in the understanding and made perceptible. Good made perceptible in the understanding is the truth of that good. This now explains why the oil had to be beaten, and the frankincense likewise, regarding which it says that it must be pure and that some of it shall be beaten very small and in this condition burned as incense, Exodus 30:34-36. Something similar to what is meant by that which has been 'beaten' is also meant by that which has been 'ground', as becomes clear from the meaning of 'wheat' and 'fine flour'; 'wheat' means good, and 'fine flour' the truth of that good. Even as that which has been 'beaten' or 'ground' means in the genuine sense good that is perceptible, so in the contrary sense that which has been 'beaten' or 'ground' means evil that is perceptible. This is meant by Moses' action, when he crushed the golden calf by grinding it right down, and having turned it into fine dust threw it into the brook descending from the mountain, Deuteronomy 9:21, regarding which, see 9391.

5959. 'And ten she-asses carrying grain and bread' means the truth of good and the good of truth, also together with much of a subservient kind. This is clear from the meaning of 'ten' as much, as above in 5958; from the meaning of 'she-asses' as that which is of a subservient kind, as also immediately above in 5958; from the meaning of 'grain' as the good of truth, dealt with in 5295, 5410, in this case the truth of good since it comes from the internal celestial, which is 'Joseph'; and from the meaning of' bread' as the good of that truth, dealt with in 276, 680, 1165, 2177, 3478, 3775, 4111, 4117, 4735, 4976. As regards 'grain' - that here it means the truth of good but elsewhere the good of truth - the situation is this: The meaning is different when an influx from the internal celestial is the subject from when an influx from the internal spiritual is the subject. What flows in from the internal celestial is nothing other than good, which does, it is true, hold truth within it, though that truth is good. But what flows in from the internal spiritual is nothing other than truth, which is called the good of truth once it has been made a matter of life. In this lies the reason why at one point 'grain' means the good of truth, and at another the truth of good - here the truth of good because it flows from the internal celestial, which is 'Joseph'. The reason the female asses carried 'grain and bread' but the male asses 'the good of Egypt' is that the males mean subservient factual knowledge insofar as this has reference to truth, while the females mean the same insofar as it has reference to good. Therefore the burdens carried by the male asses were of a kind appropriate to male asses, and the burdens carried by the female asses of a kind appropriate to female ones. Otherwise there would have been no need to mention that they were 'asses' and 'she-asses', or to say what the former carried and what the latter.