10132. Two lambs, sons of a year, day by day. That this signifies the good of innocence in every state, is evident from the signification of “lambs,” as being the good of innocence (of which below); from the signification of “lambs sons of a year” as being the quality of infancy, in which nevertheless truths have been implanted (of which also below); and from the signification of “day by day,” as being in every state. For by “day” is signified state, and by the “morning” of the day and by its “evening” in which the burnt-offerings of lambs were offered, is signified every state. (That “day” denotes state, see n. 893, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, 7680; and that changes of states are as the alternations of the day in respect to morning, noon, evening, night, and again morning, see n. 5672, 5962, 6110, 8426)

[2] That “lambs” denote the good of innocence, is evident from the passages in the Word where “lambs” are mentioned, as in Isaiah:

The wolf shall abide with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf, and the young lion, and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them; the sucking child shall play on the hole of the viper, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the basilisk’s den; they shall not corrupt themselves in all the mountain of My holiness. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, which standeth for an ensign of the peoples, shall the nations seek, and his rest shall be glory (Isaiah 11:6, 8-10).

There is here described the state of peace and innocence in the heavens and in the church after the Lord came into the world; and as a state of peace and innocence is described, mention is made of a “lamb,” a “kid,” and a “calf,” also of a “little child,” a “sucking child,” and a “weaned child,” and by all of these is signified the good of innocence-the inmost good of innocence by a “lamb,” the interior good of innocence by a “kid,” and the exterior good of innocence by a “calf;” the like is signified by a “child,” a “sucking child” and a “weaned child;” the “mountain of My holiness” denotes the heaven and the church where is the good of innocence; the “nations” denote those who are in this good; “the root of Jesse” denotes the Lord from whom is this good; the good of love from Him to Him, which is also called celestial good, is the good of innocence.

[3] That a “lamb” denotes the good of innocence in general, and specifically the inmost good of innocence, is evident from its being mentioned first, and also from the fact that the Lord Himself is called a “Lamb” as will be seen in what follows. (That a “kid” denotes the interior good of innocence, see n. 3519, 4871; that a “calf” or a “bullock” denotes the exterior good of innocence, n. 430, 9391; a “child,” innocence, n. 5236; in like manner a “sucking child,” a “weaned child,” or “infant,” n. 430, 2280, 3183, 3494, 5608; the “mountain of holiness” denotes where the good of love to the Lord is, see n. 6435, 8758; and “nations” denote those who are in this good, n. 1416, 6005.) That the good of love to the Lord, which is called celestial good, is the good of innocence, is evident from those who are in the inmost heaven, who because they are in this good appear naked, and like infants, for the reason that nakedness denotes innocence, and likewise infancy (see the places cited in n. 9262, and n. 3887, 5608).

[4] It is said that “the wolf shall abide with the lamb,” because by a “wolf” are signified those who are against innocence, as also is the case in the following passages:

The wolf and the lamb shall feed together; they shall not do evil nor destroy in all the mountain of My holiness (Isaiah 65:25);

Jesus said to the disciples whom He sent forth, Behold, I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves (Luke 10:3).

[5] As when the Lord was in the world He was innocence itself in respect to His Human, and as consequently everything that belongs to innocence proceeds from Him, the Lord is called “the Lamb,” and “the Lamb of God,” as in Isaiah:

Send ye the Lamb of the Ruler of the land from the rock toward the wilderness, unto the mountain of the daughter of Zion (Isaiah 16:1).

He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He is led as a Lamb to the slaughter (Isaiah 53:7).

John the Baptist saw Jesus coming, and said, Behold the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world (John 1:29, 36).

The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters (Revelation 7:17).

These are they who have not been defiled with women; these are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth; these were bought from among men, firstfruits to God and the Lamb (Revelation 14:4).

Besides many other passages in the Revelation, as (Revelation 5:6) 5:6, 8, 12-13; 6:1, 16; 7:9-10, 14; 12:11; 13:8; 14:1; 15:3; 17:14; 19:7, 9; 21:9, 14, 22-23, 27; 22:1, 3.

[6] As” lambs” denote those who are in innocence, therefore the Lord said to Peter, first, “Feed My lambs,” and afterward, “Feed My sheep,” and again, “Feed My sheep” (John 21:15-17); “lambs” here denote those who are in the good of love to the Lord, for these are in the good of innocence more than all others; but “sheep” denote those who are in the good of charity toward the neighbor, and who are in the good of faith.

[7] The like is signified by “lambs” in Isaiah:

Behold the Lord Jehovih cometh in strength, and His arm shall rule for Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd, He shall gather the lambs in His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead the sucklings (Isaiah 40:10-11).

That these things were said of the Lord is evident, because by “lambs” are meant those who are in love to Him, thus who are in the good of innocence, wherefore it is said that “He will gather them in His arm, and carry them in His bosom;” for they are conjoined with the Lord by love, and love is spiritual conjunction; and for this reason it is also added that “He will gently lead the sucklings,” for “sucklings” and “infants” denote those who are in the good of innocence (see n. 430, 2280, 3183, 3494).

[8] From all this it can now be seen what is signified by the burnt-offerings and sacrifices of lambs, and why they were to be made every day, every Sabbath, every new moon, and at every feast, and every day on the feast of the passover; and why at the feast of the passover the lamb that was called the paschal lamb was to be eaten, of which it is thus written in Moses:

This month shall be to you the head of the months; this shall be the first month of the year in respect to you; ye shall take a male cattle from the lambs or from the kids; and they shall take of the blood, and put it upon the two posts, and upon the lintel, and upon the houses wherein they shall eat it; they shall not eat of it raw, nor boiled in waters, but roast with fire (Exodus 12:2, and following verses).

By “the feast of the passover” was signified the liberation from damnation of those who receive the Lord in love and faith (n. 9286-9292); thus who are in the good of innocence, for the good of innocence is the inmost of love and faith, and is their soul; wherefore it is said that they should “put the blood of it upon the posts, the lintel, and the houses,” for where the good of innocence is, there hell cannot enter. They were to eat it “roast with fire,” because by this was signified the good of celestial love, which is the good of love to the Lord from the Lord.

[9] As a “lamb” signified innocence, therefore when the days of purifying after childbirth had been fulfilled, there were offered:

A lamb the son of a year for a burnt-offering; and the son of a pigeon or a turtle-dove, for a sacrifice (Leviticus 12:6).

By “the son of a pigeon” and by “a turtle-dove” was signified innocence in like manner as by a “lamb;” by “childbirth” in the spiritual sense is signified the birth of the church, which is that of the good of love, for no other birth is understood in heaven; and by the burnt-offering and sacrifice from these is signified purification from evils through the good of innocence; for this good is that into which the Divine flows, and through which it purifies.

[10] He who sinned through error was to offer a lamb, or a kid of the goats, or two turtle-doves, or two sons of pigeons, for guilt (Leviticus 5:1-13), for the reason that sin through error is sin from ignorance, and if in ignorance there is innocence, purification is effected. Concerning the Nazirite also it is said:

When he has fulfilled his Naziriteship, he shall offer a lamb the son of a year for a burnt-offering, and a ewe lamb the daughter of a year for a sacrifice of sin, and one ram for a eucharistic sacrifice, also a basket of unleavened things, cakes mixed with oil, and wafers of unleavened things anointed with oil (Numbers 6:13-15);

by all these things, namely, the “lamb,” the “ewe lamb,” the “ram,” the “unleavened breads,” the “wafers,” and the “oil,” are signified celestial things, that is, those which are of love to the Lord from the Lord. These were to be sacrificed by the Nazirite after the fulfilling of the days of the Naziriteship, because the Nazirite represented the celestial man, or the Lord as to the Divine celestial. The Divine celestial is the Divine of the Lord in the inmost heaven; and this Divine is innocence.

[11] From all this it can be seen that by a “lamb” is signified the good of innocence; for by all the beasts that were sacrificed something of the church was signified, as can be very well seen from the fact that the Lord Himself is called a “Lamb,” as is evident from the passages above cited; and likewise that those are called “lambs” who love the Lord, as in Isaiah 40:10-11, and in John 21:15; and that upright men are also called “sheep” (as in Matthew 15:21-29; 25:31-41; 26:31; John 10:7-16, 26-31; 21:16-17; and in other places); and evil men are called “goats” (Matthew 25:31; Zech. 10:3; Daniel 8:5-11, 25). (That all useful and gentle beasts signify good affections and inclinations; but that useless and fierce ones signify evil affections and inclinations, see th e places cited in n. 9280.)

[12] The good of innocence is signified not only by a “lamb,” but also by a “ram,” and by a “bullock,” but with the difference that by a “lamb” is signified the inmost good of innocence; by a “ram,” the interior or middle good of innocence; and by a “bullock,” the external good of innocence. The good of innocence in every one must be external, internal, and inmost, in order that the man may be regenerated, for the good of innocence is the very essence of all good. As these three degrees of innocence are signified by a “bullock,” a “ram,” and a “lamb,” therefore these three were offered for sacrifice and burnt offering when purification was represented by this good, as was done in each of the new moons, the feasts, the day of firstfruits, and when the altar was inaugurated (as is evident in Numbers 7:15, 21, 27, 38; 28, 29). (That a “bullock” denotes the external good of innocence, see n. 9391, 9990; and a “ram,” the internal good of innocence, n. 10042.) (As regards innocence and its quality with infants, also with the simple who are in ignorance, and with the wise, see the places cited in n. 10021.)

[13] By its being said that the lamb which was to be offered for a burnt-offering should be “the son of a year,” was signified that it then was a lamb, for when it exceeded a year, it was a sheep; and because a lamb was as it were an infant sheep, by it was signified such good as is of infancy, which is the good of innocence; hence also it was that lambs were to be offered for a burnt-offering in the first month of the year at the time of the passover (Exodus 12:2, and following verses; Numbers 28:16, 28:19); on the day of the firstfruits (Numbers 28:26-27); and on the day in which they waved the sheaf (Leviticus 23:11-12); for by the first month of the year, and by the day of the firstfruits, and by the day of waving the sheaf, there was also signified a state of infancy, thus a state of innocence.

2280. Peradventure twenty shall be found there. That this signifies if there be not anything of combat, but still there be good, is evident from the signification of “twenty.” As all the numbers that are mentioned in the Word signify actual things, and states (as before said and shown in many places, see n. 2252), so also does “twenty;” and what it signifies can be seen from its derivation, namely, from twice ten. “Ten” in the Word, as also “tenths,” signify remains, by which is meant everything good and true that the Lord insinuates into man from infancy even to the end of his life, and which are treated of in the following verse. Twice ten, or double tenths, that is, twenty, signify the same, but in a higher degree, namely, good.

[2] Goods of three kinds are signified by remains, namely, the goods of infancy, the goods of ignorance, and the goods of intelligence. The goods of infancy are those which are insinuated into man from his very birth up to the age in which he is beginning to be instructed and to know something. The goods of ignorance are what are insinuated when he is being instructed and is beginning to know something. The goods of intelligence are what are insinuated when he is able to reflect upon what is good and what is true. The good of infancy exists from the man’s infancy up to the tenth year of his age; the good of ignorance, from this age up to his twentieth year. From this year the man begins to become rational, and to have the faculty of reflecting upon good and truth, and to procure for himself the good of intelligence.

[3] The good of ignorance is that which is signified by “twenty,” because those who are in the good of ignorance do not come into any temptation for no one is tempted before he is able to reflect, and in his own way to perceive the nature of good and truth. Those who have received goods by means of temptations have been treated of in the two immediately preceding verses; those who have not been in temptations, and yet have good, are now treated of in this verse.

[4] As those who have this good, which is called the good of ignorance, are signified by “twenty,” all those who went forth from Egypt were reckoned from “a son of twenty years” and upward; or as it is expressed, “everyone going forth into the army,” by whom are meant those who were no longer in the good of ignorance, concerning whom we read in Numbers (1:20, 24, 26, 28, 30, 32, 34, 38, 40, 42 (Numbers 1:42), 45; 26:4); and also that all those who were more than twenty years old died in the wilderness (32:10-11), because evil could be imputed to them, and they represented those who yield in temptations; as well as that the valuing made of a male, from “a son of five years” to “a son of twenty years” was “twenty shekels” (Leviticus 17:5); and another valuing from “a son of twenty years” old to one of sixty was fifty shekels (verse 3).

[5] As regards the before-mentioned goods, namely those of infancy, of ignorance, and of intelligence, the case is this. The good of intelligence is the best, for this is of wisdom the good which precedes it, namely that of ignorance, is indeed good, but as there is but little of intelligence in it, it cannot be called the good of wisdom; and as for the good of infancy, it is indeed good in itself, but still it is less good than the other two; for as yet there is not any truth of intelligence adjoined to it, and thus it has not become any good of wisdom, but it is only a plane for being able to become so; for it is the knowledges of good and truth that cause a man to be wise as a man. Infancy itself, by which is signified innocence, does not belong to infancy, but to wisdom; as can be better seen from what will be said about little children in the other life, at the end of this chapter.

[6] By “twenty,” in this verse, as has been said, there is signified no other good than the good of ignorance which good is not only declared to be with those who are under their twentieth year, as already said, but also with all who are in the good of charity and at the same time in ignorance of truth, as are those within the church who are in the good of charity, but from whatever cause, do not know what the truth of faith is; as is the case with very many of those who think devoutly about God and kindly about the neighbor; and as is also the case with all outside the church, who are called Gentiles, and who in like manner live in the good of charity. Both the latter and the former, although not in the truths of faith, yet being in good, are in the faculty of receiving the truths of faith in the other life equally as are little children; for their understanding has not as yet been tainted with principles of falsity, nor their will so confirmed in a life of evil, because they are ignorant of its being falsity and evil; and the life of charity is attended with this: that the falsity and evil of ignorance may be easily bent to truth and good. Not so is it with those who have confirmed themselves in things contrary to the truth, and at the same time have lived a life in things contrary to good.

[7] In other cases by “two tenths” in the Word is signified good both celestial and spiritual, good celestial and thence spiritual by the two tenths of which every loaf of the showbread or bread of faces was prepared (Leviticus 24:5), and spiritual good by the two tenths of the meat-offering with the sacrifice of the ram (Numbers 15:6; 28:12, 20, 28; 29:3, 9, 14), concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere.