2180. 'And took a young bull, tender and good' means a celestial-natural which the rational took to itself in order that it might join itself to perception from the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'a young bull' or 'a son of an ox' in the Word as natural good. And because the subject is the Lord's Rational, it is called 'tender' from the celestial-spiritual, which is truth grounded in good, and 'good' from the celestial itself, which is good itself. Within the genuine rational there is both the affection for truth and the affection for good, but that which is first and foremost there is the affection for truth, as shown already in 2072. This explains why 'tender' is mentioned before 'good'; but even so, as is quite usual in the Word, both are mentioned on account of the marriage of truth and good which is referred to above in 2173.

[2] That 'a young bull' or 'a son of an ox' means the celestial-natural, or what amounts to the same, natural good, becomes especially clear from the sacrifices, which were the principal representatives in the worship of the Hebrew Church and after this of the Jewish Church. Their sacrifices were made either from the herd or from the flock, thus from animals of various kinds that were clean, such as oxen, young bulls, he-goats, sheep, rams, she-goats, kids, and lambs, besides doves and fledgling pigeons. All of these creatures meant the internal features of worship, that is, celestial and spiritual things, 2165, 2177, those from the herd meaning celestial-natural, those from the flock celestial-rational. Because both of these - natural things and rational things - are more and more interior and are various, so many genera and so many species of these creatures were therefore employed in sacrifices. This fact becomes clear also from its being laid down as to which creatures were to be offered in burnt offerings and also which in every kind of sacrifice - the daily sacrifices; those offered on sabbaths and at festivals; those made as free-will, eucharistic, or votive offerings; and those offered in purifications, cleansings, and also in inaugurations. Which creatures were to be used, and how many, in each kind of sacrifice is mentioned explicitly. This would never have been done unless each one had had some specific meaning, as is quite evident from those places where the sacrifices are the subject, as in Chapter 29 of Exodus; Chapters 1, 3, 4, 9, 16, and 23 of Leviticus; and Chapters 7, 8, 15, and 29 of Numbers. But this is not the place to explain what each one meant. The situation is similar in the Prophets where those animals are mentioned, from which it may become clear that young bulls meant celestial-natural things.

[3] That none but heavenly things were meant becomes clear also from the cherubim seen by Ezekiel and from the living creatures before the throne which were seen by John. Regarding the cherubim the prophet says,

The likeness of their faces was the face of a man (homo); and they four had the face of a lion on the right side; and they four had the face of an ox on the left side; and they four had the face of an eagle. Ezekiel 1:10.

Regarding the four living creatures before the throne John says,

Around the throne were four living creatures - the first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a young bull, the third living creature had a face like a man (homo), the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle - saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come. Revelation 4:7-8.

Anyone may see that holy things were represented by the cherubim and these living creatures, thus also by the oxen and young bulls in the sacrifices. The same applies in the prophecy of Moses concerning Joseph,

Let it come upon the head of Joseph and upon the crown of the head of the Nazirite among his brothers. The firstborn of his ox has honour, and his horns are the horns of a unicorn; with these he will thrust the peoples together, to the ends of the earth. Deuteronomy 33:16-17.

These words are not intelligible to anyone unless he knows what ox, unicorn, horns, and many other things mean in the internal sense.

[4] As for sacrifices in general they were indeed commanded to the Israelites through Moses. But the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood never knew anything at all about sacrifices, nor did it ever enter their minds to worship the Lord by the slaughtering of animals. The Ancient Church which existed after the Flood knew nothing about it either. Representatives did indeed exist there, but not sacrifices. These were first introduced in the subsequent Church called the Hebrew Church, and from there they spread to the gentile nations, and even to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and so to Jacob's descendants. The fact that the gentile nations had sacrificial worship has been shown in 1343, and the fact that Jacob's descendants also had such worship before they left Egypt, thus before sacrifices were commanded through Moses on Mount Sinai, becomes clear from Exodus 5:3; 10:25, 27; 18:12; 24:4-5.

[5] This is especially clear from their idolatrous worship in front of the golden calf, regarding which the following is said in Moses,

Aaron built an altar in front of the calf, and Aaron made a proclamation and said, Tomorrow there will be a feast to Jehovah. And they rose up early the next morning and presented burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Exodus 32:5-6.

This happened while Moses was on Mount Sinai, and so before the command came to them regarding the altar and the sacrifices. That command came to them for the reason that sacrificial worship among them had been turned, as it had among the gentiles, into idolatrous worship, from which they could not be drawn away because they looked upon it as-the chief holy thing. Once something has been implanted in people from their earliest years as being holy, the more so if received from their fathers, and thus is inrooted, the Lord in no way breaks it - provided it is not contrary to order itself - but bends it. This was the reason for its being laid down that the sacrificial system should be established, such as one reads in the books of Moses.

[6] The fact that sacrifices were by no means acceptable to Jehovah, and so were merely permitted and tolerated for the reason just stated, is quite evident in the Prophets. Concerning them the following is said in Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel, Add your burnt offerings on to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. I did not speak with your fathers and I did not command them on the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt on the matters of burnt offering and sacrifice. But this matter I commanded them, saying, Obey My voice, and I will be your God. Jeremiah 7:21-23.

In David,

O Jehovah, sacrifice and offering You have not desired; burnt offering and sin-sacrifices You have not sought. I have delighted to do Your will, O my God. Psalms 40:6, 8.

In the same author,

You do not delight in sacrifice that I should give it; burnt offering You do not accept. The sacrifices of God are a contrite spirit. Psalms 51:16-17.

In the same author,

I will not take any young bull from your house, nor he-goats from your folds. Sacrifice to God confession. Psalms 50:9, 14; 107:21-22; 116:17; Deuteronomy 23:18.

In Hosea,

I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. Hosea 6:6.

Samuel said to Saul,

Has Jehovah great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices? Behold, to be submissive is better than sacrifice, to be obedient than the fat of rams. - 1 Samuel 15:22.

In Micah,

With what shall I come before Jehovah and bow myself to God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, with tens of thousands of rivers of oil? He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does Jehovah require of you but to carry out judgement, and to love mercy, and to humble yourself by walking with your God? Micah 6:6-8.

[7] From these quotations it is now evident that sacrifices were not commanded but permitted, and also that in sacrifices nothing else was regarded except that which was internal, and that it was that which was internal that was pleasing, not that which was external. For this reason also the Lord abolished them, as was also foretold through Daniel in the following words when he was speaking about the Lord's Coming,

In the middle of the week He will cause the sacrifice and the offering to cease. Daniel 9:27.

See what has been stated about sacrifices in Volume One, in 922, 923, 1128, 1823. As for 'the young bull' which Abraham made ready or prepared for the three men, the meaning is similar to that of the same animals when used in sacrifices. That it had a similar meaning becomes clear also from the fact that he told Sarah to take three measures of fine flour. Regarding the fine flour that went with the offering of a young bull the following is said in Moses - referring to when they were to come into the land,

When you make ready a young bull for a burnt offering or a sacrifice in the declaring of a vow, or for peace offerings to Jehovah, you shall bring with the young bull a minchah of three tenths of fine flour mixed with oil. Numbers 15:8-9.

Here similarly the number 'three' appears, though three 'tenths' here but three 'measures' in Abraham's instruction to Sarah. But only two tenths went with the offering of a ram, one tenth with that of a lamb, Numbers 15:4-6.

10057. 'And you shall take the second ram' means the following state, which is that of Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good in the heavens. This is clear from the things described in what has gone before and in what comes after. Those in what has gone before have to do with the sacrifice of the young bull and the burnt offering of the first ram, those in what comes after with the second ram and 'filling the hand with it', and finally with the sacrifice of a young bull and the daily burnt offering of lambs. Is there anyone at all rational in his thinking who does not see that these things in every detail have heavenly arcana lying within them? What other explanation could there be for the sacrifices and burnt offerings with so many ritual requirements? Why else was it necessary that the altar should be flooded with blood; that blood should be put on the tip of the ear, on the thumb, and on the big toe of Aaron and his sons, and also [sprinkled] over their garments; that in the case of the sacrifice the fat on the intestines, liver, and kidneys, and the kidneys themselves, should be burned on the altar (and all other parts burned with fire outside the camp, or else be eaten), and that in the case of the burnt offering the intestines and legs should be placed on top of the pieces and the head and burned on the altar; and also that the parts which were taken from the second ram should first be waved on the palms of Aaron and his sons, and that the other parts of it should be eaten? Let anyone who is willing to do so ask himself, Would not such requirements be earthly matters of no importance at all if they did not hold holy arcana within them? And if they are holy arcana, they must be altogether such as have to do with heaven and the Church, and in the highest sense such as have to do with the Lord; for these alone, being Divine, are holy. If people believe that the Word is holy and has been inspired by God in every single part, they must also believe that every single established practice in the sacrifices and burnt offerings embraces and contains such arcana within it. Yet what it is that those practices embrace and contain within them cannot by any means be known on earth unless it is known what is meant in heaven by such things. What is meant, however, the internal sense of the Word alone teaches, since this unfolds correspondences. For all things that exist in the natural world correspond to those which exist in the spiritual world, because the former comes into being from and is held in being by the latter.

[2] But what the sacrifices and burnt offerings described in the present chapter hold within them will be stated in the course of unfolding correspondences by means of the internal sense. The subject in the highest sense, in which all holy things are Divine, is the glorification of the Lord's Human, and in the representative sense it is the regeneration of a person. The actual process by which the Lord's Human was glorified and a person is regenerated is described fully by means of the things that were commanded regarding the sacrifices and burnt offerings. So that people may have some conception of that process let other things which their minds are capable of understanding serve to explain it. It is well known that the discernment of things seen with the eyes and heard by the ears takes place inwardly in a person; those things pass so to speak from the world by way of the eyes or ears into thought, and so into the understanding since thought belongs to the understanding. And if they are the kinds of things the person loves they pass from there into the will, and then from the will by way of the understanding into words spoken by the mouth and also into actions performed by the body. Such is the cycle in all this, passing from the world by way of the natural man into the spiritual man, and going out from there into the world again. Yet it should be remembered that this cycle is started off by the will, which is the inmost core of a person's life, and that it begins there and is inspired by it to run its full course. The will of a person in whom good is present is governed from heaven by the Lord, though the situation appears to be other than this. Influx takes place from the spiritual world into the natural world, thus through the internal man into the external man, but not the other way round; for the internal man is in heaven, whereas the external man is in the world.

[3] This cycle is the cycle of a person's life, and therefore when someone is being regenerated his regeneration proceeds in accord with that same cycle; and when he has been regenerated his life and actions proceed in accord with it. Consequently, while a person is being regenerated the truths which will compose his faith are instilled through hearing and sight; they are implanted in the memory belonging to his natural man. Then they are transferred from the memory into thought belonging to the understanding, and those which the person loves become part of his will. To the extent that they become part of his will they become part of his life, since a person's will constitutes his actual life; and to the extent that they become part of his life they become part of his affection, and so of charity in his will and of faith in his understanding. That life, which consists of charity and faith, then becomes the source of the person's words and actions. Out of the charity which occupies his will come the words he speaks with his mouth as well as the actions he performs with his body; and both come by way of his understanding, thus by way of his faith. From all this it is clear that the cycle of a person's regeneration is akin to the cycle of his life in general, and that it is in like manner started off in the will by an influx coming from heaven and beginning in the Lord.

[4] From this also it is evident that there are two states that a person undergoing regeneration experiences, the first being a time when the truths of faith are being implanted and joined to the good of charity, the second a time when the good of charity through the truths of faith governs what he says and how he acts. The first state is accordingly one that goes from the world by way of the natural man into the spiritual man, thus into heaven, and the second from heaven by way of the spiritual man into the natural man, thus into the world. The spiritual or internal man, as has been stated above, is in heaven, and the natural or external man is in the world. This cycle is the cycle of a person's regeneration, and therefore is the cycle of his spiritual life. Regarding those two states of a person who is being regenerated, see the places referred to in 9274.

[5] From what has been stated people may gain some idea of the glorification of the Lord's Human; for as the Lord glorified His Human, so He regenerates a person, and therefore, as has already been stated a number of times, the regeneration of a person is an image of the Lord's glorification. From this it is evident that the first state of His glorification consisted in making His Human Divine Truth and uniting it to the Divine Good that was within Him, and that the second state consisted in acting from Divine Good through Divine Truth. For by means of Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good heaven is built and the Church is built, and by means of Divine Truth all within the Church are regenerated. These matters are what the sacrifices, burnt offerings, and their ritual observances spoken of in the present chapter serve to describe. The sacrifice of the young bull and the burnt offering of the first ram serve to describe the first state, and 'the fillings of the hand' with parts of the second ram the second state, while the sacrifice of the young bull and the daily burnt offering of lambs mentioned last in the chapter serve to mean the continuation of that second state.

[6] It should be remembered that purification from evils and consequent falsities in the case of a person who is being regenerated goes on unceasingly; for to the extent that a person is purified from evils and falsities the truths of faith are implanted and joined to the good of charity and the good of charity becomes the source of the person's actions. Purification from evils and falsities in man's case is not a deliverance from them; rather it is a removal or moving away of them, see 868, 887, 894, 929, 1581, 2269, 2406, 4564, 8206, 8393, 8988, 9014, 9333, 9446-9451, 9938. In the Lord's case however it was not a removal but a casting out of those which He had derived from His mother, thus a complete deliverance from them, so complete that He was no longer Mary's son, see the places referred to in 9315 (end).

These matters have been mentioned by way of introduction in order that people may know what is meant by filling the hand with parts of the second ram, spoken of in what follows immediately below.