10082. 'And you shall put all these on Aaron's palms and on the palms of his sons' means acknowledgement in the heavens that those things belong to and come from the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of all the parts taken from the ram - the fat, kidneys, and right flank - and all that was contained in the basket, namely the bread, cakes, and wafers, as forms of Divine Good and Divine Truth, which belong to the Lord because they come from the Lord, dealt with in 10070-10080; from the meaning of 'the palms' as things that come from one's own power, thus that which is properly one's own, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Aaron and his sons' as the Lord in respect of Divine Good and of Divine Truth emanating from that Good, dealt with in 9806, 9807, 10017. The reason why things that come from one's own power is meant by 'the palms', and why 'being put on the palms' consequently means the acknowledgement that all those things belong to the Lord and come from the Lord, is that the palms are part of the hands and power is meant by 'the hands', and 'putting on the palms' means attributing something, thus acknowledging the ownership of it. For what comes next states that the offering was to be waved on the palms, by which the life from God that comes as a result is meant; and that life from God is imparted through faith, the first phase of which is acknowledgement. Since power is meant by 'the hands' it follows that full power is meant by 'the palms of the hands', because in the palms lies the full grip of the hands. Consequently when palms are attributed to the Lord and to Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good, as it is here, almighty power is meant. From all this it is evident that 'putting on the palms of Aaron and his sons' means acknowledgement of the Lord's almighty power, thus that all things belong to Him because all things come from Him in the heavens.

'The hands' means power, see 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 6947, 7188, 7189, 7518.

'Hand' and 'right hand' used in reference to the Lord mean almighty power, 3387, 4592, 4933, 7518, 7673, 8050, 8153, 8281, 9133.

Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good possesses all power, 6948, 8200, 9327, 9410, 9639, 10019.

9086. 'And an ox or an ass falls into it' means, which perverts good or truth in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'falling' as perverting, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'an ox' as an affection for evil in the natural, thus evil there, dealt with above in 9065; and from the meaning of 'an ass' as truth in the natural, dealt with in 2781, 5492, 5741, 7024, 8078. The fact that 'falling into a pit' - when these words refer to good and truth in the natural, which are meant by 'an ox and an ass' - means perverting is evident from the contents of the next verse. These describe amendment made through truth, which can be accomplished with forms of good or truths that have been perverted, but not with those which have been wiped out. For when good or truth is perverted it still remains, but is misrepresented. 'Falling' also means slipping through error.

[2] Because this was meant by 'falling into a pit', the Lord therefore said,

Which of you, having an ass or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not immediately pull it out on the sabbath day? Luke 14:5.

The Lord said this when He healed someone with dropsy on the sabbath day. In that Church the sabbath day was the holiest because it was a sign of the heavenly marriage, which is the joining together of goodness and truth from the Lord, 8495, 8510. This explains why healings were performed by the Lord on the sabbath day; for healing implied the healing of spiritual life, and dropsy implied the perversion of truth and good, so that the healing of perverted truth implied amendment and restoration. All the Lord's miracles implied and were signs of states of the Church, 8364, as is true of all Divine miracles in general, 7337. So it is then that the Lord said, 'Which of you, having an ass or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not immediately pull it out on the sabbath day?' by which in the spiritual sense what has just been stated was meant. For whatever the Lord spoke He spoke from the Divine; and since it came from the Divine every detail has an internal sense within it, 9049, 9063 (end). 'A well' in what He said is similar in meaning to 'a pit', namely falsity, 1688. And since 'a pit' means falsity the Lord also said, when talking about the falsities of the Church,

When the blind leads the blind both fall into a pit. Matthew 15:14.

'The blind' is someone with wrong ideas, and 'falling into a pit' means perverting truth. These words were used to make a comparison; but all comparisons in the Word were drawn from among objects used as signs of spiritual things, 3579, 8989.

[3] There are people who believe that the Divine holiness which the Word contains lies hidden on a level no higher than the meaning apparent in the letter. Such people's vision of holiness in these words spoken by the Lord and in everything else in the Word arises solely from their belief that everything there is Divinely inspired, and that the things which no one can explain are arcana known only to God. But people who do not share that belief spurn the Word, solely because of its style, which is in appearance less polished than a style adopted to conform to the spirit of the age, such as that adopted by very many ancient and modern authors. But let these people know that Divine holiness lies in each and every detail of the Word. It consists however in this, that each and every detail has the Lord as its subject, also His kingdom and Church. All its details are extremely holy because they are Divine, received from the Lord, and so hold eternal life within them, as accords with the Lord's words in John,

The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:63.

But the things that are Divine and holy are clearly visible to angels in heaven because they do not understand the Word in a natural way according to the literal sense, only in a spiritual way according to the internal sense. The latter sense could also be understood by people in the world if they were to lead an angelic life, that is to say, a life of faith and love. The things contained in the internal sense of the Word are one and the same as those which the genuine teachings of the Church present. Those which the genuine teachings of the Church present are the Lord, faith in Him, love to Him, and a love of the good that comes from Him, which love is charity towards the neighbour, 6709, 6710, 8123. Those who lead this angelic life, and no others at all, are enlightened by the Lord and see the holy things of the Word; see Preface to Genesis 18.