3123. 'As for me, being on the way' means within a state of truth joined to good in the Rational. This is clear from the meaning of 'the way' as truth, dealt with in 627, 2333, here 'on the way' as the joining of truth to good within the Rational, for this is the subject in this chapter, see 3012, 3013. For someone is said to be 'on his way' when he makes progress in the direction he intends to go.

“Washing” in the Bible represents purification - unsurprisingly! Washing dirt from the skin symbolizes using true ideas from the Lord to remove evil desires and false ideas from our minds. This is the reason that washing was such an integral part of ritual; cleaning the body to perform physical acts of worship - something with no actual spiritual value - is symbolic of repenting our evils and falsities as part of worshiping the Lord.