2357. 'And shut the door behind him' means to prevent them doing violence to good that flows from charity and denying the Lord's Divine Human and His Holy proceeding. This is clear from what has been stated so far. 'Shutting the door' is preventing their entrance, in this case into good meant by 'the house', and so reaching the Lord's Divine Human and His Holy [proceeding].

[2] These words embody even deeper arcana, the meaning and conception of which angels enter into when these words are read. The deeper arcana are these: People who lead lives of evil are not allowed to go beyond the point of mere knowledge of good and of the Lord. They are not allowed to go on to genuine acknowledgement and faith itself, the reason being that as long as they are governed by evil they cannot at the same time be governed by good. Nobody can serve two masters simultaneously. Once a person acknowledges and believes, he profanes that which is good and holy if he goes back to a life of evil. But a person who does not acknowledge and believe is not able to profane. The Lord's Providence therefore guards against anyone being allowed to go on to acknowledge and have faith itself in the heart, except insofar as he can then be maintained in that acknowledgement and faith. And He does so on account of the punishment that goes with profanation, which in hell is most severe.

[3] This is the reason why at the present day so few people are allowed to believe from the heart that the good which flows from love and charity is heaven itself within man, and that the whole of the Divine is within the Lord, for they lead lives of evil. This then is the more interior meaning of the statement 'to shut the door behind him', for 'the door' (ostium) was an inner door leading into the house itself where the angels were, that is, into good which has the Lord within it.

9669. Verses 31-33 And you shall make a veil from violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet and fine twined linen; with the work of a designer it shall be made, ¹ with cherubs. And you shall hang it upon four pillars of shittim [wood] overlaid with gold, and their hooks [shall be made] from gold; [they shall stand] on four bases of silver. And you shall hang up the veil under the clasps, and you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, within the veil; and let the veil be for you a divider between the holy place and the holy of holies.

'And you shall make a veil' means the intermediary uniting this heaven and the inmost heaven, thus spiritual good to celestial good. 'From violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet and fine twined linen' means the forms of the good of love and faith that are joined together there. 'With the work of a designer it shall be made' means the power of understanding. 'With cherubs' means watchfulness, guarding against the intermingling of the two. 'And you shall hang it upon four pillars of shittim [wood]' means the good of merit, which is the Lord's alone, linking them together and providing support. 'Overlaid with gold' means a representative sign there [of good]. 'And their hooks [shall be made] from gold' means the modes by which they are linked together through good. '[They shall stand] on four bases of silver' means the power by which they are linked together through truth. 'And you shall hang up the veil under the clasps' means the ability to link them together and the consequent accomplishment of this. 'And you shall bring the ark of the Testimony in there, within the veil' means the coming-into-being of the inmost heaven within that uniting intermediary. 'And let the veil be for you a divider between the holy place and the holy of holies' means between spiritual good - which is the good of charity towards the neighbour and the good of faith in the Lord - and celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord and the good of mutual love.

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