10661. And of all thy cattle thou shalt give the male. That this signifies that it is given by means of truth, is evident from the signification of “male,” as being truth (see n. 2046, 4005, 7838). The case herein is this. All the good that man has from the Lord is given him by means of truth. For man is born into mere ignorance, and when he advances in age, he has from himself mere thick darkness in spiritual things, for he knows nothing about God, the Lord, heaven and hell, or the life after death. What he knows from himself is about the world and himself; and he calls that good in the world which is in favor of himself; and he calls that true which confirms this. In order therefore that he may have heavenly good, which he will love more than himself and the world, it is necessary for him to learn truths from the Word, or from the doctrine of the church which is from the Word. He cannot love these truths until he knows them, because any affection for what is unknown is impossible. From this it is that truth is that by means of which man has good. The truth with a man becomes good when he loves it; for all that which is loved is good. To love is to will and to do, because that which a man loves, he wills and does. In this way truth becomes good. This then is what is signified by their “giving the male of all the cattle.”

2046. Every male. That this signifies those who are in the truth of faith, is evident from the signification of a “male,” as being truth (concerning which, see n. 672, 749). The “male,” by which is signified the truth of faith, is named here because no one can be purified from those filthy loves except one who is in truth. From truth he knows [cognoscit] what is pure and what impure, and what is holy and what profane. Before he has learned this, there are no mediums into which and through which the heavenly love continually flowing in from the Lord can operate, as this cannot be received except in truths; and therefore man is reformed and regenerated by means of the knowledges of truth, and this not until he has been imbued with them. Conscience itself is formed by means of the truths of faith; for the conscience with which the regenerate man is gifted is a conscience of what is true and right (see n. 977, 986 at the end, 1033, 1076, 1077). This also is the reason why knives of stone, or “swords of rocks,” as they are called, were employed in circumcising. (That these signify truths may be seen above, n. 2039, at the end.)