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Arcana Coelestia #10048

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10048. 'And you shall cut the ram into pieces' means that the interior things must be arranged into order, distinct from one another. This is clear from the meaning of 'the ram' as the good of innocence and charity in the internal man, dealt with in 10042, at this point preparation for the internal man's purification, meant by the burnt offering of the ram; and from the meaning of 'cutting into pieces' as the arrangement of the interiors there into order. The reason why preparation for the arrangement of the interiors into order is meant by 'cutting into pieces, members, and parts' is that the arranging of them is described by the requirement to put the intestines and legs on top of the pieces and of the head. By 'the intestines' are meant the lowest things, which are called the outward things of the senses, and by 'the legs' those immediately above, which are called natural things, so that by 'the pieces', which were higher still, interior things are meant, and by 'the head' inmost ones. 1 The fact that the intestines, legs, and head mean those things will be clear from what follows below; and the fact that the organs and members of the human being mean such things arranged in order may be seen above in 10030.

[2] Since sacrifices and burnt offerings serve in the representative sense to mean the regeneration of a person, something brief must be stated about the nature of the arranging into order which takes place during regeneration. With those who are being regenerated interiors and exteriors are being arranged into order by the Lord for the purpose of all subsequent states, so much so that things in the present entail those in the future, as do things in the future when they become those in the present, and so on forever. For the Lord foresees all things and provides all things, and His Foresight and Providence looks to eternity, and so is everlasting; for the Divine nature, which He alone possesses, is in itself infinite, and what is infinite in duration is everlasting. Consequently whatever the Lord arranges into order is everlasting. This is what happens to those whom the Lord is regenerating; the regeneration of a person begins in the world and carries on forever, for when a person becomes an angel he is always being made more perfect. In the human being there are outward things, inward things, and inmost ones. All these are arranged into order simultaneously and in successive stages for the purpose of the things to be received in the subsequent states following on forever. But in what order the regeneration of outward, inner, and inmost things takes place, and the reverse, will in the Lord's Divine mercy be stated in what follows.

Fußnoten:

1. For the reason why the parts on top mean lower things, see 10051.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

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Arcana Coelestia #10052

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10052. 'And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar' means the internal of the Lord's Divine Human united to the Divine Good of His Divine Love, which was within Him. This is clear from the meaning of 'burning' as uniting to the Divine Good of Divine Love, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'the ram' as that which is internal with a person, and so in the highest sense as the internal of the Lord's Divine Human, dealt with in 10042; and from the meaning of 'the altar' as the chief representative of the Lord's Divine Human in respect of His Divine Good, dealt with immediately above in 10051 (end).

[2] It should be remembered that with everyone there is that which is internal and that which is external, called his internal man and external man; that when a person is being regenerated he is being regenerated as to both the internal and the external; and that regeneration is the joining together of good and truth in both. A similar process took place in the Lord's Human. Yet it cannot be said that His Human was regenerated, only that it was glorified, because what was inmost in Him, which in a person is called the soul from the father, was Divinity itself; for He was conceived from Jehovah. Divinity itself is the Divine Good of Divine Love. And since the Lord united His Human to this and thereby also made Divine His Human, it cannot be said that His Human was regenerated, only that it was glorified; for glorifying means making Divine, see immediately below in 10053. The glorification of His internal man, that is, of His internal Human, is what the representative signs associated with the burnt offerings of rams and of lambs serve to describe.

[3] 'Burning the whole ram on the altar' means uniting the Divine Good of Divine Love to the internal of His Human. It does so firstly because the altar was representative of the Lord's Divine Human, and the fire on the altar, which burned the offering, meant the Divine Good of Divine Love, as may recognized from the places referred to immediately above in 10051 (end), and secondly because 'the ram' - the offering that was burned - means that which is internal with a person, and so the internal of the Lord's Human, 10042. From all this it is evident that 'you shall burn the whole ram on the altar as a burnt offering' means the internal of the Lord's Human united to the Divine Good of His Divine Love, which was within Him.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.