9280. 'In order that your ox and your ass may rest' means the peace and serenity that external forms of good and truths enjoy at the same time. This is clear from the meaning of 'resting', when it refers to the seventh day or the sabbath, as peace and serenity, as immediately above in 9279; and from the meaning of 'ox' as external good, and of 'ass' as external truth, dealt with in 2781, 9135, 9255.

Beasts were signs of affections and inclinations such as the human being shares in common with them, see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 776, 2179, 2180, 2781, 3218, 3519, 5198, 5913, 8937, 9090, 9135.

Beasts were used in sacrifices in accordance with their spiritual meaning, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519.

All things existing in the world, in its three kingdoms, were representative of the spiritual and celestial realities of the Lord's kingdom, 1632, 1881, 2758, 2987-3003, 3213-3227, 3483, 3624-3649, 4939, 5116, 5427, 5428, 5477, 8211.

All things have a correspondence, 2987-3003, 3213-3226, 3337-3352, 3472-3485, 3624-3649, 3745-3750, 3883-3896, 4039-4055, 4218-4228, 4318-4331, 4403-4420, 4523-4533, 4622-4634, 4652-4660, 4791-4806, 4931-4952, 5050-5062, 5171-5189, 5377-5396, 5552-5573, 5711-5727, 8615.

[2] These references have been drawn together to enable it to be seen that not merely all beasts but also all objects in the world have a correspondence, and that in accordance with their correspondences they all represent and serve to mean spiritual and celestial realities, and in the highest sense Divine realities that are the Lord's. And from this the character of the ancient Churches, called representative Churches, may be seen. This character was such that each one of their sacred observances served to represent things that are the Lord's and belong to His kingdom, thus aspects of love to Him and belief in Him. In those times heaven was joined to a member of the Church by means of these observances, since internal aspects were presented in heaven. The Word of the Lord has also been given to the same end, for every detail in it, even to the smallest part of a letter, has a correspondence and spiritual meaning. Through the Word alone therefore is heaven linked to mankind.

[3] No one at the present day knows that this is so. Consequently when the natural man reads the Word and seeks to discover where its Divinity lies, but does not find it in the letter on account of its very ordinary style, he at first begins to disparage it and then to reject the idea that it has been dictated by God and sent down to mankind by way of heaven. The natural man does not know that the Word is Divine by virtue of its spiritual sense, which is not visible in the letter but is nevertheless present within the letter; nor does he know that this sense is presented in heaven when someone on earth reads it devoutly, and that the subject in that sense is the Lord and His kingdom. These are the Divine things which make the Word Divine and through which holiness flows from the Lord by way of heaven, even into the literal sense and into the actual letters. But as long as a person does not know what anything spiritual is he cannot know either what the spiritual sense is, nor thus what correspondence is. And as long as a person loves the world more than heaven, and self more than the Lord, he has no wish to know these things and understand them. Yet they were the source of all intelligence among the ancients, and they are also the source of wisdom among the angels. Hidden mysteries, which numerous diviners have vainly toiled to track down in the Word, lie in those things alone.

9135. 'Or member of the flock' means or it is interior truth and good. This is clear from the meaning of 'member of the flock' as spiritual truth and good, thus interior truth and good, dealt with in 6016, 6045, 6049. Some places in the Word use the expression 'flocks', while others use 'members of the flock'. In the internal sense interior forms of good, and truths derived from them, are meant by 'flocks', whereas interior truths, and forms of good springing from them, are meant by 'members of the flock'. No one however can know the difference between them unless he knows the nature of a person's two states, the prior state and the subsequent state, when he is being regenerated. The prior state is one in which he is led by means of the truths of faith to the good of charity; the subsequent state is one in which he is governed by the good of charity and from this by the truths of faith. The prior state brings a person into the Church in order that he may come to have the Church within him; and when he comes to have the Church within him he is in the subsequent state. Forms of good and truths residing with him in the subsequent state are meant by 'flocks', but truths and forms of good residing with him in the prior state are meant by 'members of the flock'. This explains why at this point truths are mentioned first and forms of good second. Regarding the two states of a person who is being regenerated, or what amounts to the same thing, who comes to have the Church within him, see 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701, 8772, 8995, 9088, 9089.

[2] Those forms of good and those truths are called exterior which are in the external or natural man, and those are called interior which are in the internal or spiritual man. The reason why the latter are interior and the former exterior is that heaven is the source of the internal man's wisdom, but the world is the source of the external man's; for heaven is present with a person internally and the world externally. The words 'whether it is ox or ass, or member of the flock' are used to mean all exterior good and truth, and all interior truth and good. Furthermore the development of good in the external man is towards truth, in the internal man from truth towards good, in keeping with Divine order in heaven. ¹

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