9505. Verses 17-22 And you shall make a mercy-seat from pure gold; two cubits and a half shall be its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth. And you shall make two cherubs; from solid gold you shall make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat. And make one cherub at the end on one side, and one cherub at the end on the other side; of one piece with the mercy-seat you shall make the cherubs ¹ on its two ends. And the cherubs shall be spreading out their wings upwards, covering over the mercy-seat with their wings, and their faces of a man towards his brother; ² the faces of the cherubs shall be towards the mercy-seat. And you shall put the mercy-seat onto the ark, up above; and into the ark you shall put the Testimony which I shall give you. And I will meet with you there, and I will speak to you from up above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubs which are over the ark of the Testimony, [declaring] everything that I shall command you for the children of Israel.

'And you shall make a mercy-seat from pure gold' means the hearing and reception of all things that belong to worship arising from the good of love. 'Two cubits and a half shall be its length' means all so far as good is concerned. 'And a cubit and a half its breadth' means what is complete so far as truth is concerned. 'And you shall make two cherubs' means that there is no admission or access to the Lord except through the good of love. 'From solid gold you shall make them' means a representative sign of that good. 'At the two ends of the mercy-seat' means celestial good and spiritual good. 'And make one cherub at the end on one side, and one cherub at the end on the other side' means access to celestial good and access to spiritual good. 'Of one piece with the mercy-seat you shall make the cherubs on the two ends' means the reception of all things that belong to worship arising from those two kinds of good. 'And the cherubs shall be spreading out their wings upwards' means a raising accomplished by the truth of faith. 'Covering over the mercy-seat with their wings' means spiritual realities that provide cover. 'And their faces of a man towards his brother' means truth and good joined together. 'The faces of the cherubs shall be towards the mercy-seat' means the interiors looking unceasingly towards good, thus towards the Lord. 'And you shall put the mercy-seat onto the ark, up above' means the hearing thereby and reception of all things of worship that arise from the good of love. 'And into the ark you shall put the Testimony' means by the Lord in heaven. 'Which I shall give you' means a representative. 'And I will meet with you there' means hearing and reception. 'And I will speak to you from up above the mercy-seat' means a joining together. 'From between the two cherubs' means where celestial good and spiritual good have been joined together. 'Which are over the ark of the Testimony' means with the Lord in heaven. 'Everything that I shall command you for the children of Israel' means the worship of the representative Church.

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8539. 'They ate the man[na] until they came to the border of the land of Canaan' means that they went on making good from truth their own, until they reached the region of heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'the man[na]' as the good of truth; from the meaning of 'eating' as making one's own, as just above in 8537; and from the meaning of 'the land of Canaan' as heaven, as above in 8538, so that 'the border of the land of Canaan' is the entrance to heaven, or the region where heaven begins. From all these meanings it is evident that 'they ate the man[na] until they came to the border of the land of Canaan' means that they were making the good of truth their own until they reached the region of heaven.

[2] The nature of all this is evident from what has been stated already about the acquisition of good through truth. It has been stated that before regeneration all good is obtained by means of truth, but that after regeneration a person is led by the Lord by means of good; also that the former state is meant by the six days which come before the seventh, and that the latter state is meant by the seventh day or the sabbath. From this it is also evident that the former state was represented by the travels of the children of Israel in the wilderness for forty years, and that the latter state was represented by their being led into the land of Canaan. For the situation is this: A person is outside heaven all the time that his actions spring from truth and not from good. But then he enters heaven when they do spring from good; for they now spring from the Lord and are in keeping with the order of heaven. He does not attain this order, nor does he therefore enter heaven where order exists and which is order until he has been prepared, which happens when he is brought to good by means of truth. Regarding these two states, see what has been shown above in 7923, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516.