9955. 'And fill their hand' means a representative sign of the Lord in respect of the truth of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'filling the hand' of Aaron and his sons as consecrating to serve as a representative sign of the Lord in respect of Divine Truth that constitutes faith. For 'the hand' means the power that truth from good possesses, and therefore the hand is spoken of in reference to truth, see 3091, 3387, 4931-4937, 7518, 8281, 9025. Consequently, then, just as anointing served to represent the Lord in respect of Divine Good, so the filling of hands represented the Lord in respect of Divine Truth. For everything throughout creation has connection with goodness or truth, or both if it is to have any real existence. In the Word therefore wherever the subject has to do with good, it has to do also with truth, see the places referred to in 9263, 9314. In what way the filling of hands was carried out is described in the next chapter; therefore what needs to be said about it will in the Lord's Divine mercy appear there.

8658. 'Where he was encamped at the mountain of God' means near to the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'encamping' as an arrangement into order of the Church's truth and good with a person, dealt with in 8103 (end), 8130, 8131, 8155; and from the meaning of 'the mountain of God' as the good of love, dealt with in 795, 796, 2722, 4210, 6435, 8327, at this point the good of truth, since the subject is the good of those belonging to the spiritual Church, who are represented by 'the children of Israel'. Good as it exists with them is the good of truth, and this good is also the good of charity. This also accounts for the words 'the mountain of God', for 'God' is used when truth is the subject, and 'Jehovah' when good is the subject, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921 (end), 4295, 4402, 7268, 7873. From all this it is evident that 'he was encamped at the mountain of God' means an arrangement into order of the Church's good and truth near to the good of truth.

[2] How to understand all this must also be stated briefly. When a person is in the first state, that is to say, when his actions spring from truth but not as yet from good, that is, when they spring from faith but not as yet from charity, he is in the state in which temptations have to be undergone. By means of these he is brought step by step to the second state - to the one in which his actions spring from good, that is, from charity and the affection belonging to it. When therefore he is getting near to that state he is said 'to be encamped at the mountain of God', that is, at the good from which his actions later on spring. This is said because what follows refers to a new arrangement or re-ordering of truths for entrance into that state, to which members of the Church also come after they have undergone temptations and before God's law is written on their hearts. In what has gone before temptations have been the subject, and in what now follows the subject is the law issued from Mount Sinai, 'Mount Sinai' being good which holds truth within it.