9656. 'And they shall be paired from below, and at the same time paired up to its head' means a joining together from without and from within. This is clear from the meaning of 'being paired' as being made to act jointly; from the meaning of 'from below' as from without, since the Word portrays what exists outwardly as that which is below, and what exists inwardly as that which is above, 3084, 4599, 5146, 8325 (so that things deep down are more outward and those high up more inward, 2148, 4210, 4599); and from the meaning of 'the head', in the expression 'from below up to the head', as from within. The reason why 'the head' has this meaning is that the head is above the body, and by things above are meant those that are inward, as has just been stated; and in addition to this a person's inward powers are located in the head, for in it reside the beginnings of the senses and motions, and the beginnings are inmost because they are the source from which everything else flows. These beginnings are like wellsprings from which streams of water flow.

[2] This also goes to explain why inward things are portrayed in the Word as 'the head', as in Isaiah,

Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, the branch and the bulrush in one day. Isaiah 9:14.

In the same prophet,

There will not be for Egypt [any] work which the head and tail, branch and bulrush will do. Isaiah 19:15.

This refers to the Church, the inward things of which are 'the head' and the outward ones 'the tail'.

[3] In the same prophet,

On all heads there is baldness; every beard is shaved off. Isaiah 15:2.

'Baldness on heads' stands for the absence of good and truth in inward things, 'beard shaved off' for the absence of good and truth in outward things. In Jeremiah,

You will be put to shame by Egypt, as you were put to shame by Asshur, and your hands will be on your head. For Jehovah has loathed your defences. Jeremiah 2:36-37.

This describes shame on account of the loss of the Church's forms of good and its truths, brought about by factual knowledge and by reasonings based on it, 'Egypt' being factual knowledge and 'Asshur' reasoning based on it. 'Hands on head' stands for covering over inward things owing to shame. Something similar occurs elsewhere in the same prophet,

They were put to shame and subjected to ignominy, and they covered their heads. Jeremiah 14:3-4; 2 Samuel 13:19.

3084. 'And went up' means a raising up. This is clear from the meaning of 'going up' as being raised up. The expression 'raised up' is used to describe from what is lower to what is higher, and because it is used to describe this it is also used to describe from what is exterior to what is interior, for the two are one and the same. Indeed what is lower and higher in human thought is exterior and interior in angelic thought, as with the idea of heaven. By men heaven is seen as that which is higher, but by angels as that which is interior. It is similarly so with the natural with man. In relation to his spiritual it is exterior, while the spiritual in turn is exterior in relation to the celestial. Or what amounts to the same, factual knowledge which belongs to the natural man is exterior in relation to truth, while truth is exterior in relation to good. Therefore also factual knowledge in relation to truth is called a covering as well as a garment, and so in a similar way is truth in relation to good.

[2] This explains why the expressions 'going up' to Jerusalem, but 'coming down' from Jerusalem are used; also 'going up' from Jerusalem to Zion, and 'coming down' from Zion to Jerusalem; for the parts surrounding Jerusalem mean the exterior features of the Church, Jerusalem meaning the more interior features and Zion the inmost. Since in the internal sense this verse describes the initial stage in the raising up of truth from the natural man to the rational man, therefore it is first of all said here that the affection for truth represented by Rebekah 'went down to the spring' and shortly after that 'went up'. For as stated above in 3074, Divine love flows into the affection for good, and from there into the affection for truth, and in so doing brings life and light to the things that are in the natural man, and at the same time orders them. This is the meaning of 'going down'. In this way truths are raised up from the natural man into the rational man where they are joined to good. This is the meaning of 'going up'.