10082. 'And you shall put all these on Aaron's palms and on the palms of his sons' means acknowledgement in the heavens that those things belong to and come from the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of all the parts taken from the ram - the fat, kidneys, and right flank - and all that was contained in the basket, namely the bread, cakes, and wafers, as forms of Divine Good and Divine Truth, which belong to the Lord because they come from the Lord, dealt with in 10070-10080; from the meaning of 'the palms' as things that come from one's own power, thus that which is properly one's own, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Aaron and his sons' as the Lord in respect of Divine Good and of Divine Truth emanating from that Good, dealt with in 9806, 9807, 10017. The reason why things that come from one's own power is meant by 'the palms', and why 'being put on the palms' consequently means the acknowledgement that all those things belong to the Lord and come from the Lord, is that the palms are part of the hands and power is meant by 'the hands', and 'putting on the palms' means attributing something, thus acknowledging the ownership of it. For what comes next states that the offering was to be waved on the palms, by which the life from God that comes as a result is meant; and that life from God is imparted through faith, the first phase of which is acknowledgement. Since power is meant by 'the hands' it follows that full power is meant by 'the palms of the hands', because in the palms lies the full grip of the hands. Consequently when palms are attributed to the Lord and to Divine Truth emanating from His Divine Good, as it is here, almighty power is meant. From all this it is evident that 'putting on the palms of Aaron and his sons' means acknowledgement of the Lord's almighty power, thus that all things belong to Him because all things come from Him in the heavens.

'The hands' means power, see 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 6947, 7188, 7189, 7518.

'Hand' and 'right hand' used in reference to the Lord mean almighty power, 3387, 4592, 4933, 7518, 7673, 8050, 8153, 8281, 9133.

Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good possesses all power, 6948, 8200, 9327, 9410, 9639, 10019.

7381. 'Say to Aaron' means an influx of inward law into outward law. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the law of God, dealt with in 6713, 6752; from the representation of 'Aaron' as teachings presenting what is good and true, dealt with in 6998, 7089, these teachings represented by 'Aaron' being nothing other than outward law emanating from inward law, that is, from the Divine through inward law; and from the meaning of 'saying' as influx, as in 6152, 6291, 7291. The reason why at this point 'saying' means influx is that Moses is commanded to 'Say to Aaron'; 'Moses' is inward law, and 'Aaron' outward law, and influx from the Divine takes place through what is inward into what is outward. Inward law is God's truth itself as it exists in heaven, while outward law is God's truth as it exists on earth. Thus inward law is truth suited to angels, while outward law is truth suited to men.

[2] Since inward law, represented by 'Moses', is truth suited to angels, while outward law, represented by 'Aaron', is truth suited to men, let something be said about them here. Truth suited to angels is for the most part beyond the comprehension of men. This is clear from the consideration that in heaven things are seen and spoken such as eye has never seen, nor ear ever heard. The reason for this is that the things spoken of among angels are spiritual, which are withdrawn from natural things and consequently are far removed from the ideas and words belonging to man's speech. For man has formed his ideas from things in the natural order, especially its grosser aspects, that is, from things which he has seen in the world and on earth, and has had physical contact with, that is, material things. Even though the ideas belonging to a person's inward thought exist on a level above material things they are nevertheless founded on material things; and the level that ideas are founded on is the level on which they seem to exist. That is the level on which a person perceives the things he thinks about. From this one may see what the situation is with the truth of faith, and also the nature of that which comes within man's range of thought, namely that which is called outward law and is represented by 'Aaron'.

[3] Let the following example serve to shed light on this. Man can have no thought at all without ideas involving time and space; such ideas cling to practically every detail of what man thinks. If ideas formed from time and space were taken away from man he would not know what he thinks, and scarcely whether he thinks. Yet angels' ideas have nothing of time or space within them, but states instead. The reason is that the natural world marks itself off from the spiritual world by the existence of time and space within it. The reason why time and space exist in the natural world, but states instead in the spiritual world, is this: In the natural world the sun appears to give rise to days and years by its apparent revolutions. It divides the days up into the four periods of night, morning, midday, and evening, and the years too into the four seasons of winter, spring, summer, and autumn, which it effects by means of variations of light and shade, as well as of warmth and coldness. And these divisions are the source of ideas of time and varying periods of it. Ideas of space arise from the use of periods as measurements; therefore where one exists, so does the other.

[4] But in the spiritual world the Sun of heaven, which is the source of spiritual light and spiritual heat, does not make circuits and revolutions which give rise to ideas of time and space. The light which flows from that Sun is God's truth, and the heat which flows from that Sun is God's goodness. These give rise to ideas of states among the angels, states of intelligence and faith being the product of God's truth, and states of wisdom and love the product of God's goodness. Variations in these states among the angels are what states of light and shade in the world, and also of warmth and coldness, correspond to, which are attributable to the sun since it is responsible for the existence of times and seasons and of spatial measurements. This example demonstrates to some extent what inward truth or truth suited to angels, called inward law, is like, and what outward truth or truth suited to men, referred to as outward law, is like. It also goes to explain why the things that angels discuss with one another are beyond man's comprehension and also indescribable.