9833. 'And the violet, and the purple, and the twice-dyed scarlet, and the fine linen' means the good of charity and faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'the violet' as the celestial love of truth, dealt with in 9466; from the meaning of 'the purple' as the celestial love of good, dealt with in 9467; from the meaning of 'the twice-dyed scarlet' as spiritual good, dealt with in 4922, 9468; and from the meaning of 'the fine linen' as truth which has a celestial origin, dealt with in 5319, 9469. Thus these threads taken all together mean the good of love and faith, though at this point they mean the good of charity and faith since they have regard to things in the spiritual kingdom, 9814. 'The violet', 'the purple', 'the twice-dyed scarlet', and 'the fine linen' come to mean forms of love or charity and aspects of faith because of their colours. For the colours which appear in heaven owe their origin to the light of heaven, this light being Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord, the Source of all intelligence and wisdom. Consequently all the variations of that light, which appear visually there as colours, are variations of intelligence and wisdom consisting of truths and forms of the good of faith, charity, and love, see 1042, 1053, 1624, 3993, 4530, 4677, 4741, 4742, 4922, 9466; and in the measure that colours there are derived from red they are the sign of good, whereas in the measure that they are derived from white they are the sign of truth, 9467.

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.