9467. 'And purple' means the celestial love of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'purple' as the celestial love of good, the reason why this love is meant by 'purple' being that by the colour red the good of celestial love is meant. For there are two basic colours from which all others are derived, the colour red and the colour white. The colour red means good which belongs to love, while the colour white means truth which belongs to faith. The reason why red means good belonging to love is that this colour exists before all else as fire, and fire means the good of love; and the reason why white means truth belonging to faith is that before all else that colour is light, and light means the truth of faith.

'Fire' means the good of love, see 5215, 6314, 6832, 6834, 6849, 7324, 9434.

'Light' means the truth of faith, 2776, 3195, 3636, 3643, 3993, 4302, 4413, 4415, 5400, 8644, 8707, 8861, 9399, 9407.

'Red' means the good of love, 3300.

'White' means the truth of faith, 3993, 4007, 5319.

[2] From all this it is evident what all other colours mean; for in the measure that they are derived from red they mean good belonging to love, and in the measure that they are derived from white they mean truth belonging to faith. All the colours that appear in heaven are modifications of heavenly light and flame, on those two levels. For heavenly light is real light; and essentially it is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good. Therefore modifications of that light and flame are different variations of truth and good, and so of intelligence and wisdom.

[3] All this now shows how it came about that the veils and curtains of the tent, and also Aaron's garments, were to be woven out of violet, purple, twice-dyed scarlet, and linen thread, Exodus 25:4; 26:31, 36; 27:16; 28:6, 15, namely in order that celestial realities belonging to good and spiritual realities belonging to truth, which are the subject in what follows below, might be represented by them.

[4] Good from a celestial origin is again meant by 'purple' in Ezekiel,

Fine linen with embroidered work from Egypt was your sail; violet and purple from the islands of Elishah was your covering. Ezekiel 27:7.

This refers to Tyre, by which cognitions or knowledge of truth and good are meant. 'Violet and purple covering' stands for cognitions of truth and good from a heavenly origin.

[5] Similar things are meant by 'purple and fine linen' in Luke,

There was a certain rich man (homo) who was clothed in purple and fine linen and indulged in delicacies splendidly every day. Luke 16:19.

'A rich man' is used to mean in the internal sense the Jewish nation, and the Church there, which was said to be 'rich' because of the cognitions or knowledge of good and truth from the Word which existed there. Garments of 'purple and fine linen' are those cognitions, 'of purple' meaning cognitions of good, and 'of fine linen' cognitions of truth, both from a heavenly origin because they come from the Divine. 'Purple' also has a similar meaning in the Book of Revelation,

The woman sitting on a scarlet beast was clothed in purple and scarlet. Revelation 17:3-4.

This refers to Babylon, which means the Church where the holy things of the Word are put to unholy ends, that is, to exercising control in heaven and on earth, and so to ends that spring from hellish self-love and love of the world.

9422. 'Sit for us in this [place]' means that they are to remain with this sense. This is clear from the meaning of 'sitting in this' - that is to say, in this place, or below the mountain - as remaining with the outward sense. 'Sitting in a place' means remaining with one's state, and 'below the mountain' means restricted to the outward sense of the Word. For 'sitting' means remaining, as will be clear from what follows below; 'place' means state; and 'Mount Sinai' means the law or Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and so means the Word, 9420. The peak of the mountain, where Jehovah or the Lord was, Exodus 19:20, means the highest or inmost level of the law or the Word, 8827; the rest of the mountain beneath the peak means the inner level of the law or the Word as it exists in heaven; and the parts beneath the mountain, where the elders and the people were, means the outward level of the law or the Word, which is its outward sense. Thus in the Word the inmost, the inward, and the outward levels of things meant by 'the mountain' are represented, at this point the inmost, the inward, and the outward levels of the law or the Word, because 'Mount Sinai' means the law or the Word, 9420. From all this it is evident that 'Sit for us in this [place]' means that they are to remain with the outward sense.

[2] The word 'sit' is used because 'sitting' means remaining in a state; for movement from one place to another means changes of state involving the interiors, as becomes clear from what has been shown in 2837, 3356, 3387, 4321, 4882, 5605, 7381, and therefore sitting down means remaining in a state involving the interiors. Because 'sitting' has this meaning it was an accepted religious custom among the children of Israel to sit whenever they represented a state of the interiors that was permanent, as in the Book of Judges,

The children of Israel came to Bethlehem and wept; and they sat there before Jehovah and fasted that day until evening. Judges 20:26.

And elsewhere,

The people came to Bethlehem and sat there before God until evening; and they lifted up their voice and wept with great weeping. Judges 21:2.

In these verses 'sitting' means remaining long in a state of grief.

[3] This makes clear why the word 'sit' is used and what it implies in the following places: In David,

O Jehovah, You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. Psalms 139:2.

In Jeremiah,

You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them. Jeremiah 16:8.

In Micah,

Then He will stand and feed [His flock] in the strength of Jehovah, in the excellence of the name of Jehovah his God; and they will sit down. Micah 5:4.

In Isaiah,

Come down and sit on the dust, O virgin daughter of Babel; sit on the ground. Sit in silence, and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans. She says in her heart, A widow I shall not sit. Isaiah 47:1, 5, 8.

Similar uses of the word occur elsewhere, such as sitting in darkness, Isaiah 42:7; sitting in council and sitting alone, Jeremiah 15:7; sitting on the right hand and on the left, Matthew 20:21, which stands for remaining in a state of power over others; and sitting on the right hand of God's power, Matthew 26:63-64; Mark 16:19, which refers to the Lord and stands for Divine almighty power that will remain forever.