10130. Everyone that toucheth the altar shall be sanctified. That this signifies everyone who receives the Divine of the Lord, is evident from the signification of “touching,” as being communication, transfer, and reception (of which in what follows); and from the signification of “the altar,” as being a representative of the Lord in respect to the good of love, here in heaven and in the church (see above, n. 10129); and from the signification of “being sanctified,” as being to receive the Divine of the Lord (see also above, n. 10128). That “touching” denotes communication, transfer, and reception, is because the interior things of man put themselves forth by means of external things, especially by the touch, and in this way communicate and transfer themselves to another, and insofar as the will of the other is in agreement and makes a one, they are received. Whether you say the will, or the love, it is the same, for that which is of a man’s love is also of his will; from this also it follows that the interior things of man, which are of his love and from this of his thought, put themselves forth by the touch, and thus communicate themselves to another, and transfer themselves into another; and insofar as the other loves the person, or the things which the person speaks or acts, so far they are received.

[2] This shows itself in an especial manner in the other life, for there all act from the heart, that is, from the will or love; and it is not allowed to act from gestures apart from the will and love, nor to speak from the mouth with pretence, that is, separately from the thought of the heart. It is there manifest how the interior things communicate themselves to another, and transfer themselves into another, by the touch; and how the other receives them according to his love. The will or love of everyone there constitutes the whole man, and the sphere of life thence flows forth from him as an exhalation or vapor, and encompasses him, and makes as it were himself around him; scarcely otherwise than as the effluvium about plants in the world, which is also perceived at a distance by its odors; also about animals, of which a sagacious dog is exquisitely sensible. That such an effluvium also pours out from every man is known from much experience; but when man lays aside his body and becomes a spirit or an angel, then the effluvium or exhalation is not material as in the world, but is a spiritual effluence from his love. This then forms a sphere around him, which causes his quality to be perceived by others at a distance (concerning this sphere see what was shown in the places cited in n. 9606).

[3] As this sphere is communicated to another, and is there transferred into him, and is received by the other according to his love, many wonderful things there come forth which are unknown to man in the world-as, first: that all presence is according to likenesses of loves, and all absence is according to unlikenesses of them. Second: that all are consociated according to loves; they who are in love to the Lord from the Lord are consociated in the inmost heaven; they who are in love toward the neighbor from the Lord are consociated in the middle heaven; they who are in the obedience of faith, that is, who do the truth for the sake of truth, are consociated in the ultimate heaven; but they who are in the love of self and of the world, that is, who do what they do for the sake of themselves and the world as ends, are consociated in hell.

[4] Third: that all turn their eyes toward those whom they love; they who love the Lord turn their eyes to the Lord as a Sun; they who love the neighbor from the Lord turn their eyes to the Lord as a Moon; and in like manner they who do the truth for the sake of truth. (Concerning the Lord as a sun and as a moon, see what was shown in n. 1521, 1529-1531, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4321, 5097, 5377, 7078, 7083, 7171, 8644, 8812.) And wonderful to say, in whatever direction they turn, or to whatever quarter, they still look at the Lord before them. It is the opposite with those who are in hell, for there the more they are in the love of self and in the love of the world, the more they turn from the Lord and have Him behind them; this also in whatever direction or to whatever quarter they turn.

[5] Fourth: when an angel of heaven fixes his sight upon others, his interior things are communicated and transferred into them, according to the amount and the quality of his love, and they are received by them according to the quality and the amount of their love; and therefore if the sight of an angel of heaven is fixed upon the good, it causes gladness and joy; but if upon the evil, it causes grief and pain.

[6] That by the touch of the hand is also signified communication, transfer, and reception is because the activity of the whole body is collected into the arms and into the hands, and in the Word interior things are expressed by means of exterior ones. From this it is that by the “arms,” the “hands,” and especially by the “right hand” is signified power (see the places cited in n. 10019, 10023, 10076); and hence by the “hands” is signified whatever appertains to man, thus the whole man insofar as he is acting (see the citations in n. 10019). Moreover, that all the outer senses-sight, hearing, taste, and smell-bear relation to the touch, and are kinds of touch, is known in the learned world.

[7] That by “touching” is signified communication, transfer, and reception, is evident from many passages in the Word, of which the following may be adduced, in Moses:

Thou shalt anoint the Tent of meeting, and the ark of the Testimony, and the table and all the vessels thereof, and the lampstand and the vessels thereof, and the altar of incense, and the altar of burnt-offering and all the vessels thereof, and the laver and the base thereof, and thou shalt sanctify them that they may be holy of holies; whosoever toucheth them shall be sanctified (Exodus 30:26-29).

Everything which hath touched the residue of the meat-offering, and the residue of the flesh from the sacrifices, which are for Aaron and his sons, shall be sanctified (Leviticus 6:18, 27).

The angel touched Daniel, and restored him upon his station, and lifted him up upon his knees; and touched his lips, and opened his mouth; and touched him again, and strengthened him (Daniel 10:10, 16, 18).

One of the seraphim with a burning coal touched my mouth and said, Lo this hath touched thy lips; therefore thine iniquity is gone away, and thy sin is expiated (Isaiah 6:7).

Jehovah sent forth His hand, and touched my mouth, and said, I give My words into thy mouth (Jeremiah 1:9).

Jesus stretching forth His hand to the leper, touched him, saying, I will; be thou cleansed. And straightway his leprosy was cleansed (Matthew 8:3).

Jesus saw Peter’s wife’s mother afflicted with a fever. And He touched her hand, and the fever left her (Matthew 8:14-15).

Jesus touched the eyes of the blind, and their eyes were opened (Matthew 9:29-30).

Jesus touched the eyes of the two blind men, and straightway they received their sight (Matthew 20:34).

Jesus touched the ear of the deaf man and healed him (Luke 22:51). They brought to Jesus those who were ill, that they might touch if it were but the border of His garment; and as many as touched were made whole (Mark 6:56; Matthew 14:36).

A woman laboring with an issue of blood touched the border of His garment; and immediately the issue of her blood was stanched. And Jesus said, Who is it that touched Me? Some one hath touched Me. I know that virtue hath gone forth from Me (Luke 8:44-48).

They brought little children unto Jesus, that He should touch them. And He took them up in His arms, laid His hands upon them, and blessed them (Mark 10:13, 16).

[8] From these passages it is plain that by “touching” is signified communication, transfer, and reception.

[9] In like manner with things unclean, by which in the internal sense are signified evils and falsities which are from the hells; as in Moses:

He that toucheth one dead as to all man’s soul shall be unclean seven days. Whosoever toucheth one dead, as to the soul of a man who is dying, and hath not expiated himself, hath defiled the habitation of Jehovah; therefore that soul shall be cut off from Israel. Whosoever hath touched on the surface of a field one pierced with a sword, or one dead, or the bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. He that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until the evening. Whatsoever the unclean person hath touched shall become unclean; and the soul that hath touched it shall be unclean until the evening (Numbers 19:11, 13, 16, 21-22).

He who toucheth unclean beasts, unclean creeping things, shall be unclean until the evening; everything on which it shall fall, shall be unclean, whether it be vessel of wood, or garment, or vessel of water, vessel of pottery, food, drink, an oven, a fountain, a cistern, a receptacle of waters, they shall be unclean (Leviticus 11:31-36; also 5:2, 3; 7:21).

He that hath an issue is unclean; and also the man who hath touched his bed; or hath sat upon a vessel on which he hath sat; or hath touched his flesh or his garments; or if he that is affected with an issue hath spit upon one who is clean. The chariot on which he is carried, the vessel of pottery, the vessel of wood, shall be unclean (Leviticus 15).

So also he who hath touched a leper (Leviticus 22:4).

If there shall fall anything from a carcass upon all the seed of the sower which is sown, it shall be clean; but if water hath been put upon the seed, and a carcass shall fall upon it, it shall be unclean (Leviticus 11:37-38).

[10] By these unclean things are signified various kinds of evils and the derivative falsities which are from hell, and which are communicated, transferred, and received; the several unclean things signify each some specific evil; for evils which are unclean render man so, because they infect his soul; moreover, from evil spirits and genii there flow forth the evils of their heart, and according to the persuasions of evil they infect those who are present. This contagion is what is signified by the “touch” of unclean things.

[11] In Moses:

Of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, ye shall not eat, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die (Genesis 3:3).

The angel who wrestled with Jacob, seeing that he prevailed not against him, touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of the thigh was out of joint (Genesis 32:25).

Moses said that they should not touch anything which belonged to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, lest they should be consumed for all their sins (Numbers 16:26).

Depart ye, depart ye, touch no unclean thing; go ye out from the midst of her; be ye purified that bear the vessels of Jehovah (Isaiah 52:11).

They have wandered blind in the streets, they are defiled with blood; those things which they cannot [defile] they touch with their garments. Depart ye, he is unclean; they cry unto them, Depart, touch not (Lam. 4:14-15).

Behold if a man shall bear the flesh of holiness in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt touch bread, or wine, or oil, or any food, it nevertheless shall not be sanctified. If one unclean in soul shall touch any of these things, it nevertheless shall be unclean (Haggai 2:12-14).

Forswearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they commit robbery, and bloods touch bloods; therefore the land shall mourn (Hos. 4:2-3).

10076. Because a ram of fillings is he. That this signifies a representative of the Divine power of the Lord in the heavens through the Divine truth from the Divine good, and its capability of communication and reception there, is evident from the signification of a “ram,” as being the internal of man in respect to the good of innocence and of charity (see above, n. 9991); for all beasts signify something of affection or of inclination with man (see n. 9280); hence it is that they who are in charity and innocence are called “sheep” and “lambs.” The “ram,” therefore, which is the male of sheep, signifies the good of charity and of innocence in the internal man, and in the supreme sense the same in the internal of the Lord’s Human; for that which in the internal sense signifies something of man, thus something of the church or of heaven with man, in the supreme sense signifies in an eminent manner a similar thing with the Lord when He was in the world. Moreover, in the inmost sense all things of the Word treat of the Lord, whence comes the holiness of the Word. And from the signification of the “fillings of the hand,” as being a representative of Divine truth from the Divine good of the Lord in the heavens, and its capability of communication with the angels there, and of its reception by them; for as before shown, with the man who is being regenerated there are two states, the first when the truths which are of faith are being implanted in the good which is of love and are being conjoined, and the second when the man acts from the good of love. The like was eminently the case in the Lord; the first state of the glorification of His Human was to make it Divine truth, and to conjoin it with the Divine good which was in Him and is called the “Father,” and thereby to become the Divine good of the Divine love, which is Jehovah. The second state of His glorification was to act from the Divine good of the Divine love, which is effected by means of the Divine truth that proceeds from this good.

[2] As regards man, in the first state he is imbued with those things which must be of faith, and according as he is imbued with them from good, that is, through good from the Lord, so is his understanding formed. When those truths that belong to the understanding have been implanted in and conjoined with good, he then comes into the second state, which consists in acting from good by means of truths. From this it is plain what is the quality of the second state of the man who is being regenerated, in that it is to think and act from good, or what is the same, from love, or what is also the same, from the will; for that which a man wills he loves; and that which he loves, he calls good. But the man for the first time comes into the second state when he is wholly from head to heels such as his love is, thus such as his will is and the understanding thence derived. Who can possibly believe that the whole man is an image of his will and of his understanding thence derived, consequently an image of his good and the truth thence derived, or an image of his evil and the falsity thence derived? For good or evil forms the will, and truth or falsity forms the understanding. This secret is known to all the angels in the heavens; but the reason why man does not know it is that he has no knowledge of his soul, consequently no knowledge that the body is formed after the likeness of the soul, and hence that the whole man is such as his soul is. That this is so, is clearly seen from the spirits and angels in the other life; for all of them are human forms, and such forms as their affections are, which are of love and faith; and this to such a degree that they who are in the good of love and charity may be said to be loves and charities in form; and on the other hand that those who are in evils from the loves of self and the world, thus in hatreds and the like, are hatreds in form.

[3] That this is so can also be seen from these three things which in universal nature follow in order; namely effect, cause, and end. The effect has its all from the cause; for an effect is nothing else than the cause in outward form, because when a cause becomes an effect it clothes itself with such things as are without, in order that it may appear in a lower sphere, which is the sphere of effects. The case is similar with the cause of the cause, which in the higher sphere is called the final cause, or the end. This end is the all in the cause, in order that it may be a cause for the sake of something; for a cause which is not for the sake of something cannot be called a cause, for to what purpose would it then be? The end is for the sake of something, and the end is the first in the cause, and is also its last. Hence it is plain that the end is as it were the soul of the cause, and is as it were its life, consequently is also the soul and life of the effect. For if there is not something in the cause and in the effect that brings forth the end, all this is not anything, because it is not for the sake of anything; thus it is like a dead thing without soul or life, and such a thing perishes as does the body when the soul departs from it.

[4] The case is similar with man: his very soul is his will; the proximate cause by which the will produces the effect, is his understanding; and the effect which is brought forth is in the body, thus is of the body. That this is so is very manifest from the fact that what a man wills and thence thinks presents itself in a suitable manner in an effect in the body, both when he speaks and when he acts. From this it is again evident that such as is a man’s will, such is the whole man. Whether you say the will, or the end, or the love, or the good, it is the same, for everything that a man wills is regarded as an end, and is loved, and is called good. In like manner whether you say the understanding, or the cause of an end, or faith, or truth, it is also the same; for that which a man understands or thinks from his will, he holds as a cause, and believes, and calls truth. When these things are apprehended, it can be known what is the quality, in the first state, of a man who is being regenerated, and what it is in the second.

[5] From all this some idea can be had how it is understood that when the Lord was in the world and glorified His Human, He first made it Divine truth, and by degrees the Divine good of the Divine love; and that thereafter from the Divine good of the Divine love He operates in heaven and in the world, and gives life to angels and men; which is effected by means of the Divine truth that proceeds from the Divine good of the Divine love of His Divine Human; for from this the heavens have come forth, and from it they perpetually come forth, that is, subsist; or what is the same, from it the heavens have been created and from it they are perpetually being created, that is, preserved; for preservation is perpetual creation, as subsistence is perpetual coming-forth.

[6] Such things are also involved by these words in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh (John 1:1, 3, 14);

“the Word” denotes the Divine truth; the first state is described by “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word;” and the second state by “all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.” It was the same when the Lord came into the world and reduced the heavens into order, and as it were created them anew. That the Lord is there meant by “the Word,” is evident, for it is said that “the Word was made flesh.” The capability of the communication and perception of the Divine truth that proceeds from the Divine good of the Divine love of His Divine Human, is what is meant by the “filling of the hand,” and is described by representatives in this passage concerning the second ram.

[7] As the Lord in respect to Divine good is represented by Aaron (n. 9806), therefore the glorification of the Lord as to His Human is representatively described in the process of the inauguration of Aaron and his sons. The first state of glorification is described by what is said concerning the sacrifice from the bullock and the burnt-offering from the first ram; and the second state of glorification by what is said concerning the second ram, which is called “the ram of fillings.” The first state is called the “anointing,” and the second is called the “filling of the hand;” consequently when Aaron and his sons were inaugurated into the priesthood by anointing and by the filling of the hand, they were said to be “anointed” and “those whose hand he hath filled,” as in Moses:

The high priest, upon whose head the anointing oil is poured and who hath filled his hand to put on the garments, shall not shave his head, nor rip open his clothes (Leviticus 21:10).

From all this it is also plain that the filling of the hand is a representative of the communication and reception of the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord’s Divine good in the heavens; for it is said, “he hath filled his hand,” and not “he is filled in the hand,” and also “he hath filled his hand to put on the garments.” For by Aaron and by his anointing is represented the Lord as to Divine good, and by his garments the like as by the filling of the hand, namely, the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord’s Divine good. (That this is represented by the garments, see n. 9814.) Its dissipation is signified by “ripping them open;” and the dispersion of Divine good in the heavens by “shaving the head.”

[8] As the influx and communication of Divine truth from the Lord, and its reception in the heavens, is signified by the “filling of the hand,” therefore by it is also signified purification from evils and falsities; for insofar as a man or angel is purified from these, so far he receives Divine truth from the Lord. In this sense “filling the hand” is understood by these words in Moses:

The sons of Leviticus smote of the people three thousand men. And Moses said, Fill your hand to-day to Jehovah, that He may bestow upon you a blessing this day (Exodus 32:28-29);

in the spiritual sense “to receive a blessing” denotes to be endowed with the good of love and of faith, thus to receive the Divine that proceeds from the the Lord, (n. 2846, 3017, 3406, 4981, 6091, 6099, 8939). We read also of “filling after Jehovah,” and by this is signified doing according to Divine truth; thus also by it is signified the receptivity of it; in Moses:

Another spirit was with Caleb, and he hath filled after Jehovah (Numbers 14:24; Deuteronomy 1:36).

Jehovah sware, saying, Surely none of the men, from a son of twenty years and upward, shall see the land of which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; because they have not wholly filled after Me, save Caleb and Joshua, who have filled after Jehovah (Numbers 32:11-12).