9632. 'And a covering from the skins of badgers above that' means outside that [another mantle], a mantle consisting of truths derived from external good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a covering' as a mantle, as just above in 9630; from the meaning of 'skins' as external truths, dealt with in 9471; and from the meaning of 'badgers' as forms of good, also dealt with in 9471.

Any further explanation of the things which have been stated so far regarding the dwelling-place, the tent over it, and the two coverings over that, can be dispensed with, since they are such as would be scarcely intelligible owing to the lack of proper knowledge. For where that knowledge is lacking there is blindness; thus there is no reception of light nor consequently any concept of the matter. Few if any people know that heaven is represented and thereby described by the dwelling-place, and the external part of it by the tent and its two coverings. The reason why there is no proper knowledge of these things is that scarcely anyone is aware of the fact that heavenly realities are meant by all that is written in the Word, thus that there is an inner meaning or spiritual sense within every detail there. Scarcely anyone knows either that this sense is not apparent in the letter, only from the letter to those who, having learned about correspondences, receive light from the Lord when they read the Word.

[2] Indeed scarcely anyone is aware of the fact that a person governed by the good of love and faith is heaven in the smallest form this can take, or that such a person in respect both of the more internal aspects of his being and of the more external corresponds to heaven, 9276. If these things had been known the learned in the Christian world who have acquired some knowledge regarding the parts of the human body could have received some light of understanding and therefore have had some concept of heaven. They could have discerned which particular realities in heaven are represented by the ark, its mercy-seat, and the cherubs above it; which particular realities by the table on which the loaves of the Presence were laid, the lampstand, and the gold altar for incense; also which particular ones are represented by the dwelling-place, its curtains, boards, and bases, and lastly by the tent and the two coverings over it. For similar things are met with in the human being, in the things with him that are internal and those that are external. They also present themselves in material form in his body; and to these [material parts of his body] the internal things have an exact correspondence. For unless the external things, which belong to the body, had an exact correspondence with the internal ones, which belong to the understanding and the will, there would not be any life in the body, nor thus any actions in accord with them.

[3] Similar things are said to be met with in the tabernacle as in the human being because representatives on the natural level resemble the human form and have the same meaning as the parts of it they resemble, 9496. External things within the human being provide four coverings which surround and enclose all that is more internal; these coverings are what animal skins and actual skins of the body refer to. See what has been mentioned from experience in 5552-5559, 8980, regarding the correspondence of the latter to internal things. The coverings which constituted the roof and sides of the tabernacle provided a similar representation. From all this the understanding may gain some light regarding the forms that heaven takes. Nevertheless that light will be snuffed out with all who have no definite knowledge regarding the things that exist within the human body and at the same time no definite knowledge regarding the spiritual realities belonging to faith and the celestial realities belonging to love, to which those things in the body correspond. Since most people are in the dark, indeed in thick darkness, so far as those realities and human physiology are concerned, owing not only to their lack of knowledge but also to their lack of belief, any further explanation of them has been dispensed with; for as stated above, they would be unintelligible because there is no light of understanding in such matters.

8980. 'His woman shall go out with him' means a state of truth together with delight joined to it, also after conflict. This is clear from the meaning of 'going out' - out of servitude - as a state after conflict, 8975; and from the meaning of 'woman' as conjoined delight, dealt with immediately above in 8979. From these places it is evident who exactly were represented here by 'male slaves', namely those imbued with faith composed of the teachings of their Church and not with the complementary good but with delight that is an imitation of that good. Their servitude with their master means their state before they can be introduced into heaven, whereas their going out from servitude means their state when they are received into heaven. But since they are imbued only with faith composed of the teachings of their Church and not with the complementary good, thus not with the truth of good, which is the faith of charity, they cannot be allowed any further into heaven than the entrance there. For those in the entrance to heaven are in contact with those in heaven through the truth of faith, and with those outside heaven through the delight joined to that truth. They serve just like the layers of skin or membranes that clothe the body, which through the sense of touch are in contact with the world and through the nervous system are in contact with the life of the soul present in the body. So it is that those in the entrance to heaven, who are represented by 'Hebrew slaves', are called skin spirits in the Grand Man, regarding whom see 5552-5559. But there are many genera and species of such spirits, just as there are of layers of skin or membranes in the body. There are those which cover the whole body; there are those which cover interior parts in general, such as the peritoneum, pleura, or pericardium; and there are those which serve specifically to cover the individual organs there. They are all relatively a body of servants.