2160. Verse 4 Let now a little water be taken, and [all of you] wash your feet, and recline under the tree.

'Let now a little water be taken' means that they were to draw near and bring themselves down from Divine things nearer to His intellectual concepts. 'And wash your feet' means that they were to take on something natural so that during the state He was then passing through His perception might be improved. 'And recline under the tree' means towards the perception of the state through which He was passing, 'tree' meaning perception.

9528. 'Of shittim wood' means out of mercy. This is clear from the meaning of 'shittim wood' as the good of merit which is the Lord's alone, dealt with in 9472, 9486; and since the good of merit is mercy, 'shittim wood' also means mercy. For out of pure love, thus out of pure mercy, the Lord assumed the Human, and underwent the severest temptations, finally the passion on the Cross, that He might save the human race; and therefore merit and righteousness are His. From all this it is evident that the good of merit consists in mercy, mercy (misericordia) being Divine Love directed towards those trapped in misery (miseriae).

The Lord underwent the severest temptations and thereby set heaven and hell in order; and He fought out of Divine Love, to save those who receive Him in love and faith, see 1266, 1663, 1668, 1676, 1690, 1691 (end), 1737, 1787, 1789, 1812, 1813, 1820, 1921, 2083, 2159, 2574, 2649, 2776, 2795, 2813, 2816, 3318 (end), 4180, 4286, 4295, 5078.