10332. 'To compose designs, to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze' means in order to represent the interior and the exterior forms of good and truth that constitute an understanding animated by the will, thus that constitute faith springing from love. This is clear from the meaning of 'composing designs', or inventing devices, as that which is a product of the understanding, dealt with in 9598, 9688; from the meaning of 'working' as that which is a product of the will, dealt with in 9282, for what a person does is a product of his will, in this instance of the will operating through the understanding, since it says 'to compose designs, to work ...'; from the meaning of 'gold' as good, and of 'silver' as truth, dealt with in 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 8932, 9490, 9881, 9874; and from the meaning of 'bronze' as the good of the natural or external man, dealt with in 425, 1551. Consequently interior and exterior forms of good and truth are meant by 'gold, silver, and bronze', interior good by 'gold', interior and exterior truth by 'silver', and external good by 'bronze'. The reason why that which is representative of these forms of good and truth is what is meant is that the representative Church is the subject, and all the things that Bezalel was going to make were representative.

[2] From all this it is evident that 'to compose designs, to work in gold, in silver, and in bronze' means in order to represent interior and exterior forms of good and truth that constitute an understanding animated by the will. The reason why they are also those that constitute faith springing from love is that truths belong to faith, and truths have connection with the understanding, while forms of good belong to love, and forms of good have connection with the will. The expressions 'an understanding animated by the will' and 'faith springing from love' are used because the understanding is nothing at all unless it is animated by the will. For what a person understands but does not also will is not an understanding that is his own but that of another within him; and as a consequence that understanding fades away. But it is different when the understanding is animated by the will; it is then that of the person himself, because the will is the person himself. The like applies to the faith and love; for as has been stated, the truths of faith have connection with the understanding, and forms of the good of love with the will.

10264. 'A compounded ointment' means present within every single part of His Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'ointment' - when it refers to 'an anointing oil', by which a representative sign of the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Love is meant - as what is Divine within every single part of His Human. 'A compounded ointment' has this meaning because all the sweet-smelling substances which were mentioned above, namely the best myrrh, sweet-smelling cinnamon, sweet-smelling calamus, and cassia, should be understood by a compounded ointment. Furthermore in the original language a sweet smell in general is meant by the word that is used; but translators render it 'ointment', from 'anointing'.

[2] 'A compounded perfume' ¹ means present within every single part of the Lord's Human, because truths on every level of that Human, and the accompanying perceptions and affections, are meant. That is to say, truth on its lowest level, which is that of the senses, and the perception that accompanies it, is meant by 'myrrh', 10252; the interior truth of the natural or external man, and the perception and affection that accompany it, by 'sweet-smelling cinnamon', 10254; truth even more interior, belonging to the internal man, and the perception and affection that accompany it, by 'sweet-smelling calamus', 10256; and inmost truth, and the perception and affection that accompany it, by 'cassia', 10258. Thus the Human at every level is meant by these spices, for everything without exception that resides within the human being has some connection with truths and with perceptions of and affections for them; for these compose his actual life.

[3] It may be known that a human being without any perception of or affection for truth and good is not a human being; for everything without exception that a human being thinks about has some connection with truths and perceptions of them, and with forms of good and affections for them. Human thoughts and affections are nothing else; for the human being possesses the power of understanding and the power of will, the understanding being composed of the perception of truth, and the will of the affection for good. The whole human being from head to toe, inwardly and outwardly, consists of nothing other than truth or falsity that is his, and of good or evil that is his, the body being their outward form. But this is an arcanum unknown in the world as yet.

[4] From all this it now becomes clear that 'a compounded perfume' or 'a compounded ointment' - by which all degrees of truth from last and lowest to inmost, thus truths in their complete entirety, should be understood - means everything without exception within the human being or of which the human being consists. Consequently when that sweet-smelling ointment is spoken of in reference to the Lord, every single part of His Human is meant.

[5] It says, 'You shall make it an anointing oil, a compounded perfume, the work of a perfumer', because 'an anointing oil' means the actual Divine Good of Divine Love, which was within the Lord from conception, 9954, 10011, 10019; 'a compounded perfume' means its presence within every single part of His Human; and 'the work of a perfumer (or ointment-maker)' means as a result of the influx and operation of Divinity itself. For the Lord alone as to His Divine Human was Jehovah's Anointed, see 9954.

სქოლიოები: