10048. 'And you shall cut the ram into pieces' means that the interior things must be arranged into order, distinct from one another. This is clear from the meaning of 'the ram' as the good of innocence and charity in the internal man, dealt with in 10042, at this point preparation for the internal man's purification, meant by the burnt offering of the ram; and from the meaning of 'cutting into pieces' as the arrangement of the interiors there into order. The reason why preparation for the arrangement of the interiors into order is meant by 'cutting into pieces, members, and parts' is that the arranging of them is described by the requirement to put the intestines and legs on top of the pieces and of the head. By 'the intestines' are meant the lowest things, which are called the outward things of the senses, and by 'the legs' those immediately above, which are called natural things, so that by 'the pieces', which were higher still, interior things are meant, and by 'the head' inmost ones. ¹ The fact that the intestines, legs, and head mean those things will be clear from what follows below; and the fact that the organs and members of the human being mean such things arranged in order may be seen above in 10030.

[2] Since sacrifices and burnt offerings serve in the representative sense to mean the regeneration of a person, something brief must be stated about the nature of the arranging into order which takes place during regeneration. With those who are being regenerated interiors and exteriors are being arranged into order by the Lord for the purpose of all subsequent states, so much so that things in the present entail those in the future, as do things in the future when they become those in the present, and so on forever. For the Lord foresees all things and provides all things, and His Foresight and Providence looks to eternity, and so is everlasting; for the Divine nature, which He alone possesses, is in itself infinite, and what is infinite in duration is everlasting. Consequently whatever the Lord arranges into order is everlasting. This is what happens to those whom the Lord is regenerating; the regeneration of a person begins in the world and carries on forever, for when a person becomes an angel he is always being made more perfect. In the human being there are outward things, inward things, and inmost ones. All these are arranged into order simultaneously and in successive stages for the purpose of the things to be received in the subsequent states following on forever. But in what order the regeneration of outward, inner, and inmost things takes place, and the reverse, will in the Lord's Divine mercy be stated in what follows.

각주:

10051. 'And put them on top of its pieces and of its head' means the arrangement into order of the more external things under the interior and under the inmost ones. This is clear from the meaning of 'pieces' as the interior things, dealt with above in 10048; from the meaning of 'the head' as what is inmost, dealt with in 5328, 6436, 9656, 9913, 9914; from the meaning of 'the intestines and the legs', which were to be put on top of them, as the outermost and the more external things (for the meaning of 'the intestines' as the outermost or lowest things, see 10030, and for that of 'the legs' as the more external things, 10050); and from the meaning of 'putting these on top of the others' as arranging them into order. The reason why arranging the more external things into order under the interior ones is meant and not, according to the literal sense, above them is that the altar and the fire on the altar are the highest or inmost things. For the altar represented the Lord's Divine Human in respect of Divine Good, and the fire His actual Divine Love, and therefore the parts of the ram and burnt offering nearest the fire of the altar were higher or more internal, while those on top of them, being further away from the fire of the altar, were lower or more external. For in the internal sense the things nearest to what is highest are regarded as being higher or more internal, and those that are further away from it are regarded as being lower or more external, unlike the way things are stated in the literal sense. Whether you say higher and lower ones, or more internal and more external, it amounts to the same thing, because what is higher is more internal and what is lower is more external, 2148, 3084, 4599, 5146, 8325. From this it is now evident that 'you shall put the intestines and legs on top of the pieces and on top of the head' means that the outermost and the more external things must be arranged into order under the interior and the inmost ones.

The altar was representative of the Lord's Divine Human in respect of Divine Good, see 921, 2777, 2811, 9388, 9389, 9714, 9964.

The fire of the altar is His Divine Love, 6832.

9656. 'And they shall be paired from below, and at the same time paired up to its head' means a joining together from without and from within. This is clear from the meaning of 'being paired' as being made to act jointly; from the meaning of 'from below' as from without, since the Word portrays what exists outwardly as that which is below, and what exists inwardly as that which is above, 3084, 4599, 5146, 8325 (so that things deep down are more outward and those high up more inward, 2148, 4210, 4599); and from the meaning of 'the head', in the expression 'from below up to the head', as from within. The reason why 'the head' has this meaning is that the head is above the body, and by things above are meant those that are inward, as has just been stated; and in addition to this a person's inward powers are located in the head, for in it reside the beginnings of the senses and motions, and the beginnings are inmost because they are the source from which everything else flows. These beginnings are like wellsprings from which streams of water flow.

[2] This also goes to explain why inward things are portrayed in the Word as 'the head', as in Isaiah,

Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, the branch and the bulrush in one day. Isaiah 9:14.

In the same prophet,

There will not be for Egypt [any] work which the head and tail, branch and bulrush will do. Isaiah 19:15.

This refers to the Church, the inward things of which are 'the head' and the outward ones 'the tail'.

[3] In the same prophet,

On all heads there is baldness; every beard is shaved off. Isaiah 15:2.

'Baldness on heads' stands for the absence of good and truth in inward things, 'beard shaved off' for the absence of good and truth in outward things. In Jeremiah,

You will be put to shame by Egypt, as you were put to shame by Asshur, and your hands will be on your head. For Jehovah has loathed your defences. Jeremiah 2:36-37.

This describes shame on account of the loss of the Church's forms of good and its truths, brought about by factual knowledge and by reasonings based on it, 'Egypt' being factual knowledge and 'Asshur' reasoning based on it. 'Hands on head' stands for covering over inward things owing to shame. Something similar occurs elsewhere in the same prophet,

They were put to shame and subjected to ignominy, and they covered their heads. Jeremiah 14:3-4; 2 Samuel 13:19.