9814. 'And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother' means a representative sign of the spiritual kingdom lying adjacent to the celestial kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'garments' in general as truths, and more particularly as truths clothing good, dealt with in 5954, 9212, 9216. The meaning of 'garments' as truths owes its origin to things in heaven, where angels appear dressed in clothes in keeping with the truths they have that spring from good, 165, 5248, 5954, 9212; and from this it may be recognized that Aaron's garments represented the Lord's spiritual kingdom lying adjacent to His celestial kingdom. For Aaron represented the Lord in respect of the Divine Celestial, 9810, and therefore the garments he wore represented the Divine Spiritual adjacent to the celestial kingdom like clothing next to the body, the Divine Spiritual being Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good. It presents itself in heaven as light, indeed it is the light which illuminates both the outward and the inward powers of sight that angels possess. Modifications of this light - which are determined by the subjects, that is, the angels, that receive it - produce different visible phenomena, such as clouds, rainbows, and various colours and brightnesses; they also produce shining garments about the angels. From all this it may be recognized that the Lord's spiritual kingdom was represented by Aaron's holy garments. For there are two kingdoms into which the heavens are divided, the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom, regarding which, see 9277. Those in the celestial kingdom appear naked, but those in the spiritual kingdom appear in clothing. From this it is again clear that Divine Truth, or the Divine Spiritual, which appears as light, is that which serves to clothe.

[2] But who would ever credit it that, even though the Word exists within the Church and consequently enlightenment regarding Divine and heavenly realities, ignorance reigns there, so great that no one knows that angels and spirits take on the human form, appear to themselves as human beings, and see, hear, and talk to one another? Still less does anyone know that they appear clothed in garments. The idea that they do so is met not merely with doubt but also with complete denial on the part of those so blind to everything other than external things, that they think that the body alone lives, and that what they cannot see with the eyes in their body or touch with the hands on their body has no existence whatever, see 1881. But in actual fact the heavens are full of human beings, who are angels, and these are clothed with garments shining in varied degrees of brightness. But these beings cannot at all be seen by a person on earth through the eyes of his body, only through the eyes of his spirit, when the Lord opens them. The angels who were seen by the ancients, such as Abraham, Sarah, Lot, Jacob, Joshua, Gideon, and also the Prophets, were not seen by those persons' bodily eyes but by those of their spirit which had been opened then. The fact that they would also have appeared clothed in robes is clear from the angels sitting at the Lord's tomb, whom Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James saw, and who were wearing shining white garments, Matthew 28:3; Mark 16:5; Luke 24:4, and in particular from the Lord Himself when seen in His glory by Peter, James, and John, in that His clothing was dazzling white and like the light, Matthew 17:2; Luke 9:29. This clothing too represented the Divine Spiritual, or the Divine Truth that emanated from Him.

[3] All this makes clear what 'white garments' means in the Book of Revelation,

You have a few names also in Sardis, who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white ones, for they are worthy. He who conquers will be clad in white garments. Revelation 3:4-5.

'Garments' here are spiritual truths, which are truths springing from good, as shown above; and 'white' is authentic truth, 3301, 4007, 5319. The following words that occur elsewhere in the same book are similarly made clear,

I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and He who sat on it was called faithful and true, and in righteousness He judges and goes into battle. His armies in heaven were following Him, clothed in linen white and clean. Revelation 19:11, 14.

And elsewhere again in that book,

On the thrones I saw twenty-four elders, clad in white garments. Revelation 4:4.

133. Something now needs to be said about heaven's warmth. In its essence, heaven's warmth is love. It emanates from the Lord as the sun, which is divine love for the Lord and from the Lord, as has been explained in the preceding chapter. We can therefore see that heaven's warmth is just as spiritual as its light, because they come from the same source. ¹

There are two things that emanate from the Lord as the sun, divine truth and divine good. Divine truth comes out in heaven as light and divine good as warmth. However, divine truth and divine good are so united that they are not two, but one. For angels, though, they are separated. There are angels who accept divine good more readily than divine truth, and there are angels who accept divine truth more readily than divine good. The ones who are more open to divine good are in the Lord's heavenly kingdom; the ones who are more open to divine truth are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom. The most perfect angels are the ones who are equally open to both.

Bilješke:

4763. 'And he rent his clothes' means mourning. This is clear from the meaning of 'rending clothes' as mourning, that is to say, mourning on account of the loss of truth, or the fact that no faith exists. In the Word, especially the historical part, one often reads about people rending their clothes, but the origin of that practice is not known at the present day. Nor is it known that it was representative of grief on account of the loss of truth. This practice became representative from the fact that 'clothes' meant truths, as has been shown and may be seen in 4545. Further on in this chapter it is also said that when Jacob recognized his son's tunic he rent his clothes, verse 34, by which mourning for lost truth is meant. Similar instances of this practice occur elsewhere in the Word, where it is stated that when the Rabshakeh was sent by Sennacherib king of Asshur and uttered insults against Jerusalem, Eliakim who was over the king's house, and Shebna the secretary, and Joash the recorder ¹ rent their clothes and reported these things to king Hezekiah; and when he heard them the king too rent his clothes and covered himself with sackcloth, Isaiah 36:22; 37:1; 2 Kings 18:37; 19:1. The insults he uttered were directed against God, the king, and Jerusalem, and so against Divine Truth, as is even more evident from the internal sense of this narrative. It was to express mourning therefore that their clothes were rent.

[2] When Jehudi had read before the king the scroll which Jeremiah wrote, it is said that he threw it into the fire, but the king and his servants who were listening to all those words did not tear their clothes apart, Jeremiah 36:23-24. 'They did not tear their clothes apart' meant that they did not mourn on account of the non-acceptance of Divine Truth. Something similar is implied by Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh rending their clothes, when the spies spoke in opposition to them, by speaking unfavourably about the land of Canaan, Numbers 14:6; for 'the land of Canaan' means the Lord's kingdom, and 'to speak in opposition to this' describes falsity in opposition to Divine Truth. Mourning over the loss of Divine Truth and Divine Good is meant where it is said, in 1 Samuel 4:11-12, that when the ark of God was captured by the Philistines and both of Eli's sons died, a man ran from the line of battle to Shiloh, with rent clothes and dust on his head. Because 'the ark' represented the Lord's kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself, and consequently represented everything holy in the Church, 'rent clothes' meant grief over the loss of Divine Truth, while 'dust on his head' meant grief over the loss of Divine Good.

[3] In the narrative about Samuel and Saul one reads,

When Samuel turned to go away Saul took hold of the skirt of his tunic, and it was torn away. Therefore Samuel said to him, Jehovah has torn the kingdom of Israel from upon you this day and has given it to your companion. I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of Jehovah, and Jehovah has rejected you from being king over Israel. 1 Samuel 15:26-28.

The tearing away by Saul of the skirt of Samuel's tunic represented that which Samuel then stated - that the kingdom would be torn from him and that he would not be the king of Israel any longer. For 'the kingdom' in the internal sense means Divine Truth, 1672, 2547, 4691, as also does 'king' and 'kingship', 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, especially the king and the kingdom of Israel, since 'Israel' represented the Lord's kingship. The meaning is similar in what is recorded concerning Jeroboam and Ahijah the prophet,

When Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet found him on the road, when he was covered with a new garment and both were alone in the field, Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him and rent it into twelve pieces; and he said to Jeroboam, Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus said Jehovah, the God of Israel, behold, I am rending [the kingdom] from the hand of Solomon and I will give you ten tribes. 1 Kings 11:29-31.

[4] The second Book of Samuel likewise records that when Saul was killed in battle they tore their clothes apart,

When Saul was killed in battle, on the third day a man came from the camp, whose clothes had been rent. And when David heard about the death of Saul, David took hold of his garments and tore them apart; and so did all his servants who were with him. 2 Samuel 1:2, 10-12.

This too represented mourning because of Divine Truth, lost and cast away by those who adhered to faith separated from charity. For as stated above, 'kingship' meant Divine Truth, while 'the Philistines' by whom Saul was slain represented adherents to faith separated from charity, 1197, 1198, 3412, 3413. The same is also evident from David's lament over him, in verses 18-27 of the same chapter.

[5] When Absalom had slain Amnon his brother and the news reached David that Absalom had slain all the king's sons, David tore his clothes apart and lay on the ground; and all his servants standing by tore their clothes apart, 2 Samuel 13:28, 30-31. This too was done for the sake of the representation that truths from the Divine were lost, those truths being meant in the internal sense by 'the king's sons'. A similar meaning exists in the reference to Hushai the Archite who with his tunic torn apart came to meet David when he fled from Absalom, 2 Samuel 15:32; for in the Word 'a king', and in particular David, represents Divine Truth. The meaning is also very similar in the reference to Ahab, who tore his clothes apart and put sackcloth over his flesh when Elijah told Ahab the king of Israel the words of Jehovah, to the effect that he would be completely wiped out for the evil he had done, 1 Kings 21:27-29.

[6] The fact that tearing apart or rending clothes represented mourning the loss of Truth is additionally clear from the following: Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the law in the house of Jehovah. When Shaphan read it before king Josiah and the king heard the words of the Book of the law, he tore his clothes apart, 2 Kings 22:11. Plainly the king did so because the Word, that is, Divine truth, had been lost for so long and in their hearts and life had been blotted out.

[7] The tearing apart of his own clothes by the high priest, when the Lord confessed He was the Christ the Son of God, and his declaration that He had spoken utter blasphemy, Matthew 26:63-65; Mark 14:63-64, meant that the high priest was absolutely convinced that the Lord had spoken against the Word and so against Divine truth. When Elijah went up in the whirlwind, and Elisha saw it, it is said,

He took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. And he took up Elijah's tunic that had fallen from upon him, and he struck the waters and they were divided this way and that, and Elisha went over. 2 Kings 2:11-14.

Elisha tore his own clothes apart at that time to express mourning the loss of the Word, that is, of Divine Truth; for 'Elijah' represents the Lord as regards the Word, that is, Divine Truth, 2762. When the tunic fell from Elijah and was picked up by Elisha, the continuation of Elijah's representation by Elisha was represented, 'the tunic' meaning Divine Truth, see 4677. This also explains why the garment torn apart when such mourning took place was the tunic, as is evident from some of the places that have been quoted. Because 'a garment' meant the truth possessed by the Church, and in the highest sense Divine Truth, it was therefore shameful, except when one was mourning, to go about with clothes that were torn. This is evident from what was done to David's servants by Hanun king of the children of Ammon, when he cut off half the beard of each one, and their garments at the middle even to their buttocks, for which reason they were not allowed to come to David, 2 Samuel 10:4-5.

Bilješke: