4210. 'Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain' means worship founded on good that stems from love. This is clear from the meaning of 'a sacrifice' as worship, dealt with in 922, 923, 2180, and from the meaning of 'the mountain' as good that stems from love, 795, 796, 1430. 'A sacrifice' means worship because sacrifices and burnt offerings were the major features of all worship in the later representative Church, which was the Hebrew Church. They also used to sacrifice on mountains, as is clear from various places in the Word, because 'mountains' on account of their height meant the things which were high, such as those are which belong to heaven and are called heavenly; and having this meaning they also meant, in the highest sense, the Lord, whom they called the Most High. It was the outward appearance that led them to think in this way, for the things that are interior give the appearance of being higher, as heaven does with man. Heaven is interiorly within him, and yet he supposes it to be on high. This is the reason why, when the expression 'high' is used in the Word, that which is interior is meant in the internal sense.

[2] In the world people inevitably take heaven to be on high. One reason why they do so is that the word 'heaven' is used for the visible expanse which encircles them on high and another is that man is a dweller within time and space and so thinks from ideas derived from these. And a further reason is that few are aware of what anything interior may be, and fewer still are aware that neither place nor time exist there. This is why the mode of expression employed in the Word is one that accords with the ideas present in man's thought. If it had not accorded with those ideas but with angelic ideas man would have perceived nothing at all, but everyone would have stood wondering what it was and whether it was anything at all, and so would have rejected it as being devoid of anything intelligible.

923. 'And he offered burnt offerings on the altar' means all worship stemming from those goods and truths. This is evident from what has been stated up to now. Burnt offerings were the chief features of the worship of the representative Church, as at a later time were sacrifices. These will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with later on. That burnt offerings taken as a whole mean representative worship is also clear from the Prophets, as in David,

Jehovah will send your help from the Sanctuary, and give you support from Zion. He will remember all your offerings, and accept your burnt offering as fat. Psalms 20:2-3.

And in Isaiah,

Whoever keeps the sabbath from profaning it, I will bring them to My holy mountain. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar. Isaiah 56:6-7.

Here 'burnt offerings and sacrifices' stands for all worship, 'burnt offerings' for worship stemming from love, 'sacrifices' for worship stemming from faith derived from love. As is common in the Prophets, internal things are here being described by those that are external.