10044. 'On the ram's head' means, to the whole of it. This is clear from the meaning of 'the head' as the whole person, thus the whole [of the good of innocence in the internal man], dealt with in 10011. The reason why 'the head' means the whole is that it is highest and holds the inmost part of a person within it; and what is highest is the fountainhead of everything below it, just as what is inmost is the hub of everything outside it. For what lies outside or below is dependent on that which is inmost or highest. What is inmost in the human being is his will and understanding; these have their beginnings in the head. What flows from these inner powers is activity, that is, effects which they generate in the body. When therefore will and understanding are mentioned the whole person should be understood, for it is by virtue of these that a person is a person. The actions performed by the body also owe their entire nature to the will; and this is why a person is not regarded from the point of view of bodily actions or deeds but from that of the will within them. This being so, soul is used in the Word to mean the whole person, and a person is called a soul, as in Leviticus 4:27; 5:1, 4, 17; 6:2; 17:10, 15, and elsewhere.

[2] There are two things that mean the whole, namely the highest and the lowest. The reason why the lowest or last also has this meaning is that all interior things, beginning with the first or highest, terminate in those that are lowest and exist together there, see 9828, 9836. So it is that the highest by means of the lowest holds all the interior or intermediate things in connection and form, in order that they may all have the same end in view, 9828. The fact that the lowest also means the whole is clear from very many places in the Word, such as those which speak of the whole person as 'flesh', for example, Genesis 6:12; Numbers 16:22; 27:16; Isaiah 40:5; Zechariah 2:13, and elsewhere.

[3] Since the last things also mean all or the whole, the hair on the head, hair on the body, and the beard, which are last or outermost things growing out of a person's body, are used to mean those things, as also are the feet, or rather the toes on them, and the fingers on the hands. The fact that the hair on the head, hair on the body, and the beard have this meaning is clear in Isaiah,

On that day the Lord will shave with a razor - by means of the king of Asshur - the head, the hair of the feet, and also the beard. Isaiah 7:20.

'The king of Asshur' means reasoning, the kind that is used by people to destroy Divine things, 1186. 'Shaving the head, the hair of the feet, and the beard' means taking lowest things away, for when these have been taken away those within fall apart and perish. This also was why a priest was forbidden to shave his head, Leviticus 21:10, as was a Nazirite, whose hair according to Numbers 6:7 was called the Naziriteship of God, 6437, 9407, and is what 'the crown of the head of the Nazirite among [his] brothers', Genesis 49:25-26; Deuteronomy 33:16, should be taken to mean. Therefore also it says in Matthew 10:30 that the hairs of one's head are all numbered, meaning that every single thing in a person is so 'numbered', and in Luke 21:18 that not a hair on one's head will perish.

[4] The fact that the feet, the toes on them, and the fingers on the hands mean all things and so the whole is clear in John,

Peter said, Lord, You shall not wash my feet only, but also my hands and head. Jesus said to him, He who has been washed has no need except to wash his feet, and the whole person is clean. John 13:9-10.

'Feet' are the natural, which is last, 2162, 3147, 4938-4952, 9406. And in the following words of the present chapter,

You shall put some of the ram's blood on the tip of Aaron's ear, and on the thumb of the right hand, and on the big toe of the right foot. Verse 20.

That is, it was to be put on every single thing, meant by 'ear', 'hand', and 'foot'.

[5] Since highest and lowest, or what amounts to the same thing, first and last, equally mean every single thing, or the whole with all its parts, the Lord's Omnipotence and Omniscience is described by the words stating that He is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, Revelation 1:8; 21:6; 22:13; Isaiah 41:4.

[6] The situation in which all things are held in connection and stand together, from that which is first or highest through to those that are last or lowest, is described in the following words in Isaiah,

I am the First and I am the Last, indeed My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand measured out heaven. I am summoning them; they stand together. Isaiah 48:12-13.

Jehovah's or the Lord's 'hand' and 'right hand' mean His almighty power, 'the earth' which He laid the foundation of is that which is last, 'heaven' which He stretched out is that which is between the first and the last, 'summoning them, that they may stand together' is holding all the interior things in connection and in form by means of what is last, that they may have a single end in view. This single end to be held in view is He who is the First and the Last. That this is the Lord is clear in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, I am the First and I am the Last. Isaiah 44:6.

'The King of Israel' is the Lord, John 18:37, and so, as is self-evident, is 'his Redeemer'. And in the Book of Revelation,

These things says the First and the Last, who was dead and came to life. Revelation 2:8.

[7] The truth that what is first holds all things in connection by means of what is last may be recognized from the Word and from humanness. In the case of the Word its last and lowest things are its literal sense; that which is first and highest is the Lord; and the interior things within it are its internal sense, which the heavens perceive and which causes those who are there to have the same end in view, namely the Lord. Regarding this arcanum, see 9360, 9824.

[8] As to humanness, this as it exists in the things that are last is the Church on earth; as it exists in that which is first it is the Lord; and as it exists in the interior things it is heaven. For in the Lord's sight the Church and heaven are like one human being; therefore heaven is called the Grand Man, which has been the subject at the ends of a number of chapters, see the places referred to in 10030 (end). There is an unbroken connection, and an influx in keeping with that connection, of all things from the Lord through the heavens to the Church on earth. By the heavens the angels who are there should be understood; by the Church people who are true members of the Church; and by humanness as it exists in that which is first the Lord in respect of His Divine Human. The truth that what is first by means of what is last holds all things in connection and makes them stand as one is meant by the Lord's words in Isaiah quoted above,

I am the First and I am the Last, indeed My hand laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand measured out heaven. I summoning them, they stand together. Isaiah 48:12-13.

The fact that 'the earth' is used in the Word to mean the Church has also been shown on many occasions, see the places referred to in 9325.

[9] An idea of this matter may be had from what is last or outermost with a person and what is inmost. His outermost is the skin, his inmost the heart, while the things in between or his interiors are the organs of the body. From the heart all the way to the skin by way of the organs there is an unbroken connection through blood vessels; for these emanate from the heart and end in the skin. The skin is self-evidently the last or outermost part holding the interior things in connection, for when the skin has been taken away the interiors fall apart.

[10] From all this it may be seen why it is that just as what is highest or inmost means every single thing, so too does what is lowest or last. Also evident from it all is the arcanum of why the Lord also glorified His Human right down to its last and lowest levels, called the bones and flesh, which explains why the Lord told His disciples, who thought that they were seeing a spirit,

See My hands and My feet, that it is I; handle Me and see; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see Me having. Luke 24:37, 39.

It is well recognized that Divinity itself was the First in Him, for He was conceived from Jehovah, and what is conceived from the father is pre-eminently first in a person. The truth that the Lord also glorified the last and lowest levels of His Human in which they co-exist is evident from His words recorded in those verses, and also from the fact that He left nothing of His Human in the tomb. It is true of spiritual things as well that interior things terminate and come to rest in last and lowest ones in which they co-exist, and that the last hold the interior ones in connection, see 9216, 9828. Therefore the lowest things have might and power within them, 9836, and for the same reason have holiness within them, 9824; and revelations are made and answers are given in them, 9905.

5247. 'And he clipped [his hair and beard]' means a casting aside and the change made so far as the coverings of the exterior natural were concerned. This is clear from the meaning of 'clipping' - that is, clipping the head and beard - as casting aside the coverings of the exterior natural. For 'hair' which was clipped means the exterior natural, see 3301. Also, both hair on the head and that composing the beard correspond in the Grand Man to the exterior natural. This explains why in the light of heaven sensory-minded people - that is, those who have had no belief in anything apart from that which is natural, and have had no desire to understand how anything more internal or purer can exist apart from that which they can perceive with their senses - have a hairy appearance in the next life. They look so hairy that their faces are scarcely anything else than hairy beards. I have seen faces covered with hair like these on many occasions. But rationally-minded people, that is, spiritually-minded ones, with whom the natural has played a correctly subordinate role, are seen with tidy hair. Indeed from the state of people's hair in the next life one can tell what the natural with them is like. The reason spirits appear with hair on their heads is that in the next life spirits look exactly like people on earth. This too is why the Word sometimes includes a description of the hair of the angels people have seen.

[2] From all this one may now see what is meant by 'clipping', as in Ezekiel,

The priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, shall put off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, and they shall not sanctify the people in their own garments. And they shall not shave their head and shall not let their hair grow long; they shall surely clip their heads. Ezekiel 44:15, 19-20.

This refers to a new Temple and a new priesthood, that is, to a new Church. 'Putting on other garments' means holy truths; 'not shaving their head, and not letting their hair grow long, but surely clipping their heads' means not casting aside the natural but taking measures to make it conformable, and so to make it subordinate. Anyone who believes that the Word is indeed holy can see that these and all the other details mentioned by the prophet which describe a new land, a new city, and a new Temple and priesthood must not be taken literally. The statement, for example, that the priests the Levites, the sons of Zadok, will minister there, at which time they will put off their ministerial garments and put on new ones, and will also clip their heads, is not meant literally; rather, each and all the details given by the prophet have as their meaning such things as are aspects of a new Church.

[3] The following rules were laid down for the high priest, the sons of Aaron, and the Levites, in Moses,

The priest who is chief among his brothers, on whose head the anointing oil has been poured and who has been consecrated ¹ to wear the garments, shall not shave his head or rend his garments. Leviticus 21:10.

The sons of Aaron shall not introduce any baldness on their head or shave the corner of their beard. They shall be holy to their God, and they shall not profane the name of their God. Leviticus 21:5-6.

You shall purify the Levites like this: Sprinkle over them the water of expiation, and they shall pass a razor over their flesh and wash their garments, and they shall be pure. Numbers 8:7.

These rules would never have been given unless they had held holy ideas within them. Can there be anything holy or anything of the Church in the actual rule forbidding the high priest to shave his head or rend his garments, or in the actual rule forbidding the sons of Levi to introduce any baldness on their head or shave the corner of their beard, or in that commanding the Levites to shave their flesh with a razor when they underwent purification? Rather, the possession of an external or natural man made subordinate to the internal or spiritual man, both of which have thereby been made subordinate to the Divine, is the holy idea within those rules; and it is also what angels perceive when man reads about them in the Word.

[4] The same goes for what is said about a Nazirite who was holy to Jehovah. If someone next to him happened to die suddenly and so defile his consecrated head, the Nazirite was required to clip his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day he had to clip it. On the day that the days of his Naziriteship were completed he had to clip his consecrated head at the door of the Tent of Meeting and to take the hair from his head and put it on the fire which was under the sacrifice of peace offerings, Numbers 6:8, 9, 13, 18. For the meaning of a Nazirite and what aspect of holiness he represented, see 3301. No one can possibly understand why anything holy existed within the Nazirite's hair unless he knows from correspondence what is meant by 'the hair' and from this what aspect of holiness a Nazirite's hair corresponded to. Nor can anyone likewise understand how the source of Samson's strength lay in his hair, which he told Delilah about in the following description,

No razor has come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite of God from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, my strength will depart from me, and I shall become weak and be like anyone else. And Delilah called a man who shaved off the seven locks of his hair; and his strength departed from him. After that, when the hair on his head began to grow, even as it had been shaved off, his strength returned to him. Judges 16:17, 19, 22.

Without any knowledge of correspondence who can see that the Lord's Divine Natural was represented by 'a Nazirite', or that 'Naziriteship' had no other meaning than this, or that Samson's strength was due to that representation?

[5] Anyone who does not know, and more so one who does not believe that the Word has an internal sense, and that the sense of the letter serves to represent the real things contained in the internal sense, will recognize scarcely anything holy at all in these matters, when in fact the greatest holiness lies within them. Anyone who does not know, and more so one who does not believe that the Word has an internal sense that is intrinsically holy cannot know what the following texts enfold within them: In Jeremiah,

Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth. Cut off the hair of your Naziriteship and throw it away. Jeremiah 7:28-29.

In Isaiah,

On that day the Lord will shave by means of a razor hired at the crossing-places of the River - by means of the king of Asshur - the head and the hair of the feet; and it will consume the beard also. Isaiah 7:20.

In Micah,

Make yourself bald, and shave your head for the children of your delight; extend your baldness like an eagle, for they have departed from you. Micah 1:16.

Nor will anyone know the aspect of holiness contained in the reference to Elijah's being a man covered with hair, who wore a skin girdle around his loins, 2 Kings 1:8. Nor will he know why the children who called Elisha baldhead were torn apart by the bears out of the forest, 2 Kings 2:23-24.

[6] Both Elijah and Elisha represented the Lord as to the Word, and so represented the Word itself, specifically the prophetical part, see Preface to Genesis 18, and 2762. Being covered with hair and having a skin girdle meant the literal sense, 'a man covered with hair' meaning that sense so far as truths were concerned, 'wearing a skin girdle around his loins' so far as forms of good were concerned. For the literal sense is the natural sense of the Word since it employs ideas formed from things that exist in the world, whereas the internal sense is the spiritual sense because it employs ideas formed from things existing in heaven. These two senses are related to each other in the way that the internal and the external are related in the human being. But because the internal can have no existence without the external, the external being the last and lowest degree of order within which the internal is held in being, the calling of Elisha 'baldhead' therefore meant the shameful accusation made against the Word that it lacked so to speak an external and so lacked a sense suited to man's capacity to understand it.

[7] From all this one may see that every particular detail in the Word is holy. However, this holiness within the Word is discerned by no one unless he is acquainted with the internal sense; yet an inkling of it flows from heaven into someone who believes that the Word is holy. The internal sense known to the angels is the channel through which that influx comes; and even if the person has no understanding of that sense it nevertheless stimulates an affection in him, because the affection felt by the angels who know that sense is communicated to him. From this it is also evident that the Word was given to man so that he might have a means of communication with heaven and so that by flowing into him Divine Truth in heaven might stimulate affection in him.

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