9596. 'From fine twined linen and violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet' means the spiritual and celestial realities from which those truths are derived. This is clear from the meaning of 'fine twined linen' as truth from a celestial origin, dealt with in 9469; from the meaning of 'violet' as the celestial love of truth, dealt with in 9466; from the meaning of 'purple' as the celestial love of good, dealt with in 9467; and from the meaning of 'twice-dyed scarlet' as spiritual good or the good of truth, dealt with in 9468. Such is the order in which the spiritual and celestial realities, or the truths and forms of good, present with a person or an angel who is in the middle or second heaven follow one another. For truth from a celestial origin, meant by 'fine twined linen' comes first; then the love of or affection for truth, meant by 'violet'; after that the resulting love of or affection for good, meant by 'purple'; and finally spiritual good, meant by 'twice-dyed scarlet'.

[2] Because this is the order in which the spiritual and celestial realities follow one another 'fine twined linen' is here mentioned first; but in the case of the veil that hung between the dwelling-place and the ark, or between the holy place and the holy of holies, dealt with in verse 31 of the present chapter, it is mentioned last. The reason why 'fine twined linen' is mentioned last in the case of the veil is that 'the veil' means the intermediary uniting the inmost heaven to the middle heaven, and therefore within this intermediary it must come last, in order that - to link the two heavens - it may then be first in the second of them.

[3] But properly 'fine twined linen' means the understanding part of the mind as it exists with the spiritual man or with an angel in the Lord's spiritual heaven. The reason why the understanding part is meant by 'fine twined linen' is that with the spiritual man a new will part is implanted by the Lord within the understanding part of his mind, see 863, 875, 895, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113; and since the understanding part in the spiritual man is meant by 'fine twined linen', so too is spiritual truth meant. This is because all truth belongs to the understanding part, and all good to the will part, 3623, 9300; for the understanding part is the receiver (subjectum) or container and the truth is what belongs to it, and these two make one. From these considerations also it may be seen that the actual understanding part of the mind with those who belong to the Lord's spiritual kingdom is in the strict sense 'the dwelling-place', 9296, 9297, and that the spreading out of the curtains serves to describe it.

[4] From all this what 'spreading and stretching out the heavens' means in the following places may be recognized, such as in Isaiah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, spreads out the earth, gives breath ¹ to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it. Isaiah 42:5.

In the same prophet,

I am Jehovah who makes all things, stretches out the heavens Alone, [and] spreads out the earth by Myself. Isaiah 44:24.

In the same prophet,

It was I that made the earth and created man on it. It was I - My hands - that stretched out the heavens. Isaiah 45:12.

In Jeremiah,

... He who makes the earth by His power, prepares the world by His wisdom, and stretches out the heavens by His intelligence. Jeremiah 51:15.

In Zechariah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, and founds the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Zechariah 12:1.

[5] 'Stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' is plainly similar in meaning to stretching and spreading out a dwelling-place by the use of curtains. And by this is meant regenerating a person and thereby creating or forming a new understanding in which there is a new will, which is the spiritual person's actual heaven in which the Lord dwells with that person. The fact that the regeneration or the formation of a new understanding, and of a new will within it, and so of a new person, is what 'stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' means is evident from actual explanations provided in the places quoted above. For they speak of Him who gives breath to the people on the earth, and spirit to those who walk on it, and also of Him who forms the spirit of man within him. 'Heaven and earth' means the Church, internal and external, see 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535, and 'the earth' in general means the Lord's kingdom and the Church, 9334; and these meanings too are plainly apparent in those places. For if 'the earth' did not have that meaning what sense could be made of 'spreading out the earth' and 'founding the earth', or 'forming the spirit of man within him ² '?

[6] The fact that 'stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' here is similar in meaning to stretching and spreading out a dwelling-place by the use of curtains is clear from other places where the same idea is stated even more plainly, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:22.

In the same prophet,

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwelling-places. Isaiah 54:2.

And in David,

Jehovah covers Himself with light, as if with a garment; He stretches out the heavens as a curtain. Psalms 104:2.

These places also show what 'the expanse' or that which is spread out means in the first chapter of Genesis,

God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse, And God called the expanse Heaven. Genesis 1:6-8.

That first chapter describes the regeneration of a member of the celestial Church, 'the expanse' describing his new will and understanding. 'The waters under the expanse and those above the expanse' are the truths of the external man and those of the internal man. For the meaning of 'waters' as truths, see 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 8568, 9323.

Footnotes:

9003. 'He shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and [her] marital rights' means no deprivation of inner life meant by 'food', nor of outer life meant by 'clothing', thus no deprivation of the joining together meant by 'marital rights'. This is clear from the meaning of 'food' as the sustaining of inner life, for in the spiritual sense 'food', both solid and liquid, is cognitions or the knowledge of good and truth, solid food being cognitions of good, 5147, and 'drink' cognitions of truth, 3168, 3772, so that 'food' is the things that nourish a person's spiritual life, 5293, 5576, 5579, 5915, 8562; from the meaning of 'clothing' as the sustaining of outer life, for in the spiritual sense 'clothing' or garments are inferior factual knowledge, this knowledge being that which spiritually sustains a person's outer life, 5248, 6918; from the meaning of 'marital rights' as a joining together; and from the meaning of 'not diminishing' as not depriving.

[2] The situation here is that a natural affection joined to a spiritual truth, which is meant by 'a female slave betrothed to a son', unceasingly needs to be sustained with life from the spiritual truth to which it has been joined; if the affection is not sustained from there it perishes. The situation with a person's affection is just the same as with the person himself; if he is not sustained by food he dies. Interiorly furthermore a person is nothing other than affection, one who is good being interiorly an affection for good and consequently for truth, and one who is evil being an affection for evil and consequently for falsity. This is especially evident in a person when he becomes a spirit; the sphere of life which then wells out of him is either one of affection for good or one of affection for evil. Now he is nourished or sustained not with natural food and drink but with spiritual, which for an evil spirit is falsity arising from evil, but for a good spirit is truth springing from good. The nourishment that people's minds receive in the world during their life in the body is nothing other. So it is that all kinds of food - bread, flesh, wine, water and many others - mean in the spiritual sense within the Word the kinds of food that constitute spiritual nourishment.

[3] All this also shows what one is to understand by the Lord's words in Matthew,

Man does not live by bread only but by every word that goes out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4.

Also what one should understand by His words in Luke,

You will eat and drink at My table in My kingdom. Luke 22:30.

And in Matthew,

I tell you that I shall not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father's kingdom. Matthew 26:29.

The Lord spoke these words after He had instituted the Holy Supper, in which the bread and wine are elements which denote love and faith, in the same way as flesh and blood do. From this it can be clearly seen what the Lord's flesh and blood mean in John 6:49-58, especially in these words there,

My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. John 6:55.

In the Word 'flesh' means the good of love, see 3813, 7850, 'blood' the good of faith, 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7846, 7850, 7877; and 'bread' and 'wine' have the same meanings, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915, 6118, 6377.