9392. Verses 6-8 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he sprinkled over the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people; and they said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it over the people, and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant which Jehovah has made with you according to all these words. 'And Moses took half of the blood' means Divine Truth which has become a matter of life and of worship.

'And put it in bowls' means present with a person, in the things forming his memory. 'And half of the blood he sprinkled over the altar' means Divine Truth from the Lord's Divine Human. 'And he took the book of the covenant' means the Word in the letter to which the Word in heaven was joined. 'And read it in the ears of the people' means to be listened to and obeyed. 'And they said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear' means receiving the truth that emanates from the Lord's Divine Human, and obeying it with heart and soul. 'And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it over the people' means making a person well-adapted to receive it. 'And said, Behold, the blood of the covenant' means that by means of this truth the Lord's Divine Human is joined to heaven and to earth. 'Which Jehovah has made with you according to all these words' means that the Lord accomplishes the joining together by means of every single part of the Word.

1297. 'And let us burn them thoroughly' means the evils that stem from self-love. This is clear from the meaning of 'to burn, a burning, fire, sulphur, and bitumen' in the Word, where they have reference to evil desires, chiefly to those that belong to self-love, as in Isaiah,

Our holy house, and our splendour, where our fathers praised You, has been made into a blaze of fire, and all our pleasant places have been made into a waste. Isaiah 64:11.

In the same prophet,

Conceive chaff, bring forth stubble. Your wind is a fire that will consume you. Thus the peoples will be burnings of lime; [like] thorns cut down they will be burned in the fire. Isaiah 33:11-12.

And there are many other examples besides these. 'Burning' and 'fire' have reference to evil desires because they possess similar characteristics.