9992. 'And unleavened bread' means purification of what is celestial in the inmost part of a person. This is clear from the meaning of 'bread' as that which is celestial, dealt with in 2165, 2177, 3478, 9545; and from the meaning of what is 'unleavened' as what has been purified, dealt with below. The inmost part of a person is meant because what is celestial consists in the good of love, and the good of love is inmost. There are three degrees in a person that follow one another in order; and these three are called celestial, spiritual, and natural. The celestial degree is the good of love to the Lord, the spiritual is the good of charity towards the neighbour, and the natural descending from this is the good of faith, which, since it descends from the spiritual, is called spiritual-natural. The situation with a person resembles that in the heavens. The inmost heaven, also called the third heaven, is where the celestial degree is situated; the second or middle heaven is where the spiritual degree does so; and the first or lowest heaven is where the natural descending from the spiritual, or the spiritual-natural degree, does so. The reason why the situation with a person resembles that in the heavens is that a person in whom good is present is heaven in the smallest form it takes, see the places referred to in 9279. The celestial heaven or kingdom and the division of this too into three will be spoken of in what follows next where cakes and wafers made from fine wheat flour are the subject.

[2] 'Unleavened' means what has been purified because 'yeast' means falsity arising from evil, 2342, 7906, so that 'unleavened' or made without yeast means pure or free from that falsity. 'Yeast' means falsity arising from evil because such falsity defiles good, and truth as well, and also because it gives rise to conflict; for when that falsity gets near good, agitation occurs, and when it gets near truth, a collision takes place. All this explains why a minchah consisting of unleavened bread was included in burnt offerings and sacrifices. Therefore it was decreed that every minchah which they brought to Jehovah should be made without yeast, Leviticus 2:11; that they should not sacrifice the blood of a sacrifice with anything made with yeast, Exodus 23:18; and that during the feast of Passover they should not eat anything made with yeast, and that anyone eating it should be cut off from Israel, Exodus 12:15, 18-20. The reason why anyone who ate anything made with yeast during the feast of Passover should be cut off from Israel was that the feast of Passover was a sign of deliverance from damnation, and in particular of deliverance from falsities arising from evil, accomplished with those who allow themselves to be regenerated by the Lord, see 7093, 9286-9292. This also explains why it was called the feast of unleavened bread.

9784. 'In the tent of meeting' means the Lord's presence. This is clear from the consideration that the tent was made for the express purpose of providing a place for the Lord to meet Moses and Aaron, and also the children of Israel. Therefore also the holy act of worship was performed there, as the following verses in Exodus make clear,

They shall make the continual burnt offering at the door of the tent of meeting before Jehovah, where I will meet you to speak to you there. And there I will meet the children of Israel; and it shall be sanctified by My glory. And I will sanctify the tent of meeting and the altar; and Aaron and his sons I will sanctify to perform the priestly function for Me. And I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel. Exodus 29:42-45.

And there is another place which declares that the Lord would meet them there or would be present there,

When all these things had been completed the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the dwelling-place. And Moses could not enter the tent of meeting, because the cloud dwelt over it, and the glory of Jehovah filled the dwelling-place. The cloud of Jehovah was over the dwelling-place by day, and fire was in it by night, in the eyes of all the house of Israel. Exodus 40:33-end.

From these places it becomes clear that 'the tent of meeting' means the place where the Lord's presence is. It does so because the tent represented heaven, and heaven is heaven by virtue of the Lord's presence there, on which account also it was called Jehovah's dwelling-place.