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Arcana Coelestia #10048

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10048. 'And you shall cut the ram into pieces' means that the interior things must be arranged into order, distinct from one another. This is clear from the meaning of 'the ram' as the good of innocence and charity in the internal man, dealt with in 10042, at this point preparation for the internal man's purification, meant by the burnt offering of the ram; and from the meaning of 'cutting into pieces' as the arrangement of the interiors there into order. The reason why preparation for the arrangement of the interiors into order is meant by 'cutting into pieces, members, and parts' is that the arranging of them is described by the requirement to put the intestines and legs on top of the pieces and of the head. By 'the intestines' are meant the lowest things, which are called the outward things of the senses, and by 'the legs' those immediately above, which are called natural things, so that by 'the pieces', which were higher still, interior things are meant, and by 'the head' inmost ones. 1 The fact that the intestines, legs, and head mean those things will be clear from what follows below; and the fact that the organs and members of the human being mean such things arranged in order may be seen above in 10030.

[2] Since sacrifices and burnt offerings serve in the representative sense to mean the regeneration of a person, something brief must be stated about the nature of the arranging into order which takes place during regeneration. With those who are being regenerated interiors and exteriors are being arranged into order by the Lord for the purpose of all subsequent states, so much so that things in the present entail those in the future, as do things in the future when they become those in the present, and so on forever. For the Lord foresees all things and provides all things, and His Foresight and Providence looks to eternity, and so is everlasting; for the Divine nature, which He alone possesses, is in itself infinite, and what is infinite in duration is everlasting. Consequently whatever the Lord arranges into order is everlasting. This is what happens to those whom the Lord is regenerating; the regeneration of a person begins in the world and carries on forever, for when a person becomes an angel he is always being made more perfect. In the human being there are outward things, inward things, and inmost ones. All these are arranged into order simultaneously and in successive stages for the purpose of the things to be received in the subsequent states following on forever. But in what order the regeneration of outward, inner, and inmost things takes place, and the reverse, will in the Lord's Divine mercy be stated in what follows.

Footnotes:

1. For the reason why the parts on top mean lower things, see 10051.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #10041

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10041. Verses 15-18 And you shall take one ram, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the ram's head. And you shall slaughter the ram, and take its blood and sprinkle it over the altar round about. And you shall cut the ram into its pieces, and wash its intestines and its legs, and put them on top of its pieces and of its head. And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar 1 . It is a burnt offering to Jehovah; it is an odour of rest, a fire offering to Jehovah.

'And you shall take one ram' means the good of innocence in the internal man. 'And Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands' means the transmission of power ... 'On the ram's head' means, to the whole of it. 'And you shall slaughter the ram' means preparation for purification of the internal man. 'And take the blood' means Divine Truth. 'And sprinkle it over the altar round about' means a joining to Divine Good. 'And you shall cut the ram into pieces' means that the interior things must be arranged into order, distinct from one another. 'And wash the intestines' means purification of the lowest things. 'And its legs' means purification of the more external things belonging to the natural man. 'And put them on top of its pieces and of its head' means the arrangement into order of the more external things under the interior and under the inmost ones. 'And you shall burn the whole ram on the altar' means the internal of the Lord's Divine Human united to the Divine Good of His Divine Love, which was within Him. 'It is a burnt offering to Jehovah' means the glorification of the Lord's Human. 'It is an odour of rest' means the perception of peace. 'A fire offering to Jehovah' means all things springing from Divine Love.

Footnotes:

1. literally, you shall burn with the whole ram the altar

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.