10237. 'For washing' means purification from evils and falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'washing' as purification from evils and falsities, dealt with in 3147, 5954. Since purification from evils and falsities by means of the truths of faith is the subject in the internal sense of the verses that now follow, what the situation is with purification must be stated briefly. By 'washing' purification is meant, by 'water' the truths of faith are meant, and by 'the laver' containing the water the natural is meant; for all spiritual purification is accomplished within the natural. A person possesses an external and an internal; the external is called the natural and also the natural man, while the internal is called the spiritual and also the spiritual man. They are so called because the person's internal exists in the spiritual world, where spirits and angels are, while his external exists in the natural world, where people are. Both of them, the internal and the external, undergo purification; the internal does so in heaven, and the external in the world while the person is living there, thus within the natural which exists in the world.

[2] The reason why purification takes place within the natural at this time is that the truths of faith within the natural are clearly perceptible; for they exist there among known facts or things in the memory which are perceived clearly when they are brought to mind. It is different however with things that are thought about in the internal man. These do not come to be seen plainly while a person is in the world, because the ideas there are spiritual. This explains why purification is accomplished within the natural. The fact that it is accomplished by means of the truths of faith becomes clear from the consideration that those undergoing purification should not merely know what evil and falsity are but also acknowledge them to be such, and then turn away and flee from them. When this is done the person starts to be purified from them. Evils and falsities cannot be so known or acknowledged except within the natural through the truths of faith, for these teach what they are and so make them plain. The person who believes that he is purified from evils and falsities before seeing and acknowledging those present in himself is very much mistaken, see 8388, 8390ff.

[3] The reason for saying that a person may know his own evils and falsities through the truths of faith within the natural, that is, in the external man, but not in the internal, is that the ideas belonging to thought in the internal man are spiritual, and spiritual ideas cannot be grasped within the natural. This is because they are ideas in the understanding which are unconnected with objects such as exist in the material world. Nevertheless these ideas, that is to say, spiritual ones, which belong properly to the internal man, flow into natural ideas, which belong to the external man; they produce and fashion those natural ideas, doing so by means of correspondences. But more about spiritual ideas belonging to the internal man will in the Lord's Divine mercy be told in a description of heaven and of spirits and angels; ¹ for they use spiritual ideas for thinking and also for talking to one another.

10237a. 'And you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar' means in order that truth and good may be joined together. This is clear from the meaning of 'between the tent of meeting and the altar' as the joining together of truth and good, dealt with in 10001, 10025. The reason why the laver was to be placed between the tent of meeting and the altar, and why Aaron and his sons were to wash their hands and feet there, was in order that purification of the heart and regeneration, which essentially is the joining together of truth and good, might be represented. For truth and good joined together constitute heaven itself with a person. This also is why heaven is compared in the Word to a marriage. That joining together is accomplished by means of the truths of faith, because these teach people the way to lead their life; and therefore when they lead a life in accord with the truths of faith a joining together of truth and good is accomplished. For then truth is transformed into good through the life they lead. The life of truth is goodness. The same thing is meant by the reference to a person's being regenerated by 'water and the spirit', 'water' being the truth of faith, and 'the spirit' its life.

Regeneration is the joining together of truth and good, see 2063, 3155, 3158, 3607, 4353, 5365, 5376, 8516, 8517, 8772, 10067.

Footnotes:

6690. 'That He made them houses' means that it - true factual knowledge in the natural - was arranged into a heavenly pattern. This is clear from the meaning of 'house' as the natural mind, dealt with in 4973, 5023, thus the things that compose the natural mind. But because what is said here refers to the midwives, those things are true factual knowledge in the natural, 6687. 'Making them houses' therefore means arranging that knowledge into order, and it is arranged into order when arranged into a heavenly pattern. It is not at all easy to see that these things are meant by 'making them houses' unless one knows the situation with true factual knowledge that belongs to the natural mind. Something must therefore be said briefly about this. Known facts in the natural are arranged into continuous series, one series tying in with another, so that they all hang together according to the varying relationships and close associations they have with one another. They are not unlike families and their generations; for one is born from another, and in that manner they are brought into existence. This explains why things of the mind, which are forms of good and truth, were spoken of by the ancients as 'houses', the form of good that ruled there being called the father, the truth linked to it the mother, and the derivations from them the sons, daughters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and so on. But the way in which true factual knowledge in the natural is arranged varies from person to person, since the pattern it assumes is imposed on it by the ruling love. That love is at the centre and arranges each fact into position around it. It positions nearest to itself the facts most compatible with it, and the rest are arranged according to their degrees of compatibility. And in this way factual knowledge is given a pattern. If heavenly love rules, then the Lord arranges them all into a heavenly pattern, a pattern like that assumed by heaven itself, thus the pattern assumed by the good of love itself. Such is the pattern into which truths are arranged; and once arranged into it they act in unison with good. At this point when the one is stimulated by the Lord, so is the other; that is to say, when items of belief are stimulated, so are charitable desires, and vice versa. This kind of arrangement is what is meant by the statement that God made the midwives houses.

8516. 'Therefore on the sixth day He gives you the bread of two days' means that for this reason right at the end of the former state He imparts so great an amount of truth through good that the joining together takes place after that. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sixth day' as the end of a former state, dealt with in 8421; from the meaning of the manna, to which 'the bread' refers here, as the good of truth, dealt with in 8462, 8464; and from the meaning of the sabbath, for which day also the manna on the sixth day was given, so that it was two days' bread, as the joining together of goodness and truth, dealt with in 8495. It has been shown above that since 'the sabbath' means the joining together of goodness and truth, the fact that no man[na] was to be found on the seventh day means that when that joining together has taken place a person's actions spring from good and no longer from truth, indeed that they must not any longer spring from truth, 8510.

[2] But as this appears rather baffling, let a few further words of explanation be added. Everyone ought to be led to Christian good, which is called charity, through the truth of faith; for the truth of faith must teach not only what charity is but also what it needs to be like. And unless a person learns this first from the teachings of his Church - for he cannot by any means know it instinctively - he cannot be prepared and so made fit to receive that good. For example, he needs to know from religious teachings that charity in no way involves doing good for selfish reasons, that is, for the sake of reward, nor thus meriting salvation through the works of charity. He also needs to know that all the good of charity originates in the Lord, and none whatever in self, besides very many other teachings telling him what charity is and needs to be like. From all this it becomes clear that a person cannot be led to Christian good except through the truths of faith. In addition a person needs to know that truths do not of themselves enter good but that good adopts truths and attaches them to itself; for the truths of faith in a person's memory lie so to speak in a field that is spread out before his inward vision. Good from the Lord flows into that vision, and from the truths present there it selects and joins to itself those that are compatible. The truths, which lie below, cannot flow into the good, which is above, since it is altogether contrary to order, as well as impossible, for what is lower to flow into what is higher, 5259.

[3] From all this one may now see how Christian good is born with a person when he is being regenerated, and therefore also what a person will be like when he has been regenerated, namely one whose actions spring from good, but not from truth. That is, he is one who is led by the Lord through good and no longer through truth, for now he is governed by charity, that is, by an affection for doing that good. All who are in heaven are led in such a manner, for it is in keeping with Divine order. Thus everything they think or do flows so to speak spontaneously and freely. It would be altogether different if truth were to shape their thought and action, for then they would cogitate over whether or not they should do a certain thing, and so would hesitate over details, and in so doing would obscure the light they have. Eventually they would act in accord with what they themselves loved, thus in accord with influences that pander to their own loves, which is to be led by self, not by the Lord. From all this it is again evident what it is to be forbidden to acquire good through truth any longer, meant by the people gathering manna on six days, and finding none on the seventh day, dealt with in 8505, 8506, 8510.