251. The reason why the “serpent” means all evil in general, and specifically the love of self, is that all evil has had its rise from that sensuous part of the mind, and also from that memory-knowledge [scientifico], which at first were signified by the “serpent;” and therefore it here denotes evil of every kind, and specifically the love of self, or hatred against the neighbor and the Lord, which is the same thing. As this evil or hatred was various, consisting of numerous genera and still more numerous species, it is described in the Word by various kinds of serpents, as “snakes” “cockatrices” “asps” “adders” “fiery serpents” “serpents that fly” and “that creep” and “vipers” according to the differences of the poison, which is hatred. Thus we read in Isaiah:

Rejoice not thou, whole Philistia, because the rod which smiteth thee is broken, for out of the serpent’s root shall go forth a cockatrice, and his fruit shall be a flying fire-serpent (Isaiah 14:29).The “serpent’s root” denotes that part of the mind, or that principle, which is connected with the senses and with memory-knowledge [est sensuale et scientificum]; the “cockatrice” denotes evil originating in the falsity thence derived; and the “flying fire-serpent” the cupidity that comes from the love of self. By the same Prophet also similar things are elsewhere thus described:

They hatch cockatrice’s eggs, and weave the spider’s web; he that eateth of their eggs dieth, and when it is crushed there cometh out a viper (Isaiah 59:5).

The serpent described here in Genesis is called in the Revelation the “great and red dragon” and the “old serpent” and also the “devil and satan” that “deceives the whole world” (Revelation 12:3, 9; 20:2), where, and also in other places, by the “devil” is not meant any particular devil who is prince over the others, but the whole crew of evil spirits, and evil itself.

10052. '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. This is clear from the meaning of 'burning' as uniting to the Divine Good of Divine Love, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'the ram' as that which is internal with a person, and so in the highest sense as the internal of the Lord's Divine Human, dealt with in 10042; and from the meaning of 'the altar' as the chief representative of the Lord's Divine Human in respect of His Divine Good, dealt with immediately above in 10051 (end).

[2] It should be remembered that with everyone there is that which is internal and that which is external, called his internal man and external man; that when a person is being regenerated he is being regenerated as to both the internal and the external; and that regeneration is the joining together of good and truth in both. A similar process took place in the Lord's Human. Yet it cannot be said that His Human was regenerated, only that it was glorified, because what was inmost in Him, which in a person is called the soul from the father, was Divinity itself; for He was conceived from Jehovah. Divinity itself is the Divine Good of Divine Love. And since the Lord united His Human to this and thereby also made Divine His Human, it cannot be said that His Human was regenerated, only that it was glorified; for glorifying means making Divine, see immediately below in 10053. The glorification of His internal man, that is, of His internal Human, is what the representative signs associated with the burnt offerings of rams and of lambs serve to describe.

[3] 'Burning the whole ram on the altar' means uniting the Divine Good of Divine Love to the internal of His Human. It does so firstly because the altar was representative of the Lord's Divine Human, and the fire on the altar, which burned the offering, meant the Divine Good of Divine Love, as may recognized from the places referred to immediately above in 10051 (end), and secondly because 'the ram' - the offering that was burned - means that which is internal with a person, and so the internal of the Lord's Human, 10042. From all this it is evident that 'you shall burn the whole ram on the altar as a burnt offering' means the internal of the Lord's Human united to the Divine Good of His Divine Love, which was within Him.