1831. And set each of the parts across from its other [half] symbolizes parallelism and correspondence regarding heavenly things. The evidence for this is that the pieces on one side symbolize the church, while those on the other side symbolize the Lord, and when they are placed opposite each other there is nothing but symmetry and correspondence. It was the heifer, goat, and ram that were split and set like this, and they symbolize heavenly attributes, as noted just above at verse 9, so it is clear that there is symmetry and correspondence in respect to heavenly attributes. The case is different with spiritual attributes, however, and they will be discussed just below.

As I have frequently mentioned, ¹ heavenly attributes are all those that have to do with love for the Lord and love for our neighbor. The Lord is the one who bestows love and a sense of charity; the church is the one that accepts them. What unites the two is conscience, the soil in which love and charity are planted. So the space between the pieces symbolizes the capacity in us that is called perception, an inner voice, or conscience. Anything higher than perception, the inner voice, and conscience is the Lord's; anything below them is part of us. Since each side looks to the other, then, they are described as parallel; and since they answer or respond to one another as active and passive do, they are said to correspond.

Footnotes:

1096. The fact that a blessing on Shem's Jehovah means that everything good comes to those who worship the Lord from deep inside can be seen from the symbolism of being blessed.

A blessing involves every heavenly and spiritual kind of benefit, and every earthly kind as well. These are what a blessing symbolizes in an inner sense. In a shallower sense, it symbolizes every temporal, personal, and worldly kind of benefit; but if these are to be true blessings, they have to stem from an inner blessing. Only an inner blessing really is a blessing, because it is eternal and carries with it a full range of happiness. An inner blessing is the essential reality of any blessing, because what else genuinely exists besides what is eternal? Everything else that exists ceases to exist.

"A blessing on Jehovah!" was a common phrase among the ancients, ¹ and by it they meant that all blessings — everything good, in other words — came from him. It was also a standard way to thank the Lord for his benefits in past and present. The phrase occurs in David, for instance, in Psalms 28:6; 31:21; 41:13; 66:20; 68:19, 35; 72:18-19; 89:52; 119:12; 124:6; 135:21; 144:1; and in other authors.

[2] The exact wording in this verse is "A blessing on Jehovah God" because it has to do with Shem, or the inner church. This church is called an inner one because of its charity. Charity holds within it the presence of the Lord, who is accordingly called Jehovah God here. It is not so in the outer church. In this church the Lord admittedly is present, but not the same way as he is with the people of the inner church. Those who belong to the outer church, you see, still believe that they do the good deeds of charity under their own power, and as a result, the Lord is called "God" when they are the people being spoken of. The next verse, for example, which talks about Japheth, says "May God broaden Japheth!"

The fact that everything good comes to those who worship the Lord from deep inside can also be inferred from the pattern of things. This is the pattern: the Lord is the source of all heavenly traits, heavenly traits are the source of all spiritual traits, and spiritual traits are the source of all earthly traits. This pattern governs the emergence of all things, and it sets the pattern by which those things flow into us.

[3] The heavenly element is love for the Lord and for our neighbor. Where love does not exist, the link is broken and the Lord is not present, since he enters into us only through what is heavenly — that is, through love. When there is no heavenly element, no spiritual element is possible either, because everything spiritual comes from the Lord by way of something heavenly. The spiritual element is faith, so faith is impossible unless it comes from the Lord by way of charity, or love. The same is true of the earthly element.

Everything good flows in according to the same pattern, from which it follows that those who receive it are those who worship the Lord from deep inside, or in other words, from charity. It also follows that people who do not worship him in charity do not receive anything good but the kind of things that merely imitate goodness and are essentially evil. An example is the thrill of hatred and adultery, which, viewed in itself, is no more than a delight in excrement; and this is what it turns into in the other life.

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