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:

353. Let me address the symbolism of the fat as the actual quality of heaven, which also belongs to the Lord. Heaven's quality is made up of everything that belongs to love. Faith too is heavenly when it comes from love. Charity is a heavenly thing. All the good inspired by charity is heavenly. These things are all represented by the fat of the sacrifices, each separate aspect being represented by the fat over the liver (called the omentum), the fat over the kidneys, the fat sheathing the intestines, and the fat over the intestines. ¹ These fat deposits were holy and were burned on the altar (Exodus 29:13, 22; Leviticus 3:3-4, 14; ² 4:8-9, 19, 26, 31, 35; 8:16, 25). So they are called the bread of the fire offering for Jehovah's repose (Leviticus 3:5, 16), and this is why the Jewish people were forbidden to eat any of the fat from the animals; these rules were called an "eternal statute throughout their generations" (Leviticus 3:17; 7:23, 25). The statute was given because that church was such that it would not acknowledge anything internal, much less anything heavenly.

[2] The symbolism of fat as the heavenly aspects of charity and the goodness that it inspires can be seen in the prophets, as in Isaiah:

Why do you weigh out silver for what is not bread and your labor for what does not satisfy? Pay wholehearted attention to me and eat what is good, so that your soul may revel in the fat. (Isaiah 55:2)

In Jeremiah:

I will fill the soul of the priests with fat, and my people will receive fully of my goodness. (Jeremiah 31:14)

It is obvious that this does not mean fat but a heavenly-spiritual kind of goodness. In David:

They are filled with the fat of your house, and you slake their thirst with a river of your pleasures, because yours is the wellspring of life. In your light we see light. (Psalms 36:8-9)

The fat and the wellspring of life stand for the heavenly quality that belongs to love. The river of pleasures and the light stand for the spiritual quality that belongs to a faith rising out of love. In the same author:

My soul will be filled with grease and fat, and my mouth will give praise with lips of song. (Psalms 63:5)

Here the fat again stands for a heavenly quality, lips of song for a spiritual one. Clearly something heavenly is meant, since the soul will be filled with it. First fruits themselves — the firstborn produce of the earth — are therefore called fat (Numbers 18:12).

[3] Because heavenly things come in an uncountable number of major categories and an even more uncountable number of specific types, the song Moses recited before the people depicts them generally:

... butter from the cow and the milk of the flock, together with the fat of lambs and of rams — the sons of Bashan — and of goats, together with the fat of the kidneys of wheat; ³ and the blood of the grape you will drink as unmixed wine. (Deuteronomy 32:14)

No one could ever see what these things mean except in light of their inner meaning. Without the inner meaning, no one could see what butter from the cow is, or the milk of the flock, the fat of lambs, the fat of rams and of goats, the sons of Bashan, the fat of the kidneys of wheat, or the blood of the grape. Without an inner meaning, they would be words and nothing more, when in reality as a whole and individually they symbolize general and specific kinds of heavenly qualities.

Footnotes: