10049. 'And wash the intestines' means purification of the lowest things. This is clear from the meaning of 'washing' as purifying, dealt with in 3147, 5954(end), 9088 (the purification that was represented by washing is a purification from evils and falsities, for these are what dirt is in the spiritual sense); and from the meaning of 'the intestines' as lowest things, dealt with above in 10030. The reason why it says that the intestines and legs had to be washed is that lowest things and natural things are meant by them, and lowest and natural things are sullied by evils and falsities, more so than interior ones. For they are based in the world, and the things of the senses - the lowest of all - stand exposed to the world and are therefore in direct receipt of influences from the world. Those influences enter them as the delights of self-love and love of the world, along with the delights of the senses and the illusions of the senses. But this is not so with interior things, for these are not based in the world but in heaven. Furthermore the things of the world cannot pass into those of heaven, for there is no such thing as physical influx; but the things of heaven can pass into those of the world present with a person. Therefore as soon as the external man wishes to enter the internal, which is done by means of reasonings that are products of self-love and love of the world, and products of the illusions of the senses, the internal man is closed; the Lord sees to this. Therefore when a person is being regenerated the purification of the internal man is effected in heaven by the Lord, with the consequence that while in the world the person does not see what is being accomplished in his internal man. These things are the ones that should be understood by the Lord's words in John,

The spirit breathes where it wishes, and you hear its voice; but you do not know where it comes from and where it goes away to. So is everyone who is born from the spirit. John 3:8.

'The spirit' is the life of charity through faith.

5955. 'And to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver' means that to the intermediary a complete amount of truth from good was imparted. This is clear from the representation of 'Benjamin' as the intermediary, dealt with in 5600, 5631, 5639, 5688, 5822; from the representation of Joseph, the one who 'gave', as internal good, dealt with in 5826, 5827, 5869, 5877; from the meaning of 'three hundred' as a complete amount, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'silver' as truth, dealt with in 1551, 2954, 5658. From all this it is evident that 'to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver' means that he imparted to the intermediary a complete amount of truth from good; for the intermediary, represented by 'Benjamin', is interior truth, through an influx into it from the internal celestial, 5600, 5631. The reason why 'three hundred' means a complete amount is that this number is the product of three multiplied by a hundred - 'three' meaning what is complete, 2788, 4495, and 'a hundred' meaning much, 4400. For the meaning held by compound numbers is clear from the simple numbers that are their factors.

[2] 'Three hundred' holds a similar meaning when mentioned elsewhere in the Word, as in Genesis 6:15, where it says that Noah's ark was three hundred cubits long, also in the reference to the three hundred men whom Gideon used to strike a blow at Midian, spoken of in Judges as follows,

The number of those who lapped in their hand to their mouth was three hundred men. Jehovah said to Gideon, By the three hundred men who were lapping I will give Midian into your hand. Gideon divided the three hundred men into three lines of battle, and he put a trumpet into the hand of each one of them, and empty water-pots, and torches in the middle of the water-pots. When they sounded the blast on the three hundred trumpets, Jehovah set the sword of [each] man against his companion and against the whole camp. Judges 7:6-8, 16, 22.

By 'the three hundred men' in this description too a complete amount is meant, and the same is meant by 'three lines of battle' into which the three hundred were divided. And by 'a hundred', the number in each line of battle, is meant much or enough, consequently that there were enough men to stand against Midian. Besides, every detail in this description was representative - the selection of those who lapped the water in their hand; the trumpet given to each man; and the water-pots with the torches inside them. This was so because 'Midian', whom they were opposing, represented truth that was not truth because there was no goodness of life in it. But such details will in the Lord's Divine mercy be explained elsewhere. The fact that numbers too were representative is evident from many other places, for example the number seven in Joshua, when they were going to capture Jericho. The command was given for seven priests to carry seven trumpets of rejoicing in front of the Ark; and on the seventh day they were to go round the city seven times, Joshua 6:4.