10208. And Aaron shall make expiation upon the horns of it. That this signifies purification from evils through the truths of faith which are from the good of love, is evident from the signification of “expiating,” as being purification from evils (see n. 9506); from the representation of Aaron, as being the Lord as to Divine good and as to the work of salvation (n. 9806, 9946, 10017); and from the signification of “horns,” as being powers (n. 10182), and also the exteriors (n. 10186). That it signifies purification through the truths of faith which are from the good of love, is because expiation was made by blood, and by “blood” is signified the truth of faith which is from the good of love (n. 4735, 7317, 7326, 7846, 7850, 7877, 9127, 9393, 10026, 10033, 10047); and all purification from evils is effected by means of the truths of faith which are from the good of love (n. 2799, 5954, 7044, 7918, 9088). That expiations were made with blood upon the horns of the altar of burnt-offering and of the altar of incense, is evident in Leviticus 4:3, 7, 18, 25, 30, 34; 16:18.

[2] The reason why the altars were expiated in this way, was because the holy things were defiled by the sins of the people, for the people represented the church; and therefore the things that belonged to the church, and were called its sanctuaries, as the altar and the Tent, together with the things that were therein, were defiled when the people itself sinned; seeing that these sanctuaries belonged to the church. The same can be seen in Moses:

Ye shall separate the sons of Israel from their uncleanness, that they die not in their uncleanness, when they defile My Habitation that is in the midst of them (Leviticus 15:31).

Aaron shall make expiation for the holy place, from the uncleannesses of the sons of Israel. Thus shall he make expiation for the sanctuary of holiness, and for the Tent of meeting, and for the altar (Leviticus 16:16, 33).

[3] The case herein is this. What are called the holy things of the church are not holy unless they are solemnly received; for unless they are solemnly received, the Divine does not flow into them, and all the holy things with man are holy merely from the Divine influx. For instance, holy edifices, the altars there, the bread and wine for the Holy Supper, become holy solely through the presence of the Lord; and therefore if the Lord cannot be present there because of the sins of the people, what is holy is absent, because the Divine is absent. Moreover, the holy things of the church are profaned by sins, because these remove from them what is Divine.

[4] This then is the reason why the sanctuaries are said to be defiled by the uncleanness of the people, and that on this account they were to be expiated every year. That expiations were made by blood upon the horns of the altars, and not upon the altars themselves, was because the horns were their extremes, and nothing of man has been purified unless the extremes have been purified; for it is the extremes into which the interiors flow, and the influx takes place in accordance with their state; and therefore if the extremes have been perverted, the interiors are perverted therein; for when these flow in, the recipient forms of the interiors accommodate themselves to the state of the extremes. When there is something wrong with the eye, the sight which comes from within sees no otherwise than according to this state of the eye. Or when there is something wrong with the arms, the powers which come from within must needs put themselves forth accordingly. Wherefore, if the natural man has been perverted, the spiritual man must needs act into him in a perverted manner. From this it is that the spiritual or internal man is then closed.

[5] But see what has been shown above on this subject, namely, that in order to effect man’s purification, he must be purified as to the natural or external man (see the places cited in n. 9325); for the reason that all influx is from the internal into the external, and not the reverse (n. 5119, 6322 for the natural of man is the plane in which influx from the spiritual world terminates (n. 5651); and the externals of man have been formed to be of service to the internals (n. 5947, 9216, 9828). Thus the external man must be wholly subject to the internal (n. 5786, 6275, 6284, 6299); for the reason that the internal man is in heaven, and the external in the world (n. 3167, 10156); and of himself, or left to himself alone, the external man is opposite to the internal (n. 3913, 3928 moreover what the internal man is, and what the external, may be seen in n. 9701-9709).

6299. Saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God set thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh. That this signifies that his own spiritual may be in the truth of the intellectual and the good of the will, is evident from the representation of Israel, as being spiritual good (see n. 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833); and from the representation of Ephraim, as being the truth of the intellectual, and of Manasseh, as being the good of the will (of which above). That the spiritual, which is “Israel,” may be in them, is signified by the words, “in thee shall Israel bless, and God set thee.”

[2] As regards the spiritual represented by Israel being in the truth of the intellectual and the good of the will, which are “Ephraim and Manasseh,” the case is this. The spiritual good which is represented by Israel is the spiritual of the internal church; whereas the truth and good represented by Ephraim and Manasseh are of the external church (see n. 6296). In order for an internal to be an internal of the church, it must needs be in the external of the church, for the external holds the place of the foundation on which the internal stands, and is the receptacle into which the internal flows. Hence it is that the natural, which is external, must needs be regenerated; for unless it is regenerated, the internal has neither foundation nor receptacle; and if it has no foundation nor receptacle, it utterly perishes. This then is what is meant by his own spiritual being in the truth of the intellectual and the good of the will.

[3] As an illustration of this matter take this example. The very affection of charity which a man feels within himself as a quietude and bliss in benefiting the neighbor without regard to any recompense, is the internal of the church; but to will this good and to do it from truth, that is, because it has been so commanded in the Word, is the external of the church. If the natural, which is the external, is not in agreement, that is, does not will nor do this good, because it sees in it no recompense, thus nothing of self (for in the natural or external man there is such a disposition both from what is hereditary and from what is actual), then the internal has no foundation, nor corresponding receptacle, except such as either rejects, or perverts, or extinguishes the influx; and therefore the internal perishes, that is, is closed and stopped up, so that nothing from heaven can pass into the natural through the internal, except some light of a general nature that passes through the chinks everywhere round about, in order that there may be a faculty of thinking, of willing, and of speaking, but according to that which is in the natural, thus in favor of evil and falsity against good and truth, to which purpose it makes subservient that amount of spiritual light which in a general manner flows in through the chinks everywhere round about.