9827. 'And a turban' means intelligence and wisdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'a turban' as intelligence and wisdom. 'A turban' has this meaning because it is a covering for the head, and 'the head' means a person's inward powers, which are those of intelligence and wisdom, 9656. All items of clothing derive their meaning from that part of the body which they cover, as for example with an item of clothing that covers the breast, such as a breastplate; those that cover the loins, such as trousers; those that cover the feet, such as stockings; those that cover the soles of the feet, such as sandals; and so also one that covers the head, such as a turban, headdress, or cap.

[2] The truth of all this is clear from representatives in the next life. There, when wisdom and intelligence are taken away from spirits, which happens when angelic communities are removed from them, the covering on their head is seen to be taken away from them. Once this has been done a spirit becomes stupid, devoid of any perception of what is true and good. But afterwards, as intelligence and wisdom return, his head is covered again. But items of clothing on the head there mean not so much wisdom belonging to good as intelligence belonging to truth. The turban that belonged to Aaron however means wisdom as well, since it was made from fine linen, and a holy crown was placed on it, which was a plate made from pure gold, on which Holiness to Jehovah was engraved, described further on in verses 37, 39, of the present chapter, and also Exodus 29:6; 39:28. But the turban of [ordinary] linen, and the rest of the garments of [such] linen which were also Aaron's, meant intelligence belonging to truth, but not wisdom belonging to good. Regarding those garments and that turban, see Leviticus 16:4; Ezekiel 44:18. For 'linen' or 'flax' means truth in the natural level of a person's mind, 7601, so that 'a turban of [ordinary] linen' means intelligence there.

[3] People who have no knowledge of the nature of representatives and correspondences can scarcely be brought to believe that such things are meant. But let them weigh up this, that in heaven spiritual realities are envisaged instead of natural things, so that instead of a turban, and in general instead of garments, such things are envisaged as belong to intelligence and wisdom, also to faith and love, in general such as belong to truth and goodness. For all these are spiritual, since heaven is a spiritual world. Let them also weigh up this, that it was Jehovah on Mount Sinai who described and decreed what Aaron's garments should be, which being so, every detail of the description holds within itself the Divine Celestial, which is disclosed solely by means of knowledge about correspondences and representatives.

4570. 'But indeed Israel will be your name' means the nature of the internal natural, or the nature of the spiritual aspect of it, represented by 'Israel'; 'and He called his name Israel' means the internal Natural or the celestial-spiritual aspect of the Natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'name' as the essential nature, dealt with just above in 4568, and from the meaning of 'Israel' as the internal aspect of the Lord's natural and also the celestial-spiritual aspect of the Natural. No one can know why Jacob was called Israel unless he knows what the internal natural is and what the external natural is, and in addition what the celestial-spiritual aspect of the natural is. These matters have in actual fact been explained already, when Jacob was named Israel by the angel; but because they are the kind of things about which people know little, if anything, they need to be explained again.

[2] Two quite distinct and separate degrees exist in man - the rational and the natural. The rational constitutes the internal man and the natural the external; but the natural, like the rational also, has an external aspect of its own and an internal one. The external aspect of the natural is composed of the physical senses and of the impressions received from the world through these senses immediately. By means of his sensory impressions a person is in touch with things belonging to the world and to the body; and people who are confined solely to this natural are called sensory-minded because their thought goes scarcely at all beyond sensory experience. But the internal part of the natural is made up of ideas inferred - by the use of analysis and analogies - from what is in the external, even though it draws on and derives its ideas from sensory impressions. So the natural is in touch through the senses with things belonging to the world and to the body, and through ideas, arrived at by the use of analogy and analysis, with the rational, thus with things belonging to the spiritual world. Such is the composition of the natural. There is another part that exists between and has links with both of them - with the external aspect and with the internal - and so is in touch through the external with things in the natural world, and through the internal with those in the spiritual world. This external natural is represented specifically by 'Jacob', and the internal natural by 'Israel'. The situation is similar with the rational; that is to say, there is an external aspect and an internal, and a further one between the two. But this, in the Lord's Divine mercy, is to be discussed where Joseph is the subject, for 'Joseph' represents the external aspect of the rational.

[3] What the celestial-spiritual is however has been stated several times already - that essentially the celestial is good and the spiritual truth, so that the celestial-spiritual is that which is good resulting from truth. Now because the Lord's Church is both external and internal, and internal features of the Church had to be represented by the descendants of Jacob through things of an external nature, Jacob could not therefore be called Jacob any longer, but was called Israel - see what has been introduced already about these matters in 4286, 4292. Further to this it should be recognized that the terms celestial and spiritual are used both of the rational and of the natural. Celestial is used when people receive good, and spiritual when they receive truth from the Lord; for the good which flows from the Lord into heaven is called celestial, and the truth is called spiritual. In the highest sense the naming of Jacob as Israel means that the Lord progressed towards more interior aspects and made the Natural within Him Divine, both the external aspect of it and the internal. For in the highest sense that which is represented is the Natural itself.