10051. 'And put them on top of its pieces and of its head' means the arrangement into order of the more external things under the interior and under the inmost ones. This is clear from the meaning of 'pieces' as the interior things, dealt with above in 10048; from the meaning of 'the head' as what is inmost, dealt with in 5328, 6436, 9656, 9913, 9914; from the meaning of 'the intestines and the legs', which were to be put on top of them, as the outermost and the more external things (for the meaning of 'the intestines' as the outermost or lowest things, see 10030, and for that of 'the legs' as the more external things, 10050); and from the meaning of 'putting these on top of the others' as arranging them into order. The reason why arranging the more external things into order under the interior ones is meant and not, according to the literal sense, above them is that the altar and the fire on the altar are the highest or inmost things. For the altar represented the Lord's Divine Human in respect of Divine Good, and the fire His actual Divine Love, and therefore the parts of the ram and burnt offering nearest the fire of the altar were higher or more internal, while those on top of them, being further away from the fire of the altar, were lower or more external. For in the internal sense the things nearest to what is highest are regarded as being higher or more internal, and those that are further away from it are regarded as being lower or more external, unlike the way things are stated in the literal sense. Whether you say higher and lower ones, or more internal and more external, it amounts to the same thing, because what is higher is more internal and what is lower is more external, 2148, 3084, 4599, 5146, 8325. From this it is now evident that 'you shall put the intestines and legs on top of the pieces and on top of the head' means that the outermost and the more external things must be arranged into order under the interior and the inmost ones.

The altar was representative of the Lord's Divine Human in respect of Divine Good, see 921, 2777, 2811, 9388, 9389, 9714, 9964.

The fire of the altar is His Divine Love, 6832.

9914. 'And its hole shall have a border round about' means that it is bounded and enclosed on every side. This is clear from the meaning of 'a border', or edging, around the hole or opening on the upper part of the robe, as being bounded and enclosed on every side; for that border or edging which went all round served to bound and enclose. The words here and those following immediately after describe the course which the inflow of celestial good into spiritual good takes. What is involved in this inflow is similar to the course taken by the forces flowing from a person's head through the neck into the body, as is clear from what has been stated regarding correspondence in the paragraph immediately above.

[2] The nature of this influx must also be stated briefly. All the chief things that belong to the head, that is to say, to the cerebrum and cerebellum, are assembled into bundles of fibres and tiny nerves there, and so assembled pass down through the neck into the body. Within the body they spread out in every direction and move its parts altogether as the will, which begins in the brain, desires. Similar to all this is the flow of powers and forces down from the celestial kingdom, which is the head in the Grand Man or heaven, into the spiritual kingdom, which is so to speak the body there. This inflowing is also what is meant and described by 'the robe's hole for the head in the middle', and the limits of it by 'a border round about'. This then is why a boundary and enclosure on every side is meant by 'the border' which that hole possessed. The actual boundary is described next.

2777. 'On one of the mountains' means Divine love. This is clear from the meaning of 'a mountain' as love, dealt with in 795, 796, 1430, here Divine love since it has reference to the Lord. For the nature of that love, see 1690, 1601 (end), 1789, 1812, 1820, 2077, 2253, 2500, 2572. As it was Divine love from which the Lord fought and overcame in temptations, and from which He sanctified and glorified Himself, Abraham is in this verse told to offer Isaac as a burnt offering 'on one of the mountains' in the land of Moriah. Light is shed on this representative act by the fact that David built an altar, and Solomon the Temple, on Mount Moriah, 2775. For the altar on which burnt offerings and sacrifices were offered, and later the Temple, was the chief representative of the Lord. The fact that the altar was the chief representative of Him may be seen in 921 and is clear in David,

They will bring me to Your holy mountain and to Your dwellings. Then I will go in to the altar or God, to God my exceeding joy. Psalms 43:3-4.

And that 'the Temple' was representative of Him is clear in John,

Jesus said, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again. He was speaking of the temple of His body. John 2:19, 21.