634. Verses 3, 4. And I will give unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.

3. "And I will give unto my two witnesses," signifies the good of love and charity, and the truth of doctrine and faith, both from the Lord. n. 635); "and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days," signifies that they shall teach, and what shall be taught, even to the end of the old church and the beginning of the new n. 636; "clothed in sackcloth," signifies in mourning because of the non-reception of Divine good and Divine truth n. 637.

4. "These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands," signifies celestial good and spiritual good, or the good of love and the truth of that good n. 638; "standing before the God of the earth" signifies which are the Divine things proceeding from the Lord, and are His in heaven and in the church n. 639.

4637. It is quite clear that all the details, every single one, mentioned by the Lord in His parables are representative of and mean the spiritual and celestial attributes of His kingdom, and in the highest sense Divine attributes in Himself. Consequently anyone who does not know this cannot make anything else out of the Lord's parables than ordinary comparisons which hold nothing deeper within them, as with this particular parable concerning the ten virgins. He makes nothing more out of it if he does not know what 'virgins' means in the internal sense, and also what ten, five, lamps, vessels, oil, those who sell, a wedding feast, and every other detail mean. And the same is true with all other parables. As has been stated, the details mentioned by the Lord in them look, in the outward form they take, like ordinary comparisons, but in their internal form their nature is such that they fill the whole of heaven. This is because the internal sense is contained within every detail, and that sense is such that its spiritual and celestial content spreads like light and flame throughout the heavens in all directions. That sense is utterly superior to the sense of the letter, flowing from every phrase and every word, indeed from every tiny letter. But what is embodied in the internal sense of this particular parable may be seen from what follows below.