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.

9912. 'The whole from violet' means through an inflow from the good of the celestial kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'violet' as the celestial love of truth, dealt with in 9466, which is the good of mutual love, the good of mutual love being the external good of the celestial kingdom. (The kinds of good that exist in the heavens proceed in order from inmost ones to outermost; and in the order in which they proceed they also flow in, for to proceed is to flow in. In what order those kinds of good proceed, see 9873.) That good is the one which flows into the internal good of the spiritual kingdom, which is meant by 'the robe'; from there springs the good of this kingdom, which is the good of charity towards the neighbour. This then is why the robe, the whole of it, consisted of violet. The nature of the inflow of the kinds of good into one another is such that none which is indeed good can exist unless it has within itself a more internal kind of good from which it proceeds; the more internal from which it proceeds constitutes its essence. So it is that this internal good comes to be present in that which follows it, almost as the soul is present in its body. The description 'that which follows' refers to that which proceeds from the other more internal good. The fact that the good of charity towards the neighbour proceeds from the good of mutual love, which is the prior or more internal good, has been shown several times. The good of mutual love is the external good of innocence, and unless the good of charity has within itself the good of innocence it is not the good of charity, 2526, 2780, 3183, 4797, 6765, 7840, 9262, consequently is not such unless it has within itself the good of mutual love. All this now explains why the robe consisted, the whole of it, of violet; for 'violet' means the good of mutual love, or what amounts to the same thing, the external good of innocence, and 'the robe' means Divine Truth in its inward form in the spiritual kingdom, which is the same thing as the good of charity, 9825.