8858. A person's whole character is determined by the nature of whatever dominates his life; this is what marks him off from others. His heaven is formed in accordance with it if he is good, or his hell if he is bad. For it constitutes his true will and so the true being of his life, which is unchangeable after death. From all this one may see what the life is like in a person who has been regenerated, and what it is like in one who has not been regenerated.

9285. Verses 14-19 Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year. You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread (seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt; and My face shall not be seen empty-handed ¹ ); and the feast of the harvest of the firstfruits of your labours, which you have sown in the field; and the feast of ingathering at the end ² of the year, when you have gathered in [the fruit of] your labours from the field. Three times in the year all your males shall be seen at the face of the Lord Jehovah. You shall not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice with anything made with yeast; ³ and the fat of My feast shall not remain through the night until morning. The first of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of Jehovah your God. You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk.

'Three times you shall keep a feast to Me in the year' means enduring worship of the Lord and thanksgiving on account of deliverance from damnation. 'You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread' means worship and thanksgiving on account of purification from falsities. 'Seven days' means a holy state then. 'You shall eat unleavened bread' means making good purified from falsities their own. 'As I commanded you' means in keeping with the laws of order. 'At the appointed time of the month Abib' means from the beginning of a new state. 'For in it you came out of Egypt' means deliverance from molestation by falsities. 'And My face shall not be seen empty-handed' means the reception of good out of mercy, and thanksgiving. 'And the feast of the harvest of the firstfruits of your labours, which you have sown in the field' means worship of the Lord and thanksgiving on account of the implanting of truth in that good. 'And the feast of ingathering at the end of the year, when you have gathered in [the fruit of] your labours from the field' means the worship of a thankful mind on account of the implanting of good after that, and so on account of regeneration and complete deliverance from damnation. 'Three times in the year all your males shall be seen at the face of the Lord Jehovah' means the Lord's constant appearance and presence in like manner in the truths of faith as well. 'You shall not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice with anything made with yeast' means that worship of the Lord arising from the Church's truths must not be mingled together with falsities arising from evil. 'And the fat of My feast shall not remain through the night until morning' means the good of worship, which does not originate in the self but comes from the Lord and is always new. 'The first of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring into the house of Jehovah your God' means that every truth of good and every good of truth is holy because it comes from the Lord alone. 'You shall not cook a kid in its mother's milk' means that the good of innocence belonging to a later state must not be joined to the truth of innocence belonging to an earlier state.

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901. 'The twenty-seventh day' means that which is holy. This is clear from what has been said above, for it is the composite number that is obtained when three is cubed - that is, three multiplied by three making nine, and nine multiplied by three again making twenty-seven. The predominant factor in this number therefore is three. This was how the most ancient people calculated numbers and by means of them meant nothing else than real things. That 'three' has the same meaning as seven becomes clear from what has been stated already just above. A hidden reason why it does so is that the Lord rose on the third day. The Lord's resurrection itself comprehends all that is holy, and the resurrection of all men. This was why in the Jewish Church this number became representative, and why in the Word it is a holy number. It is similar in heaven where no numbers are envisaged. Instead of three and seven they have a general holy idea of the resurrection and of the Coming of the Lord.

[2] That 'three' and 'seven' mean what is holy is clear from the following places in the Word: In Moses,

Anyone touching a dead body will be unclean for seven days. He shall purify himself on the third day, and on the seventh day he will be clean. And if he does not purify himself on the third day then he will not be clean on the seventh day. He who touches one pierced by the sword, or one dead, or a human bone, or a sepulchre will be unclean for seven days. The one who is clean shall sprinkle [with hyssop] over the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify him, and he [the unclean] shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and will be clean in the evening. Numbers 19:11, 11, 16, 19.

Quite clearly these requirements are representative, that is, things of an external nature meaning those that are internal. Take for example the fact that anyone was unclean who had touched one who had died, or one pierced [by the sword], or a human bone, or a sepulchre. Each of these objects means in the internal sense things that are a person's own, which are dead and unholy. So too with the requirement that he had to bathe himself in water and would be clean in the evening. And the third day and the seventh day were in like manner representative. They mean that which is holy because these were the days when he was to be purified and so be cleansed.

[3] The same usage occurs in the reference to the men coming back from the battle with the Midianites, who were told,

Camp outside the camp for seven days. Every one of you who has killed someone ¹ and every one who has touched one slain ² shall purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day. Numbers 31:19.

If this were just a ceremonial observance and the third and the seventh days were not representative and symbolical of that which is holy, that is, of purification, it would be something dead. It would be something without a cause and a cause without an end in view. That is, it would be like that which has been severed from its cause and its cause from its end in view; and so there would be nothing Divine about it at all. That the third day was representative of, and so symbolized, that which is holy, is quite clear from the Lord's coming down on Mount Sinai, concerning which event the following command was given, Jehovah said to Moses, Go to the people, and make them holy today and tomorrow, in order that they may wash their garments and be ready on the third day, for on the third day Jehovah will come down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people. Exodus 19:10-11, 15-16.

[4] The same usage occurs in Joshua's crossing the Jordan on the third day,

Joshua commanded, Pass through the middle of the camp, and command the people saying, Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will be crossing this Jordan to go and take possession of the land. 'The crossing of the Jordan' represented the introduction of the children of Israel, that is, of the regenerate, into the Lord's kingdom, 'Joshua', who led them in, representing the Lord Himself. And this took place 'on the third day'. Because the third day, like the seventh, was holy it was stipulated that the third year should be a year of taking tithes ³ and in that year people should be holy in their conduct by performing charitable works, Deuteronomy 26:12 and following verses. 'Tithes' ³ represented remnants, which are holy because they are the Lord's alone. Jonah's presence in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, Jonah 1:17, clearly represented the Lord's burial and His resurrection on the third day, Matthew 12:40.

[5] That 'three' means that which is holy is also clear in the Prophets, as in Hosea,

Jehovah will revive us after two days, on the third day He will raise us up that we may live before Him. Hosea 6:2.

Here too 'the third day' clearly stands for the Lord's Coming, and for His resurrection. In Zechariah,

It will happen in all the land that two parts in it will be cut off and breathe their last, and a third will be left in it. And I will lead the third part through fire, and I will refine them as one refines silver, and test them as one tests gold. Zechariah 13:8-9.

Here 'a third part' or three stands for that which is holy. A third embodies the same as three, and so does the third of a third, as in the present verse, for three is the cube root of twenty-seven.

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