9938. Which the sons of Israel shall sanctify in respect to all the gifts of their holy things. That this signifies acts of worship representative of removal from sins, is evident from the signification of “gifts” or “offerings,” which among the Israelitish and Jewish nation were chiefly burnt-offerings, sacrifices, and meat-offerings, as being the interior things of worship, for these were what they represented. The interior things of worship are those which are of love and faith, and from this forgivenesses of sins, that is, removals from them, because sins are removed through faith and love from the Lord. For insofar as the good of love and of faith enters, or what is the same thing, so far as heaven enters, so far sins are removed, that is, so far hell is removed, both that which is within man, and that which is without him. From this it is evident what is meant by “the gifts which they sanctified,” that is, offered. The gifts were called “holy,” and presenting or offering them was called “sanctifying” them, because they represented holy things; for they were offered for expiations, thus for removals from sins, which are effected through faith and love to the Lord from the Lord.

[2] They were called “gifts and offerings made to Jehovah,” although Jehovah, that is, the Lord, does not accept any gifts or offerings, but gives to everyone freely. Nevertheless He wills that these things should come from man as from himself, provided he acknowledges that they are not from himself, but from the Lord. For the Lord imparts the affection of doing good from love, and the affection of speaking truth from faith; but the affection itself flows in from the Lord, and it appears as if it were in the man, thus from the man; for whatever a man does from the affection which is of love, he does from his life, because love is the life of everyone. From this it is evident that what are called “gifts and offerings made to the Lord” by man are in their essence gifts and offerings made to man by the Lord; and their being called “gifts and offerings” is from the appearance. All who are wise in heart see this appearance; but not so the simple; and yet the gifts and offerings of the latter are grateful, insofar as they are offered from ignorance in which is innocence. Innocence is the good of love to God, and dwells in ignorance, especially with the wise in heart; for they who are wise in heart know and perceive that there is nothing of wisdom in themselves from themselves; but that everything of wisdom is from the Lord, that is, everything of the good of love, and everything of the truth of faith; thus that even with the wise innocence dwells in ignorance. From this it is evident that the acknowledgment of this fact, and especially the perception of it, is the innocence of wisdom.

[3] The gifts that were offered in the Jewish Church, and which were chiefly burnt-offerings, sacrifices, and meat-offerings, were also called “expiations from sins,” because they were offered for the sake of the forgivenesses of them, that is, removals from them. Those who belonged to that church also believed that their sins were accordingly forgiven; nay, that they were entirely taken away; for it is said that after they had offered these things they would be “forgiven” (see Leviticus 4:26, 31, 35; 5:6, 10, 1 5:13, 16, 18; 9:7, 15, 15:15, 30 (Leviticus 9:18)). But they did not know that these offerings represented interior things, thus such things as are done by man from the love and faith that are from the Lord; and that these are the things which expiate, that is, remove sins, and that after they have been removed they appear as if they were quite removed or taken away, as has been shown above in this and in the preceding articles. For that nation was in representative worship, thus in external worship without internal, by means of which there was at that time a conjunction of heaven with man. (See the places cited in n. 9320, 9380)

9380. And the people shall not come up with him. That this signifies no conjunction whatever with the external apart from the internal, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being conjunction (as above, n. 9373); here no conjunction, because it is said they “shall not come up.” That it denotes no conjunction with the external sense of the Word apart from the internal, is because the sons of Jacob, who are here meant by “the people,” were in what is external without what is internal (see n. 3479, 4281, 4293, 4307, 4429, 4433, 4680, 4844, 4847, 4865, 4868, 4874, 4899, 4903, 4911, 4913, 6304, 8588, 8788, 8806, 8871). That they were in what is external without what is internal, is very manifest from the worship of the golden calf forty days after this time. They would have acted differently if they had been at the same time in what is internal, that is, in the good of love to and of faith in Jehovah; for this is what is internal. Those who have been conjoined by this cannot go away to the worship of an idol, because their heart is far from it and because that people was conjoined with the Lord merely by external things, by which they represented internal things, therefore it is said “the people shall not come up,” by which is signified that there is no conjunction whatever with an external that is devoid of an internal. The representations that are devoid of the knowledge, faith, and affection of the interior things that are represented, conjoin the thing, but not the person.

[2] The case is the same with those who remain in the mere literal sense of the Word, and gather from it nothing of doctrine; for they are separated from the internal sense, because the internal sense is doctrine itself. The conjunction of the Lord with the external things of the Word is through its interior things; and therefore if the interior things have been separated, there is possible no other conjunction of the Lord with the external things than as with a gesture of the body without any agreement of the heart. It is the very same with those who are perfectly acquainted with all the particulars of the doctrine of their church, and yet do not apply them to life. These also are in external things devoid of what is internal, for with them the truths of doctrine are outside so long as they have not been inscribed on their life. The reason why there is no conjunction of the Lord with their truths, is that the Lord enters into a man’s truths of faith through his life; thus through the soul which is in the truths.