10254. 'And sweet-smelling cinnamon' means the perception of and affection for natural truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'sweet-smelling cinnamon' as the perception of and affection for natural truth, which is the interior truth of the external man. A person has life on a sensory level and life on a natural level. Both belong to the external man, but the life on the sensory level is exterior, deriving its truths from objects that exist on the planet and in the body, whereas the life on the natural level is interior, deriving its truths from the causes of which those objects are the effects. The life of the internal man is in like manner exterior and interior. The exterior derives its truths from those things that exist in the lowest parts of heaven, whereas the interior derives them from those things that exist in the interior parts of heaven. These truths within the internal man are meant by the fragrances which follow.

[2] The reason why 'sweet-smelling cinnamon' means the perception of and affection for truth is that 'a sweet smell' means a pleasing perception. A pleasing perception arises from the affection belonging to love, for if perception has any other origin it does not bring any pleasure.

All odours mean perception, see 3577, 4626, 4748.

Pleasing odours mean the perception of truth arising from good, 1514, 1517-1519, 4628, 10054, thus from the affection belonging to love.

The spheres belonging to perceptions are converted among spirits and angels into odours, 4626.

[3] In addition it should be recognized that all the sweet-smelling substances from which the anointing oil was prepared belong to the celestial group, that is, to things of the celestial kingdom, whereas the sweet-smelling substances from which the incense was made belong to the spiritual group, that is, to things of the spiritual kingdom. This also is why in the original language the term that is used to denote the spices from which the anointing oil was prepared is different and has a different root from the term used to denote the spices from which the incense was made. For in the Word there are particular terms which serve to express things of the celestial kingdom and particular terms that serve to express those of the spiritual kingdom; and there are others common to both. But to know which of these is which, one must recognize that heaven is divided into two kingdoms, as is the Church, and that the dominant essential in the celestial kingdom is the good of love to the Lord, whereas in the spiritual kingdom it is the good of charity towards the neighbour. How these differ from each other, see in the places referred to in 9277.

[4] The fact that the spice named here means the perception of and affection for celestial truth is clear in Isaiah,

Instead of spice ¹ there will be rottenness, and instead of a girdle, a falling apart, and instead of well-set hair ² , baldness. Isaiah 3:24.

This refers to the daughters of Zion, by whom the celestial Church is meant, at this point when it has been perverted. Therefore the word used for spice is the same as that in the present verse in Exodus. 'Instead of spice there will be rottenness' means that instead of the perception of and affection for truth springing from good, and of the life these bring with them, there will be a perception of and affection for falsity arising from evil, which holds no life at all within it.

[5] In Ezekiel,

The traders of Sheba and Raamah, traders with the best of every spice, and with [every] precious stone, and gold, ... Ezekiel 27:22.

These things were said in reference to Tyre, by which cognitions or knowledge of goodness and truth within the Church are meant, 'Sheba and Raamah' meaning those with whom cognitions of celestial things exist.

[6] The like is meant where the queen of Sheba is referred to in the first Book of Kings,

The queen of Sheba gave Solomon a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a very large quantity of spices, and precious stones. No quantity of spices such as this came ever again. 1 Kings 10:10.

'Sheba' means primarily those with whom cognitions of celestial things exist, see 1171, 3240.

From all this it is evident that these spices from which the anointing oil was prepared mean the perception of and affection for truth such as exist with those who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom.

[7] The reason why the sweet-smelling substances used in the preparation of the anointing oil - which were myrrh of the highest quality, sweet-smelling cinnamon, sweet-smelling calamus, and cassia - belong to the celestial group, that is, to things of the Lord's celestial kingdom, is that the anointing oil was the sign of the Divine Good of Divine Love within the Lord, which in heaven is His Divine Celestial. For this meaning of 'the anointing oil', see 9954, 10019.

脚注:

2625. 'At the appointed time' means when the Rational was such that it was receptive. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'time'. There are two things which appear to be indispensable while a person lives in the world because they exist as essential elements of the natural order - those two things being space and time. Living in the world or natural order therefore is living in space and time. But these two cease to have any existence in the next life. They do, it is true, appear to exist to some extent in the world of spirits, the reason for this being that spirits recently arrived from life in the body bring with them mental pictures of natural things. But subsequently they perceive that space and time do not exist in that life but states instead, and that states in the next life correspond to extensions of space and of time within the natural order - states in respect to Being corresponding to those of space, and in respect to Manifestation to those of time. Regarding space or place, see 1274, 1379, 1380, 1382.

[2] From this anyone may see what kind of mental pictures a person is able to have while in the world or natural order regarding things which belong to the next life and about many arcana of faith. He may see that such a person is unwilling to believe those things unless he can take them in by means of objects that exist in the world, indeed by sensory evidence. For he cannot do other than suppose that if he were to divest himself of his mental pictures that have been formed from space and time, more so to divest himself of space and time themselves, he would cease to be anything at all and so would have nothing left to him from which he could perceive with his senses or have thoughts of anything apart from that which was unintelligible to him. But in actual fact quite the reverse is the case: the life of angels is such that it is the wisest and happiest of all.

[3] This is the reason why people's ages mentioned in the Word do not in the internal sense mean ages but states, so that in this verse 'old age' does not mean old age. Nor does any number mean a number but some specific state, as in the case of 'a hundred years' mentioned further on. From this it now becomes clear that 'the appointed time' means the state when the rational was such that it was receptive.

[4] As regards the specific teaching presented here - that the Divine Rational received being and was given manifestation from the Lord's Divine spiritual united to His Divine celestial, when the days had been completed for him to cast off the human and when the Rational was such that it was receptive (meant in the internal sense by 'Sarah conceived and bore to Abraham a son in his old age, at the appointed time') - the following needs to be known:

The human has its beginnings in the inmost part of the rational, see 2106, 2194. The Lord advanced gradually towards the union of the Human Essence with the Divine Essence, and of the Divine Essence with the Human Essence, 1864, 2033, 2523.

He did so by His own power, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2083, through continuing temptations and repeated victories, 1690, 1737, 1813, and through receiving revelations repeatedly from His own Divine, 1616, 2500, till at length He cast out the whole human from the mother, 1414, 1444, 2574.

And in this way He made His Human - as to the Rational - Divine, as taught by the things that occur in this verse.

From all this it is evident how the explanation 'when the days had been completed for Him to cast off the human and when the Rational was such that it was receptive' is to be understood.

[5] Some idea of this matter may be had from what happens to people who are being regenerated. The celestial things of love, and the spiritual things of faith, are instilled into them by the Lord not all at once but gradually; and when by means of those things a person's rational has become such that it is able to be receptive, he is for the first time becoming regenerate, mostly by means of temptations in which he overcomes. While these experiences are taking place the days are being completed to cast off the old man and put on the new. Regarding man's regeneration, see 677, 679, 711, 848, 986, 1555, 2475.