10401. 'And Aaron said to them' means the outward features of the Word, the Church, and worship, devoid of the inward. This is clear from the representation here of 'Aaron' as the outward features of the Word, the Church, and worship, devoid of the inward, dealt with above in 10397. The fact that no Church existed among the Israelite and Jewish nation, only what was representative of a Church, thus an outward form devoid of the inward substance, is perfectly clear from Aaron, who, though a typical member of that nation, was nevertheless made the high priest, to whom the most sacred things of the Church were entrusted, and who was therefore considered to be holier than everyone else. For it is said of him that he made the golden calf, built an altar for it, made a proclamation that there was to be 'a feast to Jehovah' for it, brought that sin upon the people, and caused them to become undisciplined, in verses 2, 4-5, 21, 25, 35; and elsewhere that Jehovah was greatly moved with anger against Aaron and would have destroyed him, and that Moses prayed for him, Deuteronomy 9:20. These words imply that Aaron was like the people, who were idolatrous at heart, 4208, 4281, 4820, 5998, 6877, 7401, 8301, 8882. But since only the outward form of a Church devoid of its inward substance existed with that nation, and yet by means of it there was contact with heaven, it did not matter what a person there was like, provided that when engaged in external observances he obeyed what had been decreed and revered it.

In the case of representatives no attention is paid to the person, only to the reality represented by that person, see 665, 1097(end), 3670, 4208, 4281, 4288, 4444, 8588.

5390. There are other spirits again who correspond to filthy excretions, these being the kind who in the world were firmly set on taking vengeance. I have seen these in front of me, over to the left. Also corresponding to those filthy excretions are people who have debased spiritual ideas into filthy earthly ones. Spirits such as these have also approached me, bringing their foul thoughts with them. Those thoughts also led them to say things that were foul; and worse than that, they turned pure ideas towards unclean ones and converted them into the same. A large number of spirits like these have sprung from the lowest level of society; but they also came from other levels of people who in the world were among the higher-ranking. During their lifetimes the latter did not, it is true, express foul ideas in company, even though they thought them; they refrained from speaking what they thought, to avoid ill repute or loss of the friendships, material advantages, and important positions they enjoyed. Otherwise, when among others like themselves and at liberty to do so, they uttered the same kinds of things as those belonging to the lowest level of society. Indeed what they spoke was even fouler because they had an intellectual ability which they misused to defile even those holy ideas contained in the Word and religious teaching.