9689. 'And you shall make for the screen five pillars of shittim [wood]' means a sufficient amount of support provided by the uniting intermediary through the good of merit belonging to the Lord's Divine Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'the screen in place of the tent door' as the intermediary uniting the second or middle heaven to the first or lowest, dealt with above in 9686; from the meaning of 'five' as that which exists partially or in some measure, dealt with in 4638, and also a sufficient amount; from the meaning of 'pillars' as support, dealt with in 9674; and from the meaning of 'shittim wood' as the good of merit, which, being the Lord's alone - dealt with in 9472, 9486 - accordingly belongs to His Divine Human, for This is what merit truly belongs to, 9486.

2850. 'And like the sand which is on the seashore' means a whole multitude of correspondent facts. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sea' as facts in general or a gathering together of them, dealt with in 28, 2120, and from the meaning of 'the sand' as facts individually and separately. Facts are compared to 'the sand' because in the internal sense the particles of stone from which the sand is formed mean facts, 643, 1298. Both comparisons are made here - that they will be multiplied 'as the stars of the heavens' and 'as the sand on the seashore 'because 'stars', or cognitions, are related to the rational, whereas 'the sand of the seashore', or facts, are related to the natural. When the things that belong to the rational man, namely the goods and truths present in cognitions, so exist in accordance with the things that belong to the natural man, that is to say, with facts, that they make one or mutually support each other, they in that case correspond. The Lord brings man's rational concepts and his natural images into this state of correspondence when He regenerates him, that is, makes him spiritual. It is for this reason that both the stars of the heavens and the sand on the seashore are mentioned here. Otherwise one phrase would have been sufficient.