10020. Verses 10-14 And you shall bring ¹ the young bull, before the tent of meeting, and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the young bull. And you shall slaughter the young bull before Jehovah, at the door of the tent of meeting. And you shall take some of the blood of the young bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger, and shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar. And you shall take all the fat covering the intestines, and the omentum over the liver, and the two kidneys and the fat that is on them; and you shall burn [them on] the altar. And the flesh of the young bull, and its skin, and its dung, you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin [offering].

'And you shall bring the young bull' means a state in which the natural or external man, as this is in its infancy, applies itself. 'Before the tent of meeting' means to purification, the reception of truth from heaven, and the joining of it to good. 'And Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the young bull' means a representative sign of the reception of goodness and truth in the natural or external man. 'And you shall slaughter the young bull before Jehovah' means preparation for the purification of goodness and truth from God in the external or natural man. 'At the door of the tent of meeting' means in order that they may be joined together. 'And you shall take some of the blood of the young bull' means Divine Truth accommodated in the natural or external man. 'And put it on the horns of the altar with your finger' means power that is Divine and the Lord's, originating in Himself. 'And shall pour out all the blood at the base of the altar' means the whole of Divine Truth present on the level of sensory perception, which is the lowest level of life in a person. 'And you shall take all the fat' means the accommodated good. 'Covering the intestines' means which exists on last or lowest levels. 'And the omentum over the liver' means the more internal good of the external or natural man. 'And the two kidneys and the fat on them' means the more internal truth of the external or natural man, and the good of that truth. 'And you shall burn [them on] the altar' means springing from the Lord's Divine Love. 'And the flesh of the young bull' means the evil of the earlier loves which are present there. 'And its skin' means falsity on lowest levels. 'And its dung' means all other unclean things. 'You shall burn with fire outside the camp' means that those things must be banished to hell and be consumed by the evils of self-love. 'It is a sin [offering]' means that which has been purified in this manner from evils [and falsities].

Imibhalo yaphansi:

8153. 'And the children of Israel went out with a lofty hand' means although they had been rescued by God's power from their attempt to bring them under their control. This is clear from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those who belong to the spiritual Church, that is, who are governed by faith bonded to charity, as immediately above in 8152; from the meaning of 'going out' as being delivered or rescued from the others' attempt to bring them under their control, which attempt is meant by 'pursuing', 8152; and from the meaning of 'a lofty hand' as God's power, for 'hand' means power, 878, 3387, 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 5544, 6292, 6947, 7011, 7188, 7189, 7518, 7673, 8050, 8069, and 'lofty' means God's. The reason why 'lofty' means God's is that the word is used to indicate heaven, where God is. This is why the Word says of Jehovah or the Lord that He dwells 'in the lofty place' and why He is called 'the Most High', as in Isaiah,

Jehovah is exalted, for He dwells in the lofty place. Isaiah 33:5.

In the same prophet,

Thus said the High and Lofty One inhabiting eternity, whose name is the Holy One, I inhabit the holy and high [place]. Isaiah 57:15.

In David,

Jehovah sent from on high and snatched me away Psalms 18:16.

So it is that Jehovah is called the Most High in Deuteronomy 32:8; Daniel 4:17, 24, 34; 7:18, 22, 25; Psalms 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 46:4; 50:14; 57:2; 82:6. Because 'high' meant heaven, and God in heaven, the worship of God performed by those who belonged to the representative Church was established on mountains and on high places. It was therefore also performed in lofty shrines which they built for themselves, referred to in various places in the historical sections and prophetical parts of the Word, as in Ezekiel,

You built for yourself a lofty shrine, and made a high place for yourself in every street; at every head of a road you built your lofty shrine. Ezekiel 16:24-25, 31.

The reason why God's was meant by 'high' is that the starry heaven was a sign of the angelic heaven, which was also thought to be located there. But the wiser ones among them knew that heaven was not located on high but where the good of love was, and that this resided within a person, wherever he might be. For the meaning of 'high places' as interiors, or forms of good residing in them, see 450, 1735, 2148, 4210, 4599.