Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9615

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9615. 'And you shall make curtains from [she-]goats to be a tent over the dwelling-place' means the external part of heaven which consists of the truths derived from external celestial good. This is clear from the meaning of 'curtains' as interior truths of faith, dealt with in 9595, at this point exterior truths of faith, since they were for the tent which went over the dwelling-place; from the meaning of 'wool of she-goats', which these curtains were made from, as external celestial good, dealt with in 9470; and from the meaning of 'a tent over the dwelling-place' as the external part of heaven. For 'the dwelling-place' means heaven, 9594, and 'the tent' that covered the dwelling-place all over means the external part of heaven. From all this it is evident that 'curtains made from the wool of she-goats to be a tent over the dwelling-place' means truths derived from external celestial good, which the external part of heaven consists of. But no one can have any knowledge of the nature of all this unless he knows about the internal and the external of each heaven, and about the influx of one into the other. For the Lord flows into all the heavens both directly and indirectly, 9223, indirectly through the inmost heaven into the middle heaven, and through the internal part of this middle heaven into the external part of it.


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