10024. '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. This is clear from the meaning of 'slaughtering', when the living creatures that were offered as a burnt offering or as a sacrifice are the subject, as preparation for the things that were represented by burnt offerings and sacrifices, those things being purification from evils and falsities, the implantation of goodness and truth, and the joining together of them, see above in 10022 (and since these things come from God the words 'before Jehovah' are used); and from the meaning of 'the young bull' as purification of the external or natural man, dealt with above in 9990. This explains why in the Word, when 'slaughtering' is mentioned in connection with burnt offerings and sacrifices, everything that an actual burnt offering or sacrifice represented is meant, because it then encompasses all those things.