223. 7. The Nazirites represented the power of the Word in its outermost form. In the book of Judges we read about Samson. He was a Nazirite from his mother's womb. His hair was the source of his strength. A Nazirite and a Naziriteship in fact mean "hair. " Samson himself showed that his hair was the source of his strength when he said,

No razor has come upon my head, because I am a Nazirite from my mother's womb. If I am shaved, my strength will leave me and I will become weak and be like any other person. (Judges 16:17)

Without knowing what a "head" means in the Word, we cannot imagine why a Naziriteship that means "hair" would be instituted or why Samson's hair would be the source of his strength. A head means the intelligence that angels and people have from the Lord through divine truth. Hair, then, means an intelligence because of divine truth on the lowest or outermost level. Since this was the meaning of hair, it was a rule for the Nazirites that they were not to shave the hair on their head, because it was the Naziriteship of God on their head (Numbers 6:1-21). There was also a rule that the high priest and his sons were not to shave their heads, or they would die and wrath would come upon the entire house of Israel (Leviticus 10:6). Hair was so holy because of its meaning (which comes from its correspondence) that even the hair of the Son of Humankind (that is, the Lord in his role as the Word) is described. It was as shining white as wool, like snow (Revelation 1:14). The Ancient of Days is described as having similar hair (Daniel 7:9).

Since hair means truth on the outermost levels and therefore means the literal meaning of the Word, we become bald in the spiritual world if we despise the Word. On the other hand, if we value the Word highly and hold it as sacred, we will have good-looking hair in that world.

This correspondence is the reason why forty-two youths were torn apart by two she-bears for calling Elisha bald (2 Kings 2:23-24). Elisha represented the church's teaching from the Word. The she-bears stood for the power of truth on the outermost levels.

The power of divine truth or of the Word exists in its literal meaning because at that level the Word is complete, and people and angels of each of the Lord's kingdoms share in it together.

576. The Lord Alone Generates or Creates Us Anew, Provided We Cooperate; He Uses Both Goodwill and Faith as Means

The chapters on goodwill and faith have already shown that the Lord carries out the process of regenerating us by means of goodwill and faith. See especially the point that the Lord, goodwill, and faith form a unity in the same way our life, our will, and our intellect form a unity; if we separate them, each one crumbles like a pearl that is crushed to powder [362-367].

Both of these things, goodwill and faith, I call means because they forge our partnership with the Lord. Together they ensure that our goodwill is real goodwill and that our faith is real faith. The process of our regeneration cannot occur without our having some part to play in it; for this reason, the heading reads "provided we cooperate. "

In preceding chapters, our cooperation with the Lord has come up several times; it will be illustrated again here, however, because the human mind is by nature unable to rid itself of the sensation that it carries out this process under its own power.

[2] In every motion and every action there is an element that is active and another element that is responsive. The active element acts, and then the responsive element acts in response. As a result, a single action comes forth from the two elements. A mill is activated in this manner by a waterwheel; a carriage by a horse; a motion by a force; an effect by a cause; a dead force by a living force; and in general an instrumental cause by a principal cause. Everyone knows that each pair together completes a single action.

In the case of goodwill and faith, the Lord acts, and we act in response. There is an activity of the Lord that prompts our human response. The power to do good things comes from the Lord. As a result, there is a will to act that seems to be our own, because we have free choice. Either we can take action together with the Lord and by doing so, form a partnership with him; or else we can take action drawing on the power of hell, which is outside the Lord, and by doing so, separate ourselves from him. Actions of ours that are in harmony with the Lord's actions are what I mean here by "cooperation. " To make this even clearer, it will be illustrated with comparisons below [, 578].