10584. And I will remove the palm of My hand, and thou shalt see My back parts, and My faces shall not be seen. That this signifies that they should see the external things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, but not the internal things; is evident from the signification of the “back parts of Jehovah,” as being the external things of the Word, of the church, and of worship (of which in what follows); and from the signification of the “faces of Jehovah,” as being the internal things of these (of which above, n. 10578); consequently by “seeing the back parts and not the faces of Jehovah” is signified seeing the external things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, and not the internal things. That such was the Israelitish and Jewish nation, and that such it is at this day also, has been shown in all that precedes of this chapter, and of the preceding one.

[2] The reason why the “back parts of Jehovah” signify the external things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, is that the “faces” signify the internal things (see n. 10578). And those are said to “see the back parts of Jehovah and not the faces,” who believe and adore the Word; but only its external, which is the sense of the letter, and do not penetrate more interiorly, as do those who have been enlightened, and who make for themselves doctrine from the Word, by which they may see its genuine sense, thus its interior sense. (That the Word cannot be apprehended without doctrine, and that doctrine drawn from the Word by one who is enlightened must be for a lamp to the understanding, see n. 9382, 9409, 9410, 9424, 9430, 10105, 10324, 10400, 10431; and that the internal sense of the Word teaches this doctrine, n. 9430.) From all this it can be seen what it is to “see the back parts of Jehovah and not His faces.”

[3] But those who do not believe in the Word, do not even see the back parts of Jehovah; but turn themselves backward from Jehovah, and see only themselves and the world. These are they who are meant by those in the Word who are said to “turn their back parts to the temple, and to adore the sun,” of whom it is written in Ezekiel:

I was brought into the court of the house of Jehovah, and behold five and twenty men, whose back parts were toward the temple of Jehovah, and their faces toward the east; and the same bowed themselves toward the rising of the sun (Ezekiel 8:16);

by “the sun and its rising” is meant the sun of the world and its rising, and thereby is signified the love of self, which love is diametrically opposite to love to the Lord. From this it is that the sun of the world is presented in the idea of the angels as something at the back quite dark; whereas the Lord, who is the sun of heaven, appears before the face (n. 7078). Of such men it is said that they “turn their back parts to the temple,” and also that they “go backward,” in Jeremiah:

Thou hast forsaken Jehovah, thou art gone backward (Jeremiah 15:6).

They have gone away in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and have come backward, and not forward (Jeremiah 7:24).

7078. Be it known that the spirits of other earths do not appear within the sphere where the spirits of our earth are, but outside of it, some at greater, some at less distance, and also in different quarters. The reason is that the spirits of one earth are not of the same genius and life as those of another; also that they constitute different provinces in the Grand Man. The unlikeness of the state of life causes this appearance. But in the inmost heaven they do not appear separated from one another. The spirits of Mercury, however, do not appear in a fixed quarter, nor at a fixed distance, but appear now in front, now to the left, and now a little to the back. The reason is that they are allowed to wander through the universe to acquire knowledges, and thereby to enrich the memory. Their planet is presented to spirits at the back, as is also the sun of the world, when they are thinking about it, for nothing whatever of it appears. The reason why it is presented at the back is that to those who are in the other life the sun of the world is in complete obscurity, and is thick darkness; but the sun of heaven, or the Lord, appears in front before the right eye, because from this sun they have all their light; for the right eye not only corresponds to the intellectual sight insofar as it is illumined by truth, but also insofar as it is illumined by good (n. 4410). In this way does the Lord look at man from good, and illumine him through good.