5694. 'And he went to his bedchamber and wept there' means within itself, in an unseen manner. This is clear from the meaning of 'going to one's bedchamber' as within oneself, in an unseen manner. To say someone was 'entering his bedchamber' and also 'shutting the door' was a commonplace expression which the ancients used when they meant an action that should remain unseen. The expression had its origin in the meaningful signs which existed in the Ancient Church. For they would speak of 'the house', which they used in a spiritual sense to mean a person, 3128, and of its 'chambers' and 'bedchambers to mean the person's interiors. This is the reason why 'going to (or entering) one's bedchamber' meant within oneself, consequently so that one could not be seen. And since 'entering one's bedchamber' had this particular meaning, the expression is used in various places in the Word; as in Isaiah,

Go away, my people, enter your bedchambers, and shut your door behind you. Hide yourself, so to speak, for a little moment, until the anger passes over. Isaiah 26:20.

Quite clearly 'entering bedchambers' does not in this case mean entering bedchambers but keeping out of sight and within oneself.

[2] In Ezekiel,

He said to me, Have you not seen, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chambers of his own idol? For they say, Jehovah does not see us. Ezekiel 8:12.

'Doing in the dark, each in the chambers of his own idol' stands for within themselves inwardly, in their thoughts. The interior aspects of their thought and affection were being represented to the prophet by means of 'chambers', and they were called 'the chambers of an idol'.

[3] In Moses,

Outside the sword will bereave - and out of the chambers terror - both young man and virgin, suckling together with a man in old age. Deuteronomy 32:15.

'The sword' stands for the vastation of truth and the punishment of falsity, 2799. 'Out of the chambers terror' stands for a person's interiors; for here too it is self-evident that one should not take 'the chambers' to mean chambers.

[4] In David,

He waters the mountains from His chambers. Psalms 104:13.

In the spiritual sense 'watering the mountains' is blessing those in whom love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour are present. For 'a mountain' means the celestial element of love, see 795, 1430, 4210, and therefore 'from His chambers' means from the interior parts of heaven. In Luke,

Whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light; and what you have spoken in the ear in bedchambers will be proclaimed on the housetops. Luke 12:3.

Here also 'bedchambers' stands for a person's interiors - what he has thought, what he has intended, and what he has mulled over. In Matthew,

When you pray, enter your bedchamber, and shut your door, and pray in secret. Matthew 6:6.

'Entering one's bedchamber and praying' stands for acting in an unseen manner; for these words had their origin in things of a representative nature.

3128. 'And told [those of] her mother's house all about these things' means towards whatever natural good enlightenment was able to reach. This is clear from the meaning of 'mother's house' as the good of the external man, that is, natural good. For 'a house' means good, see 2233, 2234, ¹ 2559; and man's external or natural is received from the mother, but his internal from the father, 1815. In the Word the good that exists with a person is compared to 'a house', and for that reason one who is governed by good is called 'the House of God'. But internal good is called one's 'father's house', while good of an identical degree is spoken of as one's 'brethren's house', and external good, which is the same as natural good, is referred to as one's 'mother's house'. Furthermore all good and truth is born in this fashion, that is to say, by means of the influx of internal good as the father into external good as the mother.

[2] Since the subject in this verse is the origin of truth that was to be joined to good in the Rational it is therefore said that Rebekah, who represents that truth, 'ran to her mother's house', for this is where truth originates. As stated and shown above, all good flows in by an internal route, that is, by way of the soul, into man's rational, and through the rational into his factual knowledge, and even into his sensory awareness, and by means of enlightenment there causes truths to be seen. From there truths are summoned, stripped of the natural form they possess, and joined to good in the mid-way position, that is to say, in the rational, and together constitute the rational man, and at length the spiritual man. How all this is effected however is quite unknown to anyone, for at the present day scarcely any knowledge exists of what good is or of its being distinct and separate from truth. Still less does anyone know that a person is reformed by means of the influx of good into truth and by the joining together of the two. Nor is it known that the rational is distinct and separate from the natural. And since these matters which are very general are unknown, it cannot possibly be known how truth is introduced into good, and how the joining together of these two is effected - which are the things dealt with in this chapter in the internal sense. Now seeing that these arcana have been revealed and are open to view to any who are governed by good, that is, who have minds like those of angels, such arcana, no matter how obscure they may appear to others, must be explained since they are in the internal sense.

[3] Regarding that enlightenment, which comes from good by way of truth in the natural man, here called 'the mother's house', the position is that Divine Good with man flows into his rational, and through the rational into his natural, and even into his factual knowledge, that is, into the cognitions and matters of doctrine there, as has been stated. Then by fitting the truths there to itself, inflowing Divine Good shapes them for itself, and by means of them enlightens everything in the natural man. But if the life of the natural man is such that it does not receive Divine Good, but either rejects, or perverts, or stifles it, Divine Good cannot fit truths to itself and so shape them for itself. As a consequence the natural cannot be enlightened any longer, for enlightenment in the natural man is effected by good through truths; and when there is no longer any enlightenment no reformation can take place. This is the reason why in the internal sense also so much reference is made to the nature of the natural man, and so to the origin of truth, namely that it arises from the good there.

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