8206. 'And the waters were a wall for them on their right and on their left' means that they were held back from falsities on every side. This is clear from the meaning of 'the waters' - the waters of that sea - as falsities arising from evil, dealt with in 8137, 8138; from the meaning of 'being a wall for them' as being held back from those falsities, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'on their right and on their left' as on every side. The reason why 'being a wall for them' - when said of 'the waters', by which falsities are meant - denotes being held back from falsities is that the situation with a person is as follows: When he is maintained by the Lord in goodness and truth falsities and evils are removed. Having been removed they stand around him like a wall, for they cannot enter the area where goodness and truth are. The reason for this is that goodness and truth have the Lord present within them, and the Lord's presence repels evil and falsity, on every side; for goodness and truth are the complete opposites of evil and falsity and therefore cannot exist together with them without one destroying the other.

[2] Goodness accompanied by truth destroys, that is, removes evil accompanied by falsity, because goodness is from God and consequently possesses all power, whereas evil is from hell and therefore possesses no power at all. Goodness acts on internal levels, whereas evil acts on external ones. When the evils accompanied by falsities residing with a person are removed they stand around him, as stated, like a wall. They are constantly attempting to rush in on him, but they cannot do so because the Lord's presence, residing in the goodness and truth, holds them back. These are the considerations meant by the waters being like a wall for them on the left and on the right. Regarding a person's being held back from evil and falsity through being maintained by the Lord in goodness and truth, see 1581, 2406, 4564. Yet no one can be held back from evil and maintained in good unless he has received that ability through exercising charity in the world. A life of good, that is, a life led in accordance with the truths of faith, and therefore an affection for or a love of good, achieves this. The person who has a love of and affection for good as a result of the life he leads can be in a sphere of goodness and truth, but not one who through the life he leads has taken on the nature of evil.

705. THE INTERNAL SENSE

Here the subject in particular is the Flood, which means not only the temptations that the member of the Church called Noah had to undergo before he could be regenerated, but also the desolation of those who were incapable of being regenerated. In the Word both temptations and desolations are compared to floods or deluges of waters, and are actually called such.

TEMPTATIONS

In Isaiah,

For a brief moment I forsook you, and with great compassion I will regather you. In a deluge of wrath I hid My face ¹ from you for a moment, but with everlasting mercy I will have mercy on you, said Jehovah your Redeemer, for this is the waters of Noah to Me, to whom I swore that the waters of Noah should go no more over the earth. Thus have I sworn that I will not be angry with you and rebuke you. O afflicted one and storm-tossed, and receiving no comfort! Isaiah 54:7, 9, 11.

This refers to the Church that is to be regenerated, and to temptations which are called 'the waters of Noah'.

[2] Besides this the Lord Himself calls temptations 'a deluge', in Luke,

Jesus said, Every one who comes to Me, and hears My words and does them, is like a man building a house, who dug and went down deep, and laid the foundations upon rock; and when a deluge came, a stream broke against that house but was not strong enough to move it because it had been founded upon the rock. Luke 6:47-48.

The fact that 'a deluge' here is used to mean temptations may be clear to anyone.

DESOLATIONS

In Isaiah,

The Lord is causing to rise up over them the waters of the river, mighty and many, the king of Asshur and all his glory; and it is rising over all its channels, and will go over all its banks, and it will go through Judah, it will deluge it and pass through and will reach even to the neck. Isaiah 8:7-8.

Here 'the king of Asshur' stands for the delusions, false assumptions, and reasonings based on these, which desolate a person and which desolated the people before the Flood.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Behold, waters rising out of the north, they will be a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. Jeremiah 47:2-3.

This refers to the Philistines who represent people who adopt false assumptions and from them engage in reasonings about spiritual matters, which reasonings overwhelm a person as they did the people before the Flood.

The reason why in the Word both temptations and desolations are compared to floods or deluges of waters, and are actually called such, is that there is a similarity between the two, it being evil spirits who flow in with their persuasions and false assumptions which dwell with them and who activate the things of a like nature in man. With someone who is being regenerated they are temptations, but with someone who is not they are desolations.

Poznámky pod čarou: