9081. 'If the ox strikes a male slave with its horn, or a female slave' means if the affection for evil destroys truth or good in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'a male slave' as truth in the natural, dealt with in 3019, 3020, 5305, 7998; from the meaning of 'a female slave' as an affection for truth there, dealt with in 1895, 2567, 3835, 3849, 8993, 8994; and from the meaning of 'striking with the horn' as destroying. The words 'striking with the horn' in the Word refer to the destruction of falsity by the power of truth, and in the contrary sense to the destruction of truth by the power of falsity. They do so because 'a horn' means the power of truth that springs from good, or the power of falsity that springs from evil, 2832, as in Ezekiel,

You push with side and shoulder, and strike with your horns all the weak [sheep]. Ezekiel 34:21.

This refers to those who with all their force and power destroy the Church's truths and forms of good by means of fallacious reasonings based on sensory evidence, 'pushing with side and shoulder' meaning with all their force and power, 1085, 4931-4937. From this it is evident why the words 'striking with the horn' are used in Moses,

The firstborn of his cattle has honour, and his horns are unicorn horns. ¹ With these he will strike the peoples together to the ends of the earth. Deuteronomy 33:17.

This occurs in Moses' prophetic utterance concerning Joseph, in which 'Joseph' in the internal sense means the Lord's Divine Spiritual, and in the representative sense His spiritual kingdom 'Unicorn horns' means forms of power received from the good and truth of faith; 'striking the peoples' means destroying falsities by means of truths; and 'to the ends of the earth' means on every side where the Church is. In David,

You Yourself are my King. O God; through You we will strike our enemies with the horn. Psalms 44:4-5.

'Striking enemies with the horn' again means destroying falsities by means of the power of the truth and good of faith. Who can fail to see that in these places the words 'striking with the horn' would not have been used, since the action is performed by human beings, but for the meaning of 'horn' as power?

Poznámky pod čarou:

1795. 'And the steward of my house' means the external Church. This is clear from the meaning in the internal sense of 'steward of the house', that is, in reference to the Church. The external Church is called 'the steward of the house' when the internal Church itself is 'the house' and the head of the household is the Lord. The position which the external Church occupies is nothing other than this, for all stewardship belongs to the external side of the Church, such as the performance of rituals and many other duties connected with the Temple and the Church itself, that is, Jehovah's or the Lord's House.

[2] The external things of the Church when they are without the internal things are of no value. It is to those internal things that they owe their existence, and in character they are the same as those internal things. The situation with them is as it is with man: with him what is external or bodily is in itself something valueless unless that which is internal exists to give it soul and life. As is the character therefore of that which is internal, so is the character of that which is external; or, as is the character of the disposition and mind (animus et mens), so is the worth of all the things which come forth through that which is external or bodily. The things of the heart make man, not those of the lips and gestures. It is the same with the internal things of the Church. Nevertheless the external things of the Church are as the external things with man, in that they serve as stewards or overseers; or what amounts to the same, the external or bodily man may be called the steward or overseer of the house when 'the house' is that which belongs to interior things. From this it is evident what 'childless' means, namely a time when no internal dimension of the Church exists, only an external, as it was at the time regarding which the Lord made complaint.