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?

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3835. 'And Laban gave to her Zilpah his servant-girl - to Leah his daughter to be her servant-girl' means external affections or external bonds which are subservient means. This is clear from the meaning of 'a servant-girl' as external affections, dealt with in 1895, 2567. Laban's giving her means that they derive from a parallel good springing from a common stock, for this is the source of such affections. They are called external bonds because all affections are bonds, see 1077, 1080, 1835, 1944. For nothing else holds someone in bonds than his affection. No person's affection seems to him to be a bond, but it is nevertheless called such for the reason that it governs him and is for him binding. Internal affections however are called internal bonds, even as affections for truth and good are called the bonds of conscience. External bonds or affections correspond to these, for everything internal possesses a corresponding external. Since it is by means of external things that one who is being regenerated is introduced to internal things, and since this state is the subject here, mention is therefore made here of Laban's servant-girl's being given to his daughter Leah as a servant-girl. This description means that the kind of affections which served as means were given. The fact that these affections were the most external, like those called bodily affections, is evident from the consideration that 'Leah' represents the affections for external truth. But in the Lord's Divine mercy more about these matters too will appear elsewhere.