7430. This is the finger of God. That this signifies that the power was from the Divine, is evident from the signification of “the finger of God,” as being power from the Divine; that “finger” denotes power is because the fingers belong to the hands, and by “hands” is signified power (see n. 878, 4931-4937, 6344, 6424, 6948). That “finger” denotes power, is evident also from the following passages, in David:

When I behold the heavens, the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars which Thou hast prepared (Psalms 8:3).

Jesus said, If I by the finger of God cast out demons, surely the kingdom of God is come unto you (Luke 11:20).

That Jesus took the deaf man who had an impediment in his speech apart from the people, and put His finger into his ears, and spat, and touched his tongue (Mark 7:32-33);

was also a representative of Divine power.

[2] That a finger represents power is plain also from the rites of the church among the Jews, in that blood should be put upon the thumb, and that the priest should sprinkle the blood with his finger, concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

Thou shalt kill the ram, and put of the blood upon the thumb of the hand of Aaron and his sons, and upon the great toe of their right foot (Exodus 29:20).

The priest shall take of the blood of the guilt-offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. Afterward the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil which is upon the palm of his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before Jehovah; and of the rest of the oil, which is upon the palm of his hand, the priest shall put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot (Leviticus 14:14, 16-17).

Thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger (Exodus 29:12; Leviticus 4:6; 9:9).

[3] That all these things signified secrets of heaven and holy things, is evident from the fact that the Word is from the Divine, and is inspired as to every point [in the original] (Luke 16:17), thus also as to these details in Moses. That the “thumb” and the “finger” denote the power of good through truth, is here plain from the internal sense. Power is also signified by “finger” in David:

Blessed be Jehovah who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers war (Psalms 144:1);

And in Isaiah:

He shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and that which his fingers have made (Isaiah 17:8);

“altars” denote worship in general (n. 4541); “the work of the hands, and what the fingers have made” denote such things as are from what is man’s own, thus which are from his own power.

7430a. And Pharaoh’s heart was made firm. That this signifies obstinacy, see n. 7272.

6948. And He said, Cast it to the earth. That this signifies the influx of the power of the Lord’s Divine natural into the sensuous, is evident from the signification of a “rod,” as being power in the natural, and when it is said of the Lord, as being the power proceeding from his Divine natural (of which just above, n. 6947) from the signification of “casting,” or “sending forth,” as being proceeding, thus influx; and from the signification of “the earth” as being man’s external (n. 82, 913, 1411, 1733), here his sensuous and corporeal, which are the outermosts, because the rod became a serpent, and by a “serpent” is signified the sensuous and corporeal man.

[2] By the Divine power of the Lord is here meant the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, for there is power in Divine truth, insomuch that it is power itself (n. 3091, 4931, 6344, 6423). The Divine truth proceeding from the Lord flows into every man, through his interiors into the exteriors, even into the external sensuous and into the corporeal, and calls forth everywhere things correspondent in their order; in the sensuous, things correspondent such as appear in the world and upon the earth. But as the things which are in the world and upon the earth appear otherwise than as they are, they are therefore full of fallacies; and therefore when the sensuous is in these evils only, it must needs think against the goods and truths of faith, because it thinks from fallacies; and when Divine truth flows in, it must needs turn it into falsity.

[3] That a man who is not elevated from the sensuous, but is in it and thinks from it, thinks from fallacies, may be illustrated by examples: The fallacies in respect to the life of man-that it is of the body, when yet it is of the spirit in the body: in respect to the sight-that it is of the eye: in respect to the hearing - that it is of the ear: in respect to the speech-that it is of the tongue and mouth; when yet it is the spirit which sees, hears, and speaks, through these organs of the body. The fallacies in respect to life-that it is permanent in man, when yet it flows in. The fallacies in respect to the soul-that it cannot be in a human form, and in human senses and affections. The fallacies in respect to heaven and hell-that the former is above man, and the latter beneath him, when yet they are in him. The fallacies that objects flow into the exteriors, when yet what is external does not flow into what is internal, but what is internal into what is external. The fallacies in respect to the life after death-that it is impossible except together with the body. Besides the fallacies in natural things, which give rise to the self-contradictory conjectures of so many persons.

[4] Who cannot see that fallacies and the falsities thence derived have dominion instead of truths, merely from the dispute which long existed in respect to the circulation of the blood, which though supported by so many experimental proofs, nevertheless long remained in doubt; and also from the dispute about the sun-that it revolved once a day around this earth, and not only the sun, but also the moon, all the planets, and the whole starry heaven; and also from the dispute which still continues in respect to the soul, its conjunction with the body, and its seat therein. Seeing that the fallacies of the senses have dominion in such things, although their true character is plain from so many phenomena and effects, why should they not do so in such things as belong to heaven, which being spiritual are not plain except through correspondences?

[5] From all this it can now be seen what is the quality of man’s sensuous, viewed in itself, and left to itself; namely, that it is in fallacies, and thence in falsities, thus is against the truths and goods of faith. Hence it is that when man is in the sensuous and in its light, he is in thick darkness in respect to the things of the spiritual world, that is, in respect to those which are in light from the Divine; and that the sensuous light is turned into mere thick darkness when the light from heaven falls into it. The reason is, that the truths which are of the Divine light cannot be together with fallacies and the falsities thence derived; but [the falsities] extinguish [the truths] and thereby induce thick darkness.