3464. And showed him concerning the well which they had digged; and they said, We have found waters. That this signifies interior truths by means of these things, is evident from the signification of a “well,” as being the Word (n. 3424); and from the signification of “waters,” as being truths (n. 2702t is, truths which are from the Word; thus to “show him concerning the well which they had digged,” signifies concerning the Word from which they had doctrinal things; “and they said, We have found waters,” signifies that in them, that is, in the doctrinal things, there were interior truths. For as before said, there are interior truths in all the doctrinal things that are drawn from the literal sense of the Word, because the literal sense of the Word is like a well that contains water; for in each and everything of the Word there is an internal sense, which is also in the doctrinal things that are from the Word.

[2] As regards the doctrinal things that are from the literal sense of the Word, the case is this: When a man is in them, and at the same time in a life according to them, he has a correspondence in himself; for the angels who are with him are in interior truths, while he is in exterior ones, and thus through the doctrinal things he has communication with heaven, but according to the good of his life. As for example, when in the Holy Supper he thinks in simplicity of the Lord from the words then used, “This is My body, and this is “My blood,” the angels with him are in the idea of love to the Lord and charity toward the neighbor; for love to the Lord corresponds to the Lord’s body, and to bread; and charity toward the neighbor corresponds to the blood, and the wine (n. 1798, 2165, 2177, 2187); and because there is such a correspondence, there flows an affection out of heaven through the angels into that holy state in which the man then is, which affection he receives in accordance with the good of his life.

[3] For the angels dwell with everyone in his life’s affection, thus in the affection of the doctrinal things according to which he lives; but in no case if his life disagrees therewith; for if the life disagrees, as for instance if he is in the affection of gaining honors and riches by means of doctrinal things, then the angels retire, and infernals dwell in this affection, who either infuse into him confirmations of the doctrinal things for the sake of self and the world, thus a persuasive faith-which is such that it is regardless whether a thing is true or false provided it captivates the minds of others-or else they take away all faith, and then the doctrine of his lips is only a sound excited and modified by the fire of these loves.

3424. And the servants of Isaac digged in the valley, and found there a well of living waters. That this signifies the Word as to the literal sense in which is the internal sense, is evident from the signification of “digging in the valley,” as being to make search lower down in respect to where truths are; for to “dig” is to search, and a “valley” denotes what is below (n. 1723, 3417); and from the signification of a “well of living waters,” as being the Word in which are truths Divine, thus the Word as to the literal sense in which is the internal sense. That the Word is called a “fountain,” and indeed a “fountain of living waters,” is well known; but the reason why the Word is also called a “well,” is that the sense of the letter is relatively such; and also because relatively to those who are spiritual the Word is not a “fountain,” but a “well” (n. 2702, 3096). As a “valley” denotes that which is below, or what is the same, that which is exterior, and the fountain was found in a valley, and the literal sense is the lower or exterior sense of the Word, therefore it is the literal sense which is meant; but because the internal sense, that is, the heavenly and Divine sense, is within this, therefore the waters thereof are called “living;” as were also the waters that went forth under the threshold of the new house, in Ezekiel:

And it shall come to pass that every living creature that creepeth, to which the river there comes, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters are come thither and are healed, and everything liveth whithersoever the river cometh (Ezekiel 47:9); where the “river” is the Word; the “waters which cause everything to live” are the Divine truths contained in it; the “fish” are memory-knowledges (n. 40, 991).

[2] That the Word of the Lord is such that it gives life to him that thirsteth, that is, to him that desireth life, and that it is a “fountain whose waters are living,” the Lord also teaches in John when speaking to the woman of Samaria at Jacob’s well:

If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life (John 4:10, 14).

That the Word is living and therefore gives life, is because in its supreme sense the Lord is treated of, and in the inmost sense His kingdom, in which the Lord is all; and this being the case, there is in the Word life itself, which flows into the minds of those who read the Word with reverence; hence it is that in respect to the Word that is from Himself the Lord declares Himself to be a “fountain of water springing up unto eternal life” (see also n. 2702).

[3] That just as the Lord’s Word is called a “fountain,” so is it also called a “well,” is evident in Moses:

Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well, answer ye unto it: the princes digged the well; the chiefs of the people digged it for the lawgiver with their staves (Numbers 21:17-18).

These words were spoken at the “place Beer,” that is, at the “place of the well.” That by “well” here is signified the Word of the Ancient Church, spoken of above (n. 2897), is evident from what is there said; “princes” are primary truths that are the source; (that “princes” signify primary truths may be seen above, n. 1482, 2089); the “chiefs of the people” are lower truths, such as are those contained in the literal sense (n. 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295); that the “lawgiver” is the Lord, is evident; “staves” denote the powers which they possessed.