8168. Cease from us, and let us serve the Egyptians. That this signifies that they would not be withheld from surrendering, is evident from the signification of “to cease from us,” when said of infestations, as being not to hinder, and not to withhold; and from the signification of “serving the Egyptians,” as being to surrender to those who infest by means of falsities. That “to cease from us,” when said in a state of infestations, and also in a state of temptations, of the influx of truth Divine represented by Moses, denotes not to hinder, and not to withhold, is because in these states two forces or powers are acting, one of which is from the falsities that are injected from the hells into the external man, and the other of which is from truths that are insinuated by the Lord into the internal man (n. 8164). These two forces act reciprocally against each other. The falsities injected from the hells have their force and power from the love of self and of the world, which are in the man; but the truths insinuated by the Lord have their force and power from love toward the neighbor and love to the Lord. When the man conquers, the internal force or power always prevails, because this is Divine; and it does not admit the force or power from falsities to be increased further than it can be repelled. Therefore when these two forces act, the internal force which is from the Lord continually as it were withholds the man and hinders him, lest the falsities drag him down, thus causing him to yield; for it is a general rule that when two forces act in opposition to each other, one draws and the other draws back. In the spiritual world, forces are the affections which are of the loves; and the instrumentalities by which they act are truths, and in the opposite sense, falsities.