9058. 'And when a man strikes the eye of his male slave' means if the internal man injures the truth of faith in the external [or natural] man. This is clear from the meaning of 'striking' as injuring, as before; from the meaning of 'a man', here a man from among the children of Israel, as a member of the Church and therefore one in possession of spiritual truth - which is the truth of faith, dealt with above in 9034 - thus as the internal man, since the truth of faith resides in the internal man and composes its life, which is called spiritual life (the term 'internal man' is used by virtue of its relationship to the external, meant by 'male slave'); from the meaning of 'the eye' as the inner part of the understanding and therefore the truth of faith, dealt with in 9051; and from the meaning of 'male slave' as factual truth present in the external man, dealt with in 1895, 2567, 3835, 3849, 8993, 8994, thus also the external or natural man, 5305, 7998, 8974. The literal sense speaks of 'a man' and 'male slave', so that two people are meant; but in the internal sense, in which 'a man' is the internal man and 'male slave' is the external man, they exist in one person. The reason for this is that the internal sense does not focus its attention on persons, only on spiritual realities, 5225, 5287, 5434, 8343, 8985, 9007.

5305. 'And in the eyes of all his servants' means that everything in the natural was well-pleased. This is clear from the meaning of 'the thing being good in the eyes of' as a well-pleased feeling, dealt with immediately above in 5304; and from the meaning of 'servants' as what was in the natural, especially in the exterior natural. The word 'servant' occurs in places throughout the Word. In the internal sense it means that which is of service to another; and in general it means everything that is lower when considered in relation to what is above it. For order requires what is lower to serve what is higher; and insofar as it actually does so it is called 'a servant'. In the present context however things within the natural are being called 'servants', the natural in general being represented by 'Pharaoh'. The general or common whole has to be served by its individual parts, in the same way as the common good is served in any kingdom by its individual subjects. As regards 'Pharaoh' representing the natural in general, see 5160.