10569. And wherein shall it even become known that I have found grace in Thine eyes, I and Thy people? is it not in Thy going with us? That this signifies reception above others if the Divine be manifested among them, is evident from the signification of “becoming known,” when said of the Divine among them, as being to be revealed; from the signification of “finding grace in the eyes of Jehovah,” as being to be received (s ee above, n. 10563), here, above others, because there follows, “and we shall be rendered preeminent, I and Thy people, above all the people that are upon the faces of the ground;” and from the signification of “going with us,” when said of Jehovah, as being the Divine leading, here into the land of Canaan (n. 10567). From this it is evident that by “wherein shall it ever become known that I have found grace in Thine eyes, I and Thy people? is it not in Thy going with us?” is signified reception above others if the Divine be manifested among them.

[2] It is said “in the eyes of Jehovah,” and thereby is signified the Divine presence of the Lord in the truths and goods of faith and of love with men on earth and with angels in the heavens. The reason why the presence of the Lord is in the truths and goods of faith and of love, is that these are from the Lord Himself; and when the Lord is present in these with men and with angels, He is then present in His own with them, and not in what is their own, for this is evil. From this also it is that by “eyes” in the Word, when said of men who receive the Divine things of the Lord, is signified faith and also a recipient understanding; for the understanding is the internal eye; and faith is truth which is seen and perceived. (That the “eyes,” when said in the Word of men, signify faith and also understanding, see n. 2701, 4403-4421, 4523-4534, 9051)

[3] It shall also be told whence comes this sight. There is a real light which illumines the understanding, and which is quite distinct from the light which illumines the sight of the body. The light which illumines the understanding is from heaven; but that which illumines the sight of the body is in the world. The light of heaven is from the Lord as a sun there, and is in its essence the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord’s Divine good. From this it is evident whence it is that by the “eyes,” when said of Jehovah, is signified the Divine presence of the Lord; and by the “eyes,” when said of men who receive the Divine truth of the Lord, or His light, is signified faith and an enlightened understanding.

[4] That it is a real light which illumines minds, and effects understanding with men, is not known in the world, although men attribute sight and light to the understanding, and although in the Word the Lord is often called “the Light,” by which is meant that He is seen by faith and the light thereof. (That it is a real light which illumines minds, and that the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord as a sun is this light, and that where it is received it gives the understanding of truth, may be seen in the places cited in n. 9548, 9684 also in n 9570-9571 . 9570, 9571, 9594.)

[5] From all this it can be seen what is signified in the Word by “the eyes of Jehovah,” as in Isaiah:

Incline Thine ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open Thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see (Isaiah 37:17).

I will set Mine eye upon them for good, and I will bring them back upon their own land, and I will build them (Jeremiah 24:6).

Behold the eye of Jehovah is upon them that fear Him (Psalms 33:18).

Jehovah is in the temple of His holiness, the throne of Jehovah is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids try, the sons of man (Psalms 11:4); and elsewhere.

2701. God opened her eyes. That this signifies intelligence, is evident from the signification of “opening” and of “God opening,” and also of “eyes” as being to give intelligence (that “eyes” signify the understanding may be seen above, n. 212, in like manner as “sight” or “seeing,” n. 2150, 2325). It is said that “God opens the eyes” when He opens the interior sight or understanding; which is effected by an influx into man’s rational, or rather into the spiritual of his rational. This is done by the way of the soul, or the internal way, unknown to the man. This influx is his state of enlightenment, in which the truths which he hears or reads are confirmed to him by a kind of perception interiorly within his intellectual. This the man believes to be innate in him, and to proceed from his own intellectual faculty; but in this he is very much mistaken; for it is an influx through heaven from the Lord into what is obscure, fallacious, and seeming with the man, which by means of the good therein causes the things which he believes to be similar to truth. But they only who are spiritual are blessed with enlightenment in the spiritual things of faith. It is this which is signified by “God opening the eyes.”

[2] That the “eye” signifies the understanding is because the sight of the body corresponds to the sight of its spirit, which is the understanding; and because it corresponds, in the Word the understanding is signified by the “eye” in almost every place where it is mentioned, even where it is believed to be otherwise; as where the Lord says in Matthew:

The light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light; but if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness; if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness (Matthew 6:22-23; Luke 11:34).

Here the “eye” is the understanding, the spiritual of which is faith, as also is evident from the explication: “if therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness.”

So too in the same:

If thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out, and cast it from thee (Matthew 5:29; 18:9).

The “left eye” is the intellectual, but the “right eye” is its affection: that the right eye is to be plucked out means that the affection is to be subdued if it causes stumbling.

[3] In the same:

Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear (Matthew 13:16);

and in Luke:

Jesus said to the disciples, Blessed are the eyes which see the thing which ye see (Luke 10:23).

Here by the “eyes which see,” intelligence and faith are signified; for their seeing the Lord, and also His miracles and works, did not make them blessed; but comprehending them with the understanding and having faith, which is “seeing with the eyes;” and obeying, which is “hearing with the ears.” That to “see with the eyes” is to understand, and also to have faith, may be seen above (n. 897, 2325) for the understanding is the spiritual of the sight, and faith is the spiritual of the understanding. The sight of the eye is from the light of the world, but the sight of faith is from the light of heaven. Hence it is common to speak of seeing with the understanding, and of seeing by faith. (That to “hear with the ear” is to obey, may be seen above, n. 2542)

[4] Also in Mark:

Jesus said to the disciples, Do ye not yet perceive, neither understand? Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes see ye not? And having ears hear ye not? (Mark 8:17-18); where it is manifest that not to be willing to understand and not to believe, is to “have eyes and not see.”

In Luke:

Jesus said of the city, If thou hadst known the things that belong unto thy peace; but now it is hid from thine eyes (Luke 19:41-42).

And in Mark:

This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes (Mark 12:11); where to be “hid from the eyes,” and to be “marvelous in the eyes,” means to be so to the understanding, as is known to everyone from the signification of the eye even in the common use of language.