527. "And those who fear Your name, small and great." This symbolizes people who love things having to do with the Lord, in a lesser or greater degree.

To fear the Lord's name means, symbolically, to love things having to do with the Lord. To fear means, symbolically, to love, and the Lord's name symbolizes everything by which He is worshiped (no. 81). People small and great symbolize people who fear the Lord in a lesser or greater degree.

To fear here means, symbolically, to love because everyone who loves another is afraid of injuring the one he loves. There is no genuine love without that fear. Accordingly, someone who loves the Lord is afraid of doing evil, because evils go counter to the Lord, as they go counter to His Divine laws in the Word - the Word that originates from the Lord and thus embodies Him. Indeed, they go counter to His Divine essence, which is to will the salvation of all. For He is a savior. But He cannot save a person unless the person lives in accordance with the Lord's laws and commandments. What is more, someone who loves evils also desires to injure the Lord, indeed to crucify Him. This desire is inmostly present in every evil, even in people who in the world acknowledge Him with the lips. The reality of this is something unknown to people, but well known to angels.

[2] That to fear God means, symbolically, to love things having to do with God, by doing them and refusing to do things which go counter to Him, is apparent from the following passages:

...what does Jehovah your God require of you, but to fear Jehovah your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him... (Deuteronomy 10:12)

You shall walk after Jehovah your God and fear Him, that you may keep His commandments... (Deuteronomy 13:4)

You shall fear Jehovah your God; you shall serve Him, and to Him you shall hold fast... (Deuteronomy 10:20. Cf. 6:2, 6:13-14, 6:24; 8:6; 17:19; 28:58; 31:12)

Who will grant them to have a heart to fear Me and keep... My commandments... (Deuteronomy 5:29)

Teach me Your way, O Jehovah...; unite my heart to a fear of Your name. (Psalms 86:11)

Blessed is he who fears Jehovah, who walks in His ways. (Psalms 128:1, cf. 112:1, Jeremiah 44:10)

If I am a Father, where is My honor? If I am Lord, where is the fear of Me? (Malachi 1:6, cf. 2:5, Isaiah 11:2-3)

I will give them one heart, and one way, to fear Me... and I will put fear of Me in their hearts so that they do not turn away from Me. (Jeremiah 32:39-40)

The beginning of wisdom is fear of Jehovah... (Psalms 111:10)

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 8:13; 25:3; 29:13; 50:10; Jeremiah 33:9; Psalms 22:23; 33:8, 18; 34:7, 9; 55:19; 115:11, 13; 147:11; Revelation 14:7; Luke 1:50.

A fear of God in evil people, on the other hand, is not love, but a fear of hell.

5249. 'And came to Pharaoh' means a communication with the new natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming' in this instance as a communication through influx; and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the new natural, dealt with in 5079, 5080, 5244. What the words in this verse hold within them is evident from the explanations of them that have been given; for those words describe how Joseph was set free from the pit and came to Pharaoh. In the internal sense 'Joseph' represents the Lord so far as the celestial of the spiritual is concerned, while 'Pharaoh' represents the natural or external man. 'The pit' in which Joseph was confined represents a state of temptation endured by the Lord which involved the celestial of the spiritual, while his being called from the pit by Pharaoh means a state of release from temptations, and also a state of influx and communication after that with the new natural. From all this it is evident that the internal sense contains a description at this point of how the Lord made His Natural new and at length Divine.

[2] These are the matters that celestial angels contemplate when such historical details are read by man. To contemplate such matters is also their greatest delight, for they live in the Lord's Divine sphere and so they are as it were in the Lord. They know the deepest joy when they are thinking about the Lord and about the salvation of the human race, which took place because the Lord made the Human within Himself Divine. Also, to enable angels to go on experiencing that most heavenly joy and at the same time wisdom, a full description of that Divine process has therefore been given in the internal sense of the Word. This sense includes at the same time the process by which man is regenerated, for man's regeneration is an image of the Lord's glorification, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402. Many will perhaps be wondering what angels talk about to one another and consequently what people after death who become angels talk about. Let those who so wonder know that angels talk about the kinds of matters that are contained in the internal sense of the Word, that is to say, about the Lord's glorification, His kingdom, the Church, the regeneration of man by means of the good of love and the truth of faith. But when they do so they use profound ideas which for the most part are beyond description.