9817. 'And you shall speak to all the wise at heart' means an influx from the Lord through the Word into all who are governed by the good of love. This is clear from the meaning of 'speaking' as influx, dealt with in 2951, 5481, 5743, 5797, 7270; and from the meaning of 'the wise at heart' as those who are governed by the good of love, dealt with below. The reason why influx from the Lord through the Word is meant is that for members of the Church the main channel by which the Lord flows in is the Word. This is so because the nature of the Word is such that all things without exception there correspond to the Divine spiritual and Divine celestial realities that exist in the heavens; and as a result of this a person shares affections and thoughts with angels, in so complete a manner that he and they are seemingly one. So it is that the world has been joined to heaven through the Word, but only among those who are governed by the good of faith and love. From all this it becomes clear that for members of the Church the Lord flows in through the Word; for the Lord is the all in the heavens, since what is Divine and emanates from the Lord, and is received by angels, composes heaven.

[2] The reason why 'the wise at heart' means those who are governed by the good of love is that the presence of wisdom in a person is attributable to the life of heaven in him, also that 'heart' means the good of love. In the Word 'spirit' and 'heart' are expressions that have regard to the life of heaven present with a person, 'spirit' being used to mean that life in the understanding part of the person's mind and 'heart' that life in the will part. To the understanding part belongs truth, but to the will part belongs good; the former has to do with faith, but the latter with love. For the understanding receives truths that constitute faith, and the will forms of good that are aspects of love. From this it is evident that by 'the wise at heart' those governed by the good of love received from the Lord are meant. The good of love is celestial good, through which spiritual good comes into being; and spiritual good is that which covers celestial good, like garments the body. And since Aaron's garments represented the Lord's spiritual kingdom lying adjacent to His celestial kingdom, and the former comes into being through the latter, the present verse goes on to say that 'the wise at heart', that is, those governed by the good of love received from the Lord, should make the garments for Aaron and his sons. As regards 'heart', that it means the good of love or celestial good, see 3635, 3880, 3883-3896, 9050; and that it therefore means the will, 2930, 3888, 7542, 8910, 9113, 9300, 9495.

4760. 'And they led Joseph to Egypt' means a consultation with factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'Egypt' as facts, dealt with in 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462; and when Divine Truth is brought to these it is to consult them, for as shown above, 'Joseph' represents Divine Truth. What is implied by a consultation with factual evidence regarding Divine Truth must be stated briefly. Consulting facts regarding Divine Truth is seeing from them whether it is indeed such. But those with an affirmative attitude that the truth is the truth do so in one way, in that when they consult facts they use them to confirm the truth and so to strengthen their belief, whereas those with a negative attitude do so in another way. When these people consult facts they sink themselves all the more into falsities; for a negative attitude reigns in these people but an affirmative one in the former ones. And these differences are determined in addition in each individual by his capacity to understand. If those who do not have higher, that is, interior insight, consult facts, they fail to see any confirmation of what is true within these and therefore they are drawn aside into a negative attitude. But those who do have higher, that is, interior insight see confirmations, through correspondences if in no other way.

[2] Take for example the truth that a person lives after death. When those with a negative attitude towards this truth consult facts they confirm the contrary for themselves by means of countless ideas, such as that animals have life, sensory perception, and activity no less than man does, and in many respects to a more perfect degree; that thought which man possesses pre-eminently over animals is something he comes to have because he takes longer to reach maturity, and that man is an animal belonging to a genus of this kind; and a thousand other ideas besides these. From this it is evident that if those with a negative attitude consult facts they sink themselves all the more into falsities, so that at length they believe nothing whatever about eternal life.

[3] But when those with an affirmative attitude to the truth that man lives after death consult facts they confirm themselves in it by means of them, doing so by means of countless ones. They see that everything in nature is below man; that animals act from instinct-but man from reason; and that animals cannot do other than look downwards, whereas man can look upwards and by the use of thought can come to understand things belonging to the spiritual world and also to feel an affection for them - indeed that through love he can be joined to God, thereby making life from the Divine his own; and that it is to enable him to be led and raised up to Him that he takes longer to reach maturity. And in everything else in addition belonging to nature he sees confirmations, and at length within the whole natural order sees that which is representative of the heavenly kingdom.

[4] It is a common and well-known fact that the learned have less belief than the simple in a life after death, and that in general they see Divine Truths less clearly than the simple do. The reason is that they consult facts, of which they possess a greater abundance than others, with a negative attitude, and by this destroy in themselves any insight gained from a higher or more interior position. Once this has been destroyed they no longer see anything in the light of heaven but in the light of the world; for facts exist in the light of the world, and if they are not lit up by the light of heaven they bring darkness, however different it may seem to be to them. This was why the simple believed in the Lord but not the scribes and Pharisees, who were the learned in that nation, as is evident from the following in John,

Many from the crowd when they heard this utterance said, This is truly the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ (Messiah). The Pharisees answered them, Has any of the leaders believed in Him, or any of the Pharisees? John 7:40-41, 47-48.

And in Luke,

Jesus said, I confess to You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden such things from the wise and intelligent but have revealed them to infants. Luke 10:21.

'Infants' stands for the simple. Also in Matthew,

Therefore I speak to them in parables, because those who see do not see, and those who hear do not hear, nor do they understand. Matthew 13:13.