9349. In chapters 20-23, the laws, judgments, and statutes, that were promulgated from Mount Sinai, have been treated of, and it has been shown what they contain in the internal sense, thus how they are perceived in heaven; namely, not according to the literal sense, but according to the spiritual sense, which is not apparent in the letter, but still is within it. One who does not know how this is, may indeed suppose that the Word as to its literal sense is thus annihilated, because in heaven no attention is paid to it. But be it known that the literal sense of the Word is by no means thereby annihilated; but is indeed rather confirmed; and that each word has weight, and is holy, from the spiritual sense which is within; because the literal sense is the basis and support on which the spiritual sense rests, and with which it coheres in the closest conjunction, insomuch that there is not even a jot or point, or a little horn, in the letter of the Word, which does not contain within it the holy Divine; according to the words of the Lord in Matthew:

Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one little horn shall not pass away from the law, till all things be done (Matthew 5:18);

It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one point in the law to fail (Luke 16:17).

(That “the law” denotes the Word, see n. 6752, 7463.)

[2] Therefore also it has come to pass through the Divine providence of the Lord, that the Word, especially the Word of the Old Testament, has been preserved in respect to every jot and point from the time when it was written. It has also been shown from heaven, that in the Word not only every expression, but also every syllable, and what seems incredible, every little horn of a syllable in the original tongue infolds in it something holy, which becomes perceptible to the angels of the inmost heaven. That this is the case I am able to affirm; but I know that it transcends belief. From this it is evident that the outward rituals of the church, which represented the Lord and the internal things of heaven and the church that are from the Lord, and which are treated of in the Word of the Old Testament, have indeed been for the most part abrogated, but that the Word nevertheless remains in its Divine sanctity; because, as before said, each and all things therein still infold holy Divine things, which are perceived in heaven while the Word is being read; for in every detail there is a holy internal which is its internal sense; that is, its heavenly and Divine sense. This sense is the soul of the Word, and it is truth Divine itself proceeding from the Lord; thus it is the Lord Himself.

[3] From all this it can be seen how the case is with the laws, judgments, and statutes promulgated by the Lord from Mount Sinai, and which are contained in chapters 20-23, which have been explained; namely, that each and all things therein are holy because they are holy in their internal form; but that nevertheless some of them have been abrogated in respect to present use where the church is, which is an internal church. Some of them however are of such a nature that they may serve a use if one so pleases; and some of them are to be altogether observed and done. And yet those which have been abrogated in respect to use where the church is, and those which may serve a use if one so pleases, and also those which are to be altogether observed and done, are equally holy in their holy internal; for in its bosom the whole Word is Divine. This holy internal is that which the internal sense teaches, and is the same as the internal things of the Christian Church, which the doctrine of charity and faith teaches.

[4] In order that what has been said may be placed within the apprehension, let us take for illustration the laws, judgments, and statutes treated of in the aforesaid chapters. Those which are to be altogether observed and done are those contained in Exodus 20:3-5, 7-8, 12-17, 23; in Exodus 21:12, 14-15, 20; in Exodus 22:18-20, 28; and in Exodus 23:1-3, 6-8, 24-25, 32. Those which may serve a use if one so pleases, are such as are contained in Exodus 20:10; in Exodus 21:18-19, 22-25, 33-36; in Exodus 22:1-14, 17, 21-23, 25-27, 31; and in Exodus 23:4-5, 9, 12-16, 33. And those which have been abrogated in respect to present use where the church is, are contained in Exodus 20:24-26; 21:2-11, 16, 21, 26-29, 31-32; in Exodus 22:15, 29-30; and in Exodus 23:10-11, 17-19. But, as before said, both the latter and the former are equally holy, that is, are equally the Divine Word.

1295. And they said a man to his fellow. That this signifies that it was begun, or that they had begun, follows from the connection. In this verse the third state of the church is treated of, when falsities had begun to reign; and in fact from cupidities. There are two beginnings of falsities, one from ignorance of truth, the other from cupidities. Falsity from ignorance of truth is not so pernicious as falsity from cupidities. For the falsity of ignorance arises either from one’s having been so instructed from childhood, or from having been diverted by various occupations so that one has not examined whether what professes to be true is really so, or from not having had much faculty of judging concerning what is true and what is false. The falsities from these sources do not inflict much harm, provided the man has not much confirmed and thus persuaded himself, being incited thereto by some cupidity so as to defend the falsities; for by doing this he would make the cloud of ignorance dense, and turn it into darkness so that he could not see the truth.

[2] But the falsity of cupidities exists when the origin of the falsity is the cupidity or love of self and of the world; as when one seizes upon some point of doctrine and professes it in order to captivate minds and lead them, and explains or perverts the doctrine in favor of self, and confirms it both by reasonings from memory-knowledges, and by the literal sense of the Word. The worship derived from this is profane, however holy it may outwardly appear; for inwardly it is not the worship of the Lord, but the worship of self. Nor does such a man acknowledge anything as true except insofar as he can explain it so as to favor himself. Such worship is that which is signified by “Babel.” But the case is different with those who have been born and brought up in such worship, and who do not know that it is false, and who live in charity. In their ignorance there is innocence, and in their worship there is good from charity. The profanity in worship is not predicated so much from the worship itself, as from the quality of the man who is in the worship.