10623. 'Visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the sons and on the sons of sons' means the rejection and condemnation of evils and of a long line of falsities arising from them. This is clear from the meaning of 'visiting' as the casting out and condemnation of evils, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'the fathers' as forms of good, and in the contrary sense evils, dealt with in 3703, 5902, 6050, 10490; and from the meaning of 'the sons' as truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, dealt with in 1147, 10490, so that 'the sons of sons' means a long line of falsities arising from evils. By the casting out and condemnation of evils and of the falsities arising from them the casting out and condemnation of those ruled by such evils and falsities should be understood; for evils and falsities have no existence other than within their subjects ¹ , that is, within people. It should be recognized that the falsities of evil are meant by 'the sons' because the fathers from whom they spring mean evils. What falsities of evil and falsities not of evil are, see in the places referred to in 10109.

[2] A person unacquainted with the internal sense of the Word may easily be led to believe that Jehovah visits the iniquity of the fathers on the sons and on the sons of sons, consequently that the sons are going to pay the penalty for their fathers' evils. But this is not the meaning of those words, as is plainly evident from the Divine law that fathers shall not die because of sons, nor sons because of fathers, but each because of his own evil, Deuteronomy 24:16. From this law it is evident that those words are to be understood differently from their literal meaning. The fact that those who are ruled by evils and the long line of falsities arising from them are meant by the fathers, their sons, and their sons' sons, is clear from the internal sense, in which evils and falsities are meant by fathers and sons. Angels - who also see a meaning in the Word when someone in the world reads it - do not understand anything other than this here by fathers and sons. For in heaven, where angels live, there is no knowledge, as there is among people on earth, of what a father is or of what a son is; for nobody there acknowledges anyone to be his father or anyone to be his son. There are no births there as there are in the world. When therefore father and son are mentioned in the Word angels think of spiritual births, which are those of goodness and truth or else of evil and falsity. Consequently they understand forms of good or else evils by fathers, and truths or else falsities by sons, since good is the father of truth and evil is the father of falsity.

[3] The reason why 'being visited' means being cast out and condemned is that this is what follows after evils reach their closing stage and comes before actual condemnation, meant in the Word by the last judgement. For visitation is the examination of a person to discover his true character. But this takes place in the next life, in particular when the individual person goes there from the world, and in general with all at the end of the Church, as stated immediately above in 10622. Regarding visitation, see what has been stated and shown in 6588, 6895, 10509.

Poznámky pod čarou:

6895. 'Saying, I have certainly visited you' means His coming to those who belong to the spiritual Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'visiting' as the Lord's coming, which precedes the final period of the Church, the period which is spoken of in the Word as a final judgement. Regarding the meaning of 'visitation' as that judgement, see 2242, 6588; and the fact that that judgement is called the Lord's coming is evident from the following words in Matthew,

The disciples said to Jesus, Tell us, when will those things take place, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age? Matthew 24:3.

The Lord was telling the disciples then about the final period of the Church, as may be seen from the explanations given in 3353-3356, 3486, 3489, 3897-3901, 4055-4060, 4229-4231, 4422-4424. He said that when all those things happen,

The sign of the Son of Man will appear, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matthew 24:30.

[2] 'The Lord's coming' is not used to mean His appearance together with angels in the clouds, but the acceptance of Him in people's hearts through love and faith, see 3353, 3900, and also His appearance from within the Word, the inmost or highest sense of which deals with the Lord alone, 4060. This coming is meant by 'the Lord's coming', which takes place at the time when an old Church is done away with and a new one is established by the Lord. And because a new phase of the Church was to be established now among the descendants of Jacob, the words 'I have certainly visited you' are used, like those spoken by Joseph when he was about to die,

Joseph said to his brothers, I am dying; and God will certainly visit you and cause you to go up out of this land to the land which He swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Genesis 50:24.

'Certainly visiting you' here means in the sense of the letter deliverance from slavery in Egypt and introduction into the land of Canaan. This however is not the spiritual subject matter contained in the Word but the natural. The spiritual subject matter in the Word has to do with the Lord, His kingdom and the Church, and love and faith. Consequently 'certainly visiting' is used to mean in the spiritual sense deliverance from falsities and thus introduction into things that belong to the Church and the Lord's kingdom, that is, the Lord's coming in love and faith among those who will belong to the new Church.