Arcana Coelestia # 9061
9061. 'He shall send him away free for the eye' means that it cannot serve the internal man any longer. This is clear from the meaning of 'sending away free' as releasing from service; and from the meaning of 'for the eye which he had destroyed in the slave' as because of the truth of faith that has been wiped out in the external or natural man. For 'the eye' means the understanding part of the mind and therefore the truth of faith, 9051, 9058; 'destroying' means wiping out, 9060; and 'male slave' means the external or natural man, 9058. The nature of all this cannot be known by anyone unless he knows about the nature of the internal man's relationship with the external man. The internal man cannot live a spiritual life unless the external man is in agreement, which being so a person cannot be regenerated unless the natural man also is regenerated. From this it follows that if the truth of faith in the natural or external man has been wiped out the latter cannot serve the internal man any longer.
[2] It is like the relationship between outward sight and inward sight. If outward sight has been impaired it can no longer serve inward sight; for if objects are distorted by outward sight, internal sight can gain only a distorted vision by means of it. Or it is like the situation with all other parts of the body that are controlled by the will, such as the arms, hands, fingers, and feet. If these are deformed, then the will can perform only clumsy actions by means of them. It is similar with the natural or external man's service to the internal man. If the factual truths in the external or natural man have been distorted or wiped out, the internal man cannot see the truth, and so cannot think about it and perceive it except in a distorted or false manner. From all this it is evident why the natural man must be regenerated if a person is to be regenerated. On these matters see also what has been shown previously in 3286, 3321, 3469, 3493, 3573, 3620, 3623, 3679, 4588, 4618, 4667, 5165, 5168, 5427, 5428, 5477, 6299, 6564, 8742-8747, 9043.
Exodus 21
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"Now these are the ordinances which you shall set before them.
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"If you buy a Hebrew servant, he shall serve six years and in the seventh he shall go out free without paying anything.
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If he comes in by himself, he shall go out by himself. If he is married, then his wife shall go out with him.
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If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself.
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But if the servant shall plainly say, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children. I will not go out free;'
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then his master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost, and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever.
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"If a man sells his daughter to be a female servant, she shall not go out as the male servants do.
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If she doesn't please her master, who has married her to himself, then he shall let her be redeemed. He shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt deceitfully with her.
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If he marries her to his son, he shall deal with her as a daughter.
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If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish her food, her clothing, and her marital rights.
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If he doesn't do these three things for her, she may go free without paying any money.
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"One who strikes a man so that he dies shall surely be put to death,
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but not if it is unintentional, but God allows it to happen: then I will appoint you a place where he shall flee.
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If a man schemes and comes presumptuously on his neighbor to kill him, you shall take him from my altar, that he may die.
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"Anyone who attacks his father or his mother shall be surely put to death.
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"Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
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"Anyone who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death.
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"If men quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone, or with his fist, and he doesn't die, but is confined to bed;
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if he rises again and walks around with his staff, then he who struck him shall be cleared: only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall provide for his healing until he is thoroughly healed.
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"If a man strikes his servant or his maid with a rod, and he dies under his hand, he shall surely be punished.
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Notwithstanding, if he gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for he is his property.
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"If men fight and hurt a pregnant woman so that she gives birth prematurely, and yet no harm follows, he shall be surely fined as much as the woman's husband demands and the judges allow.
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But if any harm follows, then you must take life for life,
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eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,
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burning for burning, wound for wound, and bruise for bruise.
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"If a man strikes his servant's eye, or his maid's eye, and destroys it, he shall let him go free for his eye's sake.
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If he strikes out his male servant's tooth, or his female servant's tooth, he shall let him go free for his tooth's sake.
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"If a bull gores a man or a woman to death, the bull shall surely be stoned, and its flesh shall not be eaten; but the owner of the bull shall not be held responsible.
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But if the bull had a habit of goring in the past, and it has been testified to its owner, and he has not kept it in, but it has killed a man or a woman, the bull shall be stoned, and its owner shall also be put to death.
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If a ransom is laid on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is laid on him.
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Whether it has gored a son or has gored a daughter, according to this judgment it shall be done to him.
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If the bull gores a male servant or a female servant, thirty shekels of silver shall be given to their master, and the ox shall be stoned.
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"If a man opens a pit, or if a man digs a pit and doesn't cover it, and a bull or a donkey falls into it,
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the owner of the pit shall make it good. He shall give money to its owner, and the dead animal shall be his.
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"If one man's bull injures another's, so that it dies, then they shall sell the live bull, and divide its price; and they shall also divide the dead animal.
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Or if it is known that the bull was in the habit of goring in the past, and its owner has not kept it in, he shall surely pay bull for bull, and the dead animal shall be his own.
