4715. 'And he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron' means going forth from the Divine Natural and Sensory degrees. This is clear from the meaning of 'being sent' as going forth and teaching, dealt with above in 4710; from the meaning of 'a valley' as things that are low, dealt with in 1723, 3417; and from the meaning of 'Hebron' as the Lord's Church as regards good, dealt with in 2909. The words used at this point accordingly mean that it was to teach the lower things of the Church, for the reason that people would not grasp the higher ones. Indeed one who teaches faith and not charity cannot possibly discern the higher and more internal things of the Church since he does not possess the wherewithal that leads him to see and lays down for him whether a particular idea is part of faith or is the truth. But if he teaches charity he is in that case in possession of good. Good lays down the truth for him and leads him, for all truth stems from good and has to do with good; or what amounts to the same, every aspect of faith stems from charity and has to do with charity. The fact that everything taught by doctrine has regard to life anybody can recognize from natural enlightenment alone.

[2] The meaning 'going forth from the Divine Natural and Sensory degrees' carried by the words used here is their higher meaning. For the expression 'lower things of the Church' is used to describe those which have their origin in the Lord's Divine Natural and Sensory degrees. Not that within the Lord these things are lower ones - for within the Lord and within His Divine Human everything is Infinite, indeed He is Jehovah as regards both Essences, 2156, 2329, 2921, 3023. Those things are lower because of what the situation is with man. People who are sensory-minded rely on ideas as grasped by the senses to think of things which exist within the Lord and which go forth from the Lord, and those who are natural-minded rely on natural ideas. The nature of the recipients is the reason for the way any matter is stated. People however who are heavenly-minded and are as a consequence truly rational do perceive interior things. These are the ones of whom it is said that they teach from the Lord's Divine Rational. This, as has been stated, is the higher meaning which these words carry.

[3] The meaning of 'a valley' as the lower things of the Church may be seen from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

The prophecy of the valley of vision. What is this, that you have gone up, every one onto the housetops? The Lord Jehovih Zebaoth has a day of tumult and of trampling and of confusion in the valley of vision. Isaiah 22:1, 5.

'The valley of vision' stands for false notions about spiritual things - notions formed from sensory impressions, and so from lower things. In the same prophet,

The choicest of your valleys were filled with chariots, and the horsemen positioned themselves at the gate. Isaiah 22:7.

'The choicest of the valleys' stands for goods and truths within the natural or external man. In the same prophet,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah; make plain in the lonely place a highway for our God; every valley will be lifted up. Isaiah 40:3-4.

'Valley' stands for things that are lowly.

[4] In Jeremiah,

How will you say, I have not been defiled, I have not gone after the baalim. Look at your way in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. Jeremiah 2:23.

'The valley' stands for factual knowledge and sensory impressions, which are lower things, by means of which they would pervert truths. In the same prophet,

I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain, said Jehovah, you who say, Who will come down against us? Jeremiah 21:13.

'Inhabitant of the valley' and 'rock of the plain' stand for faith which has no charity in it. In the same prophet,

He who lays waste will come upon every city, and no city will escape; but the valley will perish, and the plain will be destroyed. Jeremiah 48:8.

Here the meaning is similar. In the same prophet,

You will not boast of valleys; your valley has flowed away, O perverse daughter. Jeremiah 49:4.

'Valley' stands for the external things within worship which are also the lowest.

[5] In Ezekiel,

I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of those that pass over. There they will bury Gog and all his multitude, from which they will call it the valley of the multitude of Gog. Ezekiel 39:11, 15.

'Gog' stands for those whose worship is external devoid of internal, 1151, which is why the expressions 'his grave', 'the valley of those that pass over', and 'the valley of his multitude' are used. In David,

Even when I walk in the valley of the shadow I will fear no evil. Psalms 23:4.

'The valley of the shadow' stands for lower things which, compared with others, are in shadow.

[6] Because valleys lay between mountains and hills and beneath them, 'valleys' therefore means the lower or more external things of the Church; for 'hills' and 'mountains' mean the higher or more internal things of it, 'hills' things of charity and 'mountains' those of love to the Lord, 795, 1430, 2722, 4210. And because 'the land of Canaan' means the Lord's kingdom and His Church, that Church is therefore called,

A land of mountain's and valleys, on the arrival of the rain of heaven it drinks water. Deuteronomy 11:11.

The reason Joseph is said at this point of have been sent out of the Valley of Hebron is that he was sent to those who taught about faith, 4705.

Those who are governed by faith, not by charity, adhere to lower things, for with them faith exists merely in the memory and consequently on the lips, not in the heart and consequently in action.

4096. 'Rachel answered, and Leah, and they said to him' means a reciprocation by the affections for truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'answering', when assent is being given, as that which is reciprocal, dealt with in 2919, and as receptivity, 2941, 2957; and from the representation of 'Rachel' as the affection for interior truth, and of 'Leah' as the affection for external truth, dealt with in 3758, 3782, 3793, 3819. In the sections previous to this the subject in the internal sense has been the good of the natural meant by 'Jacob' when it was being separated from intermediate good meant by 'Laban', and how that good of the natural linked to itself the affections for truth which are meant by 'Rachel and Leah'.

[2] The subject now is the reciprocal application to good of those affections for truth. This application is contained in the internal sense of the words which Rachel and Leah utter now. But these matters are such that they do not come within the range of anyone's understanding unless he has been informed about them and takes delight in knowing about such things, and consequently has the discernment of spiritual matters as his end in view. All others have no interest at all in such matters and cannot even direct their minds towards them. For having worldly and earthly things as their end in view all others cannot detach their thoughts and feelings from those things; and if they did detach them they would not take any delight in doing so, for in that case they would be departing from and removing themselves from the things which they have as their end in view, that is, which they love. Let anybody like this put himself to the test, to see whether he has any wish to know how good links itself to affections for truth and how affections for truth apply themselves to that good, and whether knowing this irritates him or not. He will then say that such items of knowledge are of no use to him, and also that he does not get anything out of them.

[3] But if someone discusses with him the kind of things that are connected with his business in the world, no matter how very complex these matters may be, and he is told where another's affections lie and also how he can use these to draw that person to himself by bending his own mind and words in his direction, he not only grasps what he is told but also perceives further ideas within it. It is similar with one who desires and strives to investigate the abstruse areas of knowledge. He loves to look at, and does look at, more complicated things than those within what is told to the person just mentioned above. But when spiritual good and truth are referred to he finds it a bore and also turns away from it. These things have been stated so that people may know what the member of the Church is like at the present day.

[4] But the whole idea of good linking itself to truths by means of affections, and of truths applying themselves to good, is less clear when imagination or thought is focused on good and on truth than when it is focused on the communities of spirits and angels through which good and truth flow in. For as stated in 4067, that which man wills and thinks originates in these, that is, it flows in from them, and appears as if it existed within him. To know the part played by those communities of spirits and angels in this case is to know the actual causes; and to know the part played by the heaven of angels is to know the ends behind these causes. There are also the historical details which are added to illustrate the matter and so enable it to be seen more plainly.

[5] In the internal sense the subject is the linking of good to truths, and the application of those truths to good within the natural. For as has often been stated, 'Jacob' is the good in the natural, and 'his wives' affections for truth. Good which is the good of love and charity flows in from the Lord, doing so through the angels present with man. It does not flow into anything else with man than the cognitions discerned by him. And good being established in these, thought is concentrated on the truths thus known to him, and from these further things are aroused which are related to them and harmonize with them. And this activity continues until the person thinks that a thing is true and from affection wills it because it is true. When this point is reached the good joins itself to the truths and the truths apply themselves in freedom; for all affection leads to freedom, 2870, 2875, 3158, 4031.

[6] But even when this point is reached, the spirits who have become linked to that person arouse doubts, and sometimes even denials. But insofar as affection prevails he is brought to an affirmative attitude and is at the same time confirmed in truths through those very doubts and denials. When good enters in this manner there is no perception of its doing so through angels, since it enters by such an interior way and passes into the parts of his mind that are darkened by worldly and bodily interests. But it should be realized that good does not flow in from angels but through them from the Lord. This all the angels also confess, and for that reason never claim that anything good is theirs; indeed they are angry when anyone attributes it to them. From all that has been said then, as from causes themselves, some idea may be had of what happens when good is linked to truths, and when these apply themselves to good, the subject at this point in the internal sense.