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.

7343. 'And all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water to drink' means searching out truth which they could apply to falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'digging' as searching out, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'water round about the river' as truths (the reason why 'water round about the river' is truths is that this water was outside the river and had not become blood; for the meaning of 'water' as truths, see 739, 790, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668); and from the meaning of 'drinking' as applying to falsities. For the meaning of 'drinking' as applying, see 5709; for anyone who drinks something applies it to himself. But it should be recognized that the nature of the application when it takes place is determined by the character and state of the one who applies that thing to himself. A person with an affection for truth applies truths to himself in accordance with the state and character of this affection; but a person with an affection for falsity perverts and falsifies truths when he applies them to himself. This may be seen from the consideration that Divine Truth flows into everyone, yet is varied with each individual according to the state and character of his life. Those in hell therefore turn it into falsities, just as they turn Divine Good into evil, heavenly forms of love into devilish ones, mercy into hatred and cruelty, conjugial love into adultery. Thus they turn things into their opposites, which they do because of the opposite character and state of their life. This now explains why 'all the Egyptians dug round about the river for water [to drink]' means searching out truths which they could apply to falsities.

[2] The fact that among those steeped in falsities and evils truth is turned into falsity and good into evil, and also vice versa, is evident from the proverbial saying that to the pure all things are pure, and to the impure all things are impure. This may also be illustrated by natural phenomena, for instance by the light coming from the sun. The light is white, but the objects it flows into convert it into colours. It is made beautiful by objects that are beautiful, and ugly by those that are ugly. The same proverb may also be illustrated by the grafting of branches into trees. A branch grafted into the trunk bears its own fruit, and therefore the sap of the tree, as soon as it passes into the engrafted branch, Is varied. It now becomes the branch's sap, suited to the production of its leaves and fruit. The situation is similar with the things that enter a human being.

[3] The reason why 'digging' means searching out is that 'water', 'spring', and 'well' which are dug out mean truths, which are not dug out but searched out. This is why in the original language this same word, when it is used in connection with truths, also means to search for. In prophetical statements however either 'water' or 'spring' is used instead of truth, and 'digging' instead of searching for; for this is what prophetic language is like, as is evident in Moses, where the spring at Beer is referred to, about which Israel sang this song,

Rise up, O spring! Answer over it! The well ¹ which the princes dug, which the chiefs of the people dug out, as directed by the lawgiver, with their staves. Numbers 21:16-18.

Here 'spring' means teachings presenting God's truth, 'digging' means searching for it.

Poznámky pod čarou: