7463. 'And Moses said, Behold, I go out from you' means the removal of the appearance of God's truth among them. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the law of God, dealt with in 6723, 6752, thus God's truth also, 7014, 7381; and from the meaning of 'going out' as a removal, as above in 7404. For 'Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron' means the presence of God's truth, 7451, and therefore 'going out from him' here means a removal. In considering the presence and removal of God's truth among the evil, one should realize that truth from God sometimes appears to them, and that it does so through the presence of an angel near them. But with them truth from God does not come in by way of their interiors, as it does with the good, because their interiors are closed. It has an effect only on their exteriors. When this happens they are filled with fear and consequently self-abasement, for the presence of truth from God perturbs them and strikes fear into them that is like the fear of death. But when the truth from God is removed they return to their previous state of mind and have no fear. This is what is meant by the presence of the appearance of God's truth and its removal. It was also represented by Pharaoh, by his self-abasement while Moses was present with him, and his promise to send the people away to sacrifice to Jehovah, and by his 'making his heart stubborn after Moses had gone out from him', verse 28. For as shown above, 'Moses' represented the law of God or God's truth.

[2] The law of God and God's truth are one and the same because the law of God means the Word, and accordingly God's truth. The fact that 'the law means the Word and accordingly God's truth is clear from the following places: In John,

Jesus said, Is it not written in your law, I said, You are Gods? If He called them gods, with whom the Word came to be, and the Scripture cannot be broken . . . John 10:34-35.

'Written in the law' stands for the presence of those words in the Word, for they are written in David. In the same gospel,

The crowd said, We have heard from the Law that the Christ remains forever. John 12:34.

These words too are written in David. In the same gospel,

Jesus said, In order that the Word written in the Law might be fulfilled, They hated Me without a cause. John 15:25.

This as well is found in David. In Luke,

It is written in the Law of the Lord that every male opening the womb should be called holy to the Lord; and that they should offer a sacrifice, in keeping with what is written in the Law of the Lord, of a pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons. Luke 2:23-24, 39.

This command is contained in Moses. In the same gospel,

A lawyer testing Jesus said, What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him. What is written in the Law? What is your reading of it? Luke 10:25-26.

[3] In the same gospel,

The Law and the Prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God is proclaimed. It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the Law to fall. Luke 16:16-17.

There are other places besides this in which the Word is called the Law and the Prophets, such as Matthew 5:18; 7:12; 11:13; 22:36, 40. In Isaiah,

Bind up the testimony, seal the Law for the benefit of My disciples. Isaiah 8:16.

'The Law' stands for the Word. In the same prophet,

. . . lying sons, sons who did not wish to hear the Law of Jehovah. Isaiah 30:9.

In the same prophet,

He will set judgement on the earth, the islands hope for His Law. Isaiah 42:4.

This refers to the Lord, 'His Law' standing for the Word. In the same prophet,

Jehovah will magnify His Law. Isaiah 42:21.

In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, If you do not obey Me, to go in My Law which I have set before you, in order that you may hear the Word of My servants the prophets . . . Jeremiah 26:4-5.

Here 'the Law' stands for the Word, and in very many other places besides. From this it is evident that 'the Law' is the Word, and since it is the Word it is God's truth, as in Jeremiah,

This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, said Jehovah: I will put [My] Law in the midst of them, and will write it on their heart. Jeremiah 31:33.

Here 'Jehovah's Law' stands for God's truth.

[4] In a broad sense 'the Law' is the whole Word, in a narrower sense the historical section of the Word, in an even narrower sense the Word written through Moses, and in a restricted sense the Ten Commandments, see 6752.

From all this one may now see why Moses is said to represent both the law of God and God's truth.

7577. 'And there was hail, and at the same time fire running down in the midst of the hail, extremely heavy' means firm beliefs in what is false together with desires for evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'hail' as falsity arising from evil, dealt with above in 7574, at this point firm belief in what is false since it says the hail was 'extremely heavy'; from the meaning of 'fire' as the desire for evil, dealt with just above in 7575; and from the meaning of 'running down in the midst' as being together. Indeed the desire for evil is at the centre, for the falsity emanates from it.

[2] What is being described here is the state of those belonging to the Church who molest the upright in the next life - their state when the things of the Church with them, that is, the forms of good and the truths which they have claimed to believe in, have been laid waste. That is to say, their state is now one in which firm but false beliefs together with evil desires reign; for this is what their state inwardly is like. Those false beliefs and evil desires are inseparable; for when evil takes hold in a person's life, falsity takes hold in his doctrine. When a person's life is taken hold of by evil, the situation may seem to him to be entirely different, for when people claim with their lips to believe in truths drawn from the Word or from the teachings of their Church they fancy that they have a belief in them. It even appears to them as though they do; but in fact they have no such belief if their life is evil. For either they claim with their lips to believe in things which are different from what they really think, or they think something is true because they have been told and persuaded to believe that it is, and this belief they hold on account of their desire for gain and important positions. This means that when they are no longer striving for important positions or seeking after gain that belief falls away, and then those people take hold of falsities that fit in with their evil desires. Falsities fitting in with evil desires are present inwardly with those who lead an evil life, no matter how much they may think that they are not. The truth of this is made thoroughly plain in the next life when everything external has been taken away and those kinds of people have been left to their inner selves. Falsities now erupt, both those which had played a part in their thinking in the world and those which had not evidently done so. For those falsities erupt from the evils which had been part of their life, falsities being nothing other than evils producing reasons to support and justify themselves. From all this one may see what the state of those people in the next life is like, namely a state in which firm beliefs in what is false together with desires for what is evil rule them.