9377. 'And you are to bow down from afar' means humility and adoration coming from the heart, and at the same time the inflow of the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'bowing down' as humility, dealt with in 2153, 5682, 6266, 7068. The reason why adoration as well is meant is that the essential element in all adoration and all worship is humility. Without humility there can be no worship or adoration of the Lord, because what is Divine and the Lord's cannot flow into a proud heart, that is, into a heart full of self-love, for such a heart is hard and in the Word is called 'a heart of stone'. It can flow only into a humble heart, since this is soft and in the Word is called 'a heart of flesh', and so is receptive of good flowing in from the Lord, that is, receptive of the inflow of the Lord. This explains why 'bowing down from afar' means not only humility and adoration coming from the heart but also the inflow of the Lord at the same time. The words 'the inflow of the Lord' are used because the good of love and of faith which flows in from the Lord is the Lord as He resides with a person. The reason why 'from afar' means coming from the heart is that when people feel humble they draw back from the Lord because they do not consider themselves worthy enough to draw near God Most Holy. For when they feel humble they acknowledge that left to themselves they are nothing but evil, indeed nothing but profanity. When they acknowledge this in their heart they possess true humility. From this it is evident that 'you are to bow down from afar' means humility and adoration coming from the heart, and at the same time the inflow of the Lord.

[2] But such humility and adoration did not exist with the Israelite people; they did no more than represent them through outward gestures, for merely external things and nothing internal interested them. Nevertheless when they humbled themselves they used to lie face down on the ground, also roll themselves in the dust, and cry out with a loud voice, behaving like this for entire days. Anyone who does not know what true humility is might think that such behaviour was humility of heart. But it was not the humility of a heart looking to God from God, but one of looking to God from self; and a heart that looks from self looks from what is evil, since whatever goes out from a person, from the self alone, is evil. For the Israelites more than all peoples in the whole world were ruled by self-love and love of the world. They thought that they were holy if they merely offered sacrifice or washed themselves with water, doing so without any recognition that such actions represented the inward holiness that belongs to charity and faith coming from the Lord. For no holiness is a person's own; rather it is the Lord's present with the person, 9229. Those who humble themselves in the belief that they are holy of themselves and who offer adoration from a love of God which begins in themselves, humble themselves and offer adoration from self-love, thus from a hard heart of stone and not from a soft heart of flesh. Also they are interested only in external things and not at the same time in internal ones; for self-love lives in the external man and cannot enter the internal because the internal man is opened solely by love to and faith in the Lord, thus by the Lord who there forms for the person the heaven in which he lives.

9014. 'You shall take him from My altar to die' means damnation even though he flees to worship the Lord, pleads for forgiveness, and promises to repent. This is clear from the meaning of Jehovah's altar' as the chief representative of worship of the Lord, dealt with in 921, 2777, 2811, 4541, 8935, 8940, and since the altar was representative of worship 'fleeing to the altar' means going to the Lord, pleading for forgiveness, and also promising to repent, for one action follows the other; and from the meaning of 'dying' as damnation, dealt with in 5407, 6119, 9008.

[2] The implications of all this may be recognized from what has been shown in paragraph 9013 above, to the effect that guile in spiritual things, that is, hypocrisy, is not able to be forgiven. The reason why is that guile is like poison that penetrates right through to the inward parts; it kills all of the faith and charity there, and destroys remnants, which are the truths and forms of the good of faith and charity stored away by the Lord in a person inwardly. And when these have been destroyed no spiritual life at all survives any longer. Regarding remnants, see 468, 530, 560-563, 660, 661, 798, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284, 5135, 5342, 5344, 5897, 5898, 6156, 7560, 7564. Consequently when people full of guile plead with the Lord to be forgiven and promise to repent, meant by 'fleeing to the altar', their pleas and promises do not come at all from the heart but are made only with the lips. Therefore they are not heard, for the Lord looks on the heart, not on words separated and isolated from the heart. So it is that there is no forgiveness for them, because they are not capable of any repentance.

[3] The majority within the Church think that the forgiveness of sins involves wiping and washing them away, like the removal of dirt by water, and that after forgiveness people go about clean and pure. This idea reigns especially with those who attribute all of salvation to faith alone. But let it be known that the situation with the forgiveness of sins is altogether different from that being Mercy itself, the Lord forgives everyone their sins. Nevertheless they do not come to be forgiven unless the person sincerely repents, refrains from evils, and after that leads a life of faith and charity, doing so to the end of his life. When this happens the person receives spiritual life from the Lord, called new life. Then when with this new life he looks at the evils of his former life, turns away from them, and abhors them, his evils have for the first time been forgiven. For the person is now maintained in truths and forms of good by the Lord and held back from evils. This shows what the forgiveness of sins is, and that it cannot take place within an hour, nor within a year. The Church knows this to be so, for it says to those who attend the Holy Supper that their sins are forgiven if they begin a new life by refraining from evils and abhorring them.

[4] All this now shows what the situation is with hypocrites who through guile are inwardly eaten up by evils - they are incapable of repenting. For the actual remnants of goodness and truth present with them have been destroyed and lost, and everything of spiritual life with them. And being incapable of repenting they cannot be forgiven. This is meant by the law that those who kill their neighbour with guile must be taken from the altar to die.

[5] Their damnation was described by the following prophetic utterance made by David regarding Joab, who had killed Abner with guile,

There will always be in the house of Joab ¹ one who suffers from a discharge, or is a leper, or supports himself with a rod, or falls by the sword, or lacks bread. 2 Samuel 3:27, 29.

'One suffering from a discharge' means profanation of the good of love; 'a leper' means profanation of the truth of faith, 6963; 'one supporting himself with a rod', or a person who is lame, means those with whom all good has been lost, 4302, 4314; 'one falling by the sword' means those constantly dying through falsities, 4499, 6353, 7102, 8294; and 'one lacking bread' means those deprived of all spiritual life, for 'bread' is the sustainment of spiritual life by means of good, 6118, 8410. Because such people were meant by 'Joab' he was killed by the command of Solomon at the altar to which he had fled, 1 Kings 2:28-32.

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