8906. 'You shall not steal' means that no one's spiritual goods or possessions must be taken away from him, and that things which are the Lord's must not be attributed to self. This is clear from the meaning of 'stealing' as taking spiritual goods or possessions away from someone. The reason why 'stealing' has these meanings is that wealth and riches in the spiritual sense are cognitions or knowledge of goodness and truth, in general everything that composes the faith and charity, that is, the spiritual life a person has. Therefore taking these away from someone is what 'stealing' means in the spiritual sense. And since all spiritual goods or possessions, that is, everything composing faith and charity, come wholly from the Lord and not at all from man, 'stealing' also means attributing to self things which are the Lord's. People who do this are also called 'thieves' and 'robbers' in John,

Truly I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who is entering by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. I am the door of the sheep. All who were before Me were thieves and were robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me he will be saved, and will go in and out, and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come in order that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. John 10:1-13.

'Entering by the door into the sheepfold' doing so through the Lord, for the Lord is 'the door', as He Himself says. 'The sheep' are those who have charity and consequently faith, and they enter the fold through the Lord when they acknowledge that He is the source of everything composing faith and charity; for then these flow in from Him. But to attribute them to others, especially to self, is to take them away, which is 'to kill and destroy' them. People who attribute entirely to themselves those things which are the Lord's also assume that merit lies in works and consider themselves righteous; such people are dealt with in 1110, 1877, 2027, 2273, 2340, 2373, 2400, 3816, 4007 (end), 4174, 4943, 6388-6390, 6392, 6393, 6478. This then is 'stealing' in the spiritual sense, and it is what comes to mind with angels in heaven when a person reads in the Word about 'stealing'; for angels understand the Word wholly on a spiritual level.

[2] 'Stealing' has a like meaning in Hosea,

When I healed Israel the iniquity of Ephraim was revealed, and the evils of Samaria; for they practiced a lie, and a thief came, a band [of robbers] encircles the house. ¹ Now their own works surround them before My face; they make a king glad through their wickedness, and princes through their lies. Hosea 7:1-3.

And in Joel,

The day of Jehovah comes. Fire devours before him, and behind him a flame burns; like the garden of Eden is the land before him, but behind him there is a desert waste. Its appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like horsemen, so they run. Like the noise of chariots over the peaks of mountains [they leap]. They run about the city, they run on the wall, they climb up into the houses, they go in through the windows like a thief. The earth quaked before him, the heavens trembled. The sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars withdrew their shining. Joel 2:1-10.

This refers to the desolation of the Church, when falsities break in and destroy truths. These falsities are 'the thieves that climb up houses and go in through the windows'. Will anyone fail to wonder why it says that the day of Jehovah will be 'like the appearance of horses', and that at this time 'like horsemen, so they will run', 'they will run about the city, run on the wall, climb up into the houses, and go in through the windows', and 'the earth will quake, the heavens will tremble, the sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars will withdraw their shining'? The person who does not know anything about the internal sense and in his heart calls into doubt the holiness of the Word will say that these are simply words without anything of God concealed in them; and he will perhaps call the sayings meaningless. But the person who believes that the Word is most holy because it is Divine, and furthermore knows that there is an internal sense, in which the Church, heaven, and the Lord Himself are the subject, will profess that every word there carries weight. Therefore let a brief explanation be given of what the words and sayings there mean.

[3] 'The day of Jehovah' is the final state or final period of the Church, when there is no longer truth but falsity instead. 'The fire' which devours before him is the desire for evil, and 'the fire' which burns after him is the resulting desire for falsity. 'The appearance of horses' is intellectual powers that reason from falsity as if from truth; 'the horsemen' who run are reasoners; 'chariots' are matters of doctrine that uphold falsity; 'the city' is doctrine itself; 'the wall' on which they run is a false essential; 'the houses' which they will climb up are a person's will; 'the windows' which they will go in through are intellectual concepts; 'a thief' is falsity which takes away truth; 'the earth' which will quake before him is the Church, and so are 'the heavens' which will tremble; 'the sun' is love to the Lord, 'the moon' faith in Him, which are said 'to be darkened' when they are no longer apparent; 'the stars' are cognitions or knowledge of goodness and truth which will no longer possess light from faith and love, thus from heaven, meant by 'withdrawing their shining'. From all this one may recognize what these words in general imply, and also in what sense that day or final state of the Church is called 'a thief' who will climb up houses and go in through the windows - falsity which will at that time take possession of the entire person, of both his will and his understanding, and so will take away all truth and goodness. 'A thief' has a like meaning in Obadiah,

The Lord Jehovih said to Edom, If thieves come to you, if those who overturn in the night - how you will have been cut off! - will they not steal that which is enough for themselves? Obad. verses 1, 5.

'A thief' or 'one who steals' has a like meaning in Zechariah 5:1-4; Psalms 50:18-20; Matthew 6:19-20.

[4] As all the regulations which the Lord commanded the children of Israel were founded on the laws of order which exist in heaven, that is, they sprang from the spiritual world and derived their essential nature from there, this was no less so with the laws laid down regarding thefts, such as the law,

Anyone who has stolen an ox and sells it shall repay five, or four if one of the flock. Exodus 21:37. ²

Also these laws,

If a thief has been struck while breaking in, no blood [is required] for him; but if the sun has risen, blood [is required]. A thief must pay compensation or be sold. If [what he has stolen] is found in his hand he shall restore double. Exodus 22:2-4.

Anyone who steals a man and sells him - and he is found in his hand - shall surely die. Exodus 21:16.

If there is found a man who has stolen a soul from his brothers, from the children of Israel, and has made profit on him, when he has sold him, that thief shall be killed, so that you remove evil from the midst of you. Deuteronomy 24:7.

'Men from the children of Israel' in the internal sense are those who are governed by the truths and forms of the good of faith. Accordingly in the abstract sense they are the truths and forms of good themselves, 5414, 5879, 5951, so that 'stealing a man from the children of Israel' means taking these away, and 'selling him' means alienating them and also reducing them to a state of servitude. For since truths and forms of the good of faith come from the Lord they exist in a state of freedom, and are subservient to none except the Lord alone; but when they are alienated they come into a state of servitude since they are subservient to some evil of self-love or love of the world, thus to some bodily desire. This is how that law [in Deuteronomy 24:7] was derived and what it corresponds to; and since from being in freedom the Church's truth and good is reduced to subservience, and so from being living is made dead, the punishment, which is the outcome, is death.

Poznámky pod čarou:

353. 'Fat' means the celestial itself, which also is the Lord's. The celestial consists in everything that is an aspect of love. Faith too is celestial when it has its origin in love. Charity is the celestial, and all good stemming from charity is celestial. All of these were represented by 'the fat' in sacrifices, especially by the fat on the liver or omentum, by the fat on the kidneys, by the fat covering the entrails, and by that actually on the entrails. These were consecrated and burnt on the altar, Exodus 29:13, 22; Leviticus 3:3-4, 14; 4:8-9, 19, 26, 31, 35; 8:16, 25, and were consequently called 'the bread offered by fire for an odour of rest' for Jehovah, ¹ Leviticus 3:15-16. For this reason the Jewish people were forbidden to eat any of the fat from animals, and this was called 'a perpetual statute throughout their generations', Leviticus 3:17; 7:23, 25. They were forbidden to do so because that Church was such that it did not acknowledge anything internal, still less anything celestial.

[2] That 'fat' means celestial things and goods that flow from charity is clear in the Prophets, as in Isaiah,

Why do you weigh out silver for ² that which is not bread, and your labour on that which does not satisfy? Hearken diligently to Me, and eat what is good, and your soul will find its delight in fatness. Isaiah 55:2.

In Jeremiah,

I will fill the soul of the priests with fat, and My people will be satisfied with My goodness. Jeremiah 31:14.

Here it is quite clear that 'fat' is not used to mean fat but celestial-spiritual good. In David,

They will be filled with the fat of Your house, and You givest them drink from the river of Your delights; for with You is the fountain of life, in Your light do we see light. Psalms 36:8-9.

Here 'fat' and 'the fountain of life' stand for the celestial, which consists in love, and 'river of delights' and 'light' stand for the spiritual, which consists in faith deriving from love. In the same author,

My soul will be satisfied with fat and fatness, and my mouth will praise You with joyful lips. ³ Psalms 63:5.

Here similarly 'fat' stands for the celestial, 'joyful lips' ³ for the spiritual. It is quite clear that the celestial is meant for the reason that 'the soul will be satisfied'. And first-fruits, which were the firstborn of the earth, are for the same reason called 'fat' in Numbers 18:12.

[3] Since there are countless genera of celestial things, and still more countless species of them, they are described in general in the words of the song which Moses recited to the people,

Butter from the cattle, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and rams, the breed ⁴ of Bashan, and of goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape you will drink unmixed wine. Deuteronomy 32:14.

Nobody can possibly know what these expressions mean except from the internal sense. Without the internal sense nobody is able to know what butter from the cattle means, or milk from the flock, or the fat of lambs, or the fat of rams and of goats, or the breed ⁴ of Bashan, or the kidney-fat of wheat, or the blood of the grape. Without the internal sense they would be mere words and nothing more. In reality every single thing mentioned there means the genera and species of celestial things.

Poznámky pod čarou: