Verse 20. But the Lord has taken the regenerate and brought them forth out of the evil loves of the natural man, a state in which religion is made to consist in mere knowledges, and the mind is under the dominion of the evil proprium, to receive the life derived from Divine truth operating on the soul as is being developed in the present state.

5414. 'And the sons of Israel came to buy in the midst of others who came' means the wish to acquire spiritual truths, like all other truths, through factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sons of Israel' as spiritual truths (for 'sons' are truths, see above in 5403, and 'Israel' is the celestial-spiritual man coming out of the natural, 4286, 4570, 4598, so that 'the sons of Israel' are spiritual truths within the natural); from the meaning of 'buying' as being acquired; and from the meaning of 'in the midst of others who came' as like all other truths, that is to say, ones acquired through factual knowledge.