7398. Only in the river shall they be left. That this signifies that they should remain with the falsities where these are, is evident from the signification of “river,” here the river of Egypt, as being falsity (see n. 6693, 7307); and from the signification of “being left,” as being to remain. With this the case is that whatever enters with man, remains with him, especially what is received from affection. It is believed that the things which enter have been completely obliterated and cast out when the man no longer remembers them; but they have not been obliterated or cast out, but they stick fast either in the interior memory, or in the exterior, among things which have become familiar. For the things which become familiar, are as it were natural, which flow of their own accord, and are not excited by a conscious recalling from the memory; like man’s speech, the words of which flow spontaneously from thought, as also do the gestures and actions, and even the steps; and also the thought. These enter successively from infancy, and in time become familiar, and then flow spontaneously. From these as well as from other similar facts, it is evident that all things which enter with man, remain, and that the things which have become habitual, that is, familiar, are no longer noticed as being in the man, although they are in him. Such is the case with the falsities and evils that enter with man, and also with the truths and goods. Such are the things that form him and determine his quality. (That all things which a man has seen, heard, thought, spoken, and done, have been inscribed on him, (see n. 2474-2489.) From all this it is now evident how it is to be understood that the reasonings would remain with the falsities where these are; for after falsities are being removed, they are allotted their places elsewhere in the natural, and together with the falsities the endeavor and cupidity of reasoning; but not as before in the midst directly under the mind’s view. Hence it is that, as related in what follows, the frogs were gathered together in heaps, and the land stank by reason of them, whereby is signified that these reasoning falsities were arranged in bundles in the natural, and there was what was foul and loathsome therefrom (see below, n. 7408, 7409).

3424. And the servants of Isaac digged in the valley, and found there a well of living waters. That this signifies the Word as to the literal sense in which is the internal sense, is evident from the signification of “digging in the valley,” as being to make search lower down in respect to where truths are; for to “dig” is to search, and a “valley” denotes what is below (n. 1723, 3417); and from the signification of a “well of living waters,” as being the Word in which are truths Divine, thus the Word as to the literal sense in which is the internal sense. That the Word is called a “fountain,” and indeed a “fountain of living waters,” is well known; but the reason why the Word is also called a “well,” is that the sense of the letter is relatively such; and also because relatively to those who are spiritual the Word is not a “fountain,” but a “well” (n. 2702, 3096). As a “valley” denotes that which is below, or what is the same, that which is exterior, and the fountain was found in a valley, and the literal sense is the lower or exterior sense of the Word, therefore it is the literal sense which is meant; but because the internal sense, that is, the heavenly and Divine sense, is within this, therefore the waters thereof are called “living;” as were also the waters that went forth under the threshold of the new house, in Ezekiel:

And it shall come to pass that every living creature that creepeth, to which the river there comes, shall live; and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters are come thither and are healed, and everything liveth whithersoever the river cometh (Ezekiel 47:9); where the “river” is the Word; the “waters which cause everything to live” are the Divine truths contained in it; the “fish” are memory-knowledges (n. 40, 991).

[2] That the Word of the Lord is such that it gives life to him that thirsteth, that is, to him that desireth life, and that it is a “fountain whose waters are living,” the Lord also teaches in John when speaking to the woman of Samaria at Jacob’s well:

If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give Me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up unto eternal life (John 4:10, 14).

That the Word is living and therefore gives life, is because in its supreme sense the Lord is treated of, and in the inmost sense His kingdom, in which the Lord is all; and this being the case, there is in the Word life itself, which flows into the minds of those who read the Word with reverence; hence it is that in respect to the Word that is from Himself the Lord declares Himself to be a “fountain of water springing up unto eternal life” (see also n. 2702).

[3] That just as the Lord’s Word is called a “fountain,” so is it also called a “well,” is evident in Moses:

Israel sang this song: Spring up, O well, answer ye unto it: the princes digged the well; the chiefs of the people digged it for the lawgiver with their staves (Numbers 21:17-18).

These words were spoken at the “place Beer,” that is, at the “place of the well.” That by “well” here is signified the Word of the Ancient Church, spoken of above (n. 2897), is evident from what is there said; “princes” are primary truths that are the source; (that “princes” signify primary truths may be seen above, n. 1482, 2089); the “chiefs of the people” are lower truths, such as are those contained in the literal sense (n. 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295); that the “lawgiver” is the Lord, is evident; “staves” denote the powers which they possessed.