213. "'That the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed.'" This symbolically means, so as not to profane and adulterate the goodness of heavenly love.

No one can know the symbolic meaning of the shame of nakedness unless he knows that the reproductive organs in both sexes, called also the genitalia, correspond to celestial love.

To be shown that the human body and all its constituents have a correspondence with the heavens, see the book Heaven and Hell, published in London in , nos. 87-102. And to be shown that the reproductive organs correspond to celestial love, see Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), also published in London, nos. 5050-5062.

Now because these organs correspond to celestial love, which is the love found in the third or inmost heaven, and because a person is born of his parents into loves contrary to that love, it is apparent that if he does not acquire for himself the goodness of love and the truth of wisdom from the Lord, which are symbolically meant by gold refined in fire and white garments, he will be seen to be impelled by a contrary love, which in itself is profane.

[2] This latter circumstance is symbolically meant by uncovering nakedness and manifesting the shame of it, in the following places:

Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and his private parts be seen. (Revelation 16:15)

...daughter of Babylon (and of the Chaldeans), sit on the ground... Uncover your hair..., uncover the thigh, pass through the rivers. Let your nakedness be uncovered; yes, let your shame be seen. (Isaiah 47:1-3)

Woe to the bloody city! ...Because of the multitude of (her) harlotries... I will uncover your skirts in front of you, and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your disgrace. (Nahum 3:1, 4-5)

Contend with your mother... lest I strip her naked... (Hosea 2:2-4)

When I passed by you... I covered your nakedness... Then I washed you... and... I clothed you... But you... played the harlot... not remembering your youth, when you were naked and bare... (Therefore) your nakedness was uncovered... (Ezekiel 16:6ff.)

Jerusalem has sinned gravely; therefore... all... despise her, because they have seen her nakedness. (Lamentations 1:8)

Jerusalem, of which these things were said, means the church; and to play the harlot means, symbolically, to adulterate and falsify the Word (no. 134).

Woe to him who makes his neighbor drink..., making him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness! ...Drink, you too, that your uncircumcised foreskin may be exposed! (Habakkuk 2:15-16)

[3] Someone who knows what nakedness symbolizes can understand what is symbolically meant by the statement that when Noah was drunk from drinking wine he lay uncovered inside his tent, and Ham saw and laughed at his nakedness, but Shem and Japheth covered his nakedness, turning their faces away so as not to see it (Genesis 9:21-23). He can understand also why it was decreed that Aaron and his sons should not go up by steps to the altar, that their nakedness might not be exposed (Exodus 20:26). And so, too, why it was decreed that they should make for them linen trousers to cover their naked flesh, that they should have these on when they came near the altar, and that otherwise they would bear their iniquity and die (Exodus 28:42-43).

Nakedness in these places symbolizes the evils into which a person is born, which, because they are contrary to the goodness of celestial love, are in themselves profane and are removed only by truths and by living in accordance with those truths. Linen also symbolizes truth (no. 671[1-2]).

[4] Nakedness in addition symbolizes innocence, and also ignorance of goodness and truth. Innocence is symbolized by the statement, "they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they had no cause for shame" (Genesis 2:25). Ignorance of goodness and truth is symbolized by the following:

...this... fast that I choose: ...to break bread with the hungry..., and... when you see the naked man, to cover him. (Isaiah 58:6-7)

He gives his bread to the hungry man, and covers the naked one with clothing. (Ezekiel 18:7)

...I was hungry and you gave Me food...; I was naked and you clothed Me. (Matthew 25:35-36)

7097. 'I do not know Jehovah' means that they have no interest in the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'not knowing' as having no interest in, for a person who has no interest in something says that he knows nothing about it; and 'Jehovah' is used to mean the Lord, see above in 7091. The implications of this, of Pharaoh's saying that he does not know Jehovah, are as follows: The Egyptians had known Jehovah since ancient times, the reason being that the Ancient Church had existed in Egypt also, as may be plainly recognized from the fact that they were in possession of the representatives and meaningful signs of that Church. Egyptian hieroglyphics are nothing else, for these served to denote spiritual realities; and people knew that they did in actual fact correspond to those realities. But because they began to use such representatives and signs in their sacred worship, to treat them as objects of worship and also at length to turn them into magic, and in so doing to become linked to the devil's crew in hell, they completely destroyed the Ancient Church among themselves. This is why in the Word 'the Egyptians' means facts known to the Church that have been perverted, and also falsities that are opposed to the truths of the Church.

[2] Once the worship of God had become perverted in this way in Egypt, then they were no longer allowed to worship Jehovah either, or at length even to know that Jehovah had been the God of the Ancient Church; and the reason why this happened was to prevent them from profaning the name of Jehovah. The fact that the name of Jehovah was also known at that time, before it was revealed once again to Abraham's descendants through Moses on Mount Horeb, is plainly evident from Balaam, who was from Syria. He not only knew Jehovah but also worshipped Him and offered sacrifice to Him, Numbers 22-24. From all this one may now see why Pharaoh said, 'Who is Jehovah whose voice I am to hear, [telling me] to send the people away? I do not know Jehovah.'

[3] But since 'Pharaoh' represents those in hell who are steeped in falsities and molest those belonging to the spiritual Church, what is involved in all this needs to be stated. Those in hell who molest members of the spiritual Church consist for the most part of the kind of people who have said that faith alone saves and yet have led a life contrary to faith. And since the life they have led, thus the evil which they have contemplated, planned, and carried out, remains after death of the body, therefore to defend the evils assimilated into their life they either employ the things which they have said were matters of faith or else reject them altogether. But to prevent them from misusing the truths of faith, these are taken away from them. And when those truths have been taken they seize on falsities, which are completely contrary to the truths of faith, and then use the falsities to molest those guided by truths. Doing this is then for them the delight of life. Quite a number of them, to acquire power, also learn magic. This is done by those who used various tricks which they devised in the world to deceive their neighbour, and being successful then attributed everything to their own prudence.

[4] Those who have become like this acknowledge the Father as the Creator of all things, but they do not acknowledge the Lord. Regarding the Lord they use similar words to Pharaoh's here regarding Jehovah, 'Who is Jehovah? I do not know Jehovah'. Indeed just as the whole sphere pervading heaven is full of an acknowledgement of and love for the Lord, so the whole sphere pervading the hells is full of a denial of the Lord and of hatred towards Him. Nor can they bear to hear His name mentioned. Those in hell are by nature such that admonitions and threats do not make them leave off, so great is the delight of their life to molest the upright and draw them away from their acknowledgement of the Lord and faith in Him. That delight is intensified by the admonitions they receive to leave off, for they lead them to imagine that those whom they molest will shortly be done for. These are the ones whom 'Pharaoh' and 'the Egyptians' are used to mean specifically.