10660. 'All that opens the womb is Mine' means that all the good of innocence, charity, and faith is to be ascribed to the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'that which opens the womb' as that which is born from the Lord; for a person is conceived and born from parents in a natural manner, but from the Lord in a spiritual one. This birth from Him is what should be understood in the internal sense by 'that which opens the womb'. If such were not meant what would be the point of the law that the firstborn of cattle were to be Jehovah's, that is, the Lord's? Furthermore the person who is being regenerated is conceived, born, and brought up anew, and in this manner is led away from the evils of the natural condition which he acquired from his parents. The subject here is the firstborn of cattle; but by cattle the forms of good and the truths that reside with a person should be understood. For cattle of every kind correspond to affections such as exist in the human being, as becomes clear from the places referred to in 9280. From these it becomes clear that 'that which opens the womb, which is Jehovah's' means the good of innocence, charity, and faith, which are imparted by the Lord to those who are born anew, that is, who are being regenerated. It is said that these are to be ascribed to the Lord, that is, it should be acknowledged that they come from Him; for unless people acknowledge and believe that they come from the Lord they are not forms of good. All good comes from Him, and what does not come from Him comes from man; and whatever comes from man, though it seems to outward appearance to be good, is nevertheless bad. For the human proprium is nothing but evil, and from what is bad no good can be brought forth.

550. Verse 6. And in those days shall the men seek death, and shall not find it, signifies that they then wish to destroy the faculty to understand truth, but still are not able. This is evident from the signification of "in those days," as being then, namely, when the man of the church from internal becomes external, or from rational becomes sensual; also from the signification of "to seek death," as being a wish to destroy the faculty to understand truth (of which presently); also from the signification of "not to find it," as being not to be able to destroy. That "to seek death" here signifies a wish to destroy the faculty to understand truth, is evident from what precedes, because it is consequent upon it; for it was said that "the locusts should hurt the men only that have not the seal of God on their foreheads," and afterwards, that "it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should torment them," which signifies that they should do harm to the understanding of truth and the perception of good in those only who are not in truths from good from the Lord, but yet that these should not be deprived of the faculty to understand truth and perceive good (as may be seen above, n. 546, 547). From this it now follows, that the "death" which they seek and which they desire signifies the deprivation of the faculty to understand truth and perceive good, for the destruction of these is the destruction of the life properly human; for man would then be no longer a man but a beast, as has been said above; evidently then it is the loss of this life that is signified by "death." Such wish to destroy the two faculties of the truly human life, because sensual men, from the persuasion of the falsities of evil in which they are, have no wish to understand truth or perceive good, for they find delight in their falsities of evil, and thus in thinking from the enjoyment of falsity, and willing from the enjoyment of evil, and consequently they turn themselves away from truth and good because these are the opposites; by these some are made sad, some are made sick, and some reject them with anger, each according to the quality and amount of falsity of which he has persuaded himself; in a word, ¹ such a sensual man does not admit reasons from the understanding against the falsities of evil in which he is, thus he has no wish to understand and become rational, although he can become so because he is a man. This, therefore, is what is signified by "they shall seek death and shall not find it."

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