4380. 'Let my lord now pass over before his servant' means a more general presence. This is clear from the meaning here, where the joining of good to truths is the subject, of 'passing over before anyone' as a more general presence. For with regeneration which is achieved by means of the joining of good to truths the situation is that good is that which acts and truth that which allows itself to be acted upon. Whenever good has brought itself in touch with truths and linked itself to them a little, truth is seen to react. Yet it is not the truth itself that reacts but the good combined with it or else attached to it, doing so by means of that truth. Such an attachment is what is meant by a more general presence. The phrase joining good to truths is used, but what is meant is the person in whom goodness and truth are present, for goodness and truth are meaningless attributes if they have no subject - that is, man - to which they can be applied. In heaven people do employ abstract terms such as these in their thought and speech, for the reason that they do not attribute good or truth to themselves but to the Lord, and also for the reason that goodness and truth from the Lord fill heaven in its entirety. The ancients too were accustomed to employ such terms in their speech.

9249. 'Do not put your hand with the wicked' means not obeying malevolent feelings. This is clear from the meaning of 'putting the hand' as obeying (for 'the hand' means power, 878, 3387, 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 6292, 7188, 7189, 7518, 7673, 8153, 8281), and as what resides with a person, thus the person himself to the extent that he has power within him, 9133, so that 'putting one's hand with someone' means making common cause with him, which - when malevolence motivates it, meant by 'the wicked - is obeying, since malevolence is persuasive and leads a person on; and from the meaning of 'the wicked' as one who is malevolent, and in the abstract sense malevolence. The term 'in the abstract sense' is used because angels, who understand the spiritual sense of the Word, that is, who perceive the Word on a spiritual level, think and speak in the abstract, without envisaging any actual person, 4380 (end), 8343, 8985, 9007; with them the idea of a person is converted into that of some reality, 5225, 5287, 5434.