9057. 'Blow for blow' means if anything of affection in the understanding is wiped out or injured. This is clear from the meaning of 'blow' as the wiping out or injuring of affection in the understanding, that is, of affection for truth. 'Blow' is expressed in the original language by a word that means a bruise resulting from a gathering of blood or corrupted blood; and 'blood' in the internal sense is the truth of faith derived from the good of love and in the contrary sense truth that has been falsified and rendered profane, 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326. 'A blow' therefore is truth that has been injured or wiped out. 'Blows' or 'plagues' ¹ have the same meaning in Revelation 9:20; 11:6; 13:12; 15:1, 6, 8; 16:21; 18:8; also in Jeremiah 30:12, 14, 17; Ezekiel 7:2; Zechariah 14:12-15; Psalms 38:5; and in Luke 10:30-35, where it speaks about the one who fell among thieves, who inflicted blows on him, and left him half dead, and about a Samaritan who bandaged his blows, poured in oil and wine, lifted him onto his own animal, and brought him to an inn.

[2] A person with an understanding of the internal sense of the Word can know why the Lord said that a Samaritan bandaged the victim's blows, poured in oil and wine, and set him on his own animal. In the internal sense 'a Samaritan' means someone with an affection for truth; 'bandaging blows' means healing that affection when it has been injured; 'pouring in oil and wine' means introducing the good of love and the good of faith; and 'lifting onto his animal' means supporting with his own power of understanding. Thus those words were used to describe charity towards the neighbour, in a natural way for the benefit of people in the world and in a spiritual way for the benefit of angels in heaven - in a natural way in the sense of the letter, and in a spiritual way in the internal sense. The reason why 'a Samaritan' is someone with an affection for truth is that in the Word 'Samaria' means that affection. For the meaning of 'oil' as the good of love, see 886, 3728, 4582; of 'wine' as the good of faith, 1798, 6377; of 'an animal' as the power of understanding, 2761, 2762, 2781, 3217, 5321, 5741, 6125, 6401, 6534, 7024, 8146, 8148. The Lord spoke in this manner, but few understand it; for they think that such details were mentioned by Him merely in order to make up some story that was a parable. But in that case they would not be words from God. Words from God all hold within themselves such things as tell of the Lord, of heaven, and of the Church, in every tiny detail, see above in 9049 (end).

Poznámky pod čarou:

5741. 'And the men were sent away, they and their asses' means the external natural man was to some extent removed, together with its truths and factual knowledge. This is clear from the representation of Jacob's ten sons, to whom 'the men' refers here, as truths known to the Church which are present in the natural, dealt with in 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5512, and therefore the external natural man, 5680; from the meaning of 'asses' as factual knowledge, dealt with in 5492; and from the meaning of 'sent away and 'not far distant' as the fact that it - the external natural man - was to some extent removed. From all this it is evident that 'the men were sent away, they and their asses, not far distant' means that the external man was to some extent removed, together with its truths and factual knowledge - removed from the internal celestial, which is represented by 'Joseph'.

[2] As to the meaning of 'asses', it should be realized that something different is meant by them when they served as animals that were ridden on; for judges, kings, and their sons used to ride on asses, she-asses, and also mules. At such times 'asses' were a sign of rational truth and good, and also of natural truth and good, see 2781. This explains why, when as judge and king the Lord entered Jerusalem, He rode on a she-ass with her colt, this being a sign indicating His offices of judge and king. But 'asses' had another meaning when they served as beasts of burden, as they did here. In this case they were a sign of factual knowledge. Factual knowledge is just like such a beast of burden. Anyone who, when he thinks about what constitutes a person interiorly, looks no further than factual knowledge contained in a person's memory, presumes that there is no more to a human being than such knowledge. He does not know that factual knowledge constitutes the lowest level of the human personality and is such that most of it becomes hidden from view when the body dies, 2475-2477, 2479, 2480. But What the knowledge contains within itself remains, namely truth and goodness, together with affections for them, or in the case of evil people, falsity and evil, together with affections for these. Factual knowledge is so to speak the body for those things. As long as a person is living in the world, these things - truth and goodness, or else falsity and evil - are held within his factual knowledge since it is their container. And because factual knowledge contains and thus so to speak carries interior things with it, that is therefore meant by asses that serve to carry burdens.