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).

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5391. There are also kidneys which are called the Subsidiary Kidneys and also the Renal Capsules. The function of these is not so much to separate fluid as actual blood, sending the purer blood by a short route round to the heart, thus ensuring that neighbouring spermatic vessels do not take away all the purer blood. But their chief work is performed in embryos and also new-born babies. Chaste virgins are the ones who constitute that province in the Grand Man; easily given to anxious feelings and fearful of being disturbed, they lie quietly on the lower left side of the body. If I think about heaven or about a change in their state, they become anxious and sigh, as I have been allowed to detect plainly on several occasions. When my thoughts turned to young children those virgins felt a significant comfort and an inner joy, to which they openly bore witness. Also whenever my thought has dwelt on something unheavenly, they have again experienced anxious feelings. Those feelings stem primarily from the fact that those virgins have an innate disposition to keep their minds fixed on one particular concern and not get rid of those anxious feelings by turning to other matters. They belong to that province because by behaving in this way they can fix another's mind constantly on certain particular thoughts, as a consequence of which a succession of such matters as must be taken away from a person and from which he must be purified emerge and reveal themselves. In this way too interior things are made more evident to the angels, for once such things as cause obscurity and divert their attention are removed, clearer vision and influx result.