9052. Tooth for tooth. That this signifies if anything in the exterior intellectual, is evident from the signification of “a tooth,” as being the exterior intellectual, and therefore natural truth, for this makes the life of this understanding. That “the teeth” have this signification is because they grind like a mill, and thus prepare, the food which is to nourish the body; here the food which is to nourish the soul. The food which nourishes the soul is intelligence and wisdom. This is first received, ground, and prepared by means of the knowledges of truth and good in the natural. (That it is intelligence and wisdom which is called “spiritual and celestial food,” see n. 56-58, 680, 1480, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5576, 5579, 5915, 8562, 9003.) From this it is plain whence it is that “the teeth” signify the exterior understanding. What the exterior understanding is can be seen from what was shown just above (n. 9051) concerning the interior understanding.

[2] That “the teeth” signify natural truth, which belongs to the exterior understanding, and in the opposite sense the falsity which destroys this truth, is evident from the following passages in the Word. That they signify natural truth, in Moses:

His eyes shall be redder than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk (Genesis 49:12).

Here also both “eyes” and “teeth” are mentioned together. The subject treated of is Judah, by whom is meant the Lord as to the Divine celestial (n. 6363); “the eyes” signify the Divine intellectual of the the Lord, (n. 6379); and “the teeth,” His Divine natural (n. 6380), thus also the Divine truth in the natural.

[3] In Amos:

I have given you emptiness of teeth in all your cities, and lack of bread in all your places (Amos. 4:6).

“Emptiness of teeth” denotes scarcity of truth; and “lack of bread,” scarcity of good. From all this it is evident what is meant by the “gnashing of teeth” among those who are in hell (Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 25:30; Luke 13:28), namely, the collision of falsities with the truths of faith. For as before said, “the teeth,” in the opposite sense, signify the falsity which destroys truth; as in David:

Arise, O Jehovah; save me, O my God; for Thou wilt smite all mine enemies on the jaw; Thou wilt break the teeth of the wicked (Psalms 3:7).

“To break the teeth of the wicked” denotes to break the falsities by which they destroy truths. In the same:

As to my soul I lie in the midst of lions, their teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword (Psalms 57:4).

“The teeth of lions” denote the falsities that destroy truths; “lions,” falsities from evil in their power (n. 6367, 6369).

[4] In the same:

Destroy their teeth, O God, in their mouth; turn aside the grinders of the young lions (Psalms 58:6).

In Joel:

A nation is come up upon My land, strong, and without number; his teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he hath the grinders of a great lion. He hath reduced My vine to a waste; and My fig-tree into froth (Joel 1:6-7).

“Teeth” and “grinders” denote the falsities that destroy the truths of the church; a “vine” denotes the spiritual church (n. 1069, 5113, 6376); and a “fig-tree” its natural good (n. 217, 4231, 5113). That “teeth” have this signification is plain also from the fact that they are attributed to a nation which will lay waste.

In John:

The shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war; they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions (John 9:7-8).

“Locusts” denote those who are in external falsities (n. 7643), from which it is also evident that “teeth” denote falsities that destroy truths.

9051. Eye for eye. That this signifies if they shall injure anything in the interior intellectual, is evident from the signification of “the eye,” as being the understanding, here the interior understanding, the life of which is the life of faith. Man has an exterior understanding, and an interior understanding. The exterior understanding is where the thought is that comes to perception; but the interior understanding is where the thought is that does not come to perception; nevertheless it does come to the perception of angels. This latter understanding is that which is enlightened by the Lord when man receives faith, for it is in the light of heaven, and in it is the spiritual life of man, which is not so manifest to him in the world, but is manifest in the other life, when the man becomes an angel among the angels in heaven. Meanwhile this life lies hidden within the thought of the exterior understanding, and produces therein a holy and reverent feeling for the Lord, for love and faith in Him, for the Word, and for all other things of the church. The reason why “the eye” denotes the understanding, is that the eye corresponds to the understanding, for the understanding sees by virtue of the light of heaven, but the eye by virtue of the light of the world. Those things which the former eye or understanding sees are spiritual, and the field of its view is the memory-knowledge in man’s memory. But the things which the external eye sees are earthly, and the field of its view is everything that appears in the world. That in the spiritual sense “the eye” denotes the understanding, and also faith, is because faith makes the life of the interior understanding (see n. 2701, 4403-4421, 4523-4534).

[2] He who does not know that the understanding is meant in the Word by “the eye,” cannot know what is signified by what the Lord spoke concerning the eye in the Evangelists, as by these words:

If thy right eye causeth thee to stumble, pluck it out; it is good for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into the Gehenna of fire (Mark 9:47; Matthew 5:29).

Everyone knows that the eye is not to be plucked out, though it cause one to stumble, and that no one enters into the kingdom of God with one eye; but by “the right eye” is signified falsity of faith concerning the Lord, and this is what is to be plucked out. Again:

The light of the body is the eye; if therefore thine eye be simple, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be darkened. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness (Matthew 6:22-23; Luke 11:34).

Neither in this passage is the eye meant by “eye,” but the understanding of the truth of faith. Hence the eye is called “the light of the body,” and it is said, “if the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness,” for in the spiritual sense “darkness” denotes falsities of faith (n. 1839, 1860, 4418, 4531, 7688, 7711).

[3] And again:

Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but understandest not the beam that is in thine own eye? (Matthew 7:3-5).

“To behold a mote in the eye of a brother” denotes something erroneous in respect to the understanding of truth; and “the beam in one’s own eye” denotes the huge evil of falsity; for in the internal sense “wood” denotes good, and in the opposite sense evil (n. 643, 2784, 2812, 3720, 8354). Moreover in the other life good is represented by a beam; and therefore those who feign good in themselves seem to carry a beam, and thus go safely. Without this signification of “the eye,” and of “a beam,” what could be meant by “seeing a beam in the eye?” If it is not known that in the Word “the eye” denotes the understanding of truth, which is faith, neither can it be known what is involved in what the Lord did when He healed a blind man, that is, when “He spat on the ground and made clay of the spittle, and said unto him, Wash thee in the pool of Siloam” (John 9:6-7). As the Lord’s miracles, like all Divine miracles, involved those things which are of the Lord’s kingdom and church (n. 7337, 8364), so also does this.