8413. 'To kill all this congregation with hunger' means that they were perishing owing to the lack of delight and of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'killing' as depriving of life, at this point life made up of delight and good, for a person's life consists in these, dealt with in 3607, 6767; from the meaning of 'congregation' as those belonging to the spiritual Church, dealt with in 7843; and from the meaning of 'hunger' or 'famine' as a lack of good, dealt with in 5893, at this point the good of lower pleasures, meant by 'bread' in 8410. For when that which nourishes spiritual life, or the life of the spirit, is taken away, hunger or famine occurs.

[2] A brief statement showing the nature of all this needs to be made. When the good of charity, which is to constitute a spiritual life, is to be instilled, the delight belonging to lower pleasures, which has constituted a natural life, is taken away. And when this delight is taken away the person enters into temptation. The person thinks that if he is deprived of the delight which belongs to those pleasures he is deprived of all life; for the life of his natural has consisted in that delight or good as he calls it. But he does not know that when this delight in which his life has consisted is taken away the Lord instills spiritual delight and good instead; and this good is what is meant by 'the manna'. The previous kind of good or delight is meant by 'flesh and bread in the land of Egypt', and the deprivation of it by 'hunger'.

[3] But it should be thoroughly understood that a person undergoing regeneration is not deprived of the delight belonging to bodily and mental pleasures, for after regeneration he has full enjoyment of such delight, fuller than he had before, but in inverse proportion. Before regeneration the delight that belongs to lower pleasures was the all of that life; but after regeneration the good of charity becomes the all of life, and when it does so the delight belonging to lower pleasures serves as a means, as something embodying spiritual good and the happiness and bliss that go with it. When therefore order is to be inverted, the previous delight belonging to lower pleasures fades away and ceases to be anything, and a new delight from a spiritual origin is instilled instead.

2063. 'You will not call by her name Sarai, for Sarah will be her name' means that He will cast off the human and put on the Divine. This is clear from what has been stated at verse 5 above regarding Abraham, where it is said, 'No longer will your name be called Abram, but your name will be Abraham', words which in a similar way mean that He will cast off the human and put on the Divine, dealt with in 2009. Indeed the letter H added to Sarah's name was taken from the name of Jehovah, in order that Sarah, like Abraham, might represent the Lord's Divine, that is to say, in order that the Divine marriage of Good and Truth in the Lord might be represented - 'Abraham' being Divine Good and 'Sarah' Divine Truth. And from that marriage the Divine Rational, which is Isaac, was to be born.

[2] Divine Good, which in itself is love, and in relation to the entire human race is mercy, was the Lord's Internal, that is, Jehovah, who is Good itself. This Good is represented by 'Abraham'. Truth that was to be joined to Divine Good was represented by 'Sarai', but once this too has become Divine, it is represented by 'Sarah', for the Lord advanced towards union with Jehovah gradually, as mentioned in various places above. 'Sarai' represented truth not yet Divine - when it was still not so thoroughly united to Good that Good was the source of truth. But once it was so thoroughly united to Good that it stemmed from Good it was at that point Divine, and Truth itself was in that case also Good since it was truth inhering in Good. Truth tending towards good so that it may be united to good is one thing, while truth so united to good that it stems completely from good is another. Truth tending towards good is still drawing on something of what is human, but once it is united completely to good it casts aside everything that is human and takes on what is Divine.

[3] This matter, like others previously, can be illustrated by what occurs with man. When a person is being regenerated, that is, when he is to be joined to the Lord, he moves towards that conjunction by means of truth, that is, by means of the truths of faith, for nobody can be regenerated except by means of cognitions of faith, which are the truths by means of which he moves towards such conjunction. These truths the Lord goes to meet by way of good, that is, of charity, and introduces this charity into the cognitions of faith, that is, into its truths. For all truths are the recipient vessels of good; and therefore the more genuine the truths are and the more they are multiplied, the more abundantly is good able to accept them as vessels, to bring them into a state of order, and only then to reveal itself, doing so in the end in such a way that the truths are not seen, except insofar as good shines through them. In this way truth becomes celestial-spiritual. And since the Lord is present solely within the good that flows from charity, a person is in this manner joined to the Lord, and by means of good, that is, of charity, has conscience conferred on him, from which he then thinks what is true and does what is right. But this conscience is a conscience in keeping with the truths and the things that are right into which good or charity has been introduced.