8888. 'Six days you shall labour and do all your work' means the conflict which comes before and is preparatory to that marriage. This is clear from the meaning of 'six days' as states of conflict, conflict being meant by 'six', see 720, 737, 900, and states by 'days', 23, 487, 488, 493, 2788, 4850, 5672, 5962, 6110, 8426; and from the meaning of 'labouring and doing one's work' as attending to the necessary things of life, here those of spiritual life, which is life in heaven.

[2] Furthermore by the conflict which comes before and is preparatory to the heavenly marriage one should understand spiritual conflict or temptation. For before a person enters into the heavenly marriage, that is, before being regenerated, he is involved in conflict with the evils and falsities residing with him; these have to be removed before truth and good from the Lord can be received. They are removed - those evils and falsities - by means of the truths of faith; for a person not only learns through those truths what good is, but is also led to good by means of them. This state is the first that a person who is being regenerated passes through; and it is called the state which comes before and is preparatory to the heavenly marriage. But when the person is governed by good and is led by the Lord by means of good, he has entered into the heavenly marriage, and so is in heaven since the heavenly marriage is heaven. The first state is what is meant by the six days that come before the seventh, the second is what is meant by the seventh day. Regarding these two states with a person, see 7923, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701, 8722.

[3] Since the heavenly marriage, which is heaven, is meant by 'the sabbath', the Lord's kingdom in the heavens is called an everlasting sabbath, that is, everlasting rest and peace; and there the six days of labour are no more.

8685. 'That Moses sat to judge the people' means the arrangement, effected by God's truth, with those belonging to the spiritual Church in the state before their actions sprang from good. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as God's truth going forth directly from the Lord, dealt with in 7010, 7382; from the meaning of 'judging' as effecting an arrangement (the reason why 'judging' has this meaning here is that God's truth does not judge anyone, but flows in and arranges things for its own reception, and after it has been received judgement then takes place in accordance with the laws of order; this is what is meant by the Lord's judgement in Matthew 25:31-end; John 5:22, 26-27, 30; 9:39, as is clear from the Lord's words where He says that He judges no one, John 3:17-21; 7:24; 12:47-48); and from the representation of Israel, to whom 'the people' refers here, as those belonging to the spiritual Church, dealt with above in 8645. From all this it is evident that 'Moses sat to judge the people' means the arrangement, effected by God's truth going forth directly from the Lord, with those belonging to the spiritual Church.

[2] This is so in the state before their actions spring from good, as is clear from what follows. There are two states that the person who is being regenerated and coming to have the Church within him passes through. In the first state his actions spring from truth, in the second from good, regarding which states see 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658. In both states the person is led by the Lord, in the first however through direct influx, but in the second through influx both direct and indirect. Regarding the influx of goodness and truth from the Lord in direct and indirect ways, see 6472-6478, 6982, 6985, 6996, 7054-7058, 7270. Direct influx is represented by the situation in which Moses alone judged the people, and influx both direct and indirect by the situation in which the rulers of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens who had been chosen were themselves to judge small matters, and to refer large matters to Moses, spoken of further on. But these things are arcana which hardly anyone can understand unless he is enlightened by the Lord, and being enlightened has perception. Those kinds of influx and also the effects they produce can, it is true, be described. Nevertheless a person can have no proper understanding of them without perception from heaven; and perception from heaven comes only to those who have a love of truth springing from good, yet not even to them unless it is a love of truth springing from genuine good.