8153. 'And the children of Israel went out with a lofty hand' means although they had been rescued by God's power from their attempt to bring them under their control. This is clear from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those who belong to the spiritual Church, that is, who are governed by faith bonded to charity, as immediately above in 8152; from the meaning of 'going out' as being delivered or rescued from the others' attempt to bring them under their control, which attempt is meant by 'pursuing', 8152; and from the meaning of 'a lofty hand' as God's power, for 'hand' means power, 878, 3387, 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 5544, 6292, 6947, 7011, 7188, 7189, 7518, 7673, 8050, 8069, and 'lofty' means God's. The reason why 'lofty' means God's is that the word is used to indicate heaven, where God is. This is why the Word says of Jehovah or the Lord that He dwells 'in the lofty place' and why He is called 'the Most High', as in Isaiah,

Jehovah is exalted, for He dwells in the lofty place. Isaiah 33:5.

In the same prophet,

Thus said the High and Lofty One inhabiting eternity, whose name is the Holy One, I inhabit the holy and high [place]. Isaiah 57:15.

In David,

Jehovah sent from on high and snatched me away Psalms 18:16.

So it is that Jehovah is called the Most High in Deuteronomy 32:8; Daniel 4:17, 24, 34; 7:18, 22, 25; Psalms 7:17; 9:2; 18:13; 46:4; 50:14; 57:2; 82:6. Because 'high' meant heaven, and God in heaven, the worship of God performed by those who belonged to the representative Church was established on mountains and on high places. It was therefore also performed in lofty shrines which they built for themselves, referred to in various places in the historical sections and prophetical parts of the Word, as in Ezekiel,

You built for yourself a lofty shrine, and made a high place for yourself in every street; at every head of a road you built your lofty shrine. Ezekiel 16:24-25, 31.

The reason why God's was meant by 'high' is that the starry heaven was a sign of the angelic heaven, which was also thought to be located there. But the wiser ones among them knew that heaven was not located on high but where the good of love was, and that this resided within a person, wherever he might be. For the meaning of 'high places' as interiors, or forms of good residing in them, see 450, 1735, 2148, 4210, 4599.

3986. 'And Jehovah has blessed you since I set foot here' means resulting from the Divine endowment which the natural possessed. This is clear from the meaning of 'Jehovah blessing' as being endowed with good, dealt with in 3406, and as a joining together, 3504, 3514, 3530, 3565, 3584. 'Jehovah blessing' accordingly means being endowed with Divine good by means of a joining together, at this point a joining to the good of the natural represented by 'Jacob', the natural being meant by 'the foot'. As regards 'the foot' meaning the natural, see 2162, 3147, 3761; and this will be clear in addition from the correspondence of the Grand Man with every part of the human being, the subject in the sections at the ends of chapters. From this it is evident that 'Jehovah has blessed you since I set foot here' means originating in the Divine which the natural possessed.

[2] The arcanum which lies concealed in these words and in those immediately before them is known to few, if any, and is therefore to be revealed. The goods present with people both inside the Church and outside it vary in every case. They vary so much that no one person's good is ever exactly like another's. These variations arise out of the truths to which those goods are joined, for the nature of every type of good is received from truths, and truths derive their essential nature from goods. Such variations also arise out of the affections that belong to each person's love, and which become rooted in a person and are made his own through the life he leads. Few genuine truths exist even with someone inside the Church, and fewer still with one outside. Consequently affections for genuine truth seldom exist with anyone.

[3] All the same, people who lead good lives, that is, who live in love to God and in charity towards the neighbour, are saved. The reason they are able to be saved is that the Lord's Divine is present within good that stems from love to God and within good that stems from charity towards the neighbour. And when the Divine is inwardly present everything is being arranged into order so that it can be joined to genuine goods and genuine truths which exist in the heavens. The truth of this may be proven from the communities constituting heaven, which are countless. Every single community varies as regards good and truth, and yet all of them taken together form one complete heaven. They are like the members and organs of the human body which, though varying in every case, still constitute one complete human being. For no complete whole is ever made up of any identical or entirely similar individual parts, but of varying parts harmoniously joined together. Varying parts joined together harmoniously present a single whole. The same applies to goods and truths in the spiritual world. Although these vary so much as never to be exactly similar with one person as with another, nevertheless from the Divine through love and charity they make one since love and charity are spiritual conjunction. Their variation is a heavenly harmony which produces such accord that they are one in the Divine, that is, in the Lord.

[4] Furthermore, however much truths may vary, and however much affections for truth may do so, good that stems from love to God and good that stems from charity towards the neighbour are nevertheless capable of receiving genuine truth and good, as they are not so to speak hard and resistant but soft and yielding. They allow themselves to be led by the Lord and in so doing to be turned towards good, and through good to be turned towards Him. It is different with those in whom self-love and love of the world reign. They do not allow themselves to be led and turned by the Lord towards the Lord but strongly resist, since each wishes to be his own leader, even more so when they have become subject to false and firmly established assumptions. As long as they are such they do not allow the Divine to come in.

[5] These considerations now make clear what is meant in the internal sense by these words which Jacob addressed to Laban, for 'Laban' means the kind of good which is not genuine because it does not have genuine truths planted within it but is nevertheless capable of having these joined to it and of having the Divine present within it. This kind of good is what normally exists with young children before they have received genuine truths. It is also the kind of good present with simple people within the Church who know few truths of faith but who nevertheless lead a charitable life. It is in addition the kind of good present with upright gentiles who offer holy worship to their gods. By means of such good, genuine truths and goods are able to be introduced, as may be seen from what has been stated about young children and simple people inside the Church in 3690, and about upright gentiles outside the Church in 2598-2603.