8990. 'And his master shall pierce his ear with an awl' means a representative sign of obedience. This is clear from the meaning of 'ear' as obedience, dealt with in 2542, 3869, 4551, 4652-4660; and from the meaning of 'piercing it with an awl' - that is to say, onto the door or onto the doorpost - as affixing, or at this point pledging forever, since it refers to obedience; and this is why the words follow, 'he shall serve him forever', that is, be obedient to him forever. From this it is evident that his master's piercing his ear with an awl, fixing it to the door or to the doorpost, is representative of obedience.

[2] The implications of all this may become clear from matters stated previously, where it has been shown that those imbued solely with truths and not with complementary good, that is, with faith and not with charity, are not free but slaves. Those whose actions spring from good or charity are free. They act from themselves; for actions that spring from good or charity spring from the heart, that is, from the will, and so from what is a person's own, since what exists in a person's will is his own and a deed springing from the will is said to go out of the heart. But those who are imbued solely with the truths of faith and not with the good of charity are slaves in comparison. They do not act from themselves since they have no good within themselves for actions to spring from; instead good is outside them, and they base their actions on it as often as they call it to mind. Those who stay like this through to the end of their lives remain permanently in this state after death. They cannot be brought to a state in which their actions spring from charitable affection, that is, from good; they can act only in obedience. In the Grand Man, which is heaven, they constitute those parts that serve more internal ones, like membranes and skins, 8977, 8980.

[3] All this shows what the situation is with faith alone, that is, with those who doctrinally place faith first and the good of charity second, indeed last. Those who place them in this order in the actual lives they lead are 'Hebrew slaves' in the representative sense; but those who place charity first, in the actual lives they lead, are free or 'the children of Israel' in the representative sense. From all this one may also conclude what the situation is with those who make salvation rest entirely on the truths of faith and not at all on the good of charity, that is to say, not at all on the actual life they lead. One may conclude that they cannot enter heaven; for good reigns in heaven, not truth without good, and truth is not truth, nor is faith faith, except with those imbued with good

[4] That his master's piercing his ear with an awl, fixing it to the door, is representative of obedience is also evident from the consideration that fixing his ear to the door means causing him to attend to the things commanded by his master who is in the room, that is, to hear him at all times and obey his instructions. At this point the things which good wills and commands are meant in the spiritual sense, for spiritual good is represented by the slave's master, 8981, 8986. Since 'the ear' means the hearing of obedience, there flows into human speech from an origin in the spiritual world the expression to tweak the ear, which stands for causing a person to pay attention and remember, and in like manner the expressions to hear and to hearken to someone, which stands for obeying him. For the inner meaning that very many words possess has sprung from correspondences from the spiritual world, as with expressions such as spiritual light and being enlightened by it which people use when speaking about matters of faith, and also spiritual fire and being animated by it when speaking about matters of love.

[5] The reason why piercing the ear was done with an awl was that 'an awl' has the same meaning as a pin or peg, namely affixing and joining onto, and in the spiritual sense pledging something. But an awl was a tool used by a servant, and therefore it served to represent the pledge of everlasting obedience by a slave. The meaning of 'a pin' or 'a peg' as affixing and joining onto is clear from the places where this object is mentioned, as in Isaiah 22:23; 33:20; 41:7; 54:2; Jeremiah 10:4; Exodus 27:19; 38:31; Numbers 3:37; 4:32.

8981. 'If his master has given him a woman' means good attached by the spiritual to truth during conflict. This is clear from the meaning of 'master' here as the spiritual, for 'master' in this instance is used to refer to one who is a member of the children of Israel, and by 'the children of Israel' those who are true members of the spiritual Church are meant, that is, who do good from love and affection, or what amounts to the same thing, from charity (regarding 'the children of Israel', that they are members of the spiritual Church, see 6426, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223, 7957, 8234, 8805, which being so, they mean in the abstract sense spiritual truths and forms of good, 5414, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833, 5879), so that 'master' here means the spiritual; and from the meaning of 'giving him a woman' as attaching good to truth, for 'giving', when said in regard to a woman, means attaching. And 'the slave' is someone who is imbued with the truth of religious teachings and not with complementary good, 8974, while 'the woman' is delight, 8980, but at this point good, because this is given or attached to that truth by the spiritual. Everything is called good that comes from the spiritual, since the spiritual itself is the good of charity. For the meaning of 'woman' as good, see 915, 2517, 4823, 6014, 8337. During conflict is meant because it says that if his master had given him a woman she was to be the master's after the servitude. From this it is evident that the woman was the slave's during servitude but not after it thus during conflict but not after conflict; for servitude lasting six years means labour and conflict, 8975.

[2] Is there anyone who cannot see that this regulation holds an arcanum which no one can know unless it is disclosed to him? For in its outward form it appears contrary to God's justice, that when a slave goes out of servitude the woman who has been given to him should remain the master's, when yet a woman should be her husband's forever. There are many other apparent injustices like these which Jehovah commanded the children of Israel, such as that they were to ask from the Egyptians vessels of gold and silver, and clothes, and in so doing were to plunder them, besides other similar actions, dealt with in their individual places. But although those regulations in their outward form appear, as has been stated, contrary to God's justice, they are not really so; for they rise out of the laws of Divine order in heaven, and these are perfect laws of justice. But those laws cannot be seen unless the internal sense is used to disengage them from the sense of the letter. The law that this regulation rises out of is this: Spiritual good cannot be joined to those who are confined since early childhood to the external things of the Church; it can only be linked to them for as long as they undergo conflict, after which it departs.

[3] To bring this whole matter out into the open, for it is an arcanum, it must be discussed briefly. There are people who - although they have from early childhood thought little about eternal life, and so about the welfare of their soul, and have thought instead about worldly life and its prosperity - have nevertheless led a morally good life and have also believed the truths taught by their Church. When they reach maturer age there is no other way in which they can be reformed than by the linking of spiritual good during conflict. They do not however retain that good but merely use it to strengthen the truths they have been taught. The reason for this is that in their life before then such people have surrendered themselves to worldly kinds of love, and when these have become deeply rooted they do not allow spiritual good to be joined to truth; for those kinds of love are totally repugnant to this good. Nevertheless spiritual good can take hold in those people's thinking when those kinds of love subside, as happens during anxiety, misfortunes, or sicknesses, and the like. At this time an affection to do good from charity enters in; but that affection merely serves to strengthen and root more deeply the truths they have been taught. It cannot however be joined to truth. The reason why is that this charitable affection entering in fills only the understanding part of the mind. It does not pass into the will part of it, and what does not pass into the will is not adopted by or accordingly joined to truth. For goodness and truth with a person come to be joined together when truth passes into the will, consequently when the person wills it and because he wills it does it. Then, for the first time, truth becomes good, or what amounts to the same thing, faith becomes charity.

[4] This cannot come about with those who have from early childhood surrendered themselves to worldly kinds of love and yet have been imbued with truth taught by their Church. For the will part of their mind is occupied by such love, which is the complete opposite of spiritual good and repels it. They allow it into solely the understanding part of their mind, that is, into their thought, when those kinds of love have become dormant, which happens, as stated above, during a state of sickness or misfortune, or during anxiety, consequently during labour and some conflict. This is the arcanum that lies concealed within this regulation; and since the regulation was for that reason representative of the law of Divine order regarding those imbued with the truth of religious teachings and not with the complementary good, in the representative Church it was in keeping with God's justice, even in its outward form.