10407. 'And made out of it a calf of molded [metal]' means in keeping with the delight belonging to that nation's loves. This is clear from the meaning of 'a calf' as external or natural good, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'molded [metal]' as worship fashioned in support of external kinds of love, dealt with immediately above in 10406. And since the Israelite nation is the subject in the present chapter and that nation's interest lay in external things and not in what was internal, and so was ruled by external kinds of love, the expression 'in keeping with the delight belonging to that nation's loves' is used. For 'the calf', being an idol, means that delight.

[2] The ancients among whom representative worship existed knew what the various kinds of living creatures were the signs of; for the living creatures each have their own spiritual meaning, and their spiritual meanings govern the manifestations of such creatures in heaven as well, consequently the mention of them in the Word, and also their use in burnt offerings and sacrifices. 'A calf' means the good of innocence and charity within the external or natural man, see 9391, 9990, 10132; but when no good of innocence and charity is present, as is the case with those whose interest lies in external things and not in what is internal, 'a calf' means natural delight on the level of the senses, which is a delight belonging to a person's own wishes, desires, self-love, and love of the world. This delight is the one that exists with those whose interest lies in external things and not in what is internal, and the one they worship; for what a person loves above all things, that he worships. They say, it is true, that they worship the God of all creation; but they say it with their lips and not their heart. People such as these are meant by those who worship the calf of molded [metal].

[3] The Egyptians were such more than all others. Because they possessed a greater knowledge of correspondences and representations than all other nations they made various idols for themselves, as is evident from the Egyptian idols that are still in existence. But their chief idol was the calf, by which they wished to signify their external good within worship. But when their knowledge of correspondences and representations, which was greater than that of other nations, was turned into magic, the calf took on a contrary meaning, namely that of the delight belonging to external kinds of love. And when the calf was placed in temples and worshipped as a god it meant that kind of delight expressed in worship.

[4] Because the Israelite nation brought that idolatrous practice with them out of Egypt, in their case the calf, when worshipped by them as a god, means the delight belonging to their particular loves expressed in worship. What kind of loves these were may be recognized from what has been shown in the places referred to above in 10396. For they were ruled, as they are at the present day, by self-love and love of the world more than all others. It is well known that at the present day they are ruled by a most earthly kind of love; for they love silver and gold not because of any use these can serve but for the sake of silver and gold themselves. This love is the most earthly of all, for it is foul avarice. With them self-love is not plainly visible but lies hidden in their heart, as is normally so with all who are foully avaricious. It is well known too that no love of the neighbour exists with them; and to the extent that love of the neighbour is absent from someone, self-love resides in him.

[5] From all this it now becomes clear what the calf of molded [metal] made by Aaron for that nation means. The like is meant by it in the following places: In Jeremiah,

A very beautiful heifer was Egypt; destruction has come from the north. And her hired servants in the midst of her are like calves of the fattening stall ¹ . Jeremiah 46:20-21.

In David,

They made a calf in Horeb and bowed down to the molded image; and they changed the glory into the effigy of the ox that eats the plant ² . Psalms 106:19-20.

In Hosea,

They sin more and more, and make for themselves a molded image from their silver, idols by their own intelligence, completely the work of craftsmen, saying to them, Those who offer human sacrifice ³ kiss the calves. Hosea 13:2.

In Isaiah,

The unicorns will come down with them, and the calves with the powerful ones; and their land will become drunk with blood, and their dust will be made fat with fatness. Isaiah 34:7.

In the same prophet,

The fortified city will be solitary, a habitation forsaken and left [like a wilderness]; there the calf will feed, and there it will lie down and consume its branches. And its harvest will wither. Isaiah 27:10-11.

In David,

Rebuke the wild animal of the reeds, the congregation of the strong ones, among the calves of the peoples, trampling on the fragments of silver. They have scattered the peoples. Psalms 68:30.

In Jeremiah,

I will give the men who transgressed My covenant, who did not keep the terms of the covenant which they made before Me, that of the calf which they cut in two, in order that they might pass between its parts - the princes of Judah, and the princes of Jerusalem, the royal ministers and the priests, and all the people of the land who passed between the parts of the calf - I will give them into the hand of their enemies, that their dead bodies may be food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth. Jeremiah 34:18-20.

And in Hosea,

They have made a king, and not by Me; they have made princes, and I did not know. Their silver and their gold they have made into idols, that they may be cut off. Your calf has deserted [you], O Samaria. For from Israel is this also. A smith has made it, and it is not God; for the calf of Samaria will be broken to ⁴ pieces. Hosea 8:4-6.

For explanations of all these quotations, see 9391.

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6015. 'In the carts which Pharaoh sent to carry him' means the matters of doctrine obtained from the Church's factual knowledge. This is clear from the meaning of 'the carts' as matters of doctrine, dealt with in 5945; and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the Church's factual knowledge in general. For 'Egypt' means the Church's factual knowledge, 1462, 4749, 4964, 4966, and therefore the king of that land means such knowledge in general, as he does elsewhere in the Word, though in the majority of places perverted factual knowledge is meant by Egypt and so also by Pharaoh. The representation of 'Pharaoh' as factual knowledge in general is evident in Isaiah,

The princes of Zoan are foolish, the wise counsellors of Pharaoh; counsel has become brutish. How do you say to Pharaoh, I am a son of the wise, a son of the kings of old? Isaiah 19:11.

Here 'Pharaoh' stands for the Church's factual knowledge in general, which was why he was called 'a son of the wise' and 'a son of the kings of old'. 'The wise' and 'the kings of old' stand for the truths that the Ancient Church possessed. But that factual knowledge made nonsensical is meant, for it says 'The princes of Zoan have become foolish; counsel has become brutish'.

[2] In the same prophet,

They depart to go down to Egypt but have not asked at My mouth, to strengthen themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, and to trust in the shadow of Egypt. Therefore the strength of Pharaoh will become shame for you, and trust in the shadow of Egypt ignominy. Isaiah 30:2-3.

'Strengthening themselves in the strength of Egypt, and trusting in the shadow of Egypt' stands for relying in matters of faith on factual knowledge and having no belief in any spiritual truth unless it is what factual knowledge and sensory evidence so declare. But that is a perversion of order. The truths of faith must occupy first place, and supporting factual knowledge must take second place; for if the latter occupy first place, no belief in any truth whatever exists.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel, said, Behold, I am making a visitation upon Amen in No, and upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt, and upon its gods, and upon its kings - especially upon Pharaoh and those trusting in him. Jeremiah 46:25.

Here also 'Pharaoh' stands for factual knowledge in general. 'Those trusting in him' stands for people who rely on factual knowledge but do not rely on the Word, that is, on the Lord in the Word. Such a reliance leads to a complete perversion in the things people are taught to believe, which in turn leads to falsity and also to the refusal to accept that what is Divine and heavenly is anything at all. These people in particular are all too ready to say, Let me see these things with my own eyes; or, Produce the facts to prove the truth of it, and then I will believe it. But even if they did see them or such proof was produced they would not believe, because an unaccepting attitude of mind governs everything.

[4] In the same prophet,

Against Pharaoh. ¹ Behold, waters rising out of the north which will become a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it, so that men cry out and every inhabitant of the land wails because of the sound of the beat of the hoofs of the horses his mighty ones and the noise of his chariot, the rumble of its wheels. Jeremiah 47:1-3.

It is plain from every detail stated here regarding Pharaoh that 'Pharaoh' is factual knowledge in general, existing in this instance in a perverted state of order, which destroys the truths of faith. 'A deluging stream' is factual knowledge destroying an understanding of truth, and so is knowledge that lays waste. 'They will deluge the land and all that fills it' is the entire Church. 'The city and those who dwell in it' is the truth the Church possesses, and the good this truth leads to. 'The beat of the hoofs of the horses' is the lowest kind of factual knowledge gained directly from sensory impressions. 'The noise of his chariot' is false teaching derived from that knowledge. 'The rumble of its wheels' is sensory impressions and the false notions going with them that advance themselves.

[5] In Ezekiel,

The Lord Jehovih said, Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster who is lying in the midst of his rivers, who has said, The river is mine and I have made myself. Therefore I will put hooks in your jaws, and cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales. Ezekiel 29:2-4.

Here also 'Pharaoh' stands for factual knowledge in general, which in a similar way is evident from each detail that is stated regarding him.

[6] In the same prophet,

Raise a lamentation over Pharaoh king of Egypt. You are like monsters in the seas, and you have come forth with your rivers, and have troubled the waters with your feet; you have stirred up their rivers. When I have blotted you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights [in the heavens] I will darken over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezekiel 32:1, 3, 7-8.

The details of this description, like many more in the Prophets, cannot be understood by anyone, it is evident, without the internal sense. No one can understand what is meant when it says that Pharaoh is like monsters in the seas, has come forth with ² his rivers, and has troubled the waters with his feet. Nor can anyone know what is meant when it says that the heavens will be covered above him, the stars will be darkened, and all the bright lights will be darkened; also that the sun will be covered with a cloud, the moon will not give its light, and darkness will be put over his land. But the internal sense shows what all these details mean; it shows that factual knowledge perverts the truths of the Church if a person uses it to enter the mysteries of faith without believing anything unless factual knowledge, indeed sensory evidence, causes him to see it. This is the internal sense of this description, as the explanation of each separate detail shows.

[7] Pharaoh is called 'king of Egypt' by virtue of the truth factual knowledge holds within it. For factual knowledge is truth as it exists in the natural, and 'king' is truth, see 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044; also, much the same is meant by the king of a people as by the people themselves, 4789, so that much the same is meant by 'Pharaoh' as by 'Egypt', but the same thing in general. ('Egypt' has been shown many times to mean factual knowledge.) Pharaoh is compared to 'monsters in the seas' because 'a monster' or 'a sea monster' means general sources of facts, 42, While 'seas' means gatherings together of them, 28. Then it is said that he has come forth with his rivers because ideas displaying intelligence are meant by 'rivers', 108, 109, 2702, 3051, but here ideas displaying insanity since they flow from sensory impressions and factual knowledge, 5196. After this it is said that he troubled the waters with his feet and stirred up their rivers because 'waters' means spiritual truths, 680, 739, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668, and 'feet' things belonging to the natural, 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952, so that 'troubling the waters with one's feet' is defiling and perverting the truths of faith by means of factual knowledge which the natural possesses. And 'stirring up their rivers' is doing the same to intelligence.

[8] Finally it is said that when he is blotted out the heavens will be covered, because 'the heavens' means a person's interiors, since these are his heavens. They are 'closed' when factual knowledge holds sway over the truths of faith, that is, when the natural holds sway over the spiritual. When this is the situation the cognitions or knowledge of truth and good perish, meant by 'I will darken the stars of the heavens, and all the bright lights'; for 'the stars' are those cognitions, see 2495, 2849, 4697, and 'the lights' are forms of good and truth, 30-38. The inability of the good of love to flow in any longer at that time is meant by 'I will cover the sun with a cloud', and the inability of the good of faith to flow in by 'the moon will not give its light' - 'the sun' being the good of love, and 'the moon the good of faith, see 1519, 1530, 2120, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4696. The occupation therefore of the natural mind by falsities alone is meant by 'I will put darkness over your land' - 'darkness' being falsities, 1839, 1860, 4418, 4531, and 'Pharaoh's land' or 'the land of Egypt' being the natural mind, 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5701. From all this one may now see what the meaning is within the details of this prophecy. Since 'Pharaoh' means factual knowledge in general he also means the natural in general, 5799.

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