946. For Thy judgments have been made manifest, signifies that Divine truths have been revealed to them. This is evident from the signification of "judgments," as being Divine truths (of which presently); also from the signification of "made manifest," as being to be revealed. That Divine truths are revealed at the end of the church, and that they have been revealed, will be shown in what follows in this chapter, because this is there treated of. "Judgments" signify Divine truths because the laws of government in the Lord's spiritual kingdom are called "judgments;" while the laws of government in His celestial kingdom are called "justice." For the laws of government in the Lord's spiritual kingdom are laws from the Divine truth; while the laws of government in the Lord's celestial kingdom are laws from the Divine good. This is why "judgment" and "justice" are mentioned in the Word, in the following passages. In Isaiah:

Of peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David, to establish it, and to uphold it in judgment and in justice from henceforth and to eternity (Isaiah 9:7).

This is said of the Lord and His kingdom. His spiritual kingdom is signified by "the throne of David;" and because this kingdom is in Divine truths from Divine good it is said, "in judgment and in justice."

In Jeremiah:

I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and He shall reign King, and He shall act intelligently, and shall do judgment and justice (Jeremiah 23:5).

This, too, is said of the Lord, and of His spiritual kingdom. And as this kingdom is in Divine truths from Divine good it is said, "He shall reign king, and shall act intelligently, and He shall do judgment and justice." The Lord is called "King," from Divine truth; and as Divine truth is also Divine intelligence it is said that "He shall act intelligently." And as the Divine truth is from the Divine good it is said that "He shall do judgment and justice."

[2] In Isaiah:

Jehovah is exalted, for He dwelleth on high, He hath filled Zion with judgment and justice (Isaiah 33:5).

"Zion" means heaven and the church, where the Lord reigns by the Divine truth; and as all the Divine truth is from the Divine good it is said, "He hath filled Zion with judgment and justice."

In Jeremiah:

I Jehovah doing judgment and justice in the earth; for in these things I am well pleased (Jeremiah 9:24).

Here, too, "judgment and justice" signify the Divine truth from the Divine good.

In Isaiah:

They ask of me the judgments of justice, they long for an approach unto God (5 Isaiah 58:2).

The "judgments of justice" are Divine truths from the Divine good, as are "judgment and justice;" for the spiritual sense conjoins things that the sense of the letter separates.

In Hosea:

I will betroth thee unto Me forever; and I will betroth thee unto Me in justice and in judgment and in mercy and in truth (Hosea 2:19, 20).

This treats of the Lord's celestial kingdom, which consists of those who are in love to the Lord; and as the Lord's conjunction with such is comparatively like the conjunction of a husband with a wife, for so does the good of love conjoin, it is said, "I will betroth thee unto Me in justice and in judgment," "justice" being put here in the first place, and "judgment" in the second, because those who are in the good of love to the Lord are also in truths; for they see truths from good. As "justice" is predicated of good, and "judgment" of truth, it is also said, "in mercy and in truth," "mercy" belonging to good, because it is of love.

[3] In David:

Jehovah is in the heavens. Thy justice is like the mountains of God, and Thy judgments are like the great deep (Psalms 36:5-6).

"Justice" is predicated of the Divine good, and is therefore compared to "the mountains of God;" for "mountains of God" signify the goods of love (See above, n. 405, 510, 850); and "judgments" are predicated of Divine truths, and are therefore compared to "the great deep;" for "the great deep" signifies the Divine truth. From this it can now be seen that "judgments" signify Divine truths.

[4] In many passages in the Word, "judgments," "commandments," and "statutes" are mentioned; and "judgments" there signify civil laws, "commandments" the laws of spiritual life, and "statutes" the laws of worship. That "judgments" signify civil laws, is evident from Exodus (21, 22, 23), where the things commanded are called "judgments" because according to them the judges gave judgments in the gates of the city; nevertheless they signify Divine truths, such as are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom in the heavens, for they contain these in the spiritual sense; as can be (Arcana Coelestia 8971-9103) seen (Arcana Coelestia 9124-9231) from (Arcana Coelestia 9247-9348) the explanation of them in the Arcana Coelestia 8971-9103, 9124-9231, 9247-9348). That the laws given to the sons of Israel were called "judgments, "commandments," and "statutes," can be seen from the following passages.

In Moses:

I will speak unto thee all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which thou shalt teach them, that they may do them (Deuteronomy 5:31).

In the same:

These are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which Jehovah your God commanded to teach you (Deuteronomy 6:1).

In the same:

Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them (Deuteronomy 7:11).

In David:

If his sons forsake My law and walk not in My judgments, if they profane My statutes and keep not My commandments, then will I visit their transgression with the rod (Psalms 89:30-32).

So in many other places, as Leviticus 18:5; 19:37; 20:22; 25:18; 26:15; Deuteronomy 4:1; 5:1, 6, 7; 17:19; 26:17; Ezekiel 5:6, 7; 11:12, 20; 18:9; 20:11, 13, 25; 37:24. In these passages "commandments" mean the laws of life, especially those contained in the Decalogue, which are therefore called the Ten Commandments; while "statutes" mean the laws of worship which related especially to sacrifices and holy ministrations; and "judgments" mean civil laws; and as these laws were representative of spiritual laws, they signify such Divine truths as are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom in the heavens.

[5] It follows from this that when man shuns and turns away from evils as sins and is raised up into heaven by the Lord, he is no longer in what is his own (proprium), but in the Lord, and thus he thinks and wills goods. Again, since man acts as he thinks and wills, for every act of man proceeds from the thought of his will, it follows that when he shuns and turns away from evils, he does goods from the Lord and not from self; and this is why shunning evils is doing goods. The goods that a man then does are meant by good works; and good works in their whole complex are meant by charity. Man cannot be reformed unless he thinks, wills, and does as if from himself, since that which is done as if by the man himself is conjoined to him and remains with him, while that which is not done by the man as if from himself, not being received in any life of sense, flows through like ether; and this is why the Lord wills that man should not only shun and turn away from evils as if of himself, but should also think, will, and do as if of himself, and yet acknowledge in heart, that all these things are from the Lord. This he must acknowledge because it is the truth.

8906. 'You shall not steal' means that no one's spiritual goods or possessions must be taken away from him, and that things which are the Lord's must not be attributed to self. This is clear from the meaning of 'stealing' as taking spiritual goods or possessions away from someone. The reason why 'stealing' has these meanings is that wealth and riches in the spiritual sense are cognitions or knowledge of goodness and truth, in general everything that composes the faith and charity, that is, the spiritual life a person has. Therefore taking these away from someone is what 'stealing' means in the spiritual sense. And since all spiritual goods or possessions, that is, everything composing faith and charity, come wholly from the Lord and not at all from man, 'stealing' also means attributing to self things which are the Lord's. People who do this are also called 'thieves' and 'robbers' in John,

Truly I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who is entering by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. I am the door of the sheep. All who were before Me were thieves and were robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me he will be saved, and will go in and out, and find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come in order that they may have life, and may have it abundantly. John 10:1-13.

'Entering by the door into the sheepfold' doing so through the Lord, for the Lord is 'the door', as He Himself says. 'The sheep' are those who have charity and consequently faith, and they enter the fold through the Lord when they acknowledge that He is the source of everything composing faith and charity; for then these flow in from Him. But to attribute them to others, especially to self, is to take them away, which is 'to kill and destroy' them. People who attribute entirely to themselves those things which are the Lord's also assume that merit lies in works and consider themselves righteous; such people are dealt with in 1110, 1877, 2027, 2273, 2340, 2373, 2400, 3816, 4007 (end), 4174, 4943, 6388-6390, 6392, 6393, 6478. This then is 'stealing' in the spiritual sense, and it is what comes to mind with angels in heaven when a person reads in the Word about 'stealing'; for angels understand the Word wholly on a spiritual level.

[2] 'Stealing' has a like meaning in Hosea,

When I healed Israel the iniquity of Ephraim was revealed, and the evils of Samaria; for they practiced a lie, and a thief came, a band [of robbers] encircles the house. ¹ Now their own works surround them before My face; they make a king glad through their wickedness, and princes through their lies. Hosea 7:1-3.

And in Joel,

The day of Jehovah comes. Fire devours before him, and behind him a flame burns; like the garden of Eden is the land before him, but behind him there is a desert waste. Its appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like horsemen, so they run. Like the noise of chariots over the peaks of mountains [they leap]. They run about the city, they run on the wall, they climb up into the houses, they go in through the windows like a thief. The earth quaked before him, the heavens trembled. The sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars withdrew their shining. Joel 2:1-10.

This refers to the desolation of the Church, when falsities break in and destroy truths. These falsities are 'the thieves that climb up houses and go in through the windows'. Will anyone fail to wonder why it says that the day of Jehovah will be 'like the appearance of horses', and that at this time 'like horsemen, so they will run', 'they will run about the city, run on the wall, climb up into the houses, and go in through the windows', and 'the earth will quake, the heavens will tremble, the sun and moon will be darkened, and the stars will withdraw their shining'? The person who does not know anything about the internal sense and in his heart calls into doubt the holiness of the Word will say that these are simply words without anything of God concealed in them; and he will perhaps call the sayings meaningless. But the person who believes that the Word is most holy because it is Divine, and furthermore knows that there is an internal sense, in which the Church, heaven, and the Lord Himself are the subject, will profess that every word there carries weight. Therefore let a brief explanation be given of what the words and sayings there mean.

[3] 'The day of Jehovah' is the final state or final period of the Church, when there is no longer truth but falsity instead. 'The fire' which devours before him is the desire for evil, and 'the fire' which burns after him is the resulting desire for falsity. 'The appearance of horses' is intellectual powers that reason from falsity as if from truth; 'the horsemen' who run are reasoners; 'chariots' are matters of doctrine that uphold falsity; 'the city' is doctrine itself; 'the wall' on which they run is a false essential; 'the houses' which they will climb up are a person's will; 'the windows' which they will go in through are intellectual concepts; 'a thief' is falsity which takes away truth; 'the earth' which will quake before him is the Church, and so are 'the heavens' which will tremble; 'the sun' is love to the Lord, 'the moon' faith in Him, which are said 'to be darkened' when they are no longer apparent; 'the stars' are cognitions or knowledge of goodness and truth which will no longer possess light from faith and love, thus from heaven, meant by 'withdrawing their shining'. From all this one may recognize what these words in general imply, and also in what sense that day or final state of the Church is called 'a thief' who will climb up houses and go in through the windows - falsity which will at that time take possession of the entire person, of both his will and his understanding, and so will take away all truth and goodness. 'A thief' has a like meaning in Obadiah,

The Lord Jehovih said to Edom, If thieves come to you, if those who overturn in the night - how you will have been cut off! - will they not steal that which is enough for themselves? Obad. verses 1, 5.

'A thief' or 'one who steals' has a like meaning in Zechariah 5:1-4; Psalms 50:18-20; Matthew 6:19-20.

[4] As all the regulations which the Lord commanded the children of Israel were founded on the laws of order which exist in heaven, that is, they sprang from the spiritual world and derived their essential nature from there, this was no less so with the laws laid down regarding thefts, such as the law,

Anyone who has stolen an ox and sells it shall repay five, or four if one of the flock. Exodus 21:37. ²

Also these laws,

If a thief has been struck while breaking in, no blood [is required] for him; but if the sun has risen, blood [is required]. A thief must pay compensation or be sold. If [what he has stolen] is found in his hand he shall restore double. Exodus 22:2-4.

Anyone who steals a man and sells him - and he is found in his hand - shall surely die. Exodus 21:16.

If there is found a man who has stolen a soul from his brothers, from the children of Israel, and has made profit on him, when he has sold him, that thief shall be killed, so that you remove evil from the midst of you. Deuteronomy 24:7.

'Men from the children of Israel' in the internal sense are those who are governed by the truths and forms of the good of faith. Accordingly in the abstract sense they are the truths and forms of good themselves, 5414, 5879, 5951, so that 'stealing a man from the children of Israel' means taking these away, and 'selling him' means alienating them and also reducing them to a state of servitude. For since truths and forms of the good of faith come from the Lord they exist in a state of freedom, and are subservient to none except the Lord alone; but when they are alienated they come into a state of servitude since they are subservient to some evil of self-love or love of the world, thus to some bodily desire. This is how that law [in Deuteronomy 24:7] was derived and what it corresponds to; and since from being in freedom the Church's truth and good is reduced to subservience, and so from being living is made dead, the punishment, which is the outcome, is death.

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