9062. And if he shall knock out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth. That this signifies if he shall destroy truth or the affection of it in the sensuous man, is evident from the signification of “tooth,” as being the exterior intellectual, and consequently truth in the natural man (of which above, n. 9052), here truth in the ultimate of the natural, that is, in the sensuous, because it is said of a manservant and of a maidservant; from the signification of a “maidservant,” as being the affection of this truth (of which also above, n. 9059); and from the signification of “knocking out,” as being to destroy. (What the sensuous is, and what is its quality, see n. 4009, 5077, 5079, 5084, 5089, 5091, 5125, 5128, 5580, 5767, 6183, 6201, 6310, 6311, 6313, 6315, 6316, 6564, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6948, 6949, 7693)

4790. Prince of the guards. That this signifies things which are primary for interpretation, is evident from the signification of “prince,” as being what is primary (n. 1482, 2089). That the “prince of the guards” here denotes things primary for interpretation, is because the subject treated of is Divine truth, which was sold by those who were in the truth of simple good by their consulting memory-knowledges; whence came a wandering and estrangement from Divine truth, and hence interpretations from the sense of the letter of the Word (see n. 4783); and by “guards” are signified those things which minister.