7993. Verses 43-49 And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, This is the statute of the Passover: No son of a foreigner shall eat it. And every man's slave, a purchase paid for with silver, ¹ when you have circumcised him, shall eat it. A stranger and a hired servant shall not eat it. It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not bring any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break a bone of it. All the assembly of Israel shall keep it. And when a sojourner sojourns with you and would keep the Passover to Jehovah, every male he has shall be circumcised, and then he shall come near to keep it, and shall be as if a native of the land. And no uncircumcised person shall eat it. There shall be one law for the native and for the sojourner sojourning in the midst of you.

'And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron' means instructions given by God's truth. 'This is the statute of the Passover' means the laws of order for those who have been delivered from damnation and molestations. 'No son of a foreigner shall eat it' means that those not in possession of truth and good are set apart from them. 'And every man's slave' means the natural man up to now. 'A purchase paid for with silver' means who is in possession of some spiritual truth. 'When you have circumcised him' means on being purified from filthy kinds of love. 'Shall eat it' means that he shall be together with them. 'A stranger and a hired servant shall not eat it' means that those who are prompted by a merely natural inclination to do good, and those who do it for the sake of gain, shall not be together with them. 'It shall be eaten in one house' means compatible forms of good grouped together to compose a single body of good. 'You shall not bring any of the flesh outside the house' means that this good must not be intermingled with another's good. 'And you shall not break a bone of it' means that factual knowledge of truth must also remain intact. 'All the assembly of Israel shall keep it' means that this law of order is for all who are governed by the good of truth and guided by the truth of good. 'And when a sojourner sojourns with you' means those who have received instruction in the Church's truth and good, and have accepted them. 'And would keep the Passover to Jehovah' means if he wishes to be together with them. 'Every male he has shall be circumcised' means that his truth is to be purged from impure kinds of love. 'And then he shall come near to keep it' means that then he shall be together with them. 'And shall be as if a native of the land' means that he shall be received as one who is in possession of that truth and good and who has been purified from filthy kinds of love. 'And no uncircumcised person shall eat it' means that no one ruled by self-love and love of the world may be together with them. 'There shall be one law for the native and for the sojourner sojourning in the midst of you' means that someone who has received instruction in and accepted the Church's truth and good, and leads a life in keeping with them, will be as someone within the Church who has already been instructed and leads a life conforming to the commandments of faith and charity.

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7186. 'And Jehovah said to Moses' means instruction regarding the law of God. This is clear from the meaning of 'Jehovah said' as instruction from the Divine, dealt with below; and from the representation of 'Moses' as the law of God, dealt with in 6713, 6752, 7014. The reason why 'Jehovah said to Moses' means instruction regarding the law of God is that the end of the previous chapter spoke of Moses' belief gained from the law of God that those belonging to the spiritual Church would be delivered from molestations straightaway. The orderly way however is for the evil who molest to be removed gradually, and those who belong to the spiritual Church to be delivered gradually.

[2] Divine order knows no other way than this, and therefore the law of God too knows no other way, for every law of God is a law of order, so entirely so that whether you say a law of God or a law of Divine order it amounts to the same thing. Those who belong to the spiritual Church now receive instruction regarding this law; from it they learn that they will certainly be delivered when, in keeping with order, the time and state for deliverance has come. The fact that Moses - who represents here the law of God as it exists among those belonging to the spiritual Church when they pass through a state involving molestations - believed from the law of God that they would be delivered from molestations straightaway is evident from the things said by him at the end of the previous chapter. There he says, 'Why have You done ill to this people? Why is this, that You have sent me, and have not delivered Your people at all?' the meaning of which is that they are suffering from excessive molestation by falsities when yet the law emanating from God seems to promise something different, thus that they have not been released from the state of molestations, see 7165, 7166, 7169.

[3] The reason why those who belong to the spiritual Church and are on the lower earth are delivered from molestations gradually, in successive stages and not straightaway, is that there is no other way in which the evils and falsities clinging to them can be removed and forms of good and truth instilled instead. This is effected by very many changes of state, thus gradually, in successive stages. Those who believe that a person can be introduced straightaway into heaven, and that nothing more than the Lord's mercy is necessary for this to be done, are very much mistaken. If that belief were true, then all in hell, however many they may be, would be raised to heaven; for the Lord's mercy reaches out to all. However, the orderly way is for each person to take with him the life he was leading in the world and for that life of his to determine his state in the next life. At the same time the Lord's mercy flows into everyone and is present with all; but it is received in varying ways, and is rejected by those who are governed by evil. And because they have steeped themselves in evil when in the world they also retain it in the next life. Nor is any correction possible in the next life; for where the tree has fallen, there it lies. All this shows how orderly it is that those who have led a good life, yet whose characters also have uncouth and impure elements of self-love and love of the world in them, should be unable to enter into fellowship with those in heaven until such elements have been removed. From these considerations it is evident that deliverance from molestations takes place gradually, in successive stages.