8281. Thy right hand, O Jehovah, is magnified in strength. That this signifies that the Lord’s omnipotence has been shown, is evident from the signification of the “right hand of Jehovah,” as being omnipotence, of which below; and from the signification of “is magnified in strength,” as being shown, for Divine power is shown by the strength by which it is magnified. That the “right hand of Jehovah” denotes omnipotence, is because by “hand” in the Word is signified power, and thus by “right hand” eminent power; consequently when the “hand” or “right hand” is said of Jehovah, it denotes Divine power, or omnipotence. (That “hand” and “right hand” denote power, see n. 878, 4931-4937, 6292, 6947, 7188, 7189, 7518; and when predicated of Jehovah, omnipotence, n. 3387, 7518, 7673, 8050, 8069, 8153)

[2] That the “right hand of Jehovah” denotes Divine power, or omnipotence, is also evident from the following passages in the Word, in Matthew:

Jesus said, Henceforth ye shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power, and coming upon the clouds of heaven (Matthew 26:64; Mark 14:62).

From henceforth shall the Son of man be sitting at the right hand of the power of God (Luke 22:69).

The saying of Jehovah unto my Lord, Sit at my right hand, until I make thine enemies a footstool for thy feet; thou art a priest forever after the manner of Melchizedek, the Lord at thy right hand hath smitten kings in the day of anger (Psalms 110:1, 4-5; Matthew 22:44).

He who does not know that the “right hand,” when said of Jehovah, signifies omnipotence, cannot receive any other idea from these words of the Lord, than that the Lord will sit at the right hand of His Father, and have dominion like one who sits at the right hand of a king on earth. But the internal sense teaches what is meant in these passages by “sitting at the right hand,” namely, the Divine omnipotence; consequently it is also said, “to sit at the right hand of power,” and “at the right hand of the power of God.”

[3] That it is the Lord who has omnipotence, is manifest; for this is said of the Lord, and by “the Lord” in David is meant the Lord in respect to Divine truth, and also by the “Son of man” in the Evangelists; for Divine truth is that which has omnipotence from Divine good. (That Divine truth has omnipotence, see n. 6948, 8200; in general that power belongs to truth from good, n. 3091, 3563, 4231, 6344, 6493; and that consequently “hand” is predicated of truth, n. 3091, 4931; and that the “Son of man” denotes the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, n. 2159, 2803, 2813, 3704)

[4] Divine power or omnipotence is also signified by the “right hand” in the following passages in David:

Now know I that Jehovah saveth His anointed; they will answer Him in heaven through the powers of the salvation of His right hand (Psalms 20:6).

O Jehovah, look from the heavens, and see, and visit this vine; and the shoot which Thy right hand hath planted, upon the son Thou hadst made strong for Thyself (Psalms 80:14-15, 80:17).

Thou hast an arm with might; strong is Thy hand, exalted shall be Thy right hand (Psalms 89:13).

My strength and song is Jah, He is become my salvation; the voice of shouting and of salvation is in the tents of the righteous, the right hand of Jehovah hath done valiantly, the right hand of Jehovah is exalted, the right hand of Jehovah hath done valiantly (Psalms 118:14-16).

[5] In these passages the “right hand of Jehovah” denotes omnipotence; and in the supreme sense the Lord as to Divine truth. This is more evident elsewhere in David:

Let Thy hand, O Jehovah, be for the man of Thy right hand, for the son of man Thou hast made strong for Thyself (Psalms 80:17); where “the man of the right hand of Jehovah,” and “the son of man,” denote the Lord as to Divine truth. In the same:

Thou hast driven out the nations with Thy hand, not by their sword have they possessed the land, and their arm hath not saved them, but Thy right hand, and Thine arm, and the light of Thy faces (Psalms 44:2-3); where “the light of the faces of Jehovah” denotes Divine truth from Divine good; so also “the right hand,” and “the arm.” And in Isaiah:

God hath sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength (62:8);

here also the “right hand of God,” and the “arm of His strength” denote the Lord as to Divine truth; for Jehovah or the Lord does not swear by any other than Himself (n. 2842), thus by the Divine truth, for this is Himself, because from Himself.

[6] Hence it is that in the Word throughout the Lord is called not only the “right hand” and “arm” of Jehovah, but also “the strength by which He breaks in pieces enemies,” and likewise “the hammer,” as in Jeremiah 51:20-21, seq . Moreover the Lord came into the world, and there became Divine truth, and afterward Divine good from which is Divine truth, in order that He might shut up all evils and falsities in the hells, and gather together goods and truths into the heavens, and there dispose them into Divine order. From all this it is now evident that by “the right hand of Jehovah” in the Word is signified the omnipotence which the Divine has by means of Divine truth. That “the right hand” denotes eminent power, derives its origin from the fact that they who in the Grand Man or heaven have relation to the shoulders, the arms, and the hands, are they who are powerful from the truth which is from good; that is, from the faith which is from love (n. 4931-4937, 7518).

6948. And He said, Cast it to the earth. That this signifies the influx of the power of the Lord’s Divine natural into the sensuous, is evident from the signification of a “rod,” as being power in the natural, and when it is said of the Lord, as being the power proceeding from his Divine natural (of which just above, n. 6947) from the signification of “casting,” or “sending forth,” as being proceeding, thus influx; and from the signification of “the earth” as being man’s external (n. 82, 913, 1411, 1733), here his sensuous and corporeal, which are the outermosts, because the rod became a serpent, and by a “serpent” is signified the sensuous and corporeal man.

[2] By the Divine power of the Lord is here meant the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, for there is power in Divine truth, insomuch that it is power itself (n. 3091, 4931, 6344, 6423). The Divine truth proceeding from the Lord flows into every man, through his interiors into the exteriors, even into the external sensuous and into the corporeal, and calls forth everywhere things correspondent in their order; in the sensuous, things correspondent such as appear in the world and upon the earth. But as the things which are in the world and upon the earth appear otherwise than as they are, they are therefore full of fallacies; and therefore when the sensuous is in these evils only, it must needs think against the goods and truths of faith, because it thinks from fallacies; and when Divine truth flows in, it must needs turn it into falsity.

[3] That a man who is not elevated from the sensuous, but is in it and thinks from it, thinks from fallacies, may be illustrated by examples: The fallacies in respect to the life of man-that it is of the body, when yet it is of the spirit in the body: in respect to the sight-that it is of the eye: in respect to the hearing - that it is of the ear: in respect to the speech-that it is of the tongue and mouth; when yet it is the spirit which sees, hears, and speaks, through these organs of the body. The fallacies in respect to life-that it is permanent in man, when yet it flows in. The fallacies in respect to the soul-that it cannot be in a human form, and in human senses and affections. The fallacies in respect to heaven and hell-that the former is above man, and the latter beneath him, when yet they are in him. The fallacies that objects flow into the exteriors, when yet what is external does not flow into what is internal, but what is internal into what is external. The fallacies in respect to the life after death-that it is impossible except together with the body. Besides the fallacies in natural things, which give rise to the self-contradictory conjectures of so many persons.

[4] Who cannot see that fallacies and the falsities thence derived have dominion instead of truths, merely from the dispute which long existed in respect to the circulation of the blood, which though supported by so many experimental proofs, nevertheless long remained in doubt; and also from the dispute about the sun-that it revolved once a day around this earth, and not only the sun, but also the moon, all the planets, and the whole starry heaven; and also from the dispute which still continues in respect to the soul, its conjunction with the body, and its seat therein. Seeing that the fallacies of the senses have dominion in such things, although their true character is plain from so many phenomena and effects, why should they not do so in such things as belong to heaven, which being spiritual are not plain except through correspondences?

[5] From all this it can now be seen what is the quality of man’s sensuous, viewed in itself, and left to itself; namely, that it is in fallacies, and thence in falsities, thus is against the truths and goods of faith. Hence it is that when man is in the sensuous and in its light, he is in thick darkness in respect to the things of the spiritual world, that is, in respect to those which are in light from the Divine; and that the sensuous light is turned into mere thick darkness when the light from heaven falls into it. The reason is, that the truths which are of the Divine light cannot be together with fallacies and the falsities thence derived; but [the falsities] extinguish [the truths] and thereby induce thick darkness.