8981. 'If his master has given him a woman' means good attached by the spiritual to truth during conflict. This is clear from the meaning of 'master' here as the spiritual, for 'master' in this instance is used to refer to one who is a member of the children of Israel, and by 'the children of Israel' those who are true members of the spiritual Church are meant, that is, who do good from love and affection, or what amounts to the same thing, from charity (regarding 'the children of Israel', that they are members of the spiritual Church, see 6426, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223, 7957, 8234, 8805, which being so, they mean in the abstract sense spiritual truths and forms of good, 5414, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833, 5879), so that 'master' here means the spiritual; and from the meaning of 'giving him a woman' as attaching good to truth, for 'giving', when said in regard to a woman, means attaching. And 'the slave' is someone who is imbued with the truth of religious teachings and not with complementary good, 8974, while 'the woman' is delight, 8980, but at this point good, because this is given or attached to that truth by the spiritual. Everything is called good that comes from the spiritual, since the spiritual itself is the good of charity. For the meaning of 'woman' as good, see 915, 2517, 4823, 6014, 8337. During conflict is meant because it says that if his master had given him a woman she was to be the master's after the servitude. From this it is evident that the woman was the slave's during servitude but not after it thus during conflict but not after conflict; for servitude lasting six years means labour and conflict, 8975.

[2] Is there anyone who cannot see that this regulation holds an arcanum which no one can know unless it is disclosed to him? For in its outward form it appears contrary to God's justice, that when a slave goes out of servitude the woman who has been given to him should remain the master's, when yet a woman should be her husband's forever. There are many other apparent injustices like these which Jehovah commanded the children of Israel, such as that they were to ask from the Egyptians vessels of gold and silver, and clothes, and in so doing were to plunder them, besides other similar actions, dealt with in their individual places. But although those regulations in their outward form appear, as has been stated, contrary to God's justice, they are not really so; for they rise out of the laws of Divine order in heaven, and these are perfect laws of justice. But those laws cannot be seen unless the internal sense is used to disengage them from the sense of the letter. The law that this regulation rises out of is this: Spiritual good cannot be joined to those who are confined since early childhood to the external things of the Church; it can only be linked to them for as long as they undergo conflict, after which it departs.

[3] To bring this whole matter out into the open, for it is an arcanum, it must be discussed briefly. There are people who - although they have from early childhood thought little about eternal life, and so about the welfare of their soul, and have thought instead about worldly life and its prosperity - have nevertheless led a morally good life and have also believed the truths taught by their Church. When they reach maturer age there is no other way in which they can be reformed than by the linking of spiritual good during conflict. They do not however retain that good but merely use it to strengthen the truths they have been taught. The reason for this is that in their life before then such people have surrendered themselves to worldly kinds of love, and when these have become deeply rooted they do not allow spiritual good to be joined to truth; for those kinds of love are totally repugnant to this good. Nevertheless spiritual good can take hold in those people's thinking when those kinds of love subside, as happens during anxiety, misfortunes, or sicknesses, and the like. At this time an affection to do good from charity enters in; but that affection merely serves to strengthen and root more deeply the truths they have been taught. It cannot however be joined to truth. The reason why is that this charitable affection entering in fills only the understanding part of the mind. It does not pass into the will part of it, and what does not pass into the will is not adopted by or accordingly joined to truth. For goodness and truth with a person come to be joined together when truth passes into the will, consequently when the person wills it and because he wills it does it. Then, for the first time, truth becomes good, or what amounts to the same thing, faith becomes charity.

[4] This cannot come about with those who have from early childhood surrendered themselves to worldly kinds of love and yet have been imbued with truth taught by their Church. For the will part of their mind is occupied by such love, which is the complete opposite of spiritual good and repels it. They allow it into solely the understanding part of their mind, that is, into their thought, when those kinds of love have become dormant, which happens, as stated above, during a state of sickness or misfortune, or during anxiety, consequently during labour and some conflict. This is the arcanum that lies concealed within this regulation; and since the regulation was for that reason representative of the law of Divine order regarding those imbued with the truth of religious teachings and not with the complementary good, in the representative Church it was in keeping with God's justice, even in its outward form.

4598. 'Israel travelled on' means the celestial-spiritual of the natural then. This is clear from the meaning of 'travelling on' as a further stage or a continuation, dealt with in 4375, 4554, in this case towards aspects more interior still, and from the representation of 'Israel' here as the celestial-spiritual of the natural, dealt with in 4286. What the celestial-spiritual of the natural is has been explained already, namely the good of truth, or the good of charity arrived at through the truth of faith. Little knowledge exists in the world of what an advance towards more interior aspects is. It is not an advance into knowledge of facts, for that kind of advance is often made without any advancement towards interior things, and more often still is accompanied by a movement away from these. Neither is it an advance in maturity of judgement, for this too is sometimes accompanied by a movement away from interior things. Nor yet is it an advance made into cognitions of interior truth, for these count for nothing if a person does not have any affection for them. An advance towards interior things is an advance nearer to heaven and the Lord made by means of the cognitions of truth which have been implanted in an affection for them, and so is an advance made by means of the affections.

[2] What an advance towards interior things is like is not apparent to anyone in the world; but in the next life it is plain to see. In that life it is an advance out of a kind of haze into light; for compared with others people who are concerned solely with more external things live in a haze, and are also seen by the angels to do so, whereas those who have a concern for more internal things dwell in light, and consequently in wisdom since the light there is wisdom. And what is amazing, those living in the haze cannot see that those in light are in light, whereas those dwelling in light can see that those in the haze are in a haze. Since the subject is the advance made by the Lord's Divine towards more interior aspects, Jacob is called Israel here; but where that advance is not the subject he is called Jacob, as in verse 20 immediately before this, and in the final verse of this chapter.