7668. 'Go now, you young men, and serve Jehovah' means that those guided by truths that have been corroborated will be left alone, in order that they may worship the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of the command 'go' as the intimation that they will be left alone, as above in 7658; from the meaning of 'young men' as corroborated truths, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'serving Jehovah' as worshipping the Lord, as above in 7654, 7664. The reason why 'young men' means those guided by truths that have been corroborated is that by sons, boys, young men, men, and old men' are meant aspects of intelligence and wisdom in their true order. Such aspects instead of those male persons are understood in heaven; for those in heaven possess spiritual ideas which are such that images from the purely natural order or the world cannot enter them without being instantly sloughed off and transformed into the kinds of images that are more in keeping with the wisdom of heaven and with angelic thought. This is why 'sons, boys, young men, men, and old men' cannot in the spiritual sense mean those male persons, only corresponding spiritual realities, which are aspects of intelligence and wisdom. The fact that these are meant is plainly evident from the internal sense of the places in the Word where they are mentioned.

[2] In the Word 'young men' is used to mean those who have intelligence, or - on the level of abstract ideas on which angels think - intelligence itself. And since intelligence is meant by them, so is firmly established truth since this belongs to intelligence. Also the expression which is used here in the original language to denote young men is derived from strength and power, which truth receives from good, and so which firmly established truth receives. And this name is therefore applied to the Lord in Zechariah,

O sword, rise up against My shepherd, and against the (young) man, My neighbour. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep are scattered. Zechariah 13:7.

These words were spoken in reference to the Lord, see Matthew 26:31. And also in Jeremiah,

How long do you wander around, O estranged daughter? Jehovah has created a new thing on the earth, a woman has surrounded a (young) man. Jeremiah 31:22.

[3] Another word for 'young men in the original language stands for intelligence, and so for the truth that belongs to it, in Amos,

I have sent the pestilence upon you in the way of Egypt, I have killed your young men with the sword, along with captured horses. ¹ Amos 4:10.

'The way of Egypt' stands for perverted factual knowledge, young men who have been killed' for truths which have as a result been destroyed, and 'captured horses' for an understanding that has been led into error.

[4] In the same prophet,

They will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will run to and fro to seek the Word of Jehovah, and will not find it. On that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint from thirst. Amos 8:12-13.

'The beautiful virgins' stands for the affection for truth, 'the young men' for intelligence, and 'fainting from thirst' for being deprived of truth; and this is why it says 'they will run to and fro to seek the Word of Jehovah, and will not find it'. The fact that neither beautiful virgins, nor young men, nor fainting because of thirst are meant here is self-evident.

In Jeremiah,

Death has come up through our windows, it has entered our palaces, cutting off the young child from the street, young men from the lanes. Jeremiah 9:11.

In the same prophet,

How is the city of glory not forsaken, the city of My joy? Therefore her young men will fall in her streets. Jeremiah 49:25-26; 50:30.

In the same prophet,

Hear now, all peoples, see my sorrow; my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity. Lamentations 1:18.

In these places 'young men' stands for the truths that belong to intelligence.

Poznámky pod čarou:

32. I, John, who am also your brother and companion. (1:9) This symbolizes those people who possess the goodness of charity and consequent truths of faith.

The Apostle John represented those people who possess the goodness of charity, as we said in no. 5 above, and people who possess the goodness of charity also possess truths of faith, since charity is the soul and life of faith.

It is because of this that John calls himself the brother and companion of the people in the church to whom he was writing, for he was writing to the seven churches. In the spiritual sense of the Word a brother means someone who possesses the goodness of charity, and a companion someone who for that reason possesses truths of faith. For people are all as though blood relatives through charity, and relatives by marriage through faith. That is because charity unites, but not so much faith unless it springs from charity. When faith springs from charity, then the charity unites and the faith affiliates. Moreover, because the two go together, therefore the Lord commanded all to be brothers; for He said,

...One is your Teacher, the Christ, while you are all brethren. (Matthew 23:8)

[2] The Lord also calls those brothers who possess the goodness of charity or goodness of life. He said,

My mother and My brothers are these who hear the Word of God and do it. (Luke 8:21; cf. Matthew 12:49, Mark 3:33-35)

Mother means the church, and brothers those who possess charity. Moreover, because the goodness of charity is "a brother," therefore the Lord names those who possess it His brothers (see also Matthew 25:40); and so likewise the disciples (Matthew 28:10, John 20:17). But we do not read that the disciples called the Lord brother, because "a brother" is the goodness that emanates from the Lord. It is comparatively like the case of a king, prince, or eminent person, who calls his relatives by blood and marriage brothers, even though they do not call him so in return. For the Lord says,

...One is your Teacher, the Christ, while you are all brethren. (Matthew 23:8)

And so, too:

You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say rightly, for so I am. (John 13:13)

The children of Israel called brothers all those who were descended from their ancestor Jacob, and in a wider sense those also who were descended from Esau. But people not descended from those ancestors they called companions.

However, because in its spiritual sense the Word deals only with people who are in the Lord's church, therefore in that sense brothers mean those who possess the goodness of charity emanating from the Lord, and companions those who possess truths of faith, as in the following passages:

Thus every one of you shall say to his companion, and every one to his brother, "What has Jehovah answered?" (Jeremiah 23:35)

You have not (proclaimed) liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his companion. (Jeremiah 34:17)

Let him not press his companion or his brother... (Deuteronomy 15:1-2)

For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will... say... (Psalms 122:8)

Everyone helps his companion, and says to his brother, "Be strong!" (Isaiah 41:6)

And in an opposite sense:

Everyone beware of his companion, and do not trust in any brother; ...every brother... supplants, and every companion slanders. (Jeremiah 9:3)

I will embroil Egypt with Egypt; each will fight against his brother, and... against his companion... (Isaiah 19:2)

And elsewhere.

I have adduced these particulars to make known why John calls himself a brother and companion - that in the Word a brother means one who possesses charity or goodness, and a companion one who possesses faith or truth.

Still, because charity is the foundation from which faith springs, therefore the Lord does not call anyone a companion, but a brother or neighbor. Everyone also is the neighbor in accordance with the quality of his goodness (Luke 10:36-37 ¹ ).

Poznámky pod čarou: