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:

402. 'A city that was built' means all doctrinal or heretical teaching founded on that heresy. This is clear from the Word wherever the name of any city occurs. In the Word 'city' never means a city but something doctrinal or else something heretical. For angels are totally ignorant of what a city is or what the name of any city is. They never do nor can have any city in mind, for their ideas are of spiritual and celestial things, as shown already. Their perception is solely of what is meant spiritually by cities, and the names of them. For example, by the Holy City, which is also called the Holy Jerusalem, they understand nothing other than the Lord's kingdom in general, or as it exists with each individual who has the Lord's kingdom within him. And the city of Zion or Mount Zion they understand in a similar way, the latter being the celestial degree of faith, the former the spiritual.

[2] And the celestial and spiritual itself is also described by cities, palaces, houses, walls, the foundations of walls, ramparts, gates, bars, and by the temple at the centre, as in Ezekiel 48, and in Revelation 21:15-end. In Revelation 21:2, 10, it is called 'the Holy Jerusalem'; in Jeremiah 31:38 ['the city for Jehovah']; in David, Psalms 46:4, 'the city of God, the holy place of the dwellings of the Most High'; and in Ezekiel 48:35, it is called 'the city, Jehovah is there'. And in Isaiah,

The sons of the foreigner will build up your walls. They will bend down to the soles of your feet, all who disapprove of you, and they will call you the City of Jehovah, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 60:10, 14.

In Zechariah,

Jerusalem [will be called] the city of truth, and Mount Zion the mountain of holiness. Zechariah 8:3

Here 'city of truth', which is Jerusalem, means the spiritual things of faith, and 'the holy mountain', which is Zion, the celestial things of faith. And whereas the celestial and spiritual things of faith were represented by a city, so all matters of doctrine were meant by the cities of Judah and Israel, each one, when mentioned by name, meaning some specific point of doctrine, though exactly which nobody can know except from the internal sense.

[3] As cities meant matters of doctrine, cities also meant heretical ideas, each one when mentioned by name meaning some specific heretical idea. But at this point solely the consideration that in general a city means doctrinal teaching or else heretical may be established from the following places:

[4] In Isaiah,

On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak in the lip of Canaan and swear to Jehovah Zebaoth. One of these will be called the city Heres. Isaiah 19:18.

This refers to man's knowledge of spiritual and celestial things at the time of the Lord's Coming. In the same prophet,

Full of tumults, a tumultuous city, an exultant city. Isaiah 22:1, 2.

This refers to 'the valley of vision', which is delusion. In Jeremiah,

The cities of the south are shut up, with none opening them. Jeremiah 13:10.

This refers to people who are in 'the south', that is, who dwell in the light of truth, but blot it out. In the same prophet,

Jehovah thought to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion. He causes rampart and wall to mourn; they have languished together. Her gates have sunk into the ground, He has destroyed and broken in pieces her bars. Lamentations 2:8-9.

Here anyone may see that nothing else is meant by 'wall, rampart, gates and bars' than matters of doctrine.

[5] Similarly in Isaiah,

This song will be sung in the land of Judah, Ours is a strong city, salvation will establish walls and a rampart. Open the gates that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. Isaiah 26:1-2.

In the same prophet,

I will exalt You, I will confess Your name. You have made the city into a heap, the fortified city into a ruin; let not a palace of aliens be built of the city for ever. Therefore a strong people will honour You, the city of terrifying nations will fear You. Isaiah 25:1-3.

Nor does this refer to any actual city. In Balaam's prophecy,

Edom will be an inheritance, and out of Jacob one will have dominion, and he will accomplish the destruction of the remnant of the city. Numbers 24:18-19.

Here anyone may see that 'the city' does not mean an actual city. In Isaiah,

The city of hollowness has been broken down, every house has been shut up so that none may enter in. There is an outcry in the streets over the wine. Isaiah 24:10-11.

Here 'city of hollowness' stands for hollowness of doctrine. In this and other places 'streets' means the things that constitute a city, namely falsities or truths. In John,

When the seventh angel poured out his bowl the great city was split into three parts and the cities of the nations fell. Revelation 16:17, 19.

That 'a great city' means something heretical, as do 'the cities of the nations', may be clear to anyone. The explanation is also given in Revelation 17:18 that the great city means the woman whom John saw, 'the woman', as shown already, being a Church of that nature.