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:

5428. 'And they did not recognize him' means that truth from the Divine was not seen in natural light that was not yet brightened with heavenly light. This becomes clear from what has gone immediately before this, for since 'Joseph recognized his brothers' means that general truths known to the Church were seen by the celestial of the spiritual by the light this possessed, it follows that 'they did not recognize him' means that the celestial of the spiritual, which is truth from the Divine, was not seen by the general truths known to the Church while these were in natural light not yet brightened with heavenly light. This meaning may indeed be seen from what has been stated immediately above; but as it belongs among arcana let some examples be used to shed light on the matter. Take as an example the glory of heaven. Consider those who, when they think about the glory of heaven, see this in natural light that has not been brightened with heavenly light because no intermediary is present, especially if no agreement exists. Such people's idea of the glory of heaven cannot be anything different from the kind of idea they possess about the glory of the world when they read, for instance, about the revelations made to prophets, in particular those made to John and described in the Book of Revelation, in which everything is most magnificent. One may tell these people that the glory of heaven surpasses all worldly magnificence, so completely that one cannot begin to compare it with that glory. One may also tell them that even this is not really the glory of heaven, but that the glory of heaven consists in that which is of God shining out of every individual thing to be seen there, and in a perception of Divine realities and in the wisdom gained from that perception. One may tell these people too that this alone is the glory to those who are there, for they consider worldly magnificence, in comparison with such wisdom, to be nothing at all, and they attribute all wisdom to the Lord and none whatsoever to themselves. But if people behold the glory of heaven in natural light devoid of an intermediary, and especially if no agreement exists, that glory goes completely unrecognized.

[2] Take angelic power as another example. Consider those who, when they think about angelic power, in particular that of the archangels who are mentioned in the Word, do so in natural light that has not been brightened with heavenly light because no intermediary is present, especially if because no agreement exists. Such people's idea of that power cannot be anything different from the idea they have of the power wielded by powerful rulers in the world. That is to say, they think that angels have thousands upon thousands of subordinates over whom they rule, and that high positions in heaven involve that kind of domination. One may tell these people that angelic power does indeed surpass all power wielded by powerful rulers in the world and is so great that just one of the subordinate angels can drive away millions of hellish spirits and send them down into their own hells, which is why in the Word angels are called 'powers' and 'dominions'. One may also tell those people that the least of the angels is the greatest; that is, the one who believes, wishes, and perceives that all power originates entirely within the Lord and never at all within himself is a very highly powerful ruler. And therefore those who are 'powers' in heaven utterly detest any power that derives from themselves. But neither is any of this recognized when beheld in natural light devoid of the intermediary, and more so if no agreement exists.

[3] Take yet another example. Consider a person who looks at freedom from a natural idea devoid of an intermediary linking it to a spiritual one, and especially if no agreement exists between the two. He cannot see freedom as anything else than thinking and willing from what is within himself and being able to carry out without restriction whatever he so thinks and wills. More than that, to the end that he can have whatever he thinks and wills the natural man wishes to become very rich; and to the end that he can carry out whatever he thinks and wills he wishes to become very powerful. Once he has attained this he imagines that he is in perfect freedom and consequently possesses real happiness. If however one tells people like this that true freedom, called heavenly freedom, is not at all like that, but that it involves no willing from what is within oneself, only from the Lord, and does not involve any thinking from what is within oneself, only from heaven, and that feelings of pain and sorrow ensue if one is allowed to think from what is within oneself and to will from what is in oneself, nothing of this is recognized.

These examples may serve to some extent to show what is implied by truth from the Divine not being seen in natural light that has not yet been brightened with heavenly light, meant by Joseph's brothers not recognizing him.