6717. 'And married a daughter of Levi' means its being joined to good. This is clear from the meaning of 'marrying a daughter' as a joining together; and from the representation of 'Levi' as good, dealt with immediately above in 6716. How to understand the idea that truth which had its origin in good was joined to good must be stated. The truth that is instilled by the Lord into a person who is being regenerated traces its origin back to good. Initially good does not reveal itself because it is in the internal man; but truth does reveal itself because it is in the external and because the internal acts on the external, and not vice versa, 6322. Good is that which acts on truth and makes it its own, since nothing else than good acknowledges and receives truth. This becomes apparent in the affection for truth that is present with a person who is being regenerated. The affection derives from the good, for an affection that is a mark of love cannot come from any other source. But this truth that is received at this initial stage, that is, before regeneration, is not the genuine truth of good; rather, it is the truth of doctrine. For at this stage a person does not ponder on whether it is the truth but accepts it because it is part of the teaching of the Church. And as long as he does not ponder on whether it is the truth and then accept it, it is neither his own nor thereby comes to be his own. This state is the first for a person who is being regenerated.

[2] But once he has been regenerated the good reveals itself, in particular through the fact that he loves to lead his life in accordance with the truth which of his own accord he acknowledges to be the truth. At this point because he wills and acts on the truth he accepts, it comes to be his own. The reason for this is that it is not merely in his understanding, as it was previously, but is also in his will; and what is in the will has come to be his own. And since the understanding now makes one with the will - for the understanding accepts and the will puts into practice - there is a joining together of the two, that is to say, of good and truth. Once the joining together has been effected, then as if from a marriage offspring are born repeatedly, such offspring being truths and forms of good, and all the blessing and delight that accompanies them. These two states are what are meant by truth that has its origin in good and by truth joined to good.

[3] But the truth that is joined to good, meant here by 'a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi', is not the kind of truth that a person receives in the first state; for what he receives then is the truth of doctrine taught by the Church in which he was born. Rather, it is truth itself, for the subject in the highest sense is the way in which the Lord as to His Human became the law of God, the truth embodied in this law being what is meant by truth itself. The reason why the origin of such truth is good is that it was the Divine - what was the Lord's inmost Self and the Being (Esse) of His life - that gave rise to that truth in His Human. This was how that truth came to be joined to good, for the Divine is nothing other than good.

6716. 'A man from the house of Levi went' means truth which has its origin in good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a man as truth, dealt with in 3134; from the meaning of being 'from the house' as the origin; and from the representation of 'Levi' as good. In the highest sense 'Levi' represents Divine Love, dealt with in 3875, and in the internal sense spiritual love, 3875, 4497, 4502, 4503; and since he represents love, he represents good, because all good comes from love. As regards truth which has its origin in good, meant here by 'a man from the house of Levi', it should be recognized that the verses which follow deal in the highest sense with the Lord, with the way in which His Human became the law of God, that is, real Truth. It is well known that the Lord was born like anyone else and that when He was a young child he learned to talk like any other young child, after which He grew in knowledge, and also in intelligence and wisdom.

[2] From this it is evident that His Human was not Divine when He was born but that He made it Divine by His own power. He made it Divine by His own power because He had been conceived from Jehovah, as a result of which the inmost core of His life was Jehovah Himself. For the inmost core of anyone's life, called the soul, is derived from the father, whereas that which clothes what is inmost, called the body, is derived from the mother. The inmost core of life derived from the father is constantly flowing into and having an effect on the external derived from the mother, endeavouring even in the womb to make it similar to itself. This may be recognized in the fact that children are born with their father's disposition, and sometimes grandchildren and great grandchildren with their grandfather's and great grandfather's disposition. The reason for this is that the soul, which is derived from the father, constantly wishes to make the external derived from the mother similar to itself and an image of itself.

[3] Seeing that this is what goes on with man, one may recognize that it was what went on especially with the Lord. The inmost part of Him was the Divine Itself because it was Jehovah Himself, for He was Jehovah's only-begotten Son. And since that inmost part was the Divine Itself, how, more so than with any man, could the Divine fail to make the external derived from the mother an image of itself, that is, similar to itself, so that the Human - the external, derived from the mother - would be made Divine? This He accomplished by His own power because the Divine, which was the Inmost by which He had an effect on His Human, was His in the same way as a person's soul, which is the inmost part of him, belongs to that person. And because the progress which the Lord made conformed to Divine order, He made His Human, while He was in the world, to be Divine Truth; but after that, when He was fully glorified, He made it to be Divine Good, and so one with Jehovah.

[4] How this was accomplished is what is described in the highest sense of the present chapter. But since the contents of the highest sense, which all have to do with the Lord, surpass human understanding, let what follows be an explanation of the things contained in the internal sense of the chapter. These have to do with the beginnings and the succeeding states of God's truth with a member of the Church, that is, with a person who is being regenerated, 6713, 6714. The reason why these are the things contained in the internal sense is that human regeneration is an image of the glorification of the Lord's Human, see 3138, 3212, 3245, 3246, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688.