23
And then will I profess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Matthew 7:23
Arcana Coelestia # 6806
6806. 'And God knew them' means that He endowed it with charity. This is clear from the meaning of 'knowing' - when used in reference to God, that is, to the Lord - as endowing with charity. For charity is what joins the Lord and man together and what causes the Lord to be present with him and consequently know him. The Lord, it is true, knows all people everywhere; but He knows none in the way a father does his children except those who are governed by the good of love and charity.
[2] This explains why the Lord says of those who are governed by good, whom He calls His own sheep,
I am the good Shepherd; and I know those who are My own, and am known by those who are My own. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. John 10:14, 27.
But the Lord says of those who are governed by evil that He does not know them in Matthew,
Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Your name, and by Your name cast out demons, and do many mighty works in Your name? But then I will declare to them, ! do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Matthew 7:22-23.
In the same gospel,
At length the remaining virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He replying said, Truly, I say to you, I do not know you. Matthew 25:11-12.
In Luke,
Once the Householder has risen up and shut the door, then you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He replying will say to you, ! do not know where you come from. Then you will begin to say, We ate in Your presence and we drank; and You taught in our streets. But He will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity! Luke 13:25-27.
[3] From this it is evident that the expression 'being known', when used by the Lord, means being governed by the good of charity, that is, being endowed with that good; for the good of charity comes entirely from the Lord. And the expression 'not being known' means being governed by evil. 'Knowing' implies being joined together; and how far a person is said to be known by the Lord depends on how far he has become joined to Him. The Lord does also know those who have not become joined, indeed He knows the tiniest details of every individual person, John 2:24-25; but because those people are governed by evil they experience a different kind of presence, which is more like absence. This does not mean that the Lord is absent; rather, the person or the spirit governed by evil is the one who is absent, and that absence is what the Lord's not knowing them describes. Something comparable to this occurs among angels and spirits whose states of life are like one another's; they appear to be near one another and so they know one another. But those whose states of life are not alike appear to be distant from one another and for that reason do not know one another either. In short similarity of state causes people in the next life to be visibly present and to be known, while dissimilarity of state causes them to be absent to the sight and not to be known.
Exodus 2
1
A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.
2
The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.
3
When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank.
4
His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him.
5
Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her handmaid to get it.
6
She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. She had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."
7
Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?"
8
Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." The maiden went and called the child's mother.
9
Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." The woman took the child, and nursed it.
10
The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water."
11
It happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.
12
He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.
13
He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, "Why do you strike your fellow?"
14
He said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian?" Moses was afraid, and said, "Surely this thing is known."
15
Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.
16
Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.
17
The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.
18
When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, "How is it that you have returned so early today?"
19
They said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock."
20
He said to his daughters, "Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread."
21
Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.
22
She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, "I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land."
23
It happened in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.
24
God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
25
God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them.
