8088. 'Therefore I sacrifice to Jehovah all that open the womb, if they are males' means that therefore the faith springing from charity, which belongs to the new birth, is to be ascribed to the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'sacrificing to Jehovah' as ascribing to the Lord ('sacrificing' here has a meaning similar to that which 'sanctify' has in verse 2 of this chapter, and 'making over to' in verse 12, for 'sanctifying to Jehovah' means ascribing to the Lord, see 8042 and so too does 'making over to Him', 8074; 'ascribing' is used to mean refusing to claim something as one's own, and confessing and acknowledging that it comes from the Lord); from the meaning of 'whatever opens the womb' as matters of faith springing from charity, dealt with in 8043 (for evidence that they belong to the new birth, see above in 8042); and from the meaning of 'male' as the truth of faith, dealt with in 2026, 4005, 7838.

7307. 'Behold, he goes out to the water' means that at this time those who molested were steeped in falsities resulting from illusions. This is clear from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as those who molest, dealt with previously; and from the meaning of 'the water', here the water of Egypt, as falsities resulting from illusions. The reason why these falsities - falsities resulting from illusions - are meant here is that such falsities are what is meant by 'the serpent' that Aaron's rod was turned into, 7293. For the meaning of 'water' as truths and in the contrary sense falsities, see 739, 790, 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668; and for 'the river of Egypt' as falsity, 6693.