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:

50. Was in the isle that is called Patmos, signifies revelation to the nations. This is evident from the signification of "Patmos," as being the revelation contained in Revelation; for all places mentioned in the Word signify things, and the things they signify are from the worship there, or from some memorable event that occurred there, or from their location in or near countries whereby the religious principle of the nation is signified. "Patmos" signifies revelation, from the memorable fact that there a revelation was made to John. The revelation was made on an island, because an "island" signifies a nation remote from true worship, but still desiring to be enlightened. That this is signified by "islands" in the Word, will be clear from what follows; in the first place something shall be said about names of places in the Word signifying things.

All persons mentioned in the Word, and all by whom the Word was written, were led to places that were significant, in order that all things might be significative of spiritual things. Even the Lord Himself, for the same reason, went to places thus significative; as into Galilee, to Tyre and Sidon, to Jerusalem, and to the Mount of Olives there, and also, when an infant, He was carried into Egypt. It was similar with the prophets, and with many who are mentioned in the historical Word, as may be abundantly shown. For this reason, John also was commanded to betake himself into the isle of Patmos, that the things that are to be at the end of the church might there be revealed, because "island" signifies a nation about to accept truths of doctrine. This island, moreover, is in the archipelago, where there are numerous other islands; and from this also it is that by "Greece" in the Word such nations are signified. (Thus in Daniel 8:21, 10:20; 11:2; John 12:20-21; Mark 7:26.) (That all names of places mentioned in the Word signify things, see Arcana Coelestia (Arcana Coelestia 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888, 4310, 4442, 10329)

[2] That "islands" signify nations that are about to accede to the true worship of God, is evident from the following passages. In Isaiah:

Glorify Jehovah in Urim, the name of the God of Israel in the isles of the sea (Isaiah 24:15).

In the same:

He shall not quench nor break, until He have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall hope in His law. Sing unto Jehovah a new song, His praises, ye ends of the earth: ye that go down to the sea, the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. Let them give glory unto Jehovah, and declare His praise in the islands (Isaiah 42:4, 10, 12).

In the same:

Listen, O isles, unto Me, and hearken, ye peoples from afar (Isaiah 49:1).

In the same:

The isles shall hope in Me, and on My arm shall they trust (Isaiah 51:5).

In the same:

The islands shall trust in Me, and the ships of Tarshish (Isaiah 60:9).

In Jeremiah:

Hear the words of Jehovah, O ye nations, and declare them in the isles afar off (Jeremiah 31:10).

And in Zephaniah:

Jehovah will make lean all the gods of the earth, that they may worship Him, everyone in his place, even all the isles of the nations (Zephaniah 2:11).

(And elsewhere as in Isaiah 23:2, 6 (Isaiah 23:6); Isaiah 41:1, 5; 42:15; 66:19; Jeremiah 2:10; 25:22; Ezekiel 27:3 (Ezekiel 27:3), 7, 15, 35.) From these and other passages it is plain that "isles" signify nations, specifically nations in respect to the doctrine of truth, in other places in respect to the doctrine of falsity; for most things in the Word have also opposite significations.