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:

907. Having on His head a golden crown, signifies the Divine good girded for judgment. This is evident from the signification of "a golden crown" on the head, as here being the Divine good girded for judgment; for what now follows treats of the separation of the good from the evil, and this separation precedes the Last Judgment, thus it treats of "the Son of man" by whom is meant the Lord as to the Divine truth or the Word girded to separate the good from the evil, and afterwards to execute judgment. That this is meant by "the golden crown upon the head of the Son of man," can be seen from the fact that among the sons of Israel and also among the ancients, kings, who represented the Lord, when they were girded for war and in their battles, wore golden crowns (See above, n. 553); and for the reason that kings represented the Lord as to the Divine truth, and this proceeds from the Lord conjoined with the Divine good; and in order that this might be represented kings wore crowns of gold, since "gold" signifies good (See above, n. (242). That a "golden crown" signifies good consequent wisdom that truths are what are crowned, may also be seen 272).

[2] That an arcanum lies concealed in this is because the Divine good judges no one, but the Divine truth judges; because the Divine good loves all, and so far as man follows it draws to heaven, but the Divine truth separated from good condemns all and judges all to hell. Lest, therefore, all should be condemned and judged to hell, and in order that the Divine good may as far as possible mitigate and raise up to heaven, there was a golden crown on the head, which signified the Divine good girded for judgment, that is, for mitigating. That the Divine good does not judge anyone but the Divine truth, is meant by these words of the Lord:

The Father doth not judge anyone, but He hath given all judgment unto the Son (John 5:22).

"The Father" means the Divine good, and "the Son" the Divine truth. (That "the Father" means the Divine good may be seen above, n. 200, 254; and "the Son" the Divine truth, n. 63, 151, 724.)

Likewise by these words:

The Father gave to the Son to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man (John 5:27).

"The Son of man" signifies the Divine truth (See above, n. 778).

[3] Nevertheless it must be understood that the Lord does not judge anyone by Divine truth; but the Divine truth regarded in itself judges the man who does not receive it but rejects it, as is clearly evident from the Lord's words:

Jesus said, If anyone hear My words and yet believe not, I judge him not, for I have not come to judge the world but to save the world. He that rejecteth Me and receiveth not My words hath one that judgeth him; the Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day (John 12:47, 48; also John 3:17).

"The Word" means the Divine truth, for this is in the Word, and is the Word. That this, regarded in itself, will judge man, and not the Lord Himself by it, is clearly evident, for the Lord says, "I judge him not, for I have not come to judge the world but to save the world." The Lord Himself does not judge, because He is the Divine love and also the Divine good united with Divine truth, and the one cannot be separated from the other, for they are one; and the Divine good judges no one, but saves, as has been said above. So also does the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord united with the Divine good. The saying in John, that "it was given to the Son to execute judgment," must be understood in the same sense as where it is said of Him that "He is angry," "wrathful," "casts into hell," and the like; while in fact the Lord is angry with no one, nor does He cast into hell, but man casts himself thither (on which see in the work on Heaven and Hell 545-550). So, too, contempt for and rejection of the Divine truth, consequently falsity from evil, judges man; thus again, the man judges himself.

[4] How the Divine truth regarded in itself judges man shall also be told. The man who is in falsities from evil because of contempt for and rejection of the Divine truth is in hatred against it, and burns to destroy it with everyone who is in it from the Lord. And when he makes this attempt he is like one who casts himself into a fire or dashes his face against a rock; the fire is not the cause of this nor the rock, but the man who does this. For the real truth is, that the Divine truth never fights against falsity from evil, but falsity fights against truth; and thus heaven does not fight against hell, but hell against heaven.