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.

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6693. 'Saying, Every son who is born you are to throw into the river' means that all truths that appeared should be drowned in falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'son' as truth, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373; from the meaning of 'being born' as appearing; and from the meaning of 'the river' as those things that constitute intelligence, dealt with in 108, 109, 2702, 3051, here in the contrary sense as those things which are the opposite, namely falsities. The fact that 'throwing into' means drowning in is self-evident.

[2] The meaning of 'the river of Egypt' as the opposite of intelligence, which is falsity, is also clear in Isaiah,

The rivers will recede, the streams of Egypt will diminish and dry up. The papyrus plants next to the river, next to the mouth of the river, and everything sown in the river will wither, be driven away, and be no more. Therefore the fishermen will mourn, and all who cast a hook into the river will be sad, and those who spread nets over the face of the waters will anguish. Isaiah 19:6-8.

Here one should not understand a river by 'the river of Egypt' or fishermen by 'the fishermen' but other things which are not apparent unless one knows how 'Egypt', 'the river' there, and 'the fishermen' are to be understood. If one does know, then the meaning of these verses is apparent. The fact that 'the river of Egypt' means falsity is evident from every detail mentioned in them.

[3] In Jeremiah,

Who is this coming up like a river, whose waters are tossed about like the rivers? Egypt comes up like the river, and like the rivers his waters are tossed about. For he said, I will go up, I will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and those who dwell in it. Jeremiah 46:7-8.

Here also 'the river of Egypt' stands for falsities. 'Going up and covering the earth' stands for overwhelming the Church, 'destroying the city' stands for destroying the teachings of the Church, 'and those who dwell in it' for doing so to forms of good that come from those teachings. For the meaning of 'the earth' as the Church, see 6649; 'the city' as the teachings of the Church, 402, 2449, 3216, 4492, 4493; and 'those who dwell in it' as forms of good there, 2268, 2451, 2712.

[4] In Ezekiel,

Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies ¹ in the midst of his rivers, who has said, The river is mine and I have made myself. Therefore I will put hooks in your jaws, and cause the fish of your rivers to stick to your scales, and I will cause you to come up out of the midst of your rivers, in order that ² all the fish of your rivers may stick in your scales. I will leave in the wilderness you and all the fish of your rivers. Ezekiel 29:3-5, 9-10.

Without the internal sense no one can know what this passage means either. Thus, though it is evident that it is not the country Egypt which is meant, the meaning of the passage remains unknown unless one knows what 'Pharaoh', 'river', 'monster', 'fish', and 'scales', all mean. 'Pharaoh' is the natural where factual knowledge resides, see 5160, 5799, 6015; 'monsters' are general bodies of facts that reside in the natural, 42; 'fish' are the facts subordinate to a general body of them, 40, 991; 'scales' are ideas of a thoroughly external nature, thus sensory impressions, to which factual knowledge that is false clings. When one knows all these meanings one can see what 'the river of Egypt' is used to mean in this passage, namely, falsity.

[5] In the same prophet,

On the day on which Pharaoh goes down into hell I will make him mourn, I will cover the deep over him, and I will restrain its streams, and the great waters will be stayed. Ezekiel 31:15.

In Amos,

Is not the land to be shaken on account of this, and everyone to mourn that inhabits it? Yes, the whole of it comes up like a river, and is cast out, and is drowned as if in the river of Egypt. On that day I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the land in broad daylight. Amos 8:8-9; 9:5.

'The land which will be shaken' stands for the Church, 6649, while 'being drowned as if in the river of Egypt' stands for being destroyed by falsities. And since falsities are meant it says that the sun will go down at noon, and the earth will be darkened in broad daylight. 'The going down of the sun at noon' means that the good of heavenly love will depart, and 'the darkening of the land in broad daylight' that falsities will take possession of the Church. For the meaning of 'the sun' as the good of heavenly love, see 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643, 4060, 4696; for 'darkness' as falsities, 1839, 1860, 4418, 4531; and for 'the earth' as the Church, 82, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1411, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577. Anyone can see that things other than those which appear in the literal sense here - such as that the land will be shaken and every inhabitant will mourn, or that the sun will go down at noon and the land will be darkened in broad daylight - are really meant. Unless one takes 'the land' to mean the Church, 'the river' to mean falsity, and 'the sun' to mean heavenly love, one does not find any other explicable meaning there.

[6] It is because 'the river of Egypt' means falsity that Moses was commanded to strike the waters of that river with his rod, after which they were turned into blood, all fish in the river died, and the river stank, Exodus 7:17-18, 20-21. For the same reason Aaron had to stretch out his hand and rod over the streams, over the rivers, and over the pools, from which frogs rose up over the land of Egypt, Exodus 8:5-6. ³ For the meaning of 'the waters' in the contrary sense as falsities, see 790; and since the waters make up the river, 'the river' in relation to them means falsity in general.

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