9306. 'Take notice of his face' means holy fear. This is clear from the meaning of 'taking notice of the face', when it has reference to the Lord, whom 'the angel' is used to mean to here, as fearing that He may be angry on account of evils, or provoked on account of transgressions, as below; and fearing these things is holy fear. Regarding this fear, see 2826, 3718, 3719, 5459, 5534, 7280, 7788, 8816, 8925. The words 'taking notice of his face' are used because 'the face' means the interior things that constitute a person's life, thus his thought and affection, and in particular his faith and love. The reason for this is that the face has been fashioned so that it can produce an image of a person's interiors. It has been so fashioned to the end that those things which belong to the internal man may appear within the external, thus to the end that those things which belong to the spiritual world can be visualized in the natural world and so have an effect on one's neighbour. It is well known that the face presents visually, or as if in a mirror, what a person thinks and loves. This is so with honest people's faces, and especially with angels' faces, see 1999, 2434, 3527, 3573, 4066, 4326, 4796-4799, 5102, 5695, 6604, 8248-8250. For this reason 'face' in the original language is a general term that is used to describe the feelings a person has which reveal themselves, such as those of indulgence, favour, goodwill, helpfulness, or kindness, and also lack of pity, anger, or vengeance. So it is that in that language when this word is coupled with another it means beside, with, in front of, on account of, or else against, thus whatever is within, from, for, or against the person himself. For as has been stated, 'the face' is a person's true self, or that present within a person which reveals itself.

[2] All this enables one to know what is meant by the face of Jehovah, or 'the face of the angel', who in this instance is the Lord in respect of His Divine Human - namely the Divine Good of Divine Love, and the Divine Truth emanating from that Divine Good, since these reside within Jehovah or the Lord, come from Him, indeed are Himself, see 222, 223, 5585. From this it is evident what 'the face of Jehovah' means in the Blessing,

Jehovah make His face shine upon you and be merciful to you. Jehovah lift up His face upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:25-26.

In David,

God be merciful to us and bless us and make His face shine upon us. Psalms 67:1.

The like may be seen in Psalms 80:3, 7, 19; 119:134-135; Daniel 9:17; and in other places.

[3] So it is that the Lord's Divine Human is called 'the angel of Jehovah's face' in Isaiah,

I will cause the mercies of Jehovah to be remembered. He has rewarded ¹ them according to His mercies, and according to the abundance of His mercies; and He became their Saviour. And the angel of His face saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them. Isaiah 63:7-9.

The reason why the Lord's Divine Human is called 'the angel of Jehovah's face' is that the Divine Human is the Divine Himself facially, that is, in outward form, as also the Lord teaches in John,

If you know Me you know My Father also, and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said, Show us the Father. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. John 14:7-11.

[4] 'Jehovah's (or the Lord's) face' also means anger, vengeance, punishment, and ill. It does so because simple people, in accepting the general idea that all things come from God, believe that even ill, especially the misery of punishment, comes from Him. For this reason - in keeping with that general idea, and also with appearances - anger, vengeance, punishment, or ill is attributed to Jehovah the Lord, when in fact the Lord is not the source of them but man. Regarding this, see 1861, 2447, 5798, 6071, 6832, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7877, 7926, 8197, 8227, 8228, 8282, 8483, 8632, 8875, 9128. This kind of meaning appears here in 'take notice of his face, lest you provoke him, for he will not bear your transgression', and also in Leviticus,

Whoever eats any blood, I will set My face against the soul eating blood and will cut him off from among his people. Leviticus 17:10.

In Jeremiah,

I have set My face against the city for ill and not for good. Jeremiah 21:10.

And in David,

Jehovah's face is against evildoers, to cut off the memory of them from the earth. Psalms 34:16.

Poznámky pod čarou:

9128. 'If the sun has risen on him' means if he sees it clearly - the theft that is being committed - from a more internal level. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sun rising' as its being seen in light, thus its being seen clearly, at this point that good or truth is being taken away, meant by 'the theft', 9125. The reason why 'if the sun has risen' has this meaning is that 'the thief caught digging through', spoken of in the previous verse, means good or truth being taken away secretly, thus without its being seen, 9125. The reason for saying seen from a more internal level is that such an action is seen by the internal man.

[2] Since it is an important matter, something must be stated about what seeing from a more internal level implies. A person sees within himself whether what he thinks and intends, and consequently what he speaks and does, is good or bad, and therefore whether it is true or false. This is not at all possible unless the person sees from a more internal level. Seeing from a more internal level takes place when things are seen by the internal man within the external. This is like the sight of the eye; the eye cannot see things within itself, only those outside it. This then is how a person sees the good and the bad he has within himself. Nevertheless one person's sight of this is better than another's, and some have no sight of it whatever. The ones with sight of it are those who have received from the Lord the life of faith and charity; for this life is internal life or the life of the internal man. Because truth resides with these people by virtue of their faith, and good by virtue of their charity, they can see the evils and falsities present in themselves; for evil can be seen from good, and falsity can be seen from truth, but not the other way round. The reason for this is that good and truth are in heaven and the light of heaven, whereas evil and falsity are in hell and the darkness of hell. From this it is evident that those immersed in evil and as a result in falsity cannot see good or truth; they cannot even see the evil and falsity present within themselves. Nor consequently can they see from a more internal level.

[3] But it should be recognized that seeing from a more internal level is seeing from the Lord; for the situation with sight is the same as it is with everything that comes into being. Nothing brings itself into being; rather it springs from what is prior to or higher than itself, and so finally from the First and Highest. The First and Highest is the Lord. Anyone who understands this can also understand that all of the life present in a person comes from the Lord; and, since charity and faith constitute that most real life a person can have, that all of the charity and all of the faith come from the Lord. A person endowed with greater power of thought and perception than others can also understand from all this that the Lord sees every single thing, even the smallest things present in a person. Evil and falsity however do not spring into being from what is higher than themselves but from what is lower; consequently they do not spring from the Lord but from the world, since the Lord is above whereas the world is below. Therefore the internal man with those immersed in evil and as a result in falsity is closed above and open below. This is why they see all things in an upside down manner - the world as everything and heaven as nothing. They are also for this reason seen by angels to be upside down, feet upwards and head downwards. This is what all in hell look like.

7280. 'And may the Egyptians know that I am Jehovah' means that they will have a fear of the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'knowing that I am Jehovah' as having a fear of the Divine, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the Egyptians' as those who are steeped in falsities and engage in molestation. As regards the fear which those steeped in falsities and engaging in molestation will have of the Divine, it should be recognized that fear is the one and only means by which those in hell can be constrained and held in bonds. For fear is a bond shared by both those who are upright and those who are evil. But with the upright it is an inward fear, that is, fear for their salvation, or fear lest they should lose their own souls, to be exact, and on that account lest they should do anything contrary to conscience, that is, contrary to the truth and goodness which compose conscience. Consequently they fear lest they should do anything contrary to what is just and fair, thus contrary to their neighbour. But this fear becomes holy fear to the extent that it is wedded to charitable affection in them, and especially to the extent that it is wedded to love to the Lord. Such fear then becomes like that which young children feel towards their parents whom they love. When this happens, then so far as they are governed by the good of love fear is not apparent; but so far as they are not governed by good it is apparent, and develops into anxiety. This is what the fear of God is like to which the Word refers many times.

[2] But with those who are evil there is no inward fear - no fear for their salvation - and therefore no fear that belongs to conscience, for in the world they completely rejected that kind of fear both by the life they led and by basic ideas of falsity that were used to justify it. But in place of inward fear there is with them an outward fear, the fear, to be exact, lest they should be stripped of important positions, monetary gain, and reputation on account of these, be legally punished, and be deprived of life. These are the things that those governed by evil fear for when they are in the world. And on entering the next life, since they cannot be constrained and held in bonds by inward fear, they are held in bonds by outward fear, which is instilled into them by means of punishments. These give them a fear of doing evil, which at length becomes a fear of the Divine, though it is, as has been stated, an outward fear, which is devoid of any wish to refrain from doing evil that is motivated by an affection for good. Any such wish is motivated only by a great fear of punishments, which finally they utterly dread.

[3] From all this one may now see that fear is the one and only means by which people are held in bonds. One may see that outward fear, the fear of punishments, is the one and only means by which the evil are constrained, and that this is what causes the torment suffered by the evil in hell. For the evil, on entering the next life, when the outward bonds which they had in the world are taken away from them and they are left to their own desires, are like wild beasts, simply longing to exercise dominion and to destroy any who do not support them. This is the greatest delight of their life; for to the extent that anyone loves himself he hates others who do not support him, and to the extent that each one has hatred within him the delight of destroying is present within him. But in the world that delight lies hidden.