8890. Thou shalt not do any work, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and thy beast, and thy sojourner who is within thy gates. That this signifies that in this case heaven and blessedness are in each and all things in the internal and in the external of man, is evident from the signification of “not doing any work,” as being rest and peace, thus heaven; for when man is in heaven, he is free from all solicitude, unrest, and anxiety, and when he is free from these he has blessedness; and from the signification of “thou, thy son, thy daughter, thy manservant, thy maidservant, thy beast, the sojourner within thy gates,” as being each and all things in the internal and in the external of man. For by “thou” is signified the man himself, by “son” is signified his intellectual, by “daughter” his will, both in the internal man; by “manservant” is signified the natural as to truth, and by “maidservant” the natural as to good, thus both that are in the external man; but by “beast” is signified affection in general, and by “the sojourner within the gates,” memory-knowledge in general; thus there are signified each and all things. That “son” denotes the intellectual, is because “son” denotes truth, for truths constitute the intellectual; and that “daughter” denotes the will, is because “daughter” denotes good, for goods constitute the will. (That “son” denotes truth, thus the intellectual, see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4227 that “daughter” denotes good, thus the will, n. 489-491, 2362, 3024 that “manservant” denotes the natural as to truth, n. 3019, 3020, 3409, 5305, 7998 that “maidservant” denotes the natural as to good, n. 2567, 3835, 3849; that “beast” denotes affection in general, n. 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 2179, 2180, 3218, 5198, 7523, 7872; and that “sojourner” denotes one who is being instructed in the truths of the church, n. 1463, 4444, 8007, 8013.) Consequently “the sojourner within the gates” denotes memory-knowledge in general, for memory-knowledge in general is at the gates, that is, at the entrance to the truths which are of the church.

6949. And it became a serpent. That this signifies the sensuous and corporeal man separate from the internal, is evident from the signification of a “serpent,” as being a man who reasons from things sensuous (see n. 195-197, 6398, 6399), thus the sensuous of man; and as by “serpent” is signified the sensuous, it signifies also the corporeal, for what the sensuous has, it has from the senses of the body. And because, regarded in itself, the sensuous is such as has been described just above (n. 6948), the “serpent” also (which is the sensuous), signifies all evil in general (n. 251, 254, 257). That by the “serpent” is here meant the sensuous and corporeal man separated from the internal or rational, is evident from the fact that Moses fled from before it, whereby is signified horror of it; and also from the fact that by this sign is described the state of those of the spiritual church, if they did not have faith; for then their internal would be closed, nor would more of the light of heaven flow in, than to enable them to think, and from this to speak, from the sensuous separated. All those think from the sensuous separated who defend falsities against truths, and evils against goods; in a word, all who are in evil of life, and thence in no faith, for he who lives evilly, believes nothing. Such persons excel others in the gift of reasoning, and also of persuading, especially the simple, for the reason that they speak from the fallacies of the senses, and from appearances in the world. They also know how to extinguish or veil truths by fallacies, whence also by “serpents” are signified cunning and craftiness. But when the sensuous has been conjoined with the internal, or rightly subordinated to the rational, then by a “serpent” is signified prudence and circumspection (see n. 197, 4211, 6398).