9069. And the master of the ox shall be guiltless. That this signifies that the evil is not from the internal man, because it is from the will, and not from the intellectual, is evident from the signification of “the master of the ox,” as being the internal or spiritual man, for by “the ox” is signified the affection of evil in the natural or external man (n. 9065); consequently “the master of the ox” denotes the internal man, for here he is “the master” of the external or natural man, because he is able to rule over the affections of evil in the natural, and also does rule when the natural is subordinate, as it is with the regenerate; and from the signification of “guiltless,” as being without blame. The reason is said to be that the evil came forth from the will and not from the intellectual; for evil from the will and not at the same time from the intellectual does not condemn, because the man does not see it, thus does not consider whether it is evil, and therefore he is not conscious of it. Such evil is evil from heredity, before the man has been instructed that it is evil, and also after he has been instructed and is merely in external life, or the life of the body; and not at the same time in the internal life which is of the understanding. For to see and to understand that a thing is evil, and still to do it, makes a man guilty, as the Lord teaches in John:

The Pharisees said, Are we also blind? Jesus said to them, If ye were blind ye would not have sin; but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remains (John 9:40-41).

[2] (That no one is punished on account of hereditary evils, but on account of his own evils, see n. 966, 1667, 2307, 2308, 8806.) Such is the evil which is signified by an ox striking with the horn a man or a woman before the master of the ox knew that he was wont to strike with the horn. In the verse which now follows, the evil of which man is conscious is treated of, which evil is signified by an ox wont to strike with the horn, and which his master knew and did not guard against. Wherefore the consequent penalty is that the ox shall be stoned, and the man shall die, unless expiation is laid on him.

2308. No one ever suffers punishment in the other life on account of hereditary evil, because it is not his, and therefore he is not to blame for being of such a nature; but everyone suffers on account of the actual evil which is his own, and consequently for so much of the hereditary evil as he has appropriated to himself by actual life (a s before said, n. 966). It is not therefore for the sake of punishment that the little children on becoming adult are remitted into the state of their hereditary evil; but that they may know that of themselves they are nothing but evil, and that it is of the Lord’s mercy that they are taken away from the hell that is with them into heaven; and that they are not in heaven by their own merit, but of the Lord; and thereby to prevent them from boasting before others of the good that is in them; for this is contrary to the good of mutual love, as it is contrary to the truth of faith.