3623. 'What would life hold for me?' means, and so there would not be any conjunction. This is clear from the meaning of 'life' as conjunction by means of truths and goods. For when it was not possible for any truth from a common stem or genuine source to be joined to natural truth, there could not be any alliance of the natural to the truth of the rational, in which case it seemed to the rational as though its own life were no life, 3493, 3620. This is why here 'what would life hold for me?' means, and so there would not be any conjunction. Here and in other places the word 'life' in the original language is plural, and the reason for this is that in man there are two powers of life. The first is called the understanding and is the receptacle of truth, the second is called the will and is the receptacle of good. These two forms or powers of life make one when the understanding is rooted in the will, or what amounts to the same, when truth is grounded in good. This explains why in Hebrew the noun 'life' is sometimes singular, sometimes plural. The plural form of that noun is used in all the following places, Jehovah God formed the man, dust from the ground; and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7. Jehovah God caused to spring up out of the ground every tree desirable to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the middle of the garden. Genesis 2:9. Behold, I am bringing a flood of waters over the earth, to destroy all flesh in which there is the spirit of life. Genesis 6:17.

They went in to Noah into the ark, two by two from all flesh in which there is the spirit of life. Genesis 7:15 (in 780).

Everything which had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils breathed its last. Genesis 7:12.

In David,

I believe [I am going] to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living. Psalms 27:13.

In the same author,

Who is the man who desires life, who loves [many] days, that he may see good? Psalms 34:12

In the same author,

With You, O Jehovah, is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light. Psalms 36:9.

In Malachi,

My covenant with Levi was [a covenant] of life and peace. Malachi 2:5.

In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. Jeremiah 21:8.

In Moses,

To love Jehovah your God, to obey His voice, and to cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land. Deuteronomy 30:20.

In the same author,

It is not an empty word from you; for it is your life, and through this word you will prolong your days in the land. Deuteronomy 32:47.

And in other places too the plural form of the noun 'life' is used in the original language because, as has been stated, there are two kinds of life which yet make one. It is similar with the word 'heavens' in the Hebrew language, in that the heavens are many and yet make one, or like the expression 'waters' above and below, in Genesis 1:7-9 , by which spiritual things in the rational and in the natural are meant which ought to be one through being joined together. As for the plural form of 'life', when this is used both the life of the will and that of the understanding are meant, and therefore both the life of good and that of truth are meant. For man's life consists in nothing else than good and truth which hold life from the Lord within them. Devoid of good and truth, and of the life which these hold within them, no one is human. For devoid of these no one would ever have been able to will or to think anything. Everything that a person wills originates in good or in that which is not good, and everything he thinks originates in truth or in that which is not truth. Consequently man possesses two kinds of life and these make one when his thinking flows from his willing, that is, when truth which is the truth of faith flows from good which is the good of love.

9404. 'And seventy of the elders of Israel' means all who are governed by good which results from truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'seventy' as that which is complete, thus all things or all people, dealt with in 6508; and from the meaning of 'the elders of Israel' as those who are governed by good which results from truths and guided by truths which flow from good. For 'elders' in the Word means those with wisdom, 6524, thus those who lead a good life as a result of teachings declaring what is true; and 'Israel' means those who belong to the spiritual Church, 6426, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223, 8805, 9340, thus those who are guided by truths that lead to good and governed by good from which truths flow, 7957, 8234. From all this it is evident that 'seventy elders of Israel' means those who are governed by good which results from truths, and that in the sense detached from persons that good itself is meant. The same is meant in the internal sense by 'the Lord's seventy disciples', Luke 10:1, 17. The children of Israel were divided into twelve tribes, which had twelve princes or governors set in authority over them, and also seventy elders. 'The twelve tribes' meant all the truths and forms of good the Church possesses in their entirety, 3858, 3926, 3939, 4060, 6335, 6337, 6397, 6640, 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997; but 'the twelve princes' meant all the primary truths, 5044, and 'the seventy elders' all the forms of good resulting from truths.

[2] When the expression 'good which results from truths' is used the spiritual Church is meant; for this Church is governed by good resulting from truths. Anyone unacquainted with the arcana of the Church and of heaven may think that, since good cannot be implanted except through truths, all the good in the Church exists as a result of truths, indeed that a person cannot know what good is except through truths. However, the good which arises through truths is the spiritual Church's good, which regarded in itself is truth but is called good when it becomes part of will and action, and consequently of life. But good that does not arise through truths but through forms of the good of mutual love is the celestial Church's good, which regarded in itself is not truth but good since it is the good of love to the Lord. The Jewish Church represented this second kind of good, whereas the Israelite Church represented the first; and this accounts for their division into two kingdoms. For what the essential difference is between those two Churches and consequently the two kinds of good, see what has been shown already in 2048, 2227, 2669, 2708 (end), 2715, 2718, 2935, 2937, 2954, 3166, 3235, 3236, 3240, 3246, 3374, 3833, 3887, 3969, 4138, 4286, 4493, 4585, 4938, 5113, 5150, 5922, 6289, 6296, 6366, 6427, 6435, 6500, 6647, 6648, 7091, 7233, 7877, 7977, 7992, 8042, 8152, 8234, 8521. From what has been introduced in these paragraphs it becomes clear that the Lord's heaven is divided into a spiritual heaven and a celestial heaven, and that the celestial heaven is the inmost or third heaven, while the spiritual heaven is the middle or second.