41. Anything that is man's own has no life in it; and when depicted visually it looks like something hard as a bone and black. But anything that comes from the Lord does contain life. It has that which is spiritual and celestial within it, and when depicted visually it looks human and alive. It is perhaps incredible, but nevertheless absolutely true, that every expression, every idea, and every least thought of an angelic spirit is alive. In even the most detailed areas of his thought there is an affection that comes from the Lord, who is life itself. Consequently all that derives from the Lord has life within it, for it contains faith in Him, and is here meant by 'a living creature'. It then has the outward appearance of a body, meant here by that which is moving, or creeping. To man these matters remain arcana, but since the subject here is the living and moving creature, they ought at least to be mentioned here.

7632. 'For I have made his heart stubborn, and the heart of his servants' means that they remained obstinate, all in common with one another. This is clear from the meaning of 'making the heart stubborn', 'hardening it', and 'making it unyielding' as remaining obstinate, dealt with in 7271, 7300, 7305; and from the representation of Pharaoh, whose 'heart was made stubborn', as those engaged in molestation - all in common with one another being meant when it says 'he and his servants', because the servants and he together make up his house. When it says that Jehovah made Pharaoh's heart stubborn the meaning in the internal sense is that he himself made his heart stubborn. In ancient times everything bad was for simple people's benefit attributed to Jehovah. It was attributed to Him because simple people could not have known, and most of them could not have understood either, how the origin of things that happened could lie anywhere else than in Jehovah. Nor could they have known how to understand the truth that Jehovah permits the devil's crew to inflict evil and does not stop them, when yet He is all-powerful. Since simple people could not have grasped these matters, and also the intelligent could have scarcely done so, it was said, in keeping with what very many believed, that Jehovah was the author even of what was bad or evil. This is a common feature of the Word, whose literal sense is accommodated to the beliefs of simple people. The evil that is attributed in the Word to Jehovah has its origin in man, see 2447, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533.