1384. Wat de eerste soort betreft, die de engelen eigen is, en daarin bestaat, dat zij innerlijk gewaarworden, wat waar en goed is, en gewaarworden wat van de Heer komt, en wat van henzelf, en verder ook van waar en hoedanig datgene is wat zij denken, spreken en doen, wanneer het uit henzelf komt. Het werd mij gegeven met de zonen van de Oudste Kerk te spreken over hun innerlijke gewaarwording; zij zeiden dat zij niets uit zichzelf denken of denken kunnen, en niets uit zichzelf willen, maar dat zij bij alles, wat zij in het algemeen en in het bijzonder denken en willen en gewaarworden, wat van de Heer en wat van elders komt, en dat zij niet alleen gewaarworden, hoeveel van de Heer en hoeveel als van henzelf komt, maar ook, wanneer iets als van henzelf komt, waar het dan vandaan komt, van welke engelen, en verder van welke aard die engelen zijn, van welke aard hun gedachten, met alle verscheidenheid, en zo dus welke invloed het is, en ontelbare andere dingen meer. De innerlijke gewaarwording van deze soort zijn van een grote verscheidenheid; bij de hemelse engelen, die in de liefde tot de Heer zijn, bestaat een innerlijke gewaarwording van het goede en vandaar van al wat tot het ware behoort, en omdat zij uit het goede het ware gewaarworden, laten zij niet toe dat er gesproken, nog minder dat er geredeneerd wordt over het ware, maar zij zeggen: zo is het of zo is het niet. De geestelijke engelen echter, die ook innerlijke gewaarwording hebben, maar niet van dien aard als de hemelse engelen, spreken over het ware en het goede; niettemin worden zij het ware en het goede gewaar, maar met onderscheid, want de verscheidenheden van deze innerlijke gewaarwording zijn ontelbaar. De verscheidenheden rusten hierop, dat zij gewaarworden of iets komt van de wil van de Heer, of dat Hij het vergunt, of dat Hij het toelaat, waartussen een scherp onderscheid ligt.

1919. That 'Abram said to Sarai' means perception is clear from what has been stated above in 1898. The perception which the Lord had was represented and is here meant by 'Abram said to Sarai', but thought which sprang from that perception is meant by 'Sarai said to Abram' - perception being the source of thought. The thought possessed by those who have perception comes from no other source. Yet perception is not the same as thought. To see that it is not the same, let conscience serve to 'illustrate this consideration.

[2] Conscience is a kind of general and thus obscure dictate which presents those things that flow in from the Lord by way of the heavens. Those things that flow in manifest themselves in the interior rational man where they are enveloped so to speak in cloud. This cloud is the product of appearances and illusions concerning the goods and truths of faith. Thought is, in truth, distinct and separate from conscience; yet it flows from conscience, for people who have conscience think and speak according to it. Indeed thought is scarcely anything more than a loosening of the various strands that make up conscience, and a converting of these into separate ideas which pass into words. Hence it is that the Lord holds those who have conscience in good thoughts regarding the neighbour and withholds them from evil thoughts. For this reason conscience can never exist except with people who love the neighbour as themselves and have good thoughts regarding the truths of faith. These considerations brought forward here show how conscience differs from thought, and from this one may recognize how perception differs from thought.

[3] The Lord's perception came directly from Jehovah, and so from Divine Good, whereas His thought came from intellectual truth and the affection for it, as stated above in 1904, 1914. No idea, not even an angelic one, is adequate as a means to apprehend the Lord's Divine perception, and thus this lies beyond description. The perception which angels have - described in 1384 and following paragraphs, 1394, 1395 - adds up to scarcely anything at all when contrasted with the perception that was the Lord's. Because the Lord's perception was Divine, it was a perception of everything in heaven; and being a perception of everything in heaven it was also a perception of everything on earth. For such is the order, interconnection, and influx that anyone who has a perception of heavenly things has a perception of earthly as well.

[4] But after the Lord's Human Essence had become united to His Divine Essence, and had become at the same time Jehovah, the Lord was then above what is called perception, for He was above the order which exists in the heavens and from there upon earth. It is Jehovah who is the source of order, and therefore one may say that Jehovah is Order itself, for from Himself He governs order, not merely, as is supposed, in the universal but also in its most specific singulars, for it is these singulars that make up the universal. To speak of the universal and then separate such singulars from it would be no different from speaking of a whole that has no parts within it and so no different from speaking of something consisting of nothing. Thus it is sheer falsity - a figment of the imagination, as it is called - to speak of the Lord's Providence as belonging to the universal but not to its specific singulars; for to provide and govern universally but not specifically is to provide and govern absolutely nothing. This is true philosophically, yet, strange to say, philosophers themselves, including the more eminent, understand this matter in a different way and think in a different way.

7097. 'I do not know Jehovah' means that they have no interest in the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of 'not knowing' as having no interest in, for a person who has no interest in something says that he knows nothing about it; and 'Jehovah' is used to mean the Lord, see above in 7091. The implications of this, of Pharaoh's saying that he does not know Jehovah, are as follows: The Egyptians had known Jehovah since ancient times, the reason being that the Ancient Church had existed in Egypt also, as may be plainly recognized from the fact that they were in possession of the representatives and meaningful signs of that Church. Egyptian hieroglyphics are nothing else, for these served to denote spiritual realities; and people knew that they did in actual fact correspond to those realities. But because they began to use such representatives and signs in their sacred worship, to treat them as objects of worship and also at length to turn them into magic, and in so doing to become linked to the devil's crew in hell, they completely destroyed the Ancient Church among themselves. This is why in the Word 'the Egyptians' means facts known to the Church that have been perverted, and also falsities that are opposed to the truths of the Church.

[2] Once the worship of God had become perverted in this way in Egypt, then they were no longer allowed to worship Jehovah either, or at length even to know that Jehovah had been the God of the Ancient Church; and the reason why this happened was to prevent them from profaning the name of Jehovah. The fact that the name of Jehovah was also known at that time, before it was revealed once again to Abraham's descendants through Moses on Mount Horeb, is plainly evident from Balaam, who was from Syria. He not only knew Jehovah but also worshipped Him and offered sacrifice to Him, Numbers 22-24. From all this one may now see why Pharaoh said, 'Who is Jehovah whose voice I am to hear, [telling me] to send the people away? I do not know Jehovah.'

[3] But since 'Pharaoh' represents those in hell who are steeped in falsities and molest those belonging to the spiritual Church, what is involved in all this needs to be stated. Those in hell who molest members of the spiritual Church consist for the most part of the kind of people who have said that faith alone saves and yet have led a life contrary to faith. And since the life they have led, thus the evil which they have contemplated, planned, and carried out, remains after death of the body, therefore to defend the evils assimilated into their life they either employ the things which they have said were matters of faith or else reject them altogether. But to prevent them from misusing the truths of faith, these are taken away from them. And when those truths have been taken they seize on falsities, which are completely contrary to the truths of faith, and then use the falsities to molest those guided by truths. Doing this is then for them the delight of life. Quite a number of them, to acquire power, also learn magic. This is done by those who used various tricks which they devised in the world to deceive their neighbour, and being successful then attributed everything to their own prudence.

[4] Those who have become like this acknowledge the Father as the Creator of all things, but they do not acknowledge the Lord. Regarding the Lord they use similar words to Pharaoh's here regarding Jehovah, 'Who is Jehovah? I do not know Jehovah'. Indeed just as the whole sphere pervading heaven is full of an acknowledgement of and love for the Lord, so the whole sphere pervading the hells is full of a denial of the Lord and of hatred towards Him. Nor can they bear to hear His name mentioned. Those in hell are by nature such that admonitions and threats do not make them leave off, so great is the delight of their life to molest the upright and draw them away from their acknowledgement of the Lord and faith in Him. That delight is intensified by the admonitions they receive to leave off, for they lead them to imagine that those whom they molest will shortly be done for. These are the ones whom 'Pharaoh' and 'the Egyptians' are used to mean specifically.