9058. 'And when a man strikes the eye of his male slave' means if the internal man injures the truth of faith in the external [or natural] man. This is clear from the meaning of 'striking' as injuring, as before; from the meaning of 'a man', here a man from among the children of Israel, as a member of the Church and therefore one in possession of spiritual truth - which is the truth of faith, dealt with above in 9034 - thus as the internal man, since the truth of faith resides in the internal man and composes its life, which is called spiritual life (the term 'internal man' is used by virtue of its relationship to the external, meant by 'male slave'); from the meaning of 'the eye' as the inner part of the understanding and therefore the truth of faith, dealt with in 9051; and from the meaning of 'male slave' as factual truth present in the external man, dealt with in 1895, 2567, 3835, 3849, 8993, 8994, thus also the external or natural man, 5305, 7998, 8974. The literal sense speaks of 'a man' and 'male slave', so that two people are meant; but in the internal sense, in which 'a man' is the internal man and 'male slave' is the external man, they exist in one person. The reason for this is that the internal sense does not focus its attention on persons, only on spiritual realities, 5225, 5287, 5434, 8343, 8985, 9007.

7524. 'Sores breaking out into pustules' means resulting filthiness together with blasphemy. This is clear from the meaning of 'sore places' as filthiness resulting from evils; and from the meaning of 'pustules' as blasphemy resulting from evils. Sores on a person's body correspond to filthiness resulting from evils, and pustules to blasphemy. What is more, they would be present on every evil person if he were not being kept, all the time he is in the world, in the kind of state that allows him to receive the goodness and truth of faith. For the sake of that state the Lord prevents his evils from erupting into such ailments.

[2] The meaning of 'sores' as filthiness together with blasphemy is also evident in John,

The first angel poured out his bowl onto the earth, and evil and hurtful sores were produced on the people who had the mark of the beast. The fifth angel poured out his bowl onto the throne of the beast, and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their distress and because of their sores. Revelation 16:2, 10-11.

And in Moses,

Jehovah will strike you with the sores of Egypt, and with haemorrhoids, and the scab, and the itch, so that you cannot be healed; for you will be made mad by what your eyes will see. ¹ Jehovah will strike you with evil sores on the knees and on the thighs, from which you cannot be healed. Jehovah will lead you away, and your king whom you set over you, to a nation which you have not known. Deuteronomy 28:17, 34-36.

'The sores of Egypt' stands for filthiness together with blasphemy. And since blasphemy too is meant it says that they will be made mad by what their eyes see; for one who blasphemes God is unhealthy or insane.

[3] Different kinds of sores are called haemorrhoids, the scab, and the itch; and these mean just so many different kinds of falsities arising from evils. Sores on the knees and thighs have almost the same meaning. And since falsities are meant by them there follows immediately the statement that the king whom they set over themselves would be led away; for 'king' means truth and in the contrary sense falsity, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148. Leprous sores, such as swellings, abscesses, pimples, inflammations, scurfy patches (porrigo), reddish-white sores (vitiligo), that are referred to in Leviticus 13:1-end, are also of the same kind, for 'leprosy' in the spiritual sense is the profanation of truth, 6963.

[4] 'Wounds' too have the same kind of meaning, as is evident in Isaiah,

From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, [but] wounds, bruises, and recent blows. They are not pressed out, nor bound up, nor softened with oil. Isaiah 1:6.

And in David,

My iniquities have gone over my head. My wounds have become putrid, they have rotted away because of my foolishness. Psalms 38:4-5.

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