9128. 'If the sun has risen on him' means if he sees it clearly - the theft that is being committed - from a more internal level. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sun rising' as its being seen in light, thus its being seen clearly, at this point that good or truth is being taken away, meant by 'the theft', 9125. The reason why 'if the sun has risen' has this meaning is that 'the thief caught digging through', spoken of in the previous verse, means good or truth being taken away secretly, thus without its being seen, 9125. The reason for saying seen from a more internal level is that such an action is seen by the internal man.

[2] Since it is an important matter, something must be stated about what seeing from a more internal level implies. A person sees within himself whether what he thinks and intends, and consequently what he speaks and does, is good or bad, and therefore whether it is true or false. This is not at all possible unless the person sees from a more internal level. Seeing from a more internal level takes place when things are seen by the internal man within the external. This is like the sight of the eye; the eye cannot see things within itself, only those outside it. This then is how a person sees the good and the bad he has within himself. Nevertheless one person's sight of this is better than another's, and some have no sight of it whatever. The ones with sight of it are those who have received from the Lord the life of faith and charity; for this life is internal life or the life of the internal man. Because truth resides with these people by virtue of their faith, and good by virtue of their charity, they can see the evils and falsities present in themselves; for evil can be seen from good, and falsity can be seen from truth, but not the other way round. The reason for this is that good and truth are in heaven and the light of heaven, whereas evil and falsity are in hell and the darkness of hell. From this it is evident that those immersed in evil and as a result in falsity cannot see good or truth; they cannot even see the evil and falsity present within themselves. Nor consequently can they see from a more internal level.

[3] But it should be recognized that seeing from a more internal level is seeing from the Lord; for the situation with sight is the same as it is with everything that comes into being. Nothing brings itself into being; rather it springs from what is prior to or higher than itself, and so finally from the First and Highest. The First and Highest is the Lord. Anyone who understands this can also understand that all of the life present in a person comes from the Lord; and, since charity and faith constitute that most real life a person can have, that all of the charity and all of the faith come from the Lord. A person endowed with greater power of thought and perception than others can also understand from all this that the Lord sees every single thing, even the smallest things present in a person. Evil and falsity however do not spring into being from what is higher than themselves but from what is lower; consequently they do not spring from the Lord but from the world, since the Lord is above whereas the world is below. Therefore the internal man with those immersed in evil and as a result in falsity is closed above and open below. This is why they see all things in an upside down manner - the world as everything and heaven as nothing. They are also for this reason seen by angels to be upside down, feet upwards and head downwards. This is what all in hell look like.

9086. 'And an ox or an ass falls into it' means, which perverts good or truth in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'falling' as perverting, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'an ox' as an affection for evil in the natural, thus evil there, dealt with above in 9065; and from the meaning of 'an ass' as truth in the natural, dealt with in 2781, 5492, 5741, 7024, 8078. The fact that 'falling into a pit' - when these words refer to good and truth in the natural, which are meant by 'an ox and an ass' - means perverting is evident from the contents of the next verse. These describe amendment made through truth, which can be accomplished with forms of good or truths that have been perverted, but not with those which have been wiped out. For when good or truth is perverted it still remains, but is misrepresented. 'Falling' also means slipping through error.

[2] Because this was meant by 'falling into a pit', the Lord therefore said,

Which of you, having an ass or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not immediately pull it out on the sabbath day? Luke 14:5.

The Lord said this when He healed someone with dropsy on the sabbath day. In that Church the sabbath day was the holiest because it was a sign of the heavenly marriage, which is the joining together of goodness and truth from the Lord, 8495, 8510. This explains why healings were performed by the Lord on the sabbath day; for healing implied the healing of spiritual life, and dropsy implied the perversion of truth and good, so that the healing of perverted truth implied amendment and restoration. All the Lord's miracles implied and were signs of states of the Church, 8364, as is true of all Divine miracles in general, 7337. So it is then that the Lord said, 'Which of you, having an ass or an ox that has fallen into a well, will not immediately pull it out on the sabbath day?' by which in the spiritual sense what has just been stated was meant. For whatever the Lord spoke He spoke from the Divine; and since it came from the Divine every detail has an internal sense within it, 9049, 9063 (end). 'A well' in what He said is similar in meaning to 'a pit', namely falsity, 1688. And since 'a pit' means falsity the Lord also said, when talking about the falsities of the Church,

When the blind leads the blind both fall into a pit. Matthew 15:14.

'The blind' is someone with wrong ideas, and 'falling into a pit' means perverting truth. These words were used to make a comparison; but all comparisons in the Word were drawn from among objects used as signs of spiritual things, 3579, 8989.

[3] There are people who believe that the Divine holiness which the Word contains lies hidden on a level no higher than the meaning apparent in the letter. Such people's vision of holiness in these words spoken by the Lord and in everything else in the Word arises solely from their belief that everything there is Divinely inspired, and that the things which no one can explain are arcana known only to God. But people who do not share that belief spurn the Word, solely because of its style, which is in appearance less polished than a style adopted to conform to the spirit of the age, such as that adopted by very many ancient and modern authors. But let these people know that Divine holiness lies in each and every detail of the Word. It consists however in this, that each and every detail has the Lord as its subject, also His kingdom and Church. All its details are extremely holy because they are Divine, received from the Lord, and so hold eternal life within them, as accords with the Lord's words in John,

The words that I speak to you, they are spirit and they are life. John 6:63.

But the things that are Divine and holy are clearly visible to angels in heaven because they do not understand the Word in a natural way according to the literal sense, only in a spiritual way according to the internal sense. The latter sense could also be understood by people in the world if they were to lead an angelic life, that is to say, a life of faith and love. The things contained in the internal sense of the Word are one and the same as those which the genuine teachings of the Church present. Those which the genuine teachings of the Church present are the Lord, faith in Him, love to Him, and a love of the good that comes from Him, which love is charity towards the neighbour, 6709, 6710, 8123. Those who lead this angelic life, and no others at all, are enlightened by the Lord and see the holy things of the Word; see Preface to Genesis 18.