9392. Verses 6-8 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and half of the blood he sprinkled over the altar. And he took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people; and they said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear. And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it over the people, and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant which Jehovah has made with you according to all these words. 'And Moses took half of the blood' means Divine Truth which has become a matter of life and of worship.

'And put it in bowls' means present with a person, in the things forming his memory. 'And half of the blood he sprinkled over the altar' means Divine Truth from the Lord's Divine Human. 'And he took the book of the covenant' means the Word in the letter to which the Word in heaven was joined. 'And read it in the ears of the people' means to be listened to and obeyed. 'And they said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear' means receiving the truth that emanates from the Lord's Divine Human, and obeying it with heart and soul. 'And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it over the people' means making a person well-adapted to receive it. 'And said, Behold, the blood of the covenant' means that by means of this truth the Lord's Divine Human is joined to heaven and to earth. 'Which Jehovah has made with you according to all these words' means that the Lord accomplishes the joining together by means of every single part of the Word.

3295. 'And [one] people will prevail over [the other] people' means that at first truth must be superior to the good of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'people' as truth, dealt with immediately above in 3294, and from the meaning of 'prevailing over' as being superior to. The 'people' mentioned first means truth, whereas the 'people' mentioned second means the good of truth. The good of truth is good which arises out of truth, and, as it exists first of all, is truth. It is called good however because it looks like good. Consequently 'people' also means this good, which is called the good of truth as it is when it first arises.

[2] To have any concept of this good it should be recognized that until he has been regenerated a person does good from truth, but after he has been regenerated he does it from good. Or to make the point clearer still, before he has been regenerated the good he does is a product of the understanding, but after he has been regenerated it is a product of the will. Good therefore which is a product of the understanding is not in itself good but truth, whereas good that is a product of the will is good. For example, when a person does not honour his parents but then learns from the Ten Commandments to do so, his honouring of them is at first a product of the commandment. Such honouring however, being a product of the commandment, is not in itself good because it does not flow from love. It flows either from obedience to the law or from fear of the law, but is nevertheless called the good of truth. When it first arises however it is truth, for at that time it is not good that he performs but truth. When however his honouring of them is the product of love it is in that case good. The same is so in every other example that could be taken.