8647. 'And Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, took Zipporah, the wife of Moses' means the good from God which had been joined to God's truth. This is clear from the representation of Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses' as Divine Good, the source of the good joined to truth, in this instance God's truth, which 'Moses' represents, dealt with above in 8643, 8644; from the representation of 'Zipporah, the wife of Moses' as the good from God. Marriages represent goodness and truth joined together. In the celestial Church the husband represents good and the wife the truth coming from it; but in the spiritual Church the man represents truth and the wife good. Here 'the wife of Moses' represents good because the spiritual kingdom is dealt with, see 2517, 4510, 4823, 7022.

3236. 'Abraham' here represents the Lord as regards Divine Spiritual Good, and his wife as regards Divine Truth allied to that Good. This becomes clear from what has been stated already about husbands and wives (maritus and uxor) - that 'the husband' represents good, and 'the wife' truth, as Abraham and Sarah did previously, 1468, 1901, 2063, 2065, 2172, 2173, 2198, 2904, and as Isaac and Rebekah did in the chapter before this, 3077. The reason why 'the husband' represents good and 'the wife' truth is that the Church is compared to a marriage, and also is a marriage of good and truth. Good is what the husband represents because this is primary, while truth is what the wife represents because that is secondary. This also is why in the Word the Lord is called bridegroom, man, and husband, while the Church is called bride, woman, and wife.

[2] What spiritual good is and spiritual truth allied to that good becomes clear from the places referred to immediately above in 3235. With the spiritual man good is in general that which is called the good of faith, which is nothing else than charity towards the neighbour. But to be charity it must come from the new will which the Lord confers on the spiritual man. Spiritual truth allied to that good is what is called the truth of faith, which initially does nothing else than see charity as the end in view for which it exists, and later on as the source of its own existence. To be the truth of faith, or to be faith, it must in the case of the spiritual man come from a new understanding which the Lord confers on him, and which must receive its light from the new will.