9373. Come up unto Jehovah. That this signifies conjunction with the Lord, is evident from the signification of “coming up,” as being to be raised toward interior things (see n. 3084, 4539, 4969, 5406, 5817, 6007), consequently also to be conjoined (n. 8760). That it denotes conjunction with the Lord, is because by “Jehovah” in the Word is meant the the Lord, (n. 1343, 1736, 1793, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2921, 3023, 3035, 5663, 6280, 6303, 6905, 8274, 8864, 9315). A secret which also lies hidden in the internal sense of these words, is that the sons of Jacob, over whom Moses was the head, were not called and chosen; but they themselves insisted that Divine worship should be instituted among them (according to wh at has been said in n. 4290, 4293); and therefore it is here said, “and He said unto Moses, Come up unto Jehovah,” as if not Jehovah, but another, had said that he should come up. For the same reason in what follows it is said that “the people should not go up” (verse 2); and that “Jehovah sent not His hand unto the sons of Israel who were set apart” (verse 11); and that “the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel” (verse 17); and lastly that Moses, being called the seventh day, “entered into the midst of the cloud.” For by “the cloud” is meant the Word in the letter (n. 5922, 6343, 6752, 6832, 8106, 8443, 8781); and with the sons of Jacob the Word was separated from its internal sense, because they were in external worship without internal, as can be clearly seen from the fact that now, as before, they said, “all the words which Jehovah hath spoken we will do” (verse 3); and yet scarcely forty days afterward they worshiped a golden calf instead of Jehovah; which shows that this was hidden in their hearts while they were saying with their lips that they would serve Jehovah alone. But nevertheless those who are meant by “the called and the chosen” are those who are in internal worship, and who from internal worship are in external; that is, those who are in love to and faith in the Lord, and from this in love toward the neighbor.

5023. 'Until his lord came to his house' means so that it might communicate with natural good. This is clear from the meaning of 'lord' as unspiritual natural good, dealt with in 4973, 4988. 'House' in the internal sense is the natural mind, for the natural mind, like the rational mind also, resembles a house. 'The husband' in it is good, 'the wife' truth; 'the daughters and sons' are affections for good and truth, as well as being forms of good and truth which are begotten from that aforesaid good and truth as their parents, while 'the women servants and the men servants' are the desires and the known facts that minister to and support them. Here therefore 'until his lord came to his house' means when natural good comes to its own dwelling-place, where also there is the truth that is joined to it, though in this case it is falsity which convinces the good that it is truth. For unspiritual natural good is easily convinced that falsity is truth and that truth is falsity. The expression 'his lord' is used because the unspiritual natural looks on the spiritual as something servile, 5013.

[2] The fact that a person's natural mind, like his rational mind, is called 'a house' is evident from the following places:

In Luke,

When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person he passes through dry places seeking rest; and if he does not find any he says, I will return to my house out of which I came. And if when he comes he finds it swept and decorated, he goes away and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. Luke 11:24-26.

'House' here stands for the natural mind, which is called a house that is 'empty and swept' ¹ when there are no forms of good and truth in it meant by 'husband and wife', no affections for good and truth meant by 'daughters and sons', nor anything such as supports these meant by 'women servants and men servants'. The person himself is 'the house' because the rational mind together with the natural mind constitutes a human being. Without the inhabitants just mentioned - that is, without the forms of good and truth, and without the affections for these, and the service rendered by those affections - a person is not a human being but a beast.

[3] The human mind is again meant by 'a house' in the same gospel,

Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and house falls upon house. Luke 11:17.

And in Mark,

If a kingdom is divided against itself, this kingdom cannot stand. Also, if a house is divided against itself, this house cannot stand. No one can go into the house and plunder the vessels of a strong man unless he first binds the strong man, and then he may plunder his house. Mark 3:14, 25, 27.

'Kingdom' means truth, 1672, 2547, 4691, and 'house' good, 2233, 2234, 3720, 4982, 'house' meaning good on account of its greater importance.

[4] In Luke,

If the householder had known at what hour the thief was coming he would certainly have been awake and would not have permitted his house to be broken into. Luke 12:39.

In the same gospel,

From now on there will be in one house five divided, three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother. Luke 12:52-53.

This refers to the spiritual conflicts which members of the Church enter into once the internal or spiritual contents of the Word have been opened up to them. 'House' stands for the actual person or his mind, while the 'father', 'mother', 'son', and 'daughter' in it are forms of good and truth together with affections for these, or in the contrary sense evils and falsities together with affections for these, which are the source of conflict and the things to be grappled with in such conflict.

[5] The Lord commanded His disciples, in Luke,

Whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house! And if indeed a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest on it; but if not, it shall return to you. But remain in the same house; eat and drink what they have there. Do not pass on from house to house. Luke 10:5-7.

This represented the requirement for them to remain with genuine good, that is, with the good of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbour, and not to pass on to any other kind. For more about the actual person or his mind being meant by 'a house', see also 3538, 4973.

脚注:

7502. Behold the hand of Jehovah shall be on thy cattle which is in the field. That this signifies the vastation of the truth and good of faith which they have from the church wherein they had been, is evident from the signification of “the hand of Jehovah being on anyone,” as being a plague or punishment; for by “hand” is signified power (see n. 4931-4937, 6292, 6947, 7188, 7189), and by “the hand of Jehovah,” omnipotence (n. 878, 3387); and because by those who are in the externals of the church it is believed from the appearance that every plague or punishment comes from Jehovah (for they attribute all things to His power), therefore by “the hand of Jehovah being on anyone” is signified punishment, here vastation, for the degrees of the vastation of those who infested were punishments: from the signification of “cattle,” as being the truths and goods of faith (n. 6016, 6045, 6049); and from the signification of “field” as being the church (n. 2971, 3310). That “field” denotes the church is because the seeds sown in a field signify the truths which are of faith, and also because the produce from the field, such as wheat, barley, spelt, and so forth, denotes the goods which are of charity, and the truths which are of faith, thus such things as belong to the church.

[2] As regards the infernal spirits who infest the upright in the other life being vastated as to the truths of faith that belong to the church, be it known that those who infest the upright in the other life are those who when living in the world had belonged to the church; for those who have not belonged to the church, cannot infest others who do belong to it, because falsities contrary to the truths of faith of the church are the means by which they infest. Those who have been outside the church cannot infest anyone by means of such things, because they had not known them. (That they who have made a profession of faith and have lived a life of evil, in the other life turn to falsities and infest the upright, see n. 7097, 7127, 7317.) Lest therefore the truth of faith, which they have had from the doctrine of their church when they lived in the world (for they carry with them into the other life all that they had known in the life of the body, nor is anything wanting) should give them any light from heaven, and lest they should apply the things of light to defend the falsities and evils which are of hell, every such thing is taken away from them, and they are finally left to the evils of their life and the falsities thence derived. It is this vastation that is here treated of.

[3] The reason why those who have been of the church and have lived a life of evil are thus gradually vastated before they are cast into hell, is that they had known the truths of faith, and thereby had had communication with heaven. The heavenly societies with which they have had communication, and also still have it in the other life, cannot be separated from them except by degrees. For such is the order in heaven from the Lord that nothing is done violently, but all things in freedom as from themselves; therefore those heavenly societies are not wrested from them, but are gradually separated, so that the evil spirits seem to depart of their own accord. From all this it is now evident how the case is with the vastation of those who have known the truths of faith that belong to the church, and yet have led a life of evil.

[4] That such is the case no one can know except from revelation, for man has no knowledge of the things that exist in the other life except from revelation; and as man is but little solicitous to explore the truths and goods which are of faith from the Word (for he is in no affection of truth for its own sake, still less for the sake of life), therefore such things are not revealed to him; nevertheless they stand forth in the Word (and this in respect to every series and process) in its internal sense. As therefore the man of the church is in no affection of knowing truth from the Word, but only in the affection of confirming the doctrinal things of his own church whether true or false, for worldly reasons, therefore he knows nothing whatever about the state after death, nothing about heaven, and nothing about hell; he does not even know what makes heaven and what makes hell with man. Nay, so ignorant are men that they teach and believe that everyone can be admitted into heaven; some by a power which they have arrogated to themselves; some by the mercy of the Lord, no matter how they had lived; and scarcely any know that heaven is given to man by means of a life of charity and faith during his life in the world, and that this life remains. These things have been said in order that the quality may be known of that man of the church who professes faith alone and cares not about the life of faith; for these are they who are represented by the Egyptians here and in what follows.