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.

3835. 'And Laban gave to her Zilpah his servant-girl - to Leah his daughter to be her servant-girl' means external affections or external bonds which are subservient means. This is clear from the meaning of 'a servant-girl' as external affections, dealt with in 1895, 2567. Laban's giving her means that they derive from a parallel good springing from a common stock, for this is the source of such affections. They are called external bonds because all affections are bonds, see 1077, 1080, 1835, 1944. For nothing else holds someone in bonds than his affection. No person's affection seems to him to be a bond, but it is nevertheless called such for the reason that it governs him and is for him binding. Internal affections however are called internal bonds, even as affections for truth and good are called the bonds of conscience. External bonds or affections correspond to these, for everything internal possesses a corresponding external. Since it is by means of external things that one who is being regenerated is introduced to internal things, and since this state is the subject here, mention is therefore made here of Laban's servant-girl's being given to his daughter Leah as a servant-girl. This description means that the kind of affections which served as means were given. The fact that these affections were the most external, like those called bodily affections, is evident from the consideration that 'Leah' represents the affections for external truth. But in the Lord's Divine mercy more about these matters too will appear elsewhere.