9135. 'Or member of the flock' means or it is interior truth and good. This is clear from the meaning of 'member of the flock' as spiritual truth and good, thus interior truth and good, dealt with in 6016, 6045, 6049. Some places in the Word use the expression 'flocks', while others use 'members of the flock'. In the internal sense interior forms of good, and truths derived from them, are meant by 'flocks', whereas interior truths, and forms of good springing from them, are meant by 'members of the flock'. No one however can know the difference between them unless he knows the nature of a person's two states, the prior state and the subsequent state, when he is being regenerated. The prior state is one in which he is led by means of the truths of faith to the good of charity; the subsequent state is one in which he is governed by the good of charity and from this by the truths of faith. The prior state brings a person into the Church in order that he may come to have the Church within him; and when he comes to have the Church within him he is in the subsequent state. Forms of good and truths residing with him in the subsequent state are meant by 'flocks', but truths and forms of good residing with him in the prior state are meant by 'members of the flock'. This explains why at this point truths are mentioned first and forms of good second. Regarding the two states of a person who is being regenerated, or what amounts to the same thing, who comes to have the Church within him, see 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8685, 8690, 8701, 8772, 8995, 9088, 9089.

[2] Those forms of good and those truths are called exterior which are in the external or natural man, and those are called interior which are in the internal or spiritual man. The reason why the latter are interior and the former exterior is that heaven is the source of the internal man's wisdom, but the world is the source of the external man's; for heaven is present with a person internally and the world externally. The words 'whether it is ox or ass, or member of the flock' are used to mean all exterior good and truth, and all interior truth and good. Furthermore the development of good in the external man is towards truth, in the internal man from truth towards good, in keeping with Divine order in heaven. ¹

სქოლიოები:

8690. 'And all the people are standing before you from morning until evening' means that at this time it was the source of every act of the will which those belonging to the spiritual Church possessed, in every state. This is clear from the representation of Israel, to whom 'the people' refers here, as those belonging to the spiritual Church, dealt with above in 8645; from the meaning of 'standing before Moses' as obedience to God's truth, also dealt with above, in 8686, and - since obedience is meant - as an act of the will (obedience springs from the will, but from a will to do the truth because it has been commanded, not out of affection for it; and this will is obedience); and from the meaning of 'from morning until evening' as in every state, inwardly and outwardly, dealt with above in 8687.

[2] The subject here is the first state a person passes through before regeneration. During this state he does good in a spirit of obedience and not as yet out of affection. But this good is truth as done by him, since he does it solely because it has been commanded, and so is still acting under compulsion, not in freedom. It is done by him in freedom when he does it out of affection; for everything that flows from love and affection is free. While a person passes through the first state the Lord flows in and leads him directly; but direct influx from the Lord does not come to be perceived because it is an influx into the inmost parts of a person's being and does not therefore generate affection. But when the Lord's influx is direct and at the same time indirect it does come to be perceived and generate affection, since it is an influx not only into the inmost parts of a person but also into the middle and outermost. This latter state is dealt with in the verses following below in this chapter, the former state in the present verses, where it says that Moses judged alone; see what has been stated above in 8685.