9103. 'And four of the flock for the member of the flock' also means the corresponding punishment carried out in full. This is clear from the meaning of 'four' as joined together, for 'four' is similar in meaning to 'two' because four is the product of two times two (for the meaning of 'two' as joined together, see 5194, 8423, and therefore also 'four', 1686, 8877), from which it follows that those numbers also mean to the complete amount, since what has been joined together is complete; and from the meaning of 'a member of the flock' as interior good, dealt with just above in 9099. The corresponding punishment is meant by 'repaying', at this point 'four of the flock for one member of the flock', 9102. Interior good is what charity in the interior man is called, exterior good being charity in the exterior man. The latter good must receive life from the former, for the good of charity in the interior man is the good of spiritual life, and the good of charity in the exterior man is the good of natural life from the spiritual. This exterior good enters a person's feelings as delight, but not so interior good. Instead this enters his awareness that it ought to be so, and enables his mind to feel contented. In the next life however interior good too enters into a person's feelings.

[2] No one can know the reason why five oxen were to be used in repayment for an ox, and four of the flock for the member of the flock, unless he knows what 'theft' is in the spiritual sense, and also what 'an ox' and 'a member of the flock' are. What these things mean has been explained, namely taking away and alienating exterior and interior good, the taking away being done by evil and the alienation by falsity. Consequently punishment and the restoration of them are meant by 'five' end 'four'; for all numbers in the Word serve to mean spiritual things, see 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175, at this point things having to do with restoration. That is to say, the number 'five' refers to restoration of exterior good to a great degree, and the number 'four' to restoration of interior good in full. The reason why interior good must be restored completely is that this good constitutes a person's spiritual life; and unless his spiritual life is restored completely the exterior good constituting his natural life cannot be restored; for the latter life is restored by means of the former, as may be recognized from a person's regeneration. The external man is regenerated by means of the internal, see 9043, 9046, 9061; but good in the external or natural man cannot be restored completely because the blow it has been struck remains there as a scar that becomes hardened. These are the things implied by those numbers.

[3] Something further must be said briefly about the restoration of the exterior good constituting a person's natural life by means of the interior good constituting his spiritual life. The natural level of a person's mind sees things in the light of the world, the light that is called natural illumination. A person acquires this illumination through objects entering his awareness by means of sight and hearing, that is, by impressions of objects received from the world. Thus the person sees those objects with his mind's eye almost exactly as his physical eye sees them. Initially the objects that he is made aware of through those senses are all a pleasure and delight to him. Later on, when still a young child, he makes distinctions among the objects that are a delight to him, and thereby learns to discriminate, gradually doing so more and more accurately. When the light from heaven flows into these things the person begins to see them spiritually, discriminating initially between the ones that are useful and those that are not useful. As a consequence he starts to see the truth clearly; for that which he sees to be useful he sees to be true, and that which he does not see to be useful he sees to be not true. This ability to see truth increases as the inflowing light from heaven grows brighter, until eventually he discriminates not only between truths, but even between truths within these truths. And this he does ever more clearly, as the communication between the internal man and the external man is improved and opened up; for the light of heaven flows in from the Lord through the internal man into the external. From this the person now has perception; nevertheless this is still not spiritual perception.

[4] Spiritual perception does not grow out of natural truths but out of spiritual truths, spiritual truths being what are called the truths of faith. The reason why spiritual perception grows out of these truths is that the light of heaven is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord. It is the light that shines for the angels' eyes; it also shines in their understanding and imparts intelligence and wisdom to them, in varying amounts, depending on its reception within good. Therefore, if spiritual perception is to grow a person must have cognitions or knowledge of spiritual things in his natural, and such knowledge of spiritual things must come from revelation. When the light of heaven flows into them it flows into what are its own; for as has been stated, that light is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, see 1053, 1521-1533, 1619-1632, 2776, 3138, 3167, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3341, 3636, 3643, 4180, 4302, 4408, 4415, 4527, 5400, 6032, 6313, 6608. This is how a person acquires intelligence and wisdom in such matters as belong to eternal life; and they increase in the measure that such light - that is, in the measure that the truths of faith - are received within good, the good being charity.

[5] The fact that the natural or external man is regenerated, and also undergoes amendment and is restored by means of the internal, may be recognized from what has now been stated. Things in the external or natural man receive life from the light of heaven; for this light is living, because it emanates from the Lord, who is Life itself. They do not receive their life from natural light, since this light is in itself dead. If therefore things in natural light are to have life there must be an inflow of the living light, coming from the Lord through the internal man. This inflow adjusts itself to cognitions of truth present in the natural that are analogous and correspond, and to other things there that can serve. From this it is evident that a person's external or natural must be regenerated by means of his internal; and the good in the natural that has been taken away or alienated has to be amended and restored by the same means.

1988. 'Abram was a son of ninety-nine years' means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man. This is clear from the meaning of 'nine' when thought of as one less than ten, or what amounts to the same, of 'ninety-nine' when thought of as one less than a hundred; for when Isaac was born to him Abram was a hundred years old. The nature of the internal sense of the Word is made especially clear by the numbers that are used, as it is by the names. Any numbers whatever, as also any names, that are mentioned in the Word mean real things; for nothing ever exists in the Word that does not have that which is Divine within it, that is, which does not have an internal sense within it. How remote this sense is from the sense of the letter is especially evident from the names and numbers, for in heaven they pay no attention whatever to names and numbers but to things meant by the names or numbers. For example, whenever the number seven occurs, holiness instantly suggests itself to angels instead of the number seven, for 'seven' means holiness from the fact that the celestial man is the seventh day or the sabbath, and so the Lord's rest, 84-87, 395, 433, 716, 881. The same applies to all other numbers, for example, to the number twelve. Whenever twelve occurs the idea of everything belonging to faith suggests itself to angels, for the reason that the twelve tribes of Israel meant everything belonging to faith, 577. That numbers mean real things in the Word has been shown in Volume One; see 482, 487, 488, 493, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 893.

[2] It is similar with the number 'ninety-nine'. That this number means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man is clear from the meaning of 'a hundred years', Abram's age when Isaac was born to him, for Isaac represents and means the Lord's Rational Man which was joined to His Internal, that is, to the Divine. In the Word 'a hundred' has the same meaning as ten, for that number is the product of ten multiplied by ten, and 'ten' means remnants, as shown in Volume One, in 576. For what remnants residing with man are, see 468, 530, 561, 660, 1050, and for what remnants residing with the Lord were, 1906. These arcana cannot be explained any further, but anyone can find out for himself once he has acquainted himself with what remnants are - for nowadays what they are is not known - provided it is realized that by remnants residing with the Lord are meant the Divine Goods which He acquired to Himself by His own power, and by which He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence.

[3] These considerations show what is meant by 'ninety-nine'. Being one less than a hundred, that number means the period of time before the Lord fully joined the Internal Man to the Rational Man. 'Ishmael' represented the first rational with the Lord, the nature of which has been shown adequately enough above in the previous chapter. But 'Isaac' represents the Lord's Divine Rational, as will be clear later on. Anyone may see that an arcanum is embodied within the following circumstance: Abram having remained such a long time in the land of Canaan - twenty-four years now, ten before Ishmael's birth, and thirteen after - and not as yet having had a son by Sarai his wife, he then first received the promise of a son, when he had now reached ninety-nine and would be a hundred when this son was born. The arcanum is that by means of these experiences he might represent the union of the Lord's Divine Essence with His Human Essence, and in fact of His Internal Man, which was Jehovah, with His Rational.