3128. And told her mother’s house according to these words. That this signifies toward natural good of every kind whithersoever enlightenment could reach, is evident from the signification of the “mother’s house,” as being the good of the external man, that is, natural good. (That a “house” denotes good may be seen above, n. 2233, 2234, 2559; also that man’s external or natural is from the mother, but the internal from the father, n. 1815.) The good with man is compared in the Word to a “house,” and on this account a man who is in good is called a “house of God;” but internal good is called the “father’s house,” and the good that is in the same degree is called the “house of the brethren;” but external good, which is the same as natural good, is called the “mother’s house.” Moreover all good and truth are born in this manner, namely, by the influx of internal good as of a father into external good as of a mother.

[2] As this verse treats of the origin of the truth which is to be conjoined with good in the rational, it is therefore said that Rebekah (by whom this truth is represented) ran to the house of her mother, for that was the origin of this truth. For as before said and shown, all good flows in by an internal way (that is, by the way of the soul) into man’s rational, and through this into his faculty of knowing, even into that which is of the senses; and by enlightenment there it causes truths to be seen. Truths are called forth thence, and are divested of their natural form, and are conjoined with good in the midway, that is, in the rational, and at the same time they make the man rational, and at last spiritual. But how these things are accomplished is utterly unknown to man; because at this day it is scarcely known what good is, and that it is distinct from truth; still less that man is reformed by means of the influx of good into truth, and by the conjunction of the two; neither is it known that the rational is distinct from the natural. And when these things, which are most general, are not known, it cannot possibly be known how the initiation of truth into good, and the conjunction of the two, is effected-which are the subjects treated of in this chapter in its internal sense. But whereas these arcana have been revealed, and are manifest to those who are in good, that is, who are angelic minds, therefore however obscure they may appear to others, they nevertheless are to be set forth, because they are in the internal sense.

[3] Concerning the enlightenment from good through truth in the natural man, which is here called the “mother’s house,” the case is this: Divine good with man inflows into his rational, and through the rational into his natural, and indeed into its memory-knowledges, that is, into the knowledges and doctrinal things therein, as before said; and there by a fitting of itself in, it forms truths for itself, through which it then enlightens all things that are in the natural man. But if the life of the natural man is such that it does not receive the Divine good, but either repels it, or perverts it, or suffocates it, then the Divine good cannot be fitted in, thus it cannot form for itself truths; and consequently the natural can no longer be enlightened; for enlightenment in the natural man is effected from good through truths; and when there is no longer enlightenment, there can be no reformation. This is the reason why in the internal sense the natural man also is much treated of in regard to its quality; thus whence truth is, namely, that it is from good there.

9404. 'And seventy of the elders of Israel' means all who are governed by good which results from truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'seventy' as that which is complete, thus all things or all people, dealt with in 6508; and from the meaning of 'the elders of Israel' as those who are governed by good which results from truths and guided by truths which flow from good. For 'elders' in the Word means those with wisdom, 6524, thus those who lead a good life as a result of teachings declaring what is true; and 'Israel' means those who belong to the spiritual Church, 6426, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223, 8805, 9340, thus those who are guided by truths that lead to good and governed by good from which truths flow, 7957, 8234. From all this it is evident that 'seventy elders of Israel' means those who are governed by good which results from truths, and that in the sense detached from persons that good itself is meant. The same is meant in the internal sense by 'the Lord's seventy disciples', Luke 10:1, 17. The children of Israel were divided into twelve tribes, which had twelve princes or governors set in authority over them, and also seventy elders. 'The twelve tribes' meant all the truths and forms of good the Church possesses in their entirety, 3858, 3926, 3939, 4060, 6335, 6337, 6397, 6640, 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997; but 'the twelve princes' meant all the primary truths, 5044, and 'the seventy elders' all the forms of good resulting from truths.

[2] When the expression 'good which results from truths' is used the spiritual Church is meant; for this Church is governed by good resulting from truths. Anyone unacquainted with the arcana of the Church and of heaven may think that, since good cannot be implanted except through truths, all the good in the Church exists as a result of truths, indeed that a person cannot know what good is except through truths. However, the good which arises through truths is the spiritual Church's good, which regarded in itself is truth but is called good when it becomes part of will and action, and consequently of life. But good that does not arise through truths but through forms of the good of mutual love is the celestial Church's good, which regarded in itself is not truth but good since it is the good of love to the Lord. The Jewish Church represented this second kind of good, whereas the Israelite Church represented the first; and this accounts for their division into two kingdoms. For what the essential difference is between those two Churches and consequently the two kinds of good, see what has been shown already in 2048, 2227, 2669, 2708 (end), 2715, 2718, 2935, 2937, 2954, 3166, 3235, 3236, 3240, 3246, 3374, 3833, 3887, 3969, 4138, 4286, 4493, 4585, 4938, 5113, 5150, 5922, 6289, 6296, 6366, 6427, 6435, 6500, 6647, 6648, 7091, 7233, 7877, 7977, 7992, 8042, 8152, 8234, 8521. From what has been introduced in these paragraphs it becomes clear that the Lord's heaven is divided into a spiritual heaven and a celestial heaven, and that the celestial heaven is the inmost or third heaven, while the spiritual heaven is the middle or second.