9061. He shall let him go free for his eye. That this signifies that it can no longer serve the internal man, is evident from the signification of “letting go free,” as being to dismiss from service; and from the signification of “for his eye,” which he had destroyed in the manservant, as being on account of the truth of faith extinguished in the external or natural man; for “the eye” denotes the intellectual, and consequently the truth of faith (see n. 9058, 9059), “to destroy” denotes to extinguish (n. 9060), and a “manservant” denotes the external or natural man (n. 9058). How the case herein is cannot be known unless it is known how the case is with the internal man relatively to the external man. The internal man cannot live a spiritual life unless the external man is in agreement; and therefore a man cannot be regenerated unless the natural man also is regenerated. From this it follows that if the truth of faith in the natural or external man shall be extinguished, it cannot any longer serve the internal man.

[2] It is the same with the external sight relatively to the internal sight. If the external sight has been injured, it cannot any longer serve the internal sight; for if the external sight distorts objects, the internal cannot see by means of it except with distortion. The case is the same with all the other members which are subject to the will, as with the arms, the hands, the fingers, the feet. If these are distorted, the will cannot act through them except in a distorted way. It is the same in the case of the natural or external man relatively to the internal man: if the memory-truths in the external or natural man are perverted or extinguished, the internal man cannot see truth, thus cannot think and perceive except pervertedly or falsely. From all this it is evident why the natural man must be regenerated in order that the man may be regenerated. (See also what has been shown above on this subject, n. 3286, 3321, 3469, 3493, 3573, 3620, 3623, 3679, 4588, 4618, 4667, 5165, 5168, 5427, 5428, 5477, 6299, 6564, 8742-8747, 9043)

3623. Wherefore have I lives? That this signifies that thus there would not be conjunction, is evident from the signification of “lives,” as being conjunction through truths and goods; for when no truth from a common stock or genuine source could be adjoined to natural truth, then neither would there be the adjunction of the natural to the truth of the rational; thus to the rational its life would appear as no life (n. 3493, 3620); hence by the words, “wherefore have I lives?” is signified that thus there would not be conjunction. The reason why here and in other passages lives are spoken of in the plural, is that there are two faculties of life in man; one of which is called the understanding, and is of truth; and the other of which is called the will, and is of good; these two lives or faculties of life make a one when the understanding is of the will, or what is the same, when truth is of good. This is the reason why in the Hebrew tongue frequent mention is made of “life,” and also of “lives.” That mention is made of “lives,” is evident from the following passages in Genesis:

And Jehovah God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives, and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7).

And out of the ground made Jehovah God to grow every tree that is desirable to the sight, and good for food; and the tree of lives in the midst of the garden (Genesis 2:9).

Behold I do bring the flood of waters upon the earth, to destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of lives (Genesis 6:17).

And they went in unto Noah into the ark, two, two, of all flesh wherein is the breath of lives (Genesis 7:15, n. 780).

All in whose nostrils was the breathing of the breath of lives died (Genesis 6:22).

And in David:

I believe to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of lives (Psalms 27:13).

Again:

What man is he that desireth lives, and loveth days that he may see good (Psalms 34:12)?

Again:

With Thee is the fountain of lives; in Thy light shall we see light (Psalms 36:9).

In Malachi:

My covenant was with Leviticus of lives and peace (Malachi 2:5).

In Jeremiah:

Thus saith Jehovah, Behold I set before you the way of lives, and the way of death (Jeremiah 21:8).

In Moses:

To love Jehovah thy God, and to obey His voice, and to cleave unto Him for He Is thy lives, and the length of thy days; that thou mayest dwell in the land (Deuteronomy 30:20).

And again:

It is not a vain word from you, because it is your lives, and through this word ye shall prolong your days upon the land (Deuteronomy 32:47); and in other places.

“Lives” are spoken of in the plural because they are two, as was said, and yet a one; as also in the Hebrew tongue are “heavens,” which are many, and yet a one; in like manner “waters,” those above and those beneath (Genesis 1:6-7, 9), which are spiritual things pertaining to the rational and the natural, and which also are to be a one through conjunction. In respect to “lives,” they signify in the plural both what is of the will and what is of the understanding, consequently what is of good and what is of truth; for the life of man is nothing else than good and truth wherein is life from the Lord, inasmuch as man, without good and truth, and life therein, is no man; for man without these would not be able to will anything or think anything, all his faculty of willing being from what is good or what is not good, and his faculty of thinking from what is true or what is not true; hence man has lives, which are one life when his thinking is from his willing, that is, when the truth which is of faith is from the good which is of love.