10481. 'That those rising up against them would annihilate them' means being left without any power to withstand evils [and falsities] that come from hell. This is clear from the meaning of 'being annihilated' as being deprived of all power to withstand evils and falsities, for in the spiritual world being deprived of that power is having no power at all; and from the meaning of 'those rising up', or enemies, as evils and resulting falsities, these being the enemies that rise up in the spiritual sense. Therefore also such evils and falsities are meant in the Word by 'enemies' and 'those rising up', 2851, 8289, 9255, 9314, as in David,

O Jehovah, how much my enemies have multiplied! Many are those rising up against me, saying regarding my soul, There is no salvation for him in God. Psalms 3:1-2.

In the same author,

Make Your mercy wonderful, O You who by Your right hand save those trusting [in You] from those rising up against them ¹ . Guard me from the wicked who lay me waste, from my enemies who surround me against my soul. Psalms 17:7-9.

In the same author,

Do not deliver me to the desire of my enemies, for false witnesses have risen against me, and he who breathes out violence, unless ² I believed I would see goodness in the land of life. Psalms 27:12-13.

In the same author,

O God, command the salvation ³ of Jacob. Through You we will strike our enemies; in Your name we will trample those rising up against us. Psalms 44:4-5.

In the same author,

Foreigners have risen up against me, and violent ones have sought my soul; they have not set God before them. The Lord is with those supporting my soul. Psalms 54:3-4.

In the same author,

Deliver me from my enemies, O my God; raise me up from those rising up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity. Behold, they lie in wait for my soul. Psalms 59:1-3.

In these and very many other places 'enemies' and 'those rising up' mean evils and falsities which come from hell. The expression 'those rising up' is used because evils and falsities rise up against forms of good and truths, but not vice versa.

[2] Those whose interest lies in external things separated from what is internal have no power at all to withstand evils and falsities which come from hell because all power to withstand them comes from the Divine. Those therefore who are separated from what is internal, being separated from the Divine as well, have no power; as a result they are borne along by evils and falsities, wherever hell takes them, like fluff or a straw in the wind, as is plainly evident from the evil who enter the next life from the world. This was also represented by the Israelite nation, in that they were victorious over their enemies as long as they kept to the kind of worship which they had been commanded, but were defeated by them every time they forsook that worship, thus whenever they were ruled by evil, according to the following in Moses,

If you despise My statutes, the sound of a driven leaf will pursue you, and you will flee, like flight from the sword, and you will fall without [anyone] pursuing. They will stumble over one another ⁴ , as though before the sword, when no one is pursuing. Leviticus 26:15, 36-37.

And elsewhere,

One will pursue a thousand, and two ten thousand; for their Rock sold them, and Jehovah shut them up. Deuteronomy 32:30.

From all this it is evident what the meaning is of 'those rising up would annihilate them'.

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6854. 'And I have come down to deliver them from the hand of the Egyptians' means that He would stoop down to them to release them from the power of false factual knowledge, which tries to destroy the truths of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming down' as stooping down, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'to deliver' as to release, for one who releases people from falsities delivers or sets them free; from the meaning of 'the hand' as the power, dealt with in 878, 3387, 3563, 4931-4937, 5544; and from the meaning of 'the Egyptians' as false factual knowledge, which is opposed to the Church's truths, dealt with in 6651, 6679, 6683, and so which tries to destroy them. As regards the Lord's coming down, the situation is that the Lord is said to come or stoop down when He comes to judgement, 1311, and also when He comes down to lower things, in this instance to those belonging to the spiritual Church, who are meant by 'the children of Israel'. For the subject in the internal sense is the way in which those people are molested by falsities, at which time they undergo temptations, and the way in which after that they are set free in order that they may be led into heaven.

[2] But the contents of the internal sense of this verse and of those that follow hold an even deeper mystery which the Church does not yet know about and which must therefore be disclosed. Those who are termed spiritual are people for whom only the understanding part of their mind, not the will part, can be regenerated. In the understanding part of their mind the Lord therefore implants a new will, a will which conforms to the teachings that compose the faith of their Church. These people, that is to say, spiritual ones such as these, were saved solely by the Lord's Coming into the world. The reason why is that the Divine passing through heaven, which was the Divine Human before the Lord's Coming, could not reach them; for to be sure the teachings of their Church were for the most part not truths, and consequently the good in their will was not good either, 6427. Since those people could be saved solely by the Lord's Coming, they could not be raised into heaven before then. They were therefore kept in the meantime on the lower earth, in places there which in the Word are called 'pits'. This lower earth was besieged on every side by the hells where there were falsities, by which they were molested greatly during that time. In spite of this however the Lord protected them. But after the Lord came into the world and made the Human within Himself Divine, He set free those who were in the pits there and raised them to heaven. From these He also formed the spiritual heaven which is the second heaven. This is what is meant by the Lord's descent into the lower parts ¹ and by His deliverance of those who had been bound.

[3] This is the even deeper mystery that is described in the internal sense of this verse and of those that follow. See what has been shown already regarding those who are spiritual,

The spiritual are in obscurity so far as the truth and good of faith are concerned, 2708, 2715, 2718, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3833, 6289.

Their obscurity is lightened by the Lord's Divine Human, 2716, 4402.

Because they are in obscurity so far as the truth and good of faith are concerned they are under strong attack from the hells; but the Lord is constantly protecting them, 6419.

Those who are spiritual cannot have the will part of their mind regenerated, only the understanding part; and there the Lord forms a new will, 863, 875, 895, 927, 918, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2156, 4328, 4493, 5113.

The spiritual were saved by the Lord's Coming into the world, 2833, 2834, 3969.

[4] Various places in the prophetical part of the Word mention 'the bound' or 'the bound in the pit' and the fact that the Lord delivered them. The bound' should be taken to mean specifically those spoken of just above, as in Isaiah,

I Jehovah have called you in righteousness, and will hold your hand, because I will guard you, and give you to be a covenant of the people, ² a light of the nations, to open the blind eyes, to bring the bound out of prison, out of the dungeon-house those who sit in darkness. Isaiah 42:6-7.

In the same prophet,

I have guarded you, and I have given you as covenant of the people - to restore the land; to share out the devastated inheritances; to say to the bound, Go out; to those who are in darkness, Reveal yourselves. They will feed along the ways, and on all slopes will their pasture be. Isaiah 49:8-9.

This plainly refers to the Lord. 'The bound' stands in particular for those who were held back on the lower earth until the Lord's Coming, when they were raised up to heaven, and in general for all who are governed by good, yet are held back as though bound by falsities, from which however they wish to break away.

[5] In Zechariah,

Through the blood of your covenant I will let out your bound ones from the pit. Zechariah 9:11.

In Isaiah,

They will surely be gathered together, the bound ones in the pit, and they will be shut up in the dungeon; after a multitude of days they will be visited. Isaiah 24:21.

'The bound ones in the pit' stands for the same people. And in addition to these places the same meaning can be seen from the following words in Isaiah,

Jehovah has anointed Me to bring good tidings to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the broken in heart; to preach liberty to captives, to those who are bound, to him who is blind; to proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure. Isaiah 61:1-2.

And elsewhere,

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; those dwelling in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shone out. Isaiah 9:2.

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