22. 20. (The Lord is described as to the Word appearing above the expanse of the cherubim (Ezekiel 1:26-28), and is called the Lord Jehovih (Ezekiel 2:4; 3:11, 27; 4:14; 5:7-8, 11; 6:3, 11; 7:2, 5; 8:1 seq.). Then he is called the God of Israel (8:4, especially 11:22-23).

I will raise up one shepherd over them, who shall feed them, My servant David. I, Jehovah, will be a God to them, and My servant David a prince in the midst of them. Then will I destroy for them the covenant of peace (Ezekiel 34:23-25).

My servant David shall be king over them, and they all shall have one shepherd. And I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will set My sanctuary in the midst of them to eternity. Thus shall My habitation be with them; and I will be God to them, moreover they shall be a people to Me (Ezekiel 37:24-25). Throughout the chapter the regeneration of man in the New Church is treated of, for this is meant by the dry bones, and by the two sticks which were one.

In that day will I make a covenant with the beast of the field and with the bird of the heavens, and I will break war from the earth, and make them to lie down securely. And I will betroth thee unto Me for ever, and I will betroth thee unto Me in justice and in judgment and in mercy, and I will betroth thee unto Me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know Jehovah. And it shall be in that day that I will hear the heavens, and they shall hear the earth (Hosea 2:18-21).

I have consecrated their gain, and their wealth unto the Lord of the whole earth (Micah 4:13).

(Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou art little among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one come forth unto Me, that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity. Then shall he stand and feed in the strength of Jehovah, in the excellency of the name of his God; and they shall abide; for now shall he increase unto the ends of the earth (Micah 5:2-4). He will give them until the time, until the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the sons of Israel (verse 2). Concerning the New Church (4:5, seq.).)

9333. 'I will not drive them out from before you in one year' means no hurried flight or removal of them, that is to say, of the falsities and evils meant by the nations in the land of Canaan. This is clear from the meaning of 'driving out' as flight, for those in the next life who are steeped in evils and falsities are not driven out but flee of their own accord (the fact that removal is also meant will be seen below); and from the meaning of 'in one year' as that which is hurried, for the words follow, 'Little by little I will drive them out from before you', meaning a gradual removal in keeping with order.

[2] The reason why 'driving out', when it has reference to evils and falsities, means removal is that falsities and evils are not driven out of a person but removed. Anyone who does not know the true nature of human deliverance from evils and falsities, which is the forgiveness of sins, thinks that sins are wiped out when they are said to have been forgiven. The literal sense of the Word which speaks several times in that kind of way leads people to think so. As a result of this the minds of very many people have been taken over by the erroneous idea that they are righteous and pure after they have received absolution. But they have no knowledge whatever of the true nature of the forgiveness of sins. They do not know that no one is purified from sins; rather people are withheld from them by the Lord when they are such that they can be maintained in goodness and truth, and they can be maintained in goodness and truth when they have been regenerated, because then they have acquired the life of the good of charity and of the truth of faith. All that a person thinks, intends, says, and does from earliest childhood enters into the composition of his life. Those things cannot be banished, only removed; and when they are removed it seems as though the person is without sins, because they have been removed, see 8393, 8988 (end), 9014. The Word speaks in keeping with the appearance that a person thinks and does what is good and true unaided, by himself (the reality being that he does so not by himself but with the Lord's aid) when it says that he is free from sins, and also is righteous, as for instance in Isaiah,

Though your sins are like scarlet, they will be as white as snow. Though they are as red as crimson, ¹ they will be as wool. Isaiah 1:18.

[3] The like is said many times elsewhere. The state of souls in the next life enables anyone to know that all this is true. All people take with them from this world into the next all that composes their life, that is, whatever they have thought, intended, spoken, or done, also indeed whatever they have seen or heard from early childhood right through to the last phase of their life in the world; not even the smallest detail of any of this is lacking, 2474. Those who have led a life of faith and charity while in the world can be withheld from evils and maintained in good, and so can be raised to heaven. Those however who have not led a life of faith and charity while in the world but a life of self-love and love of the world sink down to hell because they cannot be withheld from evils or maintained in good. From all this it is evident why it is that 'driving out', when it refers to what happens to falsities and evils, means removal. In this verse and the next that removal is the subject in the internal sense; there the arcana of it are disclosed.

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