8981. If his master shall give him a woman. That this signifies good from the spiritual adjoined to truth while in combat, is evident from the signification of “master,” as here being the spiritual; for by “master” is here meant someone of the sons of Israel, and by the “sons of Israel” are signified those who are true men of the spiritual church, that is, who do what is good from the affection which is of love, or what is the same, from charity. (That “the sons of Israel” denote the men of the spiritual church, see n. 6426, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223, 7957, 8234, 8805; consequently by the same in the abstract sense are signified spiritual truths and goods, n. 5414, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5833, 5879.) From this it is that by “master” is here signified the spiritual. And from the signification of “giving him a woman,” as being to adjoin good to truth; for “to give,” when said of a woman, denotes to adjoin, and “a manservant” denotes one who is in the truth of doctrine and not in the corresponding good (n. 8974); and “a woman” denotes delight (n. 8980), but here good, because it is given (that is, adjoined) from the spiritual; for all that which comes from the spiritual is called “good,” because the spiritual itself is the good of charity (that “a woman” denotes good, see n. 915, 2517, 4823, 6014, 8337). The reason why it denotes in combat, is that it is said that if his master have given him a woman, at the end of his service the woman should be the master’s. From this it is evident that the woman was the manservant’s while he was in service, and not afterward; thus while in combat, and not after combat; for by the service of six years is signified labor and combat (n. 8975).

[2] Who cannot see that in this statute there is a secret which cannot be known except by him to whom it has been revealed? For in the external form it appears contrary to Divine justice that a woman given to a manservant should remain the master’s when the servant went out from service, seeing that a woman ought to be her man’s forever. Of the same character are also many other things that were commanded the sons of Israel by Jehovah, as that they should ask of the Egyptians vessels of gold and of silver, and garments, and thus should spoil them; besides other things of a similar nature spoken of in their places. But although, as has been said, in the outward form these things appear contrary to Divine justice, they nevertheless are not so, for they flow from the laws of Divine order in the heavens, which laws are the very laws themselves of justice; but these laws are not clear unless they are unfolded from the sense of the letter by means of the internal sense. The law from which this statute flows is that spiritual good cannot be conjoined with those who are in the externals of the church from infancy, but can only be adjoined to them so long as they are in combat, and that after combat it recedes.

[3] That it may be clear how the case herein is (for it is a secret), it shall be briefly explained. They who from infancy have thought little about eternal life, thus about the salvation of their soul, but only of worldly life and its prosperity, and yet have lived a good moral life, and have also believed in the truths of the doctrine of their church, when they come to more adult age, cannot be reformed otherwise than by the adjoining of spiritual good when they are in combat; but still they do not retain this good, but only confirm the truths of their doctrine by means of it. The reason why they are of this character is that in their past life they have indulged worldly loves; and when these loves have been rooted in, they do not suffer spiritual good to be conjoined with truth, because these loves are altogether repugnant to that good. Nevertheless spiritual good can take possession of the thought when these loves become inactive, as is the case when they are in anxiety, in misfortunes, and in sicknesses, and the like. Then the affection of well-doing from charity flows in, but this affection serves only for confirming and rooting in more deeply the truths of doctrine; but it cannot be conjoined with truth. The reason is that this influent affection of charity fills only the intellectual part of the mind, but does not enter into its will part, and that which does not enter into the will part is not appropriated, thus is not conjoined, because the conjunction of good and truth with man is effected when truth enters the will; consequently when the man wills truth, and from willing does it. Then for the first time truth becomes good, or what is the same, faith becomes charity.

[4] This cannot be effected with those who from infancy have indulged the loves of the world, and yet are in the truth of the doctrine of their church; for their will part is possessed by these loves, which are wholly in opposition to and reject spiritual good. They merely admit this into the intellectual part of the mind, that is, into the thought, when these loves are dormant, which is the case, as said above, in a state of sickness or of misfortune, or in anxiety, consequently in labor, and in some combat. This is the secret which lies hidden in this statute. And as this statute was thus representative of the law of Divine order with respect to those who are in the truth of doctrine and not in the corresponding good, therefore in the representative church it was in agreement with Divine justice, even in the external form.

915. That by his “going forth” is signified that it was so done; that by “Noah and his sons” is signified the man of the Ancient Church; and that by “his wife and his sons’ wives” is signified that church itself, is evident from the series of the things, which involves that thus was the Ancient Church formed, for these are the last or closing statements to what has gone before. When the church is described in the Word, it is described either by “man [vir] and wife” or by “man [homo] and wife;” when by “man [vir] and wife” by “man” is signified what is of the understanding, or truth, and by “wife” what is of the will, or good; when by “man [homo] and wife” by “man” is signified the good of love, or love, and by “wife” the truth of faith, or faith, thus by “man [homo]” is signified what is essential of the church, and by “wife” the church itself. It is so throughout the Word. In this place, because up to this point the formation of a new church has been treated of, on the perishing of the Most Ancient Church, by “Noah and his sons” is signified the man [homo] of the Ancient Church, and by his “wife and his sons’ wives with him” that church itself. Here therefore they are named in an order different from that in the previous verse 16, where it is said: “Go forth from the ark, thou and thy wife, and thy sons and thy sons’ wives with thee” where “thou” and “thy wife” are joined together, and “thy sons” and “thy sons’ wives” and thus by “thou” and “sons” is signified truth, and by “wife” and “sons’ wives” good. But in the verse we are now considering the order is different, for the reason, as we have said, that by “thou and thy sons” is signified the man of the church, and by “his wife and his sons’ wives” the church itself, since it is the conclusion to what goes before. Noah did not constitute the Ancient Church, but his sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, as said before. For three churches, so to speak, formed this Ancient Church, concerning which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy hereafter. And these churches came forth as the offspring of one, which is called “Noah;” hence it is here said, “thou and thy sons” and also “thy wife and thy sons’ wives.”