2921. 'My lord, you are a prince of God in the midst of us' means the Lord as regards Divine good and truth with them. This is clear from the meaning of 'a lord' and of 'a prince of God', and from the meaning of 'in the midst of us'. The fact that the expression 'lord' is used when good is the subject is clear from the Old Testament Word, for there Jehovah is sometimes called Jehovah, sometimes God, sometimes Lord, sometimes Jehovah God, sometimes Lord Jehovih, sometimes Jehovah Zebaoth, and always for a hidden reason which cannot be known except from the internal sense. In general when the celestial things of love, that is, when good, are dealt with, the name Jehovah is used, but when the spiritual things of faith are dealt with, the name God is used. And when both together are dealt with, the names Jehovah God are used. When however the Divine power of good, that is, when omnipotence is the subject, Jehovah Zebaoth (or Jehovah of Hosts), and also the Lord, are used; so that the names Jehovah Zebaoth and the name the Lord have the same sense and meaning. From this also, that is to say, from the power of good, men and angels are called 'lords', and in the contrary sense those are called servants or slaves who have no power at all or else have a power received from their lords. From these considerations it becomes clear that here 'my lord' in the internal sense means the Lord as regards good, which in what follows below will be illustrated from the Word. 'A prince of God' however means the Lord as regards the power of truth, that is, as regards truth, as becomes clear from the meaning of 'a prince' or 'princes' as first and foremost truths, dealt with in 1482, 2089, and from the fact that the phrase 'a prince of God' is used, for the name God is used when truth is dealt with but the name Jehovah when good is dealt with, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822. As regards 'in the midst of us' meaning among them or present with them, this is clear without explanation.

[2] That in the Old Testament Word the names Jehovah Zebaoth and the name Lord have the same sense and meaning is clear in Isaiah,

The zeal of Jehovah Zebaoth will do this; the Lord has sent a word into Jacob, and it has fallen on Israel. Isaiah 9:7-8.

Elsewhere in the same prophet,

A mighty king will have dominion over them, said the Lord, Jehovah Zebaoth. Isaiah 19:4.

In Malachi,

Behold, suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming, says Jehovah Zebaoth. Malachi 3:1.

More plainly, in Isaiah,

I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up. Above Him stood the seraphim; each had six wings. One called to another, Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah Zebaoth. Woe is me! For I am cut off; for my eyes have seen the King, Jehovah Zebaoth. And I heard the voice of the Lord. Isaiah 6:1-3, 5, 8.

From these places it is evident that Jehovah Zebaoth and the Lord have the same meaning.

[3] But 'the Lord Jehovih' is used more particularly when the help of omnipotence is sought and prayed for, as in Isaiah,

Say to the cities of Judah, Behold your God! Behold, the Lord Jehovih will come with might, and His arm will exercise dominion for Him; behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him. He will pasture His flock like a shepherd. Isaiah 40:9-11.

For further examples of this use of 'the Lord Jehovih', see Isaiah 25:8; 40:10; 48:16; 50:4-5, 7, 9; 61:1; Jeremiah 2:22; Ezekiel 8:1; 11:13, 17, 21; 12:10, 19, 28; 13:8, 13, 16, 18, 20; 14:4, 6, 11, 18, 20-21; Micah 1:2; Psalms 71:5, 16; and many other places.

[4] What is more, in the Old Testament Word 'the Lord' entails the same as 'Jehovah', that is to say, 'the Lord' is used when good is dealt with, and therefore also the Lord is distinguished from God in the same way as Jehovah is from God; as in Moses,

Jehovah your God, He is God of gods, and Lord of lords. Deuteronomy 10:17.

In David,

Confess the God of gods, for His mercy is for ever; confess the Lord of lords, for His mercy is for ever. Psalms 136:1-3.

[5] But nowhere in the New Testament Word, neither in the Gospels nor in the Book of Revelation, is Jehovah used. Instead of Jehovah the name the Lord occurs - for hidden reasons to be dealt with below. The fact that in the New Testament Word the Lord is used instead of Jehovah is quite clear in Mark,

Jesus said, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Therefore you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your thought, and with all your strength. Mark 12:29-30.

The same is expressed in Moses as follows,

Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah; and you shall love Jehovah your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:4-5.

Here it is evident that the name 'the Lord' is used instead of Jehovah. Likewise in John,

I looked, and behold, a throne had been set in heaven, with one seated upon the throne. Around the throne were four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind. Each had for himself six wings round about him, and was full of eyes within. They were saying, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God omnipotent. Revelation 4:2, 6, 8.

This is described in Isaiah as follows,

I saw the Lord seated upon a throne, high and lifted up. Above Him stood the seraphim; each had six wings. One called to another, Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah Zebaoth. Isaiah 6:1-3, 5, 8.

In this case 'the Lord' is used instead of 'Jehovah', that is, 'the Lord God omnipotent' instead of 'Jehovah Zebaoth'. The fact that the four living creatures are the seraphim or cherubs is evident in Ezekiel 1:5, 13-15, 19 and following verses; 10:15. That in the New Testament 'the Lord' is Jehovah is also clear from many other places, as in Luke,

An angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah. Luke 1:11.

'An angel of the Lord' is used instead of 'an angel of Jehovah'. In the same chapter the angel told Zechariah regarding his son,

He will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God. Luke 1:16.

'To the Lord their God' is used instead of 'to Jehovah their God'. Also in the same chapter, the angel told Mary regarding Jesus,

He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give to Him the throne of David. Luke 1:32.

'The Lord God' is used instead of 'Jehovah God'. Still in the same chapter,

Mary said, My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour. Luke 1:46-47.

Here also 'the Lord' is used instead of 'Jehovah'. And again in the same chapter, Zechariah prophesied, saying,

Blessed is the Lord God of Israel. Luke 1:68.

'The Lord God' is used instead of 'Jehovah God'. In the same gospel,

An angel of the Lord stood before the shepherds, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. Luke 2:9.

'An angel of the Lord' and 'the glory of the Lord' are used instead of 'an angel of Jehovah' and 'the glory of Jehovah'. In Matthew,

Blessed is He coming in the name of the Lord. Matthew 21:9; 23:39; Luke 13:35; John 12:13.

'In the name of the Lord' is used instead of 'in the name of Jehovah'. There are many other places besides all these, such as Luke 1:28; 2:15, 22-24, 29, 38-39; 5:17; Mark 12:10-11.

[6] Among the hidden reasons why people called Jehovah the Lord were the following: If when the Lord was in the world they had been told that He was the Jehovah mentioned so many times in the Old Testament, see 1736, they would not have accepted it because they would not have believed it. And there is the further reason that as regards the Human the Lord did not become Jehovah until He had in every respect united the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, and the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, see 1725, 1729, 1733, 1745, 1815, 2156, 2751. These became fully united after the final temptation, which was that of the Cross; and it was for this reason that after the Resurrection the disciples always called Him Lord, John 20:2, 13, 15, 18, 20, 25; 21:7, 12, 15-17, 20; Mark 16:19-20; and Thomas said,

My Lord and my God. John 20:28.

And as the Lord was the Jehovah mentioned so many times in the Old Testament, therefore He also told the disciples,

You call Me Master and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If therefore I your Lord and Master have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one anothers' feet. John 13:13-14, 16.

These words mean that He was Jehovah God, for in this instance He is called 'Lord' as regards good, but 'Master' as regards truth. That the Lord was Jehovah is also meant by the angel's words to the shepherds,

To you is born this day a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11.

'Christ' is used instead of 'Messiah', 'Anointed One', and 'King', 'the Lord, instead of 'Jehovah' - 'Christ' having regard to truth, 'the Lord' to good. Anyone who does not examine the Word carefully cannot know this, for he believes that our Saviour was called Lord because this was an everyday expression that was used to offer respect to Him, as to others, when in reality He was so called by virtue of His being Jehovah.

10284. 'And as to the composition of it, you shall not make any other like it' means no imitations produced by human endeavour. This is clear from the meaning of 'as to the composition, making some like it' - that is, making a similar oil with similar spices - as making a preparation in imitation of it by means of human endeavour. This meaning of these words follows from the train of thought in the internal sense; for first it says, 'It shall not be poured onto the flesh of a person', which means no imparting [of what is the Lord's] to a person's proprium or self, and finally, 'it shall be holy to you'. But anything done by a person, by his own endeavour, begins in his proprium or self and is unholy. The reason is that any endeavour a person makes from his proprium consists entirely of falsity arising from evil, since it has self and the world, not the neighbour and God, as its end in view, which also explains why it is called an imitation.

[2] The implications of all this are that everything which comes from the Lord is good and true; but anything good or true produced by man in imitation of it is neither good nor true. The reason for this is that everything good and true has life within it by virtue of the end in view. An end that begins in man is entirely selfish; but that which is good and true, coming from the Lord, exists for the sake of goodness and truth themselves as ends in view, and so for the Lord's sake, because the Lord is the source of everything good and true. With man the end in view is himself, since it constitutes his will and his love; for what a person loves and wills he has as his end in view. All the love in a person that originates in himself is self-love and a selfish love of the world; but the love in a person that originates in the Lord is love towards the neighbour and love to God. The difference between the two kinds of love is as great as that between hell and heaven. Furthermore self-love and a selfish love of the world reign in hell and constitute hell, whereas love towards the neighbour and love to the Lord reign in heaven and constitute heaven. Also a person's character is such and remains forever such as his love is; for love composes the whole of a person's will, and consequently of his understanding since the love that constitutes the will flows unceasingly into the understanding, kindling it and illuminating it. So it is that when those who love evil think within themselves, their thoughts consist of falsity that is in keeping with the evil they love, though they are moved by hypocrisy to express different ideas to others; some are moved by faith that is no more than persuasion, for the nature of which, see 9364, 9369.

[3] It should be recognized that by his own endeavour a person is able to simulate what is actually Divine and to present himself before others as an angel of light. But what is seen by the Lord and by angels is not the outward form he presents but the form that exists inwardly, which is foul when the proprium is the source of it. With people like this everything within them is merely natural and not at all spiritual. They see everything in natural light alone and nothing in the light of heaven; indeed they do not know what the light of heaven is, nor what anything spiritual is. All their inner powers are turned to things of an external nature, in almost the same way as those of living creatures are; nor do they allow themselves to be raised by the Lord to anything higher. Yet the human being, superior to animals, has a special ability, namely the ability to be raised by the Lord towards heaven and the Lord, and so be led by Him. All those are raised in this manner who love goodness and truth for their own sake, which is the same thing as loving the neighbour and God since in a general sense the neighbour means that which is good and true, and in a lower sense that which is right and fair; and also God constitutes what is good and true, and what is right and fair, since God is the source of them.

[4] From all this it may be seen what imitating Divine things by human endeavour is. In places throughout the Word 'Egypt' and 'Pharaoh' are used to describe people such as this; for factual knowledge belonging to the natural man is meant by 'Egypt' and 'Pharaoh'. 'Asshur' too, meaning reasoning based on factual knowledge, is used to describe them. Regarding 'Egypt', see in the places referred to in 9340, 9391; and regarding 'Asshur', 1186. Among spirits there are very many who by their own endeavour and cunning can imitate what is Divine; for they counterfeit sincerity, uprightness, and godliness, so cunningly that good spirits would be led astray unless the Lord enlightened them and enabled them to see what the interiors of those other spirits are like. And when these interiors are revealed the good spirits are filled with horror and run away. But such spirits are stripped of their outward pretences and brought into a state in which their devilish interiors are laid bare; and in this condition they sink automatically into hell. For more about these spirits, see paragraph 10286 below.