2026. That 'I will give to you' means that the things which exist in heaven and on earth are His follows from what has just been stated. In the sense of the letter 'giving to you' means that God or Jehovah would give to Him, as is also declared in the Word of the Gospel-writers about the Father giving all things in heaven and on earth to Him. But in the internal sense in which truth itself is presented in its purity, the meaning is that the Lord acquired it to Himself, because within Him and within every part of Him Jehovah was present, as has been stated. further light can be shed on this by the following analogy: It is as though the interior or rational man, or else thought, were to say that the bodily part of him would discover peace and quiet if it were to refrain from doing this or that. In this case the one who speaks is the same as the one spoken to, for the rational belongs to that person just as much as the bodily part. When therefore the former is spoken of the latter also is meant.

[2] Besides, the fact that things in heaven and on earth are the Lord's is clear from very many places in the Word, from many in the Old Testament as well as from the following in the Gospels, Matthew 11:27; 28:18; Luke 10:22; John 3:34-35; 17:2, and from what has been shown in Volume One, in 458, 551, 552, 1607. And because the Lord governs the whole of heaven He also governs everything on earth, for the two are so interconnected that whoever governs one governs all. For dependent on the heaven of angels is the heaven of angelic spirits; dependent on the heaven of angelic spirits is the world of spirits; and dependent in turn on the world of spirits is the human race. And dependent in like manner on the heavens is everything in the world and the natural order, for without influx from the Lord by way of the heavens nothing in the natural order and its three kingdoms can ever come into existence and remain in existence; see 1632.

1928. 'Near the spring on the road to Shur' means that this truth was an assemblage of things which come from facts. This is clear from the meaning of 'a spring', also from that of 'a road', as well as from the meaning of 'Shur'. 'A spring', as has been stated, means truth; 'a road' means that which leads to truth and which comes from truth, as shown already in 627; while 'Shur' means factual knowledge such as is still in the desert so to speak, that is, which has not yet acquired any life. Truths that come from facts are said to acquire life when they ally or associate themselves with truths into which the celestial element of love is flowing, the source of the actual life of truth. Real things, and thus truths, exist joined together in the way that communities in heaven are joined together, to which communities they also correspond; for interiorly man is a kind of miniature heaven. Real things, or truths, which do not exist joined together in accordance with the form which heavenly communities possess have not as yet acquired any life; for prior to this the celestial element of love from the Lord cannot fittingly flow in. They first receive life when a similar form exists on both sides, that is, when the miniature heaven in man is a corresponding image of the Grand [Man]. Prior to that nobody can be called a heaven-like man.

[2] The Lord, who from Himself was to govern the whole of heaven, imposed such order while He was in the world on the truths and goods present with His External Man, that is, with His Human Essence. But because He perceived that such order did not exist with His rational conceived first, as was stated above at verses 4 and 5, He thought about and perceived the reason why. This was that natural truths arising from facts did not as yet have any life in them, that is, that heavenly order had not been imposed on them. Furthermore truths of faith never possess any life unless a person is leading a charitable life, charity being that form from which all truths of faith flow, and that in which they inhere; and when they inhere in and flow from charity they possess life. It is in charity that life resides, never in truths devoid of charity.

[3] That 'Shur' means factual knowledge that as yet has not acquired life is clear from the meaning of this name. Shur was a desert not far from the Sea Suph, and so lay in the direction of Egypt, as is clear in Moses,

Moses made Israel journey from the Sea Suph, and they went out to the desert of Shur; from there they went three days in the desert, and did not find any water. Exodus 15:22.

That it lay in the direction of Egypt is again clear in Moses where the descendants of Ishmael are the subject,

They dwelt from Havilah to Shur, which is opposite Egypt. ¹ Genesis 25:18.

And in Samuel,

Saul defeated Amalek from Havilah as you come to Shur, which is opposite Egypt'. ¹ 1 Samuel 15:7.

And elsewhere in 1 Samuel,

David spread out against the Geshurites, and the Gizrites, and the Amalekites, who inhabited the land from of old, as you come to Shur and as far as the land of Egypt. 1 Samuel 27:8.

These quotations show that 'Shur' means primary factual knowledge, in particular such as is still in the desert, that is, not yet joined to all the rest in accordance with the form which heavenly communities possess, for 'Egypt' which it was opposite ² means knowledge in every sense, as shown already in 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462.

Footnotes: