10456. 'And he said, It is not the noise of the cry in victory, and it is not the noise of the cry in defeat' means heaven acting from one side and hell from the other, thus falsity acting against truth, and truth against falsity. This is clear from the meaning of 'the noise of the cry', or the noise of shouting, as the essential nature of that nation's interiors, dealt with above in 10454; from the meaning of 'neither victory nor defeat' as the indecisive nature of the conflict between falsity and evil and its failure to be resolved. And since all falsity comes from hell and truth from heaven the same words serve to mean that heaven acts from one side and hell from the other. ('Cry' means falsity, see 2240, also thought with full intention to act, 7119, and deep grief, 7782.) The words used here describe the condition of that nation's interiors when hell with them acts against heaven, and heaven acts against hell, thus when they are held between the two, as happened when with their internal closed they were engaged in an outward act of worship. Their internal was closed in order that through outward observances, which were representative of more internal things, there might be contact with heaven, a subject that has been dealt with above.

7119. 'Therefore they cry out, saying, Let us go, let us sacrifice to our God' means that for that reason they give so much thought to such worship. This is clear from the meaning here of 'crying out' as thought, for 'saying' and 'speaking' mean thought, 2271, 2287, 7094, and so therefore does 'crying out' (though intense thought with full intention to act is meant by 'crying out', which is why the expression 'so much thought' is used); and from the meaning of 'sacrificing to their God' as worship of the Lord, dealt with in 6905, 7101. But since Pharaoh said that he did not know Jehovah, 7095, 7097, and the Egyptians loathed sacrifices, 1343, and since Moses said that they would be going a three days' journey away into the wilderness, 6904, 7100, the expression 'such worship' is therefore used.