18. 'The face ¹ of the deep' is that person's desires and resulting falsities, of which he consists and in which he is completely absorbed; and because he has no light at all he is like the deep, or something thoroughly obscure. Throughout the Word such people are also called 'the deep' and 'the depths of the sea' which are dried up or laid waste until a person's regeneration starts, as in Isaiah,

Awake as in the days of antiquity, the generations of long ago. Was it not You that did dry up the sea, the waters of the great deep; making the depths of the sea a road for the redeemed to go across? Let the ransomed of Jehovah return. Isaiah 51:9-11.

Furthermore, when looked at from heaven, this kind of person resembles a darkened mass with no life to it. The same expressions embody within them in general the vastation in man, described many times by the Prophets, which precedes regeneration. For before a person can know what truth is, or be moved by good, the things that hinder and offer resistance must be removed. Thus the old man must die before the new one can be conceived.

Footnotes:

9779. 'And you shall command the children of Israel' means the Lord's command to the Church through the Word. This is clear from the representation of Moses, to whom 'you' refers here, as the Lord in respect of the Word, or the Word which comes from the Lord, dealt with in 4859 (end), 5922, 6752, 7014, 7089, 9372; and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as members of the spiritual Church, dealt with in 9340. From this it is evident that Moses' being told to 'command the children of Israel' means the Lord's command to the Church through the Word.