222. 'Hiding themselves from the face of Jehovah' is being afraid of this dictate, as people conscious of evil normally are. This is clear from their reply in verse 10, 'I heard Your Voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked'. 'The face of Jehovah', that is, of the Lord, is mercy, peace, and all good, as is quite clear from the blessing,

Jehovah make His face ¹ shine upon you and be merciful to you. Jehovah lift up His face ¹ upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:15, 26.

And in David,

God be merciful to us and bless us, and make His face ¹ shine upon us. Psalms 67:1.

And elsewhere in David,

Many are saying, Who will cause us to see good? Lift up the light of Your face ¹ upon us, O Jehovah. Psalms 4:6-7.

The Lord's mercy is for this reason called 'the angel of His face' ¹ in Isaiah,

I will cause the mercies of Jehovah to be remembered. He has rewarded them according to His mercies, and according to the abundance of His mercies; and He became their Saviour. In all their affliction there was no affliction, and the angel of His face ¹ saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them. Isaiah 63:7-9.

Footnotes:

9870. 'A lapis lazuli, an agate, and an amethyst' means the spiritual love of good. This is clear in a similar way from their colour; for the blue colour which is a product of white means spiritual good, or what amounts to the same thing, the spiritual love of good, see above in 9868. The spiritual love of good is charity towards the neighbour, and the spiritual love of truth is faith rooted in charity. That good and this truth are what constitute the second heaven. The internal part of that heaven consists in the good of charity, and the external in the good of faith. It is well known that a lapis lazuli is of a blue colour, and an amethyst as well. But it is less well known that an agate too is of this colour; for no one knows what kind of stone the word in the original language describes, whether an agate, turquoise, or some other.