2684. 'She went and sat by herself some distance away' means a state of thought. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'going' and also of 'sitting by herself' and of doing so 'some distance away' as these phrases are used in connection with what comes before and after. 'Going' - here going away from the boy - means a removal from spiritual truth, which removal is further expressed and defined by its being said that she withdrew 'about a bowshot'. 'Sitting by herself' means a state of feeling alone, as the state of thought is during grief and despair. 'Some distance away' means so that she could not bear to look and yet could not bear not to look - for 'looking' means thinking, see 2245, which also is further expressed and defined by her saying, 'Let me not see the death of the boy; and she sat some distance away'. Thus embodied in these words is the state of thought of those who experience desolation of truth and consequently experience despair.

2245. 'The men looked from there' means the Lord's thought from the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'looking from' as thinking, for 'seeing' in the internal sense, as in everyday speech, is understanding, since the understanding is internal sight, and thus 'looking from' means thinking, which is the activity of the internal sight or the understanding; and also from the meaning of 'the men' as the Divine. In various places in this chapter 'the men' are mentioned, and in various other places 'Jehovah' instead of 'the men'. When 'the men' is used the Trinity is meant, that is, the Divine itself, the Divine Human, and the [Holy] proceeding. The Lord's thought from this Divine is meant by the words 'the men looked from there'. That thought came from the Human joined to the Divine, which conjunction was dealt with at the start of this chapter; but the perception from which the thought stemmed came from the Divine, which explains why immediately afterwards in this same verse reference is made to Jehovah in the words 'he stood before Jehovah'. And when the Human had been joined to the Divine, the [Holy] proceeding was together with them as well.