8910. 'You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, nor his male slave nor his female slave, nor his ox nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour's' means that one must be on one's guard against self-love and love of the world, and so one must take care to prevent the evils contained in the preceding commandments from becoming present in the will and consequently going out of it. This is clear from the meaning of 'coveting' as a wanting that springs from an evil love. The reason why 'coveting' has this meaning is that all covetousness or craving exists as the result of some kind of love. For nothing is coveted unless there is a love of it, and therefore covetousness extends as a continuation from some kind of love, in this instance from self-love and love of the world. It is so to speak the life of what those loves breathe, for what an evil kind of love breathes is called covetousness or craving, whereas what a good kind breathes is called desire. The love itself belongs to one of two parts of the mind, which is called the will; for what a person loves, that he wills and intends. but covetousness belongs to both parts, to both the will and the understanding, that is, it is an attribute of the will within the understanding, to be precise. All this shows why it is that the words 'you shall not covet the things that are your neighbour's' mean that one must take care to prevent them from becoming present in the will, since what takes possession of the will becomes the person's own; for, to be sure, the will is the real person.

[2] The world believes that thought is the person. But there are two powers that constitute a person's life - understanding and will - and thought belongs to the understanding, the affection inherent in love being what belongs to the will. Thought without the affection inherent in love does not in any way at all constitute a person's life; but thought springing from such affection, that is, the understanding springing from the will, does constitute it. Those two powers are distinct from each other, which is evident to anyone who stops to reflect on the matter from the consideration that with his understanding a person can perceive that that thing is bad which his will desires, and that that thing is good which his will either does or does not desire. From all this it is plain that the will is the real person, not his thought, except so far as anything passes into it from the will. So it is that things which enter a person's thought but do not pass on through it into his will do not render him unclean; only those which pass through thought on into the will do so. The reason why the latter render a person unclean is that he takes them to himself then and makes them his; for the will, as has been stated, is the real person. The things which become part of his will are said to go into his heart and to go out from there, whereas those which are merely part of his thought are said to go into the mouth and to go out by way of the bowels into the sewer, according to the Lord's words in Matthew,

Not what enters the mouth renders a person unclean, but what comes out of the mouth, this renders the person unclean. Everything that goes into the mouth departs into the bowels and is cast out into the sewer. But the things which come out of the mouth come out of the heart, and these render a person unclean. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, ravishments, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Matthew 15:11, 17-19.

[3] From these words as from all the others the nature of the Lord's manner of speaking becomes clear. That is, its nature was such that internal or spiritual matters were meant, but they were expressed by means of external or natural things and in accordance with correspondences. For the mouth corresponds to thought, and so do all parts of the mouth, such as the lips, tongue, and throat, while the heart corresponds to the affection inherent in love, and so to the will. For the correspondence of the heart to these, see 2930, 3313, 3883-3896, 7542. Consequently 'entering the mouth' is entering thought, and 'going out of the heart' is going out of the will. 'Departing into the bowels and being cast out into the sewer (or latrine)' is going away into hell; for the bowels correspond to the way to hell, while the sewer or latrine corresponds to hell itself. Hell also in the Word is called 'the latrine'. All this shows what is meant by 'everything that goes into the mouth departs into the bowels and is cast out into the sewer', namely that evil and falsity are introduced into a person's thought by hell and are discharged back there again. Such evil and falsity cannot render a person unclean because they are discharged from him. For a person cannot help thinking what is evil, but he can refrain from doing it. As soon however as he receives evil from his thought into his will it does not go out but enters into him; and this is said 'to enter the heart'. The things that go out from here are what render him unclean; for what a person desires in his will goes out into speech and action, so far as external restraints do not inhibit him, those restraints being fear of the law, and fear of the loss of reputation, position, gain, or life. From all this it is now evident that 'you shall not covet' means that one must take care to prevent evils from becoming present in the will and consequently going out of it.

[4] The fact that 'covetousness' is a craving or lusting on the part of the will, and so of the heart, is also clear from the Lord's words in Matthew,

You have heard that it was said to those of old, You shall not commit adultery. But I say to you that if anyone looks at a woman ¹ so that he lusts after her he has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28.

'Lusting for' is used here to mean desiring in the will, and - but for the fears acting as external restraints - also doing. This is why it says that one who looks at a woman so that he lusts after her has committed adultery with her in his heart.

[5] Lusting after what is evil is also meant by 'the right eye causing one to stumble', and lusting after what is false by 'the right hand causing one to stumble' in the Lord's words, again in Matthew,

If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it away from you; for it will be better for you that one of your members perish, than that your whole body be cast into gehenna. And if your right hand causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away from you; for it will be better for you that one of your members perish, than that your whole body be cast into gehenna. Matthew 5:29-30.

From these words the Lord's way of saying things is again clear. That is to say, He was speaking from the Divine, as in every other place in the Word, in such a way that He expressed inward and heavenly matters through outward or natural ones in accordance with correspondences. In this instance He expressed an affection for evil or lusting after it by 'the right eye causing one to stumble', and an affection for falsity or lusting after it by 'the right hand causing one to stumble'. For the eye corresponds to faith, the left eye to the truth of faith, and the right eye to the good of faith, or in the contrary sense to the evil of faith, so that 'the right eye causing one to stumble' corresponds to lusting after what is evil, 4403-4421, 4523-4534. But the hand corresponds to the power that truth possesses, the right hand to the power of truth coming from good, or in the contrary sense the power of falsity coming from evil, so that 'the right hand causing one to stumble' corresponds to a lusting after it, 3091, 4931-4937, 8281. 'Gehenna' is the hell of lusts, cravings, or covetousness. Anyone may see that here 'the right eye' was not used to mean the right eye or that it was to be plucked out; also that 'the right hand' was not used to mean the right hand or that it was to be cut off, but that something other was meant. What this is cannot be known unless one knows what is really meant by 'the eye', in particular by 'the right eye', also what is meant by 'the hand', and in particular by 'the right hand', as well as what 'causing to stumble' really means. Nor can the meaning of these expressions be known except from the internal sense.

[6] Lusts, cravings, or covetous desires are what spring from an evil will, thus from a heart that is such; and according to the Lord's words in Matthew 15:19, murders, adulteries, ravishments, thefts, false witness, blasphemies come out of the heart or will, that is, the kinds of evils contained in the preceding commandments of the Decalogue. In all this lies the reason for saying that this - 'you must not covet the things which are your neighbour's' - means that one must take care to prevent the evils contained in the ''receding commandments from becoming present in the will and consequently going out of it. The reason why 'you shall not covet the things which are your neighbour's' also means that one must be on one's guard against self-love and love of the world is that all the evils composing covetousness well up from those loves as their source, see 2045, 7178, 7255, 7366 7377, 7488, 8318, 8678.

Footnotes:

395. Verse 11. And white robes were given to every one of them, signifies Divine truth from the Lord with them, and protection. This is evident from the signification of "a white robe" as being Divine truth from the Lord, for "robe" signifies truth in general, because it is a general covering; and "white" is predicated of truths which are from the Lord; for whiteness pertains to light, and the light proceeding from the Lord as a sun is in its essence Divine truth. That "white robes were given to everyone of them" signifies also protection, will be told further on; but let it first be told why "a white robe" signifies Divine truth from the Lord. All spirits and angels are clothed according to their intelligence, or according to their reception of truth in the life, this constituting intelligence; for the light of their intelligence is formed into garments, and when these are thus formed they do not merely appear as garments, but they also are garments. For all things that exist in the spiritual world, and appear before the eyes of those there, exist from the light and heat that proceed from the Lord as a sun; from that origin have been created and formed not only all things in the spiritual world, but also all things in the natural world; for the natural world exists and subsists by means of the spiritual world from the Lord. From this it can be seen that the appearances that exist in heaven before the angels are altogether real; in like manner also the garments. As spirits and angels are clothed according to intelligence, and all intelligence is of truth, and angelic intelligence is of Divine truth, so they are clothed according to truths; this is why "garments" signify truths; "the garments" that are next to the body, that is, the inner garments, signify interior truths; but the garments that are outside of these and encompass them, signify exterior truths; therefore "a robe," "a mantle," and "a cloak," which are general coverings, signify truths in general, and "a white robe" Divine truth in general, which they have from the Lord. (But see what has been shown respecting The Garments with which Angels are Clothed, in the work on Heaven and Hell 177-182; and what has been said above about the signification of garments, n. 64-65, 195, 271.)

[2] "There were given to those who were under the altar white robes" signifies also protection by the Lord, because "the white robes" given to them represented the presence about them of the Lord with Divine truth; and by means of Divine truth the Lord protects His own, for He surrounds them with a sphere of light, from which they have white robes; and when encompassed by this sphere they can no longer be infested by evil spirits; for, as said above, they were infested by evil spirits, and were therefore hidden by the Lord. This also takes place with those who are elevated by the Lord into heaven. They are then clothed with white garments, which is an indication that they are in Divine truth, and thus in safety. But respecting those who were clothed in white robes more will be shown in the explanation of the following chapter (Revelation 7:9, 13-17).

[3] That "robe," "mantle," and "cloak" signify Divine truth in general can be seen also from the following passages. In Zechariah:

The prophets shall be ashamed every man of his vision which he hath prophesied; neither shall they wear a mantle of hair to dissemble (Zechariah 13:4).

"Prophets" signify those who teach truths from the Word, and in an abstract sense, the truths of doctrine from the Word; and because of this signification of "prophets" they were clothed with a mantle of hair, "the mantle of hair" signifying Divine truth in ultimates, which is Divine truth in general, for the ultimate contains all things interior; "hair," too, signifies the ultimate. This is why:

Elijah, from his mantle, was called a hairy man (2 Kings 1:7-8);

And John the Baptist, who was as Elijah by reason of a like representation, had a garment of camel's hair (Matthew 3:4).

This makes clear the signification of "the prophets shall not wear a mantle of hair to dissemble," namely, that they shall not declare truths to be falsities, and falsities to be truths; this is what is signified by "dissembling."

[4] Because Elijah represented the Lord in relation to the Word, which is the doctrine of truth itself, and Elisha continued the representation, and because "mantle" signified Divine truth in general, which is the Word in ultimates, so the mantle divided the waters of Jordan, according to the following in the books of the Kings:

When Elijah found Elisha he cast his mantle upon him (1 Kings 19:19).

Elijah took his mantle, and wrapped it together, and smote the waters of Jordan, and they were divided hither and thither, and they two passed over on the dry ground (2 Kings 2:8).

Elisha seeing when Elijah was carried up by a whirlwind into heaven, took up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him, and went back, and stood by the bank of Jordan; and he took that mantle and smote the waters; and they were divided hither and thither, and he passed over (2 Kings 2:12-14).

"Elijah's casting his mantle upon Elisha" signified the transference to Elisha of the representation of the Lord in relation to the Word; and that "the mantle fell from Elijah when he was taken away, and was taken up by Elisha," signified that this representation was then transferred to Elisha, for Elijah and Elisha represented the Lord in relation to the Word, and they were clothed according to what they represented, "the mantle" signifying the Word in which is Divine truth in general, or Divine truth in the whole complex. "The dividing of the waters of Jordan by Elijah's mantle," first by Elijah and afterwards by Elisha, signified the power of Divine truth in ultimates; "the waters of Jordan" signifying, moreover, the first truths through which there is introduction into the church, and these first truths are such as are in the ultimates of the Word. From this, too, it can be seen that "a mantle" and "a robe" signify Divine truth in general. (That "Elijah" represented the Lord in relation to the Word, so, too, "Elisha," see Arcana Coelestia 2762, 5247. That the ultimate contains the interior things, and thus signifies all things in general, n. 634, 6239, 6465, 9215, 9216, 9828; that thus strength and power are in ultimates, n. 9836; that "Jordan" signifies the entrance into the church, and thus "the waters of Jordan" signify the first truths through which there is entrance, n. 1585, 4255; and that "waters" mean truths, see above, n. 71.) First truths are also ultimate truths, such as are in the sense of the letter of the Word, for through these entrance is effected, for these are first learned, and in them are all interior things which constitute the internal sense of the Word.

[5] One who does not know what "robe" or "mantle" signifies, does not know what "cloak" signifies, for a cloak, as well as a mantle, was a general garment, encompassing the tunic or inner garment, therefore it has a like signification. Neither does he know what was signified by Saul's rending the skirt of Samuel's cloak; by David's cutting off the skirt of Saul's cloak; by Jonathan's giving David his cloak and garments; and by kings' daughters being arrayed in cloaks of various colors; neither does he know the meaning of many other passages in which cloaks are mentioned in the Word. Of Saul's rending the skirt of Samuel's cloak, we read:

Samuel turned to go away, but he laid hold upon the skirt of his cloak and it was rent. And Samuel said, Jehovah hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to thy companion, who is better than thou (1 Samuel 15:27-28).

The words of Samuel make clear that "the rending of the skirt of the cloak" signified the rending of the kingdom from Saul, for he said after it was done, "Jehovah hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day," "a king" and "his kingdom" signifying the Divine truth of the church, and "the skirt of a cloak" signifying Divine truth in ultimates, that is, all Divine truth in general; for the kings that were over the sons of Israel represented the Lord in relation to Divine truth, and their kingdom signified the church in relation to Divine truth; therefore this historical fact signifies that king Saul was such that he could no longer represent the Lord, and that the representation of the church would perish if the kingdom were not rent from him. (That "kings" represented the Lord in relation to Divine truth, and thus "a kingdom" signified the church in relation to Divine truth, see above, n. 29, 31.)

[6] The same is signified by David's cutting off the skirt of Saul's cloak, of which we read:

David entered into the cave where Saul was, and cut off the skirt of his cloak, and when he afterwards showed it to Saul, Saul said, Now I know that thou shalt reign, and the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thy hand (1 Samuel 24:3-5, 11, 20).

This was done by David of Divine Providence, that the like might be represented as above, "the skirt of the cloak," and "King Saul and his kingdom," having the like meaning as above.

[7] That Jonathan the son of Saul stripped himself of his cloak and his garments, and gave them to David, of which we read as follows, has a like signification:

Jonathan stripped off the cloak that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, and even his sword and his bow and even to his girdle (1 Samuel 18:4).

This signified that Jonathan, the heir of the kingdom, transferred all his right to David; for all the things that Jonathan gave to David were representative of the kingdom, that is, of the Divine truth of the church, which Saul represented; for as was said above, all the kings who were over the sons of Israel represented the Lord in relation to Divine truth, and their kingdom represented the church in relation to Divine truth.

[8] Because "cloaks" and "robes" signify Divine truth in general:

The king's daughters that were virgins were clad in robes of diverse colors (2 Samuel 13:18).

"The king's daughters that were virgins" signified the affections of truth, and thus the church, as can be seen from a thousand passages in the Word in which "the king's daughter," "the daughter of Zion," "the daughter of Jerusalem," also "the virgin of Zion," and "the virgin of Jerusalem" are mentioned; therefore "the king's daughters" represented also the truths of that affection by their garments, and in general by their robes, which, were therefore, variegated with diverse colors. So also truths from good, or truths from affection, are represented by the garments of the virgins in heaven; which truths are more fully described by:

The garments of the king's daughter (Psalms 45:9-10, 13-14).

[9] As mourning in the Ancient Churches signified spiritual mourning, which is from the deprivation of truth, they represented this in their mourning, then by rending their mantles or cloaks, as is evident in Job:

When Job had lost all things, then he arose, rent his mantle, and said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return (Job 1:20-21).

Job's three friends, when they saw him, wept and rent their cloaks (Job 2:12).

(That "rending the garments" was a representative of mourning because of truth injured or destroyed, see Arcana Coelestia 4763.) And again in Ezekiel:

All the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and shall put away their cloaks and strip off their broidered garments; they shall be clothed with terrors; they shall sit upon the earth (Ezekiel 26:16).

This is said of Tyre, which signifies the church in respect to the knowledges of truth and good, here the church where these are destroyed. That there are no longer any truths through which there can be a church, is signified by "all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones;" "the princes of the sea" meaning true primary knowledges [scientifica]; "to come down from thrones" signifying that these have been destroyed, and consequently that there is no intelligence. The like is signified by "they shall cast away their cloaks and strip off their broidered garments," "cloaks" meaning truths in general, and "broidered garments" the knowledges of truth; the consequent damnation is signified by "they shall be clothed with terrors; they shall sit upon the earth."

[10] In Micah:

My people have set up an enemy for themselves for the sake of a garment; ye strip off the mantle from them that pass by securely, returning from war (Micah 2:8).

These words do not mean that "the sons of Israel have set up an enemy for the sake of a garment, and have stripped off the mantle from those that pass by securely;" but they mean that they held as enemies those who spoke truths, and deprived of all truth those who had lived well and had shaken off falsities, "garment" meaning truth, "mantle" all truth because it means truth in general; "to pass by securely" means to live well; "men returning from war" mean those who have shaken off falsities, "war" meaning the combat of truth against falsity. Who cannot see that this is the spiritual meaning of the Word; and not that the people of Israel held some one as an enemy for the sake of a garment, or stripped off the mantle from those who passed by?

[11] In Matthew:

The scribes and Pharisees do all their works that they may be seen of men, and make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their robes (Matthew 23:5).

This the scribes and Pharisees did, but it also represented and signified that they talked about, and applied to life and to their traditions many things from the ultimates of the Word, in order that they might appear holy and learned. "Their phylacteries which they make broad," signify goods in outward form, for "phylacteries" were worn upon the hands, and "hands" signify deeds, because these are done by the hands; "the borders of their robes which they enlarge," signify external truths; external truths are those that are in the ultimate sense of the letter; "robes" mean truths in general, and "borders" their ultimates. (That "borders of robes" signify such truths, see Arcana Coelestia 9917.)

[12] In Isaiah:

I will rejoice in Jehovah, my soul shall exult in my God; for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness (Isaiah 61:10).

"To rejoice in Jehovah" signifies to rejoice in Divine good; "to exult in God" signifies to exult in Divine truth; for the Lord is called "Jehovah" from Divine good, and "God" from Divine truth, and from these is all spiritual joy. "To clothe with the garments of salvation" signifies to instruct and to gift with truths; and "to cover with the robe of righteousness" signifies to fill with every truth from good, "robe" meaning all truth, because it means truth in general, and "righteousness" is predicated of good.

[13] In the same:

He put on the garments of vengeance, and covered Himself with zeal as with a robe (Isaiah 59:17).

This is said of the Lord and of His combat with the hells; for when He was in the world He reduced all things in the hells and in the heavens to order, and this by Divine truth from Divine love. "Garments of vengeance" signify the truths by which, and "zeal as a robe" the Divine love from which this was done; "robe" is mentioned to signify that it was done through Divine truths from Divine love. (But what "the robe of the ephod" signifies, in which Aaron was arrayed, and upon the borders of which were pomegranates and bells, of which in Exodus 28:31-35 and Leviticus 8:7, see Arcana Coelestia 9910-9928).