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:

7378. Exodus 8 ¹

1. And Jehovah said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out your hand with your rod over the rivers, over the streams, and over the pools, and cause frogs to rise up onto the land of Egypt.

2. And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and frogs rose up and covered the land of Egypt.

3. And the magicians of Egypt did the same with their enchantments, and they caused frogs to rise up onto the land of Egypt.

4. And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, Plead with Jehovah to remove the frogs from me, and from my people; and I will send the people away to sacrifice to Jehovah.

5. And Moses said to Pharaoh, Have honour over me. Till when shall I plead for you, and for your servants, and for your people, so as the frogs will be eliminated from you, and from your houses, and survive only in the river?

6. And he said, Until tomorrow. And he said, Let it be according to your word, so that you may know that there is none like Jehovah our God.

7. And the frogs will be removed from you, and from your houses, and from your servants, and from your people, and survive only in the river.

8. And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh; and Moses cried out to Jehovah about ² the frogs which He had brought on Pharaoh.

9. And Jehovah did according to the word of Moses; and the frogs died out of the houses, out of the courtyards, and out of the fields.

10. And they gathered them into heaps [upon] heaps; and the land stank.

11. And Pharaoh saw that he could breathe again, ³ and he made his heart stubborn, and did not hear ⁴ them, as Jehovah had spoken.

12. And Jehovah said to Moses, Say to Aaron, Stretch out your rod and strike the dust of the land, and it will then be lice in all the land of Egypt.

13. And they did so; and Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod and struck the dust of the land, and there were lice on man and on beast. All the dust of the land became lice in the whole land of Egypt.

14. And the magicians did the same with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not; and there were lice on man and on beast.

15. And the magicians said to Pharaoh, The finger of God is this. And Pharaoh's heart was unyielding, and he did not hear ⁴ them, as Jehovah had spoken.

16. And Jehovah said to Moses, Rise up in the morning early to stand before Pharaoh; behold, he goes out to the water. And you are to say to him, Thus says Jehovah, Send My people away and let them serve Me.

17. For if you do not send My people away, behold, I send onto you, and onto your servants, and onto your people, and into your houses, noxious flying insects; and the houses of the Egyptians will be full of the noxious flying insects, and also the land on which they are.

18. And I will set apart on that day the land of Goshen, on which My people stand, so that the noxious flying insects are not there; to the end that you may know that I am Jehovah in the midst of the land.

19. And I will place redemption between My people and your people; by tomorrow will this sign be.

20. And Jehovah did so; and extremely noxious flying insects came to the house of Pharaoh, and to the houses of his servants, and into all the land of Egypt. The land was ruined by the presence of the noxious flying insects.

21. And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, Go, sacrifice to your God in the land.

22. And Moses said, It is ill-advised to do so, for we would be sacrificing the abomination of the Egyptians to Jehovah our God. Behold, should we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us?

23. We will go a way of three days ⁵ into the wilderness, and sacrifice to Jehovah our God, as He has said to us.

24. And Pharaoh said, I will send you away to sacrifice to Jehovah your God in the wilderness; only you must certainly not go far away. Plead for me.

25. And Moses said, Behold, I go out from you, and I will plead with Jehovah to remove the noxious flying insects from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people, tomorrow; only do not let Pharaoh act deceitfully again in not sending the people away to sacrifice to Jehovah.

26. And Moses went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with Jehovah.

27. And Jehovah did according to the word of Moses; and He removed the noxious flying insects from Pharaoh, from his servants, and from his people. Not one was left.

28. And Pharaoh made his heart stubborn this time also, and did not send the people away.

CONTENTS

This chapter continues to deal in the internal sense with the vastation of those steeped in falsities who molest the upright in the next life. The first two stages of vastation were described in the previous chapter, and also the third stage partly, a stage in which they did nothing else than use reasonings arising from utter falsities - reasonings arising from utter falsities being meant by the frogs. This chapter continues to deal with these, and then goes on to deal with the fourth and fifth stages of the vastation of those steeped in falsities who molest the upright in the next life. The fourth stage was when they were subjected to evils which ruined all good present with them, including whatever natural good they had - these evils being meant by the lice produced from the dust of the land. The fifth stage was when they were subjected to the falsities arising from those evils, which ruined all truth - these falsities being meant by the noxious flying insects.

Footnotes: