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:

81. FROM THE ARCANA COELESTIA.

The loves of self and of the world.

As love to the Lord and love towards the neighbor, or charity, constitute heaven, so the love of self and the love of the world, where they reign constitute hell; and therefore these loves are opposites (n. 2041, 3610, 4225, 4776, 6210, 7366, 7369, 7489, 7490, 8232, 8678, 10455, 10741-10743, 10745). All evils proceed from the loves of self and of the world (n. 1307-1308, 1321, 1594, 1691, 3413, 7255, 7376, 7488-7489, 8318, 9335, 9348, 10038, 10742). From the loves of self and of the world proceed contempt of others, enmity, hatred, revenge, cruelty, and deceit, consequently all evil and all wickedness (n. 6667, 7372-7374, 9348, 10038, 10742). These loves rush on in proportion as the reins are given them, and the love of self aspires to the throne of God (n. 7375, 8678). The love of self and the love of the world are destructive of human society and of heavenly order (n. 2045, 2057). The human race on account of those loves has formed governments, and has subjected itself to their rule for the sake of protection (n. 7364, 10160, 10814). Where those loves reign, the good of love and the good of faith are either rejected, suffocated, or perverted (n. 2041, 7491-7492, 7643, 8487, 10455, 10743). In these loves there is not life, but spiritual death (n. 7494, 10731, 10741). The quality of these loves described (n. 1505, 2219, 2363-2364, 2444, 4221, 4227, 4948-4949, 5721, 7366-7377, 8678). All cupidity and lust proceed from the loves of self and of the world (n. 1668, 8910).

The loves of self and of the world may serve as means, but not at all for an end (n. 7377, 7819-7820). When man is reformed, those loves are inverted, and serve as means, and not as ends, thus that they are as the soles of the feet, and not as the head (n. 8995, 9210). With those who are in the loves of self and of the world, there is no internal, but an external without an internal; because the internal is shut towards heaven, but the external is open towards the world (n. 10396, 10400, 10409, 10411, 10422, 10429). They who are in the loves of self and of the world do not know what charity, conscience, and the life of heaven are (n. 7490). So far as a man is in the loves of self and of the world, so far he does not receive the good and truth of faith which continually flows in with man from the Lord (n. 7491).

They who are in the loves of self and the world are not bound by internal, but by external restraints; and on the removal thereof they rush into every wickedness (n. 10744-10746). All in the spiritual world turn themselves according to their loves; they who are in love to the Lord and in love towards the neighbor, to the Lord; but those who are in the love of self and in the love of the world, turn their backs on the Lord (n. 10130, 10189, 10420, 10742). The quality of the worship in which the love of self prevails (n. 1304, 1306-1308, 1321-1322). The Lord rules the world by means of the evil, in leading them by their own loves, which have relation to the loves of self and the world (n. 6481, 6495). The evil as well as the good can discharge the duties of offices, and perform uses and goods, because they regard honors and gain as their rewards, for the sake of which they act in an external form like the good (n. 6481, 6495).

All who are in the hells are in evils and thence in falsities, and are in the loves of self and the world, see the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 551-565).

585. And repented not of the works of their hands, signifies who did not actually turn themselves away from such things as are from self [proprium]. This is evident from the signification of "to repent," as being to turn oneself away actually from evil (of which presently) and from the signification of "the works of their hands," as being such things as man thinks, wills, and does, from self [proprium]. That this is the signification of "the works of their hands," will appear from the passages in the Word that follow, also from this, that works are things of the will, and of the understanding therefrom, or of love and of faith therefrom (See above, n. 98); also that "hands" signify power, and "their hands" self-power, thus whatever with man comes forth from self.

[2] In respect to man's self it is to be known that it is nothing but evil and falsity therefrom; the voluntary self [proprium voluntarium] is evil, and the intellectual self therefrom [proprium intellectuale] is falsity. This self man derives mainly from parents, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers, in a long series back, so that at length the hereditary, which is his self, is nothing but evil gradually heaped up and condensed. For every man is born into two diabolical loves, the love of self and the love of the world, from which loves all evils and all falsities therefrom pour forth as from their own fountains; and as man is born into these loves he is also born into evils of every kind (respecting which more may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n.65-83).

[3] Because man, in respect to his self is such, means have been given by the Divine mercy of the Lord, by which man can be withdrawn from his self; these means are given in the Word; and when man cooperates with these means, that is, when he thinks and speaks, wills and acts, from the Divine Word, he is kept by the Lord in things Divine, and is thus withheld from self; and when this continues there is formed with man by the Lord as it were a new self, both voluntary and intellectual, which is wholly separated from man's self; thus man becomes as it were created anew, and this is what is called his reformation and regeneration by truths from the Word, and by a life according to them. (Respecting this see also The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, in the article on Remission of Sins, n.159-172; and on Regeneration, n. 173-186.) To repent is to actually turn oneself away from evils, because every man is such as his life is, and the life of man consists mainly in willing and consequent doing; and from this it follows that repentance which is merely of the thought and of the lips, and not at the same time of the will and of action therefrom, is not repentance, for then the life remains the same afterwards as it was before. This makes evident that to repent is to actually turn oneself away from evils, and to enter upon a new life (on this see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n.159-172).

[4] That "the works of the hands" signify such things as man thinks, wills, and does from self, can be seen from the following passages in the Word. In Jeremiah:

Provoke Me not to anger by the work of your hands, that I may not do evil to you; yet ye have not hearkened unto Me, that ye might provoke Me to anger by the work of your hands, for evil to you. Many nations and great kings shall make them to serve; that I may recompense them according to their work and according to the doing of their hands (Jeremiah 25:6, 7, 14).

"The work and doing of the hands" means in the nearest sense their molten images and idols; but in the spiritual sense the "work of the hands" signifies all the evil and falsity that are from self-love and self-intelligence. "Molten images and idols" which are called "the work of the hands" have a like signification, as will be seen in what follows, where the signification of "idols" is given. As man's self [proprium] is nothing but evil, thus is opposed to the Divine, it is said, "Provoke Me not to anger by the work of your hands, that I may not do evil to you;" "to provoke God to anger" signifies to be opposed to Him, which is the source of evil to man; and because all evils and falsities are from man's self [proprium], it is said, "Many nations and great kings make them to serve," which signifies that evils from which are falsities, and falsities from which are evils, will take possession of them; "many nations" meaning evils from which are falsities, and "great kings" falsities from which are evils.

[5] In the same:

The sons of Israel have provoked Me to anger by the work of their hands (Jeremiah 32:30).

And in the same:

Ye provoke Me to anger by the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt (4 Jeremiah 44:8).

"The works of their hands" mean here in the spiritual sense worship from falsities of doctrine which are from self-intelligence; such worship is signified by "burning incense to other gods in the land of Egypt;" for "to burn incense" signifies worship; "other gods" signify falsities of doctrine, and the "land of Egypt" signifies the natural in which man's self [proprium] has its seat, and thus whence self-intelligence comes. Thus is this Word understood in heaven.

[6] In the same:

I will speak with them My judgments upon all their wickedness, that they have forsaken Me and have burned incense to other gods, and have bowed themselves down to the works of their own hands (Jeremiah 1:16).

Here also "to burn incense to other gods" signifies worship from the falsities of doctrine, and "to bow themselves down to the works of their own hands" signifies worship from such things as are from self-intelligence; that this is from self [proprium] and not from the Divine is signified by "that they have forsaken Me."

[7] In Isaiah:

In that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall see the Holy One of Israel, and he shall not look to the altars, the work of his hands, and he shall not see that which his fingers have made (Isaiah 17:7, 8).

This is said of the Lord's coming and of a new church at that time. "The Maker to whom a man shall then look" means the Lord in relation to Divine good, and "the Holy One of Israel whom his eyes shall see" means the Lord in relation to Divine truth. The "altars, which are the work of hands, and which the fingers have made, to which a man shall not look," signify worship from evils and the consequent falsities of doctrine that are from self-intelligence. So these words mean that everything of doctrine will be from the Lord and not from man's self [proprium], which is the case when man is in the spiritual affection of truth, that is, when he loves truth itself because it is truth, and not for the most part because it gives him reputation and a name.

[8] In the same:

Jehovah gave the gods of the kings of Assyria to the fire; for they were no gods, but the work of man's hands, wood and stone (Isaiah 37:19).

"The gods of the kings of Assyria" signify the reasonings from falsities and evils, which are in accord with man's self [proprium]; wherefore they are called "the work of man's hands;" "wood and stone," that is, idols of wood and stone, signify the evils and falsities of religion and of doctrine that are from self [proprium].

[9] In the same:

In that day they shall reject everyone the idols of his silver and the idols of his gold, which your hands have made for you, a sin; and then shall the Assyrian fall (Isaiah 31:7, 8).

This describes the establishment of the church; and the "idols of silver and the idols of gold, which in that day they shall reject" signify the falsities and evils of religion and of worship which they call truths and goods; and because the falsities and evils of religion and of worship are from self-intelligence it is said, "which your hands have made for you;" that there shall then be no reasonings from such things is signified by "then shall the Assyrian fall."

[10] In Jeremiah:

Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman and of the hands of the refiner; his ¹ garment is hyacinthine and purple; they are all the work of the wise (Jeremiah 10:9).

This describes the falsity and evil of religion and of worship which are confirmed by the sense of the letter of the Word. "Silver spread into plates from Tarshish" signifies the truths of the Word in that sense; and "gold from Uphaz" signifies the good of the Word in that sense; and because those falsities and evils are from self-intelligence they are called "the work of the workman and of the hands of the refiner;" the truth of good also and the good of truth from the sense of the letter of the Word, by which the falsities of evil and the evils of falsity, which are from self-intelligence, are confirmed and as it were invested, are signified by "his garment is hyacinthine and purple, they are all the work of the wise."

[11] Moreover, the work of the workman, the artificer, and the mechanic," signifies in the Word whatever of doctrine, religion, and worship is from self-intelligence. This is why the altar, and also the temple, were built, by command, of whole stones, and not hewn by any workman or artificer. Respecting the altar it is thus said in Moses:

If thou makest to Me an altar of stones thou shalt not build it of hewn stones, for if thou move a tool upon it thou wilt profane it (Exodus 20:25).

And in Joshua:

Joshua built an altar unto the God of Israel in Mount Ebal, an altar of whole stones, on which no one had moved iron (Joshua 8:30, 31).

And respecting the temple, in the first book of Kings:

The temple at Jerusalem was built of stone, whole as it was brought; for there was neither hammer, nor axe, nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was building (1 Kings 6:7).

The altar, and afterwards the temple, were the chief representatives of the Lord in relation to Divine good and Divine truth, therefore "the stones of which they were built" signified the truths of doctrine, of religion and of worship; "stones" signifying in the Word truths. That nothing of self-intelligence must approach the truths of doctrine and thus worship, and consequently be in it, was represented by the stones of which the temple and the altar were built, being whole, and not hewn; for such is the signification of "the work of the workman and of the artificer;" "tool," also "hammer" and "axe" and "iron," in general, signify truth in its ultimate, and such truth is falsified chiefly by man's self, for this truth is the same as the truth of the sense of the letter of the Word.

[12] Thus much respecting the signification of "the works of man's hands;" but where "works of the hands" are attributed in the Word to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, they signify the reformed or regenerated man, also the church, and in particular the doctrine of truth and good of the church. This is the signification of "the works of the hands" in the following passages. In David:

The works of the hands of Jehovah are verity and judgment (Psalms 111:7).

In the same:

Jehovah will perfect for me; O Jehovah, Thy mercy is forever; neglect not the works of Thine own hands (Psalms 138:8).

In Isaiah:

Thy people shall be all righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the shoot of My plants, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified (Isaiah 60:21).

In the same:

O Jehovah, Thou art our Father; we are the clay and Thou our Potter; and we all are the work of Thy hands (Isaiah 64:8).

In the same:

Woe unto him that striveth with his Former! A potsherd with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to its potter, What makest thou? or thy work, Hath he no hands? Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and thy ² Former, They have asked Me signs respecting My sons, and respecting the work of My hands they command Me (Isaiah 45:9, 11).

That here "Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, the Former," means the Lord, is evident from what follows in verse 13; and "the work of His hands" means a man regenerated by Him, thus the man of the church.

[13] In the same:

Jehovah of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance (Isaiah 19:25).

"Egypt" here signifies the natural, "Assyria" the rational, and "Israel" the spiritual; and "Assyria" is called "the work of Jehovah's hands" because the rational is what is reformed in man, for it is the rational that receives truths and goods, and from this the natural; the spiritual is what regenerates, that is, the Lord by spiritual influx; in a word, the rational is the medium between the spiritual and the natural, and the spiritual, which regenerates, flows in through the rational into the natural, and thus the natural is regenerated. In Moses:

Bless, O Jehovah, his strength, and accept the work of his hands (Deuteronomy 33:11).

This is said of Levi, who signifies the good of charity, and in the highest sense the Lord in respect to that good; reformation by means of it is meant by "the work of his hands."

Footnotes: