7668. 'Go now, you young men, and serve Jehovah' means that those guided by truths that have been corroborated will be left alone, in order that they may worship the Lord. This is clear from the meaning of the command 'go' as the intimation that they will be left alone, as above in 7658; from the meaning of 'young men' as corroborated truths, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'serving Jehovah' as worshipping the Lord, as above in 7654, 7664. The reason why 'young men' means those guided by truths that have been corroborated is that by sons, boys, young men, men, and old men' are meant aspects of intelligence and wisdom in their true order. Such aspects instead of those male persons are understood in heaven; for those in heaven possess spiritual ideas which are such that images from the purely natural order or the world cannot enter them without being instantly sloughed off and transformed into the kinds of images that are more in keeping with the wisdom of heaven and with angelic thought. This is why 'sons, boys, young men, men, and old men' cannot in the spiritual sense mean those male persons, only corresponding spiritual realities, which are aspects of intelligence and wisdom. The fact that these are meant is plainly evident from the internal sense of the places in the Word where they are mentioned.

[2] In the Word 'young men' is used to mean those who have intelligence, or - on the level of abstract ideas on which angels think - intelligence itself. And since intelligence is meant by them, so is firmly established truth since this belongs to intelligence. Also the expression which is used here in the original language to denote young men is derived from strength and power, which truth receives from good, and so which firmly established truth receives. And this name is therefore applied to the Lord in Zechariah,

O sword, rise up against My shepherd, and against the (young) man, My neighbour. Strike the shepherd, and the sheep are scattered. Zechariah 13:7.

These words were spoken in reference to the Lord, see Matthew 26:31. And also in Jeremiah,

How long do you wander around, O estranged daughter? Jehovah has created a new thing on the earth, a woman has surrounded a (young) man. Jeremiah 31:22.

[3] Another word for 'young men in the original language stands for intelligence, and so for the truth that belongs to it, in Amos,

I have sent the pestilence upon you in the way of Egypt, I have killed your young men with the sword, along with captured horses. ¹ Amos 4:10.

'The way of Egypt' stands for perverted factual knowledge, young men who have been killed' for truths which have as a result been destroyed, and 'captured horses' for an understanding that has been led into error.

[4] In the same prophet,

They will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east; they will run to and fro to seek the Word of Jehovah, and will not find it. On that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint from thirst. Amos 8:12-13.

'The beautiful virgins' stands for the affection for truth, 'the young men' for intelligence, and 'fainting from thirst' for being deprived of truth; and this is why it says 'they will run to and fro to seek the Word of Jehovah, and will not find it'. The fact that neither beautiful virgins, nor young men, nor fainting because of thirst are meant here is self-evident.

In Jeremiah,

Death has come up through our windows, it has entered our palaces, cutting off the young child from the street, young men from the lanes. Jeremiah 9:11.

In the same prophet,

How is the city of glory not forsaken, the city of My joy? Therefore her young men will fall in her streets. Jeremiah 49:25-26; 50:30.

In the same prophet,

Hear now, all peoples, see my sorrow; my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity. Lamentations 1:18.

In these places 'young men' stands for the truths that belong to intelligence.

Voetnoten:

510. And as it were a great mountain burning with fire, signifies the love of self, and of self-intelligence therefrom. This is evident from the signification of "a mountain burning with fire," as being the love of self and the love of self-intelligence therefrom. This love is signified by such a mountain, because a "mountain" in the Word signifies love in both senses, namely heavenly love and infernal love (See above, n. 405); likewise "fire" (See also above, n. 504); and here the evil who are to be separated from the good and cast into hell are treated of, and with such every truth is turned by that love into falsity. This effect, arising from "casting that mountain into the sea," is described in what follows; for "that mountain cast into the sea, so that the third part of the sea became blood," signifies that everything in the natural man became falsity of evil. From this it can be seen that "a great mountain burning with fire" signifies the love of self and the love of self-intelligence therefrom. All self-intelligence is from the love of self.

[2] "Mountain" means love in both senses, because the angels of the third heaven, who are in celestial love, dwell upon mountains in the spiritual world; so when a "mountain" is mentioned, that heaven is meant, and according to the ideas of angelic thought, which are abstracted from persons and places, that which constitutes heaven is meant, that is, celestial love. But in the contrary sense "mountain" signifies the love of self, because they who are in the love of self have a constant desire to go up mountains, to make themselves equal to those who are in the third heaven. Because they dwell upon this in their fancy, it is also the object of their endeavor when they are out of the hells; this is why a "mountain" in the contrary sense signifies the love of self. In a word, those who are in the love of self are always aspiring after high things, so after death, when all the states of the love are changed into things correspondent, in their fancy they mount aloft, believing themselves, while in the fancy, to be upon high mountains, and yet bodily they are in the hells. This is why those who are of Babylon, who are in such love of self as to wish to rule not only over all the earth but also over the heavens, are called "mountains," and are said "to sit upon a mountain" and "to ascend above the heights of the cloud." As in Jeremiah:

Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, destroying the whole earth; and I will stretch out My hand against thee, to roll thee down from the rocks and make thee a mountain of burning (Jeremiah 51:25).

In Isaiah:

Thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend into the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; and I will sit on the mount of the congregation; I will ascend above the heights of the cloud; I will become like the Most High: yet thou shalt be cast down to hell (Isaiah 14:13-15).

This is said of Babylon.