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:

3494. 'And he called Esau his elder son' means the affection for natural good, or the good of life. This is clear from the representation of 'Esau' as the Divine Good of the Natural, dealt with in 3300, 3302, 3322. And because the good of the natural is that which manifests itself in affection and life, it is accordingly the affection for natural good, or the good of life, that 'Esau' represents here. The affection for good in the natural and consequently the good of life is that which is called 'the elder son', whereas the affection for truth and consequently the doctrine of truth is that which is called 'the younger son'. The fact that the affection for good and consequently the good of life is the elder son, that is, the firstborn, is quite evident from the consideration that good reigns in anyone's children at first. Indeed they are in a state of innocence, and a state of love towards their parents or nursemaid, and a state of mutual charity towards playmates, so that good is the firstborn with everyone. This good which is fostered in this state within a person when he is a small child remains with him, for whatever is instilled in infancy acquires life to itself; and because it remains it becomes the good of life. Indeed if a person were devoid of such good as he has had with him from earliest childhood he would not be human but would be more savage than any wild animal of the forest. Not that its presence is apparent, for everything that has been instilled in earliest childhood inevitably appears to be something natural, as is quite evident from being able to walk, from all our other bodily movements, and from the right and proper ways to behave among other people; also from being able to talk, and from so many other abilities. From this it may be seen that good is 'the elder son', that is, the firstborn, and truth therefore 'the younger son', or one born later, for truth is not learned until childhood, adolescent, and adult years are reached.

[2] Each of them, good and truth in the natural or external man, is 'a son', that is to say, a son of the rational or internal man, for whatever comes into being in the natural or external man flows in from the rational or internal man, and from there comes into being and is born. That which does not come into being and is not born from there is not living and human, but is like what you might call body and senses without a soul. Hence both good and truth are called 'sons', and indeed sons of the rational. Yet it is not the rational that produces and gives birth to the natural, but an influx by way of the rational into the natural, an influx coming from the Lord. His 'sons' therefore are all the young children who are born, and after that time whenever they become wise. Also, insofar as the latter are at that time 'young children' - that is, insofar as the innocence of a young child, the love of a child for its parent (who is now the Lord), and mutual charity towards playmates (who are now the neighbour) exist in them, they are adopted by the Lord as 'sons'.