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.

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6524. 'The elders of his house' means the things that would accord with good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the elders' as the chief characteristics of wisdom, thus things that accord with good, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'house' as good, dealt with in 2559, 3652, 3720, 4982. The reason why 'elders' means the chief characteristics of wisdom is that in the Word 'old people' means those who are wise, and - in a sense detached from persons - wisdom. Since 'the twelve tribes of Israel' meant all truths and forms of good in their entirety, they had princes and also elders set over them. 'Princes' meant the leading truths constituting intelligence, and 'elders' the chief characteristics of wisdom, thus those of good.

[2] For the meaning of 'princes' as the leading truths constituting intelligence, see 1482, 2089, 5044. But as regards the meaning of 'elders' as the chief characteristics of wisdom, and of 'old people' as wisdom, this is evident from the following places: In David,

They will extol Jehovah in the congregation of the people, and in the assembly of the old they will praise Him. Psalms 107:32.

'The congregation of the people' stands for those who are ruled by truths constituting intelligence, since 'congregation' is used with reference to truths, 6355, as also is 'people', 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295, 3581; 'the assembly of the old' stands for those who are ruled by good, which belongs to wisdom since wisdom is concerned with life, thus with what is good, whereas intelligence is concerned with knowing, thus with what is true, 1555. In the same author,

I am wiser than the old, because I have kept Your commands. Psalms 119:100.

'The old' plainly stands for one who is wise. Likewise in Job,

In the old there is wisdom, in length of days intelligence. Job 12:12.

In Moses,

You shall rise before grey hair and respect the face of an old person. Leviticus 19:32.

This command was given because 'old people' represented wisdom.

[3] In John,

On the thrones I saw twenty-four elders seated, clad in white garments, who had on their heads crowns of gold. Revelation 4:4.

'Elders' stands for aspects of wisdom, thus of good. That these are meant by the elders is evident from the description of the elders - they sat on thrones, were clad in white garments, and had crowns of gold on their heads. 'Thrones' are truths constituting intelligence which are derived from good belonging to wisdom, 5313. 'White garments' has a similar meaning, 'garments' being truths, 1073, 4545, 4763, 5248, 5954, and 'white' that which has reference to truth, 3301, 5319. 'Crowns of gold on their heads' are forms of the good of wisdom; for 'gold' is the good of love, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, and 'head' is the celestial, the seat of wisdom, 4938, 4939, 5328, 6436. Those who are in the third or inmost heaven, thus who are nearest the Lord, are called the wise, whereas those in the middle or second heaven, thus who are not as near the Lord, are called intelligent.

[4] In the same book,

All the angels stood around the throne, and the elders, and the four living creatures. Revelation 7:11.

Again 'the elders' stands for aspects of wisdom, as it does in the following places: In Isaiah,

The boy will uplift himself against the old man, and the despised against the honourable. Isaiah 7:5.

In the same prophet,

Jehovah Zebaoth will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before His elders, glory. Isaiah 24:23.

In Jeremiah,

My priests and my elders breathed their last in the city, for they sought food for themselves, with which they would renew their soul. Lamentations 1:19.

In the same prophet,

Her king and her princes are among the nations; the law is no more. The elders of the daughter of Zion sit on the ground, they become silent. Lamentations 2:9-10.

In the same prophet,

They have ravished women in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah. Princes have been hung up by their hands, the faces of the old men have not been honoured, the elders have ceased from the gate. Lamentations 5:11-12, 14.

In Ezekiel,

Misery will come upon misery, and rumour will be upon rumour. Therefore they will seek a vision from the prophet, but the law has perished from the priest, and counsel from the elders. The king will mourn, and the prince will be wrapped in stupidity. Ezekiel 7:26-27.

In Zechariah,

Old men and women will again dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, and each one with his staff in his hand because of great age. ¹ Zechariah 8:4.

So that 'the elders' might represent things that constitute wisdom, some of Moses' spirit was taken and imparted to them, by which they prophesied, Numbers 11:16 and following verses.

In the contrary sense 'elders' stands for the things that are the opposites of the aspects of wisdom, Ezekiel 8:11-12.

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