9062. And if he shall knock out his manservant’s tooth, or his maidservant’s tooth. That this signifies if he shall destroy truth or the affection of it in the sensuous man, is evident from the signification of “tooth,” as being the exterior intellectual, and consequently truth in the natural man (of which above, n. 9052), here truth in the ultimate of the natural, that is, in the sensuous, because it is said of a manservant and of a maidservant; from the signification of a “maidservant,” as being the affection of this truth (of which also above, n. 9059); and from the signification of “knocking out,” as being to destroy. (What the sensuous is, and what is its quality, see n. 4009, 5077, 5079, 5084, 5089, 5091, 5125, 5128, 5580, 5767, 6183, 6201, 6310, 6311, 6313, 6315, 6316, 6564, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6948, 6949, 7693)

6564. Because they requited evil to thee. That this signifies because they had turned away from the good and truth which flow in, is evident from the signification of “evil,” as being a turning away (see n. 5746). That it denotes from the good and truth which flow in, is signified by “they requited to thee,” for “Joseph” is the celestial, and internal good (see n. 5805, 5826, 5827, 5869, 5877), through which good and truth flow in from the Lord. As regards the influx through the internal, the case is this. The Lord continually flows in through man’s internal with good and truth, good giving life and its heat, which is love, and truth giving enlightenment and its light, which is faith. But when this influx advances further, namely, into the exteriors, with the evil it is resisted and rejected, or is perverted or stifled; and then according to the rejection, perversion, or stifling, the interiors are closed, an entrance only remaining open here and there as through chinks round about; and from this there remains to the man the capacity to think and will, but against truth and good. This closing penetrates toward the exteriors more and more, according to the life of evil, and the consequent persuasion of falsity, and this down to the sensuous degree, from which then comes the thought. Pleasures and cravings then carry everything off. In such a state are those who are in the hells; for all considerations of what is honorable and good for the sake of gain, honor, and reputation, are taken away from the evil who come into the other life, and then they are in what is sensuous.