8168. 'Leave us alone, and let us serve the Egyptians' means that they would not be drawn back from surrendering themselves. This is clear from the meaning of 'leaving us alone', when said with regard to molestations, as not preventing and not drawing back; and from the meaning of 'serving the Egyptians' as giving themselves up, like those who have been vanquished, to those who molest by means of falsities, thus that they would surrender themselves. The reason for the meaning of 'leaving us alone' - when addressed, in a state of molestations and also in a state of temptations, to the influx of God's truth, which 'Moses' represents - as not preventing and not drawing back is that two forces or powers are at work in them. One comes from the falsities cast by the hells into the external man, the other from the truths instilled by the Lord into the internal man, 8164. These two forces act one against the other. The falsities which are cast in by the hells derive their force and power from the self-love and love of the world that are within a person; but the truths which are instilled by the Lord derive their force and power from love towards the neighbour and love to the Lord. When a person is victorious the internal force and power is always prevalent, because it is Divine; and it does not allow the force or power the falsities possess to become too great for it to be repulsed. When therefore those two forces act the internal force from the Lord is constantly drawing the person back so to speak; it prevents falsities from dragging him down and his consequently going under. For it is a general rule that when two forces act in opposition to each other, one is drawing forward, the other back. In the spiritual world forces are affections belonging to different kinds of love; the instruments by means of which they act are truths, and in the contrary sense falsities.

8164. 'And they said to Moses' means the climax of the temptation, and despair. This is clear from the words that follow, for 'they said' includes them. The fact that the words which follow are words uttered in temptation when this has reached its climax and when there is despair is self-evident. The term 'despair' is used because this is usually the final phase or comes within the final phase of spiritual temptations, 1787, 2694, 5279, 5280, 7147, 7155, 7166. Since there are few at the present day who undergo spiritual temptations and therefore the nature of them is unknown, let something more be said about them. There are spiritual temptations or trials and there are natural temptations or trials. Spiritual temptations belong to the internal man, whereas natural trials belong to the external man. Spiritual temptations sometimes occur separately from natural trials, at other times together with them. They are natural trials when a person suffers in ways that affect his physical body, position in society, and wealth, in short his natural life, that is, the kinds of sufferings he undergoes when he is sick, unfortunate, persecuted, wrongly punished, and so on. Anxious feelings in such circumstances are what are meant by natural trials. But these trials contribute nothing whatever to the person's spiritual life; nor should they be called trials or temptations but miseries. For they arise as a result of harm done to his natural life, which is the life of self-love and love of the world. Criminals sometimes endure such miseries; and the more that they love self and the world, and so depend on these for their life, the greater is their misery and anguish.

[2] But spiritual temptations belong to the internal man; they are attacks made on his spiritual life. Anxious feelings in this case do not exist on account of any loss in their natural life, but on account of the loss of faith and charity, and consequently of salvation. Natural trials are often the means by which those spiritual temptations come about. For if a person is suffering natural trials - that is to say, sickness, sorrow, loss of wealth or position, and so on - and during them comes to think of the Lord's help, His Providence, and the state of the wicked, in that they boast and rejoice when the good suffer and endure various miseries and losses, then spiritual temptation is bound up with natural trial. Such was the Lord's final temptation, in Gethsemane, and when He endured the Cross, which was the severest of all. From all this one may see what natural trial is and what spiritual temptation is. A third kind of temptation or trial also exists, which is anxiety and depression caused for the most part by physical or mental infirmity. Such anxiety may involve some degree of spiritual temptation or it may not involve any at all.