8370. 'And they encamped there beside the waters' means that after temptation the truths of faith were arranged into order by the good of love. This is clear from the meaning of 'encamping' as an arrangement of truth and good into order, dealt with in 8103 (end), 8130, 8131, 8155; and from the meaning of 'the waters' as the truths of faith, dealt with in 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 5668. The reason why 'they encamped there beside the waters' means that the truths of faith were arranged into order by means of the good of love is that 'camp' means truths and forms of good, 8193, 8196, and 'encamping' an arrangement of them, while 'beside the waters' means in keeping with truths that come from God. The expression 'the good of love' is used because every arrangement of truths into order is effected through the good of love; for truths arrange themselves under good and accord with it, making with good one body so to speak in the image of the person in whom they exist. The expression 'in the image of the person in whom they exist' is used because the image of a person's spirit - which, being his internal man, is the person's true self - is fashioned altogether according to the ordering and arrangement of truths by good residing with him. This is why when angels come to be present the sphere of the good of love ripples out from them and impinges on the affections of those who are present; and the truths of faith shine from their faces. In the spiritual world these kinds of things are apparent and clearly perceived. The arranging into order is said to take place after temptation because although forms of good and truths are instilled into a person through temptations they are not arranged into order until the temptations have finished. For a state of temptation is one of turmoil, whereas the state after temptation is peaceful; and when there is peace the arranging into order takes place. Therefore temptations are also followed by a feeling of pleasure as a result of enlightenment from truth and by a feeling of delight as a result of an affection for good, dealt with just above in 8367.

3424. 'Isaac's servants dug in the valley and found there a well of living water' means the Word as regards the literal sense, which holds the internal sense within it. This is clear from the meaning of 'digging in the valley' as investigating lower down to discover where truths are, for 'digging' is investigating, and 'a valley' is that which is lower down, 1723, 3417; and from the meaning of 'a well of living water' as the Word in which Divine truths are present, thus the Word as regards the literal sense which holds the internal sense within it. It is well known that the Word is called 'a spring', in particular 'a spring of living waters'. The reason why the Word is also called 'a well' is that in relation to its other senses the sense of the letter is like a well, and that where spiritual people are concerned the Word is not a spring but a well, see 2702, 3096. Since a valley is that which is lower down, or what amounts to the same, that which is more external, and it was in the valley that the spring was found; and since the literal sense is the lower or more external sense of the Word, it is the literal sense that is therefore meant. But because that sense holds the internal sense, that is, the heavenly and Divine sense, its waters are for that reason called 'living', as also were the waters which went out under the threshold of the new house in Ezekiel,

And it will happen, that every wild creature that creeps, wherever the river comes to, is living; and there will be very many fish, for those waters go there, and become fresh; and everything is living where the river goes. Ezekiel 47:8-9.

Here 'the river' is the Word, 'the waters which cause everything to live' are the Divine Truths within it, 'fish' are facts, 40, 991.

[2] The Lord teaches that the Word of the Lord is such that it gives life to him who is thirsty, that is, to one who desires life, and that it is a spring whose waters are living, in John,

Jesus said to the woman from Samaria at Jacob's well, If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, Give Me a drink, you would ask from Him, and He would give you living water. He who drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst, but the water that I shall give him will become in him a spring of water welling up into eternal life. John 4:10, 14.

The reason why the Word is living and therefore confers life is that in its highest sense the subject is the Lord, while in the inmost sense it is His kingdom in which the Lord is everything. And this being so it is life itself which the Word contains and which flows into the minds of those who read the Word devoutly. This is why the Lord, in regard to the Word which comes from Himself, calls Himself 'a spring of water welling up into eternal life'; see also 2702.

[3] The fact that the Word of the Lord is called 'a well' in addition to 'a spring' is clear in Moses,

Israel sang the song: Spring up, O well! Answer to it! The well which the princes dug, which the chiefs of the people dug out, as directed by the Lawgiver, ¹ with their staves. Numbers 21:17-18.

These words were sung at the place Beer, that is, the place of the well. In this case 'a well' means the Word which existed with the Ancient Church, as is evident from what has been said previously about the Word in 2897. 'The princes' means the first and foremost truths of which [the Word] consists - 'princes' being first and foremost truths, see 1482, 2089 - 'nobles of the people' lower truths such as those present in the literal sense, 1259, 1260, 2928, 3295. 'The Lawgiver' is clearly the Lord, 'staves' the powers which those truths possessed.

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