6716. 'A man from the house of Levi went' means truth which has its origin in good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a man as truth, dealt with in 3134; from the meaning of being 'from the house' as the origin; and from the representation of 'Levi' as good. In the highest sense 'Levi' represents Divine Love, dealt with in 3875, and in the internal sense spiritual love, 3875, 4497, 4502, 4503; and since he represents love, he represents good, because all good comes from love. As regards truth which has its origin in good, meant here by 'a man from the house of Levi', it should be recognized that the verses which follow deal in the highest sense with the Lord, with the way in which His Human became the law of God, that is, real Truth. It is well known that the Lord was born like anyone else and that when He was a young child he learned to talk like any other young child, after which He grew in knowledge, and also in intelligence and wisdom.

[2] From this it is evident that His Human was not Divine when He was born but that He made it Divine by His own power. He made it Divine by His own power because He had been conceived from Jehovah, as a result of which the inmost core of His life was Jehovah Himself. For the inmost core of anyone's life, called the soul, is derived from the father, whereas that which clothes what is inmost, called the body, is derived from the mother. The inmost core of life derived from the father is constantly flowing into and having an effect on the external derived from the mother, endeavouring even in the womb to make it similar to itself. This may be recognized in the fact that children are born with their father's disposition, and sometimes grandchildren and great grandchildren with their grandfather's and great grandfather's disposition. The reason for this is that the soul, which is derived from the father, constantly wishes to make the external derived from the mother similar to itself and an image of itself.

[3] Seeing that this is what goes on with man, one may recognize that it was what went on especially with the Lord. The inmost part of Him was the Divine Itself because it was Jehovah Himself, for He was Jehovah's only-begotten Son. And since that inmost part was the Divine Itself, how, more so than with any man, could the Divine fail to make the external derived from the mother an image of itself, that is, similar to itself, so that the Human - the external, derived from the mother - would be made Divine? This He accomplished by His own power because the Divine, which was the Inmost by which He had an effect on His Human, was His in the same way as a person's soul, which is the inmost part of him, belongs to that person. And because the progress which the Lord made conformed to Divine order, He made His Human, while He was in the world, to be Divine Truth; but after that, when He was fully glorified, He made it to be Divine Good, and so one with Jehovah.

[4] How this was accomplished is what is described in the highest sense of the present chapter. But since the contents of the highest sense, which all have to do with the Lord, surpass human understanding, let what follows be an explanation of the things contained in the internal sense of the chapter. These have to do with the beginnings and the succeeding states of God's truth with a member of the Church, that is, with a person who is being regenerated, 6713, 6714. The reason why these are the things contained in the internal sense is that human regeneration is an image of the glorification of the Lord's Human, see 3138, 3212, 3245, 3246, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688.

6713. Exodus 2

1. And a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi .

2. And the woman conceived and bore a son; and she saw that he was good, ¹ and hid him three months.

3. And she could not hide him any longer; and she took for him a box made of rush, and coated it with bitumen and pitch, and put the child in it, and put [him] in the weed at the bank of the river.

4. And his sister stood at a distance, to know what would happen to him.

5. And the daughter of Pharaoh went down to wash at the river; and her maidservants were going along the side of the river. And she saw the box in the middle of the weed, and sent her servant-girl; and she took it.

6. And she opened it, and saw him, the child; and behold, the boy was crying. And she took pity on him, and said, This is one of the children of the Hebrews.

7. And his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call you a woman, a wet nurse, from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?

8. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the girl went and called the child's mother.

9. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take to yourself this child and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages. And the woman took the child and nursed him.

10. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he was a son to her. And she called his name Moses, and said, Because I drew him out of the water.

11. And it happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and saw their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man, one of his brothers.

12. And he looked this way and that, and saw that there was no man; and he struck the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

13. And he went out the second day, and behold, two Hebrew men were quarrelling; and he said to the one in the wrong, Why are you striking your companion?

14. And he said, Who set you up as a man-prince and a judge over us? Do you intend ² to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian? And Moses was afraid, and said, Surely the matter is known!

15. And Pharaoh heard of this matter and sought to kill Moses. And Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he dwelt next to a well.

16. And the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

17. And the shepherds came and drove them away; and Moses rose up and helped them, and watered their flock.

18. And they came to Reuel their father, and he said, Why have you hastened to come today?

19. And they said, An Egyptian man delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds; and he even drew water for us, and watered the flock.

20. And he said to his daughters, And where is he? Why is it that you left the man? Call him, and let him eat bread.

21. And Moses was willing to dwell with the man; and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.

22. And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, I am a stranger in a foreign land.

23. And it happened in [the course of] these many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of their hard service, and cried out; and their cry came up to God because of their hard service.

24. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

25. And God saw the children of Israel, and God knew [them].

CONTENTS

This chapter deals in the internal sense with God's truth - with its beginnings and its succeeding states with a member of the Church.

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