258. There is a spiritual meaning in the Word that is known as "the inner meaning. " No one who does not know what correspondence is can know what the inner meaning of the Word is: 2895, 4322. Absolutely everything in the earthly world, right down to the smallest details, corresponds to and therefore means something spiritual: 2987-3003, 3213-3227. The spiritual realities to which earthly things correspond take on different guises on the earthly level and therefore are not recognized: 1887, 3632, 8920. Hardly anyone nowadays knows where in the Word its divine quality resides, when in fact it is in its inner or spiritual meaning-and people nowadays do not even know that this meaning exists: 4989, 9280. The mystical dimension of the Word is precisely that the contents of its inner or spiritual meaning deal with the Lord, his kingdom, and the church, and not with earthly things that take place in this world: 4923. In many passages the statements of the prophets are unintelligible and therefore of no use apart from their inner meaning: 2608, 8020, 8398 (which provide some examples). For example, the meaning of the white horse in the Book of Revelation (2760 following); the meaning of the keys of the kingdom of the heavens that were given Peter (preface Genesis 22, §9410); the meaning of flesh, blood, bread, and wine in the Holy Supper, and therefore why it was instituted by the Lord (8682); the meaning of Jacob's prophecies about his sons in Genesis 49 (6306, 6333-6465); the meanings of many of the prophecies about Judah and Israel, prophecies that in their literal meaning contradict each other and do not square with [the actual history of] that people (6333, 6361, 6415, 6438, 6444); and countless other passages (2608).

An overview of the inner or spiritual meaning of the Word: 1767-1777, 1869-1879. There is deeper meaning throughout the Word and in every detail of it: 1143, 1984, 2135, 2333, 2395, 2495, 2619. These meanings are not visible in the literal meaning, but they are there within: 4442.

2333. 'And in the morning you may rise up and go your way' means being strengthened in this way in good and truth. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'rising up in the morning', and also from the meaning of 'going on one's way'. In the Word 'the morning' means the Lord's kingdom and whatever belongs to the Lord's kingdom, and so primarily the good that flows from love and charity. This will be confirmed from the Word at verse 15. 'Way' however means truth, see 627. From this it follows that after they had been in his house and spent the night there, which meant that they dwelt in the good of charity with him, 'they rose up in the morning and went their way', which means that in this way they were confirmed in good and truth.

[2] These phrases, as do all the rest, show how far removed the internal sense is from the sense of the letter and therefore how hidden from view it is, especially in the historical parts of the Word. They show that this sense is not discernible unless individual expressions are explained according to the meaning they have all through the Word. Consequently when ideas are confined to the sense of the letter, the internal sense is seen as something altogether dark and obscure. Conversely when ideas are confined to the internal sense, the sense of the letter in a similar way is seen as something obscure. Indeed angels see it as nothing, for angels no longer have worldly and bodily ideas as man does, but spiritual and celestial ones, into which the expressions of the sense of the letter are marvellously converted when the Word which man is reading rises up to the sphere in which angels dwell, that is, up to heaven. This happens because of the correspondence of spiritual things with worldly, and of celestial with bodily, a correspondence which is absolutely consistent but whose nature has not been disclosed until now in the explanation of expressions, names, and numbers in the Word as to their internal sense.

[3] So that the nature of that correspondence may be known, or what amounts to the same, how worldly and bodily ideas pass over into corresponding spiritual and celestial ideas when they are raised towards heaven, let 'the morning' and 'way' be taken as examples: When a person reads of 'the morning', as in the phrase here 'rising up in the morning', angels do not conceive the idea of the start to a new day but the idea which 'morning' has in the spiritual sense. The idea they conceive is similar to the statement in Samuel,

The Rock of Israel . . . He is like morning light, when the sun rises on a cloudless morning. 2 Samuel 23:3-4.

And in Daniel,

The Holy One said to me, Up to the evening when it is becoming morning, two thousand three hundred times. Daniel 8:14, 26.

Thus instead of 'the morning' angels perceive the Lord, or His kingdom, or celestial things of love and charity. This they do varyingly according to the train of thought in the Word which a person is reading.

[4] Similarly where a person reads of 'a way', as in 'going on your way' here, they cannot have any idea of a way, but a spiritual or a celestial idea, that is to say, like that in John, when the Lord said,

I am the way and the truth. John 14:6.

Also the idea in David,

Make Your ways known to me, O Jehovah, guide my way in truth. Psalms 25:4-5.

And in Isaiah,

He made him know the way of understanding. Isaiah 40:14.

Thus instead of 'a way' angels perceive truth. They do so in the historical as well as the prophetical sections of the Word; in fact angels no longer have any interest in matters of history as these are not at all in keeping with the ideas they have. Consequently in place of historical details they perceive such things as belong to the Lord and His kingdom, which also follow on one after another in marvellous array and perfect sequence in the internal sense. For this reason, so that the Word may serve angels as well, all historical details there are representative, and each expression serves to mean such things. This special feature is what makes the Word different from all other literature.