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.

8398. 'And all the assembly of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin' means arriving at another state of temptation. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming' as a point in the further stage that is meant in 8397 by 'travelling on'; from the meaning of 'the assembly of the children of Israel' as those who belong to the spiritual Church, dealt with in 7843; from the meaning of 'the wilderness' as a state when temptations have to be undergone, dealt with in 8098; and from the meaning of 'Sin' as the essential nature of the state since names hold within them the entire nature of the state of whatever thing they refer to, as has been shown in various places above. As temptation is meant by the grumbling over the lack of bread and flesh, and as the comfort received after that is meant by the manna and selav, the meaning of 'Sin' is clear, namely good that is the product of truth. In the contrary sense therefore 'Sin', a city in Egypt from which the wilderness of Sin took its name, means evil that is a product of falsity. In Ezekiel,

I will pour out My wrath onto Sin, the strength of Egypt, and I will cut off the multitude of No; and I will send fire on Egypt. Sin will suffer great pain, and No will be breached, and Noph by enemies daily. The young men of Aven and Pi Beseth will fall by the sword, and those [cities] will go away into captivity. And in Tehaphnehes the day will be darkened, when I break the yokes of Egypt there. Ezekiel 30:15-18.

[2] The subject here is those in possession of known facts, who use them to hatch falsities that give rise to evils. 'Egypt' here is factual knowledge, 'Sin' is evil that arises from falsity, and 'No' is falsity that gives rise to evil. Anyone may recognize, solely from the consideration that it is the Divine Word, that a deeper meaning lies here than that visible in the letter. Without the deeper meaning within it, it would contain scarcely any intelligible meaning, never mind a meaning with a holy content. From this it is plainly evident that the names appearing in it are descriptive of real things, and that these provide a general meaning that befits the Word which comes from Jehovah. Anyone who accepts that the Word is Divine cannot possibly deny this, so long as he is willing to think rationally or to draw conclusions with an understanding that has been somewhat enlightened.