1589. 'Like the land of Egypt as you come to Zoar' means facts acquired from affections for good. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'Egypt', dealt with in 1164, 1165, in a good sense in 1462, as knowledge, and from the meaning of 'Zoar' as the affection for good. Zoar was a city not far from Sodom, to which also Lot fled when he was snatched by angels from the fire of Sodom, as described in Genesis 19:20, 22, 30. In addition to this, Zoar is referred to in Genesis 14:2, 8; Deuteronomy 34:3; Isaiah 15:5; Jeremiah 48:34, in all of which places also it means an affection. And since it means the affection for good, it also means in the contrary sense, as is usual, the affection for evil.

[2] There are three constituent parts of the external man - rational, factual, and external sensory. The rational part is more interior, the factual more exterior, and the external sensory the most external. The rational is the part by means of which the internal man is joined to the external, the character of the rational determining the character of this conjunction. The external sensory part consists in the present instance in sight and hearing. But in itself the rational has no existence if affection does not flow into it, making it active so as to receive life. Consequently the rational receives its character from that of the affection flowing into it. When the affection for good flows in, that affection for good becomes with the rational an affection for truth; and the contrary happens when the affection for evil flows in. Because the factual part attaches itself to the rational and serves as its agent it also follows that the affection flows into and reorganizes the factual part. For nothing has life in the external man apart from affection. The reason is that the affection for good comes down from the celestial, that is, from celestial love, which imparts life to everything into which it flows, even to affections for evil, that is, to evil desires.

[3] Actually the good of love from the Lord flows in constantly, doing so through the internal man into the external. But anyone who is governed by an affection for evil, that is, by an evil desire, corrupts that good. Nevertheless the life brought to it remains. Such may be seen from a comparison with objects on which the sun's rays fall. There are some objects which accept them in a most beautiful way, converting them into the most beautiful colours, as a diamond, ruby, jacinth, sapphire, and other precious stones do. Other objects however do not accept them in that manner but convert them into the ugliest colours. The same point may be shown from the very characters of people. There are some who accept the good actions of another with every display of affection, while others convert them into evil. From this it becomes clear what the knowledge acquired from affections for good is which is meant by 'the land of Egypt as you come to Zoar' when the rational is 'like the garden of Jehovah'.

3318. 'And he was weary' means a state of conflict. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'weary' or weariness as the state following conflict. Here however, because the subject is a state of conflict in which good and truth within the natural man are joined together, the state of conflict itself is meant. As regards 'weary' here meaning a state of conflict, this is not apparent except from the train of thought in the internal sense, and in particular from the fact that without conflicts, or what amounts to the same, without temptations, good is unable to be joined to truth in the natural man.

[2] So that the nature of this state may be known - though only as man experiences it - let a brief statement be made regarding it. Man is nothing other than an organ or vessel which receives life from the Lord, for man does not live of himself, 290, 1954, 2021, 2536, 2706, 2886-2889, 3001. The life flowing in with man from the Lord comes from His Divine Love. This Love, that is, the life from it, flows in and applies itself to the vessels that are in man's rational and that are in his natural. On account of the hereditary evil into which man is born, and on account of the evil of his own doing which man acquires to himself, these vessels with him are set the wrong way round for receiving that life. But insofar as it is possible for this inflowing life to do so, it resets those vessels to receive it. These vessels within the rational man and within his natural are such as are called truths. In themselves they are nothing else than perceptions of the variations in form possessed by those vessels and of the changes of state which in different ways give rise to those variations, which are produced in the most delicate of organic substances, and in ways that defy description, 2487. Good itself, which possesses life from the Lord, that is, which is life, is that which flows in and resets them.

[3] When therefore those vessels, varying in the forms they take, are set and turned, as has been stated, the wrong way round for inflowing life, they clearly have to be re-positioned to receive that life, that is, to be controlled by it. This cannot possibly be effected as long as the person remains in that condition into which he was born or which he has brought upon himself. Indeed at that time they are unsubmissive because they resolutely withstand and harden themselves against the heavenly order governing the way that life acts. Indeed the good which moves them, and to which they are subservient, is that which stems from self-love and love of the world. From the dull warmth it contains that good makes these vessels what they are. Consequently before they can be made submissive and capable of receiving any of the life that belongs to the Lord's love, they have to be softened. The only ways that such softening can be achieved is by temptations, for temptations take away the things that constitute self-love and contempt for others in comparison with oneself, consequently that constitute self-glory, and also hatred and revenge on account of that. When therefore they have to some extent been subdued and mellowed by means of temptations those vessels start to become yielding and compliant to the life which belongs to the Lord's love and which is constantly flowing in with man.

[4] From this point onwards good, first of all in the rational man and then in the natural, starts to be joined to the truths there, for as has been stated, truths are nothing else than perceptions of the variations in form which are determined by the states that are changing all the time - those perceptions being a product of the life that is flowing in. This is the reason why a person is regenerated, that is, is made new, by means of temptations, or what amounts to the same, by means of spiritual conflicts, and after that receives an inward disposition different from before, that is to say, becomes gentle, humble, single-minded, and contrite at heart. From these considerations one may now see the use served by temptations, which is that good from the Lord may not only flow in but also render the vessels subservient and so join itself to them. For truths are the recipient vessels of good, see 1496, 1832, 1900, 2063, 2261, 2269. Here therefore, since the subject is the joining together of good and truth in the natural man, and since the first stage of that conjunction comes about through the conflicts brought about by temptations, 'he was weary' clearly means a state of conflict.

[5] As for the Lord however, who is the subject here in the highest sense, He so imposed Divine order on everything within Himself by means of the very severe conflicts that went with temptations that nothing remained of the human He had derived from the mother, 1444, 1573, 2159, 2574, 2649, 3036, so that He was not made new as any other human being but was made altogether Divine. For man, who is made new through regeneration, nevertheless retains within himself the inclination towards evil; indeed he retains the evil itself but is withheld from it by the influx of the life that is the life of the Lord's love, and by an extremely powerful force. But the Lord cast out completely everything evil that was His by heredity from the mother and made Himself Divine, doing so even as to the vessels, that is, as to the truths. This is what in the Word is called Glorification.