8228. 'And Jehovah overturned the Egyptians into the middle of the sea' means that in so doing they cast themselves into the hell where the falsities arising from evil existed. This is clear from the meaning of 'overturning them into the sea' as casting them into falsities arising from evil; for these falsities are meant by the waters of that sea, 6346, 7307, 8137, 8138. For more about the bad things which in the literal sense of the Word are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord - that the origin of them lies with the people themselves who are ruled by evil, and not at all with the Lord, and that this is how one should understand the Word in its internal sense - see 2447, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7877, 7926, 8227.

7632. 'For I have made his heart stubborn, and the heart of his servants' means that they remained obstinate, all in common with one another. This is clear from the meaning of 'making the heart stubborn', 'hardening it', and 'making it unyielding' as remaining obstinate, dealt with in 7271, 7300, 7305; and from the representation of Pharaoh, whose 'heart was made stubborn', as those engaged in molestation - all in common with one another being meant when it says 'he and his servants', because the servants and he together make up his house. When it says that Jehovah made Pharaoh's heart stubborn the meaning in the internal sense is that he himself made his heart stubborn. In ancient times everything bad was for simple people's benefit attributed to Jehovah. It was attributed to Him because simple people could not have known, and most of them could not have understood either, how the origin of things that happened could lie anywhere else than in Jehovah. Nor could they have known how to understand the truth that Jehovah permits the devil's crew to inflict evil and does not stop them, when yet He is all-powerful. Since simple people could not have grasped these matters, and also the intelligent could have scarcely done so, it was said, in keeping with what very many believed, that Jehovah was the author even of what was bad or evil. This is a common feature of the Word, whose literal sense is accommodated to the beliefs of simple people. The evil that is attributed in the Word to Jehovah has its origin in man, see 2447, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533.