9293. 'And My face shall not be seen empty-handed' means the reception of good out of mercy, and thanksgiving. This is clear from the meaning of 'Jehovah's face' as good, mercy, and peace, dealt with in 222, 223, 5585, 7599; and from the meaning of 'not being seen empty-handed', or not coming without a gift, as bearing witness because good has been received, and thanksgiving. For gifts which were offered to Jehovah meant the kinds of things that are offered to the Lord by a person from the heart and are accepted by the Lord. The situation with those gifts is as it is with all a person's deeds. A person's deeds are merely acts performed by the body, and when regarded in isolation from his will are no more than variously regulated, so to speak articulated movements, not unlike the movements of a machine, and so are lifeless. But deeds regarded together with the will are not like those movements. Rather they are outward expressions of the will displayed before the eyes, for deeds are nothing other than witness-bearers to such things as compose the will. They also derive their soul or life from the will. Therefore something similar may be said of deeds as of movements, namely that nothing in deeds has life apart from the will, just as nothing in movements has life apart from endeavour. Mankind also knows this to be so, for someone endowed with intelligence pays no attention to a person's deeds, only to his will, the source, the means, and the reason for the deeds. Indeed someone endowed with wisdom scarcely notices the deeds but rather sees in the deeds what his will is like and how great it is. The same applies to gifts, in that in them the Lord looks on the will. So it is that by 'gifts' offered to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, such things as are present in the will or the heart are meant, 'the heart' being what the Word calls a person's will. From all this it is also evident how to understand the teaching in Matthew 16:27 that everyone will receive judgement in the next life according to his deeds or works, namely that he will receive it according to what is in his heart and consequently his life.

[2] It is evident from the Word that such things are meant by 'gifts offered to Jehovah', as in David,

Sacrifice and gift You have not desired; burnt offering and sin-sacrifice You have not sought. I have delighted to do Your will, O My God. Psalms 40:6, 8.

In Moses,

Jehovah your God, He is God of gods, and Lord of lords, who shows no partiality ¹ and does not accept a gift. ² Deuteronomy 10:17.

And in Matthew,

If you offer your gift on the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, you shall leave the gift there before the altar, and go away. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23-24.

From this it is evident that gifts offered to the Lord served to bear witness to things offered from the heart, which are those of faith and charity. 'Being reconciled to a brother' means charity towards the neighbour.

[3] In the same gospel,

Wise men from the east came, and they offered gifts to the new-born Lord - gold, frankincense, and myrrh. Matthew 2:1, 11.

'Gold, frankincense, and myrrh' means all forms of the good of love and faith offered to the Lord, 'gold' being forms of the good of love, 'frankincense' forms of the good of faith, and 'myrrh' forms of both in external things. The reason why 'wise men from the east' offered them was that among some in the east there remained from ancient times the knowledge and wisdom of the people of old, which consisted in their understanding and seeing heavenly and Divine realities within things in the world and on earth. For it was well known to the ancients that all things had a correspondence and were representative, and therefore had a spiritual meaning, as is also evident from the gentiles' oldest books and their monuments. This was how they knew that gold, frankincense, and myrrh meant the forms of good that should be offered to God. They knew also from their prophecies, which were those of the Ancient Church and which have been spoken of in 2686, that the Lord would come into the world, at which time a star would appear to them, about which also Balaam, who likewise was one of 'the sons of the east', prophesied, Numbers 24:17 - see 3762. 'A star' furthermore means cognitions or knowledge of internal goodness and truth, which come from the Lord, 2495, 2849, 4697.

[4] In David,

The kings of Tarshish and of the islands will bring a gift, the kings of Sheba and Seba will bring a present; and all kings will bow down [to Him], and all nations will serve Him. Psalms 72:10-11.

These things were said in reference to the Lord. 'Bringing a gift' and 'bringing a present' mean the good of love and faith. For 'Tarshish' means doctrinal teachings about love and faith, 1156; 'Sheba and Seba' cognitions or knowledge of goodness and truth, 1171, 3240; 'kings' the Church's truths, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148; and 'nations' the Church's forms of good, 1159, 1258-1260, 1416, 1849, 4574, 6005, 8771; from all of which meanings it is evident what 'all kings will bow down and all nations serve' is used to mean.

[5] In Isaiah,

They will announce My glory among the nations. At that time they will bring all your brothers from all nations as a gift to Jehovah, on horses, and in chariots, and in covered wagons, and on mules, and on fast runners, ³ to My holy mountain, Jerusalem, even as the children of Israel bring their gift in a clean vessel to the house of Jehovah. Isaiah 66:19-20.

A person unacquainted with the internal sense of the Word may think that these things were said of the Jews who were to be brought in such a manner to Jerusalem by gentile nations. But forms of the good of love to and faith in the Lord are what those prophetic words describe and what 'a gift' is used to mean. 'Horses', 'chariots', 'covered wagons', 'mules', and 'fast runners' on or in which they were to be brought mean intellectual concepts, doctrinal teachings, and factual knowledge of truth and good, as is evident from the meaning of these carriers - for example, from that of 'horses', 2760-2762, 3217, 5321, 6125, 6401, 6534, 8029, 8146, 8148; from the meaning of 'chariots', 5321, 5945, 8146, 8148, 8215; and from the meaning of 'mules', 2781.

[6] In Malachi,

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them like gold, and like silver, in order that they may bring to Jehovah a gift in righteousness. Then the gift of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to Jehovah, as in the days of old, and as in former years. Malachi 3:3-4.

Since 'a gift offered to Jehovah' means the good of love and faith, it speaks here of their 'bringing to Jehovah a gift in righteousness' and of a gift 'acceptable to Jehovah'. 'Purifying the sons of Levi and purging them like gold and silver' means purifying goodness and truth from evils and falsities, 'the sons of Levi' being those who have faith and charity, thus who belong to the spiritual Church, 3875, 4497, 4502, 4503, and 'Judah' being the good of celestial love, thus those with whom that good exists, 3654, 3881.

Fotnoter:

1159. 'Every one according to his tongue, according to their families, as to their nations' means that they were ranged according to the character of each one, 'according to his tongue' meaning according to each one's individual belief, 'according to their families' meaning according to uprightness, 'as to their nations' meaning as to both belief and uprightness in general. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'tongue', and 'families', and 'nations' in the Word, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on. The reason why in the internal sense 'tongue' means individual belief, and so basic assumptions and persuasions, is that the tongue corresponds to the understanding part of man's mind, that is, to his thought, in the way that an effect corresponds to its cause. Such is the case not only with the influx of a person's thoughts into the movements of the tongue in speaking, but also with the influx of heaven, about which something from personal experience will in the Lord's Divine mercy be stated elsewhere.

[2] That 'families' in the internal sense means uprightness, as well as charity and love, arises from the fact that all things belonging to mutual love are in the heavens like blood relatives and relatives by marriage, and so are like families, see 685. This is why in the Word things belonging to love or charity are described as 'houses' and also as 'families', points which there is no need to pause over and confirm here. That 'a house' has this meaning, see 710.

[3] That 'nations' means both belief and uprightness in general is clear from the meaning of 'a nation' or 'nations' in the Word. In the good sense nations mean things of the new will and understanding, and so mean the goods of love and the truths of faith. But in the contrary sense evils and falsities are meant. The same applies to houses, families, and tongues, as may be confirmed from very many places in the Word. The reason is that the Most Ancient Church was distinguished into separate houses, families, and nations. A married couple with their children, together with menservants and maidservants, constituted one house. A number of houses in close proximity in turn constituted one family, while a number of families constituted a nation. Consequently nations meant all families taken together as a whole. The same applies in heaven, but all relationships there are determined by love to and faith in the Lord, 685.

[4] This then is how nations come to mean what they do in the internal sense, namely that which is general embracing things both of the will and of the understanding, or what amounts to the same, both the things of love and those of faith. Their meaning however depends on the families and houses of which they consist. For these points, see also what has been stated already in 470, 471, 483 From these considerations it is clear that 'nations' means both belief and uprightness in general, and that 'everyone according to his tongue, according to their families, and as to their nations' means the disposition of each person, family, and nation whose worship was derived from the Ancient Church.