193.I will come on thee as a thief. That this signifies an unexpected time of death, when all knowledges procured from the Word which have not acquired spiritual life will be taken away, is evident from the signification of I will come as a thief, when it is said of those who are not wakeful, that is, who do not procure for themselves spiritual life, as being that all such knowledges will be taken away from them. The reason why an unexpected time of death is also signified by the same words is, that death comes unexpectedly, and yet man, after death, remains in that state of life to eternity which he had procured for himself in the world; therefore he must be wakeful. Because it is known but to few, that all knowledges (cognitiones) procured from the Word which have not acquired spiritual life are taken away, it is therefore expedient to say how this is effected. All the things that are in a man's spirit remain with him to eternity; but the things that are not there, after death, when he becomes a spirit, are dissipated. Those things remain in his spirit which he had thought from himself, consequently which, when he was alone, he had thought from his own love; for then his spirit thinks from itself, and not from the things in his bodily memory which do not make one with his love.

There are two states of man, one when he thinks from his spirit, and the other when he thinks from his bodily memory; if these two states do not make one, a man can think one thing with himself, and think and speak another thing with others.

[2] For example, a preacher who loves himself and the world above all things, and lightly esteems the Divine, so that he even denies it in heart, and consequently devises evils of every kind with the crafty and deceitful of the world, nevertheless, when he speaks with others, especially when he is preaching, can speak as it were from zeal for the Divine and for Divine truths, and indeed on such occasions he can think in like manner; but this is a state of his thought from the bodily memory, which is evidently separated from the state of his thought from the spirit; for when he is left alone he thinks against them. This is the state which remains with man after death, whereas the former does not remain, because it belongs to his body and not to his spirit. Wherefore, when he becomes a spirit, as is the case when he dies, all the knowledge, which he had acquired from the Word, and which do not agree with the life of the love of his spirit, he rejects; but the case is different with those who, when left to themselves, think justly concerning the Divine, concerning the Word and the truths of the church therefrom, and love them, so as to desire to live according to them. The thoughts in the spirit of such persons make one with their thoughts from the bodily memory, thus one with the knowledges of truth and good which they have obtained from the Word; and so far as they do so, so far those knowledges obtain spiritual life; for they are raised up by the Lord from the external or natural man into the internal or spiritual man, and constitute the life of the latter, that is, of the understanding and will. The truths in the internal man are those which live, because they are Divine, and hence man has life in his internal from them. That this is the case, I have known from much experience; if I were to adduce the whole of it, it would fill many pages (something concerning it may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 491-498, 499-511; and above, n. 114).

[3] From these considerations it is now evident what is meant in the spiritual sense by I will come on thee as a thief, namely, that after death all knowledges procured from the Word which have not acquired spiritual life will be taken away. The same is also meant in the Apocalypse, where it is said,

"Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked" (16:15).

It is said as a thief, because evils and the falsities thence derived in the natural man take away and cast out the knowledges of truth and good which are therein from the Word; for the things which are not loved are cast out. There is in every man either the love of evil, and thence of falsity, or the love of good, and thence of truth; these two loves are opposed to each other, wherefore he who is in the one cannot be in the other;

"For no one can serve two masters," but will love the one and hate the other (Matthew 6:24).

[4] Because evils and falsities thence penetrate from the interior, and, as it were, break through the wall which is between the state of man's thought from the spirit and the state of his thought from the body, and cast out the knowledges of good and truth which have their abode outwardly in man, therefore those evils and falsities are what are meant by thieves. So also in the following passages. In Matthew:

"Lay not up treasures upon earth, but in heaven, where thieves do not break through nor steal" (6:19, 20).

Treasures are knowledges of truth and good; to lay them up in heaven is in the spiritual man, for the spiritual man is in heaven. (That treasures signify knowledges of truth and good, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 1694, 4508, 10227; and that the internal spiritual man is in heaven, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 36-50.)

[5] Again:

"Be wakeful, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord will come. Know this, that if the good man of the house had known in what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up" (24:42, 43).

By this is meant, that if a man knew the hour of his death, he would prepare himself, not indeed from the love of truth and good, but from the fear of hell; and whatever a man does from fear remains not with him, but what he does from love remains; therefore he must prepare himself continually (see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 143, 168).

[6] In Obadiah:

"If thieves come to thee, if destroyers by night, how wilt thou be cut off, will they not steal till they have enough?" (verse 5).

Here also falsities and evils are called thieves, and are said to steal; falsities are signified by thieves, and evils by destroyers by night; it is said by night, because night signifies a state in which there is neither love nor faith.

[7] In Joel:

"They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up into the houses, they shall enter in at the windows like a thief" (2:9).

The subject here treated of is the vastation of the church by falsities from evil; a city and a wall signify things of doctrine; houses and windows, things of the mind that receives; houses, that part of the mind which is called the will, where good is, and windows that part of the mind which is called the understanding, where truth is. (That city in the Word signifies doctrine, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 402, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493; that wall denotes the truth of doctrine protecting, n. 6419; that house denotes that part of the mind which is called the will, where good is, n. 2231, 2233, 2559, 3128, 5023, 6690, 7353, 7910, 7929, 9150; and that windows denote that part of the mind which is called the understanding, where truth is, n. 655, 658, 3391.) Hence it is evident what is signified by running on the wall, climbing up into the houses, and entering in at the windows like a thief.

[8] In Hosea:

"I healed Israel; then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the evils of Samaria; for they commit falsehood, and the thief cometh in, and the troop spreadeth itself without" (7:1).

The iniquity of Ephraim signifies the falsities of the understanding; and the wickedness of Samaria, the evils of the will; to commit falsehood, is to think and will falsity from evil; the thief signifies falsity taking away and dissipating truth; and the troop spreading itself without signifies evil casting out good. (That Ephraim is the understanding of such things as pertain to the church, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3969, 5354, 6222, 6234, 6238, 6267, 6296; that a lie denotes falsity from evil, n. 8908, 9248; that a troop denotes good casting out evil, and, in the opposite sense, evil casting out good, n. 3934, 3935, 6404, 6405.)

[9] These things are adduced, in order that it may be known that a thief in the Word signifies falsity laying waste, that is, taking away and destroying truth. It was shown above that after death all knowledges of truth and good from the Word, which have not been used to acquire spiritual life, are taken away, consequently from those who have not become spiritual by knowledges from the Word. The same thing is also signified by many passages in the historical parts of the Word; still no one can see this, unless he is acquainted with the spiritual sense of the Word. This is signified by the sons of Israel borrowing from the Egyptians vessels of gold, and vessels of silver, and garments, and thus taking them away as it were by theft; concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

They were commanded to borrow "of the Egyptians vessels of gold, and vessels of silver, and raiment. And Jehovah gave the people favour in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them; and thus they spoiled the Egyptians" (Exodus 12:35, 36).

By the Egyptians are represented those who are merely natural, although they possess many knowledges (cognitiones); by the sons of Israel those who are spiritual; by vessels of silver and of gold, and also by raiment, are signified the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good which those who are spiritual apply to good, but which the natural apply to evil and thus destroy.

Similar things are signified by the nations being given up to the curse, and at the same time all things pertaining to them being either burnt with fire or pulled down, which are frequently treated of in the book of Joshua, and in the books of Samuel and of the Kings; for the nations of the land of Canaan represented those who are in evils and falsities, and the sons of Israel those who are in truths and goods.

[10] That the knowledges of good and truth derived from the Word are to be taken away from those who have not procured for themselves spiritual life, is also meant in the Lord's parables concerning the talents and pounds, given to the servants, with which to trade and make gain, and concerning the servant who traded not and gained nothing; of this one it is thus said:

To him who hid his talent in the earth, the lord said, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the exchangers, and then at my coming I should have received mine own with usury. Take therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away that which he hath, and cast the useless servant into outer darkness (Matthew 25:14-30).

And in another place:

He came who had received one pound saying, "Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin." The Lord said, "Wherefore then gavest thou not my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury? And he said, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds. I say unto you, That unto every one that hath shall be given; but from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him" (Luke 19:13-26).

In these passages, talents, pounds, and money signify knowledges of truth and good from the Word. To trade with these, to gain by them, to give them to the exchangers, or into the bank, signifies, to procure to themselves spiritual life and intelligence by them; putting them away in the earth, and in a napkin, signifies that they are only in the memory of the natural man; of these it is therefore said that what they have shall be taken away from them, according to what has been explained in the beginning of this article.

[11] This is the case with all in the other life who have procured to themselves knowledges from the Word, and have not committed them to life, but only to memory. Those who have knowledges from the Word in the memory only, however numerous such knowledges may be, and have not committed them to life, remain still natural as before. To commit to life knowledges from the Word is to think from them when man, left to himself, thinks from his spirit, and to will them and do them; for this is to love truths because they are truths; and those who thus act, are those who become spiritual by means of knowledges from the Word.

5147. There was of all food for Pharaoh. That this signifies full of celestial good for the nourishment of the natural, is evident from the signification of “food,” as being celestial good (of which presently); and from the representation of Pharaoh, as being the interior natural (see n. 5080, 5095), and also the natural in general; for when they correspond, the interior and exterior natural make a one; and as food is for nourishment, by the words “there was of all food for Pharaoh” is signified full of celestial good for the nourishment of the natural. It is said that this food was in the uppermost basket; and by this is signified that the inmost of the will part was full of celestial good. For good from the Lord flows in through man’s inmost, and thence through degrees as by the steps of a ladder to the exteriors; for the inmost is relatively in the most perfect state, and therefore can receive good immediately from the Lord; but not so the lower things. If these were to receive good from the Lord immediately, they would either obscure it or pervert it, for they are relatively more imperfect.

[2] As regards the influx of celestial good from the Lord, and its reception, be it known that man’s will part receives good, and his intellectual receives truth, and that the intellectual can by no means receive truth so as to make it its own, unless at the same time the will part receives good; and conversely; for the one flows in this way into the other, and disposes it to receive. The things of the intellect may be compared to forms which are continually varying, and the things of the will to the harmonies that result from this variation; consequently truths may be compared to variations, and goods to the delights therefrom; and as this is eminently the case with truths and goods, it is evident that the one is impossible without the other, and also that the one cannot be produced except by means of the other.

[3] That “food” signifies celestial good, is because the food of the angels is nothing else than the goods of love and of charity, by which they are not only made alive, but are also refreshed. These goods in act, or the practice of them, serve especially for the refreshment of the angels, because they are their desires; and it is known that when the desires are realized in act, they afford refreshment and life. That such things yield nourishment to the spirit of man, while material food yields nourishment to his body, may also be seen from the fact that food without delights conduces but little to nourishment, but together with delights it nourishes. It is the delights that open the passages or ducts which receive the food and convey it into the blood; whereas things undelightful close them. With the angels these delights are the goods of love and of charity, and from this it can be inferred that they are spiritual foods which correspond to earthly foods. As goods are food, so truths are drink.

[4] “Food” is mentioned in many places in the Word, and one who is not acquainted with the internal sense cannot know but that ordinary food is there meant, whereas it is spiritual food; as in Jeremiah:

All the people groan, seeking bread; they have given their desirable things for food, to refresh the soul (Lam. 1:11).

In Isaiah:

Everyone that thirsteth, go ye to the waters, and he that hath no silver, go ye, buy, and eat; yea, go, buy wine and milk without silver and without price (Isaiah 55:1).

In Joel:

The day of Jehovah is near, and as devastation from the Thunderer shall it come. Is not the food cut off before our eyes? gladness and joy from the house of our God? The grains have rotted under their clods; the garners are devastated, the barns are destroyed, because the corn is withered (Joel 1:15-17).

In David:

Our garners are full, bringing forth from food to food; our flocks are thousands and ten thousands in our streets. There is no cry in our streets; blessed is the people that is in such a case (Psalms 144:13-15).

Again:

All things wait for Thee, that Thou mayest give them their food in its time. Thou givest them, they gather; Thou openest Thy hand, they are sated with good (Psalms 104:27-28).

[5] In these passages celestial and spiritual food is meant in the internal sense, while material food is meant in the sense of the letter. From this it is plain in what manner the interiors and exteriors of the Word, or those things therein which are of the spirit, and those which are of the letter, correspond to each other; so that while man understands these things according to the sense of the letter, the angels with him understand them according to the spiritual sense. The Word has been so written as to serve not only the human race, but also heaven; for which reason all the expressions therein are significative of heavenly things, and all the things are representative of them, and this even to the least jot.

[6] That “food” in the spiritual sense is good, the Lord also plainly teaches in John:

Labor not for the food that perisheth, but for the food that abideth into life eternal, which the Son of man shall give to you (John 6:27).

Again:

My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink (John 6:55); where “flesh” is the Divine good (n. 3813); and “blood” is the Divine truth (n. 4735). And again:

Jesus said to His disciples, I have food to eat that ye know not. The disciples said one to another, Hath any man brought Him aught to eat? Jesus saith to them, My food is that I do the will of Him that sent Me, and that I perfect His work (John 4:32-34);

“to do the will of the Father, and to perfect His work,” is the Divine good in act or exercise, which as before said in the genuine sense is “food.”