7147. 'And your people have sinned' means that for this reason they are guilty of having done what is evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'sinning' as becoming guilty of evil; and, if guilty, as receiving deserved punishment. What the situation is in general regarding the matters contained in this verse and in those that come before it must be stated. Those who are on the lower earth are molested by the falsities and evils introduced by the surrounding hells. Such molestation takes place in order that evils and falsities may be removed and truths and forms of good may be instilled, as a result of which they are brought into a state in which they can be raised to heaven, see 7090, 7122. But near the end they are molested more harshly than ever before, for at that stage truths are taken away from them and utter falsities are allowed to molest them, even until they are made to despair. For it is in accordance with Divine order that despair should be the final stage of molestation and temptation, see 1787, 2694, 5279, 5280. In order that this state experienced by those belonging to the spiritual Church might be represented by the children of Israel, Pharaoh acted as the narrative describes here. He did what he did when the molestations were near the end, that is to say, when the children of Israel were about to be set free and led to the land of Canaan.

[2] It should be recognized that molestations take place in the following way: Falsities and evils are introduced into a person's thoughts by the hells, and truths and forms of good by heaven, that is, by the Lord through heaven; and that introduction takes place in him because no man or spirit has any thought that originates in himself. Rather, everything flows in from without. Although this is entirely contrary to anyone's perception of what is going on inside him and for that reason seems impossible to believe, it is nevertheless absolutely true. See what has already been brought forward and shown from experience on the matter in 2886, 4151, 4249, 5846, 5854, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626. From these places one may know how to understand the idea that molestations are effected by the introduction of falsities, and are increased until a person is made to despair.

2886. With regard to man's affections and to his thoughts, the position is that no one at all, whether man, spirit, or angel, is able to will or to think from himself, but does so from others. Nor are those others themselves the source of anything they will or think, but others again, and so on with these. Thus each individual wills and thinks from the First Source of life, who is the Lord. Anything that is not connected to a prior source cannot occur. Evils and falsities have a connection with the hells, and so the hells are the source of the thinking and willing of people immersed in evils and falsities, and also the source of their love, affection, and delight, and consequently of their freedom. But goods and truths have a connection with heaven, and so heaven is the source of the thinking and willing of people with whom goods and truths are present, and also the source of their love, affection, and delight, and consequently of their freedom. From this it becomes clear where the first type of freedom originates and where the second. The truth of this is very well known in the next life, but it is totally unknown at the present time in the world.