8018. 'That Jehovah brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt' means that the Lord delivered those governed by the good of truth and guided by the truth of good from damnation. This is clear from the meaning of 'bringing out' as delivering; from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those belonging to the spiritual Church, or what amounts to the same thing, those governed by the good of truth and guided by the truth of good, dealt with above in 7957, 8006; and from the meaning of 'the land of Egypt' as damnation. 'The land of Egypt' at this point means damnation because damnation is meant by the Egyptians' state at this time, 7766, 7778. The fact that the Lord delivered from damnation those belonging to the spiritual Church, that is, those governed by the good of truth and guided by the truth of good, see 6854, 6914, 7091 (end), 7828, 7932.

[2] Their deliverance by the Lord when He rose again is meant by the Lord's descent to the lower regions (ad inferos); ¹ and it was made plain by the raising of the dead from their tombs, described in Matthew,

And the tombs were opened, and many bodies of sleeping saints were raised; and coming out of their tombs after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. Matthew 27:52-53.

Their coming out of tombs, their going into the holy city, and also their appearing to many took place to bear witness to the deliverance by the Lord of those who until then had been held back in spiritual captivity, and to the introduction of them into heaven, heaven being meant in the internal sense by 'the holy city'. This is why the expression 'the holy city' is used when in actual fact it was not a holy but a profane city, since the Lord Himself - who was represented in all the ritual observances of their Church and described in the Word existing among them, and so was the God of their Church - was treated by them in so cruel a manner.

[3] Much the same is meant by this in Daniel,

At that time Your people will be rescued, every one who is found written in the book. Finally, many of those sleeping in the dust of the earth will awake - these to eternal life, but the rest to reproaches and to eternal disgrace. Daniel 12:1-2.

And also by this in Ezekiel,

Prophesy and say, Thus said the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people, and I will bring you onto the land of Israel, in order that you may know that I am Jehovah when I open your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people. And I will put My spirit in you, in order that you may live, and I will place you on your own land, in order that you may know that I Jehovah have spoken it and done it, said Jehovah. Ezekiel 37:11-14.

'The land of Israel', which is the land of Canaan, is used to mean heaven, 8011. The words quoted here from the prophet describe the new creation or birth of a person, and also the vivifying by the Lord of those belonging to the spiritual Church.

Примітки:

3833. 'And so it was in the evening' means when the state was still obscure. This is clear from the meaning of 'the evening' as an obscure state, dealt with in 3056. Furthermore feasts held in the evening, that is, suppers, meant nothing else among the ancients who had appropriate religious observances than the introductory state which comes before an actual joining together, which is obscure compared with that state when the joining together has taken place. Indeed when a person is being introduced into truth and from this into good, everything he learns at that time is obscure. But once good is joined to him and he regards truth from the standpoint of good, everything he learns becomes clear to him, gradually and increasingly so. For he is now no longer in doubt about whether something exists or whether it is true but knows that it exists and is true.

[2] Once a person has reached this state he starts to know countless things, for he now proceeds from the good and truth which he believes and perceives. He proceeds so to speak from the central point out to the peripheral regions; and in the measure that he proceeds from such good and truth, he sees in the same measure the things round about, and gradually more and more widely since he is constantly pushing out and extending the boundaries. Thereafter he also begins from each subject situated in the space within those boundaries, and from those subjects as new centres he pushes out new peripheral regions; and so on in the spaces within these. Consequently the light of truth radiating from good increases enormously and becomes one expanse of light, for he is now bathed in the light of heaven which shines from the Lord. But to people who are prone to doubt and who question whether something exists and is true, those countless, indeed limitless things are not visible at all. To them every single one is totally obscure. Those things are scarcely seen by them as a single whole which definitely exists, only as a single whole whose very existence they are uncertain of. Such is the condition into which human wisdom and intelligence has fallen at the present day. Being able to reason cleverly whether something exists is now the mark of a wise man, and being able to reason that it does not exist is the mark of one wiser still.

[3] Take for example the question whether in the Word an internal sense exists which such people call the mystical sense. Until they believe in the existence of it they cannot know a single one of the countless things existing within that sense, so many that they fill the whole of heaven in unending variety. Take as another example one who reasons about whether Divine Providence is merely universal and does not extend to specific details. That person cannot know the countless arcana which have to do with Providence, as many in number as the occurrences in everyone's life from start to finish and in the world from its creation to its end, and even for ever. Take as yet another example one who reasons whether good can exist in anyone, seeing that the will of man is fundamentally depraved. He cannot possibly be aware of all the arcana that have to do with regeneration, nor even that a new will is implanted by the Lord and the arcana concerning this. And the same is so with everything else. From this one may recognize what obscurity surrounds such people and that they do not even see, let alone reach, the outskirts of wisdom.