8604. 'And so it was, when Moses raised up his hand' means whenever the faith of those belonging to the spiritual Church looked towards the Lord. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as God's truth, dealt with often; and from the meaning of 'raising up one's hand' as spiritual power directed upwards, and so towards the Lord. For the meaning of 'hand' as spiritual power, see 6947, 7011; and being spiritual power it is faith, since all power in the spiritual world, that is, against falsities and evils, is the power of truth received from good, or of faith received from charity, 3563, 4931.

[2] What looking towards the Lord is, and what looking towards the world and self is, thus what looking above self and below self is, may be seen in

7814-7821:

Looking above self is looking towards one's neighbour, country, Church, heaven, and so towards the Lord, 7814, 7815, 7817.

Looking below self is looking towards the world and self, 7817.

Looking above self and below self means having something as one's end in view and loving it above all else, 7818.

The human being is distinguished from beasts by the fact that he can look above self or below self; when he looks above self he is a human being, but when he looks below self he is a beast, 7821.

Looking above self is being raised by the Lord to a higher level, 7816.

The Lord flows in with every person through the Truth emanating from Himself. Through it He brings life to the person, for the light which comes from the Lord is Divine Truth, and is life, John 1:4.

[3] This Divine Truth coming from the Lord flows into the good residing with the person, and by means of it He draws the person to Himself. For life which comes from the Lord is attractive or draws others to itself because it springs from love, and all love holds a power of attraction because of its desire to be joined to another so that they may be one. When therefore a person is governed by good, and from good is guided by truth, he is drawn by the Lord to Himself and joined to Him. This is what looking upwards to the Lord is used to mean. The person who is not governed by good, and thus is not guided by truth from good, is also drawn by the Lord, but he cannot be raised up, because evils and resulting falsities are averse to Him. This is what looking downwards, or towards self and the world, is used to mean.

[4] The truth that the Lord draws a person to Himself is His own teaching in John,

I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself. John 12:31.

From all this one may now see how to understand the explanation that whenever faith looked towards the Lord the truth engaged in conflict would be winning, and whenever faith looked downwards, away from the Lord towards self and the world, falsity would be winning, which is the meaning of the statement that when Moses raised up his hand Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand Amalek prevailed.