8573. 'And Moses cried out to Jehovah, [saying]' means deep grief, and intercession. This is clear from the meaning of 'crying out' - when it refers to the Divine aid which the people demanded in their misery and grief - as deep grief, as also previously in 7782, and intercession, as in 8179. Since 'Moses cried out to Jehovah' means intercession by Divine Truth, which 'Moses' represents, what intercession is and the nature of it must be stated briefly. People who do not know what intercession is can have no other conception of it than this, that the Lord constantly prays to the Father and intercedes for the sinner who pleads in a devout manner and promises to repent. Indeed the simple think that the Lord sits with the Father and speaks to Him about a sinner, asking the Father to give Him that sinner to be in His kingdom and possess eternal happiness. An idea such as this is what very many have about intercession referred to in the Word, where it says that the Lord will entreat the Father on their behalf. But who can fail to see that human ways of thinking were being used in what was said? For everyone at that time, like very many also at the present day, could think of a heavenly kingdom only as they think of an earthly kingdom. The latter serves them to gain an idea of the former. This is plainly evident from the Lord's apostles themselves - from James and John, who asked to sit one on His right, the other on His left in His kingdom, Mark 10:35-37; and also from the rest of the apostles, among whom a quarrel arose over which of them was to be greatest in His kingdom, and to whom the Lord said that they would eat and drink at His table in His kingdom, and that they would sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Luke 22:24, 30, and therefore that they would reign with Him. The things He said, it is evident, were adapted to their way of thinking and so to their ability to grasp them; but in the interior sense those things had a different meaning, which could not be made known at that time. What twelve thrones with the apostles seated on them mean, see 2129, 6397.

[2] As regards the nature of intercession, all love holds intercession within it, and so does all mercy since mercy is the characteristic of love. Anyone who has love or who has mercy is interceding constantly, as the following examples demonstrate: The husband who loves his wife wishes her to be well-received and well-treated by others. He does not express his wish in actual words, but it is constantly in his thinking, so that he is silently requesting it and interceding for her. Parents do the same thing for their children whom they love. It is likewise what a person governed by charity does for his neighbour, and what one moved by friendship does for a friend. These examples show that intercession is present unceasingly in all love. The same is true of the Lord's intercession for the human race, especially for those with whom the goodness and truth of faith are present; for towards them Divine - that is, infinite - love is shown, and Divine - that is, infinite - mercy. Not that the Lord prays to the Father for them and intercedes in that way; for then He would be acting in an entirely human manner. Rather He is constantly excusing and constantly forgiving, because He is constantly showing mercy; this the Lord Himself is doing since the Lord and the Father are one, John 14:8-12.

[3] An arcanum that lies even more deeply concealed within the word 'intercession' must also be mentioned. Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord intercedes constantly in such a way because it emanates from Divine Love. While the Lord was in the world He was Divine Truth; but now that He has been glorified, which was accomplished when He rose again, He is Divine Good, 7499. Divine Good is what is meant in the Word in the internal sense by 'the Father', and Divine Truth by 'the Son', 2803, 3704, 7499. And since Divine Truth, which emanates from Divine Good, holds constant intercession within it, the Son is said to entreat the Father and to intercede for a person. People were able to grasp the latter notion of the Son, but the former idea of Divine Truth only with difficulty.

8179. 'Why do you cry to Me?' means that there is no need of intercession. This is clear from the meaning of 'crying to Jehovah' as interceding, that is, pleading for them to be delivered from temptation, and therefore the question 'Why do you cry to Me?' means, Why do you intercede when there is no need of intercession? And as there is no need of it the words 'Speak to the children of Israel, and let them travel on' immediately follow, meaning that the people will be given help, but that temptation will still go on until their preparation has been accomplished.

[2] With regard to there being no need of intercession, the situation is that when people are in the throes of temptation they usually stay their hands and resort solely to prayers, which they then pour forth feverishly, unaware that such prayers achieve nothing, but that they should battle against the falsities and evils which the hells introduce. The truths of faith are the means for fighting that battle, and they are of help because they strengthen the forms of good and the truths opposed to falsities and evils. In the conflicts brought by temptations furthermore a person should fight as if he did so in his own strength, yet he should acknowledge and believe that he does so in the Lord's, see above in 8176. If a person does not fight as if in his own strength he does not make his own the goodness and truth which flow in from the Lord by way of heaven. But when a person does fight as if in his own strength and yet believes that he does so in the Lord's, he does make those things his own. This gives him a new proprium or selfhood, called a heavenly proprium, which is a new will.

[3] Moreover people in the throes of temptation who take no action other than to send up prayers do not realize that if their temptation were terminated before running its full course their preparation for heaven would not be accomplished, and so they could not be saved. For this reason also little heed is paid to the prayers of those in the throes of temptation; for the Lord desires the end in view, which is the person's salvation. The Lord knows that end, but the person does not, and the Lord does not do what prayers ask for if that is contrary to the end, which is salvation. The truth of this also becomes more firmly established with the person who conquers in temptations; but one who does not conquer entertains doubts about God's help and power because he is not heard. Then sometimes, because he stays his hands, he gives in to a degree.

From all this one may see how to understand the explanation that there is no need of intercession, namely that one should not rely on prayer. For in prayer, when inspired by God, there is always the thought and belief that the Lord alone knows whether what is sought would be beneficial or not. Therefore the one who prays leaves the Lord to decide whether to listen to what he asks for, then accordingly pleads that the Lord's will may be done, not his own, in keeping with the Lord's words uttered in Gethsemane during His severest temptation, Matthew 26:39, 42, 44.