8979. 'If he is master of a woman' means truth together with delight linked to it. This is clear from the meaning of 'master' as truth, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'a woman' as good, but at this point as delight, also dealt with below. The reason why 'master' is truth is that 'master' in this instance is used to refer to the slave as the man (or husband) of a woman, and in the internal sense both 'slave' and 'man (or husband) of a woman' mean truth - regarding 'slave', see above in 8974, and regarding 'man', 3134, 3309, 3459, 7716. The reason why 'a woman' is delight is that 'the woman (or wife) of a man' in the internal sense means good, 915, 2517, 4823, 6014, 8337. But since a member of the external Church, who indeed possesses the truth of religious teachings but not its complementary good, is represented by a slave from the Israelite people, 8974; and since he does not do the truth for its own sake, or good for its own sake, but for reward, there lies within the truth or good he does the thought of self. This thought of self has no association with good, only with delight; for nothing else is called good in the spiritual sense except that which is a form of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. This good does, it is true, present itself also as delight in the natural man; but the spiritual within it is what causes it to be good.

[2] To know more about the nature of all this it should be kept in mind that the actions of a member of the internal Church spring from charity, thus from affection and love towards the neighbour, whereas the actions of a member of the external Church do not spring from the good of charity but from the truth of faith, thus not from affection and love towards the neighbour but from obedience because such actions are commanded. Consequently the member of the internal Church is free, whereas the member of the external Church in comparison is a slave; for one whose actions spring from love and affection acts in freedom, 2870-2893. But someone whose actions spring from obedience does not act in freedom, for acting in obedience is not freedom. This is the reason why one whose actions spring from the good of charity is a true member of the spiritual Church; he therefore is represented in the Word by Israel. Someone however whose actions do not spring from the good of charity but from the truth of faith is not a true member of the spiritual Church, but is in comparison one who serves him. He therefore was represented by the slave who was called 'a Hebrew slave' because he had been bought from the children of Israel.

8974. 'When you buy a Hebrew slave' means those within the Church who are imbued with the truths of religious teachings and not with the good that accords with those truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'buying' as acquiring to oneself and making one's own, dealt with in 4397, 5374, 5397, 5406, 5410, 5426, 7999; and from the meaning of 'a Hebrew slave' as those within the Church who are imbued with the truths of religious teachings and not with the goodness of life that accords with those truths. For 'a slave' or 'a servant' has reference to those who are imbued with truth and not with complementary good, and in general to truth in relation to good, 3409. And 'Hebrew' has reference to things connected with the Church and to those connected with some servitude; for its reference to things connected with the Church, see 5136, 5236, 6675, 6684, and for its reference to those connected with some servitude, 1703, 1741, 5013.

Since the regulations that come next refer to male slaves and female slaves from the children of Israel, what they hold within them in the internal sense must be stated. Anyone can see that they contain the arcana of heaven, since they were declared and commanded by Jehovah on Mount Sinai to Moses orally, and since they follow very soon after the words of the Ten Commandments. Without such arcana they would be no more than civil and criminal laws like those of other nations on earth, which do not have any arcanum of heaven within them. But the arcana they contain are not evident except to angels in heaven. Consequently they do not become evident to people in the world except through the internal sense, because this sense teaches the way in which angels perceive the Word, and therefore teaches the arcana which the Word holds within itself. What those arcana are, and the nature of them, will be evident below from the explanation of specific details.

[2] So that a person may have a general idea of those things, a brief statement is needed to show what 'Hebrew slaves' in particular means in the internal sense. In the spiritual Church, which the children of Israel represented, there are two kinds of people. There are those who are imbued with the truth of faith but not with the complementary goodness of life, and there are those who are imbued with the good of charity and with the complementary truth of faith. Those imbued with the good of charity and complementary truth of faith constitute the truest part of the Church, being members of the internal Church. In the internal sense of the Word they are those called 'the children of Israel'. They are intrinsically free, because they are imbued with good; for those who are led by the Lord through good are free, 892, 905, 2870-2893. Those however who are imbued with the truth of faith and not with the complementary goodness of life are members of the external spiritual Church. These are the ones who are meant in the internal sense of the Word by 'Hebrew slaves'. The reason why these people are represented by slaves or servants is that relatively the things which belong to the external Church are nothing other than a body of servants. The same applies also to the relationship of the truth of faith-to the good of charity; for the truth of faith acts like a servant to lead a member of the Church into the good of charity.

[3] In addition it should be recognized that those who think that the all of the Church, thus the all of salvation, consists in the truth of faith and not in the good of charity, and also those who do good solely in a spirit of obedience and not out of love and affection, cannot be regenerated in the way that those people are who are imbued with the good of charity, that is, who do good out of love and affection. They can, it is true, be reformed, but not regenerated. The reformation of them is the subject in the internal sense at this point, in the laws regarding male slaves and female slaves. The arcana of that reformation are not known to anyone at the present day, the reason being that almost everywhere within the Church people are ignorant of what difference the truth of faith can make to salvation, and what difference the good of charity can make. Indeed people are ignorant of what charity is, and also that charity and faith must be married to each other if anything of the Church is to come into being in a person; for the marriage of goodness and truth constitutes the Church itself, because it is heaven within a person, 2173, 2618, 2728, 2729, 2803, 3132, 3155, 4434, 4823, 5194, 5502, 6179.