5236. 'And a Hebrew boy was there with us' means that owing to temptation the guiltlessness of the Church had been cast away there. This is clear from the meaning of 'a boy' as guiltlessness, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'Hebrew' as a person belonging to the Church, dealt with in 5136, thus some attribute of the Church. His having been cast away there owing to temptation is meant by the words 'was there', that is to say, in custody; for 'custody', in which Joseph had been placed, means a state of temptation, 5036, 5037, 5039, 5044, 5045, that state being the subject in Chapters 39, 40.

[2] The reason 'a boy' [or older 'child'] ¹ means guiltlessness is that in the internal sense a young child means innocence. References are made in the Word to suckling, young child, and older child, by whom three degrees of innocence are meant, the first degree being meant by 'suckling', the second degree by 'young child', and the third by 'older child'. But because an older child is one who is beginning to lose his innocence, he therefore means the kind of innocence that is called guiltlessness. Because three degrees of innocence are meant by 'suckling', 'young child', and 'child', three degrees of love and charity are also meant by them, for the reason that celestial and spiritual love, which is love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, can have no existence except within innocence. It should be recognized however that the innocence of sucklings, young children, and older ones is purely external and that no internal innocence exists with anyone until he has been born anew, that is, has so to speak become a suckling, young child, and older child once again. These are the states meant in the Word by these three, for the internal sense of the Word has only that which is spiritual as its meaning, and therefore has purely spiritual birth - called rebirth and also regeneration - as its meaning.

[3] The fact that the innocence called guiltlessness is meant by 'a child' is clear in Luke,

Jesus said, Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it. Luke 18:17.

'Receiving the kingdom of God like a child' means receiving charity and faith because of one's innocence In Mark,

Jesus took a child, set him in the midst of them and took him up in His arms. He said to them, Whoever takes up one of such children in My name is taking up Me. Mark 9:36-37; Luke 9:47-48.

'A child' here is a representation of innocence; anyone who takes this up is taking up the Lord because He is the Source from which every trace of innocence is derived. Anyone may see that 'taking up a child in the Lord's name' does not mean taking up a child, so that something heavenly is represented by such an action.

[4] In Matthew,

When the children in the temple cried out, Hosanna to the son of David, [the chief priests and scribes] were indignant. Therefore Jesus said to them, Have you not read that out of the mouth of young children and sucklings You have perfected praise? Matthew 21:15-16; Psalms 8:2.

The children's cry 'Hosanna to the son of David' was voiced so as to represent the truth that innocence alone acknowledges and accepts the Lord, that is, that those who have innocence within them do so. The words 'out of the mouth of young children and sucklings You have perfected praise' mean that there is no other path than innocence along which praise can go to the Lord. Along this path alone can any communication be established, any influx take place, or consequently any approach be made. This is why the Lord says, in the same gospel,

Unless you are converted and become as children you will not enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3.

[5] In the following places too 'a boy' [or 'a child'] means innocence: In Zechariah,

The streets of the city will be full of boys and girls playing in its streets. Zechariah 8:5.

This refers to a new Jerusalem, or the Lord's kingdom. In David.

Praise Jehovah, Young men and also virgins, old men and children. Psalms 148:12

In the same author,

Jehovah redeems ² Your life from the pit. He satisfies your mouth with what is good, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. ³ Psalms 103:4-5.

In Joel,

Over My people they have cast lots, for they have given a boy for a harlot and have sold a girl for wine which they have drunk. Joel 3:3.

In Jeremiah,

I will scatter throughout you man and woman, and I will scatter throughout you old man and boy, and I will scatter throughout you young man and virgin. Jeremiah 51:12.

In Isaiah,

To us a boy is born, to us a son is given, upon whose shoulder is the government; and He will call His name, Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6.

脚注:

2025. That 'I will give to you, and to your seed after you, the land of your sojournings' means that the Lord acquired to Himself by His own powers all things meant by 'the land of sojournings' is clear from the meaning of 'sojourning' as receiving instruction, dealt with in 1463. And because man acquires life to himself chiefly through instruction in facts, matters of doctrine, and cognitions of faith, sojourning is consequently the life so acquired. When applied to the Lord it is the life which He obtained for Himself through cognitions, through the conflicts that constituted temptations, and through victories in temptations; and because He obtained it by His own powers, this is what 'the land of your sojournings' means here.

[2] That the Lord obtained all things for Himself by His own powers, and by His own powers united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence and Divine Essence to Human Essence, and that He alone in this way became righteousness, is quite clear in the Prophets, as in Isaiah,

Who is this coming from Edom, marching in the vast numbers of His strength? I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. I looked around and there was no one helping; and I was astonished that there was no one upholding; therefore My own arm brought Me salvation. Isaiah 63:1, 3, 5.

'Edom' stands for the Lord's Human Essence, 'strength' and 'arm' for power. Plain statements to the effect that He acted from His own power are contained in the phrases 'no one helping' and 'no one upholding', and in that about His own arm bringing Him salvation.

[3] In the same prophet,

He saw that there was no one, and wondered that there was nobody to intercede; and His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness upheld Him. And He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on His head. Isaiah 59:16-17.

This similarly means that He acted by His own power, and in so doing became righteousness. That the Lord is righteousness is stated in Daniel,

Seventy weeks have been decreed to atone for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. Daniel 9:24.

And in Jeremiah,

I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and He will reign as king and act with understanding, and He will execute judgement and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in confidence. And this is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16.

For this reason He is also called 'the Habitation of Righteousness' in Jeremiah 31:23; 50:7, and 'wonderful' and 'Hero' in Isaiah 9:6.

[4] The reason why the Lord so many times attributes to the Father that which is His own has been explained above in 1999, 2004; for Jehovah was within Him, and so within every single part of Him. Something similar in man may be used for illustration, although there can be no comparison. Within man is his soul, and because it is within him, the soul is within every individual part of him, that is to say, within every individual part of his thinking and every individual part of his activity. Anything that does not have his soul within it is not part of him. The Lord's soul was Life itself or Being (Esse) itself, which is Jehovah, for He was conceived from Jehovah; thus Life itself was present within every individual part of Him. And because Life itself, or Being (Esse) itself, which is Jehovah, belonged to Him in the way that the soul does to man, so that which was Jehovah's was His, which is what the Lord says in His statements about His being in the bosom of the Father, John 1:18, and about all things that the Father has being His, John 16:15; 17:10-11.

[5] From good which is Jehovah's He united the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, and from truth united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, and so achieved every single thing all from Himself. Indeed His Human was left to Itself in order that of Himself He might fight against all the hells and overcome them; and because He had life within Himself, as stated, which was His own, He overcame them by His own power and strength, as is also clearly stated in the places quoted from the Prophets. So then, because He acquired all things to Himself by His own powers, He became Righteousness, cleared the world of spirits of hellish genii and spirits, and in so doing rescued the human race from destruction - for the human race is governed by means of spirits - and thus redeemed it. This is why the Old Testament Word speaks so often of Him as Rescuer and Redeemer, and also Saviour, as His name Jesus describes.