183. These things saith he that hath the seven spirits of God. That this signifies the Lord from whom come all the truths of heaven and of the church is evident from the fact that it is the Son of man who says these things, and also those which are addressed to the angels of the other churches; and the Son of man is the Lord as to the Divine Human (as may be seen above, n. 63, 151). By the seven spirits of God are meant all the truths of heaven and of the church, because the Spirit of God in the Word signifies the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord. In many passages in the Word mention is made of spirit, and this, when said of man, signifies Divine truth received in his life, thus his spiritual life; but when said of the Lord it signifies the Divine which proceeds from Him, which in general terms is called Divine truth. But because few at this day know what is meant by spirit in the Word, I desire first to show from quotations, that spirit, when said of man, signifies Divine truth received in the life, thus his spiritual life. Now as these two things, the good of love and the truth of faith, constitute the spiritual life of man, therefore, in several passages in the Word, mention is made of heart and spirit, and also of heart and soul; by heart is signified the good of love, and by spirit the truth of faith; the latter is also signified by soul, for by this term in the Word is meant man's spirit.

That by spirit, when said of man, is signified truth received in the life, is evident from the following passages.

[2] In Ezekiel:

"Make you a new heart and a new spirit; why will ye die, O house of Israel?" (18:31).

In the same:

"A new heart will I give you, and a new spirit will I give in the midst of you" (36:26).

In David:

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a firm spirit within me. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart God does not despise" (Psalms 51:10, 17).

In these passages heart signifies the good of love, and spirit the truth of faith, from which man has spiritual life; for there are two things that constitute man's life, good and truth; these two when united in man constitute his spiritual life.

[3] Because heart signifies good, and spirit truth, when both are received in the life, therefore heart, in the opposite sense, signifies evil, and spirit falsity; for most expressions in the Word have also an opposite sense. Heart and spirit are used in this sense in the following passages in David:

"A generation that sets not their heart aright, and whose spirit is not steadfast with God" (Psalms 78:8).

In Ezekiel:

"Every heart shall melt, and every spirit shall faint" (21:7).

In Moses:

"Jehovah hath made heavy the spirit of the king of Heshbon, and hath hardened his heart" (Deuteronomy 2:30).

In Isaiah:

"Conceive chaff, bring forth stubble; fire shall devour your spirit" (33:11).

In Ezekiel:

"Woe unto the foolish prophets, who go away after their own spirit" (13:3).

In the same:

"That which ascendeth upon your spirit shall never come to pass" (20:32).

[4] From these considerations it is evident, that the whole of man's life is meant by heart and spirit; and because his whole life has reference to these two, namely, to good and truth, and, in the spiritual sense, to love and faith, therefore, by heart and spirit those two lives are meant. This is also why heart and spirit signify man's will and understanding, because these two faculties constitute his life; for a man has no life but in those faculties; the reason is, that the will is the receptacle of good and its love, or of evil and its love, and the understanding is the receptacle of truth and its faith, or of falsity and its faith, and, as has been said, all things in man have reference to good and truth or to evil and falsity, and, in the spiritual sense, to love and faith (see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 28-35). The reason why by spirit, when said of man, is signified truth or falsity, and hence his life from the one or the other is, that by spirit is properly meant the spirit which is in man, and which thinks, and this it does either from truths or from falsities. But, as said above, the two things that constitute man's life are understanding and will. The life of the understanding is to think from either truths or falsities, and the life of the will is to affect, or inflame with love, those things which the understanding thinks. These two lives of a man's spirit correspond to the two lives of his body, which are the life of the respiration of the lungs and the life of the pulse of the heart; man's spirit is united to the body by this correspondence (as may be seen above, n. 167, and in the work, Heaven and Hell 446, 447).

[5] Because of this correspondence, the spirit is so named from a term which, in the original, and in several other languages, signifies wind; therefore to expire is frequently expressed in the Word by giving up the spirit. Thus in David:

"I have taken away their spirit, he has expired" (Psalms 104:29).

In Ezekiel:

The Lord Jehovih said to the dry bones, "Behold, I bring spirit into you, that ye may live: and the Lord Jehovih said, Come from the four winds, O spirit, and breathe into these slain; and the spirit came into them, and they lived again" (37:5, 9, 10).

In the Apocalypse:

"The two witnesses were slain by the beast that came up out of the abyss, but after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet" (11:7, 11).

In Luke:

Jesus, taking the hand of the dead maid, "cried, saying, Maid, arise; and her spirit came again, and she arose straightway" (8:54, 55).

[6] When these passages are understood it will be evident what is signified by spirit when said of man, in numerous places in the Word, from which the following only shall be adduced; as in John:

"Except anyone be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth; so is every one that is born of the spirit" (3:5, 8).

In the same:

The Lord breathed on the disciples, and said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit" (20:21, 22).

In the Book of Genesis:

"Jehovah breathed into man's nostrils the breath of lives" (2:7);

besides other places.

[7] That spirit, in the spiritual sense, signifies truth, and man's life thence derived, which is intelligence, is quite clear from the following passages. In John:

"The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth" (4:23).

In Daniel:

"In him was an excellent spirit of knowledge and understanding. I have heard concerning thee that the spirit of God is in thee, and that light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in thee" (5:12, 14).

In Moses:

"Thou shalt speak unto all the wise in heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom" (Exodus 28:3).

In Luke:

John "grew, and waxed strong in spirit" (1:80).

And concerning the Lord,

Jesus "the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was filled with wisdom" (2:40).

[8] When it is known what is signified by the term spirit when used in reference to man, its meaning may be known when said of Jehovah, or the Lord, to whom are attributed all the things which a man has, face, eyes, ears, arms, hands, as also heart and soul, thus also spirit, which in the Word is called the spirit of God, the spirit of Jehovah, the spirit of His nostrils, the spirit of His mouth, the spirit of truth, the spirit of holiness, and the Holy Spirit, by which is meant Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, as is evident from many passages in the Word.

The reason why Divine truth proceeding from the Lord is the spirit of God is, that all the life which men possess is therefrom, as also the heavenly life of those who receive that Divine truth in faith and life. That this is the spirit of God, the Lord himself teaches in John:

"The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (6:63).

In Isaiah:

"There shall go forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse: the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might" (11:1, 2).

Again:

"I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the nations" (42:1).

Again:

"When [the enemy] shall come like a river, the spirit of Jehovah shall lift up a standard against him" (59:19).

Again:

"The spirit of the Lord Jehovih is upon me, therefore Jehovah hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor" (61:1).

And in John:

"He whom the Father hath sent, speaketh the words of God; for God hath not given the spirit by measure" (3:34);

this is said of the Lord. That the Holy Spirit is Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, is evident in John:

"I tell you the truth: it is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you. When he, the Spirit of Truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself, he shall receive of mine and shall show it unto you" (16:7, 13, 14).

[9] That the Comforter, here mentioned, is Divine truth proceeding from the Lord is quite clear; for it is said the Lord himself spoke "the truth" to them, and declared that, when He should go away, He would send the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, who should guide them into all truth, and that He would not speak from himself but from the Lord. It is here said, he shall receive of mine, because Divine truths proceed from the Lord; and mine is said of what proceeds; for the Lord himself is Divine love, and that which proceeds from Him is Divine truth, thus is His own (see what is said in the work, Heaven and Hell 139, 140, and the preceding numbers, and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 307). That to go forth and to proceed is meant by being sent and sending, may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 2397, 4710, 6831, 10561; in like manner here by I will send Him unto you.

[10] That the Comforter is the Holy Spirit is evident in John:

"The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, he shall teach you all things" (14:26).

In the same:

Jesus stood and cried with a loud voice: "Saying, If anyone thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. This spake he of the Spirit which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified" (7:37-39).

That the Holy Spirit is Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, which flows into man, both immediately from the Lord Himself and mediately by angels and spirits, is clear also from the above words. For the Lord declares that he who believes on Him, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water; and then it is added that He spake this concerning the Spirit which they should receive; for water, in the spiritual sense, signifies truth, and rivers of living water, Divine truth from the Lord in abundance; the same is therefore meant by the Spirit which they should receive. (That water signifies truth, and living water Divine truth, may be seen above, n. 71.) And because Divine truth proceeds from the Lord's Human glorified, and not immediately from His Divine itself, because this was glorified in itself from eternity, it is therefore here said,

"The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified."

(That to glorify is to make Divine, and that the Lord fully glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine by his last temptation and victory on the cross, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 293-295, 300-306.)

[11] In heaven they greatly wonder that those who form the church do not know that the Holy Spirit, which is Divine truth, proceeds from the Lord's Human, and not immediately from His Divine, when, notwithstanding, the doctrine received in the whole Christian world teaches that, - "As is the Father, so also is the Son, uncreate, infinite, eternal, omnipotent, God, Lord; neither of them is first or last, nor greatest or least. Christ is God and man: God from the nature of the Father, and man from the nature of the mother; but although He is God and man, yet nevertheless there are not two, but one Christ; He is one, not by changing the Divinity into the humanity, but by the Divinity receiving to itself the humanity. He is altogether one, not by a commixing of two natures, but one person alone, because as the body and soul are one man, so God and man is one Christ." This is from the creed of Athanasius.

Now because the Lord's Divine and Human are not two, but one Person alone, and are united as the soul and body, it can be known that the Divine which is called the Holy Spirit goes forth and proceeds from His Divine by means of the Human, thus from the Divine Human; for nothing whatever can proceed from the body except out of the soul by means of the body, because all the life of the body is from its soul. And because, as is the Father so is the Son, uncreate, infinite, eternal, omnipotent, God and Lord, and neither of them is first or last, nor greatest or least, it follows that the proceeding Divine, which is called the Holy Spirit, proceeds from the Divine itself of the Lord by means of His Human, and not from another Divine which is called the Father; for the Lord teaches that He and the Father are one, and that the Father is in Him and He in the Father (concerning which, see below, n. 200). But the reason why most of those in the Christian world think otherwise in their hearts, and consequently believe otherwise, the angels have said is from the fact that they think of the Human of the Lord as separate from His Divine; which nevertheless is contrary to the doctrine that teaches that the Divine and Human of the Lord are not two persons, but one Person alone, and united as soul and body.

That this is in the doctrine of the whole Christian world was provided by the Lord, because it is the essential of the church, and the essential of the salvation of all. But that they have divided the Divine and Human of the Lord into two natures, and have said that the Lord is God from the nature of the Father, and man from the nature of the mother, was because they did not know that when the Lord fully glorified His Human He put off the Human taken from the mother, and put on that from the Father (according to what is shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 295). That this distinction was also made in a certain council, on account of the Pope, by those who were then present, in order that he might be acknowledged as the Lord's vicar, may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 4738.

[12] That the Spirit of God is Divine truth, and hence spiritual life to the man who receives it, is further evident from the following passages. In Micah:

"I am full of power with the Spirit of Jehovah, and of judgment" (3:8).

In Isaiah:

"I will pour out waters upon him that is thirsty, and rivulets upon the dry ground, and my spirit upon thy seed" (44:3).

Again:

"In that day shall Jehovah of hosts be for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, and for strength to them" (28:5, 6).

In Ezekiel:

"That ye may know that I will put my spirit in you that ye may live" (37:14).

In Joel:

"I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and also upon the men-servants, and upon the handmaids" (2:28).

In the Apocalypse:

"The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (19:10).

Because the Spirit of God signifies Divine truth, it is therefore called

the Spirit of the mouth of Jehovah (Psalms 33:6)

"the spirit of his lips" (Isaiah 11:4);

"the breath of God," and "the spirit of his nostrils" (Lamentations 4:20; Psalms 18:15; Job. 4:9).

In Matthew:

John said, "I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but he that cometh after me shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire" (3:11).

To baptize, in the spiritual sense, signifies to regenerate; the Holy Spirit is Divine truth, and fire is Divine good. (That to baptize signifies to regenerate, may be see above, n. 71; and that fire is the good of love, n. 68.)

[13] From these considerations it is now evident what is meant by the words of the Lord to His disciples:

"Going . . . baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit" (28:19).

Here by the Father is meant the Divine itself, by the Son, the Divine Human, and by the Holy Spirit, the proceeding Divine which is Divine truth: thus one Divine, and yet a trinity. That this is the case, the Lord teaches in John:

"From these things ye know" the Father, "and have seen him. He that seeth me seeth the Father. I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (14:7, 9, 10).

[14] Because the proceeding Divine, which is Divine truth, flows into man both immediately and mediately by angels and spirits, it is therefore believed that the Holy Spirit is a third person, distinct from the two called Father and Son; but I can assert that no one in heaven knows any other Holy Divine Spirit but the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord. And because the Divine truth is communicated to men also mediately by means of angels, it is therefore said of Jehovah in David,

"Jehovah God maketh his angels spirits" (Psalms 104:1, 4).

These things are now adduced to show that by the seven spirits are signified all the truths of heaven and the church from the Lord. That the seven spirits denote all the truths of heaven and the church, becomes more evident from these passages in the Apocalypse:

"The seven lamps of fire burning before the throne are the seven spirits of God" (4:5).

And moreover,

"In the midst of the elders stood a lamb, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth" (5:6).

That the spirits there mentioned do not mean spirits, is clear from the fact that the lamps, and the eyes of the Lamb are called spirits; for lamps signify Divine truths and eyes the understanding of truth; and when these are said of the Lord, His Divine wisdom and intelligence are meant (concerning which see above, n. 152).

3869. 'For Jehovah has heard' means in the highest sense providence, in the internal sense the will of faith, in the interior sense obedience, in the external sense the sense of hearing - faith in the will which is received from the Lord alone being meant here. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearing'. As regards 'hearing' meaning the sense of hearing, this needs no explanation; but that 'hearing' in the interior sense means obedience and in the internal sense faith in the will, this is clear from the many places in the Word that are referred to below. The same is clear also from the nature of the sense of hearing when compared with that of sight. Sight in the interior sense means the understanding and in the internal sense faith in the understanding, see 3863; and the reason why it has these meanings is that the essential nature of things comes to be seen by means of one's internal sight and with the aid of this comes to be grasped by a kind of faith, though such as exists only in the understanding. When however things that are heard penetrate to the interior parts they too are converted into something similar to sight, for things that are heard are then seen interiorly. Consequently that which is meant by the sense of sight is also meant by the sense of hearing; that is to say, that which is of the understanding and also that which is of faith is meant. But the sense of hearing at the same time convinces a person that the thing is true, for it has an influence not only on the understanding part of a person's mind but also on the will part, and so reaches more interiorly. That is to say, it reaches the will and causes that person to will that which he sees. This is why 'hearing' means the understanding of a thing and at the same time obedience, and why in the spiritual sense it means faith in the will.

[2] It is because these two - obedience, and faith in the will - lie thus within 'hearing' that these attributes are also meant in everyday speech by the phrases hearing, listening to, and paying attention to; for a person who 'hears' is one who is obedient, and 'listening to' somebody also means obeying him. For those entities which exist interiorly within something are sometimes included within the actual expressions a person uses when he speaks. These occur there because it is a person's spirit which thinks and which grasps the meaning of the expressions used by others when they speak; and his spirit is in a way in contact with spirits and angels among whom the first beginnings of verbal expressions exist. What is more, the whole range of man's experience is such that whatever enters in through the ear and eye, or hearing and sight, passes into his understanding, through the understanding into the will, and from the will into deed. So it is with the truth of faith. This first becomes the truth of faith present within knowledge, then the truth of faith within the will, and finally the truth of faith in deed, and so finally charity. Faith within knowledge or the understanding is meant by 'Reuben', as has been shown; faith in the will by 'Simeon'; and faith in the will when it becomes charity by 'Levi'.

[3] As regards 'hearing' in the highest sense meaning providence, this may become clear from what has been stated above in 3863 about 'seeing' in the highest sense meaning foresight, for the Lord's foresight is a seeing from eternity to eternity that a thing is so, whereas His providence is a governing that that thing should be so and a bending of a person's freedom towards good insofar as He foresees that that person is going to allow himself in freedom to be bent towards it, see 3854.

[4] That 'Jehovah heard', the phrase from which Simeon received his name, in the interior sense means obedience, and in the internal sense faith in the will acquired from the Lord alone, is evident from very many places in the Word, such as the following: In Matthew,

Behold, a voice from the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him. Matthew 17:5.

'Hearing Him' stands for possessing faith in Him, and obeying His commandments, and so possessing faith in the will. In John,

Truly, truly, I say to you, that the hour will come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice. John 5:25, 28.

'Hearing the voice of the Son of God' stands for possessing faith in the Lord's words, and willing them. People who possess faith that is part of the will receive life, and that is why the words 'those who hear will live' are used.

[5] In the same gospel,

The one entering by the door is the shepherd of the sheep; to him the gate-keeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. John 10:2-3, 16, 27.

'Hearing the voice' plainly stands for obedience resulting from faith that is part of the will. In the same gospel,

Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. John 18:37.

Here the meaning is similar. In Luke,

Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded if someone rose from the dead. Luke 16:29, 31.

'Hearing Moses and the Prophets' stands for knowing things contained in the Word and possessing faith in it, and so also willing those things. For possessing faith without willing is seeing but not hearing, whereas possessing faith together with willing is seeing and hearing. This is why both - seeing and hearing - are mentioned together in various places throughout the Word, seeing meaning that which is portrayed through 'Reuben' and hearing that which is portrayed through 'Simeon', since the two are joined together like brother to brother.

[6] The fact that seeing and hearing are referred to jointly is clear from the following places: In Matthew,

Therefore I speak to them in parables, because those who see do not see, and those who hear do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says, By hearing you will hear and not understand, and seeing you will see and not discern. This people's heart has become gross, and with ears they have heard in a dull manner, and their eyes they have closed, lest perhaps they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and with their heart understand. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it. Matthew 13:13-17; John 12:40; Isaiah 6:9.

In Mark,

Jesus said to the disciples, Why do you discuss the fact that you have no loaves? Are you still without understanding and do not understand? Do you still have your heart hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? Mark 8:17-18.

[7] In Luke,

To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but for everyone else in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear. Luke 8:10.

In Isaiah,

The eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be opened. Isaiah 35:5.

In the same prophet,

Then on that day the deaf will hear the words of the book, and out of thick darkness and out of darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Isaiah 29:18.

In the same prophet,

Hear, you deaf, and look and see, you blind. Isaiah 42:18.

In the same prophet, Bring forth the blind people, who will have eyes, and the deaf, who will have ears. Isaiah 43:8.

In the same prophet,

The eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. Isaiah 32:3.

In the same prophet, Let your eyes be looking at your teachers, and let your ears hear the word. Isaiah 30:20-21.

In the same prophet,

He who stops his ear lest it hears of blood, and shuts his eyes lest they see evil, will dwell on the heights. Isaiah 33:15-16.

In Ezekiel,

Son of man, you are dwelling in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see but they do not see, who have ears to hear but they do not hear. Ezekiel 12:2.

In these places both seeing and hearing are mentioned because one follows the other. That is to say, faith in the understanding, meant by 'seeing', is followed by faith in the will, meant by 'hearing'. Otherwise it would have been sufficient to mention only one. From this it is also evident why one son of Jacob was named from the expression 'seeing' and the other from 'hearing'.

[8] The origin of 'seeing' meaning faith within knowledge or the understanding, and 'hearing' faith within obedience or the will rests in correspondences in the next life and in meaningful signs based on these. People who have understanding and faith resulting from that understanding belong to the province of the eye, and those who are obedient and have faith resulting from that obedience belong to the province of the ear. The truth of this will be seen from what, in the Lord's Divine mercy, is going to be shown at the ends of chapters concerning the Grand Man and the correspondence with it of everything in the human body.

[9] So it is then that 'the eye' in the internal sense means the understanding, see 2701, and 'the ear' obedience. And in the spiritual sense 'the ear' means faith resulting from obedience, or faith in the will, as is also clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Even so, you have not heard, even so, you have not known; even so, from that time your ear has not opened itself. Isaiah 48:8.

In the same prophet,

The Lord Jehovih will arouse my ear to hear like those who are being taught. The Lord Jehovih opened my ear, and I was not rebellious. Isaiah 50:4-5.

In the same prophet,

Attend diligently to Me, and eat what is good, that your soul may delight in fatness; incline your ear and come to Me; hear, that your soul may live. Isaiah 55:2-3.

In Jeremiah,

To whom am I to speak and testify, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot listen. Jeremiah 6:10.

In the same prophet,

This I commanded them, saying, Hear My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. But they did not hear, nor did they incline their ear. Jeremiah 7:23-24, 26

In the same prophet,

Hear, O women, the word of Jehovah, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth. Jeremiah 9:20.

In the same prophet,

You did not incline your ear, and you did not obey Me. Jeremiah 35:15.

In Ezekiel,

Son of man, all My words that I have spoken to you, receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. Ezekiel 3:10.

In the same prophet,

I will bring My zeal against you, and they will deal with you in fury. Your nose and your ears they will remove Ezekiel 23:25.

'Removing nose and ears' stands for removing the perception of truth and good, and the obedience that goes with faith. In Zechariah,

They refused to pay attention, and fumed a stubborn shoulder, and made their ears heavy so that they might not hear, and set their heart adamant, so that they might not hear the law. Zechariah 7:11-12.

[10] In Amos,

Thus said Jehovah, As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so will the children of Israel in Samaria be rescued, on the corner of a bed and on the end of a couch. Amos 3:12.

'Rescuing two legs' stands for rescuing the will for good, 'a piece of an ear' for rescuing the will for truth. It may be seen that 'a piece of an ear' has this meaning, as has been stated, solely from correspondences in the next life and from the meaningful signs based on these, with which the internal sense of the Word and also the ritual observances in the Israelitish and Jewish Church are in accordance. This explains why, when Aaron and his sons were to be consecrated for their specific function, Moses was commanded among other things to take some of the ram's blood and to put it on the tip of Aaron's ear and on the tips of the ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the large toes of their right feet, Exodus 29:20. This ritual act represented the will anointed by faith, into which also as priest he was to be initiated. Anyone can recognize that this ritual act was holy since it was Jehovah who commanded Moses to perform it, and so also that putting blood on the tip of the ear was holy. But what holy thing was meant cannot be known except from the internal sense of the things in the Word, which at this point is that the holiness of faith when applied to the will must be preserved.

[11] The meaning of 'the ear' as obedience, and in the internal sense as faith resulting from that obedience, is even more plainly evident from the ritual that was to be observed when a slave did not wish to go free, described in Moses as follows: If a slave or servant-girl did not wish to go free,

His master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost; and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever. Exodus 21:6; Deuteronomy 15:17.

'Piercing his ear with an awl at the doorpost' stands for serving and obeying for ever. In the spiritual sense it stands for having no wish to understand what is true, only a wish to be obedient to it. This, compared with an understanding of what is true, is not freedom.

[12] Since the obedience of faith is meant in the internal sense by 'the ears', and being obedient by 'hearing', one may see what is meant by the following words spoken by the Lord many times, He who has an ear to hear, let him hear, Matthew 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9, 23; 7:16; Luke 8:8; 14:35; Revelation 2:7, 11, 29; 3:13, 22.

[13] As regards 'hearing' in the highest sense meaning providence and 'seeing' foresight, this is clear from the following places in the Word in which eyes and also ears are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord; as in Isaiah,

Incline Your ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open Your eyes, O Jehovah, and see. Isaiah 37:17.

In Daniel,

Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes ¹ and see our devastations. Daniel 9:18.

In David,

O God, incline Your ear to me, and hear my speech. Psalms 17:6.

In the same author,

Incline to me Your ear, and save me. Psalms 71:2.

In the same author,

Turn an ear to my prayers, on account of Your truthfulness; answer me, on account of Your righteousness. Psalms 143:1.

In Jeremiah,

O Jehovah, You heard my voice; do not hide Your ear at my sighing, at my cry. Lamentations 3:56.

In David,

O Jehovah, do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress; incline to me Your ear; in the day I cry answer me. Psalms 102:2.

[14] It is well known that Jehovah does not have ears or eyes as man does but that some attribute which may be ascribed to the Divine is meant by the ear and the eye, namely infinite will and infinite understanding. Infinite will is providence, and infinite understanding foresight; and it is these that are meant in the highest sense by ear and eye when these are attributed to Jehovah. These considerations now show what is meant in each sense [of the Word] by 'Jehovah heard', the phrase from which 'Simeon' received his name.

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