9150. 'And it is taken away by theft out of the man's house' means the loss of them from there. This is clear from the meaning of 'theft' as taking away the kinds of things that compose a person's spiritual life, and therefore taking away the truths and factual knowledge meant by 'silver and vessels', 9149; and from the meaning of 'house' as the place where something is stored. So it is that 'house' has various meanings, such as the Church, what is good there, also a person, as well as both levels of the human mind, the natural level and the rational; but at this point it means the memory, because truths and factual knowledge reside in it as in their own house. Regarding 'house' and its various meanings, see 3128, 3142, 3538, 3652, 3720, 3900, 4973, 4982, 5023, 5640, 6690, 7353, 7848, 7929.

7849. 'In which they will eat it' means enjoyment. This is clear from the meaning of 'eating' as making one's own, dealt with in 3168, 3513 (end), 4745, but at this point enjoyment since the subject is the state of initiation. The situation is this: When those who had been held back in safe keeping on the lower earth before the Lord's Coming - 6854, 6914, 7091 (end), 7828 - were about to be delivered they had to be made ready to receive the inflow of goodness and truth from the Lord; for they were going to pass through the midst of hell. And to guard, as they passed through, against any inflow of evils and falsities from hellish spirits round about, they had to be made ready so that when they went through they would be fully equipped with truth and good. But this passage through hell will in the Lord's Divine mercy be spoken about later on. That preparation or initiation into a state when goodness and truth were received is described by the things they were to do between the tenth day of the month and the fourteenth, and were to observe in connection with the eating of the Passover lamb.