79. And he laid his right hand upon me. That this signifies life from Him, is evident from the signification of right hand, when said of the Lord, as being life from Him (concerning this see above, n. 72). The reason why this signifies life from the Lord, is, that it follows immediately after the words, "I fell at his feet as dead." And, moreover, by touching with the hand, is signified to communicate and transfer to another that which belongs to oneself, and also to receive from another and to communicate and transfer to another what belongs to oneself, when said of the Lord, as in this passage, denotes life, such as is communicated to those who are in a state of enlightenment, and see and hear such things as are in heaven. This also was the case with John; for he was in such a state of enlightenment when he saw and heard the things described in the Apocalypse.

[2] The reason why to touch with the hand denotes to communicate, and to transfer to another, is, because all the power of man is transferred from the body into the hands; therefore, what the mind wills that the body should do, the arms and hands perform accordingly. Hence it is that by arms and hands in the Word is signified power (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 878, 3091, 4931-4937. 7673, 10019); this power, however, is natural power, and communication thereby is the exertion of the forces of the body; but spiritual power is to will the good of another, and, as much as possible, to be willing to transfer to another what belongs to oneself. This power is signified by hand in the spiritual sense, and its communication and translation by touching with the hand.

From these considerations it is evident that, by the Lord, who is there called the Son of man, laying His right hand upon John, when he lay as dead, is signified, that He communicated and transferred to him life from Himself (concerning which, see above).

[3] To touch, and to touch with the hand, has a similar signification in many passages in the Word, as in the following. In Daniel:

The Lord, who there appeared to him as a man clothed in linen, whose aspect was as the appearance of lightning, and His eyes as torches of fire, and His feet as the brightness of polished brass, touched him; restored him to his station; set him upon his knees; touched his lips, and opened his mouth; and again touched him, and strengthened him (10:4 to the end).

In Jeremiah:

"Jehovah put forth his hand and touched my mouth, and said, I give my words into thy mouth" (1:9).

And in Matthew:

Jesus put forth His and to the leper "and touched him, saying, I will, be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed" (8:3).

In the same:

Jesus saw Peter's wife's mother sick of a fever "and he touched her hand, and the fever left her" (8:14, 15).

In the same:

Jesus touched the eyes of two blind men and their eyes were opened (9:29).

In the same:

"While Peter was speaking, behold a bright cloud overshadowed the disciples, and behold a voice out of the cloud which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell upon their face, and were sore afraid. Then Jesus came near and touched them, and said, Arise, be not afraid" (17:5-7).

In Luke:

Jesus came and touched the bier of the dead man, and said, "Young man, I say unto thee, Arise. Then he that was dead sat up, and began to speak" (7:14, 15).

In the same:

Jesus touched the ear of the deaf man, and healed him (22:51).

In Mark:

"They brought young children to him, that he should touch them. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them" (10:13, 16).

In the same:

They brought unto Jesus those that were sick "that they might touch the hem of his garment; and as many as touched were made whole" (Matthew 14:35, 36).

In Luke:

"A woman having an issue of blood, touched the border of Jesus' garment; and immediately her issue of blood stanched. Jesus said, Some one hath touched me, for I perceive that virtue is gone out of me" (8:43, 44, 46).

[4] Because by the touching and laying on of hands, is signified to communicate and transfer to another what is one's own, therefore from ancient times it has been customary in the churches to lay hands upon the heads of those who were inaugurated and blessed, as Moses was commanded to do in the case of Joshua (Numbers 27:18-23; Deuteronomy 34:9). Since all things among the sons of Israel were representative and significative of spiritual things, so also was the touch; therefore those were sanctified who touched what was holy, and those were polluted who touched what was unclean, for the touch signified communication and transference from one to another, and reception from one by another; as is evident from the following passages in Moses: whosoever shall touch the tent of the assembly, the ark of the testimony, the table and all its vessels, the lampstand and its vessels, the altar of incense, the altar of burnt offering and all its vessels, and the laver and its foot, shall be holy (Exodus 30:26-29). Whatsoever touched the altar should be holy (Exodus 29:37). Every thing which touched the remainder of the meat-offering, and the remainder of the flesh from the sacrifices, should be holy (Leviticus 6:11-20).

"Whosoever touched a dead body, and purified not himself, defiled the tabernacle of Jehovah; therefore that soul should be cut off from Israel. Whosoever touched one that was slain with a sword in the open fields, or a bone of a man, or a grave, should be unclean seven days. He that toucheth the waters of separation, shall be unclean until even. Whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean until even" (Numbers 19:11, 13, 16, 21, 22).

He who toucheth unclean beasts, and unclean creeping things, shall be unclean; everything upon which they shall fall shall be unclean, whether a vessel of wood, raiment, water, an earthen vessel, food, drink, an oven, except a fountain, pit, a receptacle of waters, shall be unclean (Leviticus 11:31-36). Besides other places, as Leviticus 5:2, 3; 7:21; 11:37, 38; 15:1 to the end; 22:4; Numbers 16:26; Isaiah 52:11; Lamentations 4:14, 15; Hosea 4:2, 3; Haggai 2:12, 13, 14.

3387. 'For he was afraid to say, My wife, [thinking,] The men of the place may perhaps kill me on account of Rebekah' means that it was impossible for Divine Truths themselves to be disclosed, and so for Divine Good to be received. This is clear from the meaning of 'being afraid to say' as an inability to disclose; from the meaning of 'wife', who is Rebekah here, as the Lord's Divine Rational in respect to Divine Truth, dealt with in 3012, 3013, 3077; from the meaning of 'killing me' as good not being received, for 'Isaac', to whom 'me' refers here, represents the Divine Good of the Lord's Rational, 3012, 3194, 3210 - good being said 'to be killed' or to perish when it is not received, for it ceases to exist with that person; and from the meaning of 'the men of the place' as people who possess matters of doctrine concerning faith, dealt with just above in 3385. From these meanings it is now evident what the internal sense of these words is, namely: If Divine truths themselves were disclosed they would not be received by those who possess matters of doctrine concerning faith because those truths go beyond the whole range of their rational grasp of things, and so go beyond the whole of their faith, and as a consequence of this no good at all could flow in from the Lord. For good from the Lord, or Divine good, cannot flow in except into truths, for truths are the vessels for good, as shown many times.

[2] Truths or appearances of truth are given to a person to enable Divine Good to develop the understanding part of his mind, and so the person himself, for truths exist to the end that good may flow in. Indeed without vessels or receptacles good has nowhere to go, for it can find no condition answering to itself. Where no truths exist therefore, that is, where they have not been received, neither does any rational or human good exist; and as a consequence the person does not possess any spiritual life. Therefore, so that a person may nevertheless possess truths, and from these receive spiritual life, appearances of truth are given, to everyone according to his ability to grasp them; and these appearances are acknowledged as truths because they have the capacity to hold Divine things within them.

[3] So that it may be known what appearances are and that they are what serve a person as Divine truths, let the following be used by way of illustration: If man were told that in heaven angels have no concept of place, and so no concept of distance, but that instead they have concepts of state, he could not possibly grasp it, for he would suppose from this that nothing distinct and separate existed but that everything was fused together, that is to say, all the angels were together in a single place. Yet everything there is so distinct and separate that nothing could ever be more so. Places, distances, and intervals of space which exist in the natural order exist in heaven as states, see 3356. From this it is evident that all the things that are stated in the Word about places and intervals of space between objects, also ideas that are formed from these and expressed through them, are appearances of truth; and unless everything were stated by means of those appearances it would in no way be received and would as a consequence be scarcely anything; for the concept of space and time is present in almost every single detail of a person's thought as long as he is in the world, that is, living within space and time.

[4] The fact that the Word speaks according to appearances involving space is clear from almost every single part of it, as in Matthew,

Jesus said, How is it that David says, The Lord [said] to my Lord, Sit at My right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool? Matthew 22:43-44.

Here the expression 'sitting at the right hand' is derived from the concept of place and so according to the appearance - when in fact it is a state of the Lord's Divine power which is described by that expression. In the same gospel,

Jesus said, Hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven. Matthew 26:64.

Here similarly 'sitting at the right hand' and also 'coming on clouds' are expressions derived from men's concept of place, whereas the concept angels have is one of the state of the Lord's power. In Mark,

The sons of Zebedee said to Jesus, Grant us to sit in Your glory, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left. Jesus replied, To sit at My right hand and at My left is not Mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared. Mark 10:37, 40.

From this it is evident what kind of concept the disciples had of the Lord's kingdom, that is to say, one that involved sitting on the right hand and on the left. Such being the concept they had of it the Lord also replied to them in a way they could understand and so by an appearance that could be seen by them.

[5] In David,

Like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, he rejoices as a mighty man to run the course. From the end of the heavens is His going forth, and His circuit to the ends of them. Psalms 19:5-6.

This refers to the Lord, the state of whose Divine power is described by means of such things as belong to space. In Isaiah,

How you have fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the dawn! You said in your heart, I will go up into the heavens, above the stars of God ¹ I will raise my throne. I will go up above the heights of the clouds. Isaiah 14:12-14.

'Falling from heaven', 'going up the heavens', 'raising a throne above the stars of God', 'going up above the heights of the clouds' are all expressions derived from the concept and appearance of space or a place, and are used to describe self-love profaning holy things. Since celestial and spiritual things are presented to man by means of and according to visual objects like these, heaven too is therefore described as being on high when in fact it is not on high but in that which is internal, 450, 1380, 2148.

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