6789. 'And where is he? Why is it that you left the man?' means, In what way without that truth could they be joined to the good of the Church? This is clear from the meaning of an Egyptian man, to whom 'the man they left' refers here, as true factual knowledge, dealt with above in 6784; and from the meaning of 'Why is it that you left the man?' as, In what way without that truth could they be joined to good? For 'leaving the man' here is not being able to be joined.

[2] But the nature of all this needs to be explained. True factual knowledge, represented here by 'Moses', is truth as the external Church knows it. This truth depends for its existence on the truth which the law from God possesses, which too 'Moses' represents, 6771, 6780; and the truth that the law from God possesses is truth as the internal Church knows it. Unless external truth springs from internal truth it cannot be joined to good. Let the Word serve to illustrate this. But for the influence of the inner spirit of the Word received by those who read the Word and yet confine themselves to the literal sense, truth from the Word does not become joined to good. The inner spirit of the Word influences a person and becomes joined to good when he considers the Word to be holy; and he considers it to be holy when he is governed by good.

[3] Let the Holy Supper also serve to illustrate the matter. Scarcely any know that the bread there means the Lord's love towards the entire human race and man's reciprocation of that love, and that the wine means charity. Even so, those who receive the bread and wine in a holy manner are joined by means of them to heaven and the Lord; and through the angels - who do not think at that time about bread and wine, only about love and charity, 3464, 3735, 5915 - different forms of the good of love and charity flow in. From this one may see that when a person is governed by good external truth is joined to internal truth, without his knowing it.