7878. 'And pass you by' means that it - damnation from the hells - will stay away from there. This is clear from the meaning of 'passing by', when used in reference to damnation, as staying away from there. Also the sphere of damnation which flows out of the hells stays away from those guided by truth and governed by good from the Lord. Damnation enters in among those steeped in evil and falsity, since a state receptive of that sphere exists there, but not among those guided and governed by truth and good; for those things are opposites, one of which stays away from the other. All that has been decreed so far about the Passover lamb, about the cooking and eating of it, and also about putting some of its blood onto doorposts and lintel, is connected with this declaration that the destroyer will pass their houses by, meaning in the internal sense that they will be free from all damnation. To this end, that damnation might stay away from them, they had been made ready. The process of being made ready is what is described in the internal sense by the statutes regarding the Passover lamb.

7632. 'For I have made his heart stubborn, and the heart of his servants' means that they remained obstinate, all in common with one another. This is clear from the meaning of 'making the heart stubborn', 'hardening it', and 'making it unyielding' as remaining obstinate, dealt with in 7271, 7300, 7305; and from the representation of Pharaoh, whose 'heart was made stubborn', as those engaged in molestation - all in common with one another being meant when it says 'he and his servants', because the servants and he together make up his house. When it says that Jehovah made Pharaoh's heart stubborn the meaning in the internal sense is that he himself made his heart stubborn. In ancient times everything bad was for simple people's benefit attributed to Jehovah. It was attributed to Him because simple people could not have known, and most of them could not have understood either, how the origin of things that happened could lie anywhere else than in Jehovah. Nor could they have known how to understand the truth that Jehovah permits the devil's crew to inflict evil and does not stop them, when yet He is all-powerful. Since simple people could not have grasped these matters, and also the intelligent could have scarcely done so, it was said, in keeping with what very many believed, that Jehovah was the author even of what was bad or evil. This is a common feature of the Word, whose literal sense is accommodated to the beliefs of simple people. The evil that is attributed in the Word to Jehovah has its origin in man, see 2447, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533.