6865. 'And lead My people the children of Israel out of Egypt' means the consequent deliverance of those belonging to the spiritual Church from molesting falsities. This is clear from the meaning of 'leading out' as deliverance; from the meaning of 'the children of Israel' as those belonging to the spiritual Church, dealt with in 6637; and from the meaning of 'Egypt' as false factual knowledge that is opposed to the Church's truths, thus falsity that molests, dealt with in 6692.

[2] Falsity within factual knowledge is what most of all molests those who belong to the spiritual Church. The reason for this is that they do not have a perception of truth that springs from good, only a knowledge of truth derived from religious teaching. People like these are subject very much to molestation from factual knowledge, for known facts serve as very general vessels, and until truths have been introduced into them to make them translucent, so that one no longer notices them, they may sometimes appear to be contrary to truths. Furthermore factual knowledge is full of the illusions of the senses which cannot be dispelled by those who have only a knowledge of things derived from religious teaching and no perception of truth that springs from good. The main reason for this is that the light of the world holds sway with these people, a light which seems to be clear light as long as the light of heaven does not flow into it but which turns from light into obscurity the moment that the light of heaven penetrates it. This explains why these people are enlightened and clever in worldly matters but dull and obtuse in heavenly ones.

[3] These people think that they are the enlightened when they have substantiated the teachings of their Church for themselves. But it is the inferior light of the senses, derived from the light of the world, that deceives them when they think so. For all religious teachings, no matter what kind they are, are capable of being substantiated. Jews are able to substantiate their own teachings, Enthusiasts ¹ theirs, Socinians theirs, and all kinds of heretics theirs. And once these teachings have been substantiated the light of the senses makes them appear to those people to be actual truths. But those who see by the light of heaven receive their enlightenment from the Lord; and before substantiating anything they view the factual knowledge below, arranged into order there, to discern whether or not a truth can be substantiated by it. From this it is evident that the latter kind of people see things from a more internal position which is above factual knowledge and so is distinct and separate from it, whereas the former's viewpoint, being lower, is situated within factual knowledge and so tangled up in it, 2831.

脚注:

6827. 'And Moses was feeding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian' means that the law from God instructed those who were guided by the truth that went with simple good, 'the priest of Midian' being the good of the Church where those people were. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses' as the Lord in respect of the law of God, dealt with in 6752 (initially 'Moses' represented the Lord in respect of the truth that the law from God possessed, 6771, but here he represents Him in respect of that law itself - one is allowed to speak in this way of stages of development that took place in the Lord before He became the law of God itself in respect of His Human. The whole of the Word deals in its inmost or highest sense solely with the Lord and the glorification of His Human; but since that inmost or highest sense goes far beyond human understanding, let it be the internal sense of the Word that is explained here, the sense in which the subject is the Lord's kingdom, the Church and the establishment of it, and also the regeneration by the Lord of members of the Church. These are the subject in the internal sense because human regeneration is an image representative of the Lord's glorification, see 3138, 3212, 3245, 3246, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688);

[2] from the meaning of 'feeding' as instructing, dealt with in 3795, 5201; from the meaning of 'the flock' as one who learns and is led by means of truth to the good of charity, dealt with in 343, so that in a general sense 'the flock' is the Church, 3767, 3768, here the Church where those people are who are guided by the truth that goes with simple good, who are meant by 'Midian', 3242, 4756; from the meaning of 'father-in-law' as the good from which, as from a father, sprang the good that was joined to truth, here the truth that the law from God possessed, which 'Moses' represents, see 6793 ('Jethro' being the essential nature of that good); and from the meaning of' the priest of Midian' as the good of the Church where those who were guided by the truth that went with simple good were, dealt with in 6775. From all this it is evident that 'Moses was feeding the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian' means that the law from God instructed those who were guided by the truth that went with simple good, and that 'the priest of Midian' is the good of the Church where those people were.