6864. 'And now, go, I will send you to Pharaoh' means the Holy influence going forth from the Lord's Human, by which molesting falsities would be dispelled. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses', who was to go and who was being sent, as the Lord in respect of the law of God, dealt with in 6713, 6752, 6771, 6827, and so in respect of the Human (for when the Lord was in the world He first made His Human Divine Truth, which is the same as the law of God, then after that He completely glorified His Human and made it Divine Good, the difference between Divine Truth and Divine Good being like that between the light radiated from the sun and the fire within the sun); from the meaning of 'being sent' as going forth, dealt with in 2797, 4710, 6831, in this instance holy truth (regarding the use of the word 'holy' in reference to truth, see 6788); and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as falsity, dealt with in 6651, 6679, 6683, 6692. The reason for the addition of the statement that the molesting falsities would be dispelled - dispelled, that is, by the Holy influence going forth from the Lord's Human - is that what follows deals with the children of Israel, meaning those belonging to the Lord's spiritual Church, and their deliverance from falsities, from which they cannot be delivered at all except by the Holy influence that goes forth from the Lord. For that Holy influence going forth from the Lord not only dispels molesting falsities but also arranges all things into Divine order, both those in the heavens and those in the hells. The effect of that influence is such that it makes the heavens completely distinct and separate from one another, as determined by their forms of good and consequent truths, and also makes the hells completely distinct and separate, as determined by their evils and consequent falsities. It also places these kinds of evil opposite those kinds of good, and falsities opposite truths, in order that equilibrium may be established spiritual level and nothing excluded from a state of freedom.

6637. 'These are the names of the children of Israel' means the essential nature of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of' the name as the essential nature, dealt with in 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2628, 2724, 3006, 3421; from the representation of 'the sons of Israel' as spiritual truths, dealt with in 5414, 5879, 5951; and from the representation of 'Israel' as the good of truth, which is spiritual good, dealt with in 3654, 4598, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. Since Israel' represents the good of truth or spiritual good and 'his sons' represent spiritual truths in the natural, 'the sons of Israel' also represent the Church, for what makes it the Church is spiritual good and the truths that spring from that good. A person without spiritual good, that is, the good of charity, and without spiritual truths, that is, the truths of faith, does not belong to the Church in spite of having been born within the Church. The whole of the Lord's heavenly kingdom possesses the good of love and faith, and unless the Church possesses good like that it cannot be the Church since it is not joined to heaven; for the Church is the Lord's kingdom on earth.

[2] The term 'Church' is not used because it is the place where the Word is and teachings drawn from it, or because it is where the Lord is known and the sacraments are celebrated. Rather it is the Church because it lives in accordance with the Word or with teachings drawn from the Word, and seeks to make those teachings its rule of life. People who do not live like this do not belong to the Church but are outside it; and those who lead wicked lives, thus lives contrary to that teaching, are further away outside the Church than gentiles who know nothing whatever about the Word, the Lord, or the sacraments. For since those people are acquainted with the forms of good that the Church fosters and with the truths it teaches they annihilate the Church within themselves, something gentiles cannot do because they are unacquainted with those things. It should also be realized that everyone who leads a good life, in charity and faith, is a Church, and is a kingdom of the Lord. He is for that reason also called a temple, and a house of God too. Those who are Churches individually, no matter how remote from one another they may be, constitute one Church collectively. This then is the Church meant by the expression 'the children of Israel' here and in what follows.