5660. En ander zilver doen wij nederdalen in onze hand; dat dit betekent dat er het voornemen is door een ware ergens anders vandaan het goede te verwerven, staat vast uit de betekenis van zilver, namelijk het ware, waarover hiervoor in nr. 5657;

en omdat met het zilver het ware wordt aangeduid, wordt met ander zilver een ander ware aangeduid; vandaar wordt er een ware ergens anders vandaan aangeduid; omdat er geen ander ware, dat het echte is, bestaat dan uit de Heer, Die het om niet geeft, is het ware zelf ook niet ergens anders vandaan; en uit de betekenis van doen nederdalen, namelijk het voornemen om te verwerven, te weten het goede van het ware, dat met het koren dat zij zouden kopen wordt aangeduid; de historische zin van de letter sluit in dat het andere zilver ook tot Jozef kwam om van hem spijs te kopen, dus niet ergens anders vandaan; maar de innerlijke zin blijft niet in de historische zin van de letter; deze bekommert zich niet om deze zin maar blijft in de zaak zelf, waarover wordt gehandeld; en deze zaak is dat indien zij als knechten onderworpen moeten worden, omdat enige ware dingen in het uiterlijk natuurlijke om niet waren gegeven, zij zich ergens anders vandaan het goede door het ware zouden verwerven; zodanig is ook de reeks in de innerlijke zin, want terstond daarop wordt gezegd ‘wij weten niet wie het zilver in onze reiszakken heeft gelegd’, waarmee wordt aangeduid dat zij niet geloofden, omdat zij niet wisten uit wie het ware in het uiterlijk natuurlijke was. Hetzelfde vindt plaats in het andere leven bij de geesten die door de ware dingen worden ingewijd in het goede en vooral hierin dat al het goede en ware uit de Heer invloeit; en wanneer zij bemerken dat al wat zij denken en willen invloeit en wel zo dat zij niet uit zich kunnen denken en willen, dan bestrijden zij dit zoveel als zij kunnen; zij geloven dat zij zo geen eigen leven zouden hebben en dat zo al het verkwikkelijke zou vergaan, want zij stellen dit in het eigene; en bovendien dat zij, indien zij uit zich het goede niet konden doen, noch het ware geloven uit zich, de handen zouden laten zakken zonder iets vanuit zich te doen en te denken en de invloeiing zouden afwachten; het wordt hun toegelaten zo te denken, ook in die mate dat zij bijna bij zichzelf concluderen dat zij het goede en het ware niet van daar willen aannemen, maar ergens anders vandaan, waar niet zo’n beroving van het eigene is; ook wordt het hun soms gegeven te zoeken waar zij het zouden vinden; maar daarna, wanneer zij het nergens vinden, keren zij die worden wederverwekt, terug en vanuit het vrije verkiezen zij het om ten aanzien van het willen en denken door de Heer te worden geleid; dan worden zij ook daarover ingelicht dat zij een hemels eigene zullen ontvangen zodanig als de engelen hebben en met dit eigene ook het gezegende en gelukzalige tot in het eeuwige. Wat betreft het hemels eigene, dit ontstaat vanuit de nieuwe wil die uit de Heer wordt gegeven en het verschilt van het eigene van de mens hierin dat zij niet meer zichzelf op het oog hebben in alle en de afzonderlijke zaken die zij verrichten en in alle en de afzonderlijke taken die zij leren en onderwijzen, maar dat zij dan de naaste op het oog hebben, het algemeen welzijn, de Kerk, het rijk van de Heer en zo de Heer Zelf. Het zijn de doelen van het leven die worden veranderd; de doelen van de lagere dingen te beogen, namelijk de wereld en zichzelf, worden verwijderd en de doelen van de hogere dingen beogen, worden daarvoor in de plaats gesteld; de doelen van het leven zijn niets anders dan het leven zelf van de mens, want de doelen zijn het willen zelf van de mens en zij zijn zijn liefden zelf, want de dingen die de mens liefheeft, wil hij en heeft hij ten doel; degene die met het hemels eigene wordt begiftigd, is ook in het kalme en in de vrede, want hij vertrouwt op de Heer en gelooft dat niets van het boze hem kan raken en hij weet dat de begeerten hem niet kunnen bestoken; en bovendien zijn zij die in het hemels eigene zijn, in het vrije zelf, want door de Heer geleid worden is het vrije; men wordt immers geleid in het goede, uit het goede tot het goede; daaruit kan vaststaan dat zij in het gezegende en gelukzalige zijn, want er is niets dat verstoort, niet iets van liefde van zich en dus niet iets van vijandschap, van haat of wraak; ook niet iets van liefde van de wereld en dus niet iets van bedrog, van vrees of onrust.

83. Of the heredity of man, spoken of above (n. 70-79), it is the love of self and of the world.

All men are born into evils of every kind, insomuch that their proprium is nothing but evil (n. 210, 215, 731, 874-876, 987, 1047, 2307-2308, 3701, 3812, 8480, 8550, 10283-10284, 10286, 10731). Therefore man is to be born again, that is, regenerated, in order that he may receive a new life from the Lord (n. 3701).

Hereditary evils are derived, increased, and accumulated from parents and ancestors in a long backward series, and not as is believed, from the first man's eating of the tree of knowledge (n. 313, 494, 2910, 3469, 3701, 4317, 8550). Therefore hereditary evils are at this day more malignant than formerly (n. 2122). Infants who die such, and are educated in heaven, are from heredity nothing but evils (n. 2307-2308, 4563). Hence they are of various dispositions and inclinations (n. 2300). Every man's interior evils are from the father, and the exterior from the mother (n. 1815, 3701).

Man superadds of himself new evils to such as are hereditary, which are called actual evils (n. 8551). No one suffers punishment in the other life for hereditary evils, but for actual evils, which return (n. 966, 2308). The more malignant hells are kept separate lest they should operate on the hereditary evils with men and spirits (n. 1667, 8806).

Hereditary evils are those of the loves of self and the world, which consist in man's loving himself more than God, and the world more than heaven, and in making his neighbor of no account (n. 694, 4317, 5660). And because these evils are contrary to the goods of heaven and to Divine order, man cannot but be born in mere ignorance (n. 1050, 1902, 1992, 3175). Natural good is connate with some, but nevertheless it is not good, because prone to all evils and falsities; and that good is not accepted in heaven unless it be made spiritual good (n. 2463-2464, 2468, 3304, 3408, 3469-3470, 3508, 3519, 7761).

4317. In the internal historical sense 'because he touched, in the hollow of Jacob's thigh, the sinew of that which was displaced' means because of their heredity which could not be rooted out through regeneration because they would not allow that to happen. This is clear from the meaning of 'the thigh' as conjugial love, and consequently all celestial and spiritual love, dealt with in 4280, and 'the hollow of the thigh' as the place where conjugial love, and also all celestial and spiritual love, is joined to natural good, 4277, 4280. Consequently 'touching it', that is, so damaging it that limping results, means destroying the good that flows from those loves. And since it was Jacob in whom this was done, that among his descendants which had come down from him, and so was hereditary, is meant. 'The sinew of that which was displaced' means falsity, see 4303, in this case falsity which stems from hereditary evil. The fact that this heredity could not be rooted out through regeneration because they would not allow that to happen follows from this and from the whole train of thought.

[2] The possession of such a heredity and their inability to be regenerated is quite clear from all that is recorded in the Word about them, and especially from the following in Moses,

Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, You yourselves saw all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants, and to all his land; and Jehovah has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, even to this day. Deuteronomy 29:2, 4.

In the same author,

I know the people's imagination, which they are performing today, before I bring them into the land which I have sworn [to give them]. Deuteronomy 31:21.

And further on,

I will hide My face from them; I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, sons with no truth in them. I would scatter them far, I would make the memory of them cease from mankind, except that I feared the wrath of the enemy. For they are a nation from whose counsel is perishing and in whom there is no intelligence. For from the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah their grapes; they have grapes of hemlock, clusters that are bitter. The poison of dragons is their wine, and the cruel head of asps. Is not this stored up with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? Deuteronomy 32:20, 26-34.

The same things are said in many other places, in particular in Jeremiah.

[3] Further evidence that their heredity is meant by the touching of Jacob's thigh and his consequently having a limp may be seen in Hosea,

The controversy of Jehovah with Judah: He will make a visitation on Jacob over his ways, and will render to him according to his deeds. In the womb he supplanted his brother; in his grief he contended with God, and contended against the angel and prevailed; he wept and appealed to him. Hosea 12:2-4.

Here 'contending with God' means, in the internal historical sense, their insistence that a representative of the Church should exist with them, 4290, 4293. From this it is evident that the kind of heredity they possessed had been derived from Jacob himself, as may be shown from further places still but must be passed over for the time being.

[4] As regards heredity specifically, the belief at the present day in the Church is that all hereditary evil is derived from the first parent and that all are therefore condemned in respect of that evil. But this is untrue. The origin of hereditary evil in everyone lies with his parents and parents' parents, that is, with successive generations of ancestors. Every evil which each of these has acquired to himself by his own actions in life, inasmuch as it becomes so to speak part of his character through regular practice or habit, is passed on to his children and becomes hereditary in them; and that evil accompanies what has been implanted in parents from grandparents and ancestors. Hereditary evil coming from the father is more internal, and hereditary evil from the mother more external. That coming from the father cannot be rooted out easily whereas that from the mother can. When a person is being regenerated the deeply-implanted hereditary evil that is received from immediate forbears is rooted out; but with those who are not being regenerated, or who are unable to be, it remains. This then is hereditary evil; see also 313, 494, 2122, 2910, 3518, 3701. This matter is also plain to anyone who reflects, as well as from the fact that every family has some evil or good characteristic by which it is distinguished from other families; and that characteristic, as is well known, is inherited from parents and ancestors. The same applies to the Jewish nation which is still in existence. It is clearly different from all other nations and may be recognized not only from its particular disposition but also from its customs, speech, and facial characteristics.

[5] But few people know what hereditary evil is. It is believed to consist in the doing of evil, when in fact it consists in the willing and therefore thinking of it. It is within the will itself and therefore within thought that hereditary evil dwells. It is the actual inclination to evil which is within them and which attaches itself even when the person does what is good. It is recognized through the kind of delight which enters in when evil befalls another. This root lies hidden deep down, for the interior form itself receiving good and truth from heaven, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven, is perverted and so to speak twisted out of shape, with the result that when good and truth flow in from the Lord these are either cast back or perverted or smothered. This is why no perception of what is good and true exists at the present day, but instead, in the case of the regenerate, conscience which acknowledges as good and true that which has been learned from parents and teachers. Hereditary evil leads to loving oneself more than others, willing evil on another if he does not promote oneself to honour, and taking delight in acts of revenge. It also leads to loving the world more than heaven and to all evil desires or evil affections, which spring from the same source. Man does not know that such things exist within him, still less that they are the opposite of heavenly affections. In the next life however he is shown plainly how much evil, hereditary in origin, he has drawn to himself through his own actions in life, and also how far he has removed himself from heaven through evil affections from the same source.

[6] The fact that hereditary evil in Jacob's descendants could not be rooted out through regeneration because they would not allow that to happen is also evident from the historical descriptions in the Word - in all their temptations in the desert they gave in, as described in Moses, which they also did subsequently in the land of Canaan as often as they did not see miracles taking place. Those temptations however were external ones, and not internal or spiritual. In spiritual things they were incapable of being tempted because they had no knowledge of internal truths nor any possession of internal goods, as shown already; and nobody is able to be tempted except in what he knows or possesses. Temptations are the actual means by which regeneration is accomplished. This is what is meant by them not allowing regeneration to happen. Concerning their state and fate in the next life, see 939-941, 3481.