3579. 'And God will give to you of the dew of heaven' means from Divine Truth; 'and of the fatness of the land' means from Divine Good. This is clear from the meaning of 'the dew of heaven' as truth, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'fatness' as good, dealt with in 353. In the highest sense in which they have reference to the Lord both are Divine. As for the multiplication of truth and the fruitfulness of good, they involve this: When the rational flows into the natural its own good presented by it in the natural appears in a general form. Through this good it produces truths there, almost in the way that life develops tissues in man and organizes them into different forms according to the functions they perform. By means of these truths organized into a heavenly order, this good produces further good, and through this further truths, which are derivatives. It is possible to have a natural idea such as this concerning the formation of truth from good, and of further good through that truth, through which yet again truth is formed. But it is not possible for anyone to have a spiritual idea except those in the next life, for in that life ideas are formed from the light of heaven, which light holds intelligence within it.

[2] As regards 'the dew' meaning truth, this too is clear from other places in the Word, as in Zechariah,

The seed of peace, the vine will give its fruit, and the land will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew. Zechariah 8:12.

This refers to a new Church. 'The vine will give its fruit' stands for the fact that the spiritual element of the Church, which is the truth of faith, will yield good, while 'the land will give its increase' stands for the fact that the celestial element of the Church, which is the good of charity, will yield truth, 'the dew which the heavens will give' being that good and truth. In Haggai,

Because of My house which lies waste the heavens above you have withheld their dew, and the earth has withheld its increase. Haggai 1:9-10.

'The dew of the heavens' and 'the increase of the earth' which were held back stand for similar things.

[3] In David,

From the womb of the dawn You have the dew of Your nativity. Psalms 110:3-4.

This refers to the Lord. 'The dew of nativity' stands for the celestial element of love. In Moses,

Blessed by Jehovah is his land, of the precious things of heaven, of the dew, of the deep also Lying below. Deuteronomy 33:13.

This refers to Joseph. 'The precious things of heaven' are spiritual things, 3166, which are 'the dew', 'the deep Lying below' being natural things. In the same author,

Israel dwelt securely. alone at Jacob's spring, in a land of grain and new wine; even his heavens distilled dew. Deuteronomy 33:28.

Here 'even his heavens distilled dew' stands for spiritual things, which are those of truth.

[4] 'Dew' in the genuine sense is the truth of good which is the product of a state of innocence and peace, for by 'the morning' or dawn when the dew comes down are meant those states of innocence and peace, 2333, 2405, 2540, 2780. This also was why the manna from heaven accompanied the dew which used to come down in the morning time, as becomes clear in Moses,

In the morning there was a deposit of dew around the camp, and when the deposit of dew went up, behold, on the face of the wilderness a round congealed thing, a congealed thing like hoar frost on the earth. Exodus 16:13-14.

When the dew came down over the camp at night, the manna came down on it. Numbers 11:9.

Because 'the manna' was heavenly bread it meant in the highest sense the Lord as regards Divine Good, and consequently with men the celestial element of love, for this originates in the Lord's Divine, 276, 680, 1798, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478. 'The dew' on which and with which the manna came down stands in the highest sense for Divine Truth, and in the relative sense for spiritual truth with men. 'The morning time' is the state of peace in which those goods and truths are present, 92, 93, 1726, 2780, 3170.

[5] Because 'the dew' means truth which comes from good, or what amounts to the same, that which is spiritual originating in that which is celestial, spiritual truth is for that reason also compared in the Word to the dew, for the objects used as signs of spiritual things are also used as comparisons with those same things, as in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah to me, I will be still and I will behold in My dwelling-place; like clear warmth on the light, like a cloud of dew when the harvest is warm. Isaiah 18:4.

In Hosea,

What shall I do to you, O Ephraim? What shall I do to you, O Judah? For your holiness - like a dawn cloud, and like the dew that falls in the morning - [is going away]. Hosea 6:4; 13:3.

In the same prophet,

I will be as the dew to Israel, he will blossom ¹ as the lily, and strike root like Lebanon. Hosea 14:5.

In Micah,

The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from Jehovah, like raindrops on the grass. Micah 5:7.

In David,

It is like the good oil upon the head, that runs down over the collar ² of Aaron's robes. It is like the dew of Hermon which runs down over the mountains of Zion, for there Jehovah has commanded the blessing of life even for evermore. Psalms 133:2-3.

In Moses,

My doctrine will flow down like the rain, My word will distill like the dew, like showers on the tender grass, and like raindrops on the grass. Deuteronomy 32:2.

Here 'the dew' stands for the multiplication of truth that comes from good, and for the fruitfulness of good through truth. And because the dew is that which every morning causes field and vineyard to be fruitful, good and truth themselves are meant by the grain and new wine referred to next in this verse.

Imibhalo yaphansi:

6849. 'For he was afraid to look at God' means for fear that they should suffer harm from the presence of the Divine itself. This is clear from the meaning of 'being afraid' as for fear that they, interior things, should suffer harm (for this was the reason for his fear); and from the meaning of 'looking at God' as the presence of the Divine itself. For the only way in which the Lord can make Himself present before a person is through the persons inner seeing, through seeing Him with the eye of faith that belongs to charity. If the Lord does manifest Himself in an outward visible form to someone, it is still the inner levels of mind that are affected, for the Divine reaches into the deepest parts of him. With regard to the meaning here, that interior things should not suffer harm from the presence of the Divine itself, and that therefore they were to be protected, the situation is this: The Divine itself is pure love, and pure love is like a fire hotter than the fire of the sun in this world. Consequently if Divine Love in its purity were to flow into any angel, spirit, or man, he would be completely destroyed, which is why so many times in the Word Jehovah or the Lord is called a consuming fire. To ensure therefore that the angels in heaven suffer no harm from the flow of heat from the Lord as the sun, each of them is veiled with a kind of thin cloud suited to the individual, which moderates the heat flowing in from that sun.

[2] The truth that without this form of preservation everyone would be destroyed by the presence of the Divine had been well known to the ancients, which was why they were afraid of seeing God, as is clear in the Book of Judges,

Gideon saw that he was the angel of Jehovah, therefore Gideon said, O Lord Jehovah! Inasmuch as I have seen the angel of Jehovah face to face. And Jehovah said to him, Peace be to you; do not fear, for you will not die. Judges 6:12, 23.

In the same book,

Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, for we have seen God. Judges 13:22.

And in the Book of Exodus,

Jehovah said to Moses, You cannot see My face, for no man will see My face and live. Exodus 33:20.

[3] When therefore Moses was allowed to see God, he was placed in a cleft of the rock, Exodus 33:22, which represented the dimness of his faith, and the clouds that hid and protected him. How dangerous it can be for angels to be beheld by the Divine without being covered by a cloud is made very clear by the fact that when angels look at any spirit who is governed by evil he seems to change into something resembling a lifeless object, as I have often been allowed to see. The reason why this happens is that when the angels look at someone there is cast in his direction the light and heat of heaven, and the truth of faith and the good of love with them, which - when these penetrate - virtually deprive the evil of life.

[4] If this is what happens when angels look at them, what would happen if the Lord did so? This explains why the hells are utterly remote from heaven, and why those who are there wish to be remote, for if they are not they suffer dreadful torment. This makes plain the meaning of the following words, They will say to the mountains and rocks, Rush down on us and hide us from the face of Him who is seated on the throne. Revelation 6:16; Luke 23:30; Hosea 10:8.

[5] Thus the presence of the Divine itself is such that no angel can bear it unless he is protected by a cloud which tempers and moderates the rays of light and the heat from that sun. From this one may recognize plainly that the Lord's Human is Divine, for if it were not Divine it could never have become so united to the Divine itself, called the Father, that they are one, according to the Lord's words in John 14:10 and following verses, and elsewhere. For that which is to receive the Divine in this way must be wholly Divine; what was not Divine from such a union would be plainly reduced to nothing. Let me use a comparison. Can anything be thrown into the fire of the sun and not be destroyed, unless it is similar in nature to the sun? So, can anyone enter the intense heat of infinite love unless he has in him the heat of the same kind of love, consequently unless he is none other than the Lord? The truth that the Father is within Him and that the Father does not show Himself except within His Divine Human is clear from the Lord's words in John,

Nobody has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. John 1:18.

And elsewhere in the same gospel,

You have never heard His voice nor seen His shape. John 5:37.