AC 9057 - The Good Samaritan

AC 9057

Blow for blow.
(Exodus 21:25)

That this means if anything
of affection in the intellectual
be extinguished or injured,
is evident from the meaning of "a blow,"
as being the extinction or injuring
of affection in the intellectual,
that is, of the affection of truth.
In the original tongue "blow" is expressed by a term
which means the black and blue
from a collection of blood or of bloody matter,
and in the internal sense "blood"
denotes the truth of faith from the good of love,
and in the opposite sense,
truth falsified and profaned;
consequently "blow for blow" denotes
truth injured or extinguished.
. . . in the parable of him that fell among thieves,
who inflicted blows on him and left him half dead;
and it is said that a Samaritan "bound up his blows,"
pouring in oil and wine,
and set him on his own beast,
and brought him to an inn.

He who understands the internal sense of the Word
is able to know why it was said by the Lord
that the Samaritan "bound up the blows,
poured in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast."
For by "the Samaritan" in the internal sense
is meant one who is in the affection of truth,
by "binding up the blows" is meant
the healing of this affection when injured,
by "pouring in oil and wine"
is meant the good of love and the good of faith,
and by "setting him on his own beast"
is meant uplifting him by virtue of his own intellectual.
Thus by these words is described
charity toward the neighbor;
naturally for person in the world,
and spiritually for the angels in heaven;
naturally in the sense of the letter,
and spiritually in the internal sense.
The reason why a "Samaritan"
denotes one who is in the affection of truth,
is that "Samaritan" in the Word means this affection
(that "oil" denotes the good of love;
also that "wine" denotes the good of faith;
and that "a beast of burden" denotes the intellectual).
In this manner spoke the Lord;
but few apprehend this,
for they believe that such things were said
merely for the sake of giving the parable
the connection of a narrative;
but in this case they would not be words from the Divine.
All words from the Divine
have within them such things
as belong to the Lord, heaven, and the church,
and this is the case in every jot.