9333. I will not drive him out from before thee in one year. That this signifies no hasty flight or removal of them, namely, of the falsities and evils which are signified by the nations in the land of Canaan, is evident from the signification of "driving out," as being flight, for in the other life those who are in evils and falsities are not driven out, but flee of themselves (that removal also is signified will be seen below); and from the signification of "in one year," as being what is hasty; for the words follow, "by little and little I will drive him out from before thee," by which is signified removal by degrees according to order. [2] That when predicated of evils and falsities, "to drive out" denotes removal, is because falsities and evils are not driven out from a man, but are removed. He who does not know how the case is with man's liberation from evils and falsities, or with the forgiveness of his sins, may believe that sins are wiped away when they are said to be forgiven. This belief comes from the literal sense of the Word, where such an expression is sometimes used, giving rise in the minds of many to the error that after they have received absolution they are righteous and pure. But these people know nothing whatever about the way in which sins are forgiven; namely, that a man is not purified from them; but is withheld from them by the Lord when he is of such a character that he can be kept in good and truth; and that he can be kept in good and truth when he has been regenerated; for he has then acquired a life of the good of charity and the truth of faith. For whatever a man, from his earliest infancy, thinks, wills, speaks, and does, is added to his life and makes it. These things cannot be exterminated, but only removed, and when they are removed, the man appears as if he were devoid of sins, because they have been removed (n. 8393, 8988, 9014). In accordance with the appearance that man thinks and does what is good and true from himself, when yet it is not from himself but from the Lord, it has been said in the Word that he is "clean" from sins, and also "righteous;" as in Isaiah:
Though your sins have been as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they have been red like crimson, they shall be as wool (Isa. 1:18);
and in many other passages. [3] That such is the case has been granted me to know from the state of souls in the other life. Everyone brings with him there from the world all things of his life, that is, whatsoever he has thought, wished, spoken, and done; and even whatever he has seen and heard from his infancy down to the end of his life in the world, insomuch that there is not even the smallest thing lacking (n. 2474). Those who in the world have lived a life of faith and charity, can then be withheld from evils and kept in good, and thus be raised into heaven. But those who in the world have not led a life of faith and charity, but a life of the love of self and of the love of the world, sink down into hell, because they cannot be withheld from evils and kept in good. From all this it is evident why, when "driving out" is said in relation to falsities and evils, it denotes removal. In this verse and the next this removal is treated of in the internal sense, and its arcana are there disclosed.
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