6119. 'And why should we die near by you because the silver is lacking?' means that otherwise spiritual death takes place because of the lack of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'dying' as spiritual death, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the silver lacking' as a lack of truth - 'silver' being factual knowledge that holds truth in it and is appropriate, see 6112. What is implied by the notion that spiritual death takes place when there is a lack of truth is that spiritual life consists in deeds carried out in accordance with truths, consequently in useful services. For people endowed with spiritual life possess a yearning and desire for truths with life in view - that is, their end in view is to lead a life according to those truths - thus with useful services in view. Therefore the extent to which they can absorb truths, in accordance with which useful services are to be rendered, determines how much spiritual life they possess, because it determines how much of the light of intelligence and wisdom they possess. When truths are lacking therefore, as happens when a state of shade arrives - a state meant in the Word by 'evening', 6110 - spiritual life languishes. It languishes because things such as belong to the state of shade, that is, to spiritual death, enter in. When this happens people cannot be kept in the light in which they were before but are returned in part to a state of selfhood. As a consequence there emerges from the shade an image of spiritual death, that is, of damnation.
[2] It is clear from very many places in the Word that 'death' means spiritual death, or damnation; but let simply the following be quoted here: In Isaiah,
With righteousness He will judge the poor, and will reprove with uprightness the wretched of the earth. On the other hand He will smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breatha of His lips He will make the wicked die. Isa 11:4.
This refers to the Lord. 'The rod of His mouth' and 'the breath of His lips stand for Divine Truth, the source of judgement. 'Dying' stands for suffering damnation. In the same prophet, He Will swallow up death for ever, and the Lord Jehovih will wipe away tears from upon all faces. Isa 15:8.
In the same prophet,
The dead will not live, the Rephaim will not rise. To that end You have visited them, You have wiped them out. Isa 16:14.
In the same prophet,
Your dead will live, my corpse will rise again. Isa 26:19.
In the same prophet,
You have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell we have shaped a vision. Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your vision with hell will not stand. Isa 28:15, 18.
[3] In Jeremiah,
You look for light, but He will turn it into the shadow of death, He will place it in thick darkness. Jer.13:16.
In Ezekiel,
You have desecrated Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for crusts of bread, to slay souls that ought not to die and to bestow life on souls that ought not to live. Ezek 13:19, 22.
In Hosea,
Out of the hand of hell I will redeem them, from death I will deliver them. I will be your plagues, O death; I will be your destruction, O hell! Hosea 13:14.
In David,
You lift me up from the gates of death. Ps 9:13.
In the same author,
Lighten my eyes, lest perhaps I sleep [the sleep of] death. Ps 13:3.
In the same author,
The cords of death encompassed me, and the cords of hell. Ps 18:4, 5.
In the same author,
Like sheep they will be placed in hell, death will feed them. Ps 49:14.
In John,
I have the keys of hell and of death. Rev 1:18.
In the same book,
He who overcomes will not suffer harm in the second death. Rev 1:11.
[4] In the same book,
I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive; but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen what remains, which is at the point of death. Rev 3:1, 2.
In Matthew,
The people sitting in darkness have seen a great light; and for those sitting in the region and shadow of death, the light has arisen. Matt 4:16.
In John,
He who hears My word and believes Him who sent Me will have eternal life, and will not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life. John 5:24.
In the same gospel,
I am going away and you will seek Me, but you will die in your sin. I have said to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. If anyone keeps My word he will not ever see death. John 8:21, 14, 51, 52.
Because 'death' meant damnation those who belonged to the representative Church were forbidden to touch the dead. If they did touch them they were unclean and had to be cleansed, Ezek 44:25; Lev 15:71; 21:2, 3; 22:8; Num 6:6-12; 19:11-end.
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