337. Verse 15. And the kings of the earth, and the great ones, and the rich, and the rulers of thousands, and the mighty, and every servant, and every freeman, signifies those who before separation were in the understanding of truth and good, in the science of the knowledges thereof, in erudition, either from others or from themselves, and yet not in a life according to them. That this is the signification of the above words in their order, can only be known by those who know what is signified in the spiritual sense by "kings," "great ones," "rich," "rulers of thousands," "the mighty," "servants, and freemen." For by "king," in this sense, are signified they who are in truths; by "great ones," they who are in goods; by "the rich," they who are in the knowledges of truth; by "rulers of thousands," they who are in the knowledges of good; by "the mighty," they who are in erudition; by "servants," they who are in such things from others, thus from the memory; by "freemen," they who are in such things from themselves, thus from judgment. But to prove the signification of all these names from the Word would be too prolix. What is signified by "kings" has been shown before (n. 20); and what by "the rich" (n. 206); what by "great ones," is evident from Jeremiah 5:5; Nahum 3:10; Jonah 3:7; for "great" is predicated of good (n. 896, 898); that "mighty," and "servants, and freemen," are such as are in erudition, either from others or from themselves, will be seen below. It is said, they who are in these things, and yet not in a life according to them, because the evil, yea, the worst, may be in the science and in the understanding of the knowledges of truth and good, and also in much erudition, but because they are not in a life according to them, they are not in them actually; for what is only in the understanding, and not at the same time in the life, is not in the man, but is out of him, as it were in a court; but that which is at the same time in the life, is in the man, it is within him as in the house; therefore the latter are preserved, and the former rejected.