[2] ‘Wrath’ and ‘anger’ are mentioned many times in the Word, but in the internal sense they do not mean wrath or anger but that which is antagonistic. The reason for this is that whatever is antagonistic towards any affection produces wrath or anger; so that in the internal sense simply forms of antagonism are meant by those two expressions. ‘Wrath’ is used to describe that which is antagonistic towards truth and ‘anger’ that which is antagonistic towards good; but in the contrary sense ‘wrath’ describes that which is antagonistic towards falsity or the affection for it, that is, towards false assumptions, while ‘anger’ describes that which is antagonistic towards evil or the desire for it, that is, towards self-love and love of the world. Also, in this contrary sense actual wrath is meant by ‘wrath’, and actual anger by ‘anger’; but when those expressions are used in reference to good and truth the wrath and anger which are manifestations of zeal are meant. And because this zeal is to outward appearance like wrath and anger it is called such in the sense of the letter.
[3] As regards ‘wrath’ or ‘anger’ in the internal sense meaning simply forms of antagonism, this may be seen from the following places in the Word: In Isaiah,
Jehovah’s indignation is against all the nations, and wrath against all their host. Isa. 34:2.
‘Jehovah’s indignation against the nations’ stands for antagonism towards evil – ‘the nations’ meaning evils, see 1259, 1260, 1849, 1868, 2588 (end). ‘Wrath against all their host’ stands for antagonism towards falsities derived from that evil, for by ‘the stars’ – here called ‘the host of heaven’ – are meant cognitions, and so truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, see 1128, 1808, 2120, 2495, 2849. In the same prophet,
Who gave Jacob over to plunder, and Israel to spoilers? Was it not Jehovah against whom we have sinned? And He poured out upon him the wrath of His anger. Isa. 42:24, 25.
‘Wrath of anger’ stands for antagonism towards falsity stemming from evil, ‘Jacob’ for people under the influence of evil, and ‘Israel’ for those under the influence of falsity.
[4] In the same prophet,
I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples there was no man (vir) with Me. I trod them in My anger, and destroyed them in My wrath. And I trod down the peoples in My anger, and made them drunk in My wrath. Isa. 63:3, 6.
This refers to the Lord and His victories in temptations. ‘Treading’ and ‘treading down in anger’ stand for victories over evils, ‘destroying’ and ‘making drunk in wrath’ for victories over falsities. In the Word ‘treading down’ has reference to evil, and ‘making drunk’ to falsity. In Jeremiah,
Thus said the Lord Jehovih. Behold, My anger and My wrath have been poured out on this place, on man, and on beast, and on the tree of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched. Jer. 7:20.
Both are mentioned – ‘anger’ and ‘wrath’ – because both evil and falsity are the subject.
[5] In the Prophets, whenever evil is mentioned so also is falsity, even as whenever good is mentioned so also is truth, the reason being the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of good and truth in every detail of the Word, 683, 793, 801, 2173, 2516, 2712. It is also why ‘anger’ and ‘wrath’ are both mentioned; otherwise one of them would be enough. In the same prophet,
I Myself will fight against you with outstretched hand and strong arm, and in anger, and in wrath, and in great indignation; and I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast. Jer 21:5, 6.
Here in a similar way ‘anger’ has reference to the punishment of evil, ‘wrath’ to the punishment of falsity, and ‘indignation’ to that of both. Since anger and wrath describe antagonism they also mean punishment, for things antagonistic to one another also clash with one another; and in that case evil and falsity suffer punishment. For evil holds within itself antagonism towards good, and falsity holds within itself antagonism towards truth. And because there is antagonism a clash also occurs; and from this punishment results, see 696, 967.
[6] In Ezekiel,
And My anger will be accomplished, and I will make My wrath on them die down, and I will be comforted; and they will know that I Jehovah have spoken in My zeal, when accomplishing My wrath on them – when executing judgements on you in anger and in wrath and in wrathful rebukes. Ezek. 5:13, 15.
Here also ‘anger’ stands for the punishment of evil, and ‘wrath’ for the punishment of falsity, that result from antagonism and consequent aggression. In Moses,
Jehovah will not be pleased to pardon him, for then the anger of Jehovah, and His zeal, will smoke against that man, and Jehovah will separate him as evil from all the tribes of Israel. The whole land will be brimstone and salt, a burning; it will not be sown, and it will not sprout, nor will any plant come up on it, as at the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, of Admah and Zeboiim, which Jehovah overthrew in His anger and His wrath. And all the nations will say, Why has Jehovah done this to this land? What means the heat of this great anger? Deut. 29:20, 21, 23, 24.
Since ‘Sodom’ means evil, and ‘Gomorrah’ falsity deriving from this, 2220, 2246, 232, and the nation to which Moses is referring here is compared to those nations as regards evil and falsity, the expression ‘anger’ is used in reference to evil, ‘wrath’ in reference to falsity, and ‘the heat of anger’ to both. Such passions as these are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord according to the appearance, for the Lord does seem to man to display such when man enters into evil and evil punishes him, see 245, 592, 696, 1093, 1683, 1874, 2335, 2395, 2447, 3605.
‘Rebekah said to Isaac’ means the Lord’s perception from Divine Truth. ‘I loathe my life on account of the daughters of Heth’ means a connection with natural truth from some other source. ‘If Jacob takes a wife from the daughters of Heth’ means that natural truth ought not to be associated with them. ‘Like these of the daughters of the land’ means because they are not from that ground. ‘What would life hold for me?’ means, and so there would not be any conjunction.
They went in to Noah into the ark, two by two from all flesh in which there is the spirit of life. Gen. 7:15 (in 780).
Everything which had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils breathed its last. Gen. 7:12.
In David,
I believe [I am going] to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living. Ps. 27:13.
In the same author,
Who is the man who desires life, who loves [many] days, that he may see good? Ps. 34:12
In the same author,
With You, O Jehovah, is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light. Ps. 36:9.
In Malachi,
My covenant with Levi was [a covenant] of life and peace. Mal. 2:5.
In Jeremiah,
Thus said Jehovah, Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. Jer. 21:8.
In Moses,
To love Jehovah your God, to obey His voice, and to cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land. Deut. 30:20.
In the same author,
It is not an empty word from you; for it is your life, and through this word you will prolong your days in the land. Deut. 32:47.
And in other places too the plural form of the noun ‘life’ is used in the original language because, as has been stated, there are two kinds of life which yet make one. It is similar with the word ‘heavens’ in the Hebrew language, in that the heavens are many and yet make one, or like the expression ‘waters’ above and below, in Gen. 1:7-9 , by which spiritual things in the rational and in the natural are meant which ought to be one through being joined together. As for the plural form of ‘life’, when this is used both the life of the will and that of the understanding are meant, and therefore both the life of good and that of truth are meant. For man’s life consists in nothing else than good and truth which hold life from the Lord within them. Devoid of good and truth, and of the life which these hold within them, no one is human. For devoid of these no one would ever have been able to will or to think anything. Everything that a person wills originates in good or in that which is not good, and everything he thinks originates in truth or in that which is not truth. Consequently man possesses two kinds of life and these make one when his thinking flows from his willing, that is, when truth which is the truth of faith flows from good which is the good of love.
Let me now tell of and describe marvels which, so far as I know, have not as yet been known to anyone, nor has even the idea of them entered anyone’s head – the marvel that the whole of heaven has been formed in such a way that it corresponds to the Lord, to His Divine Human; also the marvel that the human being has been formed in such a way that every single part of him corresponds to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord. This is a great mystery which is now to be revealed, it being the subject here and at the ends of chapters that follow this.
[2] There are always two forces which, as stated above, serve to hold everything together in its own proper connection and proper form. That is to say, there is a force acting from without and a force acting from within, and in the midst of these is the object itself which is being held together by them. The same is also true of the human being as regards every individual part of him, even the tiniest part. It is well known that the surrounding atmospheres hold the whole body in a state of cohesion by their constant pressure or bearing down on it from without, and therefore by their acting as a force upon it. It is also well known that the atmosphere, entering as air into the lungs, keeps these in a state of cohesion, as it also does its own particular organ, the ear, together with its forms which are designed for the changes that take place in it. It is well known too that the subtler etherical atmosphere in a similar way holds interior things in connection, for it flows in freely through all the pores of the skin, and by means of an almost identical pressure, bearing down, and therefore force acting upon them, keeps intact each of the internal organs of the whole body. This finer atmosphere too has its own particular organ, the eye, together with its forms which are equipped for changes that take place in this atmosphere. Unless these had internal forces corresponding to them which reacted against those external forces and in so doing held together and placed in equilibrium those intermediate forms, the latter would not remain in being for a single moment. From this it is evident that two forces have to be at work if anything is to come into being and be kept in being.
[3] The forces flowing and acting from within originate in heaven, and in the Lord by way of heaven; and they have life within them. This is evident quite clearly from the organ of hearing. Except for interior changes, which are those of life, and to which exterior changes correspond, which are those of the air, hearing would never become a reality. It is likewise evident from the organ of sight. Except for interior light, which is that of life and to which exterior light, which is that of the sun, corresponds, sight would never become a reality. The same is so with all the other organs and limbs in the human body. There are forces at work outwardly, which are natural and in themselves do not possess any life, and forces at work inwardly which do in themselves have life. These forces hold everything together and cause them to have life, doing so in accordance with the nature of the form conferred on them for the purpose they serve.
[2] For the souls of human beings exist on a higher level and in a more perfect state, and are such that they are able to look upwards, and so to heaven and the Lord. Consequently the Lord is able to join them to Himself and grant them eternal life. But the souls of animals are such that they cannot do other than look downwards, thus merely to earthly things, and so can be joined only to these. This is also why they perish together with the body. It is their ends in view that show what the life possessed by man is like and what that possessed by a beast is like. Man is able to have spiritual and celestial ends in view, and to see, acknowledge, and believe them, and to have an affection for them. But beasts can have none but natural ends in view. Thus man is able to dwell in the Divine sphere of ends and purposes which exist in heaven and which constitute heaven, whereas beasts can dwell in no other sphere than that of ends and purposes which exist on earth. Ends are nothing else than loves, for the things which people love they have as an end in view.
[3] The reason why most people do not know how to distinguish their own life from that of beasts is that the two are externally alike. Both are interested in and set their hearts solely on earthly, bodily, and worldly objects. Such people also believe that their life is similar to the life which beasts possess and that like these they are going to become nothing at all when they die. For what spiritual and celestial things may be they do not know because they are not interested in them. From this comes the insanity of our own times of people comparing themselves to animals and not recognizing any internal distinction. But anyone who believes in the existence of celestial and spiritual things, that is, who allows spiritual light to flow in and influence him, sees quite the reverse, and also sees the extent to which he is superior to animals. The life of animals however will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with as a separate subject.
[2] This endeavour is inherent in every seed. Yet man attributes all those things that are so wondrous to natural forces themselves, not believing in any influx from the spiritual world since at heart he denies its existence. He does so even though he possibly knows that nothing can continue in existence apart from that which comes into existence, that is, he knows that a continuing in existence is a perpetual coming into existence, or what amounts to the same, reproduction is constant creation. Consequently the whole natural order is a theatre representative of the Lord’s kingdom, see 3483. But these objects too, and their correspondence with the Grand Man, will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed elsewhere.
The preliminary section of the previous chapter, paragraphs 3486-3489, explained what the Lord has taught and foretold about the Last Judgement or last days of the Church in Matthew 24:8-14. In the preliminary section of the present chapter there now follows, in the section-by-section method of presentation that has been adopted, the explanation of verses 15-18 of that chapter in Matthew,
When therefore you see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place – let him who is reading this take note – then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains. Let him who is on the roof of the house not go down to take anything out of his house; and let him who is in the field not turn back to get his clothing.
When therefore you see the abomination of desolation means when the Church has undergone vastation, which is the situation when the Lord is acknowledged no longer, and therefore when there is no love of Him nor any belief in Him; also when there is no longer any charity towards the neighbour nor consequently any belief in what is good and true. When these conditions exist in the Church, or rather in the area where the Word is, that is to say, in the thoughts of the heart though not in the doctrine on the lips, it is a case of desolation, and the circumstances that have just been mentioned constitute ‘the abomination of that desolation’. Consequently ‘when you see the abomination of desolation’ means when anyone witnesses such conditions. And what he is to do when he does witness them follows in verses 16-18.
[2] Spoken of by the prophet Daniel means, in the internal sense, spoken of by the Prophets, for when any prophet is mentioned by name in the Word it is not simply that prophet who is meant but the whole prophetical part of the Word, the reason being that names do not ever come through into heaven, 1876, 1888. Even so, one prophet does not have the same meaning as another. For what Moses, Elijah and Elisha mean, see the Preface to Chapter 18, and 2762. By ‘Daniel’ however is meant every prophetical statement concerning the Lord’s coming and the state of the Church, in this case its final state. Much reference is made in the Prophets to vastation, and by the reference to it here in Daniel is meant in the sense of the letter the vastation of the Jewish and Israelitish Church, but in the internal sense the vastation of the Church in general, and thus also the vastation of it which is now at hand.
[3] Standing in the holy place means a vastation involving everything that forms part of what is good and true. ‘The holy place’ is a state of love and faith, for by ‘a place’ in the internal sense is meant a state, see 2625, 2837, 3356, 3387. The ‘holy’ element of that state consists in the good of love and in the truth of faith grounded in this. Nothing else is meant in the Word by the expression ‘holy’, for goodness and truth originate in the Lord, who is Holiness itself or the Sanctuary.
Let him who is reading this take note means that these matters are to be thoroughly understood by those within the Church, especially by those who have love and faith, to whom the present words refer.
[4] Then let those who are in Judea flee into the mountains means that members of the Church are to fix their attention solely on the Lord and so on love to Him and on charity towards the neighbour. For ‘Judea’ means the Church, as will be shown below, while ‘a mountain’ means the Lord Himself but ‘the mountains’ love to Him and charity towards the neighbour, see 795, 796, 1430, 2722. According to the sense of the letter when Jerusalem was besieged, as was done by the Romans, they were not to resort to that city but to go onto the mountains, according to the following in Luke,
When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its devastation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee onto the mountains, and let those who are in the midst of it* depart, but those who are out in the country let them not enter it. Luke 21:20, 21.
[5] The same applies to this reference to Jerusalem; that is to say, in the sense of the letter it is the city of Jerusalem that is meant, but in the internal sense the Lord’s Church, see 402, 2117. For every single thing mentioned in the Word concerning the Jewish and Israelitish people is representative of the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and of the Lord’s kingdom on earth, which is the Church, as has been shown often. Consequently nowhere in the internal sense is ‘Jerusalem’ used to mean Jerusalem, or ‘Judea’ to mean Judea. But every single thing so mentioned was such that by means of it the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom were able to be represented. It was for the sake of what they represented that the events which have been recorded took place. Thus the Word was able to be written in such a way that it lay both within the mental grasp of people reading it, and within the understanding of angels who were present with them. This was also the reason why the Lord spoke in a similar way. Indeed if He had spoken in any other way it would not have come within the mental grasp of those reading it, especially at that time, nor simultaneously within the angels’ power of understanding. Thus it would not have been accepted by man, nor understood by angels.
[6] Let him who is on the roof of the house not go down to take anything out of his house means that those in whom the good of charity is present should not therefore resort to matters of doctrine concerning faith. ‘The roof of the house’ in the Word means a person’s higher state, and so his state as regards good, whereas what is below means a person’s lower state, and so his state as regards truth. For what ‘house’ is, see 710, 1708, 2233, 2331, 3142, 3538. With regard to the state of a member of the Church, while he is undergoing regeneration he is at that time learning truth for the sake of good; for he possesses an affection for truth for the sake of that good. But once he has been regenerated truth and good are the basis of his actions. Once he has reached this state he ought not to go back to the previous state, for if he did he would then reason from truth about the good which is present with him and in so doing would pervert his present state. For all reasoning does and must come to an end when a person’s state is one in which he wills what is true and good, for in that case the will and therefore conscience are the source of his thought and action, and not the understanding, as it had been previously. If he went back to the understanding as the source of his thought and action he would encounter temptations in which he would go under. These are the considerations meant by the statement ‘let him who is on the roof of the house not go down to take anything out of his house’.
[7] And let him who is in the field not turn back to get his clothing (or tunic) means that neither should those in whom good that resides in truth is present forsake such good and resort to doctrine concerning truth. ‘The field’ in the Word means this state of man as regards good; for what ‘field’ means, see 368, 2971, 3196, 3310, 3317, 3500, 3508. And ‘clothing’ or tunic means that which clothes good, namely doctrine concerning truth, such being like clothing for good; for ‘clothing’ has that meaning, see 297, 1073, 2576, 3301. Anyone may see that deeper things lie concealed in these words than are visible in the letter; for the Lord Himself spoke them.
* i.e. Jerusalem
[2] The truth of this will be evident from those things which in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be stated later on regarding Judah and the land of Judah. For the present it will be evident from the following few examples in the Prophets: In Isaiah,
My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill.* He surrounded it [with an
enclosure] and gathered out the stones, and planted it with the choicest vine and built a tower in the midst of it, and also hewed out a winepress in it. And he looked for it to yield grapes, but it yielded wild grapes. And now, O inhabitant of Jerusalem and man of Judah, judge, I pray you, between Me and My vineyard. I will make it a desolation, for the vineyard of Jehovah Zebaoth is the house of Israel, and the man of Judah His pleasant plant.** And He looked for judgement, but behold, festering; for righteousness, but behold, a cry. Isa. 5:1-3, 6, 7.
Here the subject in the sense of the letter is the perverted state of the
Israelites and Jews, but in the internal sense it is the perverted state of the Church represented by Israel and Judah. ‘Inhabitant of Jerusalem’ is the Church’s good – ‘inhabitant’ meaning good, or what amounts to the same, those with whom good is present, see 2268, 2451, 2712, 3613, and ‘Jerusalem’ the Church, 402, 2117. ‘The house of Israel’ has a similar meaning – ‘house’ meaning good, 710, 1708, 2233, 2331, 3142, 3538, and ‘Israel’ the Church, 3305. ‘The man of Judah’ also is very similar, for ‘a man’ means truth, 265, 749, 1007, 3134, 3310, 3459, and Judah good. The difference however is that ‘the man of Judah’ means truth grounded in the good of love to the Lord, which is called celestial truth, that is, those governed by that kind of truth are meant.
[3] In the same prophet,
He will raise an ensign for the nations, and will gather the outcasts of Israel, and will assemble the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Then the rivalry of Ephraim will depart, and the enemies of Judah be cut off. Ephraim will not vie with Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim. Jehovah will utterly destroy the tongue of the sea of Egypt, and will shake His hand over the River with the might of His spirit. Then there will be a highway for the remnant of His people which will remain from Asshur. Isa. 11:12, 13, 15, 16.
Here the subject in the sense of the letter is the bringing back of the Israelites and Jews from captivity, but in the internal sense it is a new Church in general and with each person in particular who is being regenerated or becoming the Church. ‘The outcasts of Israel’ stands for their truths, ‘the dispersed of Judah’ for their goods. ‘Ephraim’ stands for the understanding part of their minds, which will no longer offer any resistance. ‘Egypt’ stands for facts, and ‘Asshur’ for reasoning based on these, which they have perverted. ‘The outcasts’, ‘the dispersed’, ‘the remnant’, and ‘those who remain’ stand for truths and goods which survive. For ‘Ephraim’ means the understanding part of the mind, as will be shown elsewhere, while ‘Egypt’ means factual knowledge, see 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 2588, 3325, ‘Asshur’ reasoning, 119, 1186, and ‘remnant’ the goods and truths that the Lord has stored away in the interior man, 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661, 798, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284.
[4] In the same prophet,
Hear this, O house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel and who came out of the waters of Judah. For they are called after the city of holiness, and upon the God of Israel they place their reliance. Isa. 48:1, 2.
‘The waters of Judah’ stands for truths which spring from the good of love to the Lord. The truths from that source are actually the goods of charity, which are called spiritual goods and constitute the spiritual Church, the internal of this Church being meant by ‘Israel’ and the external by ‘the house of Jacob’. This shows what is meant by ‘the house of Jacob, who are called by the name of Israel and who came out of the waters of Judah’.
[5] In the same prophet,
I will bring forth seed from Jacob, and from Judah the heir of My mountains, and My chosen ones will possess it, and My servants will dwell there. Isa. 65:9.
‘From Judah the heir of mountains’ stands in the highest sense for the Lord, and in the representative sense for those in whom love to Him is present and so the good of love to Him and the good of love towards the neighbour. As regards ‘mountains’ meaning these forms of good, this has been shown above in 3652.
[6] In Moses,
A lion’s whelp is Judah; from the prey you have gone up, my son. He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like an old lion; who will rouse him up? Gen. 49:9.
Here it is quite evident that in the highest sense ‘Judah’ is used to mean the Lord, and in the representative sense those with whom the good of love to Him is present. In David,
When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a foreign people, Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His dominions. Ps. 114:1, 2.
Here also ‘Judah’ stands for celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord, while ‘Israel’ stands for celestial truth, which is spiritual good.
[7] In Jeremiah,
Behold, the days are coming, says Jehovah, and I will raise up for David a righteous branch, who will reign as king, and will prosper, and execute judgement and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16.
This refers to the Coming of the Lord. ‘Judah’ stands for those with whom the good of love to the Lord is present, ‘Israel’ for those with whom the truth that goes with that good is present. For ‘Judah’ is not used to mean Judah, nor ‘Israel’ to mean Israel, as may be seen from the fact that neither Judah nor Israel was actually preserved any longer. Similarly in the same prophet,
I will bring back the captivity of Judah, and the captivity of Israel, and build them as they were previously. Jer. 33:7.
The like may be seen here also. In the same prophet,
In those days and at that time, says Jehovah, the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah together, weeping as they come; and they will seek Jehovah their God; and they will seek Zion on the way, their faces towards it. Jer. 50:4, 5.
In the same prophet,
At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, because of the name of Jehovah; and they will go no more after the stubbornness of their own evil heart. In those days the house of Judah will go to the house of Israel, and together they will come over the land out of the land of the north. Jer. 3:17, 18.
[8] In the same prophet,
Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, in which I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast; and I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant. This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days: I will put My law in the midst of them, and will write it on their heart. Jer. 31:27, 31, 33.
This shows plainly that Israel or the house of Israel was not meant, for once dispersed among the gentiles they were never brought back from captivity. Nor consequently was Judah or the house of Judah meant. Instead Israel and Judah meant in the internal sense members of the Lord’s spiritual and celestial kingdoms. It is with these people that the new covenant is made, and in whose hearts the law is written. ‘The new covenant’ stands for being joined to the Lord by means of good, 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021, 2037. ‘The law written in their heart’ stands for a perception of good and of truth springing from that good, and also for conscience.
[9] In Joel,
It will happen on that day that the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the streams of Judah will flow with water; and a spring will come forth from the house of Jehovah and will water the river of Shittim. Egypt will become a waste, and Edom a desolate wilderness,*** on account of the violence done to the children of Judah whose innocent blood they have shed in their land. And Judah will abide for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. Joel 3:18-20.
From every detail here also it is evident that ‘Judah’ is not used to mean Judah, nor ‘Jerusalem’ to mean Jerusalem, but those in whom the holiness of love and charity dwells, for they are ‘to abide for ever’ and ‘from generation to generation’.
[10] In Malachi,
Behold, I am sending My angel, who will prepare the way before Me; and suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Then the minchah**** of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to Jehovah, as in the days of eternity, and as in former years. Mal. 3:1, 4.
This refers to the Coming of the Lord, at which time, it is clear, the minchah of Judah and Jerusalem was not acceptable to Jehovah. From this it is evident that Judah and Jerusalem mean such things as constitute the Lord’s Church. The same applies wherever else Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem are mentioned in the Word. From this one may now see what is meant in Matthew by ‘Judea’, namely the Lord’s Church, in that case when vastated.
* lit. on a horn of a son of oil
** lit. the young plant of His delights
*** lit. the wilderness of a waste
**** Generally rendered ‘offering’ in English versions of the Scriptures. It is a Hebrew word. The ‘ch’ in it has a hard or guttural pronunciation, as in German buch or Scottish loch.
GENESIS 28
1 And Isaac called to Jacob, and blessed him, and commanded him, and said to him, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan.
2 Rise up, go to Paddan Aram, to the home of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take for yourself from there a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.
3 And God Shaddai will bless you, and make you fruitful and multiply you; and you will be an assembly of peoples.
4 And He will give you the blessing of Abraham, you and your seed with you, to inherit the land of your sojournings, which God gave to Abraham.
5 And Isaac sent Jacob away; and he went to Paddan Aram, to Laban the son of Bethuel the Aramean, the brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau’s mother.
6 And Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob and had sent him away to Paddan Aram to take a wife for himself from there, and in blessing him had commanded him, saying, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan;
7 And that Jacob had listened to his father and to his mother, and had gone to Paddan Aram.
8 And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Isaac his father.
9 And Esau went to Ishmael, and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son, the sister of Nebaioth, as a wife (mulier) in addition to the wives (femina) he had.
10 And Jacob went out from Beersheba and went to Haran.
11 And he came upon a place, and spent the night there because the sun had gone down. And he took one of the stones of the place and placed it as his headrest, and lay down in that place.
12 And he dreamed, and behold, a stairway set up on the earth, and its top reaching to heaven; and behold, the angels of God going up and coming down on it.
13 And behold, Jehovah was standing above it, and He said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac; the land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your seed.
14 And your seed will be as the dust of the earth, and you will break forth towards the sea, and towards the east, and towards the north, and towards the south; and in you will all the families of the ground be blessed – and in your seed.
15 And behold, I am with you, and will guard you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this ground; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken about to you.
16 And Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely Jehovah is in this place and I did not know it.
17 And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is nothing other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.
18 And in the morning Jacob rose up early, and took the stone which he had placed as his headrest, and placed it as a pillar and poured oil on the top of it.
19 And he called the name of that place Bethel, though Luz was the name of the city previously.
20 And Jacob made a vow, saying, If God will be with me, and guard me on this road on which I am walking, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear,
21 And I come back in peace to my father’s house, then Jehovah will be my God.
22 And this stone which I have placed as a pillar will be God’s house; and of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth.
The subject here in the highest sense is the way in which the Lord began to make Divine both the truth and the good of His Natural, a general description being given of the means by which He accomplished this. But in the representative sense the subject is the way in which the Lord regenerates or makes new both the truth and the good of the natural man, a general description likewise being given of the process by which He accomplishes it, verses 1-9.
Verses 1, 2 And Isaac called to Jacob, and blessed him, and commanded him, and said to him, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan. Rise up, go to Paddan Aram, to the home of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take for yourself from there a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother.
‘Isaac called to Jacob’ means perception by the Lord regarding the nature of the good of truth. ‘And blessed him’ means that this good was accordingly joined [to the rational]. ‘And commanded him, and said to him’ means reflection and consequent perception. ‘You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan’ means provided it was not joined to affections for falsity and evil. ‘Rise up’ means provided it raised up that good from these. ‘Go to Paddan Aram’ means the cognitions of such truth. ‘To the home of Bethuel your mother’s father, and take for yourself from there a wife from the daughters of Laban your mother’s brother’ means a parallel external good, and the truth which sprang from this good and was to be joined [to the good of the natural].
[2] The reason why ‘Jacob’ here represents the good of that truth is that by now he had taken Esau’s birthright, and also his blessing, and in so doing had assumed Esau’s identity; yet it was still no more than the good of that truth, which truth he had represented previously. For every kind of truth that exists holds good within it, because truth is not truth unless it arises out of good and for this reason is called truth. By means of the birthright which he took, and by means of the blessing, Jacob acquired for his descendants, in precedence over Esau, a succession to the promise made to Abraham and Isaac concerning the land of Canaan. In so doing he represented the Lord’s Divine Natural, even as ‘Isaac’ represented the Divine Rational, and ‘Abraham’ His Divine itself. In order therefore that the representative might rest on one person he was thus allowed to take away the birthright from Esau, and after that the blessing. This is why Jacob now represents the good of the natural, though at first in this chapter he represents the good of that truth, which truth he represented immediately before. Esau is also dealt with further still, as in verses 6-9 below, to the end that the good of truth and the interior truth of good of the Lord’s Natural – which cannot as yet be represented by ‘Jacob’ – may nevertheless be represented. What the good of truth, represented here by ‘Jacob’ is, and the nature of it, will be clear from what follows.
[2] But what the expression being joined to, or conjunction, describes, meant in the internal sense by ‘being blessed’, has been stated already, namely this: Both the good and the truth of the natural were to be linked to the rational, or what amounts to the same, the external man to the internal. For to make His Natural Divine, the Lord imparted such good and truth to it as could correspond to the good and truth of the Divine Rational. Unless goods and truths in the one correspond to those in the other no conjunction is possible. The goods and truths of the natural, that is, those proper to the natural man, are countless, so countless that a person can hardly know the most general kinds of them, though when natural good and truth are referred to these are seen by him as a simple whole; for the entire natural, and everything there, is nothing else. This being so one may see that goods and truths of the natural exist which are able to accommodate the goods and truths of the rational, and goods and truths of the natural exist which are not able to do so; consequently that goods and truths of the natural exist which, by means of correspondence, are able to be linked to the goods and truths of the rational. It is the latter that are referred to in this chapter and those that follow.
[3] The ability to know those goods and truths and to distinguish one from another, and also to see the nature of them and so to see how suited they are for conjunction, can hardly exist in anyone as long as he does not think from what is interior, that is, from the enlightenment provided by the light of heaven. For at this time such things seem to him to be both obscure and joyless. But such things are nevertheless suited to the mental grasp and understanding of angels, and also to the mental grasp of spirits; for their thoughts are not interspersed with concerns about worldly, bodily, and earthly things, as they had been previously when they lived as men in the world. They – that is to say, angels and spirits – receive the delight of intelligence and the blessedness of wisdom when they have such things from the internal sense of the Word. Indeed the Divine is in that case shining on them, for in the highest sense the Lord is the subject, and in the representative sense the Church and regeneration. They come consequently within the Divine sphere of the Lord and of His ends and purposes.
[2] The implications of this are that when a person is being regenerated the Lord leads him first of all as an infant, then as a child, after that as a young person, and at length as an adult. The truths which he learns as a small child are totally external and bodily, for he is not yet capable of grasping more interior things. Those truths are no more than cognitions of such things as inmostly contain Divine things within them. For there are some cognitions of things which do not inmostly contain anything Divine and there are other cognitions which do. Cognitions that do contain the Divine inmostly are such that they can receive interior truths into themselves, increasingly so, one after another in their proper order, whereas cognitions that do not contain the Divine are such that they do not so receive them but spurn them. For the cognitions of external and bodily good and truth are like the soil which, depending on its own particular nature, receives into itself one kind of seed but not another, and is productive of one variety of seed but is destructive of another. Cognitions which inmostly contain the Divine receive spiritual and celestial truth and good into themselves, for it is by virtue of the Divine within, bringing order to them, that makes them what they are. But cognitions that do not contain the Divine receive only falsity and evil, such being their nature. Those cognitions of external and bodily truth which do receive spiritual and celestial truth and good are meant here by ‘the daughters of Laban from the home of Bethuel’, while those that do not receive them are meant by ‘the daughters of Canaan’.
[3] The cognitions which people learn from infancy onwards into childhood are like very general vessels, which exist to be filled with goods. And as they are filled a person is enlightened. If the vessels are such that they can contain genuine goods within them, the person is in that case enlightened, step by step and increasingly so from the Divine that is within them. But if they are such that they cannot contain genuine goods within them he is not in that case enlightened. He may indeed give the appearance of being enlightened, but this comes about from the illusory light that goes with falsity and evil. Indeed those cognitions place him all the more in obscurity as regards good and truth.
[4] Such cognitions are manifold, so manifold that one can hardly count even the genera of them, let alone identify their species. For they derive in their multiplicity from the Divine and then pass by way of the rational into the natural. That is to say, certain of them flow in directly by way of the good of the rational, and from there into the good of the natural, and also into the truth that goes with that good, and again from there into the external or bodily natural, where also they depart into various channels; but others flow in indirectly by way of the truth of the rational into the truth of the natural, and also into the good that goes with this truth, and again from there into the external or bodily natural, see 3573, 3616. All this is like nations, families, and houses, in which there are blood relatives and relatives by marriage; that is to say, there are those in the direct line of descent from the chief ancestor and there are those belonging to an increasingly indirect or parallel line. In the heavens these things are quite distinct and separate, for all the communities there are distinguished according to genera and species of good and truth, and so according to how near they are in relation to one another, 685, 2508, 2524, 2556, 2739, 3612. The most ancient people, being celestial, also represented those communities by their dwelling as distinct and separate nations, families, and houses, 470, 471, 483, 1159, 1246. This was also the reason why members of the representative Church were commanded to contract marriages within the families which made up their own nation; for by so doing they could represent heaven and the interconnection of its communities as regards good and truth. That representation is exemplified here by Jacob’s going to the home of Bethuel his mother’s father and his taking a wife for himself from there from the daughters of Laban his mother’s brother.
[5] As regards cognitions themselves of external or bodily truth which come from a parallel good and, as has been stated, contain the Divine and so are able to receive genuine truths within them, they are like cognitions present with small children who at a later time undergo regeneration. They are in general such as those that are found in the historical narratives of the Word, for example, in what is said there about Paradise, about the first human being in Paradise, about the tree of life in the middle of it, and about the tree of knowledge where the deceiving serpent was. These are cognitions which contain the Divine and which receive spiritual and celestial goods and truths into themselves because they represent and mean these. Such cognitions also constitute all the other descriptions in historical narratives of the Word, for example, those in the Word concerning the Tabernacle, concerning the Temple, and concerning the construction of these; likewise what is said about Aaron’s vestments and those of his sons; also about the feasts of tabernacles, of first fruits, and of unleavened bread, and about other matters of a similar nature. When these and similar details are known and thought about by a small child, the thoughts of the angels residing with him at that time are concerned with the Divine things which they represent and mean. And because the angels are stirred by an affection for these things, that affection is communicated. This produces the joy and delight that the child gets out of them, and it prepares his mind for the reception of genuine truths and goods. These and very many others are the cognitions of external and bodily truth that come from a parallel good.
‘God Shaddai will bless you’ means the temptations to which that truth and good was subjected and by means of which the joining together was effected. ‘And make you fruitful and multiply you’ means the goods and truths deriving from that joining together. ‘And you will be an assembly of peoples’ means abundance. ‘And He will give you the blessing of Abraham’ means the joining of the Divine itself to the good and truth of the natural. ‘You and your seed with you’ means to the good and the truth born from this good. ‘To inherit the land of your sojournings’ means the life acquired through receiving instruction. ‘Which God gave to Abraham’ means which is received from the Divine. ‘And Isaac sent Jacob away’ means the beginning of the manifestation [of the Divine Natural]. ‘And he went to Paddan Aram’ means here, as previously, the cognitions of that truth. ‘To Laban the son of Bethuel the Aramean’ means a parallel good. ‘The brother of Rebekah, Jacob and Esau’s mother’ means the relationship through the mother of the good of truth, represented by ‘Jacob’, with the truth of good, represented by ‘Esau’.
[2] The same happened in the family of Terah, Abraham’s father, and also in Abraham’s house. The fact that they worshipped other gods, see 1356, 2559, and in particular God Shaddai, 1992. And the fact that the worship of that God persisted in that house is also clear from the following places in Moses,
I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Shaddai, and by My name Jehovah I was not known to them. Exod. 6:3.
This explains why Abraham was told, I am God Shaddai; walk before Me and be blameless. Gen. 17:1.
And in the present case Isaac told Jacob, ‘God Shaddai will bless you’. The truth of this is also quite evident from this chapter in which, after the Lord had said in a dream, ‘I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham your father, and the God of Isaac’, in verse 13, Jacob then said,
If God will be with me, and guard me on this road on which I am walking, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, and I come back in peace to my father’s house, then Jehovah will be my God. Verses 20, 21.
From this it is evident that neither did the house of Jacob acknowledge Jehovah, but that Jacob would acknowledge Him as his God if He conferred benefits on him. It was just the same as it is in Christian Gentilism at the present day.
[3] But as regards the specific name God Shaddai, the Lord had been called by this in the Ancient Church in respect to temptations, and to the blessings and benefits following temptations, as shown in Volume Two, in 1992. This is why here in the internal sense ‘God Shaddai’ means temptations. Temptations are the means by which the conjunction of good and truth is effected – see what has been stated and shown already about temptations, in the paragraphs referred to in 2819.
[2] The same may be seen from the representatives which also exist at the present day. For all kings, no matter who they are or what they are like, represent the Lord through the kingly office itself residing with them; and in like manner all priests, no matter who they are or what they are like, do so through their priestly office. The kingly office itself and the priestly office itself are sacred, no matter who serves in them. Consequently the Word taught by someone evil is no less sacred; nor is the Sacrament of Baptism, or the Holy Supper, or similar ministrations any less so. From this it may also be seen that no king can possibly claim as his own the sacredness that goes with his kingly office, nor any priest the sacredness that goes with his priestly office. Insofar as he does claim it or attribute it to himself he brands himself with the sign of a spiritual thief, or the mark of spiritual theft. And insofar as he commits what is evil, that is, acts contrary to what is right and fair, and contrary to what is good and true, a king throws off his representation of the sacred kingly office, and a priest his representation of the sacred priestly office, and then represents the reverse of this. This explains why so many laws were laid down in the Jewish representative Church concerning the sacredness which was to be attached in particular to priests when ministering. More on this matter will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be stated later on.
[2] Understanding good and truth and willing them is the function of the rational, and perceptions of good and truth resulting from this are like seeds; but knowing them and doing them is the function of the natural. Facts and deeds are like the soil. When a person has an affection for the facts that corroborate what is good and true, the more so when he experiences joy in acting them out, those facts are seeds that are present and growing in the natural as their own proper soil; and there they grow. As a consequence good is made fruitful and truth is multiplied, and they are constantly springing up out of that soil into the rational and perfecting it. The situation is different when a person understands what is good and true, and also interiorly perceives that he wills something, and yet does not desire to know these things, let alone do them. In that case good cannot be made fruitful nor truth be multiplied within the rational.
[2] The external truth from which good springs, meant by ‘Jacob’ here, is nothing else than cognitions, for cognitions are the truths that are absorbed first by anyone. Cognitions are also what people in the earliest stage of regeneration possess instead of truths. Cognitions however are not in themselves truths, yet they are such by virtue of the Divine things present within them; and only when these shine through them are they first made truths. Till then they are no more than general vessels by means of which and within which truths can be received, as those cognitions are which have been referred to already at the end of 3665, and as all the facts are that one learns at first.
[2] But to explain these things intelligibly is extremely difficult, the reason being that the most general features of this matter are not known at the present day, such as what spiritual good is and what the truth that goes with it is, and that there are countless genera of good and accompanying truth, and still more countless species, and also that there are degrees of them which are interconnected like those of blood relationships and relationships by marriage. While these very general features remain unknown a description of degrees and relationships would not be at all clear to anyone, especially at the present day when the learned have no wish to know those things. For these do not like to go beneath the surface of these matters and discuss the nature of them, only whether they exist or not. And as long as that is their state they have no wish at all to know anything about those countless kinds of good and truth.
‘Esau saw that Isaac had blessed Jacob’ means the thought which natural good had regarding the joining [to the Divine Rational] through the good of truth, represented by ‘Jacob’. ‘And had sent him away to Paddan Aram’ means the beginning of the manifestation [of the Natural] through cognitions of that good. ‘To take a wife for himself from there’ means a joining together thereby through the affection for truth. ‘In blessing him had commanded him, saying’ means reflection and consequent perception so that the joining together might be effected. ‘You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan’ means that it had not to be joined to affections for falsity and evil. ‘And that Jacob had listened to his father and to his mother’ means obedience and affection. ‘And had gone to Paddan Aram’ means here, as previously, so as to be furnished with those cognitions of good and truth. ‘And Esau saw that the daughters of Canaan were evil in the eyes of Isaac his father’ means the Lord’s foresight and provision that the affections for that truth – the affections to which natural good had been joined until then – would not be suitable for such conjunction. ‘And Esau went to Ishmael, and took Mahalath the daughter of Ishmael, Abraham’s son’ means the joining of that good to truth from a Divine source. ‘The sister of Nebaioth, as a wife in addition to the wives he had’ means an affection for celestial truth more internally.
[2] But as to what thought which natural good had regarding the joining through the good of truth may be, no wholly intelligible explanation is possible. Even so, let a brief explanation be given. The thought which natural good has is the thought which exists in the rational or internal man and from there in the natural or external man, in particular from the good of the rational man. It is the rational or internal man which thinks, not the natural or external; for the rational or internal man dwells in the light of heaven, a light which holds intelligence and wisdom from the Lord within it, 3195, 3339, 3636, 3643, whereas the external man dwells in the light of the world, a light which does not hold any intelligence or indeed life within it. Consequently unless the internal man thought within the external no thought at all could ever exist. Yet to the person himself it seems as though his thought were located within his external, for it is from things which have come in by way of the senses and belong to the world that he thinks.
[3] This matter is like the sight of the eye. A sensory-minded person imagines that the eye sees of itself, when in fact the eye is no more than an organ in the body by means of which the internal man sees things outside of the body, that is, things in the world. The same matter is also like speech. The sensory-minded person might imagine that the mouth and tongue spoke of themselves, and anyone who thinks somewhat more deeply that the larynx and interior organs activated by the lungs did so, when in fact it is the thought which speaks by means of those organic parts – for speech is nothing else than thought expressed in speech. Such delusions of the senses are very many. The matter under consideration is also similar to all the life manifested in the external man, in that the life of the internal is within it, as within its own material or physical organ. The same is so with thought.
[4] As long as he is living in the body a person thinks from the rational within the natural; but it is one thing when the natural corresponds to the rational, quite another when the natural does not correspond. When the natural does correspond a person is rational and thinks spiritually; but when the natural does not correspond, he is not rational, and is unable to think spiritually. For with one whose natural does correspond to his rational, a line of communication is open enabling the light of heaven to flow in from the Lord by way of the rational into the natural, and to enlighten it with intelligence and wisdom. As a consequence he is rational and thinks spiritually. But with one whose natural does not correspond to his rational the line of communication is closed, and no more than a limited amount of light exists in general round about which enters in through chinks by way of the rational into the natural. Consequently he is not rational and does not think spiritually. For as is the influx of the light of heaven into a person, so is his thinking. From this it is evident that the nature of every person’s thought is determined by the way in which, as regards good and truth, the natural corresponds to the rational.
[5] But spirits and angels scarcely think in the same way as men do. Their
thought, it is true, is likewise based ultimately in the natural; for they have with them the whole natural memory and its affections, though they are not allowed to use that memory, 2475-2479. But although they are not allowed to use this, it nevertheless serves them as the ground-work or foundation for the ideas comprising their thought. Consequently the ideas which comprise their thought are interior, and their speech does not take the form of verbal expressions as with men but the form of real things. From this it is evident that with them also the nature of their thought is determined by that of the correspondence of their natural with their rational. Evident also is the fact that there are some spirits who are rational and think spiritually, and others who are not rational and do not think spiritually, the difference between the two depending entirely on the nature of their affections and consequent thoughts of things during their lifetime, that is, depending on the state of the life which they have acquired to themselves in the world.
[6] Therefore what thought may be which natural good possesses is evident to some extent from what has just been said above. That is to say, it is thought existing within the good of the natural. (According to spirits’ way of thinking it is called the thought which natural good has, but according to men’s it is called thought within the good of the natural.) It is within the latter – within the good of the natural – that the rational thinks. When good is the end in view, the thought which natural good has regarding the joining through the good of truth is accordingly thought within the natural – regarding the end in view. That is to say, it is thought about how truth can be joined to it, and joined according to Divine order, by the ordinary way, which, as often stated already, comes from the kinds of things that are external and therefore exist – in the ordered sequence of things – as those that are last or outermost. The entire regeneration of the natural begins with these. These outermost or last things are initial cognitions, such as those learned by infants and children, dealt with in 3665 (end).
[7] At first the truth of good, represented by ‘Esau’, is not in outward form joined to the good of truth, represented by ‘Jacob’, for in relation to the truth of good the good of truth exists inversely, 3669. Nevertheless they are joined together inmostly, that is, as regards ends in view. For the end that truth springing from good has in view is, as has been stated that truths may be joined according to order to itself, while the end in view of good springing from truth is the same. And since it is the end in view that joins them together, those two also are therefore so joined together, 3562, 3565. The inversion of order in the early stages is merely the means to an attainment of the end in view.
[2] The Most Ancient Church which was celestial and existed before the Flood was situated in the land of Canaan, see 567. The Ancient Church which existed after the Flood was also situated there, as well as in many other countries, 1238, 2385. This was how it came about that all the gentile nations there, and also all the territories there, and all the rivers there, served as representatives. For the most ancient people, who were celestial, perceived through all the objects they beheld the kind of things that belong to the Lord’s kingdom, 920, 1409, 2896, 2897, 2995, and so beheld the same through the territories and the rivers there.
[3] After their times those representatives survived in the Ancient Church, including the representatives related to the places there. Furthermore the Word that existed in the Ancient Church, dealt with in 2897-2899, contained place-names which were for the same reason representative; and the Word existing after their times, which is called Moses and the Prophets, also contains them. This was why Abraham was commanded to go there, and the promise was made to him that his descendants would possess that land. That promise was not made because they were any better than all the other nations, for they were the worst of them all, 1167, 3373. But it was made so that through them the representative Church might be established, in which no attention was paid to representative persons and places themselves but to the actual things which these represented, 3670, and thus also so that the names existing in the Most Ancient and the Ancient Churches might be preserved.
[2] The actuality of these matters is indeed as stated already, yet they are of such a nature that they can hardly be understood at all as long as the most general features of the subject remain unknown. Furthermore they are the kind of things in which the world of today does not have any interest, for it is earthly things, not heavenly ones, in which it is interested, for the reason, as people even say, that they see and know earthly things, but they do not see or know the heavenly. Now because what is contained in the internal sense of the Word has to be not merely disclosed but also explained, let an example be taken to show what the expressions the truth of good, which ‘Esau’ represents, and the good of truth, which ‘Jacob’ represents, are used to mean. At the same time the example will clarify the point that until a person has been regenerated the good of truth in relation to the truth of good exists inversely, but after he has been regenerated they are joined together. This example will accordingly illustrate the matters stated so far.
[3] Take as our example the kind of person who can be regenerated; for the Lord foresees that he can be, and because He foresees it He also makes provision for it. At the outset while a young child he does not yet know what the works of charity towards the neighbour are, for he does not yet know what charity is or what the neighbour is. Consequently because he knows from the Word that one ought to give to the poor and that anyone who does so has his reward in heaven he helps beggars more than all others for he believes that these are the poor who are meant in the Word. He does not take into account the fact that the kind of people who beg on the streets for the most part lead godless and even criminal lives, despise everything associated with Divine worship, and surrender themselves completely to laziness and inactivity. Nonetheless a person in the first stages of regeneration helps those people with all his heart. These good actions are examples of the good which springs from external truth and with which his regeneration begins. The truth of good, which is more internal, flows accordingly into those actions, fashioning these as directed by the cognitions which the child knows?
[4] At a later stage however, when more enlightened, he is willing to do good to all he believes to be poor and needy, but he still makes scarcely any distinction between the godly poor and needy and the ungodly poor and needy. He believes that all are to be regarded and rated equally as the neighbour. But when he becomes more enlightened in these matters he does make a distinction and provides help only to the good and upright. He knows that providing help to the evil does harm to many, for by the aid and support these get he gives them the opportunity to harm others. At length when he is being regenerated he does not do good to any but the good and the godly, for at this point he is not stirred by an affection simply for the person he does good to but by the good itself residing with that person. And since the Lord is present within all good and godliness he accordingly bears witness also, through his affection towards what is good, to his love to the Lord. When he is at heart moved by charity such as this he can become regenerate.
[5] From this it is evident that in relation to this state his previous state was an inverse one, that is to say, he believed that to be good which was not in fact good. Nevertheless at the beginning of regeneration he still had to put into practice that which, though not in fact good, he believed to be so since what he knew went no further and since more interior good that flows from charity was not able to enter into any truth apart from that of which he actually knew. It is also evident that more interior good was always present and fashioning it, and this good could not have manifested itself previously until by means of cognitions he had been gradually enlightened about the nature of goods and truths. From this it is evident to some extent what is meant by the good of truth, which ‘Jacob’ represents here, what is meant by the truth of good, which ‘Esau’ represents, and that at first these exist inversely but subsequently are joined together.
‘Jacob went out from Beersheba’ means life more remote from matters of doctrine that are Divine. ‘And went to Haran’ means closer to that degree of good and truth. ‘And he came upon a place’ means a state. ‘And spent the night there because the sun had gone down’ means life enveloped in obscurity. ‘And he took one of the stones of the place’ means the truths belonging to that state. ‘And placed it as his headrest’ means a very general communication with the Divine. ‘And lay down in that place’ means the serenity of that state.
[2] To demonstrate more fully what that life is, and what it is like, let a further brief statement be made about it. All the details of the historical tales contained in the Word are truths more remote from the actual matters of doctrine that are Divine. Nevertheless they are of service to young and older children in that by means of those tales they are led gradually into more interior matters of doctrine concerning what is true and good, and at length into Divine ones; for inmostly those tales hold what is Divine within them. When young children read them and in innocence are filled with affection for them, the angels present with them experience a delightful heavenly state, for the Lord fills those angels with affection for the internal sense and so for the things which the events of the historical tales represent and mean. It is that heavenly delight experienced by angels which flows in and causes the young children to take delight in those tales. In order that this first state may exist, that is, the state in early and later childhood of those who are to be regenerated, the historical tales in the Word have therefore been provided and written in such a way that every single detail there contains that which is Divine within them.
[3] How remote they are from matters of doctrine that are Divine may be seen from an example taken from those historical tales. When at first someone knows merely that God came down on Mount Sinai and gave Moses the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were written, and that Moses smashed them and God wrote similar commandments on another set of tablets, and this historical description in itself delights him, his life is governed by external truth and is remote from matters of doctrine that are Divine. Later on however when he starts to take delight in and have an affection for the commands or precepts there, and lives according to them, his life is now governed by actual truth; yet his life is still remote from matters of doctrine that are Divine. For the life he leads in keeping with those commands is no more than a morally correct life, the precepts of which are well known to everyone living in human society from the life of the community and from the laws existing there, such as worship of the Supreme Being, honouring parents, not committing murder, not committing adultery, and not stealing.
[4] But a person who is being regenerated is gradually led away from this more remote or morally correct life to life that comes closer to matters of doctrine that are Divine, that is, closer to spiritual life. When this happens he starts to wonder why such commands or precepts were sent down from heaven in so miraculous a fashion and why they were written on tablets with the finger of God, when they are in fact known to all peoples and are also written in the laws of those who have never heard anything from the Word. When he enters into this state of thinking he is then led by the Lord, if he belongs among those who are able to be regenerated, into a state more interior still, that is to say, into a state when he thinks that deeper things lie within which he does not as yet know. And when he reads the Word in this state he discovers in various places in the Prophets, and especially in the Gospels, that every one of those precepts contains within it things more heavenly still.
[5] In the commandment about honouring parents, for example, he discovers that when people are born anew, that is, are being regenerated, they receive another Father, and in that case become His sons, and that He is the one who is to be honoured, thus that this is the meaning which lies more interiorly in that commandment. He also gradually learns who that new Father is, namely the Lord, and at length how He is to be honoured, that is to say, worshipped, and that He is worshipped when He is loved. When a person who is being regenerated possesses this truth and lives according to it, a matter of doctrine that is Divine exists with him. His state at that time is an angelic state, and from this he now sees the things he had known previously as things which follow in order one after another and which flow from the Divine, like the steps of a stairway, at the top of which is Jehovah or the Lord, and on the steps themselves His angels going up and coming down. So he sees things that had previously delighted him as steps more remote from himself. The same may be said of the rest of the Ten Commandments, see 2609. From this one may now see what the life more remote from matters of doctrine that are Divine is, meant by the statement that Jacob went out from Beersheba.
[2] The reason why the phrase ‘that degree of good and truth’ is used is that goods and truths are quite distinct and separate from one another according to the degrees they belong to. Interior goods and truths exist in a higher degree, exterior goods and truths in a lower one. In a higher degree are the goods and truths which belong to the rational, in a lower one the goods and truths that belong to the natural, and in the lowest degree are the sensory goods and truths that belong to the body. Interior goods and truths, or those which exist in the higher degree, flow into exterior goods and truths, or those existing in the lower degree, and present an image of themselves there, almost as a person’s interior affections present themselves in his face and in the changing expressions seen there. From this it is evident that interior goods and truths are entirely separate from exterior goods and truths, or what amounts to the same, those which exist in the higher degree are entirely separate from those in the lower one, so separate that those which are interior or existing in the higher degree are able to manifest themselves independently of those that are exterior or existing in the lower one. Anyone who does not have a clear-cut idea of degrees cannot have a clear-cut idea of interior and exterior goods and truths, or of how a person’s soul or spirit and his body are related to each other, or of how in the next life the heavens are related to one another.
[3] It is well known that there are three heavens, that one heaven is interiorly within another, and that the third heaven is the inmost. These heavens are utterly distinct and separate, each a separate degree from the others. Members of the inmost or third are closer to the Lord; members of the less interior or second are more remote; and members of the exterior or first are more remote still. No communication between those heavens is possible other than a communication like that of the inmost parts of the human being with the exterior parts of him, for anyone who is governed by love to the Lord and by charity towards the neighbour is a miniature heaven, corresponding in image to the three heavens. In addition, he receives from those three heavens an influx, in three similar degrees, of good and truth from the Lord. What each of these is like compared with the other two becomes clear from the two examples introduced above in 3688 and 3690.
[4] Those who are governed by true love to the Lord, so much so that they have a perception of that love, are in the higher degree of good and truth. They are in the inmost or third heaven, thus closer to the Lord, and are called celestial angels. Those however who are governed by charity towards the neighbour, so much so that they have a perception of that charity but not so much a perception of love to the Lord, are in a lower degree of good and truth. They are in the interior or second heaven, accordingly more remote from the Lord, and are referred to as spiritual angels. Those however who are governed by charity towards the neighbour that arises solely from an affection for truth, so much so that they do not have any perception of that charity towards the neighbour except from the truth for which they have an affection, are in a still lower degree of good and truth. They are in the exterior or first heaven, accordingly more remote still from the Lord, and are termed good spirits.
[5] This shows to some extent the relationship of these degrees to one another, that is to say, it shows that things existing in a higher degree present an image of themselves that is formed from the things belonging to the degree immediately below them. Love to the Lord contains the closest image of the Lord. That image is called a likeness and therefore people who are governed by true love to the Lord are called likenesses of Him. Charity too contains an image of the Lord, though in a more remote way – for within genuine charity the Lord is present – and therefore people who are governed by such charity are referred to as His images, see 50, 51, 1013. But those who are governed by the affection for truth and consequently by a certain kind of charity towards the neighbour are also images of the Lord, yet in a more remote way still. Into these separate degrees the three heavens are distinguished, and in accordance with those same degrees the Lord flows in with Divine Good and Truth, and so with wisdom and intelligence, together with heavenly joy and happiness.
[2] ‘Sundown’ in the Word means the falsity and evil in which those people are immersed with whom no charity or faith is present, and so means the last period of the Church – see 1837. Also it means obscurity as regards things that belong to good and truth, the kind of obscurity which envelops people who are in a degree more remote from matters of doctrine that are Divine – see 3691. For ‘sundown’ or ‘the sun went down’ means these things, as becomes clear from the following places in the Word: In Micah,
It will be night for you instead of vision, and darkness for you instead of divination; and the sun will go down over the prophets, and the day will become black over them. Micah 3:6.
‘The sun will go down over the prophets’ stands for their not possessing truth and an understanding of it any longer – ‘the prophets’ standing for people who teach the truths of doctrine, 2534. In Amos,
It will happen on that day, that I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight; and I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation. Amos 8:9, 10.
‘Making the sun go down at noon’ stands for obscurity as regards truth with people who possess cognitions of good and truth – ‘noon’ being a state of light or of cognitions of truth, see 1458, 3195.
[3] In Isaiah,
Your sun will no longer go down, and your moon will not be withdrawn, for Jehovah will be to you an everlasting light. Isa. 60:20.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom. ‘The sun will no longer go down’ stands for those who will be provided with the life of good and with wisdom because the Lord’s celestial love and light will be with them. ‘The moon will not be withdrawn’ stands for those who will be provided with the life of truth and with intelligence because the Lord’s spiritual love and light will be with them. For in the next life the Lord is to celestial angels a sun, and to spiritual a moon, and from that sun and moon they receive wisdom and intelligence, see 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643. From this it is evident what is meant in the internal sense of the Word by ‘sunrise’ and ‘sundown’.
[4] In David,
O Jehovah my God, You are very great! You are clothed with glory and honour – He who covers Himself with light as with a garment, [who] stretches out the heavens like a curtain, [Who] made the moon for established festivals – the sun knows its going down. You dispose the darkness, and it becomes night. Ps. 104:1, 2, 19, 20,
Here similarly ‘the moon’ stands for intelligence, and ‘the sun’ for wisdom from the Lord, while ‘sundown’ stands for obscurity in both. ‘Disposing the darkness so that it becomes night’ stands for lessening the state of obscurity. For angels experience changes of state, ranging from a great profusion of light to a smaller amount of light, or from a great profusion of wisdom to a smaller amount of wisdom, and those changes of state are like morning, when the sun rises, noon when at its highest point, evening when it goes down, and then morning once again, as will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be stated elsewhere.
[5] In Joshua,
From the wilderness and Lebanon as far as the great river, the River Euphrates all the land of the Hittites, and as far as the Great Sea, the going down of the sun, will be your boundary. Josh. 1:4.
This is describing the full extent of the land of Canaan, which in the internal sense is the Lord’s kingdom, see 1607, 3038, 3481. ‘The River Euphrates’ is one boundary of this, that is to say, of spiritual and celestial things, 1866, while ‘the Great Sea’ and ‘the going down of the sun’ are the other boundary, by which their furthest limit – which is obscurity compared with all else – is represented. For all the boundaries and all the places in that land have a representation, see 1585.
[6] In Moses,
If you take your neighbour’s clothing as a pledge you shall restore it to him before the sun goes down; for this is his only covering; it is his clothing for his skin, in which he will lie down. Exod. 22:26, 27.
And elsewhere in the same author,
If the man is poor you shall not lie down upon his pledge; you shall surely restore the pledge to him before the sun goes down, and let him lie on his own clothing and bless you; and it shall be righteousness to you before Jehovah your God. Deut. 24:12, 13.
This law, like every other, holds within it that which is a representative and a meaningful sign of Divine Law, which has to do with that which is good and true in the Lord’s kingdom; and, as every detail shows, that which is held within it is also the origin of it. The goodness and truth held within it and from which the law springs is the precept that companions are not to be cheated out of external truths, which consist both in the matters of doctrine on which they base their lives and in their religious practices – ‘clothing’ meaning such truths, see 297, 1073, 2576, and the requirement to restore it [to the one who is poor] before the sun went down meaning before truth present with him perished. And since that truth is external it is said that that clothing is for his skin, in which he will lie down.
[7] In the same author,
The soul which has touched anything unclean shall be unclean until the evening and shall not eat any of the holy things; but when he has bathed his flesh with water, and the sun has gone down, he will be clean; and afterwards he shall eat from the holy things. Lev. 22:6, 7.
And elsewhere in the same author,
The person who is not clean – towards evening he shall bathe himself with water; and when the sun goes down he shall enter the midst of the camp. Deut. 23:10, 11.
This law also, it is clear, has its origin in the laws of good and truth, or the laws of order, existing in the Lord’s kingdom, for why else would it have been commanded that the unclean person was to wait until evening when he was to bathe himself with water, and after the sun had gone down would be clean? The law of order existing in the Lord’s kingdom from which the law stated above derives is this: When good and angelic spirits sink into a state of self-love and consequently into a state of falsity, they are returned for a brief while into their own natural or lower state and there they are equipped with cognitions of good and truth that relate to that matter. This is what is meant by ‘bathing themselves with water in the evening’, for ‘bathing oneself with water’ means being purified from falsities, see 3147, 3148, and ‘water’ means cognitions of truth, 28, 680, 739, 2702, 3058. And after being in that state of obscurity meant by ‘sundown’ they return to their previous state, meant by their then being clean and entering into the midst of the camp. This matter will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described from experience elsewhere. From all these places that have been quoted it is evident that ‘sundown’ in the Word means a state of obscurity as regards truth in the case of those who are good and a state of falsity in the case of those who are evil.
[2] Something very similar to this occurs with the new life with one who is being regenerated. At first he experiences a state of serenity, but as he moves on into the new life so he moves into a state that is not serene. For evils and falsities which he has taken into himself previously now emerge and show themselves, and these trouble him, so much so at length that he undergoes temptations and trials from the devil’s crew who try all the time to destroy his state of new life. But despite this a state of peace exists with him inmostly. But for its presence inmostly he would not put up any fight at all, for in all the conflicts he experiences he sees that state as the end in view. If that end were not in view he would never have the power and strength to fight. And this is also what enables him to overcome. And since it is the end in view he also enters that state once conflict or temptations are past. It is like the state of spring which follows that of autumn and winter, or like the state of dawn following evening and night. Regarding the resemblance of the state of peace in spiritual things to spring and dawn in natural ones, see 1726, 2780; and as regards peace being the result of goodness and truth, but unrest the result of evil and falsity, 3170.
[3] That ‘lying down’ in the Word means a state of serenity may be seen from the following places: In Moses,
If you walk in My statutes and observe My commandments and do them, I will give peace in the land, and you will lie down, and none will make you afraid. And I will cause evil wild animals to cease from the land, and the sword will not pass through your land. Lev. 26:3, 6.
‘Lying down’ clearly applies to a state of peace and serenity. ‘Evil wild animals’ stands for desires for evil, 45, 46, 908, which ‘are going to cease’. ‘The sword’ stands for falsity in conflict with truth, 2799, which ‘is not going to pass through the land’. From this it is also evident that peace and the serenity of peace is the result of goodness and truth, and the destruction of it is the result of evils and falsities.
[4] In Isaiah,
The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion together; and a little child will lead them. And the young cow and the beer will feed; their young will lie down together. Isa. 11:6, 7.
This refers to the Lord and to the state of peace existing in His kingdom. ‘They will lie down together’ stands for their being unable to be infested by anything evil or false. In Hosea,
I will make for them a covenant on that day with the wild beasts of the field, and with the birds of the air, and with the creeping things of the earth. And I will abolish* the bow, and the sword, and war from the land, and I will make them lie down in safety. Hosea 2:18.
Here likewise ‘lying down’ stands for a state of serenity following the removal of falsities and evils which are responsible for unrest.
[5] In David,
I will lie down and sleep, and will awake again, for Jehovah sustains me. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, who set themselves against me round about. Ps. 3:5, 6.
‘Lying down and sleeping’ stands for a state of serenity and security. In the same author,
In peace I will both lie down and sleep, because You, O Jehovah, alone make me dwell with confidence. Ps. 4:8.
And in the same author,
He will make me to down in green pastures; He will lead me to still waters; He will restore my soul. Ps. 23:2, 3.
From these places it is evident that a state of peace and serenity is described by ‘lying down’, and that ‘lying down in that place’ means the serenity of the state – for ‘place’ in the internal sense is state, 3692.
* lit. break
‘He dreamed’ means foresight. ‘And behold, a stairway set up on the earth’ means a communication of lowest truth and of good derived from this truth. ‘And its top reaching to heaven’ means with the Divine. ‘And behold, the angels of God going up and coming down on it’ means an infinite and eternal communication and the consequent joining together – a going up, so to speak, from what is lowest, and after that, when order has been inverted, a coming down to it. ‘And behold, Jehovah was standing above it’ means the Lord at the highest point. ‘And He said, I am Jehovah, the God of Abraham your father’ means the Lord in whom that good originated. ‘And the God of Isaac’ means the Lord’s Divine Human. ‘The land on which you are lying I will give to you’ means that the good on which the Natural rested was His own in origin. ‘And to your seed’ means truth also. ‘And your seed will be as the dust of the earth’ means that Divine natural Truth would be as natural good. ‘And you will break forth towards the sea, and towards the east’ means infinite extension of good, while ‘and towards the north, and towards the south’ means infinite extension of truth – thus every state of good and truth. ‘And in you will all the families of the ground be blessed’ means that all truths taught by doctrine which look to good will be joined to good. ‘And in your seed’ means and to truth. ‘And behold, I am with you’ means the Divine. ‘And will guard you wherever you go’ means Divine Providence. ‘And will bring you back to this ground’ means conjunction with doctrine that is Divine. ‘For I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken about to you’ means that nothing would be missing to prevent its actually happening.
When a prophet has spoken in the name of Jehovah but that event has not happened or taken place it was not Jehovah who spoke. The prophet spoke it presumptuously. Deut. 18:22.
[2] And even the foretellings of events which did take place may have been made by evil people and worshippers of another god, as stated in the same book,
If a prophet or the dreamer of a dream arises in the midst of you, and gives you a sign or else a wonder, and the sign or wonder he has told you comes to pass, and he says, Let us go after other gods which you have not known, and let us serve them; you shall not obey the words of that prophet or the dreamer of that dream; for Jehovah your God is testing you. Deut. 13:1-3.
From these words it is evident that the actual foretelling originated in the Divine but the incitement to worship other gods in the proprium of the prophet, who was allowed to make such a suggestion to people so that they could be tested, as is stated. This among other reasons is also why on many occasions in former times people who worshipped the baals and other gods even prophesied, saw visions, and dreamed dreams, and also why what they uttered actually happened, so that they frequently led others astray. These people are referred to in Jeremiah 23. And besides these there were others called diviners, soothsayers, sorcerers, familiar spirits, among those who applied themselves to natural magic, from which nothing at all Divine could be foretold, only what was contrary to the Divine, that is, to the Lord, and contrary to the good of love and to the truth of faith in Him. This is magic, no matter what it looks like in outward appearance.
[2] In the original language the word for a stairway is derived from a word meaning a pathway or highway, which is used in reference to truth, see 627, 2333. Furthermore when angels are discussing truth their discussion manifests itself representatively in the world of spirits as pathways, see 189, 3477. From this it is evident what ‘a stairway’ means, one end of which is set up on the earth while the other reaches up to heaven. That is to say, it means a communication of truth in the lowest place with truth in the highest place, a communication dealt with below. For there are lowest truths and goods and highest truths and goods, and degrees of them in between like a stairway, see 3691.
[2] The nature of this going up and coming down becomes clear from what has been stated and shown above in 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3607, 3610, 3665, 3690. But because this order – which comes into effect when a person is being regenerated and which is described in the internal sense here and in what follows – is completely unknown in the Church, let the nature of it be illustrated further: It is well known that a person is born into the same disposition as his parents, grandparents, and great grandparents, going back for centuries, and so into hereditary evil gradually accumulated by all those before him, so much so that there is nothing but evil in what he does when he acts from himself. As a consequence both his understanding and his will have been totally spoiled and of himself he does not will anything good at all and therefore does not understand anything true at all. That which he calls good, indeed believes to be good, is in fact evil, and that which he calls the truth, indeed believes to be the truth, is in fact falsity. Take, for example, loving himself more than others, wanting things to be better for himself than for others, desiring what belongs to someone else, and considering only himself and not others unless he himself will benefit. Because he desires these things of himself he indeed calls them good and also true. And what is more, if anyone harms or tries to harm these things which by him are called good and true, he hates him and is also filled with thoughts of revenge. He desires and also seeks that person’s ruin, and takes delight in this insofar as he actually strengthens such intentions in himself, that is, as frequently as he actually puts them into effect.
[3] When such a person enters the next life his desires remain the same. The actual disposition which he has acquired in the world by the life he led remains, and that delight is perceived plainly by others. Consequently he is unable to be in any heavenly community where everyone wants things to be better for others than for himself; but he is in some community of hell whose delight is similar to his own. It is that disposition of his which needs to be rooted out while he is living in the world, something that cannot possibly be achieved except through regeneration from the Lord, that is, through receiving quite another will and therefore quite another understanding – by becoming a new person so far as both those powers of mind are concerned. But for this to come about he must first of all be born like a young child again, learn what evil and falsity are, and learn what good and truth are, for without knowledge or awareness of these he is unable to have any good conferred on him. Indeed of himself he does not acknowledge anything else as good except that which is evil, nor anything else as truth except that which is false.
[4] To make a person new, cognitions are instilled into him such as are not completely contrary to those he has already – for example, the idea that all love starts in himself; the idea that one should consider oneself first and others only after that; the idea that those people who are outwardly poor and wretched should be helped irrespective of what they are like inwardly; and that similarly widows and orphans should be helped solely because they are called such; and at length the idea that enemies in general should be helped irrespective of who they may be; and also the idea that by acting in these ways one is able to merit heaven. These and other ideas like them are the cognitions proper to the early childhood of his new life. They are such that because they derive to some extent from his previous life, or the disposition belonging to his previous life, they also derive to some extent from his new life into which he is being led in this way. They are consequently such as allow into themselves things that contribute towards the formation of a new will and of a new understanding. They are the lowest forms of good and truth, and it is with these that people who are being regenerated start out. And because these lowest forms of good and truth allow more interior truths into themselves, that is, truths closer to Divine truths, falsities which a person had previously believed to be truths are also rooted out.
[5] People who are being regenerated however do not learn such things simply as matters of knowledge but as matters of life, for they practice those truths. But their practice of them has its beginnings in the new will which the Lord is instilling, though they are totally unaware of it. And to the extent they welcome that new will they also welcome those cognitions, put them into practice, and believe them. But to the extent they do not welcome that new will they are indeed able to learn such truths but not to put them into effect since they consider them purely as matters of knowledge and not of life.
[6] That state is the state of early and later childhood as regards the new life which is to replace the previous life, but the state of the early and later youth of that life is a state when no attention is paid to any person’s outward presentation of himself but to what he is like with regard to good – first of all with regard to it in public affairs, then in private affairs, and at length in spiritual, at which point he starts to possess and to love good first and foremost, and from good the person. And when after that he is more perfect still his concern is to aid those who are governed by good, his help depending on the kind of good present with those whom he helps. At length he takes delight in helping them. And because he takes delight in good he also takes pleasure in ideas that support it. Those supporting ideas he acknowledges as truths, which also constitute the truths of his new understanding which flow from the forms of good which belong to his new will.
[7] To the same extent as he takes delight in that good and takes pleasure in those truths he also feels an aversion to the evils of his previous life and a displeasure in its falsities. This is why things belonging to the previous will are now separated from those belonging to the new will, and those belonging to the previous understanding from those belonging to the new understanding. The determining factor in this separation is not the affection for knowing them, but the affection for doing them. As a consequence he now sees that the truths belonging to his early childhood in relation one to another have existed inversely and that those same truths have been reorganized little by little into another order, that is to say, their interrelationship has been changed so that those which initially occupied the first place now occupy the last. In this way he sees that by means of those truths which belonged to his early and later childhood the angels of God so to speak went up by means of a stairway from earth to heaven, whereas now by means of the truths belonging to his adult life the angels of God so to speak come down by means of the stairway from heaven to earth.
[2] The creation of the human being in this particular form is evident from the fact that his body is a world in miniature, because every arcanum that is part of the natural world is also stowed in the body. Each arcanum present in the ever-changing sky is also stowed in the eye; and each one in the air is also stowed in the ear. Anything floating unseen and active in the air is stowed – where it is detected – in the organ of smell, anything unseen that is present in water or any other fluid is stowed in the organ of taste. And actual changes of state likewise occur in the sense of touch throughout the body. Besides these even further arcana are stored away in the body which could be detected by a person within his interior organs if his life accorded with order. From this it is evident that a descent of the Divine through the human being into the lowest degree of the natural order would take place, and from the lowest degree of the natural order an ascent to the Divine, if only the human being with heartfelt faith, that is, with love, acknowledged the Lord as his Final and Primary end.
[3] A state such as this existed with the most ancient people, who were celestial, for whatever they discerned with any of their senses was to them a means to thought about things which are the Lord’s, and so about the Lord and His kingdom. This was the source of the delight they gained from worldly and earthly things, see 1409, 2896, 2897, 2995. Furthermore whenever these people contemplated in this fashion the lower and the lowest things of the natural order, such things appeared to them to have life in them; for the life from which these came down existed in those people’s internal sight and perception. The objects which they saw with their eyes were so to speak images of that life, and although those images were inanimate they were nevertheless animate to those people. This is the kind of perception that celestial angels have of every thing in the world, as I have often been allowed to perceive, and it is also the source of the kind of perception which young children have, see 2297, 2298. This shows what those people are like through whom Divine things that are the Lord’s come right down to the lowest things of the natural order, and from the lowest things of the natural order rise up to Him – people that represent Divine communication and the consequent joining together, meant in the highest sense by ‘the angels going up and coming down the stairway set up on the earth, and its top reaching to heaven, with Jehovah standing above it’.
[2] The whole natural order also in every single part has reference to what is good and what is true. In it, that is, the natural order, the celestial and spiritual goods and truths that belong to heaven are represented, and in heaven Divine Goods and Truths that are the Lord’s are represented. From this it becomes clear that good is like the father and truth is like the mother, and that therefore ‘father’ in the internal sense of the Word means good, and ‘mother’ truth. Indeed they mean the goodness and truth in which lower or derived goods and truths originate, which in relation to them are as daughters and sons, and are also consequently called daughters and sons in the Word, 489-491, 2362. They are also in relation to that good and truth as brothers and sisters, as grandchildren and great grandchildren, as sons-in-law, fathers-in-law, and daughters-in-law; in short they are as every degree of blood relationship and relationship by marriage. And all these relationships stem from the marriage of good, which is the father, to truth, which is the mother. For all things – every single one – in heaven exist as in blood relationships of love to and faith in the Lord, or what amounts to the same, of good and truth, see 685, 917, 2739, 3612, and the most ancient people therefore compared all these things to marriages, 54, 55. See also 718, 747, 1432, 2508, 2516, 2524, 2556.
[3] That ‘father’ in the internal sense of the Word means good may be seen from very many places, as from the following: In Isaiah,
Pay attention to Me, you who are pursuing righteousness, who are seeking Jehovah; look to the rock from which you were hewn; and to the hole of the pit from which you were dug; look to Abraham your father and to Sarah who bore you, for when he was but one I called him; and I blessed him, and I will multiply him. For Jehovah will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. Isa. 51:1-3.
This refers to the Lord and His Coming, as is evident from every detail. As regards Divine Truth He is called ‘a rock’ and ‘a pit’, and as regards Divine Good ‘Abraham your father’. And because the Divine marriage of Good and Truth is represented by Abraham and Sarah, see 1468, 1901, 1965, 1989, 2011, 2063, 2065, 2172, 2173, 2198, 2507, 2833, 2836, 2904, 3245, 3251, 3305 (end), the expressions ‘Abraham your father’ and ‘Sarah who bore you’ are used. This explains why it is said that they were to look to the rock and to the pit, and to Abraham their father and to Sarah. It also explains why the promises follow immediately after, declaring that ‘Jehovah will comfort Zion’, which is the celestial Church, see 2362, and that ‘He will comfort her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden and her desert like the garden of Jehovah’.
[4] Abraham has a similar meaning when elsewhere in the Word he is called ‘father’, as in John,
Jesus said, I speak what I have seen with My Father, and you also do what you have seen with your father. They answered and said to Him, Our father is Abraham. Jesus said to them, If you were Abraham’s sons, you would do the works of Abraham. You do the works of your father. John 8:38, 39, 41.
And in Matthew,
Do not presume to say within yourselves, We have Abraham as our father. I tell you that God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees; every tree not bearing good fruit will be cut down and cast into the fire. Matt. 3:9, 10.
And in Luke,
When the poor man Lazarus died he was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried; and when he was in hell he raised his eyes and saw Abraham far off, and Lazarus in his bosom. Calling out he said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. I ask you, father, to send him to my father’s house. Luke 16:19-end.
In these places it is evident that Abraham was not meant but the Lord as regards Divine Good. For Abraham is unknown in heaven, and when his name is used in the Word the Lord is meant, see 1834, 1876, 1989, 3305 (end).
[5] That ‘father’ means good in the internal sense becomes clear from the following places: In Moses,
Honour your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged on the land which Jehovah your God gives you. Exod. 20:12; Deut. 5:16.
This commandment, like the rest of the Ten Commandments, is true in both senses – in the internal sense ‘honouring father and mother’ is loving what is good and true, and in what is good and true loving the Lord, see 2609, 3690. ‘Days on the land’ means resulting states of good within the Lord’s kingdom, as is clear from the meaning of ‘days’ as states, 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, and from the meaning of Canaan, to which ‘the land’ refers here, as the Lord’s kingdom, 1607, 3038, 3481, and from ‘being prolonged’ haying reference to good, 1613.
[6] Since ‘father and mother’ had these meanings many laws were therefore laid down in the Jewish representative Church relating to parents and sons. In every case good and truth were meant in the internal sense, and in the highest sense the Lord as regards Divine Good and Divine Truth, as in Moses,
Whoever strikes his father and his mother shall surely die. If anyone curses his father or his mother he shall surely die. Exod. 21:15, 17.
In the same author,
Any man who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death; he who curses his father and his mother, his blood shall be on him. Lev. 20:9.
Cursed is he who treats his father and his mother with contempt; and all the people shall say, Amen. Deut. 27:16, 17.
In Ezekiel,
Behold, the princes of Israel, every one according to his power,* have in you been intent on shedding blood; in you they have treated father and mother with contempt. Ezek. 22:6, 7.
In Moses,
When a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, in no way obeying the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they correct him he still does not obey them, his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders of the city, and to the gateway of their place. And all the men of that city shall stone him with stones so that he dies. Deut. 21:18, 19, 21.
[7] In all these places ‘father and mother’ in the sense of the letter is used to mean father and mother, but in the internal sense good and truth are meant, and in the highest sense the Lord as regards Divine Good and Divine Truth. This is also the Lord’s own teaching in Matthew,
Jesus stretching out His hand over His disciples said, Beyond My mother and My brothers; whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven is My brother, and sister, and mother. Matt. 12:49, 50.
And in the same gospel,
Refuse to be called master, for one is your Master, Christ; but all you are brothers. And call nobody your father on earth, for one is your Father who is in heaven. Matt. 23:8, 9.
It is not being called master or being called father on earth that is forbidden here, but acknowledging in the heart any other father than the Lord. That is, when the names master and father are used one should understand the Lord whom in the highest sense they represent, in the same way, as stated just above in 3702, as anything perceived on earth by the most ancient people who were celestial was to them the means for thought concerning the Lord.
[8] Much the same is embodied in what the Lord told one of the disciples who said,
Lord, let me first go away and bury my father. Jesus said to him, Follow Me; leave the dead to bury the dead. Matt. 8:21, 22.
Indeed the relationship of father on earth to Father in heaven, who is the Lord, is as one who is dead to one who is living, even as the law itself about honouring parents is so to speak dead unless it holds honour, worship, and love to the Lord within it. For that law about honouring parents comes down from the latter Divine law. And because it comes down from the latter, the living element which exists within the law about honouring parents is received from this Divine law. This is why the Lord said, ‘Follow Me, leave the dead to bury the dead’. What Elijah told Elisha is also similar in meaning,
Elijah passed beside Elisha and cast his mantle over him, and he left the oxen and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me kiss, I beg you, my father and mother; then I will go after you. He therefore said to him, Go away; go back again; for what have I done to you? 1 Kings 19:19, 20.
Elijah represented the Lord – see Preface to Chapter 18, and 2762.
[9] In Malachi,
Lo, I am sending you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes. And he will turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers lest I come and smite the earth with a ban. Mal. 4:5, 6.
And in Luke where the angel addresses Zechariah regarding his son John,
He will go before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children. Luke 1:17.
From these places it is evident that ‘fathers’ and ‘sons’ are not used to mean fathers and sons but the goods and truths of the Church which the Lord is going to restore.
[10] In Malachi,
May Jehovah be magnified upon the border of Israel! A son should honour his father, and a servant his lord. If I am a Father, where is My honour? If I am a Lord, where is the fear of Me? Mal. 1:5, 6.
‘A son’ stands for those who are governed by the good of the Church, ‘a servant’ those who are governed by its truth. Here ‘a Father’ clearly stands for the Lord as regards Divine Good, and ‘a Lord’ as regards Divine Truth.
[11] In David,
My father and my mother have forsaken me, and Jehovah welcomes me. Ps. 27:10.
‘Father and mother’ stands for good and truth which are said to have forsaken a person when it is realized that of himself he is unable to perform anything good or to know anything true. For the meaning, it is evident, is not that David’s mother and father forsook him.
[12] In the same author,
You are more beautiful by far than the sons of men. All glorious is the king’s daughter within, in her clothing with gold interweavings. Instead of your fathers will be your sons; you will make them into princes in all the earth. Ps. 45:2, 13, 16.
This refers to the Lord. ‘Instead of your fathers will be your sons’ stands for Divine Truths becoming as Divine Goods. ‘The king’s daughter’ stands for the love of truth; ‘clothing with gold interweavings’ for the nature of that truth grounded in good. Since the subject is the Lord and His Divine Human, as is evident from this Psalm as a whole and in every part, every single phrase clearly has reference to one and the same thing. So the phrase ‘the king’s daughter’ is not used to mean the daughter of the king, nor are the phrases ‘clothing with gold interweavings’, ‘instead of your fathers will be your sons’, and ‘their being made into princes in all the earth’ to be taken literally, but each phrase means Divine celestial and spiritual things. ‘A daughter’ means affection or love, see 490, 491, 2362; ‘the king’ Divine Truth, 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009; ‘gold’ good, 113, 1551, 1552. ‘That which is interwoven’ has reference to natural knowledge, 2831, in this case therefore to Divine natural truth. ‘Clothing’ means such truths as clothe good, 297, 2576; ‘sons instead of fathers’ truths begotten from good, in this case Divine Truths being as Divine Goods, 264, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 1729, 1733, 2159, 2623, 2803, 2813. ‘Princes in all the earth’ are the first and foremost things of the Lord’s kingdom and Church – ‘princes’ being the things that are first and foremost, 1482, 2089, ‘the earth’ the Lord’s kingdom and Church, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355.
[13] In Moses,
Your fathers Jehovah delighted to love, and He chose their seed after them, even you out of all peoples, as at this day. Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart and be stiff-necked no longer. Deut. 10:15, 16.
‘Fathers’ here in the internal sense stands for the Ancient and Most Ancient Churches, whose members were so called by virtue of the love they had of good and truth – the most ancient people, who were celestial, by virtue of their love of good, the ancients, who were spiritual, by virtue of their love of truth. The goods and truths existing in the Church are referred to as ‘the seed Jehovah chose’. Clearly Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and the latter’s twelve sons are not meant by the fathers referred to here, nor the Israelite and Jewish people by ‘the seed’. Rather the statement is made regarding them and addressed to them in order that the internal sense may be given some external form and so be intelligible to men.
[14] In Isaiah,
The boy will uplift himself against the old man, and the base fellow against the honourable; for a man will take hold of his brother in his father’s house, [saying,] You have clothing, you will be leader for us. He will say, In my house there is neither bread [nor clothing]. Do not make me a leader** of the people. Isa. 3:5-7.
This refers in the internal sense to a perverted state of the Church when truth is no longer acknowledged as truth, and it is not known what good is. ‘A man will take hold of his brother in his father’s house’ stands for acknowledging everything as good. ‘Clothing’ stands for truth, 1073, 2576, ‘a leader (or prince)’ for a first and foremost matter of doctrine drawn from truth, 1482, 2089. ‘In the house there is neither bread nor clothing’ stands for neither good nor truth – ‘bread’ meaning good, 276, 680, 3478, and ‘clothing’ truth, 297, 2576.
[15] Because father and mother, and also daughters and sons, represented goodness and truth in the representative Churches many laws existed which possessed from those representatives that which was Divine within them, such as the following,
If a priest’s daughter has acted profanely by committing whoredom, she is profaning her father; she shall be burnt with fire. Lev. 21:9.
‘A priest’s daughter’ stands for the affection for good, ‘father’ for the good from which that affection springs. ‘Committing whoredom’ stands for profaning what is good. What ‘committing whoredom’ is, see 2466, 2729, 3399, and what ‘acting profanely’, 1008, 1010, 1059, 2051, 3398, 3399. Also,
If a priest’s daughter has been made a widow or divorced and has no seed she shall return to her father’s house, as in her youth; she shall eat of her father’s bread. No stranger shall eat of it. Lev. 22:13.
[16] And this law also,
If you see among the captives a wife with a beautiful form and you desire her to take her for yourself as wife you shall bring her inside your home; and she shall shave her head and pare her nails; and she shall take off the clothing of her captivity born upon her, and shall sit in your house and lament her father and her mother a hill month; and after that you shall go in to her and know her, and she shall be your wife. Deut. 21:11-13.
Every single detail in this law is representative of natural truth, which is adopted by good once it has been purified from falsities. Such truth is meant by ‘a wife beautiful in form among the captives’; purification from falsities by ‘bringing her inside your home’, and by her ‘shaving her head, paring her nails, taking off the clothing of her captivity, and lamenting her father and mother’; and adoption by ‘after that going in to her, knowing her, and taking her as a wife’.
[17] The Marriage Laws requiring marriages to be contracted within the tribe and the family, and also the Inheritance Laws forbidding the transfer of inheritances from one tribe to another, which are written in the Word, also had the same origins, that is to say, in the celestial and spiritual marriage in the Lord’s kingdom, or the marriage of good and truth, which are meant by ‘father and mother’. The same applies to the laws laid down relating to the permissible and the forbidden degrees of affinity. Each law in the Word concerning those matters has reference inwardly to the law of the affiliation and joining together of good and truth in heaven, and to the affiliations of evil and falsity in hell, which are separated from the former. For laws to do with permissible and forbidden degrees, see Lev. 20; for laws forbidding the transfer of inheritances from one tribe to another, and for those requiring marriages to be contracted within the tribe, see Num. 27:7-9, and elsewhere. In heaven the position of every single thing is fixed according to blood relationships of good and truth and to relationships of them through marriage, see 685, 917, 2739, 3612.
[18] Since the Israelitish people represented the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and so the heavenly order existing there, the command was also given for them to be singled out according to tribes, according to families, and according to the houses of their fathers, see Num. 26:1-end. In addition to this they were required to pitch camp around the tent of meeting in conformity with that heavenly order, and also to journey in conformity with it, as stated in Moses,
Each one of the children of Israel shall pitch camp beneath his own standard, by the ensigns of his father’s house, at a distance around the tent of meeting. And in the same formations they also set out. Num. 2:2, 34.
This was why, when Balaam saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes, the Spirit of God came upon him and he delivered this utterance, How good your tabernacles are, O Jacob, your dwelling-places, O Israel? They are like valleys that are planted, like gardens beside a river, etc., etc. Num. 24:2, 5, 6, and following verses.
From every word used here it is evident that not Jacob or Israel were meant but the Lord’s kingdom in heaven and His Church on earth, which were represented by that order in which he saw them spread out at that time.
[19] From these examples one may also know what is meant in the internal sense of the Word by orphans! that is, the fatherless, namely people whose state is a state of innocence and charity and who wish to know and put into effect what is good but are not able to do so. Such a state exists in particular with those outside the Church whom the Lord cares about and adopts in the next life as His sons. And since those people are meant by ‘orphans’, when these are mentioned in the Word, sojourners and widows are in many instances mentioned too. For ‘sojourners’ means those who are receiving instruction in goods and truths, 1463, and ‘widows’ those whose state is one of good but not so much of truth, or those whose state is one of truth but not so much of good, and who yet desire what they lack. Since these three – orphans, sojourners, and widows – belong to a very similar line of meaning, therefore all three are in most places mentioned together, as has been stated, see Deut. 14:29; 16:11, 14; 24:17, 19; Jer. 7:6; 22:3; Ezek. 22:6, 7; Zech. 7:10; Ps. 94:6; 146:9. From these considerations one may now see what ‘father’ means in the genuine sense, namely good, and in the highest sense the Lord.
[20] Now because most things in the Word also have a contrary sense, so has the word ‘father’. In that sense it means evil. Equally so ‘mother’, which in the genuine sense means truth, in the contrary sense means falsity. The contrary meanings may be seen from the following places: In David,
The iniquity of his fathers will be remembered before Jehovah, and the sin of his mother will not be wiped out. Ps. 109:14.
In the same author,
They drew back and acted treacherously like their fathers; they turned about like a deceitful bow. Ps. 78:57.
In Moses,
Until the remainder of you waste away in their iniquity in the lands of your enemies: and they will also waste away in their fathers’ iniquities with them. Lev. 26:39. In Isaiah,
Prepare slaughter for his sons because of the iniquity of their fathers, and let them not rise up again and possess the earth, and fill the face of the earth with cities. Isa. 14:21.
In the same prophet, I will repay your iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together. Isa. 65:7.
[21] In Jeremiah,
The house of Israel is ashamed, they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, who say to wood, You are my father, and to a stone, You gave birth to me. For they have turned their neck to Me and not their face. Jer. 2:26, 27.
In the same prophet,
Behold, I am laying before this people stumbling-blocks, and fathers and sons together will stumble against them, neighbour and his friend, and they will perish. Jer. 6:21.
In the same prophet,
The sons gather pieces of wood, and the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for Melecheth.*** Jer. 7:18.
In Ezekiel,
I will do in you that which I have not done, and such things as I will not do any longer, because of your abominations. Therefore fathers will eat their sons, and sons will eat their fathers; and I will execute judgements on you, and I will scatter the whole remnant of you to every wind. Ezek. 5:9, 10.
This refers to the profanation of what is holy. In the same prophet,
Thus said the Lord Jehovih to Jerusalem, Your tracings and your births are of the land of the Canaanite. Your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. Ezek. 16:3.
[22] In Matthew,
Brother will deliver up brother to death, and father the son; and children will rise up against parents and put them to death. And so you will be hated by everyone for My name’s sake. I have come to set a man (homo) against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s (homo) foes will be those in his own household. Whoever loves father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me, and whoever loves son and daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. Matt. 10:21, 22, 35-37; Luke 12:49, 52, 53.
In the same gospel,
Everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for My name’s sake will receive a hundredfold and will be allotted the inheritance of eternal life. Matt. 19:29; Luke 18:29, 30; Mark 10:29, 30.
In Luke,
If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and his mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own soul, he cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:26.
[23] In Mark,
Brother will deliver up brother to death, and the father his children, and children will rise up together against parents and will kill them; for you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. Mark 13:12, 13; Luke 21:16, 17.
This refers to the close of the age and is describing the state of the Church when perverted as regards good and truth, that is to say, when evil rises up against truth, and falsity against good. The meaning of ‘father’ in the contrary sense as evil is evident from the places just quoted and also from the following in John,
Jesus said, If God were your father you would love Me, for from God I went forth and now come. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desire. He was a murderer from the beginning and took no stand on the truth because the truth is not in him. When he speaks a lie he speaks from what are his own, for he is the teller of a lie and the father of it. John 8:42, 44.
* lit. arm
** or a prince
*** melecheth is a Hebrew word for a queen.
[2] So essentially the Lord is nothing else than Divine Good, and this applies to both essentials – to the Divine itself and to the Divine Human. Divine Truth however does not exist within Divine Good but flows from it, for as stated above, Divine Truth is the Divine Good presenting itself visually in heaven. Now because Divine Good presents itself as Divine Truth, therefore the Lord’s Divine is distinguished, to enable man to grasp it mentally, into Divine Good and Divine Truth, Divine Good being called in the Word ‘the Father’ and Divine Truth ‘the Son’. This is the arcanum that lies behind the Lord Himself on so many occasions speaking of His Father as though He were separate from and so to speak One other than Himself, and yet at other times speaking of His being one with Himself. The fact that in the internal sense ‘father’ means good, and in the highest sense the Lord as regards Divine Good, has been shown just above in 3703, and the fact that ‘son’ means truth while ‘the Son of God’ and ‘the Son of Man’ mean the Lord as regards Divine Truth, in 1729, 1733, 2159, 2803, 2813. The matter is also clear from all those places where the Lord uses the name Father and calls Himself the Son.
[3] Not only in the Old Testament Word is the Lord called Jehovah – see 1343, 1736, 2921 – but He is also referred to there as ‘Father’, as is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder, and His name will be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isa. 9:6.
From this it is quite evident that ‘the Boy born to us and me Son given to us’ is the Lord, and so it is He who is called ‘the Father of Eternity’. In Jeremiah,
I will be a Father to Israel, and Ephraim will be my firstborn. Jer. 31:9.
This refers to the Lord, who, being the God of Israel and me Holy One of Israel, see 3305, is here ‘a Father to Israel’. In Malachi,
Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Mal. 2:10.
‘Creating’ here in the internal sense stands for regenerating, as it also does elsewhere in the Word, see 16, 88, 472. And since me Lord alone is Regenerator and Redeemer it is He who is here called ‘Father’ and ‘God’, as also in Isaiah,
You are our Father, for Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer; from eternity is Your name. Isa. 63:16.
[4] In the same prophet,
I will clothe him with your robe and strengthen him with your girdle, and will commit your dominion into his hand, so that he may be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah. And I will place the key of the house of David on his shoulder; and he will open and none will shut, and he will shut and none will open. And I will fasten him like a peg in a sure place, so that he may be the throne of his father’s glory, and on him they may hang all the glory of his father’s house, of sons and grandsons, every small vessel – from the vessels of bowls even to all the vessels of stringed instruments. Isa. 22:21-24.
From this it is quite evident that it is the Lord who in the internal sense here is represented and meant, and who is called ‘a father to me inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah’. For He is the one ‘on whose shoulder the key of the house of David is placed, who opens and none shuts, and who shuts and none opens’ – see the Preface to Chapter 22. And to Him belongs ‘the throne of His Father’s glory’, and on Him all holy things are based and from Him they are derived. Those holy things are here called ‘vessels’ celestial ones being called ‘vessels of bowls’, and spiritual ones ‘vessels of stringed instruments’.
[5] Since kings and priests represented the Lord – ‘kings’ through their kingship representing the Lord as regards Divine Truth, and ‘priests’ the Lord as regards Divine Good, 3670 – priests were therefore called ‘fathers’, as may be seen in the Book of Judges,
Micah said to the Levite, Stay with me, and be to me a father and a priest. Judg. 17:10.
The children of Dan spoke to the same man in a similar way,
Keep quiet, put your hand over your mouth, and come with us, and be to us a father and a priest. Judg. 18:19.
Even kings called them the same, in the second Book of Kings,
The king of Israel said to Elisha, My father, shall I smite them? He said, You shall not smite them. 2 Kings 6:21, 22.
And King Joash’s words to Elisha when the latter was dying,
King Joash wept before him and said, My father, my father! The chariot of Israel and its riders! 2 Kings 13:14.
Kings called a priest ‘father’ because ‘kings’ represented the Lord as regards Divine Truth, ‘priests’ as regards Divine Good, and also because truth in relationship to good is as son to father, for truth stems from good.
[6] This matter is very well known in the next life, and for this reason those in heaven call no one other than the Lord ‘Father’, and by ‘Father’ mentioned in the Gospels they perceive no one other than Him, see 15, 1729. All young children there, when being introduced to the good that flows from love and to the truth partnering that love, are taught to acknowledge the Lord alone as Father. And newcomers to heaven also are taught with utmost care that God is one; and if they have been from within the Church they are taught that the whole of the Trinity resides in the Lord – for almost everybody from the Christian world possesses the idea of three Gods, even though with the lips they used to declare that there is only one God. For once the idea of three has entered in, and each one of these is called God and is also distinguished from the other so far as attributes and functions are concerned, and are even worshipped individually, it is no longer humanly possible to think of one God. Consequently there is in the heart a worship of three Gods but on the lips that of only one.
[7] The truth that the whole of the Trinity resides in the Lord is well known in the Christian world, and yet among Christians in the next life little thought takes place regarding the Lord. Indeed His Humanity is to many people a stumbling-block, for they distinguish the Human from the Divine and do not believe that it is Divine. A person will declare himself to be righteous and so made pure and almost sanctified; but to the idea that the Lord has been glorified, that is, His Human has been made Divine, they do not give any thought. But in fact He was conceived from Jehovah Himself, and in any case nobody can be made righteous, let alone be sanctified, except from the Divine, and especially from the Lord’s Divine Human, which is represented and meant in the Holy Supper, where it is explicitly stated that the bread is His body and the wine His blood.
[8] The truth that the Lord is one with the Father and that He has existed from eternity, rules over all, and so is Divine Good itself and Divine Truth itself, is quite clear from the Word:
The Lord is One with the Father 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.
In the same gospel,
The Jews sought to kill Jesus because He had called God His Father, making Himself equal to God. Jesus answered and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son cannot do anything by Himself except what He will have seen the Father doing, for that which He does the Son also does likewise. For as the Father raises the dead and quickens them, so also does the Son quicken whom He will. For the Father does not judge anyone, but has given all judgement to the Son, so that all may honour the Son even as they honour the Father. He who does not honour the Son does not honour the Father who sent Him. As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son also to have life in Himself. The Father who sent Me has Himself borne witness to Me. You have never heard His voice nor seen His shape. Search the Scriptures; it is they that bear witness to Me. John 5:18-39.
‘The Father’ is used here, as has been stated, to mean the Divine Good and ‘the Son’ the Divine Truth, both being within the Lord. From Divine Good, which is ‘the Father’, nothing but what is Divine is able to proceed or come forth, and that which proceeds or comes forth is Divine Truth, which is ‘the Son’.
[9] In the same gospel,
Everyone who has heard from the Father and has learned comes to Me. No one has seen the Father except Him who is with the Father, He has seen the Father. John 6:44-48.
In the same gospel,
They said to Him, Where is your Father? Jesus answered, You know neither Me nor My Father; if you knew Me you would know My Father also. John 8:18, 19.
In the same gospel,
I and the Father are one. Even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father. John 10:30, 38.
In the same gospel,
Jesus said, He who believes in Me believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me; and he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as light into the world in order that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness. John 12:44-46.
‘The Father sent Him’ means in the internal sense that He proceeds from the Father. This is so in this and other places where the Lord says that the Father sent Him. ‘Light’ means Divine Truth, see above.
[10] In the same gospel,
I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by Me. If you know Me you know My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father. Jesus said, Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. So why do you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak from Myself, the Father who dwells in Me, He does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. Whatever you ask in My name I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. John 14:6-11, 13.
In the same gospel,
He who has My commandments and does them, he it is who loves Me; but he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will manifest Myself to him. If anyone loves Me he will keep My word, and My father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. John 14:21, 23.
[11] Those governed by Divine Truth are meant by the ones who ‘have His commandments and do them’, while those governed by Divine Good are meant by the ones who ‘love Him’. This is why it is said that ‘he will be loved by the Father’, and ‘We will come to him and make Our home with him’, that is to say, Divine Good and Divine Truth will come and dwell in him. It is also the reason why the following is said in the same chapter,
On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me. John 14:20.
And elsewhere in the same gospel,
Holy Father, keep them in Your name, that they may be one as We are one. John 17:11.
From these places it is clear that the Lord talks of the Father by virtue of the Divine Good that is His, and of the Son by virtue of the Divine Truth which springs from the Divine Good. And so they are not two but one. The Lord spoke in this fashion however in order that the Word might be received both on earth and in heaven, and also because prior to His glorification the Lord was Divine truth that sprang from Divine Good, but once He had been glorified He was as to both Essences Divine Good itself in which all Divine Good and Divine Truth have their origin.
[12] The Lord has existed from Eternity
This becomes clear from the fact that it was the Lord who spoke through the prophets, and that both for this reason and the fact that Divine Truth came from Him He was called the Word, which is spoken of in John,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father. John 1:1-4, 14.
‘The Word’ stands for all truth in heaven and on earth which comes
from the Divine.
[13] His existence from eternity is explicitly taught by Him elsewhere in John,
John said, This was He who though coming after me was before me, for He was before me. Among you stands one whom you do not know. He it is who is to come after me, who was before me. John 1 :15, 26, 27, 30.
In the same gospel,
What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? John 6:62.
In the same gospel,
Jesus said, Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:58.
In the same gospel,
He knew that He had come from God and was going to God. John 13:3.
In the same gospel,
The Father Himself loves you because you have loved Me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and have come into the world; again I am leaving the world and am going to the Father. John 16:27, 28.
In the same gospel,
I have glorified You on earth; I have accomplished the work which You gave Me to do. Now therefore, Father, glorify Me in Your Own Self with the glory I had with You before the world was, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me, because You loved Me before the foundation of the world. John 17:4, 5, 24.
In Isaiah,
To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given; and His name will be called Wonderful Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isa. 9:6.
[14] The Lord rules over All
This is clear in Matthew,
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father. Matt. 11:27.
In the same gospel, Jesus said to the disciples, All power in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Matt. 28:18.
In John,
The Father has given all things into the hand of the Son. He who believes in the Son has eternal life. John 3:35, 36.
The Father does not judge anyone, but has given all judgement to the Son. John 5:22.
In the same gospel,
Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into His hands. John 13:3.
In the same gospel, All that the Father has is Mine. John 16:15.
In the same gospel,
Jesus said, Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him power over all flesh. John 17:1, 2.
In the same gospel,
All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine, and I am glorified in them. I am no longer in the world, for I am coming to You. John 17:10, 11.
In Luke,
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father. Luke 10:22.
[15] From all these places it is clear that it is Divine Good which is called ‘the Father’ and Divine Truth ‘the Son’, and that the Lord governs every single thing in all creation from Divine Good by means of Divine Truth. This being so, manifestly so from the Word, it is astounding that people in the Christian world know and teach that the whole of the Trinity resides in the Lord, and yet they do not, as those in heaven do, acknowledge and adore the Lord alone, and so one God. The truth that the Holy Spirit, who also is worshipped as God distinct and separate from Father and Son, is the holiness of the spirit – or the holiness that proceeds from the Lord through spirits or angels, that is, from His Divine Good through the Divine Truth – will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be made plain elsewhere.
[2] Furthermore the word ‘land’ has various meanings, see 620, 636, 1066, 2571, 3368, 3379, the reason being that Canaan, which is called the Holy Land, means the Lord’s kingdom in general; and when ‘heaven’ is mentioned together with ‘earth’, ‘heaven’ in that case means, as has been stated, that which is interior, ‘earth’ that which is exterior. This being so it also means the Lord’s kingdom on earth, that is, the Church; and having that meaning, it also means a person who is the Lord’s kingdom or who is the Church. With that person ‘heaven’ accordingly means that which is interior, ‘earth’ that which is exterior; or what amounts to the same, ‘heaven’ is the rational and ‘earth’ the natural since the rational exists more interiorly with man and the natural more exteriorly. And since ‘land’ [or ‘earth’] has all these meanings it also means that which a person puts into effect – namely the good of love which he receives from the Divine – so that he may become the Lord’s kingdom. From this it is evident in what way the meaning of ‘land’ in the Word varies.
[3] ‘I will give to you’ means that in origin it was His own. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘giving’ in the Word when used in reference to the Lord, for as shown just above, the Lord is Divine Good and also Divine Truth, the former being called ‘the Father’ and the latter ‘the Son’. Now because Divine Good is His and consequently that which is His own, it follows that ‘giving to you’, when spoken by Jehovah and used in reference to the Lord, means that which was His own in origin. From this one may see what is meant in the internal sense by the Lord’s frequent reference to the Father’s having given to Him – that is to say, to Himself, the Lord – as in John,
Father, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him power over all flesh, in order that all You have given Him, to them He may give eternal life. I have glorified You on earth; I have accomplished the work which You gave Me to do. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; Yours they were, and You gave them to Me. Now they know that everything which You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them. I am praying for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours; for all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine. John 17:1, 2, 4, 6-10.
Each reference here to the Father’s giving means originating in the Divine Good that was His, and so in that which was His own.
[4] From this one may see how great an arcanum lies within the particular words spoken by the Lord, and also how greatly different the sense of the letter is from the internal sense, and more so from the highest sense. The Lord spoke in this fashion in order that mankind which at that time had no knowledge at all of any Divine truth might nevertheless be enabled in its own way to grasp and so accept the Word, while angels did so in theirs, for the angels knew that Jehovah and He were one and that the Father was Divine Good. For this reason also they knew that when He spoke of the Father giving to Him He would be giving to Himself and so drawing on what was His own.
* or land
[2] Many references are made in the Word to the sea or west, the east, the north, and the south. But because nobody up to now has known that, as with every other single expression, these possessed an internal sense in which they did not mean things to do with the world, as they do in the sense of the letter, but spiritual and celestial things, and that in the highest sense those expressions meant Divine things belonging to the Lord Himself, what else could people have known therefore other than that west, east, north, and south are used in the Word simply to mean the four quarters? What else other than that ‘breaking forth’ towards those four quarters means a multiplying? But the fact that they do not mean the four quarters or the multiplying of any group of people, but states of good and truth, and the extension of these, may become clear from all the places in the Word, especially those in the Prophets, where reference is made to them. For what west, east, north, or south are is totally unknown in heaven. There the Sun, which is the Lord – unlike the sun of this world which rises and sets, reaching its highest point at midday and its lowest at night – is visible all the time, though how visible depends on the states of those receiving its light; for the light from it holds wisdom and intelligence within it, see 1619-1632, 2776, 3138, 3167, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3339, 3341, 3485, 3636, 3643. Consequently it is visible to each individual according to the wisdom and intelligence existing with him. Among those with whom good and truth are present – which are warmth and light, but of the celestial and spiritual kind – the sun is as it is when rising and at midday; but among those with whom good and truth are not present the sun is as it is when setting and at night. From this it is evident that in the internal sense of the Word ‘east, south, west, and north’ means states of good and truth.
[3] It should be recognized that the Word does not use only the four quarters, as indicated, to describe states of good and truth. It also uses both the annual seasons or states of spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and the daily times or states of morning, midday, evening, and night. These are used for a similar purpose; but when the subject is the extension of good and truth, the four quarters are employed to describe it. What each one means specifically however may be seen from the places where they are mentioned in the Word. ‘East’ means the Lord and also the good of love and charity, which comes from the Lord, as shown already in 101, 1250, 3249, and ‘south’ means the truth bathed in light, in 1458, 3195.
[4] But what ‘west’ and what ‘north’ mean in the genuine sense, and what they mean in the contrary sense, may be seen from the following places: In Isaiah,
Fear not, for I am with you; from the east I will bring your seed, and from the west I will gather you. I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not withhold. Bring My sons from afar and My daughters from the end of the earth. Isa. 43:5, 6
This refers to a new spiritual Church, meant here by Jacob and Israel. ‘Bringing the seed from the east and gathering from the west’ stands for people governed by good; ‘saying to the north, Give up; and to the south, Do not withhold’ stands for those governed by truth.
[5] In David,
The redeemed of Jehovah will speak, whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy and gathered together out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the sea. They wandered in the wilderness, in a desolate way; they did not find an inhabited city.* Ps. 107:2-4.
This refers to people who are without knowledge of good and truth. ‘From the east and from the west’ stands for those without knowledge of good, ‘from the north and from the sea’ for those without knowledge of truth. Those without knowledge of good are referred to as ‘wandering in the wilderness’, and those without knowledge of truth as doing so ‘in a desolate way’. And those without knowledge of both are referred to as their not finding an inhabited city – ‘a city’ meaning doctrinal teaching consisting of truth, see 402, 2449, 2943, 3216, and ‘a habitation’ being used in reference to good, 268, 2451, 2712.
[6] In Isaiah,
Behold, these will come from afar, and behold, those from the north and from the west, and those from the land of Sinim. Isa. 49:12.
‘The north’ stands for people in obscurity as regards truth, ‘the west’ for those in obscurity as regards good. They are said ‘to come from afar’ because they are remote from the light which flows from the Lord.
[7] In Amos,
Behold, the days are going to come in which I will send a famine on the land. And they will wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east they will run to and fro to seek the Word of Jehovah, and will not find it. Amos 8:11, 12.
‘A famine’ stands for a lack and absence of cognitions, 1460, 3364. ‘Wandering from sea to sea’ stands for searching for the place where cognitions may be found – ‘seas’ meaning cognitions in general, 28, 2850. ‘Running to and fro from the north even to the east’ stands for going from those cognitions that are in obscurity to cognitions that are in the light. As regards cognitions being meant, this is evident because the words ‘to seek the Word of God and will not find it’ are used.
[8] In Jeremiah,
Proclaim these words towards the north, and say, Return, backsliding Israel; I will not cause My face to fall upon you, for I am merciful. In those days the house of Judah will go to the house of Israel, and together they will come out of the north land over the land I gave as a heritage to your fathers. Jer. 3:12, 18.
This refers to the restoration of the Church from among the gentiles. ‘The north’ stands for people without knowledge of truth but who lead a good life. It is evident that neither the north nor the north land is meant here for the reason that Israel did not exist any longer.
[9] In the same prophet,
The living Jehovah who caused the children of Israel to come up out of the north land. Jer. 16:15.
‘North’ in a similar way stands for being without knowledge of truth. In the same prophet,
Behold, I am bringing them from the north land, and I will gather them from the furthest parts of the earth, among them the blind one and the lame. Jer. 31:8.
The ‘north land’ stands for no knowledge of good because of no knowledge of truth. Now because the land of Canaan represented the Lord’s kingdom – and therefore also represented good, see above in 3705 – and places within that land, such as Zion and Jerusalem, represented inmost good to which truth was joined, the places which lay away from that land consequently represented obscurity so far as good and truth were concerned. Everything that lies in obscurity is called ‘the north land’ and also ‘the furthest parts of the earth’.
[10] In addition to this, since all good that flows in with light from the Lord is confined within man’s obscurity, the north is also called ‘an assembly’ as in Isaiah,
You said in your heart, I will go up the heavens, above the stars of God I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, in the furthest parts of the north. Isa. 14:13.
In the same prophet,
Wail, O gate; cry, O city; you have melted away, O Philistia, all of you, for smoke comes from the north, and not a solitary person in the assemblies. Isa. 14:31.
In David,
Great is Jehovah and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, the mountain of His holiness – the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, the furthest parts of the north, the city of the great King. Ps. 48:1, 2.
And again in the same author,
The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours. The world and the fullness of it You have founded; the north and the right hand** You have created. Ps. 89:11, 12.
‘The north’ here stands for those who are more remote from the light of good and truth, ‘the right hand’ for those who are closer to them. For the latter are on the Lord’s right hand, see 1274, 1276.
[11] In Zechariah,
He saw four chariots coming out between two mountains of bronze. The horses coupled to them were reddish, black, white, and mottled – strong ones. The angel said, These are the four winds of heaven, which go forth from standing before the Lord of the whole earth, the black horses going into the north land; and the white have gone out after them, and the mottled have gone out into the south land. Those going towards the north land have caused My spirit to rest on the north land. Zech. 6:1-8.
‘Chariots coming out between two mountains of bronze’ stands for matters of doctrine concerning good. For ‘chariots’ means matters of doctrine, as will be shown elsewhere, while ‘a mountain’ means love, see 795, 1430, 2722, and two mountains therefore two kinds of love – celestial love, which is love to the Lord, and spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbour. ‘Bronze’ is good originating in those loves as it exists within the natural, 425, 1551; ‘horses’ things of the understanding, and so an understanding of matters of doctrine concerning good, 2760-2762, 3217; ‘the south land’ stands for people who possess cognitions of good and truth, 1458, 3195, ‘the north land’ for those who are without knowledge of good and truth but who lead a good life, as upright gentiles do among whom, when a new Church is established, God’s Spirit is said to rest.
[12] In Jeremiah,
Jehovah who brought up and led back the seed of the house of Israel out of the land towards the north and out of all the lands to where I have driven them, so that they might dwell on their own land. Jer. 23:8.
‘Out of the land towards the north’ stands for away from the obscurity that is due to a lack of knowledge about what is good and true. In the same prophet,
Can one break iron, iron from the north, and bronze? Jer. 15:12.
‘Iron’ stands for natural truth, 425, 426, ‘bronze’ for natural good, 425, 1551. These are said to come ‘from the north’ because they derive from the natural which, though lying in obscurity compared with other degrees, serves as the outer limit of these. It is evident without explanation that this prophetic utterance does not mean the use of iron and bronze from the north, for what would be Divine about that, indeed what connection would it have with what goes before and after if no more than iron and bronze from there were meant?
[13] In Matthew,
I tell you that many will come from the east and from the west and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Matt. 8:11; Luke 13:29.
‘Many from the east and from the west’ stands for those who possess cognitions and lead a good life, and also for those who are in obscurity and have no knowledge of such cognitions; and so it stands for people inside the Church and those outside it. It has been stated above that states of good are meant by the east and the west. ‘Reclining with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’ means being with the Lord, see 3305 (end). And the Prophets in a similar way speak of people coming from east and west who are going to be with the Lord in His kingdom or Church, as in Isaiah,
From the east I will bring your seed, and from the west I will gather you. Isa. 43:5.
Elsewhere in the same prophet,
They will fear the name of Jehovah from the west, and His glory from the east. Isa. 59:19.
Elsewhere in the same,
From the rising of the sun and from its setting they will know that there is none besides Me; I am Jehovah and there is no one else. Isa. 45:6.
Elsewhere in the same,
I will stir up one from the north, and he will come; from the rising of the sun he will call on My name. Isa. 41:25.
[14] In addition one may see that east, west, south, and north have these meanings from the following: The Construction of the Tabernacle; The Children of Israel when they were encamped and when they journeyed; The Description of the Land of Canaan; also, The Description of the New Temple, New Jerusalem, and New Land:
THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE TABERNACLE
Everything in it was positioned according to the four quarters, see Exod. 38 – what went on the east and west sides, and what on the south and north, is stated in Exod. 26:18, 20, 22, 27; 27:9, 12, 13; and the requirement that the lampstand was to be placed towards the south across from the table, the table itself being on the north side, Exod. 26:35; 40:22.
[15] THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WHEN THEY WERE ENCAMPED AND WHEN THEY JOURNEYED
Here also positions were determined according to the four quarters. That is to say, they encamped around the Tent of Meeting, with the tribes of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun towards the east; the tribes of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad towards the south; the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin towards the west; and the tribes of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali towards the north, Num. 2:1- end. In addition to this, the Levites encamped with the Gershonites towards the west, the Kohathites towards the south, the Merarites towards the north; and Moses, Aaron and his sons in front of the Tabernacle towards the east, Num. 3:23-38. In this way the heavenly order which in the Lord’s kingdom exists in accordance with states of good and truth was represented. Towards the south side also they were to sound the call for them to begin their journeys, Num. 10:6. And even as they took up specific positions when they encamped, so they did when they journeyed, Num. 2:34.
[16] THE DESCRIPTION OF THE LAND OF CANAAN
First Moses described its border lands – those indeed in the south, those in the west, those in the north, and those in the east, Num. 34:2-12, as they were again described when the land had been apportioned to the tribes by lot, in Chapters 15-19 of Joshua. From these circumstances, and also from the most ancient people who dwelt in the land of Canaan, all places in that land became representatives and meaningful signs determined by their position, distance, and boundaries in relation to the four quarters, 1607, 1866.
[17] THE DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW TEMPLE, NEW JERUSALEM, AND NEW LAND
These also are described in Ezekiel in relation to the four quarters. The structure of the city, for example, started from the south. When dealing with the gateway to the building he says that its sides faced towards the east, towards the north, and towards the south, Ezek. 40:2, 6, 19, 20-46. When dealing with the measurement of the Temple, he says that its doors looked towards the north and the south, Ezek. 41:11, while the outer court looked towards the north, the east, the south, and the west, Ezek. 42:1, 4, 11, 16-19. He also says that the glory of Jehovah the God of Israel came in from the way of the east, Ezek. 43:1, 2, 4. The gates to the outer court are dealt with in Ezek. 44:1, 2, 4; 46:1, 9, 10, 19, 20; and the boundaries of the Holy Land in Chapter 47 – towards the north in verses 15-17, towards the east in verse 18, towards the south in verse 19, towards the west in verse 20; while Chapter 48 specifies in relation to the four quarters the territories allotted to each tribe. And in the description of the Holy Jerusalem it is said that the gates were on the east, north, south, and west, Rev. 21:13. From these references it is quite evident that the four quarters of the world in relation to which those holy things, or representatives of what is holy, were arrayed do not mean in the internal sense the four quarters but states of good and truth within the Lord’s kingdom.
[18] In the contrary sense ‘the north’ and ‘the west’ mean falsity and evil, as may be seen from the following places: In Jeremiah,
The word of Jehovah came to me a second time, saying, What do you see? I said, I am seeing an open pot with it’s face towards the north. And Jehovah said, From the north evil will be opened over all the inhabitants of the land. Lo, I am calling all the families of the north to come. Jer. 1:13-15.
In the same prophet,
Set up a standard towards Zion; assemble, stay not, for I am bringing evil from the north, and a great destruction. Jer. 4:6.
In the same prophet,
The sound of crashing; behold, it is coming, and a great commotion out of the land of the north to reduce the cities of Judah into a waste. Jer. 10:22.
In the same prophet,
In Tekoa sound the trumpet, for evil stares from the north, and great destruction. Behold, a people coming from the land of the north, a mighty nation will be stirred up from the furthest parts of the earth. Jer. 6:1, 22.
In the same prophet,
I took the cup from Jehovah’s hand and made all the nations drink it – Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, and its kings, Pharaoh king of Egypt, and the whole western crowd; all the kings of Arabia, and all the kings of the west, dwelling in the wilderness, and all the kings of the north, far and near. Jer. 25:17-26.
[19] In the same prophet,
The swift will not flee away, nor the strong man escape. Northwards on the bank of the River Euphrates they have stumbled and fallen. Who is this coming up like a river? Egypt comes up like the river, for he said, I will go up, I will cover the earth, I will destroy the city and those who dwell in it. But that day is to the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth a day of vengeance – for the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth holds a sacrifice in the land of the north by the River Euphrates. A very beautiful heifer is Egypt, but destruction from the north has come. The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame; she has been delivered into the hand of a people from the north. Jer. 46:6-10, 20, 24.
In the same prophet,
Thus said Jehovah, Behold, waters rising out of the north which are like a deluging stream, and they will deluge the land and all that fills it, the city and those who dwell in it. Jer. 47:2.
[20] In the same prophet,
[The word which] Jehovah spoke against Babel: There will come up against her a nation from the north, which will make her land a desolation so that none may dwell in it. Jer. 50:1, 3.
In the same prophet,
Behold, I am stirring up and bringing up against Babel an assembly of great nations out of the north land, and they will array themselves against her; from there she will be taken. Behold, a people coming out of the north, a mighty nation, and many kings will be stirred up from the furthest parts of the earth. Jer. 50:9, 41.
In the same prophet,
Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them, will sing over Babel, because those who lay waste will come out of the north. Jer. 51:48.
In Ezekiel,
Say to Gog, You will come out of your place from the furthest parts of the north, you and many peoples with you. You will come up against My people Israel, like a cloud to cover the land. Ezek. 38:14-16.
In the same prophet,
Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince. I will make you turn back and will split you into six, and make you come up from the furthest parts of the north and bring you onto the mountains of Israel. On the mountains of Israel you will fall. On the surface of the field you will fall. Ezek. 39:1, 2, 4, 5.
In Zechariah,
Ho! Flee from the land of the north, says Jehovah, for like the four winds of the heavens I will spread you abroad. Ho, Zion! escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babel. Zech. 2:6, 7.
[21] These quotations show what ‘the north’ means in the contrary sense, namely falsity which is the source of evil, or falsity which is the result of evil. Because falsity which is the source of evil originates in reasoning about Divine things and against Divine things, which reasoning is based on factual knowledge belonging to the natural man, it is called ‘a people from the north out of Egypt’ – ‘Egypt’ meaning such factual knowledge, see 1164, 1165, 2588 (end). And because falsity which is the result of evil originates in worship which to outward appearance is holy but interiorly is unholy, it is called ‘a nation from the north out of Babel’ – ‘Babel’ meaning such, see 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306- 1308, 1321, 1322, 1326, as well as that which lays waste, 1327. Both types of falsity – that which is the source of evil, and that which is the result of evil – are said to come out of Gog, for ‘Gog’ is worship consisting in external observances devoid of anything internal, which is idolatrous worship, as at all times was that of the Jews. That ‘Gog’ means such worship, see 1151.
[22] Out of the obscurity in which the natural man dwells either truth can arise or falsity can do so. When anyone allows himself to be enlightened by means of the Word from the Lord his obscurity is turned into brightness, for the internal path is opened and so influx and communication from the Lord by way of heaven takes place. But when he does not allow himself to be enlightened by means of the Word from the Lord, but by his own intelligence, his obscurity is turned into darkness and so into falsity, for the internal path is closed and no influx and communication from the Lord by way of heaven takes place, apart from such as enables him to be seen outwardly to be human, when he thinks and so speaks from evil and falsity. This is why ‘the north’ means truth with those who allow themselves to be enlightened, falsity with those who do not. For the former come up from obscurity, that is, they are raised up to light, but the latter go down from obscurity, that is, remove themselves from light. The former are accordingly brought into [the light of] the south, the latter into [the gloom of] Tartarus.
[23] The fact that ‘the north’ means the thick darkness of falsity and ‘the south’ the light of truth is quite evident in Daniel where the ram and the he-goat are the subject, and also where the king of the south and the king of the north are. Referring to the ram and the he-goat it is said that the ram butted with his horns towards the west and towards the north and towards the south, so that none of the beasts could stand before him, and that a he-goat came from the west across the surface of the whole earth, and out of one of his horns there came forth a [little] horn which grew exceedingly towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the glorious [land], Dan. 8:4, 5, 9. And referring to the king of the south and the king of the north in the place where ‘the king of the south’ means those possessing cognitions of truth, and ‘the king of the north’ those who are governed by falsity, it is said that
After some years they will make an alliance, as a result of which the daughter of the king of the south will come to the king of the north to negotiate equitable terms but her arm will not gain strength. One will rise from that stem who will enter into the fortress of the king of the north and will prevail and will carry [the gods] they have captured into Egypt. The king of the south will come into the kingdom and fight with the king of the north, and the king of the north will return and raise a multitude greater than the former. Many will stand up against the king of the south. The king of the north will come and take the fortified city and destroy much. The king of the south will be stirred up to battle with a great army, but he will not stand, for they will devise plots against him. After that he will return, but it will not be as previously. The people consisting of those who know their God will stand firm. At length, at the time of the end, the king of the south will clash with him; therefore the king of the north will rush upon him like a whirlwind, with chariots and horsemen. In the glorious land many will fall. But rumours will terrify him from the east and from the north, so that he goes forth with great fury. He will come to his end, with none to help him. Dan. 11:1-end.
The fact that ‘the king of the south’ means those who dwell in the light of truth, ‘the king of the north’ those who first dwell in shade and then in the thick darkness of falsity, may become clear from the details in that chapter. So it is a description of how the state of the Church is in course of time perverted. They are called kings of the south and of the north because ‘kings’ in the internal sense of the Word means truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, 1672, 2015, 2069, while ‘kingdoms’ means things that belong to truth, and in the contrary sense those that belong to falsity, 1672, 2547.
* lit. city of habitation
** i.e. the south
[2] Divine doctrine constitutes in addition the Word in the literal sense, in which things in the world and on earth are the subject. Now because the literal sense contains the internal sense, and this in turn contains the highest sense, and because the literal corresponds entirely by means of representatives and meaningful signs, doctrine drawn from that sense too is therefore Divine. Since ‘Jacob’ represents the Lord’s Divine Natural he also represents the literal sense of the Word, for as is well known the Lord is the Word, that is, Divine Truth in its entirety. The natural degree of the Word does not present itself as anything other than the literal sense of the Word, for in relation to the other senses the literal is the cloud, see the Preface to Chapter 18. The rational degree of the Word however, that is, the interior spiritual degree of it, presents itself as its internal sense; and insomuch as the Lord is the Word it may be said that this sense is represented by ‘Isaac’. But the highest sense is represented by ‘Abraham’. This shows what conjunction with Divine doctrine is where the Lord’s Divine Natural which is represented by ‘Jacob’ is concerned. These distinct degrees of truth do not however exist in the same way within the Lord because everything in Him is Divine Good, not Divine Truth, still less Divine Natural Truth. Divine Truth is the manifestation of Divine Good to angels in heaven and to men on earth. Though only the manifestation it is nonetheless Divine Truth because it flows from Divine Good, even as light is a manifestation of the sun because it flows from the sun, see 3704.
‘Jacob awoke from his sleep’ means enlightenment. ‘And said, Surely Jehovah is in this place’ means the Divine present within this state. ‘And I did not know it’ means being in obscurity. ‘And he was afraid’ means a holy change. ‘And said, How awesome is this place’ means the holiness of the state. ‘This is nothing other than the house of God’ means the Lord’s kingdom as it exists in the ultimate degree of order. ‘And this is the gate of heaven’ means that which serves as the ultimate degree of order, through which there is, so to speak, a way in from the natural creation.
[2] These meanings that ‘pieces of wood’ and ‘stones’ possess are clear not only from the Word where they are mentioned but also from representatives in the next life. For people who assume that merit lies in good works seem to themselves to be cutting wood, and those who assume that it lies in truths, that is to say, people who have believed that they knew more truths than anybody else and yet have lived wickedly, seem to themselves to be breaking up stones. I have often seen such people wood-cutting or stone-breaking, from which the meaning of ‘wood’ and of ‘stone’ was made clear to me – that good is meant by ‘wood’ and truth by ‘stone’. It has in like manner been made clear to me from the fact that when I have seen a wooden house the concept of good has instantly presented itself, and when I have seen a stone house the concept of truth has done so. And I have also learned from angels about this matter. This is why, when in the Word ‘the House of God’ is mentioned, the concept of good presents itself to angels, the kind of good depending on the nature of the subject that is being dealt with. And when ‘the Temple’ is mentioned, the concept of truth presents itself, the kind of truth depending on the subject that is being dealt with. From this one may also deduce how deeply and inwardly concealed the heavenly arcana lie in the Word.
[3] The reason ‘the House of God’ here means the Lord’s kingdom as it exists in the ultimate degree of order is that the subject is Jacob who, as often shown already, represents the Lord’s Divine Natural. The natural exists in the ultimate degree of order, for the natural encompasses all interior degrees and includes them all together within itself. And since they are included all together within the natural, and so countless things are beheld as a single whole, obscurity exists there compared with other degrees. This obscurity too has been dealt with frequently.
[2] It seems to man as though worldly objects enter in through his physical or external senses and affect interior things, and so that there is an entrance from the ultimate degree of order into things that are within. But this is an appearance and illusion, as is evident from the general rule that what is secondary cannot flow into what is primary, or what amounts to the same, what is lower cannot flow into what is higher, or what is also the same, what is exterior into what is interior, or what is still the same, things of the world and the natural creation into those of heaven and of the spirit. For the former are grosser, the latter purer, and the grosser things that belong to the external or natural man come into being and are kept in being from those belonging to the internal or rational man. Those grosser things are unable to have any effect on the purer things but are affected by them. The nature of this influx however, seeing that appearance and illusion itself convince people that the reverse is true, will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed separately, where influx is the subject. This then is why it is said that through the ultimate degree of order there is, so to speak, a way in from the natural creation.
‘In the morning Jacob rose up early’ means a state of enlightenment. ‘And took the stone’ means truth. ‘Which he had placed as his headrest’ means with which communication took place with the Divine. ‘And placed it as a pillar’ means a holy boundary. ‘And poured oil on the top of it’ means holy good in which it originated. ‘And he called the name of that place Bethel’ means the nature of the state. ‘Though Luz was the name of the city previously’ means the nature of the previous state.
[2] Good with a person which is devoid of truth, that is, which is not joined to any truth, is like the good which exists with young children, with whom as yet no wisdom at all is present because no intelligence at all is there. But as a young child grows older so he receives truth stemming from good, that is, as in his case truth is joined to good, so he becomes more truly human. From this it is evident that good is the primary degree of order and truth the ultimate. Consequently from facts which are the truths of the natural man, and then from matters of doctrine which are the truths of the spiritual man within its natural, a person must start to be introduced into the intelligence that leads to wisdom, that is, he must start to enter into spiritual life which makes a person human, 3504. For example, to be able to love the neighbour as a spiritual man does, a person must first learn what spiritual love or charity is, and who the neighbour is. Until he knows these things, he is indeed able to love the neighbour, but only as a natural man, not as a spiritual man does; that is, his love towards the neighbour is a product of natural good, not of spiritual good, see 3470, 3471. But once he does know those things spiritual good from the Lord may be implanted within cognitions concerning love towards the neighbour. The same applies to all other things that are called cognitions, matters of doctrine, or truths in general.
[3] Reference is being made here to good from the Lord that may be implanted within cognitions, and also to truth that is the recipient of good. But people who have no other conception of cognitions, and also of truths, than that these exist as mere abstractions – which is most people’s conception too of thoughts – cannot possibly grasp what is meant by good implanted within cognitions or by truth that is the recipient of good. But it should be recognized that cognitions and truths no more exist in isolation from the purest substances belonging to the interior man or man’s spirit than sight exists in isolation from its own organ, which is the eye, or hearing from its own organ, which is the ear. There are purer substances, which have real existence, and it is from these that cognitions and truths are brought into actual being. The variations in form taken by those substances are such that they give life to and modify those cognitions through the influx of life from the Lord and enable them to be apprehended. And it is the agreements and harmonious relationships of those substances, whether these exist consecutively or simultaneously, that stir people’s affections and constitute that which is called beautiful, pleasant, and delightful.
[4] Spirits themselves are forms, that is, they consist, as much as men do, of a whole combination of forms. But those forms consist of purer substances not visible to the sight of the body, that is, of the eye. Now because those forms or substances are not visible to the eye of the body mankind today inevitably conceives of cognitions and thoughts as mere abstractions. This is also the reason for the insanity of our times, in that people do not believe that they have a spirit within them which will live after the body has died – yet the spirit is a substance far more real than the material substance constituting the body. Indeed, if you can believe it, following its release from bodily things the spirit is the purified body itself, which many say they will possess at the time of the last judgement when, they believe, they will first be resurrected. The fact that spirits, or what amounts to the same, souls, are endowed with a body, see one another in broad daylight, talk to one another, hear one another, and actually have far keener senses than when they were in the body or the world, becomes quite clear from what I have told so abundantly from experience.
[2] The fact that pillars were erected as a sign and a witness, and were also introduced into worship, and that in the internal sense they mean a holy boundary, or truth within man’s natural, which is the ultimate degree of order, becomes clear from other places in the Word, as in the following verses where the subject is the covenant made between Laban and Jacob,
Now come, let us make a covenant, I and you, and let it be a witness between me and you. And Jacob took a stone and erected it as a pillar. Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have erected between me and you. This heap is a witness and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and that you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm. Gen. 31:44, 45, 51, 52.
Here ‘pillar’ means truth, as will be seen in the explanation of those verses.
[3] In Isaiah,
On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak with the lips of Canaan and swear to Jehovah Zebaoth. On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at its border to Jehovah, which will be a sign and a witness to Jehovah Zebaoth in the land of Egypt. Isa. 19:18-20.
‘Egypt’ stands for facts which belong to the natural man, ‘an altar’ for Divine worship in general, for in the second Ancient Church that began with Eber the altar became the first and foremost representative in its worship, 921, 1343, 2777, 2811. ‘The midst of the land of Egypt’ stands for the primary and inmost aspect of worship, 2940, 2973, 3436. ‘Pillar’ stands for truth as it exists in the ultimate degree of order in the natural. The fact that it stood at the border as a sign and a witness is quite evident.
[4] In Moses,
Moses wrote down all the words of Jehovah and rose up in the morning and built an altar beside Mount Sinai, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. Exod. 24:4.
Here similarly ‘an altar’ was the representative of all worship, and indeed was the representative of good present in worship. ‘The twelve pillars’ however were the representative in worship of truth that stems from good – ‘twelve’ meaning every aspect of truth in its entirety, see 577, 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3272; and the twelve tribes likewise meaning every aspect of truth in the Church, as in the Lord’s Divine mercy will be shown in the next chapter.
[5] Because altars were representative of all good in worship, and the Jewish Church was established so as to represent the celestial Church which acknowledged no other truth than truth stemming from good, which is called celestial truth (for the celestial Church was totally unwilling to separate truth from good, so much so that it was unwilling even to refer to anything of faith or truth without thinking about good, and doing so from good, see 202, 337, 2069, 2715, 2718, 3246), truth was therefore represented by the stones of the altar. And they were forbidden to represent it by means of pillars lest in so doing they separated truth from good and by representation worshipped truth instead of good. This accounts for the following prohibition in Moses,
You shall not plant for yourself a grove of any kind of tree beside the altar of Jehovah your God which you shall make for yourself. And you shall not erect for yourself a pillar, which Jehovah your God hates. Deut. 16:21, 22.
For worshipping truth separated from good, or faith separated from charity, is contrary to the Divine since it is contrary to order, meant by ‘you shall not erect for yourself a pillar, which Jehovah your God hates’.
[6] Despite this they did erect them and so represented things that are contrary to order, as is clear in Hosea,
Israel, according to the multiplying of his fruit, multiplies altars; according to the goodness of their land they make well their pillars. But He will overturn their altars, and lay waste their pillars. Hosea 10:1, 2.
In the first Book of Kings,
Judah did what was evil in the eyes of Jehovah, and they built for themselves high places and pillars and groves on every high hill, and under every green tree. 1 Kings 14:22, 23.
In the second Book of Kings,
The children of Israel set up pillars for themselves and groves on every high hill and under every green tree. 2 Kings 17:10.
In the same book,
Hezekiah removed the high places, and broke down the pillars, and cut down the grove, and smashed the bronze snake which Moses had made, because they had been burning incense to it. 2 Kings 18:4.
[7] Since gentile nations too derived through tradition the idea that the holiness of worship was to be represented by means of altars and pillars, and yet they were under the influence of evil and falsity, the altars among the nations therefore mean the evils of worship and the pillars the falsities. This was why the command was given for them to be destroyed. In Moses,
The altars of the nations you shall overthrow, and you shall break down their pillars and tear down their groves. Exod. 34:13; Deut. 7:5; 12:3.
In the same author,
You shall not bow down to the gods of the nations, or worship them, or do according to their works, for you shall utterly destroy them, and utterly break down their pillars. Exod. 23:24.
‘The gods of the nations’ stands for falsities, ‘their works’ for evils, ‘breaking down their pillars’ for destroying worship arising out of falsity.
[8] In Jeremiah,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel will break down the pillars of the house of the sun that is in the land of Egypt, and the houses of the gods of Egypt he will burn with fire. Jer. 43:13.
In Ezekiel,
By means of the hoofs of his horses Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel will trample all your streets, slay the people with the sword, and cause your mighty pillars to come down to the ground. Ezek. 26:11.
This refers to Tyre. ‘Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel’ stands for that which lays waste, 1327 (end). ‘The hoofs of horses’ stands for the lowest form of intellectual concepts, such as facts based on mere sensory impressions – ‘hoofs’ meaning lowest concepts, as will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be confirmed elsewhere. ‘Horses’ stands for matters of the understanding, 2760-2762, ‘streets’ for truths, and in the contrary sense for falsities, 2336. ‘trampling’ on them is destroying cognitions of truth, which are meant by ‘Tyre’ – ‘Tyre’, the subject here, meaning cognitions of truth, 1201. ‘Slaying the people with the sword’ stands for destroying truths by means of falsity – ‘people’ being used in reference to truths, 1259, 1260, 3295, 3581, and ‘sword’ meaning falsity engaged in conflict, 2799. From this one may see what ‘causing your mighty pillars to come down to the ground’ means – ‘might’ being used in reference either to truth or to falsity, as is also clear from the Word.
[2] Consequently the Church is not the Church by virtue of truth separated from good, nor therefore by virtue of faith separated from charity, but by virtue of truth that is grounded in good, or faith that is grounded in charity. The same is also meant by what the Lord said to Jacob,
I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me. Gen. 31:13
Also,
Jacob again set up a pillar, a stone pillar, and poured out a drink-offering over it, and poured oil over it. Gen. 35 :14.
‘Pouring out a drink-offering over the pillar’ means the Divine good of faith, and ‘pouring oil over it’ the Divine good of love. Anyone may see that unless it meant something celestial and spiritual, pouring oil over a stone would be a ridiculous and idolatrous action.
‘Jacob made a vow, saying’ means a state of Providence. ‘If God will be with me, and guard me on this road on which I am walking’ means the ever-present Divine. ‘And will give me bread to eat’ means even to the point of being joined to Divine Good. ‘And clothing to wear’ means being joined to Divine Truth. ‘And I come back in peace to my father’s house’ means even to the point of perfect union. ‘Then Jehovah will be my God’ means that the Divine Natural also is Jehovah. ‘And this stone which I have placed as a pillar’ means truth as it exists in the ultimate degree. ‘Will be God’s house’ means here, as previously, the Lord’s kingdom as it exists in the ultimate degree of order where higher things are accommodated as in their own house. ‘And of all that You give me I will surely give You a tenth’ means that by His own Divine power He made every single thing Divine.
[2] That state of affairs shows quite clearly what the fathers of the Jewish nation were like. They were like Jacob here, who did not as yet acknowledge Jehovah and was still at the stage of choosing whether to acknowledge Him or some other as his own God. It was a special feature of that nation, even of their fathers, that everyone wished to have his own God; and anyone who worshipped Jehovah worshipped Him merely as some god called Jehovah, the name which distinguished Him from the gods of other nations. Accordingly their worship even in this respect was idolatrous, for the worship of the name only, even of Jehovah’s, is nothing but idolatrous, 1094. This is like people who call themselves Christians and say that they worship Christ, but do not live according to His commandments. They worship Him in an idolatrous way since they worship only His name, it being a false Christ whom they worship; reference to that false Christ is made in Matthew 24:23, 24 – see 3010.
[2] So when with holiness of mind a person thinks about bread – for example, when he thinks about the bread in the Holy Supper, or about the daily bread in the Lord’s Prayer – that thought which he has about bread serves the angels present with him as an object for thought regarding the good of love which comes from the Lord. For the angels do not take hold of anything at all of the person’s actual thought concerning bread, but instead their thought concerns good; for such is the correspondence between the two. It is similar when with holiness of mind a person thinks about clothing. The angels’ thought in that case concerns truth. So it is with everything else in the Word. From this the nature of the joining together of heaven and earth by means of the Word becomes clear; that is to say, the joining together is such that when with holiness of mind anyone reads the Word he is joined by means of such correspondences more closely to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord, even though that person’s thought is concerned solely with things in the Word which are stated in the sense of the letter. His holiness of mind at that time is the product of the influx of celestial and spiritual thoughts and affections such as exist with angels.
[3] So that such influx might exist and from that influx man might be joined to the Lord, the Lord has instituted the Holy Supper where it is explicitly stated that the Lord is the bread and wine. For the Lord’s body means His Divine love, and the reciprocal love in man, love such as exists with celestial angels, while His blood in a similar way means His Divine love, and the reciprocal love in man, but love such as exists with spiritual angels. From this it is evident how much of the Divine there is within every individual part of the Word, though man does not know what that Divine content is or the nature of it. People however who, while in the world, have led a good life enter after death into cognitions and a perception of all those things, for at that time they cast off earthly and worldly things and take to themselves heavenly ones, and have, like angels, spiritual and celestial ideas.
What if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before? John 6:62.
In the same gospel,
Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He had come forth from God and was going to God. My children, yet a little while I am with you. Where I am going you cannot come. John 13:3, 33.
In the same gospel,
Now I am going away to Him who sent Me; but none of you asks Me, Where are you going away? It is to your advantage that I go away, for if I did not go away the Paraclete would not come to you; but if I go away I will send Him to you. A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me [because I am going away to the Father. Some of His disciples said to one another, What is this that He says to us, A little while, and you will not see Me, and again a little while, and you will see Me,] and, Because I am going away to the Father? John 16:5, 7, 10, 16, 17.
In the same gospel,
I came forth from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and going to the Father. John 16:28.
‘Going away to the Father’ in these places means uniting the Human Essence to the Divine Essence.
[2] A similar situation exists with man, in that he has been created and formed in such a way that he resembles the three heavens. That which is inmost in him flows in a similar way into that which is lower, and this in a similar way flows into what is lowest or last. The natural and bodily degree is established by such an influx and coming together of higher things within lower ones, and at length within those that are last ones. In this way the latter are linked to Him who is First, and but for this link with Him that which is last in order could not continue to exist for one single moment. This shows what is meant by the statement that higher things are accommodated in the ultimate degree of order as in their own house. Whether you speak of higher and lower or of interior and exterior things it amounts to the same, since by man interior things are seen as those that are higher; and this is why he places heaven on high when in fact it is something internal.
The heavenly kingdom resembles one human being since every specific thing in it corresponds to the only Lord – that is to say, to His Divine Human – who alone is Man, 49, 288, 565, 1894. By virtue of its correspondence with Him, and of its being the image and likeness of Him, heaven is called the Grand Man. The Lord’s Divine is the source in heaven of everything celestial, which in essence is good, and of everything spiritual, which in essence is truth. Every angel there is a form, that is, every angel is substance taking a form that is determined by his reception of Divine qualities flowing from the Lord. These Divine qualities which are the Lord’s and are received by the angels are called celestial and spiritual because Divine life, and from this Divine light, manifests itself and is modified in them as the recipients.
[2] In addition therefore the forms and material substances with man too are of a similar nature, though they exist in a lower degree since they are grosser and more composite. The fact that these too are recipient forms of celestial and spiritual qualities is quite evident from the plainly visible signs of them – for example, from thought which flows into the organic forms of the tongue and produces speech; from the feelings of mind which manifest themselves visibly in the face; or from the will which passes through the muscles of the body into actions; and so on. The thought and will which produce these activities are spiritual and celestial entities, whereas the forms or substances which receive them and carry them into effect are material. These material substances, it is clear, have been used to produce forms solely for the reception of those spiritual and celestial entities. From this it is evident that spiritual and celestial qualities are the source of the material forms, and that if they were not, such forms could not come into being at all.
[2] Consequently the evil make evil their own because they do not believe that evils originate in hell; and they are incapable of making good their own because they believe that good begins in themselves and not from the Lord. Even so, the evil, as also those in hell, are recipient forms of life from the Lord, but they are forms such as either reject, or stifle, or pervert what is good and true; and so with them goods and truths, which come with the Lord’s life, are turned into evils and falsities. It is like the light of the sun. Although that light is one alone and white it is nevertheless made varied as it strikes different objects, that is, flows into them, producing colours that are beautiful and pleasant, and also those that are hideous and unpleasant.
[2] It has been added that the learned more than the simple equate themselves with animals, ascribing all things to natural forces and scarcely anything to the Divine. Nor do they stop to reflect that man, unlike animals, is able to think about heaven and about God, and in so doing to be raised above himself, and consequently to be joined to the Lord by means of love; and that for these reasons they must inevitably live for ever after death. We have gone on to refer to their particular ignorance of the fact that every single thing with man traces back to the Lord through heaven, and that heaven is the Grand Man to which every single thing in man corresponds, as does everything in the natural system. And when perhaps they hear or read of these things they will be to them so paradoxical that unless experience proved the truth of them they would reject them as something delusive. It is similar when they hear that there are three degrees of life in man just as there are three degrees of life in heaven, that is, there are three heavens, and that man corresponds to the three heavens in such a way that in image he is a small-scale heaven when he leads the life of good and truth and through that life is an image of the Lord.
[3] I have been told the following about those degrees of life: The ultimate degree of life is that which is called the external or natural man, which makes man similar to animals so far as his pressing desires and his delusions are concerned. The second degree is that which is called the internal or rational man which makes man superior to animals. For by means of the internal man he is able to think and to will what is good and true and to govern the natural man by controlling his desires and disregarding his resulting delusions, and on top of this by reflecting within himself about heaven, indeed about the Divine, which animals are quite incapable of doing. I have been told that the third degree of life is one which is totally unknown to man, and yet it is the degree through which the Lord enters into the rational mind, from which he has the ability to think as a human being, to have conscience, to have perception of what is good and true, and to be raised up by the Lord towards Himself. These considerations however are remote from the ideas of the learned of this present age, who do no more than dispute whether the internal man exists at all. And as long as they cannot be sure that it exists they are even less able to know what it is.
[2] Then he wanted to reason about the Grand Man and about the influx from it into every individual part of a human being. But since he understood nothing at all about it I asked him how he understood the idea that thought, which belongs to the spirit, moves the whole face and expresses itself in the countenance, and also sets in motion all the organs of speech, and doing this so accurately as to lead to a spiritual perception of that thought. Then how he understood the idea that the will sets in motion the muscles of the whole body and the thousands of fibres spread throughout it, to perform a single activity. What belongs to the spirit therefore is that which sets in motion, and what belongs to the body is that which is set in motion. But he did not know what to say in reply. I then went on to speak about intention. Did he know that intention produced activity and motion, and that intention is present within activity and motion, so that it manifests itself and continues to do so within them? He said that he did not know this. I therefore asked him how in that case could he want to reason about something when he did not even know the first thing about it. And I went on to say that such reasoning is like loose dust scattered about, which falsities drive away until at length nothing is known and so nothing believed.
[2] One of them brought himself down to me, who, I was told by others, had been Pope when in the world. He spoke to me very courteously, first of all about Peter and his keys which he imagined that he had held. But when I asked him about the power of letting into heaven whomever he liked he had so crude an idea about heaven that he represented it as a door through which entrance was gained. He said that he opened the door to the poor for nothing, but that the rich were assessed according to their means, and that what they gave was holy. I asked whether he believed that those he let in remained there. He said that he did not know; if they did not, then they went away. I went on to say that he could not know those persons interiorly – whether they were worthy persons or possibly robbers who should be in hell. He said that this was no concern of his; if they were not worthy they could be sent away. But he was told what was meant by Peter’s keys, namely faith rooted in love and charity; and because the Lord alone confers such faith the Lord alone is the one who lets people into heaven. He was also told that Peter does not appear to anyone but is a simple ordinary spirit who has no more power than anyone else. Concerning the Lord this former Pope held no other opinion than that He ought to be worshipped insofar as He confers such power; and that if He did not confer it, he thought – as I perceived – that He ought not to be worshipped any longer. I then went on to talk to him about the internal man, of which he had a foul idea.
[3] I was shown visually the nature of the freedom, fullness, and delight of the respiration he enjoyed when seated on his throne in his consistory and believed that he spoke under the influence of the Holy Spirit. He was taken back into a similar state he had passed through there – for in the next life anyone can be taken back without difficulty into the state of life which he had passed through in the world, because the state of his life remains with him after death – and the nature of his respiration in that state was conveyed to me. It was free and attended with delight, slow, regular, deep, and filling the whole breast. But when he was contradicted there was in the abdomen, into which his respiration extended, something that seemed to be turning over and crawling about. And when he imagined that what he pronounced was Divine he perceived it from his respiration, which was more soundless and so to speak in harmony with it.
[4] I was then shown who the spirits are who direct Popes like this one, namely the horde of sirens overhead who have acquired that disposition and life by which they worm their way into every kind of affection with the intention of ruling over others and subjecting them to themselves, and of destroying for selfish reasons whomever they can, employing holiness and innocence as the means. They fear for themselves and so act cautiously; but given the opportunity they plunge for selfish reasons into merciless acts of cruelty.
But woe to those who are with child or giving suck in those days! Pray that your flight may not take place in winter or on a sabbath. For then there will be great affliction, unlike any from the beginning of the world until now, or any in the future. And unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
[2] Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath means removal from those things to prevent it happening rapidly during a state of excessive cold or a state of excessive heat. ‘Flight’ is removal from a state of good stemming from love and from innocence, dealt with just above. ‘Flight in winter’ is a removal from these during a state of excessive cold – cold being a time when there is an aversion to those things, which is caused by all kinds of self- love. ‘Flight on a sabbath’ is removal from them during a state of excessive heat – heat being external holiness when self-love and love of the world exist inwardly.
[3] For then there will be great affliction, unlike any from the beginning of the world until now, or any in the future means the furthest degree of the perversion and vastation of the good and truth of the Church, which is profanation. For the profanation of that which is holy leads to eternal death, a death far more serious than that to which any other states of evil lead, and which is all the more serious insofar as they are interior goods and truths which are made profane. And since they are interior goods and truths that have been disclosed and made known in the Christian Church and have then been made profane it is said that ‘then there will be great affliction, unlike any from the beginning of the world until now, or any in the future’.
[4] And unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short means the removal of those who belong to the Church from interior goods and truths to exterior in order that those who lead lives that are good and true may nevertheless be saved. ‘Cutting days short’ means a state of such removal; ‘no flesh being saved’ means that otherwise nobody could be saved; ‘the elect’ means those who lead lives that are good and true.
Those who know, acknowledge, and are endowed with good and truth are able to profane these, but not those who have not acknowledged them, still less those who do not know them, 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 3398.
So it is possible for those inside the Church to profane holy things but not those outside it, 2051.
It is possible for members of the celestial Church to profane any holy good, and for members of the spiritual Church to profane any holy truth, 3399.
To the Jews therefore interior truths were not disclosed, lest they profaned them, 3398.
Least of all are gentiles able to profane them, 2051.
Profanation is mixing and linking good and evil together, and also truth and falsity together, 1001, 1003, 2426.
It was meant by eating blood, something strictly forbidden in the Jewish Church, 1003.
People are therefore withheld as far as possible from an acknowledgement of and a faith in what is good and true if they are unable to remain steadfast in the same, 3398, 3402, and are therefore kept in ignorance, 301-303; and their worship also becomes external, 1327, 1328.
Internal truths are not revealed until the Church has undergone vastation, for at that point it is no longer possible for good and truth to be rendered profane, 3398, 3399.
As soon as this was the case therefore the Lord came into the world, 3398.
How much danger lies in profaning the Word and that which is holy, 571, 582.
GENESIS 29
1 And Jacob lifted up his feet and went to the land of the sons of the east.
2 And he saw, and behold, a well in the field, and behold, three droves of a flock there, lying nearby it; for out of that well they watered the droves; and there was a large stone over the mouth of the well.
3 And all the droves would be gathered there; and they would roll the stone from over the mouth of the well and water the flock; and they would put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well.
4 And Jacob said to them, My brothers, where are you from? And they said, We are from Haran.
5 And he said to them, Do you know Laban the son of Nahor? And they said, We do.
6 And he said to them, Does he have peace?* And they said, [He has] peace; and behold, Rachel his daughter is coming with the flock.
7 And he said, Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the cattle to be gathered together; water the flock, and go and pasture them.
8 And they said, We cannot until all the droves are gathered together, and they have rolled the stone from over the mouth of the well, and we water the flock.
9 While he was still speaking to them Rachel came with the flock which was her father’s, for she was a shepherdess.
10 And so it was, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother, and the flock of Laban his mother’s brother, that Jacob came near and rolled the stone from over the mouth of the well, and watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother.
11 And Jacob kissed Rachel, and lifted up his voice and wept.
12 And Jacob told Rachel that he was her father’s brother, and that he was Rebekah’s son; and she ran and told her father.
13 And so it was, when Laban heard the news about Jacob his sister’s son, that he ran to meet him, and embraced him, and kissed him, and brought him to his house. And he told Laban all these things.
14 And Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh. And he dwelt with him for a full month.
15 And Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother should you serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your reward be?
16 And Laban had two daughters; the name of the elder was Leah, and the name of the younger Rachel.
17 And Leah’s eyes were weak; and Rachel was beautiful in form and beautiful in appearance.
18 And Jacob loved Rachel and said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter.
19 And Laban said, It is better for me to give her to you than to give her to
another man; remain with me.
20 And Jacob served seven years for Rachel; and they were in his eyes like a few days, because of his love for her.
21 And Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife, for my days are completed, and I will go [in] to her.
22 And Laban gathered together all the men of the place and made a feast.
23 And so it was in the evening, that he took Leah his daughter and brought her to him; and he came [in] to her.
24 And Laban gave to her Zilpah his servant-girl – to Leah his daughter to be her servant-girl.
25 And so it was in the morning, that behold it was Leah. And he said to Laban, What is this you have done to me? Was it not for Rachel that I served with you? And why have you cheated me?
26 And Laban said, It is not done that way in our place, to give the younger
before the firstborn.
27 Complete this week, and we will give you this one also for the service which you render with me for another seven years.
28 And Jacob did so and completed this week, and he gave him Rachel his
daughter for his wife.
29 And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter Bilhah his servant-girl, to her to be a servant-girl.
30 And he came [in] also to Rachel, and he loved Rachel also, more than Leah; and he served with him yet another seven years.
31 And Jehovah saw that Leah was hated, and He opened her womb; and Rachel was barren.
32 And Leah conceived and bore a son; and she called his name Reuben, for she said, Because Jehovah has seen my affliction; for now my husband (vir) will love me.
33 And she conceived again and bore a son, and she said, For Jehovah has heard that I was hated and has given me this one also; and she called his name Simeon.
34 And she conceived again and bore a son, and she said, Now this time my
husband (vir) will cling to me, because I have borne him three sons; therefore she called his name Levi.
35 And she conceived again and bore a son, and she said, This time I will
confess Jehovah; therefore she called his name Judah. And she left off bearing.
* A Hebrew idiom used in inquiring after a person’s welfare
In this chapter ‘Jacob’ refers, in the internal sense, to the Lord’s Natural, the subject being how the Good of Truth in His Natural was joined to a kindred good from a Divine source, meant by ‘Laban’. First these were so joined through the affection for external truth, meant by ‘Leah’, and then through the affection for internal truth, meant by ‘Rachel’.
Verse 1 And Jacob lifted up his feet and went to the land of the sons of the east.
‘Jacob lifted up his feet’ means a raising up of the natural. ‘And went to the land of the sons of the east’ means towards truths that relate to love.
[2] Because the subject here is the natural, and the latter is represented by ‘Jacob’, it is not said that he rose up and went to the land of the sons of the east but that ‘he lifted up his feet’. Both these expressions mean a raising up. As regards ‘rising up’ haying this meaning, see 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171; and as regards the expression ‘lifting up the feet’ which occurs here, this is used in reference to the natural – ‘the feet’ meaning the natural, see 2162, 3147. ‘The feet’ means the natural or natural things because of their correspondence with the Grand Man – currently the subject at the ends of chapters. In the Grand Man those belonging to the province of the feet are those who dwell in natural light and little spiritual light. This also is why the parts beneath the foot – the sole and the heel – mean the lowest natural things, see 259, and why ‘a shoe’, which is also mentioned several times in the Word, means the bodily-natural, which is the lowest part of all, 1748.
[2] These truths, that is to say, those concerning charity towards the neighbour and concerning love to the Lord, must first be learned before a person can be regenerated, and must also be acknowledged and believed. And insofar as those truths are acknowledged and believed, and are endowed with life, that person is also regenerated and those truths are implanted in his natural, where they exist as in their own soil. They are first implanted there through the instruction received from parents and teachers, then from the Word of the Lord, and after that from personal reflection on them. But all of this does no more than to deposit those truths in the person’s natural memory and so to place them among the cognitions there. They are still not acknowledged, believed, and received unless life is led in accordance with them, in which case the person enters into an affection for them; and insofar as he enters into an affection for them because his life accords with them, those truths are implanted in his natural as their own soil. Things that are not so implanted do indeed remain with that person, but only in his memory as some item of knowledge or historical fact which does no more than enable him to talk about such things, to further his reputation by means of them, and in so doing to grow in wealth and position. When this is the case truths have not been implanted within him.
[3] As regards the meaning of ‘the land of the sons of the east’ as truths relating to love, and so as cognitions of truth leading the way to good, this may be seen from the meaning of ‘sons’ as truths, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, and from the meaning of ‘the east’ as love, dealt with in 101, 1250, 3249. Their land is the soil in which they exist. For ‘the sons of the east’ are those who possess cognitions concerning truth and good and therefore the truths that relate to love. This may be seen further from other places in the Word, as in the first Book of Kings,
The wisdom of Solomon surpassed the wisdom of all the sons of the east and all the wisdom of the Egyptians. 1 Kings 4:30.
Here ‘the wisdom of the sons of the east’ means interior cognitions concerning truth and good, and so means people who possess them. ‘The wisdom of the Egyptians’ however means knowledge of the same things as they exist in a lower degree -‘the Egyptians’ meaning factual knowledge in general, see 1164, 1165, 1462.
[4] In Jeremiah,
Thus said Jehovah, Arise, go up against Kedar; lay waste the sons of the east. They will take their tents and flocks, their curtains and all their vessels, and will take their camels. Jer. 49:28, 29.
Here ‘the sons of the east’ is used to mean those who possess cognitions concerning good and truth. This is clear from the fact that ‘they will take their tents and flocks, also their curtains and all their vessels, as well as their camels’. For ‘tents’ means holy forms of good, 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3312; ‘flocks’ the goods that flow from charity, 343, 2566; ‘curtains’ holy truths, 2576, 3478; ‘vessels’ the truths of faith, and facts, 3068, 3079; ‘camels’ factual knowledge in general, 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145. Thus ‘the sons of the east’ means those who possess these, that is, cognitions concerning what is good and what is true.
[5] The wise men from the east who came to Jesus when He was born belonged to those people called the sons of the east. This becomes clear from the fact of their awareness that the Lord was to be born, and that they knew of His Coming from the star which appeared to them in the east. These matters are described in Matthew as follows,
When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, behold wise men from the east came into Jerusalem, saying, Where is He born King of the Jews? for we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him. Matt. 2:1, 2.
The fact that such a prophecy existed from of old among the sons of the east, who were from Syria, is clear from Balaam’s prophecy concerning the Lord’s Coming, in Moses,
I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star will arise out of Jacob and a sceptre will rise up out of Israel. Num. 24:17.
The fact that Balaam was from the land of the sons of the east, that is, from Syria, is evident from the following in Moses,
Balaam uttered his declaration and said, From Syria has Balak, the king of Moab, brought me, from the mountains of the east. Num. 23:7.
The wise men who came to Jesus when He was born are called the magi, but this expression was used for wise men at that time, as is clear from many places, such as Gen. 41:8; Exod. 7:11; Dan. 2:27; 4:6, 7; 1 Kings 4:30; and in various places in the Prophets.
[6] ‘The sons of the east’ in the contrary sense means cognitions concerning evil and falsity, and so means those who possess these. This is clear in Isaiah,
The envy of Ephraim will depart, and the enemies of Judah will be cut off. They will fly down onto the shoulder of the Philistines towards the sea, and together they will plunder the sons of the east. Isa. 11:13, 14.
In Ezekiel, when prophesying against the sons of Ammon,
Behold, I have handed you over to the sons of the east as an inheritance, and they will station their ranks among you. Ezek. 25:4, 10.
In the Book of Judges,
When Israel put in seed, Midian came up and Amalek, and the sons of the east; and they came up upon them. Judg. 6:3.
‘Midian’ stands for those under the influence of falsity because the good of life does not exist with them, 3242; ‘Amalek’ for those under the influence of falsities with which they assail truths, 1679; ‘the sons of the east’ for those who possess cognitions that support what is false.
‘He saw’ means perception. ‘Behold, a well’ means the Word. ‘In the field’ means provided for the Churches. ‘And behold, three droves of a flock there, lying nearby it’ means the holy things that constitute the Churches and their matters of doctrine. ‘For out of that well they watered the droves’ means knowledge obtained from there. ‘And there was a large stone over the mouth of the well’ means that it was closed up. ‘And all the droves would be gathered there’ means that all the Churches and their doctrinal teaching come from there. ‘And they would roll the stone from over the mouth of the well’ means that they opened it up. ‘And water the flock’ means that the doctrine was drawn from it. ‘And they would put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well’ means that it was closed up for the time being.
[2] This is why it is stated many times that names mean real things and also the people with whom these real things exist. For example, ‘Tyre and Sidon’ means cognitions concerning what is good and true and also the people who possess those cognitions. ‘Egypt’ means knowledge and ‘Asshur’ reasoning, but these names are used at the same time to mean people with whom that knowledge or reasoning is present. And the same is so with every other name. But speech among angels in heaven is composed of real things that do not involve any concept of persons, and so is composed of universal ideas. The reason for this is that in this way they include countless things in what they say, and in particular for the reason that they attribute everything good and true to the Lord and nothing to themselves. Consequently the ideas which compose their kind of speech know no limits except insofar as those ideas involve the Lord. From these considerations it is now evident why ‘a flock’ is said to mean the Churches and also their matters of doctrine. ‘Droves of a flock’ are said to be ‘lying nearby the well’ because the Word is the source of matters of doctrine – ‘a well’ meaning the Word, as stated just above in 3765.
[2] The natural man, it is true, can know and also perceive what good and truth are, but only the natural and social variety of good and truth. Spiritual good and truth he cannot know or perceive. Knowledge of these has to come from revelation, and so from the Word. For example, from the rational present in everyone a person may know that he ought to love his neighbour and to worship God; but how he ought to love his neighbour and worship God, and so what constitutes spiritual good and truth, he cannot know except from the Word. Except from the Word he cannot know that good itself is the neighbour, and that consequently those governed by good are the neighbour and in the measure that it governs them. Nor can he know that good is therefore the neighbour because the Lord is present in good, and that accordingly when good is loved the Lord is loved.
[3] In the same way those who do not possess the Word cannot know that all good comes from the Lord, and that it flows in with man and forms his affection for good, and that that affection is called charity. Those who do not possess the Word cannot know who is the God of the universe. The truth that He is the Lord is hidden from them, yet the inmost part of affection or charity, and therefore the inmost part of good must have Him in view. From this one may see what spiritual good is and that there can be no knowledge of it except from the Word. As regards gentiles, as long as they are in this world they do not indeed know that good. Yet when they lead charitable lives one with another they thereby have an ability to learn such things in the next life, and also do receive them and adopt them without difficulty, see 2589-2604.
[2] What is meant by the Word’s being closed up becomes particularly clear from the Jews who explain every single thing literally, and as a consequence believe that they have been chosen in preference to everybody else in all the world, and that the Messiah is coming who will lead them into the land of Canaan and will exalt them above all nations and peoples of the world. For the Jews are governed by loves of an earthly and bodily nature, which are such that they close the Word altogether so far as interior teachings are concerned. What is more, they do not even know whether any heavenly kingdom exists, whether they are going to live after death, what the internal man is, or even the existence of anything spiritual, let alone that the Messiah has come to save souls. The fact that the Word is in their case closed up may also be seen quite clearly from the consideration that although they live among Christians they nevertheless accept nothing whatever of Christian teaching, in accordance with the following words in Isaiah,
Say to this people, Hearing hear, and do not understand; and seeing see, and do not comprehend. Make the hearts of this people fat and their ears heavy, and plaster over their eyes. And I said, How long, O Lord? And He said, Until cities have been laid waste till no inhabitant [is left], and houses till no man [is left], and the land has been laid waste as a desolation. Isa. 6:9-11; Matt. 13:14, 15; John 12:40, 41.
[3] To the extent that someone is under the influence of self-love and love of the world, and of the desires that go with these loves, the Word is to him closed up. For those loves have self as the end in view, an end which fosters natural light but extinguishes heavenly light. As a result people see clearly the things that belong to self and the world but nothing whatever of those that belong to the Lord and to His kingdom. When this is so they may indeed read the Word, but their end in view is the increase of personal position and wealth, or that they may be seen by others; or else they read it because it is the done thing and therefore merely from force of habit, or they read it as a religious duty, but without any amendment of life in view. To these people the Word has in different ways become closed up, for some so closed that they do not wish to know anything at all apart from that which their own teachings – whatever these may be – declare.
[4] If anyone were to say, for example, that the power of opening and of shutting heaven has not been granted to Peter but to faith rooted in love, which faith is meant by Peter’s keys, they would never acknowledge it because self-love and love of the world stand in the way. Or if anyone were to say that the saints ought not to be worshipped but the Lord alone, they would not accept that either. Nor would they believe it if someone were to say that the bread and wine in the Holy Supper mean the Lord’s love towards the whole human race and man’s love for the Lord in return. And if anyone were to say that faith – other than the good of faith, which is charity – does not achieve anything, they would give a completely contrary explanation. And so it would be with everything else. People like these can see nothing at all of the truth contained in the Word and do not wish to see it. Instead they adhere rigidly to their own doctrinal opinions. They do not even wish to hear of the existence of the internal sense in which the holiness and the glory of the Word reside. Indeed when they hear about the existence of it they are revolted because of their detestation of the mere mention of it. So the Word has been closed up. Yet the Word is such that it is open right into heaven, and through heaven towards the Lord, and is closed only in relation to man, that is, insofar as he is subject to the evils of self-love and love of the world where the ends in view of his life are concerned, and is subject to false assumptions resulting from those evils. From this one may see what is meant by ‘a large stone over the mouth of the well’.
[2] This may also be seen from the consideration that in their infancy all Churches have been such, and have from love worshipped the Lord, and have from the heart loved the neighbour. But in course of time Churches have moved away from these two commandments, and have turned away from good flowing from love and charity towards those things called matters of faith, and so have turned away from life towards doctrine. And to the extent this happens the Word is closed up. These are the factors meant in the internal sense by the words, ‘Behold, a well in the field, and behold, three droves of a flock there, lying nearby it; for out of that well they watered the droves; and there was a large stone over the mouth of the well. And all the droves would be gathered there; and they would roll the stone from over the mouth of the well and water the flock; and they would put the stone back in its place over the mouth of the well’.
‘Jacob said to them’ means the truth of good. ‘My brothers, where are you from?’ means, What is the origin of the charity there? ‘And they said, We are from Haran’ means good that springs from a common stock. ‘And he said to them, Do you know Laban the son of Nahor?’ means, Did they possess good from that stock? ‘And they said, We do’ means, Yes, they did. ‘And he said to them, Does he have peace?’ means, Does it come from the Lord’s kingdom? ‘And they said, [He has] peace’ means, Yes, it does. ‘And behold, Rachel his daughter’ means the affection for interior truth. ‘Is coming with the flock’ means interior matters of doctrine.
* A Hebrew idiom used in inquiring after a person’s welfare
[2] This then is why Nahor, his son Bethuel, and Bethuel’s son Laban represent a parallel good that springs from a common stock, that is, the good which exists with people who belong to the Lord’s Church among the gentiles. This good differs from good coming in a direct line from the common stock, in that those gentiles do not have genuine truths which are joined to their good. Instead they have for the most part external appearances which are called illusions of the senses, for they do not possess the Word from which they may receive light. Actually good is in essence a single entity, but it acquires a specific character from the truths implanted in it and in this way is made various. The truths that are seen by gentiles as truths are in general the idea that they should worship some God from whom they seek their own good and to whom they attribute it – though they do not know so long as they live in this world that that God is the Lord; also the idea that they should adore their God under images which they hold sacred; besides many other ideas. But these ideas do not make it any less possible for them to be saved than for Christians, provided that they lead lives in which love to their God and love towards the neighbour are present. For by leading such lives they have the ability to receive interior truths in the next life, see 932, 1032, 1059, 2049, 2051, 2284, 2589-2604, 2861, 2863, 3263. This shows what is meant by a parallel good that springs from a common stock. For Nahor represents those outside the Church who by virtue of good are bound together as brethren, see 2863, 2864, 2868; Bethuel represents good as it exists with those who make up a first group of gentiles, 2865, 3665; and Laban represents the affection for external or bodily good, strictly speaking a parallel good springing from a common stock, 3612, 3665.
[3] This good is such that first of all it serves a person as a means for acquiring spiritual good, for it is external and bodily and derives from external appearances which in themselves are illusions of the senses. In childhood a person acknowledges nothing other than these as truth and good, and although taught what internal good and truth are he still has no more than a bodily concept of it. This being his concept at first, this kind of good and truth is the initial means by which interior truths and goods are brought in. This is the arcanum which Jacob and Laban represent here.
[2] As regards ‘peace’, this means in the highest sense the Lord Himself, and from this in the internal sense His kingdom. Peace is also the Lord’s Divine affecting inmostly the good which governs people there. The fact that these things are meant in the Word by ‘peace’ becomes clear from many places, as in Isaiah,
To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given, whose government will be upon His shoulder; and His name will be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and of peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom. Isa. 9:6, 7.
Here ‘Prince of Peace’ clearly stands for the Lord, ‘the increase of government and of peace’ for the things that exist in His kingdom, and so it stands for the kingdom itself. In the same prophet,
The work of righteousness will be peace, and the labour of righteousness quietness and security for ever. And My people will abide in a habitation of peace. Isa. 32:17, 18.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom, where ‘peace’, ‘quietness’, and ‘security’ follow consecutively. ‘A habitation of peace’ stands for heaven.
[3] In the same prophet,
The angels of peace weep bitterly. The highways have been laid waste, the wayfarer has ceased. Isa. 33:7, 8.
‘The angels of peace’ stands for members of the Lord’s kingdom, and so ‘peace’ stands for the kingdom itself, and in the highest sense for the Lord. ‘The highways have been laid waste and the wayfarer has ceased’ stands for the fact that truth existed nowhere any longer – ‘highways’ and ‘ways’ meaning truths, see 627, 2333. In the same prophet,
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of Him who is bringing good tidings, causing peace to be heard, bringing good tidings of good, causing salvation to be heard, saying to Zion, Your God reigns. Isa. 52:7.
‘Bringing good tidings and causing peace to be heard’ stands for the Lord’s kingdom. In the same prophet,
The mountains will depart and the hills be removed, but My mercy will not depart from you, and the covenant of My peace will not be removed. Isa. 54:10.
In the same prophet,
The way of peace they have not known, and there is no judgement in their tracks. Isa. 59:8.
[4] In Jeremiah,
I will assemble My peace from this people, said Jehovah, pity and mercy. Jer. 16:5.
In the same prophet, The folds of peace have been laid waste, because of the fierce anger of Jehovah. Jer. 25:37.
In the same prophet,
The prophet who prophesies of peace, when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known, that Jehovah has in truth sent him. Jer. 28:9.
In the same prophet,
I know the thoughts that I am thinking towards you, said Jehovah, thoughts of peace. Jer. 29:11.
In Haggai,
The glory of this latter house will be greater than that of the former, for in this place I will give peace. Hagg. 2:9.
In Zechariah,
They will be the seed of peace; the vine will give its fruit, and the land will give its increase, and the heavens will give their dew. Zech. 8:12.
In David,
Care for the blameless one, and behold the upright, for the latter end of that man is peace. Ps. 37:37.
In Luke,
Jesus said to the disciples, Whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house! And if a son of peace is there, your peace shall rest on it; but if not, it shall return to you. Luke 10:5, 6.
In John,
Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. John 14:27.
In the same gospel,
Jesus said, These things I have said to you, that in Me you may have peace. John 16:33.
[5] In all these places ‘peace’ in the highest sense means the Lord, in the representative sense His kingdom and good from the Lord in that kingdom, and so means the Divine which flows into good or into affections for good, which also, from what is inmost, brings feelings of joy and happiness. This shows what is meant by the words of the blessing,
Jehovah will lift up His face upon you and give you peace. Num. 6:26.
It also shows what is meant by the customary greeting received from ancient times, Peace to you, the same words as were used by the Lord to greet the apostles, John 20:19, 21, 26. See also about ‘peace’ in 92, 93, 1726, 2780, 3170, 3696.
‘He said, Behold, it is still high day’ means that the state was now in progress. ‘It is not time for the cattle to be gathered together’ means that goods and truths constituting the Churches and their matters of doctrine were not yet gathered into one. ‘Water the flock, and go and pasture them’ means instruction from these was nevertheless to be given to a few. ‘And they said, We cannot until all the droves are gathered together’ means that they ought to be all together. ‘And they have rolled the stone from over the mouth of the well’ means that in this way things of the Word are disclosed. ‘And we water the flock’ means that at that point they receive instruction.
[2] It is in general the same with the Church. When this is being re-established matters of doctrine concerning good and truth have first to be gathered into one since they are the base on which it is built. Matters of doctrine also have connections one with another and relate one to another. Consequently unless they are first gathered into one a defect would exist and things that are missing would have to be supplied from the person’s rational. And how blind and deluded the rational is so far as spiritual and Divine things are concerned when it relies on itself in the conclusions it reaches has been shown in various places already. To the Church therefore the Word has been given which contains all matters of doctrine concerning good and truth. In this respect the Church answers in a general way to what exists in particular with the individual who is being regenerated, for he is the Church in particular. The point that with any person matters of doctrine concerning good and truth which are the Church’s ought first to be gathered together in him before regeneration takes place has been stated above. It is those goods and truths that are meant in the internal sense by ‘Behold, it is still high day; it is not time for the cattle to be gathered together’.
‘While he was still speaking to them’ means thought during that time. ‘Rachel came with the flock’ means the affection for interior truth belonging to the Church and to doctrine. ‘Which was her father’s’ means from good in origin. ‘For she was a shepherdess’ means that the affection for interior truth contained in the Word is that which teaches. ‘And so it was, when Jacob saw Rachel the daughter of Laban his mother’s brother’ means an acknowledgement of the affection for that truth as to its origin. ‘And the flock of Laban his mother’s brother’ means the Church and doctrine from that origin. ‘That Jacob came near and rolled the stone from over the mouth of the well’ means that the Lord, by virtue of natural good, disclosed the interior contents of the Word. ‘And watered the flock of Laban his mother’s brother’ means instruction. ‘And Jacob kissed Rachel’ means love directed towards interior truths. ‘And lifted up his voice and wept’ means the warmth of love.
[2] These are the matters represented by Jacob and his two wives, Rachel and Leah. ‘Jacob’ now takes on the representation of natural good therefore, and ‘Rachel’ that of truth. But since all joining of truth to good is effected through affection, it is the affection for truth coupled to good that ‘Rachel’ represents. Furthermore the natural, like the rational, has an interior and an exterior. ‘Rachel’ represents the affection for interior truth, and ‘Leah’ the affection for exterior truth. ‘Laban’, who is their father, represents a good that springs from a common stock, but is a parallel good, as has been stated. That good is the good which in the parallel line corresponds to the truth of the rational, which is ‘Rebekah’, 3012, 3013, 3077. Daughters descended from that good therefore represent affections existing within the natural, for these are like daughters fathered by that good. And because those affections are to be coupled to natural good they consequently represent affections for truth – the first representing the affection for interior truth, the second the affection for exterior truth.
[3] The regeneration of a person’s natural is altogether like Jacob and Laban’s two daughters, Rachel and Leah. Anyone therefore who can see and understand the internal sense of the Word sees this arcanum which has been disclosed to him, but no one else is able to see it except him in whom good and truth are present. No others, no matter how good a perception they may have of the things to do with personal life and life in society and may seem to be highly intelligent, are able to see and then to acknowledge anything at all of that arcanum. Indeed they do not know what good and truth are, for they imagine evil to be good, and falsity to be truth. For this reason the moment good is mentioned the idea of evil presents itself, and the moment truth is mentioned the idea of falsity does so. Consequently they perceive nothing of the things contained in the internal sense, but as soon as they hear anything of it darkness descends which extinguishes the light.
* The Latin word pastor, translated shepherdess above, is used of anyone – male or female – who tends a flock or herd. But in the original Hebrew the word is taken to be feminine.
[2] As regards affections for truth and good, genuine affections for truth and good which are perceived by a person all have a Divine origin since they come from the Lord. But as they come down they branch off into various and different streams where they form new origins for themselves. For as they flow into affections which are not genuine but spurious, and into affections for evil and falsity present with a person, so they become varied. Affections which often have a similar outward appearance to genuine ones present themselves, but these are nevertheless not genuine inwardly. The only way to establish their true identity is to discover the end they have in view. If that end is selfish or worldly those affections are not genuine. But if the end is the good of the neighbour, the good of the community, the good of the country, and more still if it is the good of the Church and the good of the Lord’s kingdom, they are genuine, for in that case the Lord is their end, since the Lord is within those varieties of good.
[3] But it is the mark of someone wise to be aware of which ends are present in himself. Sometimes it does seem as though his ends are selfish when in fact they are not, for the human being is such that in everything he considers how it affects himself. This he does regularly and habitually. But if anyone wishes to know the ends he himself has in view he has merely to take note of his feeling of delight – whether it is on account of his receiving praise and glory, or whether it is on account of his performing some unselfish service. If it is the latter delight which he feels, genuine affection is present in him. He ought also to take note of the varying states he passes through, for those states cause his feelings to vary considerably. A person is able to find these things out in himself, but not in others, for the ends in view to anyone’s affection are known to the Lord alone. This is why the Lord said,
Do not judge, lest you are judged; do not condemn, lest you are condemned. Luke 6:37.
For a thousand people may apparently share the same affection for truth and goodness, and yet the affection in each of them may have a different origin, that is, each may have a different end in view.
[4] The reason the end makes the affection what it is – that is to say, genuine, spurious, or false – is that the end is the person’s actual life. Indeed a person has as his end in view that which constitutes his life, or what amounts to the same, his love. When the good of the neighbour, the common good, the good of the Church and of the Lord’s kingdom is the end in view, a person’s soul is in the Lord’s kingdom and so abides with the Lord. For the Lord’s kingdom is nothing else than a kingdom of ends and purposes directed towards the good of the human race, 3645. Angels themselves present with a person are nowhere else than within his ends in view. To the extent that someone’s end in view is such as that which exists in the Lord’s kingdom, angels take delight in him and join themselves to him as a brother. But to the extent a person’s end is himself, angels depart and evil spirits from hell draw near, for in hell no other end in view reigns. From these considerations one may see how important it is to find out and to know where one’s affections originate; these can be known from nothing else than one’s end in view.
[2] It is plainly evident that the Word is disclosed by virtue of good. Everyone looks from the love present in him at the things that belong to that love; and what he sees he calls truths because these are in harmony with it. Everyone’s love holds the light of his life within it, for love is like a flame which radiates light. The nature of a person’s love or flame therefore determines that of the light of truth with him. Those who are stirred by a love of good are able to see the things belonging to that love, and so to see the truths that are in the Word. They do so according to the amount and the quality of their love of good, for light or intelligence flows in from heaven, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven. This is why, as already stated, no one is able to see and acknowledge the interior contents of the Word except one whose life is governed by good.
[2] The reason why Jacob calls himself Laban’s brother when he was in fact his sister’s son is that by virtue of good all are brothers. This also is why Laban in turn calls Jacob ‘brother’ in verse 15. For it is good that constitutes blood-relationship and which effects any joining together, since good is an attribute of love, and love is a spiritual joining together. This also was the reason why in the ancient Churches all who were governed by good were called brothers. The same happened in the Jewish Church, but because that Church despised everybody else and imagined that they alone were the elect it spoke only of those who had been born Jews as brothers. The rest it called companions or foreigners. The primitive Christian Church also referred to as brothers all who were governed by good, but later on it confined the term to those inside its own group. But the name brother disappeared from among Christians when good did so. And when truth took the place of good, or faith the place of charity, none was able any longer to call another brother by virtue of good, only neighbour. This is also a feature of the doctrine of faith when devoid of the life of charity, in that it seems to be beneath them to exist as a brotherhood when this includes any of lower rank than themselves. For being brothers in their case does not have its origin in the Lord, and therefore in good, but in themselves, and therefore in position and gain.
[3803a] ‘And that he was Rebekah’s son’ means the link between these kindred varieties of good. This becomes clear without explanation, for Rebekah, who was Jacob’s mother and Laban’s sister, was the one in whom the link existed.
[2] This is why one person’s good, though seemingly just the same, is not however like another’s, for the good in every single human being throughout the whole world is different from that in any other. It is like human faces in which for the most part affections present themselves, in that none throughout the whole human race is exactly like another. Truths themselves compose so to speak the face of good, whose beauty arises from the form which truth takes; but it is good that produces the affections there. All angelic forms are such, and man would be such if from interior life he were ruled by love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. Man was created into forms such as these because he was created in the likeness and image of God, and forms such as these are the ones whose spirits have been regenerated, whatever appearance their bodies present. From this one may see what is meant by the statement that good is acknowledged by means of interior truths.
‘Laban said to him, Surely you are my bone and my flesh’ means joined together as regards truths and as regards goods. ‘And he dwelt with him for a full month’ means a new state of life. ‘And Laban said to Jacob, Because you are my brother’ means, because they are kindred, by virtue of good. ‘Should you serve me for nothing? Tell me, what shall your reward be?’ means that there must be a means by which they are joined together.
[2] As regards the proprium in general there are two kinds, the first being the hellish proprium, the second the heavenly. The hellish proprium is acquired by a person from hell, the heavenly from heaven, that is, from the Lord through heaven. For all evil and all falsity from evil enter in from hell, and all good and all truth from good do so from the Lord. People know this from the doctrine of faith, but scarcely one in a million believes it. Consequently a person appropriates – that is, makes his own – evil entering in from hell; but good entering in from the Lord does not move him and cannot therefore be said to have a place in him. The reason why a person does not believe that evil enters in from hell and good from the Lord is that he is governed by self-love, a love which carries such unbelief with it and which goes so far as to be highly indignant when that person is told that everything comes into him from somewhere else. This then is why a person’s entire proprium is nothing but evil, see 210, 215, 694, 731, 874-876, 987, 1023, 1044, 1047. But the belief that evil is from hell and good from the Lord exists with him when he is not governed by self-love but by love towards the neighbour and love to the Lord; for this love carries such belief with it. So it is that a person receives from the Lord the heavenly proprium referred to in 155, 164, 731, 1023, 1044, 1937, 1947, 2882, 2883, 2891.
[3] In both senses this proprium is meant by ‘bone and flesh’. Consequently ‘bones’ in the Word means truth and in the contrary sense falsity, and ‘flesh’ good and in the contrary sense evil. As regards truth being meant by ‘bones’, this may be seen from the following places: In Isaiah,
Jehovah will guide you all the time, and will satisfy your soul in arid places, and will render your bones free, so that you are like a watered garden. Isa. 58:11.
‘Rendering bones free’ stands for bringing life to the understanding side of the proprium, that is, enlightening it with intelligence. Hence the statement ‘so that you are like a watered garden’ – ‘a garden’ meaning intelligence, see 100, 108, 1588. In the same prophet,
Then you will see, and your heart will be joyful, and your bones will flourish like the grass. Isa. 66:14.
‘Bones flourishing like the grass’ has a similar meaning.
[4] In Jeremiah,
[Her] Nazirites were brighter than snow, they were whiter than milk. Their bodies* were ruddier than gem stones, polished like sapphire.** Their form is darker than black; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has stuck to their bone; it has dried up; it has become like wood. Lam. 4:7, 8.
‘Nazirite’ stands for a celestial man, 3301. ‘Brighter than snow and whiter than milk’ stands for his possession of celestial truth. And because this truth derives from the love of good, it is said that ‘their bodies were ruddier than gem stones’. ‘Brightness’ and ‘whiteness’ have reference to truth, 3301, ‘ruddiness’ to good, 3300, ‘gem stones’ to truths stemming from good, 114. ‘Their skin stuck to their bone’ describes a changed state as regards the celestial things of love, which is to say, that there was no flesh on the bones, that is, there was no longer any good, for in that case all truth comes to be like skin which sticks to the bone, dries up, and becomes like wood.
[5] In Ezekiel,
Tell a parable against the house of rebellion, and say to them, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Put on the pot, put it on, and also pour water into it; gather the pieces of it into it – every good piece, the thigh and the shoulder. Fill it with the choice of the bones by taking the choice of the flock, and let there be a hearth of bones under it. Let the bones also be cooked in the midst of it. Ezek. 24:3-5, 10.
‘The pot’ stands for violence offered to good and truth, which is why it is called ‘the city of bloodshed’ in verse 6. ‘The pieces’, ‘the good piece, the thigh and the shoulder’ gathered into it are pieces of flesh, which are items of good. ‘The choice of the bones’ with which the pot was filled stands for truths, ‘the hearth of bones’ for the affection for truth. ‘Let the bones be cooked in the midst of it’ stands for violence offered to them. Anyone may see that this parable conceals arcana that are Divine, and also that these can in no way be known unless one knows what is meant in the internal sense by ‘a pot’, by ‘pieces, the thigh and the shoulder’, by ‘the choice of the bones’, by ‘a hearth of bones’, and by ‘cooking’. In Micah,
Is it not for you to know judgement – you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear their skin from upon them and their flesh from upon their bones; who have eaten the flesh of My people and flayed their skin from upon them and broken their bones in pieces, and divided them as into a pot and like flesh into the middle of the cauldron? Micah 3:1-3.
Here the meaning is similar.
[6] In Ezekiel,
He brought me out in the Spirit of Jehovah and set me down in the midst of the valley, which was full of bones. He said to me, Will these bones live? He said to me, Prophesy over these bones and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of Jehovah: Thus said the Lord Jehovih to these bones, Behold, I am bringing spirit into you that you may live. I will lay sinews upon you and cause flesh to come over you and cover you with skin, and I will put spirit within you so that you may live. I prophesied, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked, and behold, there were sinews upon them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above, but there was no spirit in them. And spirit entered into them, and they were alive again and stood upon their feet. Ezek. 37:1 and following verses.
This refers in general to the re-establishment of the Church among gentiles, and in particular to the regeneration of the individual. ‘Dry bones’ stands for the understanding side of the proprium, which is lifeless until it receives the life of good from the Lord. The latter life is what quickens it or brings life to it. The flesh which the Lord causes to come up over the bones is the will side of the proprium, which is called the heavenly proprium, and so means good. ‘Spirit’ means the Lord’s life, and when this flows into a person’s good which he seems to himself to will and perform from his proprium, the good is in that case made alive, and from that good the truth also; and out of the dry bones a human being is made.
[7] In David,
All my bones have been disconnected; my heart has become like wax. I can count all my bones. They have divided my garments among them, and for my clothing have cast lots. Ps. 22:14, 17, 18.
This refers to the Lord’s temptations as regards Divine Truths, which, being the Lord’s own, are consequently called ‘my bones’, and as regards Divine Good, which, being the Lord’s own, is consequently called ‘my heart’. For ‘heart’ means good, see 3313, 3635. And because ‘bones’ means those truths, ‘counting’ them is wishing to get rid of them by means of reasonings and falsities. This is also the reason for the statement immediately following about their dividing garments and casting lots for clothing, for ‘garments’ also means truths, though a more external variety, 297, 1073, 2576. ‘Dividing garments and casting lots for clothing’ has the same meaning as it does also in Matthew 27:35. In the same author,
Let my soul exult in Jehovah, let it be glad in His salvation. Let all my bones say, Who is like You? Ps. 35:9, 10.
‘Bones’ in the spiritual sense clearly means the understanding side of the proprium. In the same author,
You shall cause me to hear joy and gladness; the bones You have broken will be exultant. Ps. 51:8.
‘The bones which You have broken will be exultant’ stands for a re-creation by means of truths following temptations.
[8] Because ‘bone’ meant the understanding side of the proprium, or the proprium as regards truth, and in the highest sense meant Divine Truth, which was the Lord’s Proprium, it was therefore required at the Passover not to break any bone of the paschal lamb. This is referred to in Moses as follows,
It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not bring any of the flesh outside the house; and you shall not break a bone in it. Exod. 12:46.
And elsewhere in Moses,
They shall not leave any of it until morning, and they shall not break a bone of it. Num. 9:12.
‘Not breaking a bone’ stands in the highest sense for not offering violence to Divine truth, and in the representative sense for not offering violence to the truth connected with any good at all, for the nature of good and the form it takes depend on truths, and truth is the mainstay of good, as the bones are of the flesh.
[9] The fact that the Word, which is Divine truth itself, gives life to the dead was represented by the revival and the standing on his feet of the man who, having been cast into the grave of Elisha, touched his bones, 2 Kings 13:21. Elisha represented the Lord as regards Divine truth or the Word, see 2762.
‘Bones’ in the contrary sense means falsity which springs from the proprium, as is evident from the following places: In Jeremiah,
At that time they will bring the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem out of their tombs, and they will spread them before the sun and the moon, and all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served. Jer. 8:1, 2.
In Ezekiel,
I will lay the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones around your altars. Ezek. 6:5.
In Moses,
God who brought him out of Egypt has as it were the strength of a unicorn. He will eat up the nations, his enemies, and will break their bones, and smash their weapons. Num. 24:8.
In the second Book of Kings,
King Josiah broke in pieces the pillars, and cut down the groves, and filled their places with the bones of people. He took the bones out of the graves and burned them on the altar to render it unclean. He sacrificed all the priests of the high places who were there, on the altars, and burned the bones of people on them. 2 Kings 23:14, 16, 20.
In Moses,
The soul which has touched on the surface of the field anyone slain with the sword, or one dead, or a human bone, or a sepulchre, will be unclean for seven days. Num. 19:16, 18.
[10] Since ‘bones’ means falsities, and ‘sepulchres’ evils containing them, and since hypocrisy is evil which on the outside looks like good but is inwardly rotten from things that are false and unholy, the Lord therefore says the following in Matthew,
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you make yourselves like white-washed sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and of all uncleanness. So too do you outwardly appear just to men (homo) but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. Matt. 23:27, 28.
From all these quotations it is now evident that ‘bones’ means the understanding side of the proprium either as regards truth or else as regards falsity.
* lit. bones
** lit. sapphire their polishing
[2] That ‘flesh’ in the highest sense means the Proprium of the Lord’s Divine Human, and so His Divine Good, is clear from the Lord’s words in John,
Jesus said, I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live for ever. The bread which I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world. The Jews disputed with one another, saying, How can this man give his flesh to eat? Jesus therefore said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will have no life in yourselves. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day; for My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. This is the bread which came down from heaven. John 6:51-58.
Here it is quite evident that ‘flesh’ means the Proprium of the Lord’s Divine Human, and so the Divine Good – His flesh in the Holy Supper being called ‘the body’. His body or flesh in the Holy Supper is the Divine Good, and His blood the Divine Truth, see 1798, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3735. And since bread and wine have the same meaning as flesh and blood – that is to say, ‘bread’ is the Lord’s Divine Good, and ‘wine’ His Divine Truth – bread and wine were commanded in place of flesh and blood. This is why the Lord says, ‘I am the living bread; the bread which I will give is My flesh; he who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me and I in him; this is the bread which came down from heaven’. ‘Eating’ means being communicated, being joined to, and being made one’s own, see 2187, 2343, 3168, 3513 (end), 3596.
[3] The same was represented in the Jewish Church by the law that the flesh of sacrifices was to be eaten by Aaron and his sons, by those persons who brought the sacrifice, and by others who were clean; and that this flesh was holy, see Exod. 12:7-9; 29:30-34; Lev. 7:15-21; 8:31; Deut. 12:27; 16:4. That being so, if any unclean person ate some of that flesh he was to be cut off from his people, Lev. 7:21. The fact that these sacrifices were called ‘bread’, see 2165, and that that sacrificial flesh was called ‘holy flesh’, Jer. 11:15; Hagg. 2:12. And in Ezek. 40:43 where the new Temple is the subject, it is called ‘the flesh of the offering which is on the tables in the Lord’s kingdom’, by which clearly worship of the Lord in His kingdom is meant.
[4] That ‘flesh’ in the relative sense means the will side of man’s proprium when made alive by the Lord is Divine Good is clear also from the following places: In Ezekiel,
I will give them one heart, and will put a new spirit in your midst; and I will remove the heart of stone out of their flesh and will give them a heart of flesh. Ezek. 11:19; 36:26.
‘The heart of stone out of their flesh’ stands for a will and proprium when not made alive, ‘a heart of flesh’ for a will and proprium when made alive; for ‘the heart’ is a representative of good in the will, see 2930, 3313, 3635. In David,
O God, You are my God; in the morning I seek You. My soul thirsts for You, my flesh in a dry land longs for You, and I am weary without water. Ps. 63:1.
In the same author,
My soul longs for the courts of Jehovah; my heart and my flesh shout for joy to the living God. Ps. 84:2.
[5] In Job,
I have come to know my Redeemer; He is alive; and at the last He will rise above the dust; and afterwards these things will be encompassed by my skin, and out of my flesh shall I see God, whom I shall see for myself; and my eyes will behold, and no other. Job 19:25-27.
‘Being encompassed by skin’ stands for the natural, such as a person possesses after death, dealt with in 3539. ‘Out of his flesh seeing God’ stands for the proprium when made alive, which is why Job says, ‘Whom I shall see for myself; and my eyes will behold, and no other’. Since it was well known in the ancient Churches that ‘flesh’ meant the proprium, and since the Book of Job is a book of the Ancient Church, 3540 (end), he accordingly followed the custom of the day and drew on meaningful signs to speak of these, as of many other matters. Those therefore who conclude from what Job said that their dead body is going to be reassembled from the four winds and is going to rise again do not know the internal sense of the Word. Those who are conversant with that sense know that they will enter the next life in a body, but in a purer one. In that life people have purer bodies, for they behold one another, talk to one another, and are endowed with each of the senses, which though like those in the physical body are now keener. The body which a person carries around on earth is designed for activities on earth and therefore consists of flesh and bones, whereas the body that a spirit carries around in the next life is designed for activities in that life and does not consist of flesh and bones but of such things as correspond to these, see 3726.
[6] That ‘flesh’ in the contrary sense means the will side of the human proprium which in itself is nothing but evil is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
Every man will eat the flesh of his own arm. Isa. 9:20.
In the same prophet,
I will feed your oppressors with their own flesh, and they will be drunk with their blood as with new wine. Isa. 49:26.
In Jeremiah,
I will feed them with the flesh of their sons and with the flesh of their
daughters, and every man will eat the flesh of his companion. Jer. 19:9.
In Zechariah,
Those that are left will eat, every one the flesh of another. Zech. 11:9.
In Moses,
I will chastise you seven times for your sins, and you will eat the flesh of your sons: and the flesh of your daughters will you eat. Lev. 26:28, 29.
The will side of the human proprium, or man’s own natural inclinations, is described in this way because it is nothing but evil and consequent falsity, and so hatred against every form of truth or good, that are meant by ‘eating the flesh of their own arm’, ‘the flesh of sons and daughters’, and ‘the flesh of another’.
[7] In John,
I saw an angel standing in the sun, who called out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds flying in mid-heaven, Come and gather yourselves to the supper of the great God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and those seated on them, and the flesh of all free men and slaves, both small and great. Rev. 19:17, 18; Ezek. 39:17-20.
Anyone may see that the flesh of kings, captains, mighty men, horses and those seated on them, free men and slaves, is not meant by such expressions. ‘Flesh’ accordingly has another meaning which has not been known up to now. The fact that evils resulting from falsities, and evils producing falsities, are meant – which evils originate on the will side of the human proprium – is evident from each expression used here.
[8] Since falsity which springs from the understanding side of man’s proprium is meant by ‘blood’ in the internal sense, and evil which springs from the will side of his proprium by ‘flesh’, the Lord speaks of the person who is to be regenerated as follows,
As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12, 13.
For this reason ‘flesh’ is used to mean in general all mankind, see 574, 1050 (end). For whether you speak of man or of man’s proprium it amounts to the same.
[9] That ‘flesh’ in the highest sense means the Lord’s Divine Human is evident from the verses quoted above, as well as from the following in John,
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father. John 1:14.
It is by virtue of this flesh that all other flesh is made alive, that is, by virtue of the Lord’s Divine Human, every human being is made alive, through making His love his own, which is meant by ‘eating the flesh of the Son of Man’, John 6:51- 58, and by eating the bread in the Holy Supper – for the bread is His body or flesh, Matt. 26:26, 27.
At length from month to its month, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh will come to bow down before Me, said Jehovah. Isa. 66:23.
In John,
He showed me a pure river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month. Rev. 22:1, 2.
‘Yielding its fruit each month’ stands for a state for ever new as regards the reception of good and the consequent practice of it. In Moses, Count the sons of Levi according to their father’s house and according to their families. Every male a month old and over shall you count. Count every firstborn male of the children of Israel, a month old and over, and take the number of their names. Num. 3:15, 40.
[2] It was because the end of the previous state and the beginning of the next, that is, a new state, was meant by ‘a month’ that they were ordered to count those who were ‘a month old and over’. In the same author,
If you see among captives a beautiful woman, and have a desire for her so that you would take her to yourself for a wife, she shall remove the clothing of her captivity from upon her, and she shall sit in your house and lament her father and her mother for a full month. After that you shall go in to her and know her, and she shall be your wife. Deut. 21:11, 13.
Here ‘a full month’ clearly stands for the end of the previous and the beginning of the next or new state.
[2] This has also been made clear to me by the fact that in heaven they do not acknowledge one another because of any family relationship that had been theirs during their lifetime but solely on the basis of good and attendant truth. A father does not acknowledge a son or daughter, a brother does not acknowledge a brother or sister, and even a husband does not acknowledge his wife, unless they have been governed by similar good. They do, it is true, meet when they first enter the next life, but they part company after that; for good itself – that is, love and charity – determines whichever community a person is sent to. Kinship begins in the community in which each person belongs and spreads from there into all places round about.
[2] But reward serves as a means to join together in the case of those who have not yet reached that point; for those who have not yet been brought into good and the affection for it, that is, who are not yet wholly regenerate, inevitably think of reward as well; for they do not do the good they do from an affection for good but from an affection for their own blessedness and happiness, and at the same time from fear of hell. But when a person is being regenerated this is reversed and becomes an affection for good. And when it is an affection for good he no longer has reward in view.
[3] This may be illustrated from aspects of public life. Someone who loves his country and is so governed by an affection for it that he desires out of goodwill to further its welfare would be hurt if prevented from doing so and would plead to be given an opportunity to further its welfare. For such is the object of his affection and consequently of his desire and blessedness. Indeed such a person receives honours and is promoted to important positions because these are the means by which he serves his country even though those honours and positions are called rewards. But people who have no affection for their country, only for themselves and for the world, act for the sake of position and wealth, which are also their ends in view. Such people put themselves before their country, that is, their own good before the common good, and in comparison with the others are sordid. And yet more than all others they want it to be seen that they do what they do from a love that is sincere. But when they think about this on their own they deny that anyone acts from such love, and are amazed that anyone is able to do so. Those whose attitude during their lifetime is such towards their country or the public good have the same attitude in the next life towards the Lord’s kingdom, for a person’s affection or love follows him, since affection or love constitute the life of everyone.
‘Laban had two daughters’ means affections for truth from the good which springs from a common stock. ‘The name of the elder was Leah’ means the nature of the affection for external truth. ‘And the name of the younger Rachel’ means the nature of the affection for internal truth. ‘And Leah’s eyes were weak’ means that the affection for external truth is weak so far as the understanding of it is concerned. ‘And Rachel was beautiful in form and beautiful in appearance’ means that the affection for interior truth is beautiful so far as what is spiritual is concerned.
[2] Let the following example show what is meant by external truths and the affections for them, and what by internal truths and the affections for these, and the fact that the former are ‘weak eyed’ in comparison with the latter, which are ‘beautiful in form and appearance’: Those governed by external truths know no more than the general truth that good should be done to the poor. They do not know how to tell who are truly the poor, let alone know that in the Word the expression ‘the poor’ is used to mean those who are so spiritually. Consequently they do good to bad persons and to good ones alike, without realizing that doing good to bad people is doing bad to good, for the bad are then given the opportunity to do bad to those who are good. This is why people possessing this kind of simple zeal are infested so strongly by the crafty and deceitful. But those governed by internal truths know who the poor are, tell one poor person from another, and do good to each according to his individual character.
[3] Take another example. Those governed by external truths know no more than the general truth that the neighbour ought to be loved. They as a consequence believe that every individual is the neighbour in the same degree, and so every individual ought to be embraced with the same love. Believing this, they allow themselves to be misguided. Those however who are governed by internal truths know which degree of the neighbour each person belongs to and that any one person is the neighbour in a different degree from another. Consequently they are aware of countless things which those governed by external truths do not know. They do not therefore allow themselves to be led astray by the mere name of neighbour, or to do what is evil by performing that good which the name alone persuades them to do.
[4] Take yet another example. Those governed by external truths alone imagine that the learned will shine like stars in the next life, and that all who have worked in the Lord’s vineyard will have a greater reward than others. But those governed by internal truths know the expressions ‘learned’, ‘wise’, and ‘intelligent’ are used to mean those in whom good is present, whether they possess any human wisdom and intelligence or not, and that it is these who will shine like stars. They also know that those who work in the vineyard receive a reward, each according to the affection for good and truth which motivated him in his work, and that those who work from selfish and worldly motives, that is, from self-aggrandizement and enrichment as motives, have their reward during their lifetime, but in the next life their lot is with the evil there, Matt. 7:22, 23.
From these examples it is evident how weak in understanding those people are who are governed by external truths alone, and that internal truths are what give them essence and form, and also what determine the character of the good with them. Nevertheless people governed by external truths, and at the same time when in the world simple good was present in them, receive internal truths and resulting wisdom in the next life, for by virtue of that simple good they are in the right state and have the capacity to receive them.
‘Jacob loved Rachel’ means the love which good has for internal truth. ‘And said, I will serve you seven years for Rachel your younger daughter’ means a diligent effort to be made during a holy state, to the end that it might be joined to internal truth. ‘And Laban said, It is better for me to give her to you than for me to give her to another man; remain with me’ means the means by which interior truth is joined to that good. ‘And Jacob served seven years for Rachel’ means the fulfilment. ‘And they were in his eyes like a few days, because of his love for her’ means a state of love.
[2] Internal truths are said to be joined to the natural when they are learned, acknowledged, and believed. Within man’s natural, that is, within his natural memory, both external and internal truths are present. These reside there as religious knowledge, but they have not been joined to the natural man until that person has an affection for them because they have application to his life, that is, life is the reason why he loves them. For when this stage is reached good is coupled to those truths, and by means of that good they are joined to the rational and so to the internal man. By this route life enters into them from the Lord.
[2] Let it be stated briefly that with everyone who is being regenerated the good of his natural, like that represented here by ‘Jacob’, is first of all joined to good like that represented here by ‘Laban’, through the affection for interior truth, which is represented here by ‘Rachel’, and subsequently together with the good of the rational and its truth, which are ‘Isaac and Rebekah’. By means of that initial conjunction a person is in a right state for receiving internal or spiritual truths, which are the means by which the natural is joined to the rational, that is, the external man to the internal.
‘Jacob said to Laban, Give me my wife’ means that general good was now to be joined to the affection for interior truth. ‘For my days are completed, so that I may go [in] to her’ means that that state had now been reached. ‘And Laban gathered together all the men of the place’ means all the truths belonging to that state. ‘And made a feast’ means the introduction. ‘And so it was in the evening’ means when the state was still obscure. ‘That he took Leah his daughter and brought her to him; and he came [in] to her’ means that as yet it was a joining merely to the affection for external truth. ‘And Laban gave to her Zilpah his servant-girl – to Leah his daughter to be her servant-girl’ means external affections or external bonds which are subservient means.
[2] This being the meaning of ‘feasts’ the Lord also spoke in the same vein,
Many will come from the east and from the west and will recline with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 8:11.
And elsewhere He said to the disciples,
That you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom. Luke 22:30.
And when He instituted the Holy Supper He said,
I tell you that I shall not drink from now on of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom. Matt. 26:29.
Anyone may see that ‘reclining’, ‘eating’, and ‘drinking’ in the Lord’s kingdom do not mean reclining, eating, and drinking, but the kind of thing that exists in that kingdom; that is to say, these experiences are used to mean making the good of love and the truth of faith one’s own, and so to mean that which is called spiritual food and celestial food. The quotations given above also show plainly that there is an internal sense within words spoken by the Lord, and that without an understanding of that sense one cannot know what is meant by reclining with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, by eating and drinking at the Lord’s table in His kingdom, and by drinking of the fruit of the vine with them in the Father’s kingdom. Nor indeed can one know what is meant by eating bread and drinking wine in the Holy Supper.
[2] Once a person has reached this state he starts to know countless things, for he now proceeds from the good and truth which he believes and perceives. He proceeds so to speak from the central point out to the peripheral regions; and in the measure that he proceeds from such good and truth, he sees in the same measure the things round about, and gradually more and more widely since he is constantly pushing out and extending the boundaries. Thereafter he also begins from each subject situated in the space within those boundaries, and from those subjects as new centres he pushes out new peripheral regions; and so on in the spaces within these. Consequently the light of truth radiating from good increases enormously and becomes one expanse of light, for he is now bathed in the light of heaven which shines from the Lord. But to people who are prone to doubt and who question whether something exists and is true, those countless, indeed limitless things are not visible at all. To them every single one is totally obscure. Those things are scarcely seen by them as a single whole which definitely exists, only as a single whole whose very existence they are uncertain of. Such is the condition into which human wisdom and intelligence has fallen at the present day. Being able to reason cleverly whether something exists is now the mark of a wise man, and being able to reason that it does not exist is the mark of one wiser still.
[3] Take for example the question whether in the Word an internal sense exists which such people call the mystical sense. Until they believe in the existence of it they cannot know a single one of the countless things existing within that sense, so many that they fill the whole of heaven in unending variety. Take as another example one who reasons about whether Divine Providence is merely universal and does not extend to specific details. That person cannot know the countless arcana which have to do with Providence, as many in number as the occurrences in everyone’s life from start to finish and in the world from its creation to its end, and even for ever. Take as yet another example one who reasons whether good can exist in anyone, seeing that the will of man is fundamentally depraved. He cannot possibly be aware of all the arcana that have to do with regeneration, nor even that a new will is implanted by the Lord and the arcana concerning this. And the same is so with everything else. From this one may recognize what obscurity surrounds such people and that they do not even see, let alone reach, the outskirts of wisdom.
[2] Indeed the Lord provides against celestial and spiritual truths, such as all interior truths are, being joined to any affections other than genuine ones. This is why the general affection for truth deriving from good comes first and why truths that are implanted in it are none but general truths. States of truth are altogether what they are by virtue of states of good, that is, a state of faith is what it is by virtue of a state of charity. For example, even the evil are able to know that the Lord rules the whole of heaven, and also that heaven consists in mutual love and love to the Lord, as well as that these loves enable those in heaven to be joined to the Lord, and to receive wisdom and happiness there. The evil can indeed be convinced that all this is true. But the truth of faith has not been joined to them, still less the good of love. It is from the life that one knows whether these have been joined to a person, as a tree is known from its fruit. In the case of the evil it is like grapes containing no pips. When these are cast into the soil, no matter how fertile this is, they turn into mere compost. It is also like the glow at night of an ignis fatuus which vanishes the moment the sun comes up. But in the Lord’s Divine mercy further discussion of this matter will appear later on.
‘So it was in the morning’ means enlightenment in that state. ‘That behold it was Leah’ means that it was a joining to external truth. ‘And he said to Laban, What is this you have done to me?’ means indignation. ‘Was it not for Rachel that I served with you?’ means that it was a diligent effort made for the affection for internal truth. ‘And why have you cheated me?’ means greater indignation. ‘And Laban said, It is not done that way in our place’ means that the state is not such…… ‘To give the younger before the firstborn’ means, that the affection for interior truth should precede the affection for external truth.
[2] There are principally two kinds of affections which shine out of the Word for angels to see – affections for truth and affections for good. Affections for truth reveal themselves to spiritual angels, affections for good to celestial angels. The latter, namely affections for good, which belong to love to the Lord, are altogether indescribable to man and are consequently incomprehensible too. But affections for truth, which belong to mutual love, are to some extent comprehensible in their most general aspects, though only to people in whom mutual love is present. And even those general aspects are not comprehensible to them from any internal perception except one that is obscure.
[3] Take for example the affection or feeling of indignation referred to in this verse. Anyone who does not know what charitable affection is, for the reason that this is not present in him, can have no other idea of what it is but the kind of indignation that is aroused in a person when some wrong is done to him – which in reality is a feeling of anger. But that kind of indignation does not exist with angels but an altogether different kind, which is not the expression of anger but of zeal, and holds nothing evil in it at all. This indignation is as far away from hatred, or revenge, or repaying evil with evil, as heaven is from hell; for it wells up out of good. But the nature of that indignation, as has been stated, cannot be expressed by any words. The situation is similar with all other affections which originate in good and truth and which belong to good and truth.
[4] This is also evident from the fact that angels are concerned solely with ends in view, and with the purposes engendered by those ends, 1317, 1645, 3645. Ends in view are nothing else than loves or affections, 1317, 1568, 1571, 1909, 3425, 3796; for what a person loves he has as his end in view. This being so, angels are acquainted with the affections enclosed in the subject-matter of the Word; and this entails every variation according to the types of affections present in the angels. From this it becomes quite clear how holy the Word is, for Divine love, that is, love coming from the Divine, has holiness within it, and so therefore do the subjects within the Word.
[2] The same applies to everything implanted in someone since childhood. It does not become his own until he acts according to it, and does so from affection. For when he acts from affection that which has been implanted in him passes into his will. Then it is no longer put into practice by him simply because he knows that he should or because he has been taught to do it, but because some delight unknown to himself and so to speak his own disposition or nature lead him to do so. For everyone acquires such a disposition or nature from frequent practice or habit, and that practice or habit from the things he has learned. This does not come about until the things he has absorbed through his being taught them have been passed through from the external man to the interior; for when they exist in the interior man he no longer acts from the sensory memory but from his acquired disposition, till at length they flow into action spontaneously. For in this case they have been inscribed on the person’s interior memory, and the things that proceed from this give the appearance of being innate. This may be recognized from the languages a person has learned in childhood, also from the ability to reason, and from conscience too. From these considerations it is evident that the truths of doctrine, even those that are interior, are not joined to a person until they are matters of life. But further information on these points will in the Lord’s Divine mercy appear elsewhere.
‘Complete this week’ means the continuance of the diligent effort. ‘And we will give you this one also for the service which you render with me for another seven years’ means that in that case it would be a complete state of diligent effort. ‘And Jacob did so, and completed this week’ means the fulfilment of these things. ‘And he gave him Rachel his daughter for his wife’ means the joining of good at that point to the affection for interior truth. ‘And Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, Bilhah his servant-girl – to her to be a servant-girl’ means exterior affections which are subservient bonds or means. ‘And he came [in] also to Rachel’ means a joining to the affection for internal truth. ‘And he loved Rachel also, more than Leah’ means greater love for internal truth than for external. ‘And he served with him yet another seven years’ means holy diligent effort.
[2] Anyone who gives the matter any consideration may also be aware of the same point from the fact that the human understanding is no understanding unless the will is present in it, for the life of the understanding is received from the will. This consideration too shows what truths are without good, namely that they are not truths at all, and that good is the source from which they draw their life; for truths belong to the understanding part of the mind and good to the will part. From this anyone is able to judge for himself what faith, which essentially is truth, is when devoid of charity, which essentially is good, and to judge that the truths of faith when devoid of the good of charity are dead, for as has been stated, the amount of affection present in truths, and the nature of it, determine the amount and nature of the life present there. But what give truths the appearance of still possessing life even when the good of charity is absent are the affections that go with self-love and love of the world, which possess no other life than that which in the spiritual sense is called death and is the life of hell. The word affection is used, and by that is meant that which is an extension from some love.
[3] From these considerations it may now be seen that affections are meant that serve in the joining of truth and good, and that affections are the means by which truths are introduced and also by which these are arranged into order. Genuine affections which go with love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour bring them into a heavenly order, but evil affections which go with self-love and love of the world bring them into a hellish order, that is, into that which is the contrary of heavenly order.
[4] The most external affections of all are those which belong to the body and are called appetites and desires. Those immediately interior to these belong to the lower mind (animus) and are called natural affections. But internal affections belong to the rational mind find are called spiritual affections. To the latter, that is to say, to spiritual affections which belong to the higher mind (mens), truths expressed in matters of doctrine are introduced by means of the more external and the most external affections, that is, by natural and bodily ones. These are consequently subservient means and are meant by the servant-girls given by Laban to Rachel and to Leah. When they are called Laban’s servant-girls the meaning is that those affections had their origin in the good represented by Laban, a good dealt with already. For the truths that are learned first cannot at first be instilled by means of any other affections. Genuine affections arrive in the process of time, but not until a person is acting from good.
‘Jehovah saw’ means the Lord’s foresight and providence. ‘That Leah was hated’ means that the affection for external truth was not so dear because it was further away from the Divine. ‘And He opened her womb’ means that this affection gave rise to the doctrines taught by the Churches. ‘And Rachel was barren’ means that interior truths were not received.
[2] As regards foresight and providence in general, foresight has reference more to man, providence more to the Lord. The Lord foresaw from eternity what the human race was going to be like in the future and what every member of it was going to be like, and that evil was going to increase all the time, so that at length man, of himself, would rush headlong into hell. That being so, the Lord has provided not only the means by which He makes it possible for him to be diverted from hell and led towards heaven, but also does in His providence divert and lead him all the time. The Lord also foresaw that it would be impossible for any good to take root in man except in his freedom, for that which does not take root in freedom is dispelled at the first sign of evil and of temptation. This the Lord foresaw, as well as the fact that of himself, that is, from his own freedom, man would be inclined towards the deepest hell. That being so, the Lord provided that if he would not allow himself to be led in freedom towards heaven he could still be diverted towards a milder hell; but if he would allow himself to be led in freedom towards good then he could be diverted towards heaven. From these considerations one may see what foresight is and what providence is, and that appropriate provisions are made for things that are foreseen.
[3] From this it may be seen how far someone errs who believes that the Lord has not foreseen and does not see the smallest individual thing with man, or that within the smallest individual thing He does not foresee and lead, when in fact the Lord’s foresight and providence are present within the tiniest details of all the smallest individual things with him, and in details so tiny that it is impossible to comprehend in any manner of thought one in many millions of them. For every smallest fraction of a moment of a person’s life entails a chain of consequences extending into eternity. Indeed every one is like a new beginning to those that follow, and so every single moment of the life both of his understanding and of his will is a new beginning. And since the Lord foresaw from eternity what man was going to be like in the future and even into eternity it is clear that providence is present in the smallest individual things, and, as has been stated, is governing him and diverting him so that he may be such, this being achieved by constant re-shaping of his freedom. But this subject will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed further later on.
[2] It is like seeds, which are more perfect inwardly than they are outwardly, so perfect inwardly that from within they are able to bring forth a whole young plant or a whole tree in its own ordered way, together with leaves and fruit, whose outward forms can easily suffer all kinds of damage, more so than the internal and inmost forms of the seeds which are by their very nature more interior and perfect. It is similar with the internal and external parts of man. Consequently when a person is being regenerated, the rational is regenerated before the natural, 3493. The regeneration of the natural comes later and is more difficult because many things remain unordered there and are subject to damage from the body and the world. That being so, it is said that these are not so dear. But to the extent that they agree with internal things and contribute to the life and to a sight of the internal things within them, as well as to the regeneration of man, they too are dear.
[2] For example, it is an interior truth that intervals of time and of space do not exist in the next life, but states instead. Man who is within time and space while he lives in the world forms all his ideas from these, so much so that he cannot have any thought without them, 3404. Consequently unless the states which exist in the next life were described by means of the intervals of time and space which man experiences, that is, by means of the kind of things that are moulded by time and space, he would perceive nothing and so believe nothing, and as a consequence would receive nothing. Doctrine would in that case be barren and no Church would arise from it.
[3] Take another example. Unless celestial and spiritual affections were described by means of such things as constitute worldly and bodily affections man would not perceive anything, for these are the affections he experiences, and it is from them that he is able to have notions about celestial and spiritual affections. Yet the two types of affections are as different from each other, or as far apart, as heaven from earth. Take for example the glory of heaven, that is, of the angels in heaven, 3839. Unless man modelled his idea of the glory of heaven on the idea of the glory which exists in the world he would not grasp it at all and so would not acknowledge it. The same applies to all other interior or heavenly things.
[4] For this reason the Lord has spoken in the Word in accordance with man’s own ability to grasp things and with the appearances that go with that grasp of them. The literal sense of the Word is such, yet at the same time is of such a nature that it holds within it the internal sense which contains interior truths. This then explains why it is said in reference to Leah that ‘Jehovah opened her womb’, and that ‘Rachel was barren’; for as has been stated, ‘Leah’ represents the affection for exterior truth, ‘Rachel’ the affection for interior truth. But because exterior truths are the first truths which a person learns, the Lord has provided that by means of them he can be introduced into interior truths. This provision is meant by the statement in Gen. 30:22 that God at last remembered Rachel, hearkened to her, and opened her womb.
[5] The truth of all this may be seen from the Churches which existed in ancient times, and from their doctrinal teachings, namely that their teachings were formed from external truths. With the Ancient Church which existed after the Flood their doctrinal teachings were for the most part external representatives and meaningful signs which had internal truths stored within them. For the majority of its members holy worship consisted in those external representatives and signs. If anyone had told them that the essential ingredients of Divine worship were not those representatives and meaningful signs but the spiritual and celestial realities represented and meant by these, they would have rejected them altogether, and so the Church would have ceased to exist. This applied even more to the Jewish Church. If anyone had told them that their religious observances received their holiness from the Divine things that were the Lord’s within them they would not have acknowledged them at all.
[6] Such also was mankind when the Lord came into the world. They had grown even more bodily-minded, especially so those who were members of the Church. This is quite evident even from the disciples who, though with the Lord constantly and hearing so many things about His kingdom, were as yet unable to perceive interior truths. They were still unable to have any other concept of the Lord than such as exists with the Jews at the present day about the Messiah whom they are still awaiting. They imagined that He would promote that people to a position of dominion and glory over all nations throughout the world. And after hearing so many things from the Lord about the heavenly kingdom the disciples were still unable to think anything else than that the heavenly kingdom would be like an earthly kingdom, where God the Father would be supreme, after Him the Son, and then themselves the twelve, and so would reign in this order. For the same reasons also James and John asked to sit one on His right and the other on the left, Mark 10:35-37; and the rest of the disciples were angry at these two wishing to be greater than the rest, Mark 10:41; Matt. 20:24. For the same reason also, after teaching them what it was to be greatest in heaven, Matt. 20:25-28; Mark 10:42-45, the Lord still spoke in the way that they themselves thought. That is to say, He spoke of them sitting on twelve thrones and judging the twelve tribes of Israel, Luke 22:24, 30; Matt. 19:28.
[7] If they had been told that the word ‘disciples’ was not used to mean themselves but all people in whom the good of love and faith dwells, 3354, 3488, and also that in the Lord’s kingdom there are no thrones, nor positions of government and dominion, as in the world, and that they would not be able to pass judgement on even the smallest aspect of any one person, 2129, 2553, they would have rejected that saying, and each would have left the Lord and gone back to his own employment. The reason why the Lord spoke in the way He did was so that they would receive those things and through them be introduced into internal truths. For within the external truths which the Lord spoke internal truths lay stored away which in course of time are laid bare. And when these are laid bare those external truths are dispelled and serve solely as the objects or the means for thought about internal ones. From these considerations one may recognize what is meant by the fact that Jehovah opened Leah’s womb first and she bore sons to Jacob, and that Rachel did so subsequently.
[2] Twelve means all things in general, as shown already in 577, 2089, 2129, 2130 (end), 3272, while ‘tribes’ means matters of truth and good, or of faith and love, so that ‘the twelve tribes’ means all of these. Let this meaning of ‘the twelve tribes’ be substantiated here from the Word before each one is dealt with individually. In John,
The holy city New Jerusalem, having twelve gates, and above the gates twelve angels, and names written which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. He measured the city with the measuring rod, twelve thousand stadia. And he measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Rev. 21:12, 14, 16, 17, 21.
‘The holy city’, or the New Jerusalem, means the Lord’s new Church, as is evident from each detail of this description. Previous chapters refer to what the condition of the Church was going to be like before its end; this chapter refers to a new Church. That being so, ‘the gates’, ‘the wall’, ‘the foundations’ mean nothing else than things constituting the Church, which are those of charity and faith since these constitute the Church.
[3] From this it may be clear to anyone that ‘twelve’ used so many times in that description, also ‘tribes’, and ‘apostles’ too, are not used to mean twelve, or tribes, or apostles, but that ‘twelve’ is used to mean all things in their entirety; see what has been shown in 577, 2089, 2129, 2130 (end), 3272. The same is true of the number ‘a hundred and forty-four’, for this is twelve twelves. And since ‘twelve’ means all things it is evident that ‘the twelve tribes’ means all things constituting the Church, which, as stated above, are truth and good, or faith and love. The same is also true of ‘the twelve apostles’ who as well represented all things constituting the Church, that is, all things of faith and love, see 2129, 3354, 3488, 3857. That number is therefore called ‘the measure of a man, that is, of an angel’, by which is meant a state of truth and good. For ‘measure’ means state, see 3104, and ‘man’ means that which constitutes the Church, as is evident from things said about the meaning of ‘man’ in 478, 479, 565, 768, 1871, 1894, and also from the fact that the Lord’s kingdom is called the Grand Man, which it is called by virtue of good and truth which come from the Lord, dealt with at the ends of chapters in 3624-3649, 3741-3750. And ‘angel’ has the same meaning, 1705, 1754, 1925, 2821, 3039.
[4] As in John, so also in the Prophets, in the Old Testament Word, is the new Jerusalem referred to, where in a similar way the Lord’s new Church is meant, as in Isaiah 65:18, 19, and following verses; in Zechariah 14; and in particular in Ezekiel, Chapters 40-48, where the new Jerusalem, the new Temple, and a new earth describe in the internal sense the Lord’s kingdom in heaven, and the Lord’s kingdom on earth, which is the Church. The contents of those chapters, plainer than anywhere else, show what ‘earth’, ‘Jerusalem’, ‘Temple’, and everything in them meant, and also what ‘the twelve tribes’ means. For the subject of those chapters is the division of the land and the inheritance of it according to tribes, as well as the city and its walls, foundation, and gates, and everything that was to go with the Temple there. From those chapters let simply matters relating to the tribes be quoted here,
The Lord Jehovih said, This is the boundary of your inheritance of the land, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. You shall divide this land according to the tribes of Israel. But you shall divide it by lot as an inheritance, and for sojourners sojourning in your midst. They shall cast lots with you for an inheritance in the midst of the tribes of Israel. Ezek. 47:13, 21-23.
As regards the land, it will be for the prince as a possession in Israel. And the princes will no longer oppress My people, and the land they will give to the house of Israel according to their tribes. Ezek. 45:8.
Concerning inheritances and how they were assigned to individual tribes which are also referred to there by name, see Ezek. 48:1 and following verses; and concerning the gates of the city which are named after the tribes of Israel, verses 31-34 of the same chapter.
[5] Quite plainly, when the tribes are spoken of here it is not the tribes who are meant, for by that time ten tribes had long since been scattered throughout the whole world, and had not subsequently returned. Nor can they possibly return, for they have become gentiles. And yet reference is made to each individual tribe, and to how it was to inherit the land and what its boundary was to be. What the boundary for the tribe of Dan was to be is stated in verse 2; what the boundary for the tribe of Asher was to be in verse 3; what those of Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, and Judah were to be, and concerning the inheritance of the Levites; and what the boundaries of Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, and Gad were to be in verses 4-29. In addition to all this that chapter declares that the city was to have twelve gates named after the tribes of Israel – three gates facing north, those of Reuben, Judah, and Levi; three gates facing east, those of Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan; three gates facing south, those of Simeon, Issachar and Zebulun; and three gates facing west, those of Gad, Asher, and Naphtali, in verses 31-34.
[6] From all this it is evident that ‘the twelve tribes’ means all things that belong to the Lord’s kingdom, and so all that are matters of faith and love, for these constitute the Lord’s kingdom, as stated above. Because the twelve tribes meant all things of the Lord’s kingdom they also represented that kingdom by their encampments and by their travellings. In Moses it is said that they were to encamp according to the tribes around the Tent of Meeting – to the east, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun; to the south, Reuben, Simeon, and Gad; to the west, Ephraim Manasseh, and Benjamin; and to the north, Dan, Asher, and Naphtali, and as they were encamped so they travelled, Num. 2:1-end. In all this they represented the Lord’s kingdom, as is quite evident from Balaam’s prophecy,
When Balaam lifted up his eyes and saw Israel dwelling according to tribes, the Spirit of God came upon him and he delivered his utterance, and said, How good your tabernacles are, O Jacob; your dwelling-places, O Israel! They are like valleys that are planted, like gardens beside a river, like aloes Jehovah has planted, like cedars beside the waters. Num. 24:2, 3, 5, 6.
The fact that Balaam received from Jehovah these words spoken by him is explicitly stated in Num. 22:8, 18, 19, 35, 38; 23:5, 12, 16, 26; 24:2, 13.
[7] From this also it is evident what the inheritances of the land of Canaan according to tribes represented, in connection with which it is said in Moses that he was to take a census of the congregation of the children of Israel, according to their fathers’ houses; a census of those twenty or more years old, everyone going into the army of Israel. The land was to be distributed by lot; according to the names of their fathers’ tribes they were to receive an inheritance, Num. 26:2, 7-56; 33:54; 34:19-29. And Joshua’s actual division of the land by lot according to tribes is described in Chapters 13, 15-19 of the Book of Joshua. From these particular details it is evident that the Lord’s kingdom was represented, as has been stated; for the land of Canaan meant that kingdom, see 1585, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705.
[8] The reason why they are called ‘armies’ and why it is said that ‘they encamped according to their armies and travelled according to their armies’, Num. 2:4, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, 19, 21-23, 26, 28, 30, is that ‘an army’ had the same meaning [as ‘a tribe’], namely truths and goods, see 3448. And the Lord is called Jehovah Zebaoth or ‘Jehovah of Armies (or Hosts)’ 3448. They were for these reasons called ‘the armies of Jehovah’ when they departed from Egypt, as in Moses,
It happened at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, on that same day it happened that all the armies of Jehovah were to come out of the land of Egypt. Exod. 12:41.
Anyone may recognize that such people in Egypt, and after that in the wilderness, were not called ‘the armies of Jehovah’ except in a representative sense, for no good or truth was present in them, the worst of all nations.
[9] From this it is also quite evident what was meant by the names of the twelve tribes on Aaron’s breastplate, which was called the Urim and Thummim. Concerning the breastplate the following is said in Moses,
There shall be four rows in it and twelve stones. These stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve according to their names. The engravings of a signet, for each one over its name, there shall be for the twelve tribes. Exod. 28:17, 21; 39:14.
For ‘Aaron’ represented the Lord’s Divine priesthood, and therefore all the vestments worn by him as high priest meant Divine celestial and spiritual things. But the exact meaning of those vestments will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be clear where they are the subject. Since the breastplate itself was most holy, the names of it were representations of all the essential characteristics of love and faith in the Lord. These are the Urim and Thummim. The reason why the names were engraved on the precious stones was that ‘stones’ in general meant truths, 1298, 3720, and ‘precious stones’ truths shining through from good, 114. And because the name of each individual tribe meant some essential characteristic, a specific stone was also allocated for each tribe, Exod. 28:17-20; 39:10-13, which expressed by means of its colour and transparence the characteristic meant by that tribe. This was how Jehovah or the Lord gave answers by means of the Urim and Thummim.
[10] The two shoham stones which were on the two shoulder-pieces of the ephod had a similar representation but in a lesser degree than the twelve stones on the breastplate. For ‘the shoulders’ meant all power, and so the Lord’s omnipotence, 1085, whereas ‘the breast’ or heart and lungs meant Divine celestial and spiritual love – ‘the heart’ Divine celestial love, ‘the lungs’ Divine spiritual love, see 3635 and the end of the present chapter where the Grand Man and its correspondence with the province of the heart and the province of the lungs is the subject. The two stones on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod are referred to in Moses as follows,
You shall take two shoham stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel, six of the names on one stone and the remaining six names on the other stone, according to their births. You shall put two stones on the shoulder-pieces of the ephod, stones of remembrance for the sons of Israel. Exod. 28:9-12; 39:6, 7.
[11] Because ‘the tribes’ meant what are essentially matters of truth and good, or faith and love, and each tribe meant some universal aspect of these, and since the tribe of Levi meant love, as will be evident from the explanation at verse 34 below, one can therefore recognize what was meant by their placing rods, one for each tribe, in the Tent of Meeting and by Levi’s rod alone blossoming with almonds. All this is described in Moses as follows,
He was told to take twelve rods, one rod for each head of their fathers’ houses, and these were to be left in the Tent of Meeting, the name of Aaron being written on the rod of Levi. Aaron’s rod was placed in the middle of them. And the next day, behold, Aaron’s rod for the tribe of Levi had blossomed; it had produced buds,* so that it flowered and produced almonds. Num. 17:2-8.
These occurrences meant that love was the essential, also the first and foremost, thing of all in the Lord’s kingdom and that love is the source of all fruitfulness. And the reason why Aaron’s name was on the rod was that Aaron represented the Lord as regards His Divine priesthood. For by the Lord’s priesthood is meant Divine Good, which essentially is His love and mercy, and by the Lord’s kingship is meant Divine Truth which stems from Divine Good, see 1728, 2015 (end), 3670.
[12] From what has been introduced so far one may now see what ‘tribes’ and ‘the twelve tribes’ mean in the following places: In John,
I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed out of every tribe of Israel – twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Benjamin. Rev. 7:4-8.
In Moses,
Remember the days of old, understand the years of generation after generation.
When the Most High gave to the nations an inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He fixed the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. Deut. 32:7, 8.
In David,
Jerusalem, built as a city which is closely compacted together, to which the tribes go up, the tribes of Jah, a testimony to Israel, to confess the name of Jehovah. Ps. 122:3, 4.
[13] In Joshua, who was told,
The Ark of the Covenant of the Lord of all the earth is going to pass over before you into the Jordan. Take twelve men from the tribes of Israel, one man from each tribe. And it will happen when the soles of the feet of the priests bearing the Ark of Jehovah, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan will be cut off. They will stand in one heap. Josh. 3:11-17.
And further,
Take out of the midst of the Jordan, from the places where the priests’ feet stood, twelve stones which you are to prepare and carry with you. And let each man take a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of Israel, that it may be a sign that the waters of the Jordan were cut off. Moreover Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan, beneath the places where the feet of the priests bearing the Ark of the Covenant had stood. Josh. 4:1-9.
Also in the description about Elijah,
Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, to whom the word had come, Israel shall be your name; and he built an altar to the name of Jehovah. 1 Kings 18:31, 32.
[14] That ‘the tribes’ means the goods of love and the truths of faith is also clear from the Lord’s words in Matthew,
Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matt. 24:30.
Here ‘all the tribes of the earth will mourn’ means that the acknowledgement of truth and the life of good will not exist any longer, for the subject in that chapter is the close of the age. Similarly in John,
Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, and those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will wail over Him. Rev. 1:7.
What ‘coming in the clouds of heaven’ means, see Preface to Gen. 18. See in addition what I have been shown from experience about the number ‘twelve’, in 2129, 2130.
[15] The reason why all things of faith and love are called ‘tribes’ is that the same expression in the original language also means a sceptre and a rod. For ‘a sceptre’ and also ‘a rod’ mean power, as will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown elsewhere. For this reason the noun ‘tribe’ entails the idea that forms of good and truth possess within them all power from the Lord. And angels too are therefore referred to as ‘powers’ and also ‘principalities’, for ‘princes’ means the first and foremost aspects of charity and faith, such as the twelve princes descended from Ishmael, Gen. 25:16, see 2089, as well as the princes who were leaders of the tribes, Num. 7:1-end; 13:4-16.
[16] From what has been said up to now about the twelve tribes one can recognize why the Lord’s disciples, who later on were called apostles, were twelve in number, and that like the tribes they represented the Lord’s Church as regards goods and truths, 2129, 3354, 3488, 3857. ‘Peter’ represented faith, ‘James’ charity, and ‘John’ the works that flow from charity, see the Prefaces to Gen. 18 and 22, and also 3750. This is also quite evident from the things which the Lord said about them and to them.
* lit. flower
‘Leah conceived and bore a son’ means spiritual conception and birth from what is external to what is internal. ‘And she called his name Reuben’ means the essential nature of it, which is described. ‘For she said, Because Jehovah has seen’ in the highest sense means foresight, in the internal sense faith, in the interior sense understanding, and in the external sense sight – faith received from the Lord being meant here. ‘My affliction’ means a state of arriving at good. ‘For now my husband will love me’ means that from this state would come the good of truth.
[2] So that these things might be manifested in a representative way in the world names were given to each of the sons of Jacob which meant the universal divisions of good and truth, or of love and faith, and so the universal manifestations of variation in celestial and spiritual warmth and of variation in light from that source. What determines the intensity of the flame and the brightness from it is the actual order of those universal manifestations. When love comes first in such order, everything which follows within genuine order from that love is flaming, but when faith comes first everything which follows within genuine order is full of light, yet with all the differences that the things which follow entail. If however they do not follow according to genuine order everything is obscure, and in ever differing ways. But this order and resulting differences will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on. This then is how the Lord gave answers by means of the Urim and Thummim and how according to the state of the actual thing in question they received answers by means of lights and their flashes from the precious and transparent stones on which the names of the twelve tribes had been inscribed. For as has been stated, inscribed on the names were the universal divisions of love and faith which exist in the Lord’s kingdom and so the universal manifestations of flame and light by which those divisions of love and faith are represented in heaven.
[3] First therefore let evidence from the Word be presented to confirm that the order of the names in which the tribes are mentioned varies in the Word, and that each variation of their order is determined by the particular state of the subject under discussion there. And from such evidence one may see that the answers from the Lord given by means of the Urim and Thummim were radiations of light determined by the particular states of the thing – such variations being due to the order of all that was involved. For the entire light of heaven is made to vary by the different states which that thing passes through, and those states are made to vary by the order in which good and truth come. But which aspect of truth or good is meant by each name will be evident from the explanation that is being given. That is to say, Reuben means faith from the Lord; Simeon faith possessed by the will which is received from the Lord; Levi spiritual love, which is charity; Judah the Divinity of love, and the Lord’s heavenly kingdom. What the other eight mean will be stated in the next chapter. Described here is the order in which they were born, which was as follows: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin – see verses 32-35 of the present chapter, and then 30:6, 8, 11, 13, 18, 20, 24; 35:18. This order is determined by the state of the subject that is being dealt with at this point, which is that of the regeneration of man, for this starts with the truth of faith, meant by ‘Reuben’, progresses from this towards the willing of truth, meant by ‘Simeon’, and from this to charity, meant by ‘Levi’, and so on to the Lord, who is meant in the highest sense by ‘Judah’. The progression of spiritual conception and birth, or regeneration, from what is external to what is internal has been stated immediately above in 3860; that is, the progression is from the truth of faith to the good of love.
[4] Before Jacob came to Isaac his father in Mamre, or Kiriath Arba, his sons are mentioned in Gen. 35:23-26 in the following order: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher. In this case those by Leah and Rachel come first, and those by the servant-girls last, this being determined by the state of the subject dealt with at that point. They are listed in yet another order when they travelled and came into Egypt, in Gen. 46:9-19; in another when before his death they were blessed by Jacob, who by then was Israel, in Gen. 49:3-27; and in another again when blessed by Moses, in Deut. 33:6-24. And when they encamped around the Tent of Meeting they did so in the following order: To the east Judah, Issachar, Zebulun; to the south Reuben, Simeon, Gad; to the west Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin; to the north Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Num. 2:1-end. In what order they stood on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, or on Mount Ebal to curse them, see Deut. 27:12, 13. When the princes chosen from each tribe were sent to spy out the land they are listed in Num. 13:4-16 in the following order: Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Issachar, Ephraim, Benjamin, Zebulun, Joseph or Manasseh, Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Gad. But there is a different order to the princes who were to divide the land for inheritance, Num. 34:19-29. In what order the lot fell when it was cast, at the time that the land was divided for inheritance, see Chapters 13-19 of Joshua.
[5] When the boundaries of the new or holy land which the tribes were to inherit are referred to in Ezekiel the tribes are mentioned in the following order: Dan, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Ephraim, Reuben, Judah, Benjamin, Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad. All are described from the corner pointing east to the corner pointing to the sea or west, except Gad which was situated at the south corner pointing towards the south, Ezek. 48:1-7, 23-26. And where the gates of the new or holy city are referred to they are mentioned in the following order: Facing north the three gates of Reuben, Judah, and Levi; facing east the three gates of Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan; facing south the three gates of Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulun; facing west the three gates of Gad, Asher, and Naphtali, Ezek. 48:31-34. For the order of those sealed, twelve thousand from each tribe, see Rev. 7:5-8. In all these places the listing of the tribes depends completely on the state of the subject dealt with, to which the order corresponds. That particular state is evident from what comes before and after.
[6] The order of the precious stones in the Urim and Thummim is mentioned and described in the Word, but which tribes individual stones corresponded to is not mentioned. For those stones represented all things belonging to the light shed by heavenly flame, that is, all aspects of truth originating in good, or of faith originating in charity. And because they represented these things heavenly light itself shone through them in a miraculous way in accordance with the state of the subject concerning which a question was asked and an answer was given. Flashing and bright light stood for a positive answer concerning good and truth, which light was accompanied by variations of the stones’ colours according with the differences of the state of good and truth, as in heaven where all celestial and spiritual things are expressed by means of lights and their differences, and in a way beyond description and completely incomprehensible to man. For as has been shown frequently, heavenly light includes life from the Lord, and so includes wisdom and intelligence. Consequently the differences in light include everything that constitutes the life, that is, everything that constitutes wisdom and intelligence, while the differences in flaming, flashing, and shining include everything that constitutes the life of good and the life of truth received from good, that is, of love to the Lord and of faith derived from that love. Such then were the Urim and Thummim which were on the breastplate of the ephod and were over Aaron’s heart. The nature of them is also evident from the fact that the terms Urim and Thummim mean lights and perfections, and that the breastplate in which they were set is called the breastplate of judgement, because judgement consists in intelligence and wisdom, 2235. The reason it was worn over Aaron’s heart was that ‘the heart’ means Divine love, see 3635 and the section at the end of the present chapter. For this reason also those precious stones were placed in settings of gold, for ‘gold’ in the internal sense means good which is an attribute of love, 113, 1551, 1552, and ‘precious stone’ truth which shines through from good, 114.
[7] The Urim and Thummim are spoken of in Moses as follows,
You shall make the breastplate of judgement, the work of designing, like the work of the ephod you shall make it; out of gold, violet, and purple, and twice-dyed scarlet, and of fine-twined linen you shall make it. It shall be square when doubled. And you shall set within it stone-settings, four rows of stones shall there be. There shall be sockets of gold in their settings. And the stones shall be according to the names of the sons of Israel, twelve according to their names. The engravings of a signet, each one according to its name, there shall be for the twelve tribes. Exod. 28:15-21; 39:8-14.
Which stones had to be set in each row is also specified in those chapters. And further,
The breastplate shall not come away from the ephod. And Aaron shall bear the names of the sons of Israel on the breastplate of judgement over his heart when he goes into the holy place, for a remembrance before Jehovah continually. And you shall put into the breastplate of judgement the Urim and Thummim, and they shall be over Aaron’s heart when he goes in before Jehovah. And Aaron shall bear the judgement of the sons of Israel over his heart before Jehovah continually. Exod. 28:28-30; Lev. 8:7, 8.
The fact that Jehovah or the Lord was inquired of and gave answers by means of the Urim is seen in Moses,
Jehovah said to Moses, Take Joshua the son of Nun. You shall place some of your glory on him, so that all the congregation of the children of Israel may be obedient. He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, and he shall inquire for him in the judgement of the Urim before Jehovah. Num. 27:18, 20, 21.
And in Samuel,
Saul inquired of Jehovah, but Jehovah did not answer him by dreams, or by the Urim, or by prophets. 1 Sam. 28:6.
[2] Controversy existed among the ancients over which was the firstborn of the Church, whether it was the truth of faith or whether it was the good of love. Those who said that the truth of faith was the firstborn based their conclusions on the outward appearance and decided that such truth was the firstborn because it is and must be learned first and because a person is led by means of it into good. But they did not know that good is essentially the firstborn and that it is instilled by the Lord through the internal man so that he may adopt and accept the truth which is brought in by way of the external. They did not know that good holds life from the Lord within it, or that truth does not possess any life except that which comes through good, so that good is the soul of truth by making truth its own and clothing itself with it as the soul does the body. From this it may be seen that to outward appearance truth occupies first place and is so to speak the firstborn while a person is being regenerated, though essentially good occupies first place and is the firstborn, and does actually come to occupy it once he has been regenerated. For the truth of this, see 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3701.
[3] The subject in this and previous chapters being the regeneration of the natural – at this point its first state, which is a state of being led by means of truth into good – the first son of Jacob, who was Reuben, was so named from the phrase Jehovah seeing, which in the internal sense means faith originating in the Lord. Regarded in itself faith consists in faith in the understanding and faith in the will. Knowledge and understanding of the truth of faith is called faith in the understanding, but willing the truth of faith is called faith in the will. The former – faith in the understanding – is the faith meant by ‘Reuben’, but the latter – faith in the will – is that meant by ‘Simeon’. It may be seen by anyone that faith existing in the understanding, or the ability to understand truth, comes before faith existing in the will, or the actual willing of it. For when a person does not know of something, such as heavenly good, he must first come to know of its existence and then to understand what it is before he is able to will it.
[4] ‘Seeing’ in the external sense means sight, as is clear without explanation. ‘Seeing’ in the interior sense means the understanding, as is likewise clear, for the sight that the internal man has is nothing else than the understanding, which also is why in everyday speech the understanding is called internal sight, and the word light is used in reference to it as well as to external sight and is called the light of the understanding. ‘Seeing’ in the internal sense means faith received from the Lord, as is clear from the consideration that interior understanding has no other objects than those of truth and good, for these are the objects of faith. This interior understanding, or internal sight, which has truths of faith as its objects, does not show itself so plainly as the understanding does which has truths to do with public and private life as its objects, the reason being that it exists inside this latter understanding and dwells in the light of heaven, which light is in obscurity as long as a person dwells in the light of the world. Nevertheless it does reveal itself with those who are regenerate, in particular by means of conscience. ‘Seeing’ in the highest sense clearly means foresight, for the intelligence spoken of in reference to the Lord is an infinite intelligence, which is nothing else than foresight.
[5] That ‘seeing’ after which Reuben was named means in the internal sense faith received from the Lord is evident from very many places in the Word, of which let the following be brought forward: In Moses,
Jehovah said to Moses, Make a serpent and set it on a standard, and it will be that everyone who has been bitten, when he sees it, will live. And Moses made a serpent of bronze and set it on a standard. And so it was, if a serpent had bitten a man, when he looked at the serpent of bronze, that he was restored to life again. Num. 21:8, 9.
‘The bronze serpent’ represented the Lord’s external sensory perception, which is natural, see 197 – ‘bronze’ meaning that which is natural, 425, 1551. Faith in Him was represented by the restoration to life again of those who saw it, that is, looked at it, as the Lord Himself teaches in John,
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life. John 3:14, 15.
[6] In Isaiah,
The Lord said, Go and say to this people, Hearing, hear – but do not understand; and seeing, see – but do not comprehend. Make the heart of this people fat and their ears heavy, and plaster over their eyes, lest they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and their heart understands. Isa. 6:9, 10.
Here it is quite evident that ‘seeing, see – but do not comprehend’ means understanding what is true and yet not acknowledging. The words ‘plastering over their eyes, lest they see with their eyes’ means depriving them of the understanding of truth, faith in the Lord being meant in this case by ‘seeing’, as is clear from the Lord’s words in Matthew 13:13, 14, and in John 12:36, 37, 39, 40.
[7] In Ezekiel,
Son of man, you are dwelling in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see but they do not see, who have ears to hear but they do not hear. Ezek. 12:2
‘Eyes to see but they do not see’ stands for their being able to understand the truths of faith but not willing them. They do not will them on account of evils, meant by ‘a rebellious house’, which bring an untrue light to falsities and darkness to truths, in accordance with the following in Isaiah,
They were a rebellious people, lying sons, sons who did not wish to hear the law of Jehovah, who said to the seers, Do not see; and to those who had visions, Do not see for us things that are right, tell us smooth things, see illusions. Isa. 30:9, 10.
In Isaiah,
This people walking in darkness have seen a great light; those dwelling in the land of the shadow of death, upon them has the light shone out. Isa. 9:2.
‘Seeing a great light’ stands for receiving and believing the truths of faith. It is over those who have faith that heavenly ‘light’ is said ‘to shine out’, for the light which is shed in heaven is Divine Truth coming from Divine Good.
[8] In the same prophet,
Jehovah has poured out over you a spirit of slumber, and has closed your eyes, the prophets and your heads, the seers, He has covered. Isa. 29:10.
‘Closing the eyes’ stands for closing the understanding of truth – ‘the eye’ meaning the understanding, see 2701. ‘Covering the seers’ stands for covering those who know and teach the truths of faith. ‘Seers’ in former times were called prophets, and prophets mean those who teach as well as meaning the truths of doctrine, see 2534. In the same prophet,
The priest and the prophet err through strong drink, they err among those who see, they are tottery in judgement. Isa. 28:7.
Here the meaning is similar. ‘The judgement in which they are tottery’ means the truth of faith, see 2235. In the same prophet,
The eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. Isa. 32:3.
Here the meaning is similar.
[9] In the same prophet,
Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty, they will see a land stretching far. Isa. 33:17.
‘Beholding the king in his beauty’ stands for beholding truths of faith which come from the Lord and are called beautiful by virtue of good. ‘Seeing a land stretching far’ stands for seeing the good of love. For ‘the king’ means the truth of faith, see 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, this being called beautiful by virtue of good, 553, 3080, 3821; and ‘a land’ means the good of love, 620, 636, 3368, 3379. In Matthew,
Blessed are the pure in heart, for these will see God. Matt. 5:8.
Here it is quite evident that ‘seeing God’ means believing in Him, and so seeing Him by faith, for people who possess faith, from faith see God, since God is within faith and is that within faith which constitutes true faith.
[10] In the same gospel,
If your eye causes you to stumble pluck it out. It is better for you to enter into life one-eyed than having two eyes to be thrown into the Gehenna of fire. Matt. 18:9.
Here, as is quite evident, ‘the eye’ does not mean the eye. Nor does it mean that the eye has to be plucked out, for it is not the eye that causes the stumbling but the understanding of truth meant here by ‘the eye’, 2701. The law that it is better not to know and grasp the truths of faith than to know and grasp them and yet to lead a life of evil is what is meant by ‘better to enter into life one-eyed than having two eyes to be thrown into the Gehenna of fire’.
[11] In the same gospel,
Blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly, I say to you, many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, but did not see. Matt. 13:13-17; John 12:40.
‘Seeing’ stands for knowing and understanding the things that constitute faith in the Lord, and so stands for faith. For it was not their seeing the Lord and seeing His miracles that made them ‘blessed’ but their believing, as becomes clear from the following words in John,
I said to you that you have both seen Me and not believed. This is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have eternal life. No one has seen the Father except Him who is with the Father; He has seen the Father. Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes in Me has eternal life. John 6:36, 40, 46, 47.
‘Seeing and not believing’ stands for knowing the truths of faith and not accepting them, ‘seeing and believing’ for knowing them and accepting them. The words ‘No one has seen the Father except Him who is with the Father’ stands for not being able to acknowledge Divine Good except through Divine Truth – ‘the Father’ being Divine Good and ‘the Son’ Divine Truth, see 3704. Consequently the internal sense is that nobody is able to possess heavenly good unless he acknowledges the Lord.
[12] Similarly in the same gospel,
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 in the same gospel,
Jesus said, He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as Light into the world in order that everyone who believes in Me may not remain in darkness. John 12:45, 46.
Here it is explicitly stated that ‘seeing’ means believing or possessing faith. And in the same gospel,
Jesus said, If you know Me you know My Father also. And from now you know Him and have seen Him. He who has seen Me has seen the Father. John 14:7, 9.
In the same gospel,
The Spirit of truth the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. I will not leave you orphans, I am coming to you. Yet a little while, the world will see Me no longer, but you will see Me; because I live you will live also. John 14:17-19.
‘Seeing’ stands for possessing faith, for it is solely through faith that the Lord is seen. Actually faith is the eye of love, since it is from love through faith that the Lord is seen, love being the life of faith. Hence His statement, ‘You will see Me; because I live you will live also’.
[13] In the same gospel,
Jesus said, For judgement I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, but that those who see may become blind. The Pharisees said, Are we also blind? Jesus said to them, If you were blind you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see’, therefore your sin remains. John 9:39-41.
‘Those who see’ stands for those who imagine themselves to be more intelligent than everybody else. Of them it is said that they will become blind, that is, will not acquire faith. ‘Not seeing’ or being blind is used in reference to those immersed in falsities, and also to those who have no knowledge [of the truth], see 2383. In Luke,
To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but for everyone else in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear. Luke 8:10.
Here the meaning is similar. In the same gospel,
I tell you truly, There are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God. Luke 9:27; Mark 9:1.
‘Seeing the kingdom of God’ stands for believing. In the same gospel,
Jesus said to the disciples, The days will come when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see. Luke 17:22.
This refers to the close of the age or last period of the Church when no faith exists any longer.
[14] In the same gospel,
It happened, when Jesus was at table with them, that He took the bread and said a blessing, and broke it and gave to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized Him. Luke 24:30, 31.
The meaning of this event was that the Lord comes into sight through good, but not through truth devoid of good; for ‘bread’ means the good of love, 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3478, 3735, 3813. From these and many other places it is clear that ‘seeing’ in the internal sense means faith received from the Lord, for no other faith exists which is truly faith except faith which comes from the Lord. This is also the faith that enables a person to see, that is, to believe. But faith originating in self or a person’s proprium is not truly faith, for it causes him to see falsities as truths and truths as falsities; or if he does see truths as truths he does not truly see them because he does not believe them. For in them he sees himself and not the Lord.
[15] That ‘seeing’ means possessing faith in the Lord is quite evident from what has been stated often about the light of heaven, namely that because it flows from the Lord the light of heaven holds intelligence and wisdom within it, and so holds faith in Him since faith in the Lord is inwardly present in intelligence and wisdom. Consequently seeing by that light, as angels do, can mean nothing else than faith in the Lord. The Lord Himself too is within that light because it proceeds from Him. That light is also the light which shines within the conscience of those who possess faith in Him, though no one is directly conscious of its doing so as long as he lives in the body, for during that time the light of the world is obscuring that light.
[2] This can be seen quite clearly by anyone if he turns his attention to those who lead evil lives and to those who lead good lives. Those who lead evil lives, though instructed in the teachings of the Church during childhood and youth like everybody else, will be found on examination to believe nothing at all about the Lord, about faith in Him, or about the truths of the Church, whereas those who lead good lives will be found in every case to have faith in those truths which they believe to be truths. Those however who teach truths, as Church leaders do, and yet lead evil lives will indeed say that they believe, yet they do not believe in their hearts.
[3] With some a persuasive faith exists which is an imitation of true faith, but that faith is no more than factual knowledge which has been corroborated by them not because it is the truth but because by declaring their allegiance to it they improve their chances of personal position, honour, and gain. That knowledge goes no further than through the ears into the memory, and from the memory passes out on to the lips. It does not enter the heart and from there into a confession of it. From these considerations it is evident that the life is the guide to what kind of acknowledgement of truth exists, that is, to what kind of faith. They also show that faith separated from the good of life declares that no matter how a person lives he can still be saved by grace, and that such faith argues against the teaching that everyone’s life remains with him after death.
‘She conceived again and bore a son’, as previously, means spiritual conception and birth from what is external towards things that are more internal still. ‘For Jehovah has heard’ means in the highest sense providence, in the internal sense the will of faith, in the interior sense obedience, in the external sense the sense of hearing – faith in the will which is received from the Lord alone being meant here. ‘That I was hated’ means the state of faith if there is no will corresponding to it. ‘And has given me this one also’ means that which happens next. ‘And she called his name Simeon’ means the essential nature of it.
[2] It should be recognized that when distinguished from charity the word faith is used to mean truth, such as the truth of doctrine, that is, such as is incorporated in the confession called the Apostles’ Creed. This usage is in accord with the general meaning the word has in the Church, for the belief is that possessing faith in truths constitutes the faith through which salvation comes. Few know that faith is trust and confidence, and among these few fewer still know that trust or confidence originates in charity and is unable to exist with anyone who does not possess the life of charity.
[2] It is because these two – obedience, and faith in the will – lie thus within ‘hearing’ that these attributes are also meant in everyday speech by the phrases hearing, listening to, and paying attention to; for a person who ‘hears’ is one who is obedient, and ‘listening to’ somebody also means obeying him. For those entities which exist interiorly within something are sometimes included within the actual expressions a person uses when he speaks. These occur there because it is a person’s spirit which thinks and which grasps the meaning of the expressions used by others when they speak; and his spirit is in a way in contact with spirits and angels among whom the first beginnings of verbal expressions exist. What is more, the whole range of man’s experience is such that whatever enters in through the ear and eye, or hearing and sight, passes into his understanding, through the understanding into the will, and from the will into deed. So it is with the truth of faith. This first becomes the truth of faith present within knowledge, then the truth of faith within the will, and finally the truth of faith in deed, and so finally charity. Faith within knowledge or the understanding is meant by ‘Reuben’, as has been shown; faith in the will by ‘Simeon’; and faith in the will when it becomes charity by ‘Levi’.
[3] As regards ‘hearing’ in the highest sense meaning providence, this may become clear from what has been stated above in 3863 about ‘seeing’ in the highest sense meaning foresight, for the Lord’s foresight is a seeing from eternity to eternity that a thing is so, whereas His providence is a governing that that thing should be so and a bending of a person’s freedom towards good insofar as He foresees that that person is going to allow himself in freedom to be bent towards it, see 3854.
[4] That ‘Jehovah heard’, the phrase from which Simeon received his name, in the interior sense means obedience, and in the internal sense faith in the will acquired from the Lord alone, is evident from very many places in the Word, such as the following: In Matthew,
Behold, a voice from the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear Him. Matt. 17:5.
‘Hearing Him’ stands for possessing faith in Him, and obeying His commandments, and so possessing faith in the will. In John,
Truly, truly, I say to you, that the hour will come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming in which all who are in the tombs will hear His voice. John 5:25, 28.
‘Hearing the voice of the Son of God’ stands for possessing faith in the Lord’s words, and willing them. People who possess faith that is part of the will receive life, and that is why the words ‘those who hear will live’ are used.
[5] In the same gospel,
The one entering by the door is the shepherd of the sheep; to him the gate- keeper opens, and the sheep hear his voice. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one flock and one shepherd. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. John 10:2, 3, 16, 27.
‘Hearing the voice’ plainly stands for obedience resulting from faith that is part of the will. In the same gospel,
Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. John 18:37.
Here the meaning is similar. In Luke,
Abraham said to him, They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets neither will they be persuaded if someone rose from the dead. Luke 16:29, 31.
‘Hearing Moses and the Prophets’ stands for knowing things contained in the Word and possessing faith in it, and so also willing those things. For possessing faith without willing is seeing but not hearing, whereas possessing faith together with willing is seeing and hearing. This is why both – seeing and hearing – are mentioned together in various places throughout the Word, seeing meaning that which is portrayed through ‘Reuben’ and hearing that which is portrayed through ‘Simeon’, since the two are joined together like brother to brother.
[6] The fact that seeing and hearing are referred to jointly is clear from the following places: In Matthew,
Therefore I speak to them in parables, because those who see do not see, and those who hear do not hear, nor do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah which says, By hearing you will hear and not understand, and seeing you will see and not discern. This people’s heart has become gross, and with ears they have heard in a dull manner, and their eyes they have closed, lest perhaps they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and with their heart understand. But blessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. Truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, but did not see it, and to hear what you hear, but did not hear it. Matt. 13:13-17; John 12:40; Isa. 6:9.
In Mark,
Jesus said to the disciples, Why do you discuss the fact that you have no loaves? Are you still without understanding and do not understand? Do you still have your heart hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? Mark 8:17, 18.
[7] In Luke,
To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but for everyone else in parables, that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not hear. Luke 8:10.
In Isaiah,
The eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf will be opened. Isa. 35:5.
In the same prophet,
Then on that day the deaf will hear the words of the book, and out of thick darkness and out of darkness the eyes of the blind will see. Isa. 29:18.
In the same prophet,
Hear, you deaf, and look and see, you blind. Isa. 42:18.
In the same prophet, Bring forth the blind people, who will have eyes, and the deaf, who will have ears. Isa. 43:8.
In the same prophet,
The eyes of those who see will not be closed, and the ears of those who hear will listen. Isa. 32:3.
In the same prophet, Let your eyes be looking at your teachers, and let your ears hear the word. Isa. 30:20, 21.
In the same prophet,
He who stops his ear lest it hears of blood, and shuts his eyes lest they see evil, will dwell on the heights. Isa. 33:15, 16.
In Ezekiel,
Son of man, you are dwelling in the midst of a rebellious house, who have eyes to see but they do not see, who have ears to hear but they do not hear. Ezek. 12:2.
In these places both seeing and hearing are mentioned because one follows the other. That is to say, faith in the understanding, meant by ‘seeing’, is followed by faith in the will, meant by ‘hearing’. Otherwise it would have been sufficient to mention only one. From this it is also evident why one son of Jacob was named from the expression ‘seeing’ and the other from ‘hearing’.
[8] The origin of ‘seeing’ meaning faith within knowledge or the understanding, and ‘hearing’ faith within obedience or the will rests in correspondences in the next life and in meaningful signs based on these. People who have understanding and faith resulting from that understanding belong to the province of the eye, and those who are obedient and have faith resulting from that obedience belong to the province of the ear. The truth of this will be seen from what, in the Lord’s Divine mercy, is going to be shown at the ends of chapters concerning the Grand Man and the correspondence with it of everything in the human body.
[9] So it is then that ‘the eye’ in the internal sense means the understanding, see 2701, and ‘the ear’ obedience. And in the spiritual sense ‘the ear’ means faith resulting from obedience, or faith in the will, as is also clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
Even so, you have not heard, even so, you have not known; even so, from that time your ear has not opened itself. Isa. 48:8.
In the same prophet,
The Lord Jehovih will arouse my ear to hear like those who are being taught. The Lord Jehovih opened my ear, and I was not rebellious. Isa. 50:4, 5.
In the same prophet,
Attend diligently to Me, and eat what is good, that your soul may delight in fatness; incline your ear and come to Me; hear, that your soul may live. Isa. 55:2, 3.
In Jeremiah,
To whom am I to speak and testify, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot listen. Jer. 6:10.
In the same prophet,
This I commanded them, saying, Hear My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people. But they did not hear, nor did they incline their ear. Jer. 7:23, 24, 26
In the same prophet,
Hear, O women, the word of Jehovah, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth. Jer. 9:20.
In the same prophet,
You did not incline your ear, and you did not obey Me. Jer. 35:15.
In Ezekiel,
Son of man, all My words that I have spoken to you, receive in your heart, and hear with your ears. Ezek. 3:10.
In the same prophet,
I will bring My zeal against you, and they will deal with you in fury. Your nose and your ears they will remove Ezek. 23:25.
‘Removing nose and ears’ stands for removing the perception of truth and good, and the obedience that goes with faith. In Zechariah,
They refused to pay attention, and fumed a stubborn shoulder, and made their ears heavy so that they might not hear, and set their heart adamant, so that they might not hear the law. Zech. 7:11, 12.
[10] In Amos,
Thus said Jehovah, As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so will the children of Israel in Samaria be rescued, on the corner of a bed and on the end of a couch. Amos 3:12.
‘Rescuing two legs’ stands for rescuing the will for good, ‘a piece of an ear’ for rescuing the will for truth. It may be seen that ‘a piece of an ear’ has this meaning, as has been stated, solely from correspondences in the next life and from the meaningful signs based on these, with which the internal sense of the Word and also the ritual observances in the Israelitish and Jewish Church are in accordance. This explains why, when Aaron and his sons were to be consecrated for their specific function, Moses was commanded among other things to take some of the ram’s blood and to put it on the tip of Aaron’s ear and on the tips of the ears of his sons, and on the thumbs of their right hands and on the large toes of their right feet, Exod. 29:20. This ritual act represented the will anointed by faith, into which also as priest he was to be initiated. Anyone can recognize that this ritual act was holy since it was Jehovah who commanded Moses to perform it, and so also that putting blood on the tip of the ear was holy. But what holy thing was meant cannot be known except from the internal sense of the things in the Word, which at this point is that the holiness of faith when applied to the will must be preserved.
[11] The meaning of ‘the ear’ as obedience, and in the internal sense as faith resulting from that obedience, is even more plainly evident from the ritual that was to be observed when a slave did not wish to go free, described in Moses as follows: If a slave or servant-girl did not wish to go free,
His master shall bring him to God, and shall bring him to the door or to the doorpost; and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl, and he shall serve him for ever. Exod. 21:6; Deut. 15:17.
‘Piercing his ear with an awl at the doorpost’ stands for serving and obeying for ever. In the spiritual sense it stands for having no wish to understand what is true, only a wish to be obedient to it. This, compared with an understanding of what is true, is not freedom.
[12] Since the obedience of faith is meant in the internal sense by ‘the ears’, and being obedient by ‘hearing’, one may see what is meant by the following words spoken by the Lord many times, He who has an ear to hear, let him hear, Matt. 13:9, 43; Mark 4:9, 23; 7:16; Luke 8:8; 14:35; Rev. 2:7, 11, 29; 3:13, 22.
[13] As regards ‘hearing’ in the highest sense meaning providence and ‘seeing’ foresight, this is clear from the following places in the Word in which eyes and also ears are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord; as in Isaiah,
Incline Your ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open Your eyes, O Jehovah, and see. Isa. 37:17.
In Daniel,
Incline Your ear, O my God, and hear; open Your eyes* and see our devastations. Dan. 9:18.
In David,
O God, incline Your ear to me, and hear my speech. Ps. 17:6.
In the same author,
Incline to me Your ear, and save me. Ps. 71:2.
In the same author,
Turn an ear to my prayers, on account of Your truthfulness; answer me, on account of Your righteousness. Ps. 143:1.
In Jeremiah,
O Jehovah, You heard my voice; do not hide Your ear at my sighing, at my cry. Lam. 3:56.
In David,
O Jehovah, do not hide Your face from me in the day of my distress; incline to me Your ear; in the day I cry answer me. Ps. 102:2.
[14] It is well known that Jehovah does not have ears or eyes as man does but that some attribute which may be ascribed to the Divine is meant by the ear and the eye, namely infinite will and infinite understanding. Infinite will is providence, and infinite understanding foresight; and it is these that are meant in the highest sense by ear and eye when these are attributed to Jehovah. These considerations now show what is meant in each sense [of the Word] by ‘Jehovah heard’, the phrase from which ‘Simeon’ received his name.
* The Latin adds O Jehovah but this does not appear in the Hebrew or in Sw’s rough draft.
[2] But this faith – that is to say, faith separated from charity and therefore contrary to charity – is represented later on by Reuben’s lying with Bilhah his father’s concubine, Gen. 35:22, and by the expression of disgust by Jacob, who by then was named Israel, in the following words,
Reuben, my firstborn, you are my strength and the beginning of my power. Unstable as water, may you not excel, for you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it. He went up to my couch. Gen. 49:3, 4.
Also described in that chapter, by means of Simeon and Levi, is the contrariety to charity of the will and affection that go with this faith, namely faith separated from charity, in the following words,
Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their assembly let not my glory be united; for in their fury they killed a man, and in their wilfulness they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their fury, for it is fierce, and their anger, for it is severe. I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel. Gen. 49:5-7.
That faith separated from charity is described in this case by Simeon and Levi will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown later on.
‘She conceived again and bore a son’, as previously, means spiritual conception and birth from what is external towards that which is more internal still. ‘And she said, Now this time my husband will cling to me’ means in the highest sense love and mercy, in the internal sense charity, in the external sense a joining together – spiritual love being meant here. ‘For I have borne him three sons’ means that which happens next. ‘Therefore she called his name Levi’ means the essential nature of it.
[2] As regards ‘clinging’ in the internal sense meaning spiritual love, or what amounts to the same, charity towards the neighbour, this may also be seen from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,
Do not let the son of the foreigner who has clung to Jehovah say, Jehovah surely separates me from being with His people. The sons of the foreigner who cling to Jehovah, to minister to Him and to delight in the name of Jehovah, will be His servants. Isa. 56:3, 6.
‘Clinging to Jehovah’ stands for keeping His commandments, which is an act of spiritual love, for no one at heart keeps God’s commandments except him in whom good that flows from charity towards the neighbour is present. In Jeremiah,
In those days the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah weeping as they come; and they will seek Jehovah their God. They will ask Zion concerning the way, their faces towards it, [saying,] Come and let us cling to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that is not forgotten. Jer. 50:4, 5.
‘Clinging to Jehovah’ in like manner stands for keeping His commandments at heart, that is, doing so from good that flows from charity.
[3] In Zechariah,
Many nations will cling to Jehovah on that day and will be My people. Zech. 2:11.
Here the meaning is similar. In Isaiah,
Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob, and will again choose Israel, and will set them on their own land. And the sojourner will cling to them, and they will join themselves to the house of Jacob. Isa. 14:1.
‘The sojourner clinging to them’ stands for having a similar allegiance to the law. ‘Joining themselves to the house of Jacob’ stands for the good that flows from charity, which is present in those meant by ‘the house of Jacob’. In Matthew,
No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will cling to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Matt. 6:24.
Here the celestial form of love is meant by ‘loving’, the spiritual form by ‘clinging to’. Both of these expressions are used because those two forms of love are distinct and separate. Otherwise one expression would have been sufficient.
[4] People who are stirred by spiritual love are therefore called ‘the sons of Levi’, as in Malachi,
Who can endure the day of His coming, and who will stand when He appears? He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them like gold, and like silver. Mal. 3:2, 3.
In the highest sense the Lord is meant by ‘Levi’ by virtue of Divine love and of mercy towards those in whom spiritual love is present. This may be seen in the same prophet,
That you may know that I have sent this command to you, to be My covenant with Levi, said Jehovah Zebaoth. My covenant with him will be [a covenant] of life and peace. You have turned back from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law, you have corrupted the covenant of Levi; therefore I have made you despised. Mal. 2:4, 5, 8, 9.
And because in the highest sense the Lord’s Divine Love or His Mercy was meant by ‘Levi’, and in the internal sense spiritual love, the tribe of Levi was therefore established as the priesthood; for in the internal sense of the Word ‘the priesthood’ is nothing other than the holiness of love and ‘kingship’ the holiness of faith, 1728, 2015 (end), 3670.
[5] Because the expression ‘cringing to’ from which Levi received his name
means spiritual love, which is the same as mutual love, the same expression in the original language is used to mean lending and borrowing.* And these two – lending and borrowing – in the Jewish Church represented mutual love, a representation which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with elsewhere. Mutual love is different from friendship inasmuch as mutual love has a person’s good in view, and in directing itself towards that good is directed towards the person in whom good is present. Friendship however has the person in view, which is also mutual love when it looks at that person from the point of view of, that is, on account of, that good. But when it does not look at him from the point of view of good or on account of that good but on account of self which it calls good, friendship is not in that case mutual love but something close to the love of self. And insofar as it is close to this it is opposed to mutual love. In itself mutual love is nothing else than charity towards the neighbour, for in the internal sense ‘the neighbour’ means nothing else than good, and in the highest sense the Lord because all good originates in Him and He is Good itself, see 2425, 3419. This mutual love or charity towards the neighbour is what is understood by spiritual love and meant by ‘Levi’. What is more, in the Word celestial love, and also conjugial love, is expressed in the sense of the letter as ‘clinging to’, but this is derived from a different expression in the original language from that from which the name Levi is obtained.
[6] This other expression means an even closer joining together, as in the
following places: In Moses,
You shall fear Jehovah your God: you shall serve Him and cling to Him. Deut.
10:20.
You shall go after Jehovah your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and hear His voice, and serve Him, and cling to Him. Deut. 13:4.
To love Jehovah your God, to go in all His ways, and to cling to Him. Deut. 11:22.
To love Jehovah your God, to obey His voice, and to cling to Him, for He is your life. Deut. 30:20.
In Joshua,
Take good care to carry out the commandment and the law which Moses the
servant of Jehovah commanded you, to love Jehovah your God, and to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and to cling to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. Josh. 22:5.
In the second Book of Kings,
King Hezekiah trusted in Jehovah the God of Israel. He clung to Jehovah; he did not turn back from going after Him, and he kept His commandments which
Jehovah had commanded Moses. 2 Kings 18:5, 6.
In Jeremiah,
As a waistcloth clings to the loins of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me, to be for Me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory; but they were not obedient. Jer. 13:11.
[7] The fact that conjugial love as well is expressed by ‘clinging to’ is evident from the following,
Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and will cling to his wife, and they will be one flesh. Gen. 2:24.
On account of your hardness of heart Moses wrote this commandment, but from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man (homo) will leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two will be one flesh. What therefore God has joined together man (homo) must not put asunder. Mark 10:5-9; Matt. 19:5.
The soul of Shechem clung to Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. He loved the girl, and spoke to the girl’s heart. Gen. 34:3.
Solomon loved many foreign women. Solomon clung to these in love. 1 Kings 11:1, 2.
These quotations show then that ‘clinging to’ is an expression descriptive of love which was adopted in ancient times by Churches in which meaningful signs were prominent, and that it means nothing else in the internal sense than a spiritual joining together, which is charity and love.
* lit. mutually giving and receiving
‘She conceived again and bore a son’ means, as previously, spiritual conception and birth from what is external towards that which is more internal still. ‘And she said, This time I will confess Jehovah’ means in the highest sense the Lord, in the internal sense the Word, in the external sense doctrine from the Word – the Divinity of love, also His celestial kingdom being meant here. ‘Therefore she called his name Judah’ means the essential nature of it. ‘And she left off bearing’ means the ascent up a stairway from earth even to Jehovah or the Lord.
[2] But what ‘confessing’ or ‘confession’ really is will be seen from places in the Word where these expressions are used, as in Isaiah,
You will say on that day, I will confess You O Jehovah; for You were angry with me, Your anger turned away, and You comforted me. And you will say on that day, Confess Jehovah, call on His name, make His deeds known among the people, make mention that His name is exalted. Isa. 12:1, 4.
In David,
we will confess You O God; we will confess, and Your name is near. They tell of Your wonders. Ps. 75:1.
In the same author,
A Psalm for confession. Make a joyful noise to Jehovah, all the earth. He made us and not we ourselves, His people and the flock of His pasture; therefore we are His, His people and the flock of His pasture.* Enter through His gates in confession, His courts in praise; confess Him, bless His name, for Jehovah is good, His mercy is for ever, and His truth from generation to generation. Ps. 100:1-5.
What ‘confessing’ and ‘confession’ mean here is self-evident, namely acknowledging Jehovah or the Lord, and the things that are His – that acknowledgement clearly being doctrine and the Word.
[3] In Isaiah,
Jehovah will comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places. Gladness and joy will be found in her, confession and the voice of song. Isa. 51:3.
In Jeremiah,
Thus said Jehovah, Behold, I will bring back the captivity of the tents of Jacob and have compassion on his dwellings. And the city will be built upon its mound, and the palace will be inhabited in its accustomed manner. And there will come out from these confession and the voice of those amusing themselves. Jer. 30:18, 19.
In David,
I will confess Jehovah according to His righteousness, and will sing of the name of Jehovah Most High. Ps. 7:17.
In the same author,
When I shall have gone to the house of God with the voice of song and of confession, a multitude keeping festival. Ps. 42:4.
In the same author,
I will confess You among the nations, O Lord, I will make melody to You among the peoples, for great even to heaven is Your mercy. Ps. 57:9, 10.
[4] From these places it is evident that ‘confession’ has reference to the celestial form of love, for in the descriptions ‘confession and the voice of song’, ‘confession and the voice of those amusing themselves’, ‘I will confess You among the nations and I will make melody to You among the peoples’, ‘confession’ is used to mean something distinct and separate from that meant in phrases describing the spiritual form of love. ‘Confession’ or ‘confessing’ is a celestial term, whereas ‘the voice of song’, ‘the voice of those amusing themselves’, and also ‘making melody’ are spiritual expressions. In addition confession is said to occur ‘among the nations’ but melody to be made ‘among the peoples’ because ‘the nations’ means those who are governed by good, ‘the peoples’ those who are governed by truth, 1416, 1849, 2928, that is, those governed by celestial love and those governed by spiritual love. For in the Word, in the Prophets, dual expressions commonly occur in which one has reference to what is celestial or good, the other to what is spiritual or true, so that the Divine marriage may exist in every individual part of the Word, and so a marriage of good and truth, see 683, 793, 801, 2173, 2516, 2712, 3132. From this it is also evident that confession implies the celestial form of love and that genuine confession, or that which flows from the heart, flows from nothing else than good. But confession which flows from truth is called ‘the voice of song’, ‘the voice of those amusing themselves’, and ‘making melody’.
[5] A similar duality occurs in the following places: In David,
I will praise the name of God with a song and will magnify Him with confession. Ps. 69:30.
In the same author,
I will confess You on a ten-stringed instrument, Your truth, O my God. I will sing to You with the harp, O Holy One of Israel. Ps. 71:22.
‘Singing with the harp’ and all other stringed instruments mean spiritual things, see 418-420. In the same author,
Enter His gates in confession, His courts in praise; confess Him, bless His name. Ps. 100:4.
‘Confession’ and ‘confessing’ flow from the love of good, but ‘praise’ and ‘blessing’ from the love of truth. In the same author,
Reply to Jehovah by means of confession; make melody to our God with the harp. Ps. 147:7.
In the same author,
I will confess You in the great congregation, I will praise You among a numerous people. Ps. 35:18.
In the same author,
I will confess Jehovah with my mouth, and in the midst of many will I praise Him. Ps. 109:30.
In the same author,
We, Your people and the flock of Your pasture, will confess You for ever; generation after generation we will recount Your praise. Ps. 79:13.
In the same author,
Let them confess Jehovah for His mercy, and for His marvellous works to the children of men. Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of confession, and proclaim His works with a song. Ps. 107:21, 22.
[6] In all these places it is evident that dual expressions occur describing the same thing, which would be seen as pointless repetitions if one did not embody something celestial, which is good, and the other something spiritual, which is truth, and so did not embody the Divine marriage. The Lord’s kingdom is that marriage. This arcanum is present in every part of the Word but it cannot possibly be disclosed except by means of the internal sense, and of knowledge derived from this, showing which in a dual expression belongs to the celestial category and which to the spiritual. But a general impression of what the celestial is and what the spiritual, to which reference has often been made already, must exist first.
[7] True confession of the heart, because it flows from celestial love, is confession in the genuine sense. The person with whom it exists acknowledges that everything good comes from the Lord and everything evil from self. When that acknowledgement exists with him it is a state of humiliation, for in this case he acknowledges the Lord to be everything in him and he himself in comparison to be nothing. And when confession is made in this state it flows from celestial love.
[8] But the sacrifices of confession which were offered in the Jewish Church were thanksgivings, and in the universal sense were called eucharistic and repayment sacrifices, of which there were two kinds – those of confession and those that were votive. As regards sacrifices of confession embodying the celestial form of love within them, this becomes clear from the institution of them, described in Moses as follows,
This is the law of the sacrifice of eucharistic offerings made to Jehovah. If someone offers it as a confession, he shall offer in addition to the sacrifice of confession unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and fine flour fried, cakes mixed with oil. With leavened cakes of bread he shall offer his gift, in addition to the sacrifice of confession. Lev. 7:11-13, 15.
All the things mentioned here, such as ‘unleavened cakes mixed with oil’, ‘unleavened wafers anointed with oil’, ‘fine flour fried’, ‘leavened cakes of bread’ mean the celestial things of love and faith and so mean confessions. It also means that these must be present within humiliation. For ‘fine flour’ and cakes made from it mean the celestial element of love and from this the spiritual element of faith, which is charity, see 2177; ‘unleavened’ means purification from evils and falsities, 2342; ‘oil’ means the celestial element of love, 886, 3728, as does ‘bread’ also, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735.
[9] Votive offerings however, which constituted the second kind of eucharistic sacrifices, in the external sense meant repayment, in the internal sense the will that the Lord should provide, and in the highest sense a state of Providence, see 3732. This is why both types of offerings are mentioned in various places in the Word, as in David,
Sacrifice to God confession, and render to the Most High your vows. He who sacrifices confession honours Me, and he who sets in order the way, to him will I show the salvation of God. Ps. 50:14, 23.
In the same author,
Upon me, O God, are Your vows; I will repay confessions to You. Ps. 56:12.
In the same author,
To You will I sacrifice the sacrifice of confession, and on the name of Jehovah will I call. I will render my vows to Jehovah. Ps. 116:17, 18.
[10] In Jonah,
I with the voice of confession will sacrifice to You; that which I have vowed I will render. Jonah 2:9.
From all this one may now see what ‘confession’ is, from which Judah received his name, namely this: In the highest sense the Lord and the Divinity of love; in the internal sense the Word, and also the Lord’s celestial kingdom; and in the more exterior sense doctrine from the Word which the celestial Church possesses. Evidence that these things are meant in the Word by ‘Judah’ may be seen in what is presented below.
* The first and second halves of this sentence are in fact alternative ways of understanding the original Hebrew.
[2] That ‘Judah’ in the internal sense means the Lord’s celestial Church, in the universal sense His celestial kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself may be seen from many places in the Old Testament where Judah is mentioned, for example, from the following: In Moses,
You are Judah; your brothers will praise you; your hands will be on the neck of your enemies; the sons of your father will bow down to you. A lion’s whelp is Judah; from the prey you have gone up, my son. He crouched, he lay down like a lion, and like an old lion; who will rouse him up? The sceptre will not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes; and to him will be the gathering of peoples. Binding his ass’s colt to the vine, and the foal of his she-ass to a choice vine, he will wash his clothing in wine, and his garment in the blood of grapes. His eyes are red from wine, and his teeth white from milk. Gen. 49:8-12.
[3] Nobody can know the meaning of this prophetical declaration about Judah uttered by Jacob, who by then was Israel – not even one expression used there – except from the internal sense. He cannot know for example what is meant by ‘his brothers will praise him’ and ‘his father’s sons will bow down to him’, or by ‘his going up from the prey like a lion’s whelp’, and ‘his crouching and lying down like a lion’. Nor can he know what is meant by ‘Shiloh’, by ‘binding his ass’s colt to the vine, and the foal of his she-ass to a choice vine’, by ‘washing his clothing in wine, and his garment in the blood of grapes’, by ‘eyes red from wine’, or by ‘teeth white from milk’. As has been stated, these expressions cannot possibly be understood by anyone except from the internal sense, yet all of them – each one – mean celestial things belonging to the Lord’s kingdom, also things that are Divine. The same words also foretell that the Lord’s celestial kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself, were to be represented by Judah. All these things declared by Jacob will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed in the explanations of the chapter in which they occur.
[4] Similar examples involving the name Judah occur elsewhere, especially in the Prophets, as in Ezekiel,
You son of man, take a stick and write on it, For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions’. And take another stick and write on it, For Joseph – the stick of Ephraim and of the whole house of Israel, his companions – and join them together, one to the other into one stick for you, and they will be one in your, hand. I will make them into one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one king will be king to them all. My servant David will be king over them, and they will all have one shepherd. And they will walk in My judgements, and keep My statutes and do them. And they will dwell in the land which I gave to Jacob My servant, in which your fathers dwelt. And they will dwell in it, they and their sons, and their sons’ sons even for ever. And David My servant will be their prince for ever, and I will make with them a covenant of peace, it will be an eternal covenant with them. I will bless them, and multiply them, and I will grant My sanctuary in their midst for evermore. Thus will My dwelling-place be with them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people. Ezek. 37:15-28.
Anyone who takes Judah, Israel, Joseph, Ephraim, and David in this passage to mean those actual people will believe all these things will actually take place as described in the sense of the letter. That is to say, he will believe that Israel is going to be reunited with Judah, as well as the tribe of Ephraim; also that David is going to reign as king; that in this manner they are going to dwell in the land given to Jacob for ever, and that at that time an eternal covenant will exist with them and the sanctuary will be in the midst of them for ever. But in fact the meaning of this passage has nothing whatever to do with that nation but with the Lord’s celestial kingdom meant by ‘Judah’, and His spiritual kingdom meant by ‘Israel’, and with the Lord Himself meant by ‘David’. From this it is quite evident that names are not used to mean actual persons but things that are celestial and Divine.
[5] The same is so with the following words in Zechariah,
Many peoples and numerous nations will come to seek Jehovah Zebaoth in Jerusalem and to placate Jehovah’s face. Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue will take hold; and they will take hold of the hem of a man of Judah, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. Zech. 8:22, 23.
Those who take these words literally will say, as the Jewish nation believes still, that being a prophecy not yet fulfilled it is going to be fulfilled in the future. These say that they are going to go back to the land of Canaan, that many from every nation and tongue will follow them, and take hold of the hem of a man of Judah and plead to be allowed to follow. They say that at that time God – that is to say, the Messiah, whom Christians call the Lord – will be among them, to whom they must first be converted. This would be the true implication of these words if ‘a man of Judah’ were used to mean a man of Judah. But in fact the internal sense at this point deals with a new spiritual Church among gentiles, and ‘a man of Judah’ means saving faith which results from love to the Lord.
[6] That ‘Judah’ is not used to mean Judah but, as has been stated, means in the internal sense the Lord’s celestial kingdom which was represented in the Church established among Judah or the Jews, becomes quite clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
When the Lord raises an ensign for the nations He will gather the outcasts of Israel, and will assemble the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth. Then the envy of Ephraim will depart, and the enemies of Judah will be cut off. Ephraim will not envy Judah, and Judah will not harass Ephraim. Isa. 11:12, 13.
In Jeremiah,
Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, who will reign as king, and prosper, and execute judgement and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is His name which they will call Him, Jehovah our Righteousness. Jer. 23:5, 6.
In Joel,
Then you will know that I am Jehovah your God, who dwell in Zion, My holy mountain; and Jerusalem will be holy. It will happen on that day, that the mountains will drip new wine, and the hills will flow with milk, and all the streams of Judah will flow with water; and a spring will come forth from the house of Jehovah and will water the river of Shittim. Judah will abide for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation. Joel 3 :17, 18, 20.
[7] In Zechariah,
On that day I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. And on the house of Judah I will open My eyes, and every horse of the peoples I will strike with blindness. And the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, I will strengthen for myself the inhabitants of Jerusalem in Jehovah Zebaoth their God. On that day I will set the leaders of Judah like a hearth of fire in sticks of wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they will devour to the right and to the left all the peoples round about, and Jerusalem will yet again be inhabited in her own place, in Jerusalem. And Jehovah will save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitant of Jerusalem, may not exalt itself over Judah. On that day Jehovah will protect the inhabitant of Jerusalem, and the house of David will be like God, like the angel of Jehovah in front of them. And I will pour out over the house of David and over the inhabitant of Jerusalem a spirit of grace. Zech. 12:4-10.
This refers to the Lord’s celestial kingdom, where truth should not have dominion over good but ought to be subordinate to it, truth being meant by ‘the house of David’ and ‘the inhabitant of Jerusalem’, and good by ‘Judah’. From this it is evident why first it is said that ‘the glory of the house of David, and the glory of the inhabitant of Jerusalem, will not exalt itself over Judah’, and after this that ‘the house of David will be like God, and like the angel of Jehovah’, and that ‘a spirit of grace will be poured out over it and over the inhabitant of Jerusalem’. For such is the state when truth is subordinate to good or faith to love. ‘The horse which will be struck with panic, and the horse of the peoples with blindness’ is self-intelligence, see 2761, 2762, 3217.
[8] In the same prophet,
On that day there will be on the horses’ bells, Holiness to Jehovah. And the pots in the house of Jehovah will be as the bowls before the altar. And every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah will be holiness to Jehovah Zebaoth. Zech. 14:20, 21.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom. In Malachi,
Behold, I am sending My angel, who will prepare the way before Me, and suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking, and the angel of the covenant in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming. Who can endure the day of His coming? Then the minchah of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to Jehovah, as in the days of old and as in former years. Mal. 3:1, 2, 4.
This plainly refers to the Coming of the Lord. The meaning is that Judah and Jerusalem’s minchah was not, as is well known, acceptable but that worship flowing from love, Judah’s minchah, and worship flowing from faith rooted in love, Jerusalem’s minchah, are acceptable.
[9] In Jeremiah,
Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, Again they will speak this word in the land of Judah and in its cities when I turn again their captivity: Jehovah bless you, O habitation of righteousness, O holy mountain! And Judah and all its cities will dwell in it together. Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, in which I will sow the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. Behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, in which I will make with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah a new covenant, not like the covenant which I made with their fathers. Jer. 31:23, 24, 27, 31, 32.
In David,
The Lord chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which He loved, and built His sanctuary as the heights, as the earth He founded it for ever. Ps. 78:68, 69.
[10] From these places and very many others which have not been mentioned one may see what ‘Judah’ means in the Word. They show that ‘Judah’ does not mean the Jewish nation, for that nation was anything but the celestial Church or the Lord’s celestial kingdom; for so far as love to the Lord, charity towards the neighbour, and faith; went they were the worst nation of all. This has been so from their earliest forefathers, namely the sons of Jacob, even to the present day. But in spite of this such people were able to represent the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom, see 3479-3481. For in representations no attention is paid to the person who represents, only to what is represented by him, 665, 1097 (end), 1361, 3147, 3670.
[11] But when they did not adhere to the religious observances commanded by Jehovah or the Lord but deviated from them into acts of idolatry they no longer represented those things but such as are contrary to them, namely those of hell and the devil, according to the Lord’s words in John,
You are from your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not take a stand on the truth. John 8:44
Such is the meaning of ‘Judah’ in the contrary sense, as becomes clear
from the following: In Isaiah,
Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because their tongue and their works are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of His glory to anger. Isa. 3:8.
In Malachi,
Judah has acted faithlessly, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, and Judah has profaned the holiness of Jehovah, for he loved and married the daughter of a foreign god. Mal. 2:11.
And in addition in the following places – Isa. 3:1 and following verses;
8:7, 8; Jer. 2:28; 3:7-11; 9:26; 11:9, 10, 12; 13:9; 14:2; 17:1; 18:11-13; 19:7; 32:35; 36:31; 44:12, 14, 26, 28; Hosea 5:5; 8:14; Amos 2:4, 5; Zeph. 1:4; and many times elsewhere.
* The Latin means For Judah and his sons, Israel his companions, but the Hebrew means For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions, which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
** The Latin means my but the Hebrew means your.
[2] This stepping up is also meant by the stairway seen in a dream by Jacob which was set up on the earth, a stairway whose top reached to heaven, and on which the angels of God were going up and coming down, with Jehovah or the Lord standing above it, described in Chapter 28:12. From this it is evident that ‘she left off bearing’ has the meaning that has been stated. For explanations that the four conceptions and births spoken of meant an advance from what is external to what is internal, or from truth to good, that is, from earth to heaven, see 3860, 3868, 3874, 3879. Coming down is subsequent to this, for no one is able to come down before he has gone up. Coming down however is nothing else than surveying truth from good, as when one climbs a mountain and then regards the things that lie below. From that position he can, in a single survey of the scene, take in an incalculably greater number of things than people standing below or in the valley, as is evident to anyone. It is exactly the same with those who are governed by good, that is, by love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. These can see incalculably more than those governed merely by truth, that is, by faith alone.
What the Grand Man is, and what correspondence with it is, has been stated already. The Grand Man consists in heaven in its entirety, which in general is a likeness and image of the Lord. Correspondence is a correspondence of the Lord’s Divine with the celestial and spiritual things of heaven, and of those celestial and spiritual things of heaven with natural things in the world, primarily those in man. Thus there exists, by means of heaven or the Grand Man, a correspondence of the Lord’s Divine with man and every individual part of him, so much so that man comes into being from that correspondence and is all the time coming into being, that is, is kept in being, from it.
[2] The second general activity which I perceived was into the breathing of the lungs, which was gently controlling my own breathing. But it did so from what was interior and so I had no need to call on my own will to control my breathing or drawing of breath. I perceived plainly at that time the actual breathing of heaven. It is an internal breathing and not therefore perceptible to man, but flows in by means of a wonderful correspondence into man’s breathing, which is external or of the body. And if man were deprived of that influx he would instantly fall down dead.
[3] The third activity which I perceived was into the systole and the diastole of the heart, which was at that time gentler in myself than it had ever been at any other times. The pulse rate was regular – round about three beats for every breath that was taken – yet such that beats ended in and so conditioned actions taking place in the lungs. How at the end of each breath taken the alternating actions of the heart fitted into those of the lungs I was allowed to observe to a certain extent. The alternate sounds of the pulse could be observed so easily that I was able to count them. They were separate and gentle.
[4] The fourth general activity was into the kidneys; this too I was allowed to perceive, though obscurely. From these activities it was evident that heaven or the Grand Man has heartbeats and draws breaths, and that the heartbeats of heaven or the Grand Man have a correspondence with the heart and its systolic and diastolic motions, and that the breathing actions of heaven or the Grand Man have a correspondence with the lungs and their breathing actions. But neither can be observed by man, being imperceptible because they are internal.
[2] Inhabitants of the Lord’s celestial kingdom all belong to the province of the heart, and those of His spiritual kingdom all belong to the province of the lungs. The influx from the celestial kingdom into the spiritual kingdom is similar to the influx of the heart into the lungs, and also to the influx of all things belonging to the heart into those belonging to the lungs. For the heart reigns in the whole of the body and in every individual part of it by means of the blood vessels, as do the lungs in every individual part by means of the breathing. Consequently throughout the body there is so to speak an influx of the heart into the lungs, but this is dependent on the forms there and on the states. This is how all sensation arises and also all activity which belongs properly to the body. This point can also be proved from embryos and new-born infants. These cannot have any bodily sensation or any act of individual will until the lungs have been opened for them and an influx consequently takes place of heart into lungs. It is similar in the spiritual world, the difference being that bodily and natural things do not exist in that world but celestial and spiritual, which are the good of love and the good of faith. With them therefore motions of the heart are determined by the states of love, and respiratory motions by the states of faith. The influx of one into the other causes them to have sensations of things in a spiritual manner and to act in a spiritual manner. These ideas are bound to seem paradoxical to man because he has no other idea of the good of love or of the truth of faith than that they are some abstract qualities which have no power to effect anything. In fact the contrary is the case; that is to say, they are the source of all perception and sensation, of all energy and activity, including those in man.
[2] On one occasion I was told before going to sleep that many were plotting against me who had it in mind to make me perish by suffocation. But I took no notice of their threats because the Lord protected me, and so I went comfortably off to sleep. But at midnight I woke up and plainly experienced that I was not breathing from myself but was doing so from heaven. For the act of breathing was not my own and yet I myself was still breathing. On countless other occasions I have been allowed to feel what the breathing of spirits and also of angels is like through the experience of them breathing within me, though my own breathing continued at the same time yet separately from theirs. But nobody is allowed to have such an experience unless the interior parts of him have been opened and communication with heaven granted to him in this way.
3894[a] Because this is the case, and because the upright on entering the next life are first of all taken back to the life which had been theirs in the world, 2119, and so are also taken back to the desires and pleasures of that life, they cannot move among angels and breathe with them, for the reason that they have not yet undergone preparation for this. So when they undergo such preparation they are first of all introduced into angelic life by means of their taking breaths in unison with angels, and as they do so they enter at the same time into interior perceptions and into heavenly freedom. This takes place in a community consisting of many, that is, in choirs, in which one member breathes in the same way as another, and also perceives in the same way, and in the same way acts in freedom. And the way in which this is effected I have been shown visually.
[2] Persuasive argument supporting what is true with a person leading a life of evil is such that he convinces himself that the truth is the truth not because he has good as his end in view but evil. That is to say, he convinces himself of it so that by means of the truth he may gain in position, reputation, and wealth. Such power of persuasion can exist with the most evil people of all. They can be so zealous seemingly for the truth that they condemn to hell all who, though good exists with them, do not possess the truth. Regarding this persuasion, see 2689, 3865. When such people first enter the next life they believe that they are angels, but they are unable to come near any angelic community, being suffocated so to speak by their own power of persuasive argument. They are those of whom the Lord spoke in Matthew,
Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy through Your name and cast out demons through Your name, and do many mighty works in Your name? But then I will confess to them, I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Matt. 7:22, 23.
In the preliminary section of this chapter – in accordance with the method of presentation adopted previously – those things which the Lord has taught in Matthew 24 about the Last Judgement or final stages of the Church come up for explanation. The preliminary section of the previous chapter explained the contents of Matt. 24:19-22, and now an explanation appears below of verses 23- 28, which are,
Then if anyone says to you, Behold, here is the Christ! or There! do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will arise, and they will show great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you beforehand. If therefore they say to you, Behold, He is in the wilderness! do not go out; Behold, He is in the inner rooms! do not believe it. For as the lightning comes from the east and is seen as far as the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For wherever the carcass is, there also the eagles will be gathered together.
[2] The Lord’s reason for speaking in this manner was that people should not understand the Word in case they profaned it; for once the Church had been destroyed, as it had been at that time among the Jews, people would have profaned the Word if they had understood it. This was also why the Lord spoke in parables, as He himself teaches in Matthew 13:13-15; Mark 4:11, 12; Luke 8:10. For the Word cannot be profaned by those who have no knowledge of its mysteries, only by those who do, see 301-303, 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 3398, 3402; and more so by those who consider themselves learned than by those who consider themselves unlearned.
[3] But the reason why the interior contents of the Word are being disclosed at the present time is that the Church today has been so much vastated, that is, is so devoid of faith and love, that although people know and understand they still do not acknowledge, let alone believe, see 3398, 3399 – with the exception of a few who lead a good life and are called the elect. Among these few who are now able to be taught the new Church is to be established. But where those few are the Lord alone knows. Few of these will be inside the Church. In the past it has been the gentiles among whom new Churches have been established, see 2986.
[2] For false Christs and false prophets will arise means the falsities taught by that doctrine. ‘False Christs’ means matters of doctrine from the Word that have been falsified, that is, truths that are not Divine, as is evident from what has been stated immediately above; see also 3010, 3732 (end). And ‘false prophets’ means those who teach those falsities, 2534. In the Christian world those who teach falsities are in particular those who have self-aggrandizement and also worldly wealth as their end in view. Indeed they twist the truths of the Word to suit themselves. For when self-love and love of the world is the end in view, nothing else is contemplated. These are the ‘false Christs and false prophets’.
[3] And they will show great signs and wonders means proofs and convincing reasons that are based on outward appearances and on illusions by which the simple allow themselves to be led astray. The meaning of ‘signs and wonders’ will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown elsewhere.
[4] So as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect means those who lead lives that are good and true and who therefore abide in the Lord. These are the ones who in the Word are called ‘the elect’. They are rarely present in a group of those who cloak worship that is profane with outward reverence; or if they are present there they go unrecognized because the Lord hides them and so protects them. Until they have been made strong by Him, they easily allow themselves to be led astray by external practices expressing reverence; but once they have been made strong they are not deceived. For though they are not aware of it, they are kept by the Lord in the company of angels, when it is impossible for them to be led astray by that unspeakable crew.
[5] Behold, I have told you beforehand means an exhortation to be shrewd, that is, to be on their guard, since they are among false prophets who appear in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves, Matt. 7:15. Those false prophets are the sons of the age who are more shrewd, that is, more cunning, in their own generation than the sons of light, referred to in Luke 16:8. For this reason the Lord warns them as follows,
Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves. Matt. 10:16.
[6] If therefore they say to you, Behold, He is in the wilderness! do not go out; Behold, He is in the inner rooms! do not believe it means that what they say about the truth, what they say about good, and many other things, are not to be believed. Nobody can see that this is the meaning of these words except one who is acquainted with the internal sense. They contain an arcanum within them, as one may see from the fact that the Lord spoke them and that without some other sense concealed within them interiorly they would not amount to anything. That is to say, the injunctions not to go out if they said that Christ was in the wilderness and not to believe it if they said that He was in the inner rooms would not amount to anything. But truth that has undergone vastation is what ‘the wilderness’ means, and good that has undergone vastation, what ‘the inner rooms’ or inward parts means. The reason why truth that has undergone vastation is meant by a wilderness is that when the Church has undergone vastation, that is, when there is no Divine truth there any longer because no good exists there any longer, that is, no love to the Lord or charity towards the neighbour, it is called a wilderness or said to be in the wilderness. For the word wilderness is used to mean everything that is uncultivated or uninhabited, 2708, and also to mean that which has little life to it, 1927, as is the case at that time with truth in the Church. From this it is evident that ‘the wilderness’ here means a Church in which truth does not exist.
[7] ‘The inner rooms’ or inward parts however in the internal sense means the Church as regards good, and also simply that which is good. A Church in which good is present is called ‘the House of God’, ‘the inner rooms’ in this case being forms of good, as also are the contents of that house. For ‘the House of God’ means Divine good, and ‘a house’ in general means good that flows from love and charity, see 2233, 2234, 2559, 3142, 3652, 3720. The reason why what they say about truth and what they say about good is not to be believed is that they call falsity the truth and evil good. Indeed people whose end in view is self and the world do not understand anything else by truth and good than that they themselves should be adored and they themselves should receive benefits. And if they give the impression that they are devout it is so that they may be seen dressed in sheep’s clothing.
[8] What is more, the Word which the Lord has spoken contains more in it than anyone can calculate, and ‘the wilderness’ is an expression that has a wide range of spiritual meanings. As everything uncultivated or uninhabited is called ‘the wilderness’ and all things that are interior are called ‘the inner rooms’, therefore ‘the wilderness’ also means the Old Testament Word since this is considered to be superseded, while ‘the inner rooms’ means the New Testament Word since this teaches about interior things, that is, it is concerned with the internal man. The Word as a whole is likewise referred to as ‘the wilderness’ when it no longer serves to supply matters of doctrine, and ‘inner rooms’ is the name given to human practices which, being departures from the commands and ordinances of the Word, turn the Word into a wilderness. This is also well known in the Christian world, for people whose worship is outwardly holy but inwardly profane owing to the introduction of novelties which have as their end in view pre-eminence over all others and becoming wealthier than all others set aside the Word. Indeed they go so far as not to allow others to read it. And even in the case of those whose worship is not profane as just described and who do regard the Word to be holy and do allow it a place among ordinary people, they nevertheless bend and explain everything in accordance with their own teachings. And this turns the rest of the Word which does not accord with their own teachings into a wilderness, as becomes quite clear from those who focus salvation on faith alone and show contempt for the works of charity. They turn so to speak into a wilderness everything which the Lord Himself has stated in the New Testament, and so many times in the Old, about love and charity. And everything to do with faith without works is turned so to speak into inner rooms. From this it is evident what is meant by, If they say to you, Behold, He is in the wilderness! do not go out; Behold, He is in the inner rooms! do not believe it.
[9] For as the lightning comes from the east and is seen as far as the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be means that internal worship of the Lord will be like lightning which is instantly dispersed. For ‘lightning’ means that which is a manifestation of heavenly light and thus that which has reference to love and faith since these are the components of heavenly light. ‘East’ in the highest sense means the Lord, in the internal sense good that flows from love, charity, and faith received from the Lord, see 101, 1250, 3249. ‘West’ in the internal sense however means that which has gone down or ceased to be, and so means the non-acknowledgement of the Lord or of good that flows from love, charity, and faith. Accordingly ‘the lightning which comes from the east and is seen as far as the west’ means dispersal. The Lord’s coming does not consist, as the letter has it, in His appearing once again in the world, but in His presence within everyone. He is present there as often as the gospel is preached and that which is holy is contemplated.
[10] For wherever the carcass is, there the eagles will be gathered together means that confirmations of falsity by means of reasonings will be multiplied in the Church that has undergone vastation. When the Church is devoid of good and as a consequence devoid of the truth of faith, that is, when it has undergone vastation, it is called dead, since good and truth are the source of its life. And so when it is dead it is compared to ‘the carcass’. Reasonings to the effect that goods and truths are nothing except insofar as they can be grasped mentally, and confirmations of evil and falsity by means of those reasonings, are meant by ‘the eagles’, as may be seen from what follows immediately below. The fact that ‘the carcass’ here means the Church when devoid of the life of charity and faith is evident from the Lord’s words where the close of the age is the subject, in Luke,
The disciples said (referring to the close of the age or the Last Judgement), Where, Lord? Jesus said to them, Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered together. Luke 17:37.
‘The body’ is used here instead of the carcass, it being a dead body that is understood in this case, which means the Church. For it is clear from many references in the Word that the House of God – that is, the Church – is where the Judgement begins. These then are the details meant in the internal sense by the Lord’s words which have been introduced and explained above. The most wonderful flow of ideas, though barely visible at all in the sense of the letter, may be seen by anyone who thinks about them in the connected sequence explained above.
Jehovah found His people [Jacob] in a wilderness land and in the emptiness, the howling, the lonely place He encompassed him, instructed him, and kept him as the pupil of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreads out its wings, takes one, carries it on its wings. Deut. 32:10, 11.
That which is described here and compared to the eagle is instruction in the truths and goods of faith. The actual process up to the point when a person becomes rational and spiritual is what this description and comparison contains. All comparisons in the Word are made by means of meaningful signs, in this case by ‘the eagle’, which means the rational.
[2] In the same author,
Jehovah said to Moses, You have seen the things which I did to the Egyptians, and I bore you on eagles’ wings so that I might bring you to Myself. Exod. 19:3, 4.
Here the meaning is similar. In Isaiah,
Those who await Jehovah will be renewed with strength; they will mount up with strong wings like eagles; they will run and not be weary, they will walk and not faint. Isa. 40:31.
‘Being renewed with strength’ stands for growth in the willing of good, ‘mounting up with strong wings like eagles’ for growth in the understanding of truth, and so growth of the rational. Here, as elsewhere, dual expressions are used to present the subject, the first of a pair involving good which belongs to the will, the second truth which belongs to the understanding. ‘Running and not being weary’ and ‘walking and not fainting’ are similar dual expressions.
[3] In Ezekiel,
Speak a parable about the house of Israel, and say, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, A great eagle with long pinions, full of feathers, in its embroidery, came on Lebanon and took a twig of the cedar. He carried it into a land of trade, he placed it in a city of perfumers. It sprouted and became a spreading vine. There was another great eagle with great wings and full of feathers, towards which, behold, this vine directed its roots, and sent out its branches towards it to water it from the beds of its young plants in a good field, by many waters. But it will be laid waste. He sent his ambassadors to Egypt that they might give him horses and many people. Ezek. 17:2-9, 15.
The eagle mentioned first stands for the rational enlightened by the Divine, the eagle mentioned second for the rational originating in the proprium, subsequently perverted by means of reasonings based on sensory evidence and factual knowledge – ‘Egypt’ standing for factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, and ‘horses’ for understanding resulting from all this, 2761, 2762, 3217.
[4] In Daniel,
A vision of Daniel. Four beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another. The first was like a lion, but had eagle’s wings. I watched it until its wings were torn away and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on its feet like a human being; and the heart of a human being was given to it. Dan. 7:3, 4.
That which is described by ‘a lion which had eagle’s wings’ is the first state of the Church, ‘eagle’s wings’ in this case meaning rational ideas originating in the proprium. And when these had been removed, rational ideas and desires in the will which had a Divine origin were given to it. These are meant by the lifting up of the eagle from the ground and the standing of it on its feet like a human being, and the gift to it of the heart of a human being.
[5] In Ezekiel,
As for the likeness of the faces of the four living creatures or cherubs, each of the four had the face of a human being, and the face of a lion on the right side; and each of the four the face of an ox on the left side; and each of the four had the face of an eagle. Ezek. 1:10.
Their wheels were called Galgal; and each one had four faces – the first face was the face of a cherub, the second face the face of a human being, the third the face of a lion, and the fourth the face of an eagle. Ezek. 10:13, 14.
In John,
Around the throne were four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature was like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a human being, the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. Rev. 4:7.
Clearly, those living creatures that were seen mean Divine arcana, as consequently does the likeness of their faces. But exactly which arcana are meant cannot be known unless one knows what ‘lion’, ‘calf’, ‘human being’, and ‘eagle’ mean in the internal sense. It is evident that ‘the face of an eagle’ means vigilance and therefore providence, for the cherubs who were represented by the living creatures in Ezekiel mean the Lord’s providence which guards against anyone entering the mysteries of faith from himself and his own rationality as the starting point, see 308. This also shows that when ‘an eagle’ is used in reference to a human being the rational is meant in the internal sense. It has this meaning because an eagle is a high-flyer and from its more exalted position has a wide view of things below.
[6] In Job,
Is it through your intelligence that the hawk flies up and spreads its wings towards the south? Is it at your command* that the eagle lifts itself up and makes its nest up high? Job 39:26, 27.
In this verse it is evident that ‘the eagle’ means reason which is an attribute of intelligence. This was what ‘eagle’ meant in the Ancient Church, for the Book of Job is a book of the Ancient Church, 3540 (end). In fact the writing of almost all the books of that period involved the use of meaningful signs, but with the passage of time meaningful signs have been so eclipsed that it is not even known that ‘birds’ in general means thoughts, even though these are referred to many times in the Word and in those places quite clearly is meant something different from birds.
[7] As regards ‘the eagle’ in the contrary sense meaning rational ideas that are not true, and so are false, this is evident from the following places: In Moses,
Jehovah will raise up above you a nation from far away, from the end of the earth, as an eagle flies, a nation whose language you do not understand, a hard-faced nation. Deut. 28:49, 50.
In Jeremiah,
Behold, he comes up [like] clouds, and his chariots like a whirlwind; his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we have been laid waste! Jer. 4:13.
In the same prophet,
Your bragging has deceived you, and the pride of your heart, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, who hold the height of the hill; because, like the eagle, you have made your nest up high, I will cast you down from there. Behold, he mounts up and flies like an eagle, and spreads his wings over Bozrah; and the heart of the powerful men of Edom has become on that day like the heart of a woman in distress. Jer. 49:16, 22.
In the same prophet,
Our pursuers were swifter than eagles; they pursued us over the mountains, they laid in wait for us in the wilderness. Lam. 4:19.
In Micah,
Make yourself bald, and shave your head for the children of your delight; extend your baldness like an eagle, for they have departed from you. Micah 1:16.
In Obadiah,
If you raise yourself up like the eagle, and if you place your nest among the stars, I will bring you down from there. Obad. verse 4.
In Habakkuk,
I am rousing the Chaldeans, a bitter and headlong nation, marching into the breadths of the earth, to inherit habitations that are not its own. Its horses are swifter than leopards.** Its horsemen will come from afar. They will fly in like an eagle hastening to devour. Hab. 1:6, 8.
[8] In all these places ‘eagles’ means falsity that has been introduced through reasonings – the delusions of the senses and external appearances being the source of that falsity. ‘The Chaldeans’ referred to in the last of the Prophets quoted means people who outwardly are holy but inwardly are under the influence of falsity, see 1368, and these like Babel are those who lay waste the Church, 1367. ‘The breadths of the earth’ means truths (the vastation of which is meant by ‘marching into the breadths of the earth’) see 3433, 3434, and ‘horses’ their intellectual concepts, which are similar, 2761, 2762, 3217. What is meant by ‘an eagle hastening to devour’ is clear from all this, namely a hastening to make man desolate of truths, for the desolation of the Church is the subject in these verses. Comparisons are made with eagles, but as has been stated, comparisons in the Word are made by means of meaningful signs. From all this one may now see what is meant by the comparison with the eagles which will be gathered together where the carcass is.
* lit. mouth
** The Latin means eagles, but the Hebrew means leopards, which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
GENESIS 30
1 And Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob [any children], and Rachel was jealous of her sister, and said to Jacob, Give me sons; if you do not, I am dead.
2 And Jacob flared up in anger against Rachel, and he said, Am I in God’s place, who is withholding from you the fruit of the womb?
3 And she said, Behold, my maidservant Bilhah; go [in] to her, and let her bear [a child] upon my knees, and I too shall be built up from her.
4 And she gave him Bilhah her servant-girl as his wife, and Jacob went [in] to her.
5 And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son.
6 And Rachel said, God has judged me, and also has heard my voice, and has given me a son. Therefore she called his name Dan.
7 And Bilhah, Rachel’s servant-girl, conceived again and bore a second son to Jacob.
8 And Rachel said, With the wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed. And she called his name Naphtali.
9 And Leah saw that she had stopped bearing, and she took Zilpah her servant-girl, and gave her to Jacob as his wife.
10 And Zilpah, Leah’s servant-girl, bore Jacob a son.
11 And Leah said, A troop comes! And she called his name Gad.
12 And Zilpah, Leah’s servant-girl, bore a second son to Jacob.
13 And Leah said, In my blessedness! for the daughters will call me blessed. And she called his name Asher.
14 And Reuben went in the days of the wheat harvest and found dudaim in the field, and brought them to Leah his mother. And Rachel said to Leah, Give me now some of your son’s dudaim.
15 But she said to her, Is it a small thing for you to have taken my husband? And will you take also my son’s dudaim? And Rachel said, Therefore he will lie with you this night [in return] for your son’s dudaim.
16 And Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him and said, You must come [in] to me, for I have surely hired you with my son’s dudaim. And he lay with her that night.
17 And God hearkened to Leah, and she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son.
18 And Leah said, God has given me my reward, because I gave my servant-girl to my husband. And she called his name Issachar.
19 And Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob.
20 And Leah said, God has endowed me with a good dowry; once again my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons. And she called his name Zebulun.
21 And afterwards she bore a daughter and called her name Dinah.
22 And God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her and opened her womb.
23 And she conceived and bore a son, and she said, God has taken away* my reproach.
24 And she called his name Joseph, saying, May Jehovah add to me another son.
25 And it happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph, that Jacob said to Laban, Send me away and let me go to my own place and to my own land.
26 Give me my womenfolk and my children for whom I have served you, and let me go; for you know my service with which I have served you.
27 And Laban said to him, If now I have found grace in your eyes have learned from experience, and Jehovah has blessed me for your sake.
28 And he said, Indicate your wages to me, and I will give them.
29 And [Jacob] said to him, You know how I have served you, and how your cattle have fared with me.
30 For you had few before I came, and they have increased into a multitude; and Jehovah has blessed you since I set foot here. And now, when shall I, even I, provide for my own house?
31 And he said, What shall I give you? And Jacob said, You shall not give me anything; if you will do this one thing for me, I will return, feed, and guard your flock.
32 I will pass through all your flock today, removing from it every speckled and spotted member of the flock, and every black one among the lambs, and the spotted and speckled among the she-goats; and that will be my wages.
33 And my righteousness will answer for me on the morrow, when you come [to look] over my wages that are before you; every one that is not speckled and spotted among the she-goats, and black among the lambs, is one stolen by me.
34 And Laban said, Behold, let it be according to your word.
35 And he removed on that day the variegated and spotted he-goats, and all the speckled and spotted she-goats, every one that had white in it, and every black one among the lambs; and he gave them into the hand of his sons.
36 And he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob; and Jacob was feeding the rest of Laban’s flocks.
37 And Jacob took for himself fresh rods of poplar, and hazel and plane, and stripped white strips on them – an exposing of the white which was on the rods.
38 And he set the rods which he had stripped in runners, in the troughs of water where the flocks came to drink, in front of the flocks; and they came on heat as they came to drink.
39 And the flocks came on heat at the rods, and the flocks brought forth variegated, speckled, and spotted ones.
40 And Jacob singled out the lambs, and set the faces of the flock towards the variegated, and every black one in Laban’s flock; and he put his own droves apart and did not put them near Laban’s flock.
41 And so it was, whenever those came on heat – those of the flock which came together first – that Jacob put the rods before the eyes of the flock in the runners, so that they would come on heat at the rods.
42 And before [the eyes of those of] the flock which came together later he did not put [the rods] in. And those which came together later were Laban’s, and those which came together first were Jacob’s.
43 And the man became very very prosperous,** and he had many flocks, and servant-girls and slaves, and camels and asses.
* lit. gathered up
** lit. spread himself exceedingly exceedingly
The previous chapter dealt, through Jacob’s four sons by Leah, with the state of the Church, that is, of the person who is becoming the Church, as regards the ascent from truth which is the truth of faith towards good which is the good of love. The present chapter deals – through Jacob’s sons by the servant- girls of Rachel and Leah, and through those also by Leah and lastly Rachel – with the means by which natural truth becomes joined to spiritual good, and also with the order in which this is effected with one who is being regenerated.
Verses 1, 2 And Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob [any children], and Rachel was jealous of her sister, and said to Jacob, Give me sons; if you do not, I am dead. And Jacob flared up in anger against Rachel, and he said, Am I in God’s place, who is withholding from you the fruit of the womb?
‘Rachel saw that she was not bearing Jacob [any children]’ means that interior truth was not yet acknowledged. ‘And Rachel was jealous of her sister’ means indignation that it was not being acknowledged as external truth was. ‘And said to Jacob, Give me sons’ means a desire to have interior truths by the good of natural truth. ‘If you do not, I am dead’ means that otherwise [the affection for interior truth] would not rise again. ‘And Jacob flared up in anger against Rachel’ means indignation on the part of natural good. ‘And he said, Am I in God’s place’ means that good was powerless. ‘Who is withholding from you the fruit of the womb’ means that it had to originate in what was internal.
[2] Take for example the internal truth that all good comes from the Lord and that no good exists which springs from man’s proprium. This truth can be known when regeneration begins, but it cannot as yet be acknowledged in action as well as in faith since the acknowledgement of it in faith and action involves a discernment in the mind that that truth is indeed a truth and a desire in the heart for it to be a truth; and this is the situation whenever good is put into action. That acknowledgement also involves the discernment that good springing from the proprium inevitably entails self-regard, thus putting self before others, and as a consequence contempt for others and above all thoughts of merit for the good that one does. These faults are present in external truth before internal truth has been joined to it, and the two cannot be joined together until self-regard starts to wane and a regard for the neighbour begins to be felt. From this one may see what is meant by indignation that internal truth was not yet being acknowledged as external truth was.
[2] This also explains why the literal sense is such, but not the internal sense, in that the literal is accommodated to the mental grasp of the natural man, the internal to the mental grasp of the spiritual man. This shows that ‘flaring up in anger’ means being indignant. Truly spiritual indignation does not originate at all, and celestial still less so, in the anger of the natural man but in the inner heart of zeal. To outward appearance such zeal looks like anger, but inwardly it is neither anger nor even indignation expressing anger, but a kind of sorrow coupled with a wish that something should not be, and more inwardly still a kind of vague displeasure that interrupts heavenly delight because what is good and true does not exist in another.
‘She said, Behold, my maidservant Bilhah’ means the affirming means, which has its place between natural truth and interior truth. ‘Go [in] to her’ means that with this means there exists the ability to effect a joining together. ‘And let her bear [a child] upon my knees’ means acknowledgement by the affection for interior truth, in which affection the joining together begins. ‘And I too shall be built up from her’ means that in this way it has life. ‘And she gave him Bilhah her servant-girl as his wife’ means that a link with the affirmative means was established. ‘And Jacob went [in] to her’ means a joining to it. ‘And Bilhah conceived and bore Jacob a son’ means reception and acknowledgement.
[2] Actually when a person is being regenerated or becoming the Church, that is, when from being a dead man he is becoming a living one, or from being a bodily- minded man is becoming a heavenly-minded one, he is led by the Lord through many states. These general states are specified by those twelve sons, and later by the twelve tribes, so that the twelve tribes mean all aspects of faith and love – see what has been shown in 3858. For any general whole includes every particular and individual detail, and each detail exists in relation to the general whole. When a person is being regenerated the internal man is to be joined to the external man, and therefore the goods and truths which belong to the internal man are to be joined to those which belong to the external man, for it is truths and goods that make a person a human being. These cannot be joined together without means. These means consist in such things as take something from one side and something from the other, and act in such a way that insofar as a person moves closer to one the other plays a subordinate role. These means are meant by the servant-girls – Rachel’s servant-girls being the means available from the internal man, Leah’s the means available from the external man.
[3] The necessity for means by which the joining together is effected may be recognized from the consideration that of himself the natural man does not agree at all with the spiritual but disagrees so much as to be utterly opposed to the spiritual. For the natural man regards and loves self and the world, whereas the spiritual man does not, except insofar as to do so leads to the rendering of services in the spiritual world, and so he regards service to it and loves this service because of the use that is served and the end in view. The natural man seems to himself to have life when he is promoted to high positions and so to pre-eminence over others, but the spiritual man seems to himself to have life in self-abasement and in being the least. Not that he despises high positions, provided they are means by which he is enabled to serve the neighbour, society as a whole, and the Church. Neither does the spiritual man view the important positions to which he is promoted in any selfish way but on account of the services rendered which are his ends in view. Bliss for the natural man consists in his being wealthier than others and in his possessing worldly riches, whereas bliss for the spiritual man consists in his having cognitions of truth and good which are the riches he possesses, and even more so in the practice of good in accordance with truths. Not however that he despises riches, because these enable him to render a service in the world.
[4] These few considerations show that on account of their different ends in view the state of the natural man and the state of the spiritual are the reverse of each other, but that the two can be joined one to the other. That conjunction is effected when things which belong to the external man become subordinate and are subservient to the ends which the internal man has in view. In order that a person may become spiritual therefore it is necessary for the things belonging to the external man to be brought into a position of subservience, and so for ends that have self and the world in view to be cast aside and those that have the neighbour and the Lord’s kingdom to be adopted. The former cannot possibly be cast aside or the latter adopted, and so the two cannot be joined, except through means. It is these means that are meant by the servant-girls, and specifically by the four sons born to the servant-girls.
[5] The first means is one that affirms, or is affirmative towards, internal truth; that is to say, it affirms that it really is internal truth. Once this affirmative attitude is present, a person is in the first stage of regeneration, good from within being at work and leading to that spirit of affirmation. That good cannot pass into a negative attitude, nor even into one of doubt, until this becomes affirmative. After this, that good manifests itself in affection; that is to say, it causes the person to feel an affection for, and delight in, truth – first through his coming to know this truth, then through his acting in accordance with it. Take for example the truth that the Lord is the human race’s salvation. If the person does not develop an affirmative attitude towards this truth, none of the things which he has learned about the Lord from the Word or in the Church and which are included among the facts in his natural memory can be joined to his internal man, that is, to the truths that are able to be truths of faith there. Nor can affection accordingly enter in, not even into the general aspects of this truth which contribute to the person’s salvation. But once he develops an affirmative attitude countless things are added and are filled with the good that is flowing in. For good is flowing in constantly from the Lord, but where no affirmative attitude exists it is not accepted. An affirmative attitude is therefore the first means and so to speak first dwelling-place of the good flowing in from the Lord. And the same is so with all other truths called the truths of faith.
[2] These words mean in the internal sense a second degree of affirmation or acknowledgement resulting from affection, for affection has to be present in acknowledgement or affirmation if the joining together is to be effected. Indeed all conjunction is effected by means of affection, for without affection truths do not have any life. For example, knowing the truths that the neighbour ought to be loved, and that charity consists in that love, and spiritual life in charity, is no more than knowledge if affection is not present, that is, if there is no desire in the heart for any of this. Without affection these truths have no life, and no matter how well a person knows them he still does not love the neighbour but himself more than the neighbour, and is leading a natural life, not a spiritual one. In his case natural affection has dominion over spiritual affection, and as long as natural affection predominates a person is called ‘dead’, for the life he has in him is the reverse of heavenly life – heavenly life being true life.
‘Rachel said, God has judged me, and also has heard my voice’ in the highest sense means righteousness and mercy, in the internal sense the holiness of faith, in the external sense the good of life. ‘And has given me a son’ means that this truth was acknowledged. ‘Therefore she called his name Dan’ means the essential nature of it.
[2] The reason why ‘God has judged me, and also has heard my voice’ in the internal sense means the holiness of faith is that faith, which is associated with truth, corresponds to Divine righteousness, and holiness, which is goodness, corresponds to the Lord’s Divine mercy; and in addition to this, judging or judgement is associated with the truth of faith, 2235. And since it is God who is said to have judged, that which is good or holy is meant. From this it is evident that the holiness of faith, at the same time as righteousness and mercy, is meant by these two expressions – ‘God has judged me’ and ‘has heard my voice’. And because the two together mean a single entity they are joined by the words ‘and also’. The reason the good of life is meant in the external sense is also rooted in correspondence, for the good of life corresponds to the holiness of faith. Without the internal sense no one can know what ‘God has judged me, and also has heard me’ means, and this is evident from the consideration that in the sense of the letter the two phrases do not fit together very easily to present one complete and intelligible idea.
[3] The reason why in this verse and in those that follow as far as ‘Joseph’ the name God is used and why in the verses immediately before these Jehovah is used is that in this and the following verses the regeneration of the spiritual man is the subject, whereas in those before them the regeneration of the celestial man was the subject. For God is used when the good of faith which is an attribute of the spiritual man is the subject, but Jehovah when the good of love which is an attribute of the celestial man is the subject, see 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822. For Judah, down to whom the births of sons went in the previous chapter, represented the celestial man, see 3881, whereas Joseph, down to whom those births go in the present chapter, represents the spiritual man, dealt with below in verses 23, 24. The name Jehovah is used down to Judah, see 29:32, 33, 35, but God down to Joseph, see verses 6, 8, 17, 18, 20, 22, 23 of the present chapter, after which Jehovah occurs again because the subject moves on from the spiritual man to the celestial. This is the arcanum which lies concealed in these words and which no one can know except from the internal sense, and also unless he knows what the celestial man is and what the spiritual.
[2] That ‘Dan’ means this affirmative attitude which must exist first when a person is being regenerated may also be seen from other places in the Word where Dan is mentioned, for example from the prophecy of Jacob, who by then was Israel, concerning his own sons, Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a serpent on the road, an asp on the path, biting the horse’s heels; and its rider falls backwards. I am awaiting Your salvation, O Jehovah. Gen. 49:16-18.
‘Dan’ in this case stands for an affirmative attitude to truth. This attitude is spoken of as a serpent which will be on the road and an asp on the path when someone reasoning about truth does so from sensory evidence. ‘Biting the horse’s heels’ means when that person resorts to the lowest level of the understanding – namely factual knowledge – and bases his conclusions on this. And the fact that when he does so he is drawn away from the truth is meant by ‘its rider falls backwards’, as a consequence of which it is said that ‘I am awaiting Your salvation, O Jehovah’. For ‘a serpent’ means one who reasons from sensory evidence and from factual knowledge about Divine arcana, see 195-197; ‘road’ and ‘path’ mean truth, 627, 2333; ‘the horse’s heels’ means the lowest level of the understanding, which is factual knowledge, 259 – ‘a horse’ meaning the understanding, 2761, 2762, the lowest level of which is meant by ‘the heel’.
[3] In Moses’ prophecy regarding the twelve tribes,
To Dan he said, Dan is a lion’s whelp; he leaps out from Bashan. Deut. 33:22.
‘A lion’ in the internal sense of the Word means the truth of the Church, on account of its strength, truth being that which fights and overcomes. ‘A lion’s whelp’ therefore stands for the first stage truth passes through, which is one of affirmation and acknowledgement. The phrase ‘from Bashan’ is used because these begin in the good of the natural. In Jeremiah,
Wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved. How long are you causing your iniquitous thoughts to lodge within you? For there is a voice of one declaring from Dan, and of one causing iniquity to be heard from Mount Ephraim. Jer. 4:14, 15.
‘From Dan’ stands for truth that is to be affirmed, ‘from Mount Ephraim’ for this being done from the affection for it.
[4] In the same prophet,
Await peace, and no good comes; for a time of healing, and behold, terror! From Dan the snorting of his horses was heard; at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones the whole land quaked. And they came and devoured the land and the fulness of it, the city and those dwelling in it. For behold, I am sending into you poisonous serpents which do not respond to charming; and they will bite you. Jer. 8:15-17.
‘From Dan the snorting of horses was heard’ stands for reasoning about truth from an unaffirmative attitude. ‘The land which quaked’ and ‘they devoured the fulness of it’ stand for the Church and all things constituting the Church. For people who reason about truth from an unaffirmative or negative attitude destroy everything that is part of faith. ‘Poisonous serpents’ stands for reasonings, as above.
[5] In Ezekiel,
Dan and Javan came and exchanged wrought iron at your fairs, cassia and calamus were in your trading. Ezek. 27:19.
This refers to Tyre, which means cognitions of truth and good, 1201. ‘Dan’ stands for the first truths that are affirmed, ‘fairs and tradings’ for acquisitions of truth and good, 2967, ‘wrought iron’ stands for natural truth, which is primary, 425, 426, ‘cassia and calamus’ for the same, but natural truth from which good flows.
[6] In Amos,
On that day the beautiful virgins and the young men will faint for thirst. Those swearing to the offence of Samaria, who say, Your God lives, O Dan, and the way of Beersheba lives, they will both fall and not rise again. Amos 8:13, 14.
‘Your God lives, O Dan, and the way of Beersheba lives’ stands for their negative attitude towards everything that constitutes faith and its doctrine – ‘way’ meaning truth, 627, 2333, and ‘Beersheba’ doctrine, 2723, 2858, 2859, 3466. The reason a negative attitude towards everything constituting faith is meant is that Dan was the last boundary of the land of Canaan, and Beersheba the first; that is, it was situated in the middle or inmost part of the land. For the land of Canaan represented and meant the Lord’s kingdom, and so the Church, 1607, 3038, 3481, and therefore every detail of love and faith, since these constitute the Lord’s kingdom and Church. Consequently everything in the land of Canaan was representative, being determined by the distances, positions, and boundaries there, 1585, 1866, 3686.
[7] The first – that is, the central or inmost – point of reference to the land, before Jerusalem became such, was Beersheba; for this was where Abraham and also Isaac lived. But the outermost point of reference or the last boundary was Dan. Consequently when everything in its entirety was meant the phrase ‘Dan even to Beersheba’ was used, as in the second Book of Samuel,
To transfer the kingdom from the house of Saul and to set up the throne of David over Israel and over Judah, from Dan even to Beersheba. 2 Sam. 3:10.
In the same book,
The whole of Israel from Dan even to Beersheba will be assembled together. Sam. 17:11.
In the same book,
David said to Joab, Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan even to Beersheba. 2 Sam. 24:2, 15.
In the first Book of Kings,
Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every one under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba. 1 Kings 4:25.
This phrase is used in the historical sense to mean every part of the land of Canaan, but in the internal sense everything constituting the Lord’s kingdom, and also everything constituting the Church.
[8] Dan means the first boundary, and also – as stated above – the last boundary, for the reason that the affirmative attitude towards truth and good is the first requirement of all when faith and charity begin to be present in a person, but the last when charity and consequently faith are established in him. This is also why the last lot fell to Dan when the land of Canaan was divided up for inheritance, Josh. 19:40 and following verses; for the lot was cast before Jehovah, Josh. 18:6.
[9] That lot fell therefore according to what each tribe represented. And since the lot to Dan did not fall among the inheritances of all the other tribes but beyond their boundaries, Judg. 18:1, that tribe was also left out of the description in John, in Rev. 7:5-8, concerning each twelve thousand who had been sealed. For those who merely affirm truth and also good, but go no further, are not within the Lord’s kingdom, that is, among those who have been sealed. Even very wicked people may know truths and goods, and may also affirm them; but the true nature of their affirming is recognized from the life they lead.
[10] Dan is also referred to as a boundary in Gen. 14:14, in which verse it is said that Abraham pursued his enemies as far as there, and in which verse Dan has a similar meaning. The city called Dan, it is true, had yet to be built by Dan’s descendants at a later time, Josh. 19:47; Judg. 18:29; but even at that time it was referred to as the first boundary when one was entering the land of Canaan but the last when one was leaving it, the inmost part of the land being Hebron, and later on Beersheba, where Abraham and Isaac lived.
‘Bilhah, Rachel’s servant-girl, conceived again and bore’ means here, as previously, reception and acknowledgement. ‘A second son to Jacob’ means a second general truth. ‘And Rachel said, With the wrestlings of God I have wrestled with my sister, and I have prevailed’ in the highest sense means [the Lord’s] own power, in the internal sense temptation in which a person overcomes, in the external sense resistance offered by the natural man. ‘And she called his name Naphtali’ means the essential nature of it.
[2] The reason these words in the highest sense mean His own power is that when in the world He was in the [infirm] Human the Lord suffered all temptations by His own power and overcame them by His own power, unlike any human being who never endures any spiritual temptation by his own power and overcomes in it; only the Lord residing with him does so. But see what has been stated and shown already concerning these matters:
The Lord suffered the severest temptations, much severer than those suffered by others, 1663, 1668, 1690, 1737, 1787, 1789, 1812, 1813, 1815, 1820, 2776, 2786, 2795, 2813, 2816, 3318.
The Lord fought and overcame by His own power, 1616, 1692, 1813, 3381.
And the Lord alone fights in man’s conflicts, 1692.
[3] As regards ‘the wrestlings of God’ and ‘prevailing’ meaning, in the internal sense, temptations in which a person overcomes, this is clear from what has been stated immediately above. But the reason why in the external sense resistance from the natural man is meant is that no temptation is anything else. For as has been stated, in spiritual temptations there is a to-do over who is to have dominion, that is to say, who is going to have the power. Is the internal man to have it or the external – or what amounts to the same, the spiritual man or the natural? For they stand opposed to each other, 3913. Indeed when a person undergoes temptations his internal or spiritual man is governed by the Lord through angels, but his external or natural man by spirits from hell. And the conflict that takes place between these is experienced by that person as temptation. When a person both in faith and in life is such that he is able to be regenerated he overcomes in temptations, but when he is such that he is not able to be regenerated he goes under in temptations. The resistance offered by the natural man is meant by Rachel’s statement that she had wrestled with her sister, for Leah, to whom ‘sister’ refers here, means the external man’s affection, but ‘Rachel’ the internal man’s, 3793, 3819.
[2] Anyone who believes that the delight of the natural man prior to regeneration is not hell-like, and that devilish spirits are not in possession there, is much mistaken. He is unaware of what the situation is with man – that prior to regeneration genii and spirits from hell have possession of his natural man, no matter how much he seems to himself to be like any other person, and also that he is able to participate with everybody else in what is holy and to reason about the truths and goods of faith, indeed is able to believe that he has become strong in these. If this person does not feel within himself some measure of affection for what is right and fair in his daily work, and for what is good and true in society and in life, let him recognize that his kind of delight in things is the kind that exists with those in hell, for his delight entails no other love than self-love and love of the world. And when these constitute his delight no charity or any faith is present within it. The only means that will weaken and dispel this delight once it has become predominant is the affirmation and acknowledgement of the holiness of faith and of the good of life, which is the first means meant, as shown above, by Dan, and after this by temptation, which is the second means and is meant by Naphtali; for this second means follows the other. Indeed people who do not affirm and acknowledge the goodness and the truth which constitute faith and charity are unable to enter any conflict brought about by temptation as there is nothing within to oppose the evil and falsity towards which natural delight gravitates.
[3] In other places in the Word where Naphtali is mentioned he means a person’s state following temptations, as in the prophecy of Jacob, who by then was Israel,
Naphtali is a hind let loose, giving beautiful words. Gen. 49:21.
‘A hind let loose’ stands for the affection for natural truth in a state that is free, which arises following temptation. This state is also what is at stake within temptations, which are meant by ‘Naphtali’, for the battle fought in temptations is a struggle for freedom. Likewise in Moses’ prophecy,
To Naphtali he said, Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of Jehovah, will possess the west and the south. Deut. 33:23.
For the representations of Jacob’s sons, and of the tribes, depend on the order in which they are mentioned, 3862. And in the prophecy of Deborah and Barak,
Zebulun is a people that consigned its soul to die, as did Naphtali, on the heights of the field. Judg. 5:18.
This too refers in the internal sense to the conflicts brought about by temptations, and to a person’s presence among those who do not fear anything evil because they are rooted in forms of truth and good, meant by ‘being on the heights of the field’.
‘Leah saw that she had stopped bearing’ means that no other external truths had been acknowledged. ‘And she took Zilpah her servant-girl’ means an affirmative means through which [the external man and the internal] could be joined together. ‘And gave her to Jacob as his wife’ means that this means joined the two together. ‘And Zilpah, Leah’s servant-girl, bore Jacob a son’ means acknowledgement. ‘And Leah said, A troop comes!’ in the highest sense means Omnipotence and Omniscience, in the internal sense the good of faith, and in the external sense works. ‘And she called his name Gad’ means the essential nature of it.
[2] The reason why ‘a troop’ in the external sense means works is that these correspond to the good of faith. Indeed works are the product of that good, for the good of faith cannot exist without works, just as thinking what is good and willing it cannot exist without the doing of it. The one is the internal, the other the corresponding external. What is more, so far as works are concerned, if they do not correspond to the good of faith they are not the works of charity, nor are they the works of faith, since they are not the outcome of what should properly be within them, but dead works that have no good or truth within them. But when the external does correspond to the internal, works are either those of charity or of faith. The works of charity are those which flow from charity as their soul, but the works of faith are those which flow from faith. The works of charity are done by one who is regenerate, whereas the works of faith are done by one who is not yet regenerate but is becoming so. The same applies to affections, that is to say, to the affection for good and the affection for truth. The regenerate person does good out of an affection for that good and so from a desire for good, whereas the one who is to be regenerated does good out of an affection for truth, and so from a knowledge of good. (How these affections differ from each other has often been shown already.) From this one may see what is meant by works.
[3] Furthermore the relationship of the good of faith to works is like that of a person’s will and consequent thought to his face, which, as is well known, is an image of the mind, that is, of the person’s will and consequent thought. If will and thought do not present themselves in the face as their true image then hypocrisy or deceit, not will and thought, are manifested there because that person presents a different face from what he wills and thinks. It is similar with every act of the body in relation to the more internal things of thought and will. The internal side of a person lives within his external by means of act or action. If act or action does not accord with his internal it is a sign either that that act is not the product of his internal but a mere response to custom and habit, or that it is something untrue as in hypocrisy and in deceit. Here again one may see what is meant by works. Consequently anyone who professes faith, more so anyone who professes the good of faith, and yet denies works, and more so if he rejects them, is without faith and still more without charity.
[4] This being the nature of the works of charity and faith, and since nobody has any charity or faith in him unless works are being done, the Word therefore mentions works so many times, as may be seen from the following places: In Jeremiah,
Your eyes have been opened upon all the ways of the sons of man, giving to everyone according to his ways and according to the fruit of his works. Jer. 32:19.
In the same prophet,
Turn now every one of you from his evil way, and make your works good. Jer 35:15.
In the same prophet, I will requite them according to their work and according to the work of their hands. Jer. 25:14.
In Hosea,
I will visit upon him his ways, and requite him for his works. Hosea 4:9.
In Micah,
The earth will be a desolation over its inhabitants, on account of the fruit of their works. Micah 7:13.
In Zechariah,
Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, Turn from your evil ways and from your evil works. Jehovah Zebaoth thought to deal with us according to our ways, and according to our works so He dealt with us. Zech. 1:4, 6.
In John,
Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes indeed, says the Spirit, that they may rest from labours, for their works follow them. Rev. 14:13.
[5] In the same book,
I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged by the things written in the books, according to their works. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and hell gave up the dead that were in them. They were judged therefore every one according to their works. Rev. 20:12, 13.
In the same book,
Behold, I am coming quickly, My reward with Me, to give to everyone according to his work. Rev. 22:12.
In John the Evangelist,
This is the judgement, that light has come into the world, but men preferred darkness rather than light, for their works were evil. Everyone who performs evil deeds hates the light and does not come to the light lest his works should be exposed. Anyone however who does the truth comes to the light, so that his works may be clearly seen, because they have been wrought in God. John 3:19-21.
In the same gospel,
The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that their works are evil. John 7:7.
In the same gospel,
Jesus said to the Jews, If you were Abraham’s sons you would do the works of Abraham. You do the works of your father. John 8:39, 41.
In the same gospel,
If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. John 13:17.
[6] In Matthew,
Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works. He who does and teaches so will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. Matt. 5:16, 19.
In the same gospel,
Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Your name, and by Your name cast out demons, and do many mighty works in Your name? But then I will confess to them, I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity! Matt. 7:21-23.
In Luke,
The householder replying says to them, I do not know where you are from. Then you will begin to say, We ate in your presence and we drank; you taught in our streets. But He will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity! Luke 13:25-27.
In Matthew,
Everyone who hears My words and does them I will liken to a wise man. But everyone hearing My words and not doing them will be likened to a foolish man. Matt. 7:24, 26.
In the same gospel,
The Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father together with His angels, and at that time He will repay everyone according to his works. Matt. 16:27.
[7] From all these places it is evident that works are what save a person or what condemn him, good works being those that save, evil those that condemn; for his works contain what he wills. Anyone who wills what is good does what is good, but anyone who does not do what is good, no matter how much he may say that he wills it, does not will it when he does not do it. It is as though he were to say, I will it, yet I don’t will it. And because the will itself is contained in works, and charity belongs to the will, and faith to charity, it is evident what kind of will, that is, what kind of charity and faith, is present in someone when he does not do good works, and more so when he does the opposite of these.
[8] In addition it should be recognized that the Lord’s kingdom begins in a person in the life that belongs to works, for he is then at the start of regeneration; but once the Lord’s kingdom is established in him the kingdom ends in works, and then he is regenerate. Indeed the internal man is in this case present in the external in a corresponding fashion; and since works are done by the external man while charity and faith rooted in charity dwell in the internal man, works are therefore at the same time charity. And as it is in the works of the external man that the life of the internal so presents itself, therefore – when speaking about the Last Judgement in Matthew 25:32-46 – the Lord lists nothing else than works, declaring that those who have done good works will enter into eternal life and those who have done evil into a state of damnation. What has been said also shows the meaning of what one reads about John’s lying at Jesus’ breast and in His bosom and about His loving him more than the rest, John 13:23, 25; 21:20; for John represented good works, see the Prefaces to Gen. 18 and 22. What the works of faith are, which from their appearance may be called the fruits of faith, and what the works of charity are, will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed more fully elsewhere.
‘Zilpah, Leah’s servant-girl, bore a second son to Jacob’ means acknowledgement of a second [general truth]. ‘And Leah said, In my blessedness! for the daughters will call me blessed’ in the highest sense means eternity, in the internal sense the happiness of eternal life, in the external sense the delight that belongs to the affections. ‘And she called his name Asher’ means the essential nature.
[2] But there are two states – a state which corresponds to space and a state which corresponds to time. The state which corresponds to space is a state in regard to being, while the state which corresponds to time is a state in regard to manifestation, 2625. There are two entities which constitute man, namely being (esse) and manifestation (existere). Man’s being is nothing else than a recipient of the eternal which proceeds from the Lord. Indeed men, spirits, or angels are nothing else than recipients – that is, recipient forms – of life from the Lord. The actual reception of life is what the term manifestation refers to. Man imagines that he has being, and indeed that he is self-existent, when in fact he is not a self-existent being but, as has been stated, one who manifests being. Self-existent BEING occurs solely in the Lord, and that BEING is called JEHOVAH. This BEING which is JEHOVAH is the source from which all things that seem to be self-existent derive their being. But the Lord’s or Jehovah’s actual BEING cannot possibly be imparted to any, except to the Lord’s Human. This Human was made the Divine Being, that is, it was made Jehovah. On the point that the Lord is Jehovah as to both Essences, see 1736, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2156, 2329, 2921, 3023, 3035.
[3] Manifestation too is used of the Lord, but only of the time when He was in the world and there assumed the Divine Being. But ever since He was made the Divine Being the term Manifestation could no longer be used of Him except to refer to whatever proceeds from Him. That which proceeds from Him seems like a Manifestation within Him, but it is not. Rather it is that which goes forth from Him and causes men, spirits, and angels to be forms manifesting His Being, that is, to have life. In so manifesting His Being man, spirit, or angel has life, and the life he has is eternal happiness. The happiness of eternal life is what eternity, the source of which is the Lord’s Divine Being, corresponds to in the highest sense. The fact that the happiness of eternal life is what is meant in the internal sense by ‘blessedness’ is evident from this, as also is the fact that the delight which belongs to the affections is meant in the external sense, and so is evident without explanation.
[4] But it is the delight belonging to the affections for truth and good, a delight which corresponds to the happiness of eternal life, that is meant. All affections have their own delights, but the nature of the affections determines that of the delights. The affections for evil and falsity have their own delights as well, and before a person is regenerated and receives from the Lord the affections for truth and good those delights seem to be the only delights, so much so that people believe that no other delights are possible, and consequently that if these were taken away from them they would perish completely. But people who do receive from the Lord the delights which belong to the affections for truth and good gradually see and perceive the true nature of the delights of that life which they had believed to be the only possible delights – that they are by comparison worthless, indeed foul. But the more he enters into the delights that belong to the affections for truth and good the more a person begins to despise those delights in evil and falsity, and at length to loathe them.
[5] I have on occasions spoken to spirits in the next life whose delights have been those of evil and falsity, and I have been allowed to tell them that they do not have life until these delights are taken away from them. But as with people like them in the world those spirits have said that if they were deprived of such delights they would no longer have any life at all. I have been allowed to reply however that that is just when that life begins, and with that life happiness such as exists in heaven, which compared with any other happiness defies description. But this they have been unable to grasp because of unbelief in anything which they do not actually know. They are like all those in the world who are governed by self-love and love of the world and who do not therefore have any charity. They know the delight that belongs to self-love and love of the world, but not the delight that belongs to charity. Consequently they have no knowledge at all of what charity is, and have less idea still of any delight residing within charity, when in fact the delight belonging to charity is the delight which fills the whole of heaven and is the producer of the blessedness and happiness there. And if you are willing to believe it, it is also the producer of intelligence and wisdom together with the delights that go with them, for the Lord enters with the light of truth and with the flame of good, and therefore with intelligence and wisdom, into the delights belonging to charity. But falsities and evils reject, stifle, and pervert those delights, and thereby cause stupidity and madness. These considerations show the identity and the nature of the delight which belongs to the affections and corresponds to the happiness of eternal life.
[6] People of the present day and age imagine that if only a person has the confidence received through faith even in his final hour before death, then regardless of whatever affection has been pre-eminent throughout the whole course of his life, he can enter heaven. I have on occasions spoken to spirits who have lived and believed as these people do. When they enter the next life they at first think of nothing else than of being able to enter heaven, irrespective of their previous life, that is to say, irrespective of the fact that by means of that life they have acquired the delight that belongs to the affection for evil and falsity arising out of self-love and love of the world, which loves constituted the ends they had in view. I have been allowed to tell them that everyone is able to be admitted into heaven, for the Lord denies heaven to none. But whether they have the ability to live in that place they will be able to know if admitted. Some who were resolute in the belief were admitted. But because the life that belongs to love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour reigns in heaven, which life enters into the whole sphere of life and the happiness there, when they arrived they began to feel a pain, for they were unable to breathe in such a sphere and began to become aware of the foulness of their own affections, and so to suffer hellish torment. As a consequence they hurried away from there, saying that they wanted to get right away from it, amazed that heaven should be what to them was hell. This shows the essential nature of the two different delights, and that people whose delight has been that of the affection for evil and falsity cannot in any way be among those whose delight has been that belonging to the affection for good and truth, and that the two delights are opposites, like heaven and hell, see 537-539, 541, 547, 1397, 1398, 2130, 2401.
[7] Furthermore as regards the happiness of eternal life, no one who is moved by the affection for good and truth is able when he is living in the world to perceive that happiness, but only a certain delight instead. The reason why he is unable to do so is that he is confined to the body, and when confined in the body he is subject to worldly cares and as a consequence to anxieties. These prevent the happiness of eternal life, which is inwardly present in him, being manifested in any other way, for when that happiness passes from the inward parts of his being into cares and anxieties which reside in his outward parts, it sinks into the cares there and the anxieties, and becomes a kind of obscure delight. Nevertheless it is a delight that holds blessedness within it, and happiness within that. Being content in God constitutes such happiness. But once a person casts aside the body, and at the same time those worldly cares and anxieties, the happiness which has been so lying hidden in obscurity within his more internal man comes forward and reveals itself.
[8] As the term affection is used so often, let a definition of what that term means be given here. Affection is nothing else than love, yet it is an extension branching out of it. For the affection anyone has, whether for evil and falsity or for good and truth, stems from love. And as this love is present with and exists in every single part of a person it, is not perceived as love but is varied according to circumstances and according to the states, and the changes of these states, through which that person is passing. And this is unceasingly the case in everything he wills, thinks and does. This extension from love is what is called affection, and it is this extension which reigns in a person’s life and which produces every delight residing with him. And in producing his every delight it produces his actual life, for a person’s life is nothing else than the delight which belongs to his affection, and so is nothing else than the affection which belongs to his love. Love constitutes man’s willing, and from this his thinking, and thereby his acting.
[2] Asher is mentioned in various places in the Word, but in those places – as with all the other sons also – the essential nature of the thing that is being referred to is meant by him, that is, the essential nature of people passing through the state under discussion at that point is meant. Also, what the essential nature is varies according to the order in which the sons are named. One thing is meant when Reuben or faith heads the list, another when Judah or celestial love does so, and yet another when Joseph or spiritual love. For the essence and nature of whichever one heads the list leads off and passes over into those that follow. This is why their spiritual meanings vary from place to place where they are mentioned. At this point where the birth of them is the subject they mean the general aspects of the Church and therefore all things of faith and love which constitute the Church. They have this meaning because the subject previous to this was the regeneration of man, that is, a person’s states before he becomes the Church, and in the highest sense it was the Lord and how He made His Human Divine. So the subject is the ascent by means of the stairway even up to Jehovah which was seen in Bethel by Jacob.
‘Reuben went in the days of the wheat harvest’ means faith in regard to its state of love and charity. ‘And found dudaim in the field’ means the essentials of conjugial love that are present within the truth and good of charity and love. ‘And brought them to Leah his mother’ means application to the affection for external truth. ‘And Rachel said to Leah’ means perception by the affection for interior truth, and the desire for it. ‘Give me now some of your son’s dudaim’ means for the things belonging to conjugial love, to which it might be joined mutually and reciprocally. ‘But she said to her, Is it a small thing for you to have taken my husband?’ means the existence of conjugial desire. ‘And will you take also my son’s dudaim?’ means that in that case the conjugial element linking natural good to external truth would be taken away. ‘And Rachel said’ means consent. ‘Therefore he will lie with you this night [in return] for your son’s dudaim’ means that external truth should be joined to natural good. ‘And Jacob came from the field in the evening’ means the good of truth in a state of good, yet also in obscurity such as envelops the natural. ‘And Leah went out to meet him’ means a desire on the part of the affection for external truth. ‘And said, You must come [in] to me’ means that it might be joined to that good. ‘For I have surely hired you with my son’s dudaim’ means that this had accordingly been seen to and agreed beforehand. ‘And he lay with her that night’ means the actual joining together.
[2] That ‘wheat’ means the things which constitute love and charity may also be seen from the following places: In Moses,
Jehovah causes him to ride over the heights of the land and He feeds [him] with the produce of the fields, causes him to suck honey out of the crag, and oil out of the stony rock – butter from the cattle, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and rams, the breed* of Bashan, and of goats, with the kidney-fat of wheat; and of the blood of the grape you drink unmixed wine. Deut. 32:13, 14.
This refers in the internal sense to the Ancient Church and its state when it was established, every aspect of love and charity, and every aspect of faith there, being described by means of things that have spiritual meanings. ‘The kidney-fat of wheat’ means the celestial side of love and charity. And because ‘fat’ or ‘fatness’ means that which is celestial, 353, and ‘wheat’ means love, the two words are therefore linked together in various places in the Word, as also in David,
O that My people were obedient to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! He would feed them with the fat of wheat, and with honey out of the rock I will satisfy you. Ps. 81:13, 16.
And elsewhere in the same author,
Jehovah is the one who makes peace your border; with the fat of wheat He satisfies you. Ps. 147:14.
[3] That ‘wheat’ means love and charity is evident in Jeremiah,
Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard, they have trampled down the portion of My field, they have rendered the portion of My field into a lonely wilderness. On all the hills in the wilderness those who cause devastation have come, for the sword of Jehovah is devouring from one end of the land even to the other end of the land. There is no peace for any flesh. They have sown wheat and reaped thorns. Jer. 12:10, 12, 13.
‘Vineyard’ and ‘the field’ stand for the Church, ‘a lonely wilderness’ for the vastation of it, ‘a devouring sword’ for the vastation of truth, ‘no peace’ for the absence of good stirring the affections, ‘sowing wheat’ for forms of good which are the product of love and charity, ‘sowing thorns’ for evils and falsities which are the result of self-love and love of the world. For ‘vineyard’ means the spiritual Church, 1069; ‘the field’ the Church as regards good, 2971; ‘wilderness’ vastation, 1927, 2708; ‘a devouring sword’ vastation of truth, 2799; ‘peace’ good that stirs the affections, 3780.
[4] In Joel,
The field has been laid waste, the ground has been mourning because the grain has been laid waste, the new wine has failed, the oil languishes. Farmers have been put to shame, vinedressers have wailed over the wheat and over the barley, because the harvest of the field has perished. Gird yourselves and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Joel 1:10, 11, 13.
It is evident to anyone that here the state of the Church when it has been vastated is what is described, and this being so, that ‘the field’ and ‘the ground’ mean the Church, ‘the grain’ its good, and ‘the new wine’ its truth, 3580, while ‘wheat’ means celestial love, ‘barley’ spiritual love. And since the state of the Church is the subject, the call to ‘gird yourselves and lament, O priests, and wail, O ministers of the altar’ is used.
[5] In Ezekiel,
The Spirit of Jehovah addressing the prophet, Take for yourself wheat and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and spelt, and put them into a single vessel, and make them for yourself into bread. With human excrement you shall make a cake before their eyes. Thus shall the children of Israel eat their unclean bread. Ezek. 4:9, 12, 13.
This refers to the defilement of good and truth. ‘Wheat, barley, beans, lentils, millet, spelt’ stands for different kinds of good and of truth derived from good. ‘Bread’ or a cake made from these together with human excrement stands for the defilement of them all.
[6] In John,
I saw, and behold, a black horse, and the one seated on it held a balance in his hand I heard a voice from the midst of the four living creatures saying, A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenices of barley for a denarius; but do no harm to oil and wine. Rev. 6:5, 6.
This too refers to the vastation of good and truth. ‘A choenix of wheat for a denarius’ stands for a scarcity of love, ‘three choenices of wheat for a denarius’ for a scarcity of charity.
[7] In Ezekiel,
Judah and the land of Israel, they were your merchants. Wheat of minnith and pannag, and honey, and oil, and balm, they exchanged for your tracings. Ezek. 27:17.
This refers to Tyre, which means the cognitions of good and truth. The goods of love and charity, and the happiness they bring, are meant by ‘wheat of minnith and pannag, and honey, oil, and balm’. ‘Judah’ means the celestial Church, ‘the land of Israel’ the spiritual, which are the source of those goods. ‘Tracings’ means acquisitions.
[8] In Moses,
A land of wheat and barley, and of the vine and of the fig and of the pomegranate, a land of olive oil and honey. Deut. 8:8.
This is a description of the land of Canaan, which in the internal sense means the Lord’s kingdom, 1413, 1437, 1585, 1607, 3038, 3705. Forms of good which are the product of love and charity in that kingdom are meant by ‘wheat and barley’, forms of good which are the product of faith by ‘the vine and the fig’.
[9] In Matthew,
Whose fan is in His hand, and He will purge His threshing-floor and gather His wheat into the granary, but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire. Matt. 3:12; Luke 3:17.
John the Baptist referred in this way to the Lord. ‘Wheat’ stands for the goods of love and charity, ‘chaff’ for those things which do not have any good at all within them. In the same gospel,
Let both grow together until the harvest; and at the time of harvest I will tell the reapers, Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn. Matt. 13:30.
‘Weeds’ stands for evils and falsities, ‘wheat’ for goods. These are comparisons, but all comparisons in the Word are made through the use of things that carry a spiritual meaning.
* lit. sons
In the morning we will get up to the vineyards, we will see if the vine has flowered and produced the grape, if the pomegranates have brought forth flowers. There will I give you my loves (dudim). The dudaim have given a fragrance. Cant. 7:12, 13.
This quotation shows what dudaim were.
[2] As regards the book in which these verses appear, called the Song of Songs, it does not belong among the books called Moses and the Prophets because it does not have an internal sense. But it is written in the ancient style, and is full both of things with spiritual meanings that were gathered together from the books of the Ancient Church, and also of many things which in the Ancient Church meant celestial and spiritual love, especially conjugial love. The fact that it is a book of this nature is also evident from the consideration that, unlike the books known as Moses and the Prophets, the sense of the letter presents many things which are quite improper. But because the kind of things that have heavenly and conjugial love as their real meaning are massed together there, this book is therefore seen to have some mystical meaning.
[3] From the meaning of ‘dudaim’ one may now see that the reference to Reuben finding dudaim in the field means the conjugial element which is present within the truth and good of love and charity, that is, that which enables the two to become joined together is meant. For nothing else is meant in the spiritual sense by the conjugial element than such truth as can be joined to good, and such good as can be joined to truth. This joining together of good and truth is also the origin of all conjugial love, 2728, 2729, 3132. Consequently genuine conjugial love does not exist except within good and truth, and so at the same time within the heavenly marriage.
[2] Furthermore, forms of good with the external man, which are the delights of life while a person lives in the world, are truly good only in the measure that they hold that spiritual good within them. Take for example the good served by riches. In the measure that riches hold spiritual good within them, that is, in the measure that a person regards the good of his neighbour, the good of his country or the public good, and the good of the Church, as the end in view to be served by riches, they are truly good. But people who come to the conclusion that the spiritual good spoken of here and material opulence do not go together, one within the other, and who therefore become convinced that to make room for heaven they must renounce riches, are much mistaken. For if they renounce them or divest themselves of them they are not then in a position to do good to anyone and they themselves cannot live in the world in anything but misery. Thus they are not able any longer to have the good of their neighbour and the good of their country, or even the good of the Church, as their end in view, only their own salvation and their becoming greater than others in heaven. What is more, when they renounce worldly possessions they also throw themselves open to contempt, which makes them of little value in the sight of others and therefore useless for rendering service and the performing of duties. But when they do have the good of their neighbour, country, and Church as their end in view, they also have as their end in view, or the means to it, the conditions in which they will be able to attain that end.
[3] It is exactly the same with a person’s food, for the end in view with food is that he may have a healthy mind in a healthy body. If someone deprives the body of its food he also deprives himself of the conditions necessary for the attainment of that end. Consequently no one who is a spiritual man despises food or its pleasures. He does not however regard it as an end in itself but the means to an end. From this as an example one can work out the situation with all other forms of such good.
[2] The same applies in the internal or spiritual man. The heavenly marriage is not a marriage between the good and the truth present there but between the good of the spiritual man and the truth of the celestial man, for compared with the spiritual man the celestial man belongs to a higher degree. Nor again is the heavenly marriage between the good and the truth present there, but between the good of the celestial man and the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord. From this it is in addition evident that the Divine marriage itself within the Lord is not a marriage between the Divine good and the Divine truth present in His Divine Human but between the Good of the Divine Human and the Divine itself, that is, between the Son and the Father, for the Good of the Lord’s Divine Human is that which in the Word is called ‘the Son of God’ and the Divine itself that which is called ‘the Father’.
[3] These are the arcana contained in the internal sense present within the things said about the dudaim. Anyone may see that there is some arcanum hidden within them. For the following details – those about Reuben’s finding dudaim in the field and Rachel’s desiring them, and, so that she might acquire them, about her agreeing to their husband’s lying with Leah, and about Leah’s going out to meet Jacob when he came from the field in the evening and her saying that she had hired him for the dudaim – would not have been important enough for them to be mentioned in any historical description in the Word unless something Divine had lain hidden within them. Exactly what that something Divine is nobody can know unless he knows what is meant by the sons of Jacob and by the tribes named after them, and also unless he knows the flow of ideas belonging to the subject dealt with in the internal sense, and on top of this unless he knows what the heavenly marriage is. For that marriage is the subject; that is to say, the joining of the good of the external man to the affection for the truth of the internal man is the subject. But to enable this arcanum to be seen more clearly, let a further illustration be given.
[4] The truths of the external man are the facts and the matters of doctrine which he acquires first through parents and also teachers, after that through books, and at length by his own endeavours. The good of the external man is the pleasure and delight which he finds in those facts and matters of doctrine. Facts which are essentially truths, and delights which are essentially good, are joined together, but these do not constitute the heavenly marriage with him, for even with people who are governed by self-love and love of the world and who are consequently under the influence of evil and falsity, facts, and indeed matters of doctrine, are joined to delights; but they are the delights that go with self-love and love of the world, to which truths are able to be joined. All the same, such people are outside the heavenly marriage. But the heavenly marriage exists in a person when pleasure or delight, which essentially is the good of the external or natural man, stems from spiritual love. That is, the heavenly marriage exists with him when that good stems from love towards the neighbour, towards his country or the general public, towards the Church, towards the Lord’s kingdom; and it exists even more fully when it stems from celestial love, which is love to the Lord. For when that spiritual or celestial love passes from the internal or spiritual man into the delight of the external or natural man and fashions that delight, it is then joined to the facts and the matters of doctrine of the external or natural. But such a marriage cannot exist with the evil, only with the good, that is to say, with those who have those things as the end in view. But see what has been said already in 3286, 3288, 3314, 3321, about the influx of the internal or spiritual man into the external or natural man.
[5] Once acquainted with these arcana one may now come to see the overall meaning of the individual expressions, the explanations of which in preceding paragraphs was limited simply to giving their individual meanings in the internal sense, those expressions and their meanings being these: ‘Reuben’, who means the truth of faith, which is the first stage of regeneration, ‘found dudaim’; ‘he brought them to Leah his mother’ who means the affection for external truth; ‘Rachel’ who means the affection for interior truth ‘desired them’, and they were also ‘given to her’; Leah therefore ‘lay with Jacob her husband’ who means the good of truth within the natural man. Likewise the expressions in what comes after this: Sons were born to Jacob by Leah, ‘Issachar and Zebulun’, by whom things to do with conjugial love and so with the heavenly marriage are meant and represented; and after this, ‘Joseph’ was born, by whom the Lord’s spiritual kingdom – the marriage itself, which is the subject here – is meant and represented.
‘God hearkened to Leah’ means Divine love. ‘And she conceived and bore Jacob a fifth son’ means reception and acknowledgement. ‘And Leah said, God has given me my reward, because I gave my servant-girl to my husband’ in the highest sense means Divine Good wedded to Truth, and Truth wedded to Good; in the internal sense heavenly conjugial love; and in the external sense mutual love. ‘And she called his name Issachar’ means the essential nature of it.
[2] This shows what is meant by ‘reward’ which is mentioned in the Word, namely the delight and blessing belonging to the affection that goes with charity, or what amounts to the same, the delight and blessing belonging to mutual love, 3816, for the affection that goes with charity is one and the same as mutual love; see what has been stated already on these matters in 1110, 1111, 1774, 1835, 1877, 2027, 2273, 2340, 2373, 2400. From these paragraphs it is evident that at this point ‘reward’ in the external sense means mutual love. In the sense higher than this, which is the internal sense, ‘reward’ means heavenly conjugial love, as may be seen from what has been stated already about the heavenly marriage in 2618, 2739, 2741, 2803, 3024 (end), 3132, 3952 – that is to say, it is the joining together of good and truth, and mutual love is the offspring of that conjunction or marriage, 2737, 2738. From all this one may see that in the internal sense ‘reward’ means heavenly conjugial love.
[3] As regards ‘reward’ meaning in the highest sense Divine Good wedded to Truth, and Truth wedded to Good, this is evident from the fact that from these comes the heavenly marriage. For that union of the two exists within the Lord and proceeds from Him; and when it passes into heaven, the conjugial relationship between good and truth is effected, and through this relationship mutual love exists. From what has been stated here and in what has gone before one may see what is meant in the internal sense by these words spoken by Leah, ‘God has given me my reward, because I gave my servant-girl to my husband’; ‘a servant-girl’ has meant an affirmative means that serves in the joining together of the external man and the internal man, 3913, 3917, 3931. So until those things meant by the sons of the servant-girls have been affirmed and acknowledged no joining together of good and truth, and so no mutual love, is able to come about, for those affirmations must of necessity come first. These are the considerations meant by these words.
[2] a When a person is stripped of the body he has a far more enlightened power of understanding than when he is living in the body, the reason being that when he is in the body worldly and bodily interests occupy his thoughts and bring obscurity there. But once he has been stripped of the body those worldly and bodily interests do not get in the way, but through the removal of his mind from sensory experiences of external things he is like those whose thought is more interior. From this consideration they could have known that in the state after death a person is far more clear-sighted and enlightened than in the state before death, and that when a person dies he passes from shade into that which, in comparison with it, is light, because he passes from the things which belong to the world to those which belong to heaven, and from those which belong to the body to those which belong to the spirit. But what is amazing, although people have the ability to understand these things they still think the contrary. That is to say, they think it is in the state of life within the body that a person enjoys clear-sightedness, as compared with the state of life after being stripped of the body, which to them is a state of obscurity.
[3] b They are able to know, if only they use their reason, that the life which a person acquires to himself in the world follows him when he dies, that is, his life is the same after death. For they are able to know that nobody can cast aside the life he has acquired to himself since earliest childhood except by death itself, and that that life cannot be transformed in a moment into any other life, let alone into a contrary life. For example: Someone who has acquired to himself a life of deceit and finds the delight of his life in that deceit cannot cast aside the life of deceit but goes on with that life after death. Or to take another example, people who are governed by self-love and consequently by forms of hatred and revenge against those who are not subservient, or by other similar traits, continue to be governed by these after the life of the body, for they are the things which they love and which constitute the delights of their life and so their very life itself. Such traits cannot therefore be taken away from them unless everything making up their life is wiped out at the same time. And the same applies to all other kinds of life that people have acquired.
[4] c A person is able to know for himself that when he passes into the next life he leaves many things behind him. He knows – since they have no place there – that he leaves behind, for example, anxious cares over food, clothing, accommodation, and the acquisition of money and wealth, as well as anxious cares about his promotion to positions of importance – matters to which a person gives so much thought during the life of the body. Indeed he knows that other things which do not belong to the earthly kingdom take the place of these.
[5] d From this he is able to know that anyone who in the world has thought about nothing else than worldly things such as these, so much so that they have taken a complete hold on him, and who has acquired a delight of life in those things alone, is not suited to be among those who delight to think of heavenly matters, that is, of things of heaven.
[6] e From this in turn he is able to know that if the external things of the body and of the world are taken away from those people, the individual is in that case such as he has been inwardly, that is to say, he thinks and wills as he did previously. If the thoughts within had at that time been deceits, schemings, aspirations after positions of importance, gain, and reputation on account of these; if hatred and revenge and similar passions have been present within, he goes on thinking such things, and so thinking the things of hell, though to achieve those ends he has concealed his thoughts from other people and to outward appearance has seemed honourable and produced in others the conviction that he was not turning such thoughts over in his mind. Knowledge that such outward appearance or presence at being honourable is removed in the next life may also be had from the fact that outward things are cast aside along with the body and have no further use. From this anyone can decide for himself that a person’s real character will then be visible to the angels.
[7] f A person is also able to know that heaven, or the Lord by means of heaven, is constantly at work, flowing in with good and truth. But if there is not within a person’s interior man that lives after death of the body some solid surface or some plane so to speak to receive good and truth, these cannot be received at all when they flow in. Therefore while a person is living in the world he ought to be anxious to obtain such an interior plane within himself. But he cannot obtain this unless he thinks of good towards his neighbour, desires for him that which is good, and consequently does this for him, and so acquires to himself the delight of life in such actions. This plane is acquired by means of charity towards the neighbour, that is, by mutual love; and it is what is called conscience. Into this plane good and truth from the Lord are able to flow in and be received there. But where charity does not exist, and so conscience does not exist, good and truth flowing in pass through and are converted into evil and falsity.
[8] g A person is able to know for himself that love to God and love towards the neighbour are what make a person a human being, different from animals, and that those things constitute heavenly life or heaven itself and their opposites hellish life or hell itself. But these things are not known by a person because, for one thing, he has no wish to know them since he is leading a life to the contrary; for another, he does not believe in the existence of life after death; and for yet another, ideas about faith but none about charity have taken hold of him, and therefore he believes, as many teach, that if there is a life after death he can be saved by faith, no matter what kind of life he has led, and that he can be saved if faith is received by him only in his last hour when he is dying.
‘Leah conceived again and bore a sixth son to Jacob’ means reception and acknowledgement. ‘And Leah said, God has endowed me with a good dowry; once again my husband will dwell with me, because I have borne him six sons’ in the highest sense means the Lord’s Divine itself and His Divine Human, in the internal sense the heavenly marriage, and in the external sense conjugial love. ‘And she called his name Zebulun’ means the essential nature of it.
Jesus said, Philip, he who has seen Me has seen the Father. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me. John 14:9-11; 10:38.
This union is the Divine Marriage itself, see 3211, 3952. That union is not however a dwelling together, though it is expressed as such in the sense of the letter. For things which are one present themselves in the sense of the letter as two – as the Father and the Son – or even as three, as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They do so for many reasons which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed elsewhere.
[2] Here also lies the reason why ‘dwelling together’ in the internal sense means the heavenly marriage, for it is from the Divine Marriage – the union of the Father and the Son, that is, of the Lord’s Divine itself with His Divine Human – that the heavenly marriage comes into being. The heavenly marriage exists as that which is called the Lord’s kingdom and also heaven, and it is so called because it comes into being from the Divine Marriage, which is the Lord. This then is what is meant in the internal sense by ‘dwelling together’, and is also the reason why heaven is called God’s dwelling-place, as in Isaiah,
Look out from heaven, and see from the dwelling-place of Your holiness and of Your glory. Where are Your zeal and Your might? The yearning of Your loins, and Your compassion* towards me have held themselves back. Isa. 63:15.
‘The dwelling-place of holiness’ stands for the celestial kingdom, and
‘The dwelling-place of glory’ for the spiritual kingdom. ‘Dwelling-place’ used here in Isaiah is derived from the same word as ‘dwelling together’ and ‘Zebulun’ are derived.
[3] The reason why ‘dwelling together’ in the external sense means conjugial love is that all genuine conjugial love has its origin nowhere else than in the heavenly marriage, which is a marriage of good and truth, and this in turn has its origin in the Divine Marriage, which is that of the Lord’s Divine itself and His Divine Human. See what has been stated already on these matters in the following places:
The heavenly marriage descends from Divine Good present within the Lord, and from Divine Truth proceeding from Him, 2508, 2618, 2803, 3132.
This marriage is the origin of conjugial love, 2728, 2729.
People who live in genuine conjugial love are dwelling together in the inmost things of life, 2732, and so in love for good and truth since these constitute the inmost things of life.
Conjugial love is the fundamental love of all loves, 2737-2739.
The marriage of good and truth exists in heaven, in the Church, with every member of heaven and the Church, and in every individual thing within the natural order, 718, 747, 917, 1432, 2173, 2516, 2712, 2758; it exists in every detail of the Word, 683, 793, 801, 2516, 2712; and so in the highest sense it is the Lord Himself.
The names Jesus Christ mean the Divine Marriage, 3004.
[4] These are the things meant not only by ‘dwelling together’, that is, by the words ‘once again my husband will dwell with me’ but also by those preceding them, ‘God has endowed me with a good dowry’. The former however means the truth of good whereas the latter means the good of truth, for these two constitute the heavenly marriage. And because this is a conclusion the statement ‘because I have borne him six sons’ is added; for ‘six’ here is similar in meaning to twelve. In the Word half a number, or twice that number, has the same meaning as the number itself when the subject is similar.
* lit. compassions
‘Afterwards she bore a daughter’ means the affection for all these, and also means the Church of faith in which good is present. ‘And she called her name Dinah’ means the essential nature of it.
[2] Whether you call it the Church of faith in which good is present, or you call it the spiritual Church, it amounts to the same; or again if you call it the affection for all these, that is, all these general truths. For it is from the affection for truth in which good is present, and the affection for good from which truth springs, that the Church has its being, not from the affection for truth in which good is not present or the affection for good from which truth does not spring. People who are governed by an affection for truth but not by the good from which truth springs, that is, who do not live according to truths, are much mistaken when they say that they belong to the Church. Though within a congregation, they are outside the Church, for they are governed by the affection for evil to which truth cannot be joined. Their affection for truth does not originate in the Lord but in themselves, for they have themselves in view, their intention being by means of the truth they know to earn repute, and thereby important positions and wealth. But they do not have the Church in view, or the Lord’s kingdom, let alone the Lord. But people governed by the affection for good from which truth does not spring do not belong to the Church even though they are within a congregation, for they are governed by natural good, not by spiritual, and allow themselves to be led into every kind of evil and also of falsity, provided that evil is made to look like good and falsity to look like truth, see 3470, 3471, 3518.
‘God remembered Rachel, and God hearkened to her’ means Foresight and Providence. ‘And opened her womb’ means the ability to receive and acknowledge. ‘And she conceived and bore a son’ means reception and acknowledgement. ‘And she said, God has taken away my reproach. And she called his name Joseph, saying, May Jehovah add to me another son’ in the highest sense means the Lord as regards the Divine Spiritual, in the internal sense the spiritual kingdom or the good of faith, and in the external sense salvation, also fruitfulness and multiplication.
* lit. gathered up
[2] But the two cannot become joined together until the natural or external man has been prepared, that is, until it has received and acknowledged the general truths which have been meant by Jacob’s ten sons by Leah and the servant-girls, and until the good of the natural man has been joined to the truths in that man, which joining together was meant by Jacob’s last son by Leah, namely Zebulun, who was so called from the expression ‘dwelling together’, 3960, 3961. After this joining together has taken place the interior man and the exterior man enter into the heavenly marriage spoken of in 3952. The reason they do not enter it until then is a very deep arcanum, for it is the good of the interior man which in that case joins itself to the good of the exterior man, and through that exterior good to the truth in the exterior man. At the same time the good of the interior man joins itself through the affection for truth in that interior man to the good of the exterior man and also to the truth there, and so joins itself directly and indirectly. concerning this direct and indirect linking together, see 3314, 3573, 3616. Since the interior man is only then joined to the exterior, and until this joining together has taken place the interior man is seemingly non-existent and so seemingly dead, as stated above, the phrase ‘God has taken away my reproach’ is therefore used. This then is what is meant by ‘the reproach’ which God is said to have ‘gathered up’, that is, to have taken away, meaning to have released her from it.
[3] But the words which follow – ‘May Jehovah add to me another son’, from which Joseph received his name – mean a second arcanum, which is this: ‘Joseph’ represents the Lord’s spiritual kingdom and so the spiritual man, for that kingdom exists within every spiritual man. There are two things which constitute the spiritual man – charity and faith, or what amounts to the same, good and truth. Charity from which faith, or good from which truth springs, is the thing that Joseph represents. And faith which has charity within it, or truth which has good within it, is the thing that the second son means – that Benjamin represents, dealt with at Gen. 35:16-18. So Joseph means the celestial-spiritual man, and Benjamin the spiritual-celestial. The nature of the difference between them may be seen from what has been said fairly often already about good from which truth springs and truth that has good within it. This then is what is meant by Rachel’s second utterance ‘May Jehovah add to me another son’. But these arcana cannot be seen except by those who are governed by charity from which faith springs, for interiorly those people are dwelling in the light of heaven, which light also includes intelligence within it. But those arcana cannot be seen by those who are dwelling solely in the light of the world, for that light does not include intelligence except insofar as it holds the light of heaven within itself. To angels who dwell in the light of heaven these arcana belong among the most ordinary things they know.
[4] From these considerations one may now see that the words ‘God has taken away my reproach’ and ‘May Jehovah add to me another son’ in the highest sense mean the Lord as regards the Divine Spiritual, and in the internal sense the Lord’s spiritual kingdom or the good of faith, for such good is the spiritual as this exists in that kingdom. But the reason why those words in the external sense mean salvation, also fruitfulness and multiplication, is that these come as the product of that good, 3971. But what the Lord’s spiritual kingdom is may become clear from what has been stated and shown many times already about that kingdom, that is to say, it consists of those who are governed by charity and from charity by faith. This kingdom is distinct and separate from the Lord’s celestial kingdom, for the celestial kingdom consists of those who are governed by love to the Lord and from that love by charity. The latter constitute the third or inmost heaven, whereas the spiritual constitute the second or interior heaven.
[5] The reason why the name God is used first, in ‘God has taken away my reproach’, then Jehovah, in ‘May Jehovah add to me another son’, is that God has regard to the ascent from truth up to good but Jehovah to the descent from good down to truth. The spiritual man is governed by the good of faith, that is, by the good from which truth springs; but prior to his becoming spiritual he is governed by the truth of faith, that is, by truth that has good within it. For the name God is used when truth is the subject, but Jehovah when good is the subject, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921.
[6] The fact that ‘Joseph’ represents the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, or the spiritual man, and so represents the good of faith, becomes clear also from those places in the Word where his name is mentioned, as in the prophecy of Jacob, who by then was Israel,
The son of a fruitful one is Joseph, the son of a fruitful one beside a spring; O daughters, he trails over the wall; and the archers will exasperate him and shoot at him and hate him. And he will sit in the strength of his bow, and the arms of his hands will be made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob; from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel. By the God of your father, and he will assist you; and with Shaddai, and he will bless you with the blessings of heaven from above, with the blessings of the deep lying beneath, with the blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father will prevail over the blessings of my ancestors, even to the desire of the everlasting hills. They will be upon the head of Joseph and upon the crown of the head of the Nazirite among his brothers. Gen. 49:22-26.
These prophetic utterances in the highest sense contain a description of the Lord’s Divine Spiritual, in the internal sense a description of His spiritual kingdom. What each detail entails will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed in the explanation of that chapter.
[7] Similarly in the prophecy of Moses,
For Joseph he said, Blessed by Jehovah is his land, of the precious things of heaven, of the dew, of the deep also lying beneath, and of the precious things of the fruits of the sun, and of the precious things of the produce of the months, and of the precious things of the mountains of the east, and of the precious things of the everlasting hills, and of the precious things of the earth and of its fullness; and the good pleasure of Him dwelling in the bramble bush. They will come upon the head of Joseph and upon the crown of the head of the Nazirite among his brothers. Deut. 33:13-17.
[8] Because ‘Israel’ represents the Lord’s spiritual Church, 3305, 3654,
Jacob, who by then was Israel, said to Joseph,
Your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt, before I came to you in Egypt, will be mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be as Reuben and Simeon. May the angel who has redeemed me from every evil bless the boys, that in them my name may be called, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and may they increase into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Gen. 48:5, 16.
There are two things which constitute the spiritual Church – the understanding and the will, the understanding being represented by ‘Ephraim’ and the will by ‘Manasseh’. From this one can see why Joseph’s two sons were adopted by Jacob, by then Israel, and acknowledged as his own. Ephraim is also mentioned often in the Word, especially the prophetical part, in which places that name means the ability which the spiritual Church possesses to understand what is true and what is good.
[9] In Ezekiel,
Jehovah said, Son of man, take a stick and write on it, For Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions. And take another stick and write on it, For Joseph – the stick of Ephraim and of the whole house of Israel, his companions and join them together, one to the other into one stick for you, that both may be one in your* hand. Thus said the Lord Jehovih, I, behold, I am taking the stick of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim and of the tribes of Israel his companions, and I will add them to the stick of Judah, and make them into one stick, and they will be one in My hand. And I will make them into one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel; and one king will be king to them all, and they will no longer be two nations, nor will they ever be divided into two nations again. Ezek. 37:16, 17, 19, 22.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom, to the celestial and to the spiritual – ‘Judah’ being the celestial kingdom, 3654, 3881, 3921 (end), and ‘Joseph’ the spiritual. It is also said that those kingdoms will not be two but one – they were actually made one by the Lord’s Coming into the world.
[10] By the Lord’s Coming the spiritual were saved, see 2661, 2716, 2833, 2834. It is those who are spiritual that the Lord is speaking about in John,
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice, and there will be one Bock and one shepherd. John 10:16.
This is what is meant by ‘the two sticks’, the stick of Judah and the stick of Joseph, which will be joined into one, and will be one in the Lord’s hand, like one nation, even as they are one in the Lord’s kingdom. For celestial angels constitute the third heaven, which is the inmost heaven, but spiritual angels the second, which is the interior heaven, and in that kingdom they are one because one flows into the other, namely the celestial heaven into the spiritual. The spiritual kingdom is so to speak the groundwork on which the celestial is based, and in this way the two are made firm and stable. For the Divine celestial within the third or inmost heaven is love to the Lord, the celestial-spiritual in that heaven being charity. The latter, namely charity, is the chief thing in the second or interior heaven where spiritual angels are. This shows the nature of influx and also how things are made firm and stable by means of influx. ‘Wood’ means good, both the good which belongs to love to the Lord and the good which belongs to charity towards the neighbour, 2784, 2812, 3720. For this reason the command was given to write Judah and Joseph on the two sticks which were to be made one.
[11] In Zechariah,
I will make the house of Judah powerful, and I will save the house of Joseph, and I will restore them,** for I have had compassion on them, and they will be as though I had not forsaken them, for I am Jehovah their God and I will answer them. Zech. 10:6.
This too refers to the two kingdoms, the celestial and the spiritual, ‘Judah’ being the celestial kingdom and ‘Joseph’ the spiritual. Also referred to is the salvation of the spiritual.
[12] In Amos,
Thus said Jehovah to the house of Israel, Seek Me and you will live. Seek Jehovah and you will live, lest like fire He invades the house of Joseph and it devours and there is nobody quenching it. Hate evil, and desire good, and establish judgement in the gate; it may be that Jehovah God Zebaoth will have compassion on the remnant of Joseph. Amos 5:4, 6, 15.
Here also those who are spiritual are meant by ‘Joseph’. ‘The house of Israel’ means the spiritual Church, 3305, 3654, ‘Joseph’ the good of that Church. Hence the statement ‘Jehovah said to the house of Israel, Seek Me and you will live, lest like fire He invades the house of Joseph’.
[13] In David,
Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, leading Joseph like a flock. You who are seated on the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up Your might and come to save us. Ps. 80:1, 2.
Here similarly ‘Joseph’ means the spiritual man, ‘Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh’ being three essentials of that Church.
[14] In the same author,
Raise a song, and sound the timbrel, the sweet harp with the lyre; blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the festival, on our feast day. For it is a statute for Israel, a judgement to the God of Jacob. [As] a testimony for Joseph He appointed it, when He went out against the land of Egypt. I heard a language that I did not know. Ps. 81:2-5.
From each individual word or term used here it is evident that ‘Joseph’ means the spiritual Church or spiritual man. For there are in the Word terms which present spiritual realities and terms which present celestial ones, and these terms occur consistently throughout the Word. In this quotation terms that present spiritual realities are used – ‘a song’, ‘the timbrel’, ‘the harp with the lyre’, and ‘blowing the trumpet at the new moon, at the festival, on a feast day’. From this also it is evident that the subject is the spiritual Church meant by ‘Joseph’.
[15] In Ezekiel,
Thus said the Lord Jehovih, This is the boundary by which you will inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel, the portions for Joseph. Ezek. 47:13.
This refers to the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, and therefore the phrase ‘the portions for Joseph’ is used. The Lord’s Divine spiritual is that which is also called His kingship, for the Lord’s kingship is Divine Truth, but His priesthood Divine Good, 2015, 3009, 3670. The Lord’s kingship itself is that which ‘Joseph’ represents, in that he was made king in the land of Egypt. That representation will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with when that chapter is reached.
[16] As regards the Lord’s Divine spiritual, or Divine Truth, which is represented in the highest sense by ‘Joseph’, it does not exist within the Lord but flows from the Lord; for the Lord is nothing else than Divine Good. But Divine Truth proceeds from Divine Good. To use a comparison, it is like the sun and the light of the sun. Light does not exist within the sun but proceeds from the sun. Or it is like fire. Light does not exist in fire but proceeds from it. And in the Word Divine Good itself is compared to the sun and also to fire, and is actually called sun and fire. The Lord’s celestial kingdom receives its life from the good which proceeds from the Lord, but the spiritual kingdom receives its life from the truth derived from that good. For this reason in the next life the Lord is seen as the Sun by those who are celestial, but as the Moon by those who are spiritual, see 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 3636, 3643. For both warmth and light proceed from the sun. Its warmth is comparable to the good of love, which is also called celestial and spiritual warmth, its light to the truth flowing from it, which is also referred to as spiritual light, see 3636, 3643. But the celestial warmth and the spiritual light which proceed from the Lord as the Sun in the next life, include within them the good of love and the truth of faith, and so include wisdom and intelligence, 1521-1523, 1542, 1619-1632, 2776, 3138, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3339, 3485, 3636, 3643, 3862. For things which proceed from the Lord are living.
[17] From this one may see what the Divine Spiritual is; in what the spiritual kingdom and the celestial kingdom have their origins; and also that the spiritual kingdom is the good of faith, which good is charity, flowing in from the Lord directly, and also indirectly through the celestial kingdom. In the Word the Divine Spiritual which proceeds from the Lord is called the Spirit of truth, and is holy truth. The Divine Spiritual does not belong to any spirit but is the Lord’s, who imparts it through a spirit sent by Him, as becomes clear from the Lord’s own words in John,
When He the Spirit of truth comes He will guide you into all the truth, for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak. He will also declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify Me, for He will receive from what is Mine and declare it to you. John 16:13, 14.
* The Latin means my but the Hebrew means your.
** lit. I will cause them to dwell
‘It happened, when Rachel had borne Joseph’ means acknowledgement of the spiritual represented by Joseph. ‘That Jacob said to Laban’ means the good of natural truth turned to the parallel good from a Divine origin, by means of which good interior things are joined together. ‘Send me away and let me go to my own place and to my own land’ means that at that time there was in the natural represented by Jacob a strong desire to arrive at a state in which it would be joined to everything Divine in the Rational. ‘Give me my womenfolk’ means that the affections for truth belonged to that natural. ‘And my children’ means as did the truths born from those affections. ‘For whom I have served you’ means from His own power. ‘And let me go’ means to be joined to everything Divine in the Rational. ‘For you know my service with which I have served you’ means toil and endeavour from His own power.
[2] Indeed after the joining of the interior man to the external man has taken place, that is, of the spiritual and the natural, fruitfulness of good and multiplication of truth take place, for that joining together of the two is the heavenly marriage with man. It is from this marriage that such fruitfulness and multiplication spring. This also is why ‘Joseph’ in the external sense means fruitfulness and multiplication, 3965, 3969, the expressions ‘fruitfulness’ being used in reference to good, and ‘multiplication’ to truth, 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847.
It was a regulation among the Ancients that women given to slaves belonged to the master with whom they served, and so did the children born from them, as may be seen in Moses,
If you buy a Hebrew slave he shall serve for six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If his master has given him a wife and she has borne him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out by himself.* Exod. 21:2, 4.
It was because this was also a regulation in the Ancient Church and was therefore well known to Laban that he laid claim to Jacob’s wives and children, as is evident in the next chapter,
Laban said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flock is my flock, and all that you see belongs to me. Gen. 31:43.
And because Jacob knows this he says to Laban, ‘Give me my womenfolk and my children’. But this regulation as stated in Moses in the verses quoted above represented the right of the internal or rational man to the goods and truths of the external or natural man which the latter has obtained for itself. For a slave represented the truth of the natural man as that truth exists at first before genuine truths are instilled. The truth which is present at first is not truth but the outward appearance of it. Nevertheless it serves as the means by which genuine truths and goods are introduced, as has been shown already. For this reason once goods and truths have been instilled through that truth present at first, that is, through the service it renders, it is dispensed with, but the genuine truths obtained in that way are retained. It was for the sake of this representation that this law about slaves was laid down.
[2] But as for Jacob, he was not a slave who had been purchased, but a man from a more distinguished family than Laban. He himself – that is to say, Jacob – purchased Laban’s daughters, and so also the children by them, through the service he rendered; for they were his instead of wages. Consequently Laban’s assumptions concerning them were not correct. Furthermore ‘a Hebrew slave’ means the truth which serves to introduce genuine goods and truths, and his wife the affection for natural good. But Jacob’s position was different from that of a slave. He represented the good of natural truth, and his wives the affections for truth. Nor does Laban have the same representation as the master in the law that has been quoted relating to a Hebrew slave. That is to say, he does not represent the rational, but a parallel good, 3612, 3665, 3778, which is such that it is not genuine good but the outward appearance of the genuine, serving to introduce truths, 3665, 3690, which were accordingly ‘Jacob’s’.
[3] These details which have been presented are indeed such as fall within the mental grasp of none but a very few, for most people do not know what the truth and good of the natural are, and that these are different from the truth and good of the rational. Still less do they know that goods and truths which are not genuine but only so to external appearance serve to introduce genuine truths and goods, especially at the outset of regeneration. All the same, as these details are contained in the internal sense of these words, and also in the internal sense of those that follow concerning Laban’s flock from which Jacob obtained a flock for himself, they ought not to be passed over in silence. There will perhaps be some who grasp them. Any who have a strong desire to know such things, that is, who are stirred by an affection for spiritual good and truth, receive enlightenment in such matters.
* lit. with his own body
[2] It is well known that a person learns many things in early and later childhood, the sole purpose being that through them as means he may learn things that are more useful, and then through these, things that are more useful still, until finally he learns those that have to do with eternal life; and that when he learns the latter the earlier things he has learnt are virtually obliterated. In a similar way when somebody is being born anew from the Lord he is led by means of many affections for good and truth which are not affections for genuine good and truth but those which enable him to have a mental grasp of the genuine and after that to be endued with them. Once he has been endued with them the previous things sink into oblivion and are discarded, because they have served solely as means. The same also applies to the parallel good meant by ‘Laban’ in relation to the good of truth meant by ‘Jacob’, and also by each one’s flock, dealt with below.
[3] These are the arcana contained in these words and those that follow, but they have been conveyed within a historical description so that the Word may be read with pleasure even by children and by the simple – the end in view being that when these persons take delight in the historical sense the angels present with them may enter into the holiness of the internal sense; for the internal sense is suited to the intelligence of angels, while the external sense is suited to that of men. In this way man is in fellowship with angels, though he is not directly conscious of it. All that he perceives from that fellowship is a kind of delight in which holiness is present.
[2] The arcanum which lies concealed in these words and in those immediately before them is known to few, if any, and is therefore to be revealed. The goods present with people both inside the Church and outside it vary in every case. They vary so much that no one person’s good is ever exactly like another’s. These variations arise out of the truths to which those goods are joined, for the nature of every type of good is received from truths, and truths derive their essential nature from goods. Such variations also arise out of the affections that belong to each person’s love, and which become rooted in a person and are made his own through the life he leads. Few genuine truths exist even with someone inside the Church, and fewer still with one outside. Consequently affections for genuine truth seldom exist with anyone.
[3] All the same, people who lead good lives, that is, who live in love to God and in charity towards the neighbour, are saved. The reason they are able to be saved is that the Lord’s Divine is present within good that stems from love to God and within good that stems from charity towards the neighbour. And when the Divine is inwardly present everything is being arranged into order so that it can be joined to genuine goods and genuine truths which exist in the heavens. The truth of this may be proven from the communities constituting heaven, which are countless. Every single community varies as regards good and truth, and yet all of them taken together form one complete heaven. They are like the members and organs of the human body which, though varying in every case, still constitute one complete human being. For no complete whole is ever made up of any identical or entirely similar individual parts, but of varying parts harmoniously joined together. Varying parts joined together harmoniously present a single whole. The same applies to goods and truths in the spiritual world. Although these vary so much as never to be exactly similar with one person as with another, nevertheless from the Divine through love and charity they make one since love and charity are spiritual conjunction. Their variation is a heavenly harmony which produces such accord that they are one in the Divine, that is, in the Lord.
[4] Furthermore, however much truths may vary, and however much affections for truth may do so, good that stems from love to God and good that stems from charity towards the neighbour are nevertheless capable of receiving genuine truth and good, as they are not so to speak hard and resistant but soft and yielding. They allow themselves to be led by the Lord and in so doing to be turned towards good, and through good to be turned towards Him. It is different with those in whom self-love and love of the world reign. They do not allow themselves to be led and turned by the Lord towards the Lord but strongly resist, since each wishes to be his own leader, even more so when they have become subject to false and firmly established assumptions. As long as they are such they do not allow the Divine to come in.
[5] These considerations now make clear what is meant in the internal sense by these words which Jacob addressed to Laban, for ‘Laban’ means the kind of good which is not genuine because it does not have genuine truths planted within it but is nevertheless capable of having these joined to it and of having the Divine present within it. This kind of good is what normally exists with young children before they have received genuine truths. It is also the kind of good present with simple people within the Church who know few truths of faith but who nevertheless lead a charitable life. It is in addition the kind of good present with upright gentiles who offer holy worship to their gods. By means of such good, genuine truths and goods are able to be introduced, as may be seen from what has been stated about young children and simple people inside the Church in 3690, and about upright gentiles outside the Church in 2598-2603.
‘He said, What shall I give you?’ means knowledge. ‘And Jacob said’ means a reply. ‘You shall not give me anything; if you will do this one thing for me’ means that the finding of the wages should rest with the good that springs from truth. ‘I will return, feed, and guard your flock’ means that the good meant by Laban has a use to perform. ‘I will pass through all your flock today’ means that [the good of truth] recognizes the nature of all that good. ‘Removing from it every speckled and spotted member of the flock’ means that everything good and true that is meant by ‘Laban’ and which – when mingled with evil, meant by ‘speckled’, or mingled with falsity, meant by ‘spotted’ – will be separated. ‘And every black one among the lambs’ means a proprium of innocence, which belongs to the good meant by ‘Laban’. ‘And the spotted and speckled among the she-goats’ means that after this all the good of truth that has falsity and evil mingled within it will be ‘Jacob’s’. ‘And that will be my wages’ means that it was the result of His own effort. ‘And my righteousness will answer for me’ means the Divine holiness which He possessed. ‘On the morrow’ means into eternity. ‘When you come [to look] over my wages that are before you’ means what was His own. ‘Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the she-goats’ means that which does not originate in the good meant by Laban and is not mingled with evil and falsity within the goods of truth. ‘And black among the lambs’ means the first state of innocence. ‘Is one stolen by me’ means that it was not His.
‘And Jacob said’ means a reply. This is clear without explanation.
[2] From these details and others like them elsewhere anyone may come to the conclusion that some arcanum is concealed within them, and that although in the literal sense they are the kind of facts that are not worth mentioning, those details – every single one – are pregnant with ideas much more Divine. But what exactly these ideas may be cannot possibly be seen by anyone except from the internal sense, that is, unless he knows the way in which angels perceive these matters; for they perceive the spiritual sense when man sees the historical natural sense. How remote these two senses seem to be from each other when in fact they are closely linked to one another may become quite evident from the historical details explained above and from all other such details. The actual arcanum present within the details here and in those after them in this chapter may, it is true, be known to some extent from what has been stated already about Laban and Jacob – about ‘Laban’ meaning the kind of good by means of which genuine goods and truths are able to be introduced, while ‘Jacob’ means the good of truth. Yet few know what natural good corresponding to spiritual good is, even fewer what spiritual good is and that a correspondence ought to exist between the two, and fewer still that a type of good which merely looks like good is the means for introducing genuine goods and truths. This being so, the arcana which describe these matters cannot be explained easily and intelligibly since they fall within the poorly lit parts of the understanding. It is rather like someone talking in a foreign language, in that no matter how clearly the thing is explained in that language the hearer does not understand. Even so, because what is concealed in the internal sense of the Word is to be made known, the actual arcanum within the details here has to be discussed.
[3] In the highest sense the subject at this point is how the Lord made His own Natural Divine, and in the representative sense how the Lord regenerates the natural as it exists with man and brings it into correspondence with his interior man, that is, with that which is going to live after the death of the body. At that point it is called man’s spirit which, when released from the body, takes with it every part of the external man except the flesh and bones. If the correspondence of the internal man with the external has not been effected in the temporal state, that is, during a person’s life in the body, it is not effected after that. The Lord’s joining of the two together through regeneration is the subject in the internal sense here.
[4] Previous sections have dealt with the general truths which a person ought to receive and acknowledge before he can be regenerated, those truths being meant by Jacob’s ten sons by Leah and the servant-girls; then they deal – after he has received and acknowledged them – with the joining of the external man to the interior, that is, of the natural man to the spiritual, which was meant by ‘Joseph’. Now in the sequence of ideas the subject is the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth which begin to occur once the rational man has been joined to the spiritual, and in the measure that they are so joined. These are the considerations meant by the flock which Jacob acquired to himself by means of Laban’s flock. ‘Flock’ here means good and truth, as it does many times elsewhere in the Word. ‘Laban’s flock’ means the good that is represented by ‘Laban’, the nature of which has been stated above; ‘Jacob’s flock’ means the genuine good and truth which is acquired by means of that good represented by Laban.
[5] It is the way in which genuine goods and truths are acquired that is described here. Yet this cannot by any means be comprehended unless one knows what is meant in the internal sense by ‘speckled’, ‘spotted’, ‘black’ and ‘white’, and therefore these must first be dealt with here. That which is speckled or that which is spotted consists of black and of white. In general ‘black’ means that which is evil, in particular man’s proprium since this is nothing but evil. ‘Dark’ however means that which is false, and in particular false assumptions. ‘White’ in the internal sense means truth; strictly speaking it means the Lord’s Righteousness and Merit, and from this the Lord’s righteousness and merit as these exist with man. This whiteness is called bright because it shines from the light that radiates from the Lord. But ‘white’ in the contrary sense means self-righteousness or one’s own merit. Indeed truth devoid of good has such merit within it, for when any good action performed by a person does not stem from the good of truth that person always desires something in return since he acts for the sake of himself. But when good lies behind the truth that a person carries into effect, that truth is enlightened by the light which radiates from the Lord. From this one may see what is meant by ‘spotted’, namely truth with which falsity has been mingled, and what by ‘speckled’, namely good with which evil has been mingled.
[6] Actually visible in the next life are colours so beautiful and bright that they defy description, 1053, 1624. They are the product of the variegation of light and shade within white and black. But although it appears before the eyes as light, the light there is unlike the light in the world. The light in heaven includes intelligence and wisdom, for Divine Intelligence and Wisdom from the Lord manifest themselves there as light and also light up the whole of heaven, 2776, 3138, 3167, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3225, 3339-3341, 3485, 3636, 3643, 3862. Shade likewise in the next life, although it appears as shade, is unlike shade in the world, since the shade in that life is the absence of light and as a consequence the lack of intelligence and wisdom. So because the white and the black are in the next life a product of light which has intelligence and wisdom within it, and a product of the shade which is the lack of these, it is evident that white and black mean such things as have been stated above. Consequently, since colours are the modifications of light and shade within surfaces consisting of white and black, it is the variegations produced by those modifications that are called colours, 1042, 1043, 1053.
[7] From all this one may see what is meant by speckled, or marked and dotted with black and white specks, namely good with which evil has been mingled, and also what is meant by spotted, namely truth with which falsity has been mingled. These are the things that were taken from ‘Laban good’ to serve in the introducing of genuine goods and truths. But in what way they are able to serve is an arcanum which can indeed be presented clearly to those who see in the light of heaven because this light, as has been stated, holds intelligence within it, but not to those who see in the light of the world unless their light of the world is lit up by the light of heaven, as it is with those who are regenerate. For every regenerate person sees goods and truths within his own natural light from the light of heaven, because the light of heaven brings sight to his understanding even as the inferior light of the world gives him natural sight.
[8] But all this needs to be taken a little further. No pure good, or good with which evil is not mingled, exists with anyone. Neither does any pure truth, or truth with which falsity is not mingled, exist with him. This is because man’s will is nothing but evil, from which falsity is constantly passing into his understanding; for as is well known, he possesses by inheritance the evil that has been accumulated consecutively by his forefathers. From this inheritance he brings out evil into his own actions and makes it his own, adding further evil from himself to the inheritance. But the evils residing with man are of various kinds. There are evils with which goods cannot be mingled and there are evils with which they can. And the same applies to falsities. If this were not so nobody could ever have been regenerated. The evils and falsities with which goods and truths cannot be mingled are ones that are contrary to love to God and love towards the neighbour – forms of hatred, revenge, and cruelty, and consequent contempt for others in comparison with oneself, and also consequent false persuasions. But the evils and falsities with which goods and truths can be mingled are ones that are not contrary to love to God and love towards the neighbour.
[9] Take for example anyone who loves himself more than others and because of that love strives to excel others in private life and in public life, to excel them in knowledge and doctrine, and to be promoted to positions of greater importance than others, and also to greater affluence than others. If at the same time he acknowledges and adores the Lord, from the heart performs acts of kindness to the neighbour, and from conscience behaves justly and fairly, the evil that belongs to his self-love is such that good and truth can be mingled with it. For this is an evil which belongs to a person as his own and into which he is born by heredity. And to take that away from him suddenly would be to put out the fire of life that burns in him at first. But in the case of someone who loves himself more than others and because of that love despises others in comparison with himself, hates those who do not hold him in esteem and so to speak adore him, and therefore enjoys the feelings of hatred that are present in revenge and cruelty, the evil of that love is such that good and truth cannot be mingled with it because they are contraries.
[10] Take as another example anyone who believes that he is pure from sins, and so is cleansed like somebody from whom dirt has been washed away by means of much water, once he has repented and carried out the prescribed penances, or after he has made his confession and heard the confessor declare him free from sins, or after he has been to the Holy Supper. If he leads a new life, being stirred by an affection for good and truth, that falsity is such that good can be mingled with it. But if he goes on leading a carnal and worldly life as before, it is in that case a falsity with which good cannot be mingled. Also, with anyone who believes that man is saved by virtue of believing what is good and not of willing it, and yet who does will what is good and therefore does it, that falsity is such that good and truth can be attached to it. But not so if he does not will what is good and therefore does not do it.
[11] Take yet another example. If anyone does not know that man rises again after death and consequently does not believe in the resurrection, or else if anyone who does know but nevertheless doubts or practically denies it, and yet each one leads a life of truth and goodness, good and truth can be mingled with that falsity also. But if a person leads a life of falsity and evil they cannot be mingled with that same falsity because they are contraries. The falsity destroys the truth, and the evil destroys the good.
[12] And still another example. Pretence and shrewdness which have a good end in view, whether the good of the neighbour, or of one’s country, or of the Church, constitute prudence. The evils that are mixed up with them can be mingled with good by reason of and for the sake of the end in view. But presence and shrewdness which have an evil end in view do not constitute prudence but trickery and deceit. Good cannot possibly be joined to these, for deceit which goes with an evil end in view brings what is of hell into every single part of a person, sets evil in the middle, and casts good away to the circumferences. This order is the order itself of hell. And so with countless other examples that could be taken.
[13] The fact that there are some evils and falsities to which goods and truths can be attached may be seen merely from the consideration that so many different dogmas and teachings exist, many of them totally heretical, and yet subscribing to each one there are people who are saved. The same may also be seen from the consideration that among gentiles outside of the Church there is another Church that is the Lord’s, and that those are saved who lead charitable lives, even though falsities exist with them, 2589 2604. This could by no means be the case if there were no evils with which goods can be mingled, and no falsities with which truths can be mingled. For the evils with which goods are mingled, and the falsities with which truths are mingled, are wonderfully arranged into order by the Lord. For they are not combined with one another, still less are they made into one, but lie adjacent to and touch one another, so that in fact the goods together with the truths occupy the middle, at the central point so to speak, while the evils and falsities occupy positions radiating outwards to the surrounding areas or circumferences. Consequently the evils and falsities receive light from the goods and truths, and are variegated like patches of white and black created by light radiating from the middle or centre. This constitutes heavenly order. These are the things meant in the internal sense by ‘speckled’ and ‘spotted’.
[2] Such is the proprium of innocence meant here by ‘the black one among the lambs’ which Jacob chose for himself, whereas ‘the white one among the iambs’ means the merit that is placed in good deeds – ‘white’ meaning merit, as stated above in 3993. Jacob did not choose this because it goes against innocence. Indeed anyone who places merit in good deeds acknowledges and believes that all good originates in himself, for he regards himself, not the Lord, in the good deeds he does and as a consequence seeks reward on the basis of that merit. For the same reason he also despises others in comparison with himself, indeed he even condemns them, and therefore to the same extent departs from heavenly order, that is, from good and truth. From all this it may be seen that charity towards the neighbour and love to the Lord are by no means able to exist unless they have innocence within them, and consequently that no one can enter heaven unless he possesses some degree of innocence, according to the Lord’s words,
Truly I say to you, Whoever has not received the kingdom of God like a young child will not enter into it. Mark 10:15; Luke 18:17.
Here and elsewhere in the Word ‘a young child’ means innocence – see what has been stated already on these matters in the following paragraphs,
Early childhood is not innocence, but innocence resides in wisdom, 2305, 3494.
The nature of the innocence of early childhood, and the nature of the innocence of wisdom, 2306, 3183; also the nature of the proprium when, with innocence and charity, the Lord gives it life, 154.
Innocence causes good to be good, 2526, 2780.
[3] The fact that innocence is meant by ‘lambs’ may be seen from many places in the Word, of which let the following be quoted to confirm the point,
The wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the ox together; and a little child will lead them. Isa. 11:6.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom and to the state of peace and of innocence there. ‘The wolf’ stands for those who are opposed to innocence, ‘the lamb’ for those in whom innocence is present. A similar example occurs elsewhere in the same prophet,
The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and for the serpent, dust will be his bread. They will not hurt and will not destroy on all My holy mountain. Isa. 65:25.
As above, ‘the wolf’ stands for those who are opposed to innocence, and ‘the lamb’ for those in whom innocence is present. Because ‘the wolf’ and ‘the lamb’ are opposites, the Lord also said to the seventy whom He sent out, in Luke,
Behold, I send you out as lambs in the midst of wolves. Luke 10:3.
In Moses,
He causes him to suck honey out of the crag, and oil out of the stony rock – butter from the cattle, and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs and rams, the breed* of Bashan. Deut. 32:13, 14.
This refers in the internal sense to the celestial qualities of the Ancient Church. ‘The fat of lambs’ stands for the charity that goes with innocence.
[4] In the original language various nouns exist for lambs, and each is used to mean a different degree of innocence, for as has been stated, all good, if it is to be good, must have innocence within it. And so also must truth. Here in Gen. 30:32 the word used for lambs is also used for sheep, as in Lev. 1:10; 3:7; 5:6; 17:3; 22:19; Num. 18:17; and by that word is meant the innocence belonging to faith grounded in charity. Different words are used elsewhere, as in Isaiah,
Send the lamb of the ruler of the land from the rock towards the wilderness, to the mountain of the daughter of Zion. Isa. 16:1.
A different word again is used in the same prophet,
The Lord Jehovih is coming with strength, and His arm will exercise dominion for Him. He will pasture His flock like a shepherd, He will gather the lambs into His arm, He will carry them in His bosom, and will lead those that give suck. Isa. 40:9-11.
‘Gathering the lambs into the arm and carrying in the bosom’ stands for people who are governed by charity that has innocence within it.
[5] In John,
When He appeared [to the disciples] Jesus said to Peter, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me more than these? He said to Him, Yes, Lord; You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs. He said to him again, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love Me? He said to Him, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My sheep. John 21:15, 16.
Here as elsewhere ‘Peter’ means faith – see the Prefaces to Chapter 18 and 22, and 3750. And since faith is not faith if it does not arise out of charity towards the neighbour, and so out of love to the Lord, neither are charity and love charity and love if they do not arise out of innocence. This is why the Lord first asks whether he loves Him, that is, whether love is present within faith, and after that says, ‘Feed My lambs’, that is, feed those who are innocent. Then after putting the same question again, He says, ‘Feed My sheep’, that is, feed those who have charity.
[6] Because the Lord is the Innocence itself which exists in His kingdom, for He is the source of all innocence, the Lord is therefore called the Lamb, as in John,
The next day John Baptist saw Jesus coming towards him, and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who bears away the sin of the world. John 1 :29, 36.
And in Revelation,
They will fight with the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and those with Him have been called and chosen. Rev. 17:14.
There are other places in Revelation besides this – 5:6; 6:1, 16; 7:9, 14, 17; 12:11; 13:8; 14:1, 4; 19:7, 9; 21:22, 23, 27; 22:1, 3. It is well known that in the highest sense the paschal lamb means the Lord – for the Passover meant the Lord’s glorification, that is, His enduing the Human with the Divine – and in the representative sense means the regeneration of man. Indeed the paschal lamb means that which is the essential feature of regeneration, namely innocence; for nobody can be regenerated except by means of charity that has innocence within it.
[7] Because innocence is the first essential in the Lord’s kingdom and is the celestial itself there, and because sacrifices and burnt offerings used to represent the spiritual and celestial things of the Lord’s kingdom, the essential itself of the Lord’s kingdom, which is innocence, was therefore represented by ‘lambs’. This was why the continual or daily burnt offering was made from lambs, the first in the morning and the second ‘between the evenings’, Exod. 29:37-39; Num. 28:3, 4; and a double offering on the sabbath, Num. 28:9, 10; and many more lambs still at the appointed festivals, Lev. 23:12; Num. 28:11, 14, 19, 27; 28:1-end. After the days of her cleansing had been completed a woman who had given birth was required to offer a lamb as a burnt offering, also a young pigeon or else a turtledove, Lev. 12:6. This was required in order that the sign of the fruit of conjugial love – a love which is innocence itself, see 2736 – might be represented, and because innocence is meant by ‘babes’.
* lit. sons
[2] What is meant by the good of truth, or the charity of faith, will be discussed briefly. While a person is being regenerated it seems as though the truth of faith takes precedence and as though the good of charity is secondary; but once he has been regenerated it is quite plain that the good of charity takes precedence, and that the truth of faith is secondary. For what is seen before regeneration is the appearance but what is seen after it is the reality of the situation, see 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3616, 3701. For while a person is being regenerated he does what is good from the truth he has learned, it being from truth that he learns what good is. Yet it is the good present inwardly that performs what is good because good is flowing in from the Lord by an internal route, that is, by way of the soul, while truth flows in by an external route, that is, by way of the senses, which is that of the body. Truth which enters by the external route is adopted by the good present inwardly and is joined to it, an activity which continues until that person has been regenerated. Then a reversal takes place and truth is done from good. This shows what is meant by the good of truth and by the truth of good. It also explains why so many at the present day speak of the good deeds of charity as the fruits of faith, for these are what those deeds are seen to be when regeneration first begins. These people base such a conclusion on the appearance and know nothing else, for those who are being regenerated are few and none can have a knowledge of this matter except one who has been regenerated, that is, who has an affection for good, which is charity. It is from an affection for good, or charity, that it can be seen clearly, and also perceived, by him. People however who are not regenerate do not even know what the affection for good is, that is, what charity is, but reason about it as something foreign or extraneous to themselves. As a consequence they call charity the fruit of faith, when in fact faith is a product of charity. However, it does not matter very much whether simple people know which is prior and which is posterior, provided they are leading charitable lives, for charity is the life of faith.
[3] By the expression ‘member of the flock’ here is meant not only lambs but also sheep, kids, she-goats, rams, and he-goats, though only lambs and she- goats are actually mentioned. These alone are mentioned because ‘lambs’ means innocence, and ‘she-goats’ the charity of faith, these being the subject at this point in the internal sense. This too is why in the original language ‘spotted’ is expressed by a word which also means lambs, as in Isaiah 40:10, 11, while ‘speckled’ is expressed by a word which also means a sheep breeder, as in 2 Kings 3:4; Amos 1:1.
Watch, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will be coming. But recognize this, if the master of the house knew at what hour the thief would be coming, he would watch, and would not let his house be broken into. Matt. 24:42, 43.
In John,
If you do not wake up I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. Rev. 3:3.
In the same book,
Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is he who is awake and keeps his garments. Rev. 16:15.
These are references to the Lord. ‘Like a thief means nothing else than suddenly and unexpectedly. ‘Stealing’ in the internal sense means claiming for oneself that which is the Lord’s, namely good and truth. And because all do so at the beginning of their regeneration, and this is the first state of innocence, see immediately above in 4001, the expression that is used is therefore milder than it sounds in the letter. This explains why the words ‘is one stolen by me’ mean that it was not His.
‘Laban said, Behold, let it be according to your word’ means consent. ‘And he removed on that day the variegated and spotted he-goats’ means that the truths of good that were interspersed among and mingled with the evils and falsities belonging to the good meant by ‘Laban’ were singled out. ‘And all the speckled and spotted she-goats’ means every good of truth among which evil and falsity have been mingled. ‘Every one that had white in it’ means truth. ‘And every black one among the lambs’ means a proprium of innocence. ‘And he gave them into the hand of his sons’ means that they were given to truths. ‘And he put three days’ journey between himself and Jacob’ means that their state was one in which they were totally set apart. ‘And Jacob was feeding the rest of Laban’s flocks’ means that from the ones that were left there were taken the goods and truths which were to be joined to the good of truth.
[2] In the Word a careful distinction is made between the males and the females, as is evident from the sacrifices and the burnt offerings in which it was explicitly laid down whether a male lamb was to be offered or a ewe-lamb, a she-goat or a he-goat, a sheep or a ram, and so on. From these it becomes clear that one thing was meant by a male, another by a female. In general a male means truth and a female good. Here therefore ‘he-goats’ is used to mean the truths of good, and ‘she-goats’, mentioned immediately after, to mean the forms of good which are coupled with those truths. And this difference between males and females also explains why it is said that he removed the variegated he-goats but not, as in the reference to the she-goats, the speckled ones; for ‘variegated’ means truth interspersed among and mingled with evils, whereas ‘speckled’ means good interspersed among and mingled with them, dealt with above in 3993. Truth mingled with evils belongs specifically to the understanding, but good mingled with evils specifically to the will. This is how the two differ from each other. And they come from the good meant by ‘Laban’, as is evident from the fact that the he-goats and the she-goats were taken from Laban’s flock. For ‘a flock’ in the Word means good and truth, or what amounts to the same, those in whom good and truth are present, and so those who belong to the Lord’s Church.
[3] This arcanum is unable to be explained any further because it cannot become clear except to a mind that has been taught about truths and goods, and at the same time has been enlightened. Indeed one has to know what the truths of good are and what the kinds of good originating in these are, as well as the fact that from the one kind of good represented here by Laban so many varying forms of it can be singled out. Nor do people who are unaware of these matters know that each kind of good includes countless forms of it, so many indeed that these can hardly be arranged into general divisions by even the most knowledgeable mind. For there are forms of good which are acquired by means of truths, truths which are born from those forms of good, and forms of good acquired in turn by means of these truths. There are truths born from forms of good, which also exist in a connected series. Then there are forms of good mingled with evils, and truths with falsities, dealt with above in 3993, the minglings and mutual modifications of which are so varying and manifold that they exceed many millions. These are also made various by all the states of life through which people pass, and these states of life in general by the time of life which those people have reached, in particular by whatever affections reign in them. From all this one can comprehend to some extent that so many varying things were able to be singled out from ‘Laban’ good, some of which were joined to the truths meant by the sons of Jacob, and some left behind from which others were derived. But as has been stated, these matters are of such a nature that they cannot be understood unless the mind has been taught about goods and truths and has at the same time been enlightened.
The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Matt. 13:43.
[2] The fact that that which is ‘white’, being splendid and bright, has this meaning is also evident from other places in the Word, as in Moses,
His eyes will be redder than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. Gen. 49:12.
This refers to Judah, who represents the Lord as regards the Divinity of His Love, and in the internal sense the celestial kingdom, and so the celestial man, see 3881. ‘Eyes redder than wine’ means Divine Wisdom, and ‘teeth whiter than milk’ means Righteousness. In David,
You will purify me with hyssop and I shall be clean; You will wash me, and I shall become whiter than snow. Ps. 51:7.
‘Washing and becoming whiter than snow’ stands for being purified from sins by means of receiving and putting on the Lord’s righteousness. In John,
In the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man. His head and hair were white, like white wool, like snow; and his eyes were like a flame of fire. Rev. 1:13, 14.
[3] In the same book,
You have a few names in Sardis, who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. He who conquers will be clad in white garments. Rev. 3:4, 5.
In the same book,
I counsel you to buy from Me gold purified in fire, that you may be rich, and white garments to clothe you. Rev. 3:18.
In the same book,
To each soul under the altar were given white robes. Rev. 6:9, 11.
In the same book,
I saw, standing before the throne and before the Lamb those clothed in white robes. One of the elders said to me, These clothed in white robes – who are they, and where have they come from? I said to him, Sir, you know. He said to me, These are they who are coming out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 7:9, 13, 14.
In the same book,
The angels were clothed in linen, white and splendid, and were girded around their breasts with golden girdles. Rev. 15:6.
In the same book,
I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; to him a crown was given. Rev. 6:2.
And elsewhere,
After this I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. His armies in heaven were following Him on white horses and were clothed in linen white and clean. Rev. 19:11, 14.
[4] In all these places ‘white’ means the truth of faith; ‘white garments’ and ‘white robes’ have no other meaning. But the truth of faith does not exist with any who believe that they have faith of themselves and so believe that they are wise of themselves. Rather, it exists with those who believe that their faith and wisdom come from the Lord, for faith and wisdom are imparted to them because they do not ascribe any truth or good at all to themselves. Even less do they believe that they possess any merit through the truths and goods residing with them, and less still any righteousness, but only by ascribing these to the Lord, and so everything to His grace and mercy. This is what ‘putting on white garments’ means, and also what ‘being made white in the blood of the Lamb’ means. There are two things which all who enter heaven cast aside, namely their proprium and consequent confidence, and merit that is their own or self-righteousness. Then they assume a heavenly proprium which comes from the Lord, and the Lord’s merit or righteousness. And to the extent that these are so assumed those persons advance further into heaven. These two things specifically are meant by ‘red’ and by ‘white’; ‘red’ means the good of love and is present with those people at that time, ‘white’ the truth of faith.
‘Jacob took for himself fresh rods of poplar’ means the power proper to natural good. ‘And hazel and plane’ means the power deriving from this which natural truths possess. ‘And stripped white strips on them – an exposing of the white which was on the rods’ means an ordering effected by the interior power of truth. ‘And he set the rods which he had stripped in runners’ means further preparation. ‘In the troughs of water where the flocks came to drink’ means affections for truth. ‘In front of the flocks; and they came on heat as they came to drink’ means even to the point of an intense desire in the affection for truth that a joining [to the goods and truths within the natural] might be effected. ‘And the flocks were on heat at the roast means the effect produced by His own power. ‘And the flocks brought forth variegated, speckled, and spotted ones’ means that as a consequence natural good itself possessed such things, from the intermediate good meant by Laban. ‘And Jacob singled out the lambs’ means as regards innocence. ‘And set the faces of the flock towards the variegated’ means towards truths interspersed with evils and falsities. ‘And every black one’ means towards such a state. ‘In Laban’s flock’ means within the good meant by Laban. ‘And he put his own droves apart’ means the separation of goods and truths by His own power. ‘And did not put them near Laban’s flock’ means total separation from the good meant by Laban.
[2] From all these considerations it may be seen that power is meant by ‘rods’. But in the original language the word used for the rod that a shepherd, or else a king, or else a priest or a prophet possessed, is different from that used for the rods which Jacob took. The latter were used by wayfarers and so also by shepherds, as becomes clear from other places, such as Gen. 32:10; Exod. 12:11; 1 Sam. 17:40, 43; Zech. 11:7, 10. In the present verse, it is true, the rod is not referred to as one supporting the hand but as a stick cut out from a tree, that is to say, from the poplar, hazel, or plane, to be placed in the troughs in front of the flock. Nevertheless the word has the same meaning, for in the internal sense it describes the power of natural good and from that the good that empowers natural truths.
[3] As regards ‘the poplar’ from which a rod was made, it should be recognized that trees in general mean perceptions and cognitions – perceptions when they have reference to the celestial man, but cognitions when they have reference to the spiritual man, see 103, 2163, 2682, 2722, 2972. This being so, trees specifically mean goods and truths, for it is these that are involved in perceptions and cognitions. Some kinds of trees mean the interior goods and truths which belong to the spiritual man, such as olives and vines, other kinds mean the exterior goods and truths which belong to the natural man, such as the poplar, the hazel, and the plane. And because in ancient times each tree meant some kind of good or truth, the worship which took place in groves accorded with the kinds of trees there, 2722. The poplar referred to here is the white poplar, so called from the whiteness from which it gets its name. Consequently ‘poplar’ means good which was a product of truth, or what amounts to the same, the good of truth, as also in Hosea 4:13, though in this instance the good has been falsified.
The cedars did not hide it in the garden of God, the fir trees were not equal to its branches, and the plane trees were nothing compared to its branches. No tree was equal to it in its beauty. Ezek. 31:8.
This refers to the facts and to the rational concepts present in the member of the spiritual Church. ‘The garden of God’ means the spiritual Church, ‘the cedars’ rational concepts, ‘the fir trees’ and ‘the plane trees’ natural ideas – ‘the fir trees’ natural ideas involving good, ‘the plane trees’ those involving truth.
[2] The fact that this ordering is effected by the interior man is evident from a person’s acknowledgement of truth. Unless this acknowledgement is made by the interior man it is not acknowledgement; nor is it so unless it is made by conscience too, which is the acknowledgement by the interior man, and also by perception. Because the ordering by the interior man is effected by means of truth, power is therefore attributed to truth, as it is also to a rod, by which power is meant, as well as to the hand, by which likewise power is meant, 3091, as may be substantiated from very many places in the Word. Not that the power which truth possesses is from that truth but from good; and so it is truth empowered by good, that is, by the Lord through good. This shows to some extent what is meant by an ordering effected by the interior power of truth. In the highest sense, where the Lord is the subject, His own power is meant, for the power which the Divine has is His own power since it does not come from another.
[2] As regards the things that enter the memory the position is this: Those for which there is no affection pass into the unlit parts of the memory when they enter it, whereas those for which there is affection pass into the light there. Things present in that light are seen and appear clearly and distinctly when any matter of a similar nature is brought up, but not so the things lying around in the unlit parts. Such is the effect that affection belonging to love has. From this it may be seen that all implanting of truth and joining of it to good is effected through affection; and the greater that affection, the stronger the tie joining the two together.
[3] The intense desire of the affection is in this case inmost affection. But truths are not capable of being implanted and joined to good except by means of affections for truth and good, which affections well up from charity towards the neighbour and love to the Lord as their sources. But evils and falsities are implanted by means of affections for evil and falsity, and these affections well up from self-love and love of the world as their sources. This being so, and the subject at this point in the internal sense being the joining of good and truth within the natural man, mention is therefore made here and in what follows of the flock being on heat when they came to drink, by which such considerations are meant.
[2] The details contained here in the highest sense concerning the Lord and how He Himself by His own power made Divine His Natural are such that they go beyond even that which angels can understand. Something of what they are may be seen in the regeneration of man, for the regeneration of man is an image of the Glorification of the Lord, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490. Some idea of this subject may indeed be had by man, but not by anyone other than a regenerate person, and even then only an obscure idea as long as he is living in the body. For bodily and worldly matters which occupy his attention constantly cloud his mind and confine it to lower things. But those who are not regenerate are not able to grasp anything at all of the subject; they are devoid of all knowledge of it because they are devoid of any perception of it. Indeed they are totally unaware of what regeneration is, and do not believe in the possibility of it. They do not even know what the affection belonging to charity is by which regeneration is accomplished, nor consequently what conscience is, still less what the internal man is, and least of all what the correspondence of the internal man with the external is. They may, it is true, know – and many do know – the words that are used, but they know nothing of the subject itself. Consequently when they lack even some notion of these, then no matter how clearly the arcana contained in the internal sense at this point are presented to them, such a presentation would be like something displayed in the dark or like something spoken to the deaf. What is more, the affections belonging to self-love and love of the world which reign with them do not allow them to know or even to hear of such arcana, for they instantly reject them; indeed they loathe them. It is different with people who are stirred by the affection belonging to charity. They are delighted with such things; for the angels present with those people experience their own angelic happiness when a person is conscious of such arcana, the reason being that they too are then conscious of things to do with the Lord in whom they abide, and of things to do with the neighbour and his regeneration. From the angels, that is, from the Lord by way of the angels, joy and blessing flow in when anyone who is stirred by the affection belonging to charity reads those things, more so when he believes that holiness lies within them, and more so still when he grasps something contained in the internal sense.
[3] The matter under consideration at this point is the influx of the Lord into the good of the internal man, and indeed through the good into the truth there. Also under consideration are: the influx from there into the external or natural man; the affection for good and truth, into which affection the influx takes place; the reception of truth and the joining of it to the good there; and in addition, the good which serves as a means and is meant here by ‘Laban and his flock’. Of these matters the angels, who are aware of the internal sense of the Word – that is, for whom the internal sense is the Word – see and perceive countless details. But scarcely any of those details come within the range of man’s understanding, and those which do come within it pass into the unlit part, which is why these matters are not being explained in any greater detail.
‘So it was, whenever those came on heat – those of the flock which came together first’ means the things that were spontaneous. ‘That Jacob put the rods before the eyes of the flock in the runners, so that they would come on heat at the rods’ means summoned and joined together by His own power. ‘And before [the eyes of those of] the flock which came together later he did not put [the rods] in’ means things that are compulsory. ‘Those which came together later were Laban’s’ means that these things were left behind. ‘And those which came together first were Jacob’s’ means that the spontaneous things – or those which were from his freedom – were joined together.
A person’s feeling of freedom involves everything that is in keeping with his love or affection, see 2870.
Every joining together of truth and good is effected in freedom and none under compulsion, 2875, 3145, 3146, 3158.
Consequently all reformation and regeneration is effected through freedom, 1937, 1947, 2876-2881.
If it were possible to effect it through compulsion all would be saved, 2881.
[2] It may be seen from the paragraphs quoted above in 4029 that every joining together of truth and good, and therefore all reformation and regeneration, is effected in freedom, that is, is the outcome of what is spontaneous. Consequently no joining together of truth and good, thus no regeneration, is possible in the absence of freedom, that is, through compulsion. What freedom is, and the origin of it, see 2870-2893, where Human Freedom is the subject. Anyone who is unaware of the fact that no joining of truth and good, that is, no making of these one’s own, and so no regeneration, is possible except in a person’s freedom, ends up – if he reasons about the Lord’s Providence, about human salvation, and about the eternal damnation of many – with utterly dim misconceptions and then with serious errors. For he imagines that if the Lord is willing, He is able to save anyone, and to do so by all manner of means beyond number – by miracles, by the dead coming back again, by direct revelations, by angels withholding people from evils, and driving them to good by the plain use of force, and by many states into which a person is introduced and becomes repentant, and by many other means.
[3] But he does not know that all of these means involve compulsion and that nobody can be reformed through them. For anything that compels a person does not impart any affection to him; or if it is of such a nature that it does impart an affection, it binds itself to an affection for evil. Indeed it seems to instill, and does in fact instill, some holiness, but even so, when the state is altered he goes back to his previous affections, which are evils and falsities. In that case that holiness links itself to the evils and falsities and is turned into profanity, such as leads him into the worst hell of all. For that person first of all acknowledges and believes, and also has an affection for what is holy; but after that he denies it, indeed he loathes it. For profaners are those who at one point acknowledge with the heart and after that deny, not those who have not acknowledged with the heart, see 301-303, 571, 582, 593, 1001, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 2426, 3398, 3399, 3402, 3898. For this reason evident miracles do not take place at the present day, only miracles which are not evident or plain to see and which are of such a nature that they do not enforce any holiness or take away a person’s freedom from him. This is why the dead do not come back again and why no one is withheld from evil by direct revelations, or by angels, and led to good by the plain use of force.
[4] It is man’s freedom into which the Lord operates, and by means of which He turns him in a different direction. For all freedom involves that which is present in his love or affection, and so in his will, 3158. If he does not receive good and truth in freedom it cannot be made or become his own, since that which is for him compulsory is not his own but belongs to whoever compels it. For he is not acting of himself even though the action is done by him. It does sometimes seem as though a person is drawn under compulsion towards good, as in temptations and spiritual conflicts. But within these experiences he is in greater freedom than when he is outside them, see 1937, 1947, 2881. It also seems as though a person is acting under compulsion when he compels himself to do good; but self-compulsion is one thing, being compelled is another. Self-compulsion with anyone is a product of the freedom within him, but being compelled is a product of non-freedom. This shows what dim misconceptions and then what errors people end up with who reason about the Lord’s Providence, about human salvation, and about the eternal damnation of many, yet who are unaware of the fact that it is freedom through which the Lord operates and by no means through compulsion. For compulsion in things of a holy nature if not freely accepted is dangerous.
* There is no paragraph 4032 in the Latin.
‘The man became very very prosperous’ means multiplication. ‘And he had many flocks’ means resulting interior goods and truths. ‘And servant-girls and slaves’ means intermediate goods and truths. ‘And camels and asses’ means the rather external and the fully external truths of good.
* lit. spread himself exceedingly exceedingly
[2] When a person is first born only the immature bodily part exists; but this has within it the capacity to become fully developed. Subsequently he becomes natural, and at length rational. From this one may see that communication takes place between one part and another. The bodily part communicates with the natural by means of the senses, doing so through the senses belonging to the understanding in a distinct and separate way from its communication through those belonging to the will; for both understanding and will have to become fully developed in a person if he is to become and is to be fully human. The perceptions of the senses of sight and hearing serve in particular to develop fully his understanding, while the other three senses have regard in particular to his will. The bodily part of man’s mind communicates with his natural – which, as has been stated, is the intermediate part – by means of the senses. For the things that enter through sensory experience accommodate themselves within the natural as a kind of receptacle for them. This receptacle is the memory. The delight, pleasure, and desire there belong to the will and are called natural goods, but the facts there belong to the understanding and are called natural truths.
[3] By means of these things just mentioned the natural part of man’s mind communicates with his rational which, as has been stated, is the interior part. The things which rise up from the natural to the rational accommodate themselves in the rational likewise as in a kind of receptacle. This receptacle is the interior memory, dealt with in 2469-2480. The blessing and happiness there belong to the will and are forms of rational good, while the interior insights into things, and the perceptions of these, belong to the understanding, the objects of those insights and perceptions being called rational truths. These three – the bodily, the natural, and the rational – are what constitute a human being. Means of communication exist between these three, the external senses being the means by which the bodily part of a person’s mind communicates with his natural, and the interior senses those by which the natural part of his mind communicates with his rational. Therefore it is those things which are present in the natural part of a person’s mind, and which have been derived from the external senses that belong properly to the body, that are called the rather external and the fully external truths of good. But those which have been derived from the interior senses, which belong properly to his spirit and communicate with the rational, are the ones which are called interior goods and truths. And those which come in between and partake of both are the ones which are called intermediate goods and truths. These three groups of truths, starting in order with interior, are what are meant in the internal sense by ‘flocks’, by ‘servant-girls and slaves’, and by ‘camels and asses’.
The correspondence of the heart and lungs with the Grand Man or heaven was dealt with at the end of the previous chapter. In this section the correspondence of the cerebrum and cerebellum, and of the medullary parts which are joined on to them, is to be the subject. But before this correspondence is dealt with, some preliminary remarks must be made about the form of the brain in general, about the origin of that form, and what it represents.
[2] Then it was disclosed what sort of spirits they were, for this I was allowed to know by talking to them. Just the same as when they had lived as people in the world, they were spirits who gave no thought to spiritual or celestial matters and who did not talk about those things because they were the kind of people who did not believe in the existence of anything other than that which was natural. They had not believed in anything more because they could not think beyond that which was natural; yet they had not declared their unbelief. Rather, they had worshipped the Divine as others had done, had said their prayers, and had been good citizens.
[3] After this there were others who also entered into the beating of the heart, though not with a motion falling and rising but in a crosswise manner. There were others again who did not act in an alternating way but in a more continuous one. And there were others yet again by whose action the beating leapt from one place to another. They said that they had correlated with the outer layer of the dura mater, and that among them were some who thought about spiritual and celestial matters solely on the basis of such things as are the objects of the external senses. They did not comprehend interior things in any other way. To me they sounded like members of the female sex. People who reason on the basis of the experiences of the external senses, and so on the basis of worldly and earthly things, about the things of heaven, that is, about the spiritual things of faith and love – insofar as they make them all the same and confuse them together – move away to what is more and more outward until they reach, on the outside of the head, the skin which they represent. They are still inside the Grand Man even though in its outermost parts, if they have led a good life. For everyone is saved who leads a good life from a desire inspired by charity.
[2] I asked what those things meant and represented, and was told that it was a representation of the infundibulum within the brain, above which was the brain itself, meant by the sky. And what I had seen after that was the vessel meant by the well and called the infundibulum, while the cloud or vapour which emerged from it was the lymph which passes through and is pumped out of it. I was also told that there were two kinds of this lymph – that which is mingled with the vital substances, which belongs among the useful lymphs, and that which is mingled with serous substances, which belongs among the excrementitious lymphs.
[3] I was shown after this the nature of those who belong to this province, though only those of the baser sort, whom I also saw running about this way and that, devoting themselves to those they saw, paying attention to everything, and reporting to others the things they heard. They were disposed to be suspicious, impatient, and restless, just like that lymph which is within and is carried to and fro. Their reasonings are the fluids there which they represent. But these belong to an intermediate sort.
[4] Those however who correlate with the excrementitious lymphs there are those spirits who bring spiritual truths down to earthly things and there defile them. For example, when they hear anything to do with conjugial love they apply it to acts of whoredom and adultery, and in so doing bring what belongs to conjugial love down to these. So in everything else. These spirits were visible in front, some way out on the right. But those who belong to the good sort are like those referred to just above in 4049.
[2] After I had made this reply they said that their community consisted of a large number, yet not one of them was like another. But because it did not seem possible to me that a community consisting of those who were not alike could exist in the next life I talked to them about it and at length I learned that although they were not alike they were nevertheless united as regards their end in view, which was the same for them all. They went on to say that they were such that each individual acted in a different way from the next and also spoke in a different way, and yet they were similar in what they willed and thought. They also illustrated this with an example. When someone in their community speaks of an angel being least in heaven, a second of his being greatest, and a third of his being neither least nor greatest, and so on with many varying ideas, they are still in their thoughts acting as one, for he who wishes to be least is the greatest, and in comparison with others is the greatest because of that wish; and yet neither least nor greatest enters into it because they are not thinking of pre-eminence over others. So it is with everything else. They are united so far as their first intentions are concerned, but in their ultimate deeds they act in differing ways. They spoke into my ear and said that they were good spirits and that this was their normal manner of speaking. Concerning them I was told that it was not known where they came from and that they belonged among communities that wander from place to place.
[2] These are obstructions in the brain, and they cause nonsensical confusions there. Many communities of such spirits have been with me, and I have perceived their presence from a dullness, slowness, and loss of emotional feeling. I have also talked to them on several occasions. They are pestilential and pernicious, though in everyday life when they were in the world they had apparently been good, pleasant, well-mannered, and also clever people, for they know how to behave correctly and how to worm their way in by such behaviour, especially into friendships. What is meant by being a friend to good, or by the friendship that is concerned for what is good, they neither know nor wish to know. A sad fate awaits them. In the end they live in squalor and in such stupidity that scarcely anything at all of their human ability to understand things is left to them. For the end he has in view is what makes a person, and the essential nature of his end determines the nature of him as a person and therefore of his human ability to understand after death.
* Volume Three of the Latin ends here.
But immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and He will send out His angels with a trumpet and a loud voice, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other end of them.
At that time two will be in the field; one will be taken, the other left. Two women grinding; one will be taken, the other left. Matt. 24:40, 41.
But immediately after the affliction of those days means the state of the Church as regards the truth of faith, which is dealt with in the verses immediately before this. In the Word desolation of truth is called ‘affliction’ in various places – ‘days’ being states, see 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785. From this it is evident that these words mean that once faith no longer exists neither will any charity exist. For faith leads to charity because it teaches what charity is, and charity acquires its particular character from the truths of faith. The truths of faith however receive their essence and life from charity, as has been shown many times in previous volumes.
[2] The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light means love to the Lord, which is ‘the sun’, and charity towards the neighbour, which is ‘the moon’. ‘Being darkened’ and ‘not giving light’ mean that that love and charity will not be in evidence and so will disappear. For ‘the sun’ means the celestial kind of love and ‘the moon’ the spiritual kind; that is, ‘the sun’ means love to the Lord, and ‘the moon’ charity towards the neighbour which comes through faith, see 1053, 1529, 1530, 2120, 2441, 2495. The reason why the sun and the moon have these meanings is that the Lord is seen in the next life as a sun by those in heaven who are governed by love to Him and are called celestial, and as a moon by those who are governed by charity towards the neighbour and are referred to as spiritual, see 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 3636, 3643.
[3] The sun and the moon in heaven, or the Lord, are never darkened, nor do they lose their light but are shining unceasingly. Thus in heaven there is no darkening or loss of light in the love which celestial angels have for the Lord or in the charity which spiritual angels show towards the neighbour. Nor on earth is there any in people with whom angels are present, that is, in people who are governed by love and charity. But those who are not governed by any love or charity, only by self-love and love of the world, and consequently by feelings of hatred and revenge, bring that kind of obscurity to themselves. It is like the sun of this world which is shining constantly; yet when clouds intervene the sun is not visible, see 2441.
[4] And the stars will fall from heaven means that cognitions of good and truth will perish. When mentioned in the Word ‘stars’ have no other meaning than those cognitions, 1808, 2849.
And the powers of the heavens will be shaken means the foundations of the Church which are said to be shaken and jolted when those cognitions perish. This is because the Church on earth is heaven’s foundation; for the influx of good and truth from the Lord through the heavens culminates ultimately in the goods and truths present with the member of the Church. Consequently when the state of the member of the Church is so perverse that he no longer allows good or truth to flow into him ‘the powers of the heavens’ are in that case said ‘to be shaken’. That being so, the Lord always provides for some vestige of the Church to be left. And when the old Church perishes a new one is established.
[5] And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven means the manifestation of Divine truth – ‘sign’ meaning a manifestation, ‘the Son of Man’ the Lord as regards Divine truth, see 2803, 2813, 3704. This manifestation, or this ‘sign’, is what the disciples asked for when they said to the Lord,
Tell us, when will those things take place; what especially will be the sign of Your coming and of the close of the age? Matt. 24:3.
For they knew from the Word that when the age drew to a close the Lord would come, and they knew from the Lord that He would be coming again, by which they understood the Lord’s coming a second time into the world since they were not yet aware of the fact that the Lord had come as often as the Church had been brought to ruin. Not that any of these comings had been a coming in person, as was the case when, through birth in the world, He took on the Human and made this Divine. Rather, those comings had been made through appearances or manifestations of Himself, such as when He appeared in Mamre to Abraham, in the bush to Moses, on Mount Sinai to the Israelites, and to Joshua when he entered the land of Canaan. There were other comings of a less visible nature, such as those at times when inspiration was received and the Word was given by means of it, and later on through the Word itself. For the Word has the Lord present within it; every detail there comes from Him and has reference to Him, as may be recognized from what has been shown many times up to now. This is the kind of appearance that is meant here by ‘the sign of the Son of Man’ and is the subject in the present verse under consideration.
[6] And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn means that all in whom the good of love and the truth of faith dwell will experience grief. This is what is meant by ‘mourning’, see Zech. 12:10-14; and ‘the tribes’ means all aspects of good and truth, that is, of love and faith, 3858, 3926, and so consequently those in whom these things dwell. The phrase ‘the tribes of the earth’ is used because those inside the Church are meant – ‘the earth’ being the Church, see 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2928,
[7] And they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory means that at that time a revelation of the internal sense of the Word – the sense in which the Lord is present – will take place. ‘The Son of Man’ means Divine truth within the Word, 2803, 2813, 3704, ‘the clouds’ the literal sense. ‘Power’ has reference to the good and ‘glory’ to the truth present there. For this meaning of ‘seeing the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven’, see Preface to Gen. 18. This is the kind of coming of the Lord that is meant here, not a literal manifestation of Him in clouds. Next follows a reference to the establishment of a new Church, which takes place once the old has been brought to ruin and cast aside.
[8] He will send out His angels with a trumpet and a loud voice means election – not by visible angels, still less by trumpets and by loud voices, but by an influx of holy good and of holy truth from the Lord through angels, so that the expression ‘angels’ in the Word means something essentially the Lord’s, 1925, 2821, 3039. In this instance it means things which come from the Lord and have reference to the Lord. ‘A trumpet and a loud voice’ means the proclamation of the Gospel, as in other places in the Word.
[9] And they will gather the elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other end of them means the establishment of a new Church, ‘the elect’ being people in whom the good of love and faith dwell, 3755 (end), 3900, ‘the four winds’ from which they will be gathered being all states of good and truth, 3708, and ‘one end of the heavens to the other’ the internal and the external features of the Church. These are the considerations that are meant by these words spoken by the Lord.
GENESIS 31
1 And he* heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob has taken all that belonged to our father, and from what belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth.
2 And Jacob saw Laban’s face, and behold, he was not at all friendly towards him as before.**
3 And Jehovah said to Jacob, Return to the land of your fathers, and to [the place of] your nativity, and I will be with you.
4 And Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock.
5 And he said to them, I see your father’s face, that it is not at all friendly towards me as before;*** and the God of my father has been with me.
6 And you yourselves know that with all my strength I have served your father.
7 And your father has deceived me, and has changed my wages in ten ways, and God has not allowed him to do evil to me.
8 If he said thus: The speckled will be your wages, then all the flocks bore speckled. And if he said thus: The variegated will be your wages, then all the flocks bore variegated.
9 And God has taken away your father’s cattle and given them to me.
10 And it happened, when the flock came on heat, that I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream, and behold, the he-goats mounting the flock were variegated, speckled, and mottled.
11 And the angel of God said to me in the dream, Jacob. And I said, Behold, here I am.
12 And he said, Lift up now your eyes, and see all the he-goats mounting the flock, variegated, speckled, and mottled; for I have seen everything that Laban is doing to you.
13 I am the God of Bethel, where you anointed a pillar, where you made a vow to Me; now rise up, go out of this land, and return to the land of your nativity.
14 And Rachel answered, and Leah, and they said to him, Is there still any portion and inheritance for us in our father’s house?
15 Are we not considered strangers by him, for he has sold us, and also completely consumed our money?****
16 For all the riches which God has snatched from our father belong to us and to our sons; and now do everything that God has told you.
17 And Jacob rose up, and set his sons and his womenfolk on camels.
18 And he brought away all his cattle and all his substance which he had gathered, the cattle***** he had purchased, which he had gathered in Paddan Aram, to come to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan.
19 And Laban had gone to shear his flock, and Rachel stole the teraphim which belonged to her father.
20 And Jacob stole the heart****** of Laban the Aramean by not giving him any indication that he was fleeing.
21 And he fled with all that he had; and he rose up, and crossed the river; and he set his face towards mount Gilead.
22 And it was told to Laban on the third day that Jacob had fled.
23 And he took his brothers with him and pursued him for seven days;***** and he caught up with him on mount Gilead.
24 And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night, and said to him, Take care not to speak to Jacob either good or evil. !
25 And Laban overtook Jacob, and Jacob pitched his tent in the mountain, and Laban pitched with his brothers in mount Gilead.
26 And Laban said to Jacob, What have you done, that you have stolen my heart,****** and carried away my daughters like captives taken with the sword?
27 Why was it that you concealed your flight, and stole from me, and gave me no indication; for I might have sent you away with gladness and with songs, and with drums and with harps?
28 And you have not allowed me to kiss my sons and my daughters; now you have acted foolishly in what you have done.
29 Let my hand be for God to do you evil! And the God of your father spoke to me last night, saying, Beware of speaking to Jacob either good or evil.
30 And now you have surely gone because you longed greatly for your father’s house. But why did you steal my gods?
31 And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid; for I said, Perhaps you will take your daughters from me by force.
32 Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live in the presence of our brothers. Examine for yourself what is with me, and take them to yourself. And Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them.
33 And Laban came into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of both servant-girls, and did not find them. And he went out of Leah’s tent and came into Rachel’s tent.
34 And Rachel had taken the teraphim and put them in the camel’s straw, and sat on them. And Laban felt around all the tent and did not find them.
35 And she said to her father, Let there not be any anger in my Lord’s eyes, for I cannot rise up before you, for the way of women is upon me. And he searched and did not find the teraphim.
36 And Jacob was incensed and wrangled with Laban; and Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my transgression, what is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me?
37 Because you have felt around all my vessels, what have you found belonging to all the vessels of your house? Put it here in front of my brothers and your brothers, and let them decide between the two of us.
38 These twenty years I have been with you; your sheep and your she-goats have not miscarried, and I have not eaten the rams of your flock.
39 That which was torn [by beasts] I did not bring to you; I myself bore the loss of it; from my hand you required it – that stolen by day and that stolen by night.
40 This is how I was: By day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night; and my sleep was banished from my eyes.
41 These twenty years I have served you in your house – fourteen years for your two daughters, and six years for your flock; and you have changed my wages in ten ways.
42 Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Dread of Isaac, had been with me, you would now have sent me away empty-handed. My affliction and the tiredness of my hands******** God has seen, and has given judgement last night.
43 And Laban answered and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flock is my flock, and all that you see is mine. And for my daughters, what am I to do for them today, or for their sons whom they have borne?
44 And now come, let us make a covenant, I and you, and let it be a witness between me and you.
45 And Jacob took a stone and erected it as a pillar.
46 And Jacob said to his brothers, Gather stones; and they took stones and made a heap; and they ate there upon the heap.
47 And Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha; and Jacob called it Galeed.
48 And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and you today; therefore he called its name Galeed –
49 And Mizpah, for he said, Let Jehovah watch between me and you, for we are going to be hidden from each other.*********
50 If you afflict my daughters, and if you take wives (femina) besides my daughters, after we have parted from each other ********** – see, God is witness between me and you.
51 And Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have erected between me and you.
52 This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and that you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm.
53 May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge*********** between us, the God of their father. And Jacob swore by the Dread of his father Isaac.
54 And Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain, and called his brothers to eat bread; and they ate bread and stayed the night in the mountain.
55 And in the morning Laban rose up early, and kissed his sons and his daughters, and blessed them; and Laban went and resumed to his place.
* i.e. Jacob
** lit. not at all with him as yesterday three days ago (an ancient way of describing the day before yesterday)
*** lit. not at all towards me as yesterday three days ago
**** or silver
***** lit. acquisition
****** i.e. he deceived or outwitted Laban
******* lit. pursued him a way of seven days
******** lit. palms
********* lit. a man from his companion
********** lit. no man being with us
*********** The verb rendered may judge here is plural.
The subject now in the internal sense is the separation of the good and truth which are represented by Jacob and his wives from the good meant by Laban, in order that they might be joined to the Divine coming from a direct Divine stock. The subject is also the state of the two so far as separation is concerned.
Verses 1-3 And he* heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying, Jacob has taken all that belonged to our father, and from what belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth. And Jacob saw Laban’s face, and behold, he was not at all friendly towards him as before.** And Jehovah said to Jacob, Return to the land of your fathers, and to [the place of] your nativity, and I will be with you.
‘He heard the words of Laban’s sons, saying’ means the nature of the truths belonging to the good meant by ‘Laban’ in comparison with the good thereby acquired in the Natural by the Lord. ‘Jacob has taken all that belonged to our father’ means that every aspect of good now meant by ‘Jacob’ had been given to Him from that source. ‘And from what belonged to our father he has gained all this wealth’ means that He gave it to Himself. ‘And Jacob saw Laban’s face’ means a change of state with that good when the good meant by Jacob was departing from it. ‘And behold, he was not at all friendly towards him as before’ means that towards the good meant by ‘Jacob’ the state was completely altered; yet nothing had been taken away from that good, for it possessed what was its own as it had done previously, apart from its link with [the intermediate good]. ‘And Jehovah said to Jacob’ means the Lord’s perception from the Divine. ‘Return to the land of your fathers’ means that He had now to bring Himself closer to Divine good. ‘And to [the place of] your nativity’ means towards the truth deriving from that good. ‘And I will be with you’ means that in that case it will be Divine.
* i.e. Jacob
** lit. not at all with him as yesterday three days ago (an ancient way of describing the day before yesterday)
[2] How the good meant by ‘Laban’ compares with the good of truth, represented by ‘Jacob’, may be seen from what has been stated and shown in the previous chapter. The same may be further illustrated by means of the states which a person passes through when being regenerated, a subject which is also dealt with here, in the representative sense. When someone is being regenerated the Lord maintains him in an intermediate kind of good, a good which serves to introduce genuine goods and truths. But once those goods and truths have been introduced, that intermediate good is separated from them. Anyone who knows anything at all about regeneration and about the new man can appreciate that the new man is entirely different from the old, for the new man has an affection for spiritual and celestial matters since these constitute his feelings of delight and blessedness, whereas the old man’s affections are for worldly and earthly things, and these constitute his feelings of delight and pleasure. The new man’s ends in view therefore lie in heaven, whereas the old man’s lie in the world. From this it is evident that the new man is entirely different from and unlike the old.
[3] So that a person may be led from the state of the old man into that of the new, worldly passions have to be cast aside and heavenly affections assumed. This is effected by countless means known to the Lord alone, many of which the Lord has made known to angels but few if any to man. Even so, every single one of those means is revealed in the internal sense of the Word. When therefore a person is converted from an old man into a new one, that is, when he is regenerated, it does not take place in an instant as some people believe, but over many years. Indeed the process is taking place throughout the person’s whole life right to its end. For his passions have to be rooted out and heavenly affections implanted, and he has to have a life conferred on him which he did not possess previously, and of which in fact he scarcely had any knowledge previously. Since therefore his states of life have to be changed so drastically he is inevitably maintained for a long time in an intermediate kind of good which partakes both of worldly affections and of heavenly ones. And unless he is maintained in that intermediate good he in no way allows heavenly goods and truths into himself.
[4] That intermediate good is the kind meant by ‘Laban and his flock’. But a person is maintained in that good only so long as it serves its particular use. Once it has served it, it is separated. This separation is the subject in this chapter. The existence of this intermediate good, and its separation when it has served its use, may be illustrated from the changes of state which everyone undergoes from early childhood even to old age. It is well known that in each phase of life – early childhood, later childhood, youth, adulthood, and old age – a person’s state is different. It is also well known that a person lays aside the state of early childhood and its playthings when he passes into the state of later childhood, and that he lays aside the state of later childhood when he passes into that of youth, and this in turn when he passes into the state of adulthood, and that he finally lays this aside when he passes into the state of old age. And if anyone thinks it over he can also recognize that each phase of life has its particular delights. He can recognize that by means of these he is introduced by consecutive stages into those which belong to the next phase and that such delights have served to bring him through to that next phase, till at length he is brought to the delight of intelligence and wisdom in old age.
[5] From this it is evident that former things are always left behind when a new state of life is assumed. But this comparison merely serves to make the point that delights are simply means and that they are left behind when a person enters whatever state comes next. When however a person is being regenerated his state is made entirely different from the previous one, towards which the Lord is leading him not by any natural process but by a supernatural one. Nor does anyone reach that state except by the means belonging to regeneration which the Lord alone provides, and so by the intermediate good which has been referred to. And once he has been brought to that state, to the point of his no longer having worldly, earthly, and bodily things as his end in view but those of heaven, that intermediate good is separated. Having something as one’s end in view means loving it more than anything else.
[2] To enable people to understand the way in which goods and truths exist with a person, something scarcely known by anyone must be revealed. It is indeed known and acknowledged that all good and all truth come from the Lord; and some also acknowledge the existence of influx, the nature of which however remains unknown to man. Now because no knowledge exists, at least no acknowledgement in the heart, of the truth that around man spirits and angels are present and that the internal man dwells in the midst of these and is thereby governed by the Lord, there is little belief in that truth even when it is spoken about. Countless communities exist in the next life, and these are arranged and set in order by the Lord according to all the genera of good and truth; also communities that are the complete opposite, according to all the genera of evil and falsity. They are so arranged and set in order that no genus of good or truth exists, nor any species of that genus, nor even any specific difference, which does not have [a link with] such angelic communities, that is, to which angelic communities do not correspond. Nor on the other hand does any genus of evil or falsity exist, or any species of that genus, or even any specific difference, to which communities of devils do not correspond. Interiorly, that is, as regards his thoughts and affections, everyone is within a community of such angels or devils, although he is not actually aware of it. Everything that a person thinks and wills originates there, so much so that if the communities of spirits or angels in which he dwells were taken away from him, he would instantly cease to have any thought or will at all; indeed he would instantly fall down completely dead. Such is the nature of man’s state of being, though he believes that he himself is the originator of all he thinks and wills, and that neither hell nor heaven exists, or that hell is far removed from him, and heaven too.
[3] What is more, the good present with a person seems to him to be something that is a simple or single whole, but in fact it is something so complex, consisting of so many varying features, that he cannot possibly explore even so much as its general ones. And the same applies to the evil present with a person. But as is the good present with a person, so is the community of angels present with him; and as is the evil present with a person, so is the community of evil spirits present with him. A person chooses certain communities for himself, that is, he places himself within one of these; for like is brought into association with like. For example, one who is grasping chooses for himself communities of like-minded spirits who are motivated by his kind of desire; one who loves himself pre-eminently and despises others chooses for himself others who are like himself; while one who takes delight in acts of revenge chooses for himself such as delight in these; and so on with everyone else. Those spirits are in communication with hell, with man in the midst of them and utterly under their control, so much so that he is not under his own jurisdiction but under theirs, although he imagines from the delight he experiences, and so from the freedom he has, that he is in control of himself. But one who is not grasping, or one who does not love himself pre-eminently and does not despise others, or one who does not take delight in acts of revenge, dwells in a community of like-minded angels and through them is led by the Lord, and indeed by means of freedom to everything good and true to which he allows himself to be led. And as he allows himself to be led to good which is more interior and more perfect, so he is conveyed to more interior and more perfect angelic communities. His changes of state are nothing else than changes of communities. The truth of this is evident to me from continuing experience which has lasted for several years now, from which it has become something as ordinary and everyday for me as any ordinary everyday thing experienced by anyone since he was a young child.
[4] These considerations now make clear the situation with the regeneration of man, and with the intermediate delights and forms of good by which a person is conveyed by the Lord from the state of the old man to that of the new, that is to say, it is effected by means of angelic communities and by changes of those communities. Intermediate forms of good and delight are nothing else than such communities, with which the Lord brings man into contact so that by means of them he may be introduced to spiritual and celestial kinds of good and truth. Once he has been conveyed to these, those communities are separated, and more interior and more perfect ones become linked to him. Nothing else than this is understood by the intermediate good meant by ‘Laban’, and nothing else by the separation of that good, which is the subject of the present chapter.
‘Jacob sent and called Rachel and Leah to the field, to his flock’ means a linking of the affections for truth to the good now meant by ‘Jacob’ – achieved by that good itself; also the use to which those affections were applied when that good departed. ‘And he said to them, I see your father’s face, that it is not at all friendly towards me as before’ means a change of state within the good meant by ‘Laban’. ‘And the God of my father has been with me’ means that the Divine was the author of all that He had. ‘And you yourselves know that with all my strength I have served your father’ means that He acted by His own power. ‘And your father has deceived me, and has changed my wages in ten ways’ means the state of good in relation to Himself when, acting of Himself, He applied to Himself the things which constituted that good, and also a very great change in that good. ‘And God has not allowed him to do evil to me’ means that it was nevertheless unable to cause any hindrance. ‘If he said thus: The speckled will be your wages, then all the flocks bore speckled’ means His freedom, and that in His freedom the Lord adopted those things – even evils that were linked to the goods. ‘And if he said thus: The variegated will be your wages, then all the flocks bore variegated’ means even falsities that were linked to them. ‘And God has taken away your father’s cattle and given them to me’ means that those things came from the Divine. ‘And it happened, when the flock came on heat’ means an intense desire to be joined together. ‘That I lifted up my eyes and saw in a dream’ means the perception of natural good when in obscurity. ‘And behold, the he-goats mounting the flock were variegated, speckled, and mottled’ means the effect that was produced when natural good meant by ‘Jacob’ was endowed with such things from this source. ‘And the angel of God said to me in a dream, Jacob. And I said, Behold, here I am’ means perception from the Divine, and presence within that state of obscurity. ‘And he said, Lift up now your eyes’ means observation from what was His own. ‘And see all the he-goats mounting the flock, variegated, speckled, and mottled’ means that such things were being introduced. ‘For I have seen everything that Laban is doing to you’ means that the proprium of the good meant by ‘Laban’ was not such as acted of itself. ‘I am the God of Bethel’ means the Divine within the Natural. ‘Where you anointed a pillar’ means where the good of truth exists, and the boundary of it. ‘Where you made a vow to Me’ means that which is holy. ‘Now rise up’ means a raising up. ‘Go out of this land’ means a separation from that good. ‘And return to the land of your nativity’ means becoming joined to the Divine Good of Truth.
* lit. not at all towards me as yesterday three days ago
[2] With the departure of the communities of spirits and angels that are governed by intermediate good new communities draw nigh which are governed by a more perfect type of good. Man’s state is altogether conditioned by the communities of spirits and angels in whose midst he has his being. These determine the state of his will and also that of his thought. But when he himself chooses those communities for himself, that is, when he links himself to them, the changes of state which he undergoes are entirely different from when those communities are linked to him by the Lord. When he links himself to them evil reigns in him, but when they are linked to him by the Lord good reigns in him. When good reigns in him the kind of good that flows in by way of those communities is such as contributes to the reformation of his life. The things that are stated here in the internal sense about the good represented by ‘Jacob’, about the affections for truth meant by ‘Rachel’ and ‘Leah’, and about the use to which these affections were applied when that good departed from the good meant by ‘Laban’, give an exact and vivid picture of the communities and the changes they undergo. From these communities angels perceive the states which exist with man, and so perceive the nature of his goods and truths. Consequently they perceive countless details which are seen by man as little more than a single whole. Angels therefore are aware of actual causes since they see and perceive those communities, whereas man is aware of effects and does not see those communities, but has merely a dim perception of them gained through some changes of state which originate in those communities. He sees and perceives nothing regarding what is happening to good and truth, unless he is enlightened by the Lord through angels.
[2] Communities which are such that they believe good to originate in themselves, and as a consequence place merit in good deeds, served the use of introducing Him to a knowledge of such good, and from this knowledge to wisdom regarding good that is devoid of merit, such as originates in the Divine. That knowledge and wisdom deriving from it did not originate in those communities but was obtained through them. Take as another example communities which believe themselves to be rather wise, and yet reason about the validity of every aspect of good and truth. Such communities belong in the main to those which are spiritual. They served the use of introducing Him to a knowledge of those people and to how far they dwelt in shade in comparison with others, and that unless the Divine took pity on them they would perish. They also served to introduce Him to further things from the Divine which did not originate in those communities but were obtained through them.
[3] Take as yet another example communities which love God but believe that if they look to the Infinite, and so worship a God who is hidden from them, they are able to love Him. They cannot in fact do so unless by means of some idea or other they make that Infinite finite, or else within themselves visualize the hidden God by means of finite intellectual concepts. Otherwise it would be looking into thick darkness and embracing with love that which is enveloped in that darkness, and so would lead to further ill-formed and sketchy notions resulting from each person’s own ideas. Such communities likewise served the use of introducing Him to a knowledge of the nature of the interior features of those people, and also to a knowledge of the nature of their love, as well as to a sense of pity for them, in that they could not be saved unless the Lord’s Human was made Divine also for them to look to. This wisdom did not come from those communities but through them from the Divine. The same is so with any other examples that one might take. From all this one may see what is implied by the statement that nothing was taken from the good meant by ‘Laban’, but that the Divine – that is, the Lord Himself – was the author of everything He had.
[2] A similar situation exists with a person who is being regenerated. That is to say, the Lord applies communities to that person which serve to introduce genuine goods and truths, not from those communities but through them. And when the one who is being regenerated is transferred to other communities those which have been present hitherto are annoyed. But such communities are not visible to him because he does not believe that he is within any community of spirits or angels. They are however clearly visible to angels, and also to those who in the Lord’s Divine mercy are allowed to talk to them and go among them as one of them. This is how I have been given to know about such things.
[3] Spirits deplore very much the fact that man does not know about such things too, not even that they are present with him, and more still the fact that many deny not only their presence but also the very existence of hell and of heaven. This ignorance however they attribute to human stupidity, for man does not in actual fact possess the smallest amount of thought or the smallest amount of will except by means of influx through those spirits themselves from the Lord. And it is through them as a means that the Lord governs the human race, and in particular every member of it.
‘Rachel answered, and Leah, and they said to him’ means a reciprocation by the affections for truth. ‘Is there still any portion and inheritance for us in our father’s house?’ means the first state of the separation of those affections from the good meant by ‘Laban’. ‘Are we not considered strangers by him, for he has sold us’ means that it had alienated them so that they did not belong to it any longer. ‘And also completely consumed our money’ means it would destroy the truth belonging to those affections if they were not separated. ‘For all the riches which God has snatched from our father belong to us and to our sons’ means that all had been acquired by His own power and nothing given to Him by anyone else – by flowing in from His Divine into that which He received from [intermediate good]. ‘And now do everything that God has told you’ means the Lord’s Providence.
* or silver.
[2] The subject now is the reciprocal application to good of those affections for truth. This application is contained in the internal sense of the words which Rachel and Leah utter now. But these matters are such that they do not come within the range of anyone’s understanding unless he has been informed about them and takes delight in knowing about such things, and consequently has the discernment of spiritual matters as his end in view. All others have no interest at all in such matters and cannot even direct their minds towards them. For having worldly and earthly things as their end in view all others cannot detach their thoughts and feelings from those things; and if they did detach them they would not take any delight in doing so, for in that case they would be departing from and removing themselves from the things which they have as their end in view, that is, which they love. Let anybody like this put himself to the test, to see whether he has any wish to know how good links itself to affections for truth and how affections for truth apply themselves to that good, and whether knowing this irritates him or not. He will then say that such items of knowledge are of no use to him, and also that he does not get anything out of them.
[3] But if someone discusses with him the kind of things that are connected with his business in the world, no matter how very complex these matters may be, and he is told where another’s affections lie and also how he can use these to draw that person to himself by bending his own mind and words in his direction, he not only grasps what he is told but also perceives further ideas within it. It is similar with one who desires and strives to investigate the abstruse areas of knowledge. He loves to look at, and does look at, more complicated things than those within what is told to the person just mentioned above. But when spiritual good and truth are referred to he finds it a bore and also turns away from it. These things have been stated so that people may know what the member of the Church is like at the present day.
[4] But the whole idea of good linking itself to truths by means of affections, and of truths applying themselves to good, is less clear when imagination or thought is focused on good and on truth than when it is focused on the communities of spirits and angels through which good and truth flow in. For as stated in 4067, that which man wills and thinks originates in these, that is, it flows in from them, and appears as if it existed within him. To know the part played by those communities of spirits and angels in this case is to know the actual causes; and to know the part played by the heaven of angels is to know the ends behind these causes. There are also the historical details which are added to illustrate the matter and so enable it to be seen more plainly.
[5] In the internal sense the subject is the linking of good to truths, and the application of those truths to good within the natural. For as has often been stated, ‘Jacob’ is the good in the natural, and ‘his wives’ affections for truth. Good which is the good of love and charity flows in from the Lord, doing so through the angels present with man. It does not flow into anything else with man than the cognitions discerned by him. And good being established in these, thought is concentrated on the truths thus known to him, and from these further things are aroused which are related to them and harmonize with them. And this activity continues until the person thinks that a thing is true and from affection wills it because it is true. When this point is reached the good joins itself to the truths and the truths apply themselves in freedom; for all affection leads to freedom, 2870, 2875, 3158, 4031.
[6] But even when this point is reached, the spirits who have become linked to that person arouse doubts, and sometimes even denials. But insofar as affection prevails he is brought to an affirmative attitude and is at the same time confirmed in truths through those very doubts and denials. When good enters in this manner there is no perception of its doing so through angels, since it enters by such an interior way and passes into the parts of his mind that are darkened by worldly and bodily interests. But it should be realized that good does not flow in from angels but through them from the Lord. This all the angels also confess, and for that reason never claim that anything good is theirs; indeed they are angry when anyone attributes it to them. From all that has been said then, as from causes themselves, some idea may be had of what happens when good is linked to truths, and when these apply themselves to good, the subject at this point in the internal sense.
[2] These two types of communities are present with and active in a person who is being regenerated. To the extent he is introduced into heavenly things through the angels, the spirits who are interested in worldly things are removed. And if they are not removed truths are dispersed, for worldly things and heavenly things accord with one another in a person when the heavenly have dominion over the worldly, but they do not accord when the worldly have dominion over the heavenly. When they accord, truths within man’s natural are in that case multiplied, but when they do not accord, they decrease in number, indeed they are destroyed since worldly things darken heavenly ones, and so make them subject to doubt. But when heavenly things have dominion they shed light on worldly ones, set them in clear light and dispel doubts. Those things have dominion that are loved more than anything else. From this one may see what is meant by the statement about the destruction of the truth belonging to affections if they were not separated, meant by ‘he has completely consumed our money’.
‘Jacob rose up’ means a raising up of the good meant by ‘Jacob’. ‘And set his sons and his womenfolk on camels’ means a raising up of truths and of affections for these, and the arrangement of them within things that are general. ‘And he brought away all his cattle and all his substance which he had gathered’ means the separation of truth and good acquired from what belonged to Laban. ‘The cattle he had purchased’ means the things acquired by these from other sources. ‘Which he had gathered in Paddan Aram’ means cognitions of truth and good within the natural. ‘To come to Isaac his father, to the land of Canaan’ means so as to be joined to the Divine Good of the Rational, in order that the Human might be made Divine.
* lit. acquisition
[2] Anyone who does not have some knowledge of representations and correspondences is incapable of believing that the words ‘he set his sons and his womenfolk on camels’ mean such things. To him they seem too remote to incorporate and contain within them that which is spiritual; for he thinks about sons, womenfolk, and camels. But the angels, who see and perceive all such things in a spiritual manner, do not think of sons but of truths when ‘sons’ are mentioned; they do not think of womenfolk but of affections for truth, cognitions, and facts when ‘womenfolk’ are mentioned; nor do they think of camels but of things that are general within the natural when these are mentioned. For such is the correspondence between the one thing and the other, and such is the way in which angels think. And what is remarkable, it is also the way in which the internal spiritual man thinks while living in the body, though the external man is totally unaware of it. For the same reason when a person who has been regenerated dies he enters into a similar manner of thinking and is able to think with and talk to angels. And this he does without being taught to do so, something that would never have been possible if his interior thought had not been such. The fact that it is such is due to the correspondence of natural things with spiritual. From this it may been seen that although the literal sense of the Word is natural it nevertheless contains spiritual things within it, and in every single part, that is, it contains the kind of things that belong to thought and therefore to interior or spiritual language, such as angels employ.
[3] With regard to the raising up of truths and of the affections for these, and the arrangement of them within things that are general, truths and affections are raised up when the things of eternal life and of the Lord’s kingdom are thought to be more important than those of life in the body and of the kingdom of this world. When a person acknowledges the former to be first and foremost, and the latter to be secondary and subordinate, the truths he knows and his affections for them are raised up. For as is his acknowledgement so in the same measure is that person conveyed into the light of heaven, which light holds intelligence and wisdom within it, and so also in the same measure do things belonging to the light of this world become for him images and so to speak mirrors in which he sees the things belonging to the light of heaven. The contrary takes place when he thinks the things of the life of the body and of the kingdom of this world to be more important than those of eternal life and of the Lord’s kingdom. He does this when he believes that the latter do not exist because he does not see them and because nobody has come from there and given an account of them – or if he does believe that they may exist, nothing worse will happen to him than to others – and in so believing confirms himself in these ideas, leads a worldly life, and despises charity and faith altogether. With such a person truths and the affections for them are not raised up but are either smothered, or rejected, or perverted. For he dwells in natural light into which no heavenly light at all flows in. This shows what is meant by a raising up of truths and of affections for them.
[4] As for the arrangement of these truths and affections within things that are general, this is the inevitable consequence; for insofar as a person thinks heavenly things are more important than worldly ones, things within his natural are arranged into an order in keeping with the state of heaven. As a result they are seen in the natural, as has been stated, as images and mirrors of heavenly things, for they are representatives that correspond. It is the ends in view which effect the arranging, that is, the Lord effects it by means of the ends which the person has in view. For there are three things which follow in order ends, causes, and effects. Ends bring about causes, and by means of causes bring about effects. As is the nature of the ends therefore so is that of the emanating causes, and from these that of the effects. Ends constitute the inmost things with man; causes constitute the intermediate things and are called the intermediate ends; and effects constitute the ultimate things and are called the ultimate ends. Effects also constitute the things which are termed general. From this one may see what is meant by an arrangement within things that are general, namely this: When anyone has the things of eternal life and of the Lord’s kingdom as his end in view, then all intermediate ends, which are causes, and all ultimate ends, which are effects, are arranged in accordance with the end itself. And this is situated within the natural because that is where effects reside, or what amounts to the same, where things that are general reside.
[5] Every adult person possessing any judgement at all can recognize, if he gives the matter any consideration, that he is living in two kingdoms, the spiritual kingdom and the natural one. He can recognize that the spiritual kingdom is interior and the natural exterior, and consequently that he is able to think one more important than the other, that is, to have one rather than the other in view, and therefore that with him the one which he has as his end in view or makes more important is predominant. If therefore he has the spiritual kingdom, that is, the things which constitute that kingdom, as his end and thinks the spiritual kingdom more important than the natural one, then he acknowledges as being first and foremost love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and consequently all ideas that reinforce love and charity, and are called the truths of faith; for these belong to that kingdom. When this is the situation in a person, everything within his natural is distributed and arranged in keeping with the things of that kingdom so as to be subservient and obedient. But when he has the natural kingdom, that is, the things that exist there, as his end in view, and makes that more important, he annihilates all love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour, and all faith. Indeed he goes so far as to set no value at all on these things, but makes love of the world and self-love, and the things which go with these, all important. When this is the case everything within his natural is arranged in keeping with those ends, and so is entirely at odds with the things of heaven. In this way he brings about hell within himself. Having something as the end in view consists in loving it, for every end exists as the object of a person’s love because that which he loves he has as his end in view.
[2] As regards the joining together of the rational and the natural in man’s case, it should be realized that the rational constitutes the internal man and the natural the external man, and that the joining together of these produces the human. The nature of that human is determined by that of the joining together of the two; and they exist joined together when they act as one. And they act as one when the natural acts as the servant and is subservient to the rational. With man this is not possible unless it is done by the Lord, but with the Lord He did it by Himself.
‘Laban had gone to shear his flock’ means a state of use and of an end in view involving the good meant by ‘Laban’s flock’. ‘And Rachel stole the teraphim which belonged to her father’ means a change, as regards truth, of the state meant by ‘Laban’. ‘And Jacob stole the heart of Laban the Aramean’ means a change, as regards good, of the state meant by ‘Laban’ – ‘Laban the Aramean’ meaning, as previously, a type of good which does not include Divine Truth and Good. ‘By not giving him any indication that he was fleeing’ means through the separation. ‘And he fled with all that he had’ means separation. ‘And he rose up’ means a raising up. ‘And crossed the river’ means a state in which a joining together takes place. ‘And he set his face towards mount Gilead’ means good within it.
* i.e. he deceived or outwitted Laban
[2] There are good spirits, there are spirits of an intermediate kind, and there are evil spirits. These are linked to a person when he is being regenerated, to the end that through them he may be introduced into genuine goods and truths – which the Lord effects by means of angels. But they are the kinds of spirits or communities of spirits who do not accord, except for a time, with the one to be regenerated, and therefore when they have performed their use they are separated. The separation of them is effected in differing ways – the separation of the good spirits in one way, that of the spirits of the intermediate kind in another, and that of the evil spirits in yet another. The separation of the good spirits is effected without their being directly conscious of it, for they know from the Lord’s good pleasure that all is well with them wherever they are or to wherever the Lord takes them. But the separation of the spirits of the intermediate kind is effected by many means until they depart in freedom. They are returned to the state of their own good, and consequently to the state of the use they serve and of the end they therefore have in view, so that in that state they may experience the delight and blessing that are their own. But because they have derived pleasure out of their previous connection with the one who is being regenerated they are several times returned to and then released from that connection until they no longer take any delight in staying with him and so depart in freedom. Evil spirits too are indeed removed in freedom, but in a kind of freedom which appears to them to be freedom. They are linked to the person who is being regenerated so that they may introduce negative ideas which have to be dispelled, the intention being that this person may be strengthened all the more in truths and goods. And when he starts to be strengthened in these, those spirits take no delight in staying with him, only in separation from him. In this way they are separated by a feeling of freedom that accompanies their delight. This is how the separation takes place of spirits present with a person when he is being regenerated, and how as a consequence changes of his state as regards good and truth are brought about.
[3] As regards ‘sheering a flock’ meaning performing a use, this is evident from the consideration that the shearing of a flock in the internal sense means nothing else than a use that is served, for wool is obtained in this way. That the shearing of a flock means a use that is served is also evident from the following in Moses,
Every firstborn that is born among your herds and among your flocks you shall sanctify to Jehovah your God; you shall do no work by means of the firstborn of your oxen, and you shall not shear the first born of your flock. But before Jehovah your God you shall eat it year by year in the place which Jehovah will choose. Deut. 15:19, 10.
Here ‘not shearing the firstborn of the flock’ is a command not to put it to a domestic use. Because ‘the shearing of a flock’ meant a use that is served, ‘shearing the flock’ and ‘being present at shearings’ are included among important duties and functions, as becomes clear from the reference in Gen. 38:12, 13, to Judah shearing his flock, and from that to the sons of David in 2 Samuel,
So it was after two full years, that Absalom had shearers in Baalhazor, which is in Ephraim; and Absalom called all the king’s sons. And Absalom came to the king and said, Behold, I beg you, your servant has shearers; let the king go, I beg you, and his servants, with your servant. 2 Sam. 13:23, 24.
[2] What is implied in all this may be seen from the state in which spirits dwell when they are being separated. The states of good and truth in which spirits dwell are determined by the communities they are in, for as shown already, all thought flows in through others, doing so most immediately through those in whose community they are at the time. When therefore they are removed from one community and sent into another the states of their thoughts and affections are changed, and so therefore are the states of truth and good in which they dwell. If however they are sent into communities unlike themselves they take no delight in it, and consequently feel coerced; and therefore they are separated from them and taken to communities which are like themselves. This explains why the evil are unable to be present in and to stay among communities of the good, or the good to do so among communities of the evil, and also why all spirits and angels are distinguished into separate communities in accordance with those affections that belong to love. But every affection belonging to love contains many and varying features, 3078, 3189, 4005, though one feature is predominant. Each spirit therefore is capable of being in a number of communities, but he strives to get to the one in which his predominant affection reigns, and to which at length he is brought.
[3] As regards the good meant by ‘Laban’ and a change in the state of that good, as long as it was present with the good represented by ‘Jacob’ it was closer to the Divine; for ‘Jacob’ means that good within the Natural, and being closer to the Divine was also at that time in a more perfect state of truth and good. But when it was separated from it, it entered another state as regards truth and good, for in general changes of state in the next life are nothing else than movements towards the Divine or away from the Divine. This then shows what is understood by a change of state when the good meant by ‘Laban’ was separated.
[4] The reason why ‘Rachel stole the teraphim which belonged to her father’ means a change of state as regard truth is that by ‘the teraphim’ are meant his gods, as is evident from what follows below. For in verse 30 Laban says to Jacob, ‘Why did you steal my gods?’ and in verse 32 Jacob replies, ‘Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live in the presence of our brothers’. In the internal sense ‘gods’ means truths, which is also the reason why the name ‘God’ is used in the Word when truth is the subject, see 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822.
[5] The teraphim were idols which were used when people consulted God or asked Him something. And because the replies which they received were to those people Divine truths, truths were therefore meant by them, as in Hosea,
The children of Israel sat many days with no king and with no prince and with no sacrifice, nor ephod and teraphim. Hosea 3:4.
‘Ephod and teraphim’ stands for Divine truths which they received through the replies given, for when they asked God something they also put on the ephod, 1 Sam. 23:9-12. In Zechariah,
The teraphim speak iniquity, and the diviners see a lie, and the dreams speak vanity. Zech. 10:2.
Here too ‘the teraphim’ stands for replies, but in that state iniquitous ones.
[6] And because ‘the teraphim’ had this kind of meaning, some also had them in their houses, even though this was forbidden. One such person was Micah, in the Book of Judges,
Micah had a house of God and he made an ephod and teraphim, and he consecrated* one of his sons to be his priest. And some of the Danites said to their brethren, Do you know that in these houses there is an ephod and teraphim, and a graven image and a molten image? And when they had entered Micah’s house and took the graven image, the ephod and the teraphim, and the molten image… And the priest’s heart was glad,** and he took the ephod and the teraphim, and the graven image. And Micah pursued the children of Dan, then he said, You have taken my gods which I made, and the priest, and have gone away. What have I more? Judg. 17:5; 18:14, 18, 20, 24.
Michal too, David’s wife, had them, as described in 1 Samuel,
Michal, David’s wife, took the teraphim, and placed them in the bed and covered them over with a garment. Saul’s messengers came, but behold, the teraphim were in the bed. 1 Sam. 19:13, 16.
The fact that they were however idols which were forbidden is evident from what is said in reference to them in 1 Sam. 15:23; 2 Kings 23:24; Ezek. 21:21.
* lit. filled the hand
** lit. good
[2] Specifically ‘Aram’ or Syria means cognitions of truth and good, see 1232, 1234, 3051, 3249, 3664, 3680. The reason why it has this meaning is that the Ancient Church existed there also, with remnants of it remaining there for a long time, as is evident from Balaam who came from there and who was acquainted with Jehovah and also prophesied concerning the Lord. But after the growth of idolatry in that country, and after Abram had been summoned from it and the representative Church was established in the land of Canaan, ‘Aram’ or Syria took on the representation of a region outside the Church, that is, of a region separated from the Church and as a consequence remote from the things that constituted the Lord’s kingdom. But it continued to mean cognitions of good and truth. The reason why Jacob is said to have ‘stolen Laban’s heart’ by not giving any indication that he was fleeing is that immediately above a change of state as regards truth was spoken of, and therefore a change of state as regards good is spoken of here. For when truth is dealt with in the Word so also is good, on account of the heavenly marriage, which is the marriage of truth and good, present in every individual part of the Word, 683, 793, 801, 2516, 2712.
If you buy a Hebrew slave he shall serve you six years; and in the seventh he shall go out free, for nothing. If his master has given him a wife and she has borne him sons and daughters, the wife and her children shall belong to her master, and he shall go out by himself.* Exod. 21:2, 4.
The fact that Laban had this law in mind is evident from Jacob’s words later on in this chapter,
Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Dread of Isaac, had been with me, you would now have sent me away empty-handed. Gen. 31:42.
And from Laban’s words,
Laban answered and said to Jacob, The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flock is my flock, and all that you see is mine. Gen. 31:43.
Laban was not taking into consideration the fact that Jacob had not been bought as a slave, nor indeed was a slave, or that he belonged to a more illustrious family than he himself did, or also that Jacob had received his wives as well as the flock as wages. All this being so, that law did not apply to Jacob. Because by his fleeing Jacob now deprived Laban of that hope and as a consequence drove him into a state of dismay it is said that ‘he stole the heart of Laban the Aramean by not giving any indication that he was fleeing’. In the internal sense however these words mean a change as regards good of the state meant by ‘Laban’ through separation. Concerning a change of state effected through separation, see what has been stated just above in 4111.
* lit. with his own body
[2] The land of Gilead where the mountain was situated lay within the confines of the land of Canaan understood in a wide sense. It was situated on this side of the Jordan, and was granted as an inheritance to the Reubenites and the Gadites, and in particular to the half-tribe of Manasseh. And since the inheritances stretched out that far, it is said that it was situated within the confines of the land of Canaan understood in a wide sense. The fact that this territory was granted as an inheritance to those tribes is clear in Moses, Num. 32:1, 26-41; Deut. 3:8, 10-16; Josh. 13:24-31. For this reason when the land of Canaan was envisaged in its entirety it was said to stretch from Gilead even to Dan, and in another sense from Beersheba even to Dan, for Dan also was a boundary, 1710, 3923. Regarding its stretching from Beersheba even to Dan, see 2858, 2859; and reference to its doing so from Gilead to Dan occurs in Moses,
Moses went up from the plains of Moab onto mount Nebo, the top of Pisgah, which is in the direction of Jericho. There Jehovah showed him the whole land, Gilead even to Dan. Deut. 34:1.
And in the Book of Judges,
Gilead dwelling at the crossing of the Jordan; and Dan, why will he fear ships? Judg. 5:17.
[3] Because it was a boundary, ‘Gilead’ in the spiritual sense means the good that comes first, which is that of the bodily senses, for it is the good or delight of the senses that a person who is being regenerated is introduced into first of all. This is the sense in which ‘Gilead’ is taken in the Prophets, as in Jer. 8:22; 22:6; 46:11; 50:19; Ezek. 47:18; Obad. verse 19; Micah 7:14; Zech. 10:10; Ps 60:7; and in the contrary sense, in Hosea 6:8; 12:11.
‘It was told to Laban on the third day’ means an ending. ‘That Jacob had fled’ means a separation. ‘And he took his brothers with him’ means forms of good replacing those which it had lost. ‘And pursued him’ means a continuing intense desire to be joined. ‘For seven days’ means the holiness of truth. ‘And he caught up with him on mount Gilead’ means a kind of joining together was thereby effected. ‘And God came to Laban the Aramean in a dream by night’ means the obscure perception of that good when left to itself. ‘And said to him, Take care not to speak to Jacob either good or evil’ means that no communication existed any longer. ‘And Laban overtook Jacob’ means a kind of joining together. ‘And Jacob pitched his tent in the mountain’ means a state of love, the state in which the good now meant by ‘Jacob’ dwelt. ‘And Laban pitched with his brothers in mount Gilead’ means the state of the good existing to some extent in that joining together.
* lit. pursued him a way of seven days
[2] On earth however these names are given to people because they have the same parents, no matter how much these people differ from one another in affection. But that kind of brotherly relationship and affinity is dissolved in the next life, and unless on earth they have been governed by the same affection they all enter different brotherly relationships. Such people, it is true, do as a general rule come together initially, but in a short while they are parted. For in the next life it is not money that holds people together but, as has been stated, affections, the nature of which are plain to see as if in clear daylight, as also is the nature of the affection which one person has had for another. Since affections are so plain to see there, and since everyone’s affection attracts him towards the community that is his, the association with one another of people whose mental dispositions have not been in agreement is therefore broken. In that case all ties of brotherly relationship and of friendship possessed by the external man are eliminated in both parties, while those which had existed with the internal man remain. The reason why ‘he took his brothers with him’ means forms of good replacing those which it had lost is that when one community is being separated from another, as stated above in 4077, 4110, 4111, it moves towards another and so towards other forms of good which replace the former.
[2] Anything more that is embodied within the matters that have now been explained cannot be presented intelligibly in the same way except by reference to the occurrences which take place in the next life when the Lord links communities of spirits and angels to man or separates them from him. The actual process by which they are linked or separated is determined by the order as it exists there. The stages of this process have been described fully in this chapter, but because man has no knowledge of them at all it would be declaring mere arcana if they were to be explained individually. Some have been discussed above where the joining and the separation of communities residing with one who is to be regenerated have been the subject. But it is enough if one knows that the arcana of that process are contained here in the internal sense, so many and of such a nature in fact that not even a thousandth part can be explained fully and intelligibly.
‘Laban said to Jacob’ means a state of communication. ‘What have you done?’ means anger. ‘That you have stolen my heart’ means that it no longer possessed Divine good as it had done previously. ‘And carried away my daughters’ means that neither did it possess affections for truth as it had done previously. ‘Like captives taken with the sword’ means that they were taken away from it. ‘Why was it that you concealed your flight, and stole from me, and gave me no indication’ means the nature of the state if the separation had taken place with its free consent. ‘For I might have sent you away with gladness and with songs’ means the state in which – thinking from the proprium – it had believed itself to be as regards truths. ‘With drums and with harps’ means as regards spiritual good. ‘And you have not allowed me to kiss my sons and my daughters’ means a disjoining in a free state as intermediate good believed it to be. ‘Now you have acted foolishly in what you have done’ means anger. ‘Let my hand be for God to do you evil!’ means a state of anger if it did possess the power. ‘And the God of your father spoke to me last night’ means that the Divine did not allow it. ‘Saying, Beware of speaking to Jacob either good or evil’ means that communication was forbidden. ‘And now you have surely gone’ means that, acting from its proprium, it had separated itself. ‘Because you longed greatly for your father’s house’ means a longing to be joined to Divine good flowing in down a direct line. ‘But why did you steal my gods?’ means anger over its being a state in which truth had been lost.
* i.e. he deceived or outwitted Laban.
[2] None of this can be seen by man since he has no knowledge of how different kinds of good exist with him, still less of how the state of each form of good undergoes change. He does not even have any knowledge of how the good present with him in early childhood is different from and is changed into that of later childhood, or of how this is changed into the good succeeding that, which belongs to youth, and after this into the good belonging to adult years, and lastly into that of old age. With people who are not being regenerated no good undergoes change, only affections and accompanying delights; but with those who are being regenerated changes of state take place with every form of good. And this process continues from early childhood through to the last phase of their life. For the Lord foresees what kind of life someone is going to lead and how he is going to allow the Lord to lead him. And since every single thing, even the smallest, is foreseen, it is also provided. But as for the ways in which changes of state take place with those forms of good, man has no knowledge at all, the chief reason being that he does not possess any cognitions concerning this matter and does not at the present day wish to possess them. And because the Lord does not take the direct way into man to teach him but enters into the cognitions he knows and so takes the indirect way, man cannot possibly have any knowledge of changes of state taking place with those forms of good. Man being such, that is to say, one devoid of all knowledge of this subject, coupled with the fact that at the present day those who allow themselves to be regenerated are few, these matters would not be understood even if they were explained more fully.
[3] The fact that few at the present day know anything about spiritual good, and also that few know anything about freedom, has been made known to me by my experience of people who enter the next life from the Christian world. For the sake of illustration let just one example be mentioned. There was a certain Church dignitary who believed that he was more learned than others, and who was also acknowledged as such by others when he was alive. Because he had led an evil life he was so totally ignorant about good and freedom, and about the delight and blessing which flow from these, that he was not aware of even the smallest difference between hellish delight and freedom and heavenly delight and freedom. Indeed he said that there was no difference. Since such ignorance exists even with those reputed to be more learned than others, one can imagine how dark the shadows would be, indeed one can imagine the nature and the greatness of the resulting delusions, to which the things which might be stated here about good and about freedom – the matters dealt with in the internal sense – would be subjected. Yet in actual fact not so much as one single expression is used in the Word which does not embody a heavenly arcanum, though to man it seems to contain nothing of any importance at all. The reason why it does not seem to do so lies in the lack of knowledge, or the ignorance of heavenly things in which people of today live and also prefer to live.
[2] In the Word the expressions ‘gladness’ and ‘joy’ are used in various places, sometimes the two appearing together. But ‘gladness’ is used when truth or the affection for truth is the subject, and ‘joy’ when good or the affection for good is, as in Isaiah,
Behold, joy and gladness consist in slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine. Isa. 22:13.
Here ‘joy’ has reference to good and ‘gladness’ to truth. In the same prophet,
There will be an outcry in the streets over [the lack of] wine, all gladness will be made desolate, and the joy of the earth* will be banished. Isa. 24:11.
In the same prophet,
The ransomed of Jehovah will return, and come to Zion with song, and everlasting joy upon their heads; they will obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing will flee away. Isa. 35:10; 51:11.
In the same prophet,
Jehovah will comfort Zion. Joy and gladness will be found in her, confession and the voice of song. Isa. 51:3.
In Jeremiah,
I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land will become a waste. Jer. 7:34; 25:10.
In the same prophet,
The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those that say, Give thanks** to Jehovah Zebaoth. Jer. 33:11.
In the same prophet,
Joy and exultation have been plucked from Carmel, and from the land of Moab. Jer 48:33
In Joel,
Is not the food cut off before our eyes, gladness and exultation from the house of our God? Joel 1:16.
In Zechariah, The fast will be to the house of Judah one of joy and gladness and good feasts. Zech. 8:19.
[3] Anyone who does not know that the heavenly marriage, that is, the marriage of good and truth, is present in every detail of the Word might suppose that these two – joy and gladness – are exactly the same as each other and that both are used merely for the sake of greater emphasis, so that one of them is superfluous. But this is not the case, for not even the smallest part of an expression is used which lacks the spiritual sense. In the places that have been quoted, and in others too, ‘joy’ has reference to good and ‘gladness’ to truth, see also 3118. The fact that ‘songs’ also has reference to truths is clear from many places in the Word where songs are mentioned, for example Isa. 5:1; 24:9; 26:1; 30:29; 42:10; Ezek. 26:13; Amos 5:23; and elsewhere.
[4] It should be recognized that everything in the Lord’s kingdom has reference either to good or to truth, that is, to the things that are aspects of love or to those that are aspects of faith wedded to charity. Those which have reference to good or aspects of love are called celestial, while those which have reference to truth or aspects of faith wedded to charity are called spiritual. Since in every single detail of the Word the Lord’s kingdom is the subject and in the highest sense the Lord Himself; and since the Lord’s kingdom consists in a marriage of goodness and truth, or the heavenly marriage, and the Lord Himself is the one in whom the Divine marriage exists and from whom the heavenly marriage derives, that marriage is present in every single part of the Word. It stands out in particular in the Prophets where repetitions of one and the same thing occur with merely a change of words. In no case however are those repetitions pointless, for one expression means that which is celestial, that is, which has to do with love or good, and the other that which is spiritual, that is, which has to do with faith wedded to charity, or with truth. These considerations show how the heavenly marriage, that is, the Lord’s kingdom, is present in every detail of the Word, and how in the highest sense the Divine marriage itself or the Lord is present there.
* The Latin means all joy, but the Hebrew means the joy of the earth, which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
** lit. Confess
[2] In the Churches of long ago various kinds of musical instruments were used, such as drums, lyres, flutes, harps, instruments of ten strings, and many others. Some of these belonged to the group connected with celestial things, and some to the group connected with spiritual. When these instruments are mentioned in the Word they imply such celestial or spiritual things, so that from the instrument mentioned one can know which kind of good forms the subject – whether spiritual good or celestial good. Drums and harps belonged to the group connected with spiritual things, and that is why the phrase ‘as regards spiritual good’ is being used in this paragraph. For ‘a harp’ is used in reference to spiritual things, and stringed instruments serve to mean spiritual things, but wind instruments celestial ones, see 418-420.
[2] With everyone who is being regenerated good is at first intermediate good, for the purpose that it may serve in the introduction of genuine goods and truths. But once it has served that use it is separated; and that person is guided towards good which flows in along the direct line of descent. So a person who is being regenerated is perfected gradually. For example: a person who is being regenerated believes at first that the good which he thinks and which he does begins in himself, and also that he earns some reward, for he does not yet know, or if he does know does not comprehend, that good is able to flow in from some other source. Neither does he know of or comprehend any other possibility than that he should be rewarded because he does it of himself. If he did not believe this at first he would never do anything good. But by this means he is introduced not only into the affection for doing good but also into cognitions concerning good and also concerning merit. And once he has been guided in this way into the affection for doing good he starts to think differently and to believe differently. That is to say, he starts to think and to believe that good flows in from the Lord and that he merits nothing through good which he does from the proprium. And when at length true affection lies behind his willing and doing of what is good he rejects merit altogether and indeed loathes it, and he is moved by an affection for good for the sake of what is good. When this state is reached good is flowing in down a direct line.
[3] Take as another example conjugial love. The good which comes first and is introductory is good looks, or good manners, or outward compatibility, or similarity of social class, or aspiration. These forms of good are the first intermediate ones of conjugial love. After this comes the joining together of minds (animus) in which one wills as the other does and finds delight in doing that which is pleasing to the other. This is the second state, and although those initial forms of good are still present they are no longer kept in view. Finally there follows a uniting involving celestial good and spiritual truth. That is to say, one believes as the other believes, and one is moved by an affection for good as the other is moved. When this state is reached both together experience the heavenly marriage, which is a marriage of good and truth, and so experience conjugial love since conjugial love is nothing else. At the same time the Lord is flowing into the affections of them both as into a single affection. This is a good which flows in down a direct line, whereas the previous kind of good which had flowed in down an indirect line had served as the means of introduction to this good.
‘Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid; for I said, Perhaps you will take your daughters from me by force’ means the nature of the state if the separation had taken place with the free consent of that good, in that harm would have been done to it so far as affections for truth were concerned. ‘Anyone with whom you find your gods shall not live in the presence of our brothers’ means that that truth was not ‘Laban’s’, and that what was ‘Laban’s’ truth could not reside in his – ‘Jacob’s’ – good. ‘Examine for yourself what is with me, and take them to yourself’ means that everything belonging to that good had been separated. ‘And Jacob did not know that Rachel had stolen them’ means that they belonged to the affection for interior truth.
[2] The implication of this arcanum is that all spiritual good has its own truths, for wherever that good exists truths are present also. Regarded in itself good is a single whole, but it is made various by means of truths. Indeed truths may be compared to the fibres which compose some organ of the body. It is the form which these fibres take that determines the nature of the organ and therefore of its function. And this – that is to say, its function – is dependent on the life which flows in through the soul, a life that comes from good which originates in the Lord. So although good is a single whole it nevertheless varies with each individual; it is so varying that it is never exactly the same with one person as with another. This also is why one person’s truth cannot possibly abide in another person’s good. For all the truths residing with someone in whom good is present intercommunicate and produce some form or other. For this reason one person’s truth cannot be transferred to another, for when it is transferred it passes into the form that is peculiar to the recipient and takes on a different appearance. But this arcanum demands exploration which is too deep to enable it to be revealed in just a few words. This explains why the mind of one person is never exactly like another’s, but that the differences in people’s affections and ways of thinking are as numerous as the people themselves. It also explains why the whole of heaven consists of angelic forms which are endlessly varying. Arranged by the Lord into the form heaven takes, those forms act as a single whole. For no single whole is ever composed of parts that are identical but of those that are various existing in a single form and which make one in keeping with that form. This now shows what is meant by the statement that what was ‘Laban’s’ truth could not reside in his own – ‘Jacob’s’ – good.
[2] These matters cannot be made plain except from things that take place in the next life. For things taking place in the next life near a person in this life seem to him to occur within him. And virtually the same is so with spirits in the next life. When communities of spirits which are governed by intermediate good are in association with angels it seems to them, altogether so, as though they possessed as their own the truths and goods which are the angels’; indeed those spirits are not aware of them being anything other than their own. But when they are separated they then realize that this is not true. They too therefore complain bitterly, believing that those goods and truths have been taken away from them by the angels with whom they have been in association. These are the considerations that are meant in the internal sense by ‘teraphim’ in this verse and those immediately following.
[3] In general the situation is that no one ever possesses good or truth that is his own but that all good and truth flow in from the Lord, doing so both immediately and through angelic communities serving as intermediaries. Nevertheless it seems as though that good or truth is his own, and the reason for this is that these may be made over to him as his own until the time when he enters that state in which he may know, then acknowledge, and at length believe that they are not his but the Lord’s. It is also well known from the Word and thereby in the Christian world that all good and all truth are derived from the Lord and nothing good at all from man. Indeed the teachings of the Church which are drawn from the Word declare that of himself man cannot even strive after good and so cannot will it, and as a consequence cannot do it, since the doing of good springs from the willing of it. They also declare that the whole of faith is received from the Lord, so that man cannot have the smallest measure of belief unless it flows in from the Lord.
[4] These ideas are declared in the teachings of the Church and are taught in sermons. But few, indeed very few people, really believe them, as is proven by their presumption that life in its entirety exists inherently within themselves, and by the fact that scarcely any believe that life is something inflowing. Man’s life in its entirety consists in being able to think and being able to will, for if that ability to think and to will is taken away no life remains at all. And the very essence of life consists in his thinking what is good and willing what is good, and also in his thinking what is true and willing that which he thinks is true. Since these abilities, according to teachings from the Word, are not man’s but the Lord’s and they flow in from the Lord by way of heaven, people who have any power of judgement and who are capable of reflecting could from this fact deduce that life in its entirety is something which inflows.
[5] The same applies to evil and falsity. According to teachings drawn from the Word the devil is constantly trying to lead man astray and constantly breathing evil into him. This also is why, when anyone has committed a serious crime, it is said that he has allowed the devil to lead him astray. This again is the truth and yet few if any believe it. For just as all good and truth come from the Lord, so all evil and falsity come from hell, that is, from the devil – hell being the devil. This also shows that just as all good and truth are things that flow in, so too are all evil and falsity, and as a consequence every thought of evil or willing of it flows in too. Since these too are things that flow in, those who have any power of judgement and reflection may deduce that life is something which flows in, though it seems to exist inherently in man.
[6] The truth of this has been demonstrated on many occasions to spirits who had recently arrived in the next life from the world. But some of them have said, If all evil or falsity too is something that flows in, then no evil or falsity at all can be attributed to them and they are free from blame since such evil or falsity comes from somewhere else. But they were told in reply that they had made that evil and falsity their own through their belief that when they had thought or willed anything they had acted independently, by themselves. Yet if that which is truly so had been believed by them they would not then have made that evil and falsity their own. For in that case they would have believed also that all good and truth come from the Lord; and if they had believed this, they would have allowed themselves to be led by the Lord and so their state would have been different. In that case also the evil which had entered their thought and will would have had no effect on them; that is to say, evil would not have come out of them but good, since, according to the Lord’s words in Mark 7:15, it is not the things going in which affect a person but those coming out of him.
[7] Many are able to know this but few believe it. Even those who are evil can do so, but they still do not believe it since they prefer their own ideas, which they love to such an extent that when it is demonstrated to them that everything is such that it flows in they become worried and demand fiercely that they be allowed to live according to their own ideas, saying that if these are taken away from them they could not go on living. Such is the belief even of people who do know. These matters have been stated so that people might know what it is like with those communities of spirits which are governed by intermediate good, both when they are joined to others and when they are separated from them. That is to say, when joined to others they are not aware of the goods and truths being anything other than their own, when in fact they are not theirs.
‘Laban came into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of both servant-girls, and did not find them’ means that within the holiness which these possessed no such truths were present. ‘And he went out of Leah’s tent and came into Rachel’s tent’ means the holiness of that truth. ‘And Rachel had taken the teraphim’ means interior natural truths which came from the Divine. ‘And put them in the camel’s straw’ means in facts. ‘And sat on them’ means that they were interior. ‘And Laban felt around all the tent and did not find them’ means that what was his own was not there. ‘And she said to her father’ means to good. ‘Let there not be any anger in my lord’s eyes, for I cannot rise up before you’ means that they are unable to be revealed. ‘For the way of women is upon me’ means that as yet they were among things that were unclean. ‘And he searched and did not find the teraphim’ means that they were not his.
[2] The goods and truths belonging to each degree are entirely distinct and separate from one another and not in the least muddled up. The more interior are ones which give form, and the more exterior are ones which receive it. But although they are entirely distinct and separate from one another they are not seen by man as being distinct. Anyone who is sensory-minded cannot do other than regard all interior things, and indeed internal things themselves, as being merely objects perceived with the senses; for he sees things from the senses and so from a very external point of view. Interior things cannot possibly be seen from the most external, but the most external can be seen from interior things. The natural man, that is, one who bases his thinking on facts, cannot see other than that the natural things on which his thinking is based are inmost things, when in reality they are external. And the more interior man, who bases his judgements and conclusions on analytical arguments revealed by natural facts, in a similar way believes that they are the inmost things which man possesses, because they seem to him to be the inmost. Actually they come below his rational ideas, and so in relation to genuine rational ideas are more exterior or lower. Such is the manner of man’s mental grasp of things. The matters which have just been discussed concern the natural or external man existing in three degrees. But those which belong to the internal man also exist, as has been stated, in three degrees, as they do in the three heavens.
[3] From these considerations that have now been mentioned one may see what is implied by truths, meant by ‘the teraphim’, not being found in the tents of Jacob, Leah, or the servant-girls, but in Rachel’s tent, that is, within the holiness of the affection for interior truth. All truth which comes from the Divine exists within holiness, for it cannot be otherwise, seeing that truth which comes from the Divine is holy. It is called holy from the affection, that is, from the love which flows in from the Lord and causes truth to stir a person’s affection.
[2] As to the assertion that facts, compared with rational ideas, are coarse and lacking in order and for that reason are meant by ‘straw’ and also by ‘entangled boughs’, as has been stated, this idea is not open to those who rely solely on facts and are on that account reputed to be learned. They believe that the amount a person knows, that is, how much knowledge he possesses, determines how wise he is. But the situation is quite different, as has been made clear to me from those in the next life who, when they lived in the world, relied solely on facts and as a result acquired a name and reputation for being learned. Such people are sometimes far more stupid than those who have not possessed any skill in the use of factual knowledge. The reason for that stupidity has also been disclosed to me, which is this: Facts are indeed a means towards becoming wise, but they can also be a means towards becoming insane. For people who are leading a good life facts are a means to becoming wise, but for those leading an evil life they are a means to becoming insane since they use facts to support not only a life of evil but also false assumptions, which they do arrogantly and convincingly because they believe that they are wiser than others.
[3] This leads to the destruction of their rational. It is not the person who is able to reason from facts, doing so sometimes in a seemingly more masterly way than others, who is endowed with rationality. This skill which he possesses is the product of a wholly illusory light. But that person has the proper gift of rationality who is able to see clearly that good is good and truth is truth, and as a consequence that evil is evil and falsity is falsity. But anyone who looks on good as evil and on evil as good, and who also looks on truth as falsity and falsity as truth, cannot in any sense be called rational, but rather irrational, no matter how capable he is at reasoning. With the person who sees clearly that good is good and that truth is truth, and conversely that evil is evil and falsity is falsity, there is light flowing in from heaven and enlightening the area of his understanding and causing reasons which he sees with the understanding to be just so many rays of that light. The same light also gives light to facts so that they serve to support those reasons, besides imposing order and the heavenly form on such facts. People however who stand opposed to good and truth, as all do who are leading an evil life, do not allow that heavenly light in. Instead they take delight solely in their own illusory light, whose nature is such that one sees things rather like a person in the dark who sees streaks on a wall, and is deluded into making all kinds of shapes out of them, when yet they are not shapes, for as daylight falls on them they are seen to be merely streaks.
[4] From all this it may be seen that facts are a means to becoming wise and also a means to becoming insane; that is, that they are a means to perfecting the rational or else a means to destroying it. Those therefore who have destroyed the rational by means of facts are in the next life far more stupid than those who have not possessed any skill in the use of factual knowledge. The coarseness of facts compared with rational ideas is evident from the consideration that they belong to the natural or external man, and that the rational which is cultivated by means of them belongs to the spiritual or internal man. How far facts are different from and distant from the rational as regards purity can be known from what has been stated and shown about the two memories in 2469-2494.
[2] The reason why ‘the teraphim’ means truths from the Divine is that those who belonged to the Ancient Church gave to the Divine or the Lord various illustrious names which were descriptive of His different attributes as these manifested themselves in outward effects. The name God Shaddai, for example, was descriptive of the temptations in which the Lord fights on man’s behalf and after which He bestows benefits, see 1992, 3667. His providence guarding against man’s entering of himself into the mysteries of faith they called ‘cherubim’, 308, and Divine truths which they received through answers they referred to as ‘teraphim’. And for every other Divine attribute also they had a specific name. But the wise among them did not understand by each of those names anything but the one and only Lord, whereas the simple made images for themselves which were representative of that Divine, as many images as were those names. Then, when Divine worship began to be converted into idolatry, they invented as many gods for themselves. This was how many forms of idolatry arose among the gentiles, who added to the number of these gods. But because in ancient times Divine attributes had been meant by those names, some were retained, such as Shaddai and also ‘cherubim’ and ‘teraphim’, and when used in the Word mean the kinds of things that have been mentioned. By ‘the teraphim’ are meant Divine truths contained in the answers given by them, as is evident in Hosea 3:4.
‘Jacob was incensed and wrangled with Laban’ means the zeal of the natural. ‘And Jacob answered and said to Laban, What is my transgression, what is my sin, that you have hotly pursued after me?’ means that it was not because of evil that it had separated itself. ‘Because you have felt all around my vessels, what have you found belonging to all the vessels of your house?’ means that no truths had been that good’s very own but all had been given. ‘Put it here in front of my brothers and your brothers, and let them decide between the two of us’ means that judgement should be made on the basis of that which is just and fair. ‘These twenty years I have been with you’ means the proprium. ‘Your sheep and your she-goats have not miscarried’ means its state as regards good and the good of truth. ‘And I have not eaten the rams of your flock’ means the truth of good, in that He took nothing of his. ‘That which was torn [by beasts] I did not bring to you’ means that evil for which He was not blameworthy resided with that good. ‘I myself bore the loss of it’ means that good came out of it. ‘From my hand you required it’ means that it came from Himself. ‘That stolen by day and that stolen by night’ means the evil of merit-seeking in a similar way. ‘This is how I was: By day the heat consumed me, and the cold by night; and my sleep was banished from my eyes’ means temptations. ‘These twenty years I have served you in your house’ means the proprium. ‘Fourteen years for your two daughters’ means the first period, the purpose of which was that He might acquire to Himself the affections for truth. ‘And six years for your flock’ means the purpose of which was that He might acquire good after that. ‘And you have changed my wages in ten ways’ means its state towards Him when He was linking those goods to Himself. ‘Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Dread of Isaac, had been with me’ means but for the Divine and the Divine Human. ‘You would now have sent me away empty-handed’ means that it would have claimed all things to itself. ‘My affliction and the tiredness of my hands God has seen, and has given judgement last night’ means that all things were effected by Him by His own power.
* lit. palms
[2] The more internal base or more internal conscience is the place where good and truth in the genuine sense reside, for good and truth flowing in from the Lord are what activate this conscience. But the more external base is the more external conscience, and this is where that which is just and fair in the proper sense resides; for a sense of what is just and fair in private and public affairs, which also flows in from Him, is what activates that conscience. There is in addition a most external base, which resembles conscience but is not conscience at all, namely the performance of what is just and fair for selfish and worldly reasons, that is, for the sake of one’s own position and reputation, and for the sake of worldly wealth and possessions, as well as fear of the law. These three bases are what govern a person, that is, they are the means by which the Lord governs him. By the more internal base, or the conscience consisting of spiritual good and truth, the Lord governs those who are regenerate. By the more external base or conscience consisting of what is just and fair, that is, by means of the conscience consisting of good and truth in private and in public affairs, the Lord governs those who are not yet regenerate but who are capable of being regenerated, and are also being regenerated, if not in this life then in the next. But by means of the most external base, which resembles conscience but is not in fact this, the Lord governs all others, including the evil. But for His government of them the latter would plunge into every kind of wickedness and insanity, as they in fact do when the restraints belonging to that base are lacking. And people who do not allow themselves to be governed by those bases are either the insane or else those who are punished as laws prescribe.
[3] These three bases act as one with regenerate persons, for one flows into another, the more internal one regulating the more external. The first base, which is the conscience consisting of spiritual good and truth, is laid down within man’s rational, whereas the second, or the conscience consisting of good and truth in private and public life, that is, the sense of what is just and fair, exists within man’s natural. From all this one may now see what is implied by that which is just and fair, meant by ‘brothers’ – that which is just being meant by ‘my brothers’, and that which is fair by ‘your brothers’. The expression ‘that which is just and fair’ is used because the natural man is the subject; for, to be exact, justice and fairness are attributes of the natural man.
[2] ‘Sheep’ means goods. This may be seen from many places in the Word, from which places let merely the following be quoted: In Isaiah,
He was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth. He is led like a lamb* to the slaughter, and like a sheep before its shearers, he did not open his mouth. Isa. 53:7.
This refers to the Lord, where He is compared to ‘a sheep’ not by virtue of truth but of good. In Matthew,
Jesus said to the twelve whom He sent out, Do not go into the way of the gentiles, and do not enter any city of the Samaritans; go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Matt. 10:5, 6.
‘The gentiles’ to whom they were forbidden to go stands for those among whom evils exist – ‘gentiles’ meaning evils, see 1259, 1260, 1849; ‘the cities of the Samaritans’ stands for those among whom falsities are present; and ‘sheep’ stands for those among whom forms of good may be found.
[3] In John,
Jesus after the Resurrection said to Peter, Feed My lambs. A second time He said, Feed My sheep; the third time He said, Feed My sheep. John 21:15-17.
‘Lambs’ stands for those who have innocence within them. The first reference to ‘sheep’ stands for people whose practice of good stems from good, the second for those whose practice of it stems from truth. In Matthew,
When the Son of Man comes in His glory He will place the sheep at His right hand but the goats at His left. And He will say to those at His right hand, Come, O blessed of My Father, possess as an inheritance the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me. Insofar as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers you did it to Me. Matt. 25:31-40.
Here it is quite plain that ‘sheep’ stands for goods, that is, for those in whom good is present. Every kind of good flowing from charity, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described elsewhere, is included here in the internal sense. ‘Goats’ means in particular those who have faith but no charity.
[4] Similarly in Ezekiel,
As for you, O My flock, said the Lord Jehovih, Behold, I am judging between one member of the flock and another, between rams of the sheep, and he-goats. Ezek. 34:17.
‘He-goats’ means in particular those whose faith is not linked to any charity. This becomes clear from the meaning of ‘he-goats’ in the good sense as those who possess the truth of faith and from this some charity, but in the contrary sense those whose faith is not linked to any charity. Such people reason about salvation from basic assumptions that faith is what saves. The same point is apparent from what the Lord says about the goats in the passage in Matthew quoted above. But people who do not possess any truth of faith, or at the same time any good of charity, are carried away into hell without undergoing any such judgement, that is to say, without any examination to prove that they are governed by falsity.
* The Latin means cattle, but the Hebrew means lamb, which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
[2] This explains why, as in the Ancient Church so also in the Jewish they were forbidden to eat anything that had died naturally, that is, was a carcass, or to eat ‘that which had been torn’. This prohibition is contained in the following,
Every soul – homeborn or settler – who eats a carcass* or that which has been torn to pieces shall wash his clothes and bathe himself with water; he shall be unclean until the evening, and then he shall be clean; and if he has not washed himself and bathed his flesh he shall bear his iniquity. Lev. 17:15, 16.
In the same author,
He shall not eat a carcass* or that which has been torn, to defile himself with it; I am Jehovah. Lev. 22:8.
‘That which has been torn’ stands for evil that is a product of falsity, which is caused by the evil who are meant by the wild animals in the wood which tear to pieces, for in the Word those in hell are compared to wild animals. In the same author,
You shall be men who are sanctified to Me; therefore you shall not eat flesh torn in the field, you shall throw it to the dogs. Exod. 22:31.
In Ezekiel,
The prophet said to Jehovah, My soul has not been polluted, and from my childhood even till now I have not eaten any carcass* or that which has been torn nor has abominable flesh come into my mouth. Ezek. 4:14.
In the same prophet,
The priests shall not eat any carcass* or anything that has been torn, whether bird or beast. Ezek. 44:31.
This refers to the Lord’s kingdom – that it is where the new earth is situated.
[3] All these places show what is meant in the internal sense by ‘that which has been torn’; yet to make this plainer still, take as an example someone who leads a good life, that is, who does good to another because he wishes him well. Suppose that this someone then allows himself to be persuaded by another who is under the influence of evil that a good life contributes nothing to salvation for the reason that everyone is born in sins and nobody is able of himself to will good or consequently do it. And suppose he therefore allows himself to be persuaded by the idea that a means of salvation is supplied which is called faith, and accordingly that a person can be saved without leading a good life, even though his reception of faith were to take place at his final hour. If such a person who has been leading a good life allows himself to be persuaded by such an idea and then ceases to care about that life and also shows contempt for it, he is called ‘one who has been torn’. For ‘torn’ is used in reference to good into which falsity is introduced, with the result that good ceases to be living any longer.
[4] Take as another example marriage, which a person thinks of as a heavenly institution. Then he – and perhaps his partner also – allows himself to be persuaded that marriage is instituted purely for the sake of order in the world, for the sake of the upbringing and proper care of children, and for the sake of inheritances. In addition he allows himself to be persuaded that the bond of marriage is nothing more than a kind of contract which can be terminated or modified by either partner if the other is in agreement. Once he has accepted these ideas he does not see anything heavenly about marriage. If this leads on to debauchery, then that which is called ‘torn’ is the result. So with every other example that could be taken.
[5] The fact that the evil are the ones who ‘tear to pieces’ – which they do by means of reasonings drawing on things of an external nature, into which things of an internal kind cannot be imported because of an evil life – may be seen from the following in Jeremiah,
A lion from the forest has struck the great men down, a wolf of the deserts has devastated them, a leopard is watching over their cities, every one going out of them is torn to pieces, because their transgressions have been multiplied, their turnings away have become firm. Jer. 5:5, 6.
And in Amos,
Edom pursued his brother with the sword, and extinguished his own feelings of compassion, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever. Amos 1:11, 12.
* i.e. an animal that has not been slaughtered but has died naturally
[2] But when the external man together with its evil urges is being removed and the internal man is starting to be active, that is, when the Lord is flowing in through the internal man with the light of intelligence and by means of it giving light to the external man, that person starts to think in a different way and to attribute good not to himself but to the Lord. From this one may see what the evil of merit-seeking is, which is meant here by evil through which good comes – the kind of evil for which one is not blameworthy, dealt with already. But if, on reaching adult years, a person firmly establishes this evil in his thinking and becomes utterly convinced that he merits salvation through the good which he performs, that evil becomes strongly rooted in him and cannot be put right. For such people claim to themselves that which is the Lord’s. So they are not receivers of good which flows in constantly from the Lord; for the moment this enters them they channel it into themselves and into their proprium, and in so doing they defile it. These evils are what are meant in the proper sense by ‘thefts’, see 2609.
[2] When a person is deprived of that love he is fired by love of himself and of the world. This latter love, compared with spiritual and celestial love, is cold, and also becomes cold, not only with a person when living in the body but also when he enters the next life. If love of self and the world is taken away from him when he is living in the body, he grows so cold that he possesses scarcely any life at all, as would likewise be so if he were compelled to think reverently about heavenly and Divine things. In the next life, when such a person is among those who inhabit hell, he is inflamed with the fire or heat of evil passions. But if he draws near to heaven that fire and heat is converted into cold, the intensity of which increases the nearer he gets; and so does the torment to the same extent. This cold is what is meant by ‘the gnashing of teeth’ which is associated with those in hell, Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28.
Jacob swore by the Dread of Isaac his father. Verse 53.
Because he had been separated from Jacob by now, that is, because intermediate good had been separated from Divine good, Laban’s state was such that he wished to do harm, as is evident from the things that are mentioned regarding Laban. It is because his state was such that the expression ‘the Dread of Isaac’ is used. Anyone can see that ‘the Dread of Isaac’ means the God of Isaac, and also that Laban’s state was such. For ‘Isaac’ represents the Lord’s Divine Human, in particular as regards the Divine Rational, see 1893, 2066, 2072, 2083, 2630, 3012, 3194, 3210, 3704.
[2] As regards what is said above, that Divine Truth coming from the Lord, unlike Divine Good, holds dread within it so far as those not governed by good are concerned, the position is this: The holiness which radiates from the Lord has Divine Good and Divine Truth within it. These go forth from the Lord unceasingly and are the source of the light which shines in the heavens and the source of the light which shines in human minds. Consequently they are the source of wisdom and intelligence, for these are present within that light. But the way in which anyone is affected by that light, or wisdom and intelligence, depends on how he receives it. Those who are governed by evil do not receive Divine Good since they possess no love or charity, for everything good is a manifestation of love and charity. But Divine Truth is able to be received even by the evil, though only by their external man, not by their internal.
[3] It is like the warmth and light which come from the sun. Spiritual warmth is love, and so good, whereas spiritual light is faith, and so truth. When warmth from the sun is being received, trees and flowers grow, producing leaves and blossom and fruit, or seeds. This occurs in spring and summer-time. But when warmth from the sun is not received, only light, nothing grows. All vegetation then becomes inactive, as it does in autumn and winter-time. The same also applies to spiritual warmth and spiritual light which come from the Lord. If a person is spring-like or summer-like he receives the good which flows from love and charity and produces fruit; but if he is autumn-like or winter-like he does not receive that good and therefore does not produce any fruit. Yet he is still able to receive light, that is, he is able to know things that are matters of faith or truth. The effect of the light of winter is similar to that of summer, in that it too produces colourful and beautiful sights and enables them to be seen. But it is different in that it does not penetrate beneath the surface because it has no warmth in it, and as a consequence nothing can grow.
[4] The reception of light alone therefore and not of good is as when objects do not receive any warmth. Merely the outward form and the beauty of that form is received from the light, so that they are cold within; and when they are cold within they are all inactive, looking so to speak like something wrinkled with its hairs standing on end when the light meets it. And these are the conditions which produce fear, dread, and terror in living creatures. This comparison enables one to comprehend to some extent the nature of the fear, dread, and terror experienced by the evil. That is to say, such feelings are not the product of Divine Good but of Divine Truth; and they occur when people do not receive Divine Good yet do receive Divine Truth. The comparison also enables one to comprehend that Divine Truth devoid of Good cannot penetrate beneath the surface but stays in the outermost parts, that is, in the external man, and mainly in the area of sensory awareness belonging to the external man. More than this it enables one to comprehend that a person may sometimes look beautiful in outward form and yet in inward form be detestable. From all this one may also see the nature of the faith with very many – faith which, they say, saves without good works, that is, without goodwill and good actions.
[5] It being the Divine Human, and not the Divine itself, from which Divine Truth proceeds, it is the Divine Human therefore which is meant here by ‘the Dread of Isaac’. For as has been stated, it is Divine Truth which strikes fear into someone, not Divine Good. That it is the Lord’s Divine Human, and not the Divine itself, from which Divine Truth proceeds is an arcanum that has not been disclosed up to now. The implications of the arcanum are as follows: Before the Lord came into the world the Divine itself flowed into the whole of heaven; and because heaven at that time consisted for the most part of those who were celestial, that is, who were governed by the good of love, that influx of God’s Almighty power furnished the light which shone in the heavens, and with that light wisdom and intelligence. But when the human race departed from the good of love and charity it was no longer possible for that light to be provided by way of heaven, nor consequently for the wisdom and intelligence to come through to the human race. For this reason, so that the human race might be saved, the Lord out of necessity came into the world and made Divine the Human within Himself in order that as to that Divine Human He might become Divine Light, and in so doing might bring light to the whole of heaven and to the whole world. He had been from eternity Light itself, for the Divine itself passing through the heavens was the source of that Light. And it was the Divine itself which took on the Human and made this Human Divine; and once that Human had been made Divine He was then able to bring light not only to the celestial heaven itself but also to the spiritual heaven, and to the human race too, which received and receives Divine Truth within good, that is, within love to Him and within charity towards the neighbour, as is evident in John,
As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12, 13.
[6] The things that have now been stated make clear the meaning of the following in John,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. He was the true Light that enlightens every man coming into the world. John 1:1-4, 9.
Here ‘the Word’ means Divine Truth. Yet as to both Essences the Lord is Divine Good, whereas Divine Truth is that which proceeds from Him, see 3704. For Divine Good cannot be received by any man, nor even by any angel, but only by the Lord’s Divine Human, which is what the following words in John are used to mean,
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.
Man is however able to receive Divine Truth, though only in a form possible for it to exist with the recipient. And within that Truth, Divine Good is able to dwell, but in differing ways according to the kind of reception it is given.
[7] Such are the arcana which come to mind among the angels when man reads the words ‘Unless the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Dread of Isaac, had been with me’. It shows how heavenly in content the Word is, and every detail of it, although nothing of that content is visible in the sense of the letter. It also shows how superior angelic wisdom is to human wisdom, and that angels are aware of the deepest arcana while man does not even know that the Word contains any arcanum at all. Those which have been mentioned are only a very few, for within these arcana angels see and perceive countless details. Indeed, compared with those few arcana an infinity of details are seen by angels which cannot possibly be made known here because human language is inadequate to express what they are. Nor is the human mind capable of receiving them.
‘Laban answered and said to Jacob’ means an obscure state of perception. ‘The daughters are my daughters, and the sons are my sons, and the flock is my flock’ means that all affections for truth, all truths and goods were its own. ‘And all that you see is mine’ means all ability to perceive and to understand. ‘And for my daughters, what am I to do for them today, or for their sons whom they have borne?’ means that it did not dare to lay claim to those things as its own.
[2] Furthermore, I have been given to know through much experience about the way in which affections for good and truth are communicated to others. Spirits of that kind have sometimes been with me, and when they have become linked to me through any degree of affection they have not been aware of the things that were mine as being anything other than their own. And I have been told that the same happens to all people, for everyone has spirits with him, who, the moment they come to him and enter his affection, are not conscious of anything at all which that person possesses – that is to say, any facet of his affection or thought – as being anything other than their own. This is the way in which spirits are linked to man, and through them the Lord governs him, 2488. A discussion of these matters from actual experience will appear below at the ends of chapters.
‘Now come, let us make a covenant, I and you, and let it be a witness between me and you’ means a joining of the Divine Natural to works inherently good that are done by people on the sidelines, that is, by the gentiles. ‘And Jacob took a stone and erected it as a pillar’ means a like truth and worship based on this. ‘And Jacob said to his brothers’ means people who perform works that are inherently good. ‘Gather stones; and they took stones and made a heap’ means truths arising out of good. ‘And they ate there upon the heap’ means making their own that which came from Divine good.
[2] The reason why ‘Laban’ here means works inherently good that are done by people on the sidelines, that is, by the gentiles, is that now Laban has been separated from Jacob, that is, intermediate good from the Divine good of the Natural, he is no longer able to represent intermediate good. But since he has served as a means he therefore represents some good – to be exact, good on the sidelines, or a parallel good. For prior to his becoming joined thus to Jacob ‘Laban’ represented that parallel good, see 3612, 3665, 3778. He therefore means good that is on the sidelines, the nature of which good however is to be discussed below. The situation with Laban is similar to that with Lot and that with Ishmael. As long as Lot was with Abraham he represented the Lord as regards the external sensory man, 1428, 1434, 1547, 1597, 1598, 1698. But once he was separated from Abraham he represented those whose worship was external but who nevertheless had charity, 2317, 2324, 2371, 2399, as well as representing many consecutive states of the Church, 2422, 2459.
[3] As long as Ishmael likewise was with Abraham he represented the Lord’s first rational, 1893, 1949-1951; but after that, once he was separated from him, he represented those who were spiritual, 2078, 2691, 2699, 3263, 3268. And the situation involving Laban is similar, for the reason that although separation had taken place, intermediate good was still joined to the Divine Natural, yet not in the way it had been previously. This is why in this verse and in those immediately following ‘Laban’ represents works that are inherently good, such as are performed by people on the sidelines, that is, by gentiles. Gentiles are said to be on the sidelines, or to be governed by a parallel good, because they are outside the Church. Those within the Church who are governed by good and truth do not belong to a parallel line but to the direct line of descent since they possess the Word, and by means of the Word they have a direct communication with heaven, and through heaven with the Lord. This is not so with gentiles since they do not have the Word and do not know the Lord. That is why they are said to be on the sidelines. But those particular gentiles are meant here who do works that are inherently good, that is, who perform deeds of an external nature which have the good of charity within them. Their deeds are not called good works but works that are inherently so. For though it cannot be so in the case of works that are inherently good, good works can be devoid of any good within them.
[2] I have been allowed to talk on several occasions to Christians in the next life about the state and fortune of gentiles outside the Church – that they accept the truths and goods of faith more easily than do Christians who have not lived according to the Lord’s commandments, and that Christians think of gentiles in a heartless fashion. That is to say, they think that all outside the Church stand condemned, a way of thinking based on the established rule that outside the Lord there is no salvation. I have told the Christians to whom I have been speaking that this rule is true, but that gentiles who have led charitable lives with one another and who, moved by some kind of conscience, have done what is just and fair, receive faith and acknowledge the Lord more easily in the next life than those who are inside the Church and have not led charitable lives. I have gone on to say that Christians are subject to falsity when they believe that heaven is theirs alone because they have the Book of the Word, written down on paper but not in their hearts, and also when they know the Lord but do not believe that He is Divine as to His Human, indeed when they do not acknowledge Him, as to His second Essence which they term the human nature, as any more than an ordinary human being. Therefore, left to themselves and their own ideas they do not even adore Him. So it is they themselves who are outside the Lord, and for whom there is no salvation.
Jesus looking around on those who were sitting around Him said, Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of God is My brother, and My sister, and My mother. Mark 3:31, 34, 35.
Every joining together is effected through love and charity, as anyone may recognize, for a joining together spiritually is nothing other than love and charity. Love to the Lord, it is evident, causes one to be joined to Him; and so does charity towards the neighbour, as is clear from the Lord’s words in Matthew,
Insofar as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers you did it to Me. Matt. 25:40.
This refers to charitable works.
‘Laban called it Jegar Sahadutha’ means the nature of it on the part of the good represented by ‘Laban’. ‘And Jacob called it Galeed’ means the nature of it on the part of the good of the Divine Natural. ‘And Laban said, This heap is a witness between me and you today; therefore he called its name Galeed’ means that it will be so for ever – hence the nature of it is described a second time. ‘And Mizpah, for he said, Let Jehovah watch between me and you’ means the presence of the Lord’s Divine Natural. ‘For we are going to be hidden from each other’ means a separation so far as things of the Church are concerned. ‘If you afflict my daughters, and if you take wives besides my daughters, after we have parted from each other’ means that the affections for truth are to remain inside the Church. ‘See, God is witness between me and you’ means confirmation.
* lit. a man from his companion
** lit. no man being with us
This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness, that I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and that you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm.
From this one may see what the name Jegar Sahadutha, or heap of the testimony, implies. But in the internal sense it means the nature of the good confirmed by truths on the part of ‘Laban’, that is, on the part of those who perform works that are inherently good, that is, on the part of the gentiles.
[2] Why Laban first of all called the heap Jegar Sahadutha, its name in his own language, and after that Galeed, its name in the Canaanite language, when in fact the two have practically the same meaning, is for the sake of a bringing together and thereby a joining together. Speaking in the language or ‘lip’ of Canaan means responding to what is Divine, for ‘Canaan’ means the Lord’s kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord, 1607, 3038, 3705, as is evident in Isaiah,
On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt which speak in the lip of Canaan and swear by Jehovah Zebaoth. On that day there will be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to Jehovah at its border; and it will be for a sign and a witness to Jehovah Zebaoth in the land of Egypt. Isa. 19:18-20.
[3] The meaning of ‘a witness’ as the confirmation of good by means of truth, and of truth derived from good, and the consequent meaning of ‘a testimony’ as good in which truth is rooted, and truth which arises out of good, may be seen from other parts of the Word. ‘A witness’ is seen to mean the confirmation of good by means of truth, and of truth derived from good, from the following places: In Joshua,
Joshua said to the people, You are witnesses against yourselves that you have chosen Jehovah, to serve Him. And they said, We are witnesses. Then put away the foreigner’s gods which are in the midst of you, and incline your heart to Jehovah the God of Israel. And the people said to Joshua, Jehovah our God we will serve, and His voice we will obey. And Joshua made a covenant with the people on that day, and set them a statute and a judgement in Shechem. And Joshua wrote these words in the book of the law of God; and he took a great stone and set it up there under the oak that was in the sanctuary of Jehovah. And Joshua said to all the people, Behold, this stone will be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of Jehovah which He spoke to us; and it will be a witness to you, lest you deny your God. Josh. 24:22-27.
‘A witness’ in this passage clearly means a confirming – a confirming of the covenant and therefore of their being joined [to Jehovah]; for a covenant means a joining together, 665, 666, 1023, 1038, 1864, 1996, 2003, 2021. And since being joined to Jehovah or the Lord is not possible except through good, and since no good effecting that conjunction is possible apart from that which gains its true nature from truth, ‘a witness’ consequently means the confirmation of good by means of truth. The good meant in this passage consisted in being joined to Jehovah or the Lord, which came about through their choosing Him, to serve Him; and the truth by which it was confirmed was meant by ‘the stone’; for ‘a stone’ means truth, see 643, 1298, 3720. In the highest sense ‘the stone’ is the Lord Himself since He is the source of all truth, and for that reason is also called ‘the Stone of Israel’ in Gen. 49:24, and in what is said here in Joshua, ‘Behold, this stone will be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of Jehovah which He spoke to us’.
[4] In John,
I will grant My two witnesses to prophesy 1260 days, clothed in sackcloth. The are the two olive trees and the two lampstands which are standing before the God of the earth. And if anyone wishes to harm them, fire will come out of their mouth and devour their enemies. These have power to shut heaven. But when they have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends from the abyss will make war with them and conquer them and kill them. But after three and a half days the spirit of life from God entered them, so that they stood up on their feet. Rev. 11:3-7, 11.
‘The two witnesses’ in this case are good and truth – that is, good in which truth is present and truth arising out of good – when both of these have been confirmed in people’s hearts, as is evident from the statement that the two witnesses are the two olive trees and the two lampstands. For ‘an olive tree’ means that kind of good, see 886, and ‘the two olive trees’ stands for celestial good and for spiritual good. Celestial good is essentially love to the Lord, spiritual good is essentially charity towards the neighbour. ‘The lampstands’ are the truths that belong to those two kinds of good, as will be clear when, in the Lord’s Divine mercy, the lampstands are the subject. And it is these – forms of goodness and truth – which have the power to close heaven or to open it; see the Preface to Chapter 22. ‘The beast out of the abyss, which is hell, will kill them’ means the vastation of good and truth within the Church, and ‘the spirit of life from God entered them, so that they stood up on their feet’ means a new Church.
[5] Just as heaps in ancient times were set up to serve as witnesses, so later on were altars, as is clear in Joshua,
The Reubenites and the Gadites said, See the replica of the altar of Jehovah which our fathers made, not for burnt offering or for sacrifice, but to be a witness between us and you. And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad called it The Altar – a witness between us that Jehovah is God. Josh. 22:28, 34.
‘An altar’ means the good of love, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself, 921, 2777, 2811. ‘A witness’ stands in the internal sense for the confirmation of good by means of truth.
[6] Since ‘a witness’ means the confirmation of good by means of truth, and of truth derived from good, ‘a witness’ in the highest sense therefore means the Lord, for He Himself is the Divine Truth that confirms, as in Isaiah,
I will make with you an eternal covenant, even the true mercies of David. Lo, I have given him as a witness to the peoples, a prince and teacher to the peoples. Isa. 55:3, 4.
In John,
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Rev. 1:5.
In the same book,
These things says the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s creation. Rev. 3:14.
[7] The requirement in the representative Church that the truth must always be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses, not on that of one, Num. 35:30; Deut. 17:6, 7; 19:15; Matt. 18:16, originates in the Divine Law that one truth does not make good firm but many truths do so. For one truth unconnected to others does not confirm it only a number together, because from one truth it is possible to see another. One by itself does not give any form to good, and so does not manifest any essential quality possessed by good; but many in a connected series do so. For just as one musical note by itself does not constitute the melody, still less the full harmony, neither does one truth achieve anything. This is where the law requiring two or three witnesses originates, though to outward appearance it seems to have its origin in secular legislation. The one however is not contrary to the other, as is also the case with the Ten Commandments, dealt with in 2609.
[8] As regards ‘a testimony’ meaning good in which truth is rooted, and truth which arises out of good, this follows from what has just been said. It is also clear from the fact that the Ten Commandments written on tablets of stone are referred to by the single expression ‘the Testimony’, as in Moses,
Jehovah gave Moses, when He had finished speaking to him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. Exod. 31:18.
In the same author,
Moses came down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand; the tablets were written from the two sides of it. Exod. 32:15.
And because those tablets were placed inside the Ark, the Ark is called ‘the Ark of the Testimony’; in Moses,
Jehovah said to Moses, You shall put into the Ark the Testimony which I shall give to you. Exod. 25:16, 21.
Moses took the Testimony and put it into the Ark. Exod. 40:20.
In the same author,
I will meet you, and talk to you from above the Mercy-seat, from between the two cherubs which are over the Ark of the Testimony. Exod. 25:22.
In the same author,
The cloud of incense covers the Mercy-seat which is over the Testimony. Lev. 16:13.
In the same author,
The rods of the twelve tribes were left in the Tent of Meeting, in front of the Testimony. Num. 17:4.
For evidence that the Ark was also called the Ark of the Testimony, see in addition to Exod. 25:22 quoted above, Exod. 31:7; Rev. 15:5.
[9] The Ten Commandments therefore were called the Testimony because they were the conditions of the covenant and so the conditions whereby God and man were joined to each other. But that joining to each other is not possible unless man keeps those commandments not only in their external form but also in their internal. What the internal form of those commandments is, see 2609; consequently it is good made firm by means of truth, and truth derived from good, that are meant by ‘the Testimony’. And this being so, the tablets were also called ‘the Tablets of the Covenant’, and the Ark ‘the Ark of the Covenant’. From this one may now see what is meant in the Word by ‘the Testimony’ in the genuine sense, for example in Deut. 4:45; 6:17, 20; Isa. 8:16; 2 Kings 17:15; Ps. 19:7; 25:10; 78:5, 56; 93:5; 119:2, 22, 24, 59, 79, 88, 138, 167; 122:4; Rev. 6:9; 12:17; 19:10.
[2] As regards the Lord’s presence, the Lord is present with everyone, yet only to the extent He is received; for all receive their life from the Lord alone. The life in people who receive His presence within good and truth is the life of intelligence and wisdom, whereas the life of those who do not receive His presence within good and truth but within evil and falsity is the life of insanity and foolishness. All the same, the latter have the capacity to be intelligent and wise. The fact that they do have that capacity is shown by their knowing how to counterfeit and imitate the outward appearance of what is good and true and to win people over by means of that outward appearance. This would not be possible if they did not have that capacity. The nature of the presence is meant by ‘Mizpah’, at this point the nature of it with those whose works are inherently good, that is, with the gentiles, who are represented here by ‘Laban’. Indeed the name Mizpah in the original language is derived from the verb ‘to watch’.
‘Laban said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and behold the pillar which I have erected between me and you’ means a joining together. ‘This heap is a witness, and the pillar is a witness’ means confirmation. ‘That I will not pass beyond this heap to you, and that you will not pass beyond this heap and this pillar to me, to do harm’ means the limit which determines how much can flow in from good. ‘May the God of Abraham and the God of Nahor judge between us’ means the Divine flowing into both. ‘The God of their father’ means from the Supreme Divine. ‘And Jacob swore by the Dread of his father Isaac’ means confirmation from the Divine Human, which in that state is called ‘the Dread’.
* The verb rendered may judge here is plural.
[2] The implications of this are briefly as follows: The truths that a person knows, no matter what kind they may be, enter his memory by means of affection, that is, of some delight that accompanies his love. Without affection or delight accompanying his love nothing is able to enter a person, for it is in these that his life consists. The things which have entered in are reintroduced when a similar delight returns, together with many other things which have allied or joined themselves to them. And in a similar way when the same truth is reintroduced by the individual himself or by somebody else, the affection or delight that accompanied his love when it entered is likewise stimulated, for having been joined together they adhere to one another. From this one may see what the situation is with the affection for truth. Truth which has entered in together with an affection for good is reintroduced when a similar affection returns, as is affection when a similar truth does so. From this it is also evident that no truth together with genuine affection can possibly be implanted and take root interiorly unless the person is governed by good. For a genuine affection for truth has its origins in good, and good stems from love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. This good flows in from the Lord, but does not become fixed within anything apart from truths, for truths receive good as a guest since the two are congenial. From this it is in addition evident that the nature of the truths determines the way in which the good is received. The truths known to gentiles who have led charitable lives with one another are such that in them also good flowing in from the Lord is able to be received as a guest. But so long as they are living in the world their situation is not the same as that with Christians who have truths from the Word and lead spiritually charitable lives based on those truths, see 2589-2604.
[2] The reason why such variations involving the Lord are represented is not that those variations exist within the Lord but that His Divine is received variously by men. It is like the life present in man. This life flows into and activates the various sensory and motor organs of the body, and the various members and viscera. At every point variety presents itself, for the eye sees in one way, the ear hears in another, and the tongue discerns in yet another; also the arm and hand have one kind of movement, the lower limbs and feet another; then again the lungs act in one way, the heart in another; also the liver in one way, the stomach in another; and so on. Yet it is one single life that activates them all so variously; not that the life itself acts in different ways but because it is received in different ways. Indeed it is the form that each organ takes that determines how it acts.
[2] The reason for the use here of the expressions ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Nahor, the God of their father (who was Terah)’ and ‘the Dread of Isaac, Jacob’s father’ is that Terah’s sons acknowledged just so many gods, for they were idolaters, 1353, 1356, 1992, 3667. It was also a peculiar feature of that house that each family worshipped its own individual god. This is why at this point the expressions ‘the God of Abraham’, ‘the God of Nahor’, ‘the God of their father’, and ‘the Dread of Isaac’ are used. Abraham’s family however was commanded to acknowledge Jehovah as its God. All the same, they did not acknowledge Him to be anything more than just another god by whom they could distinguish themselves from the gentiles, and so only His name was different. This also accounts for their defection on so many occasions to other gods, as is made clear in the historical sections of the Word. The reason why they defected was that they were interested solely in things of an external nature. What things of an internal nature were they did not know at all and did not wish to know.
[3] So far as those people’s participation in them was concerned, the religious practices of their Church were wholly idolatrous because they had been separated from the things of an internal nature; for every religious practice of the Church when separated from what is internal is idolatrous. Yet it was still possible for those people to represent the genuine condition of the Church since representations have nothing to do with the person who represents, only with the thing represented, 665, 1097 (end), 1361, 3147. But in order that a representative Church might come into being, and in this way some kind of communication between the Lord and man through heaven might exist, it was particularly necessary for them to be kept in their acknowledgement of Jehovah, if not in their hearts yet with their lips. For among them representatives were not an expression of internal entities but of external ones. And this was the kind of communication they had, different from that in the genuine Church in which communication was effected through things of an internal nature. For this reason also their Divine worship made no difference to their souls, that is, it did not yield them blessings in the next life, only prosperity in the world.
[4] In order that they might be kept in external things so many miracles were therefore performed among them which would never have taken place if things of an internal nature had had a place among them. For the same reason they were also compelled on many occasions to worship Jehovah through the imposition of punishments, captivities, and threats, though no one is compelled by the Lord to engage in internal worship, for this is implanted only in a state of freedom, 1937, 1947, 2874-2881, 3145, 3146, 3158, 4031. The chief external practice required of them was that they should confess the name Jehovah, for Jehovah was the Lord who was represented in all the practices of that Church. On the point that Jehovah was the Lord, see 1343, 1736, 2921, 3035.
‘Jacob offered a sacrifice on the mountain’ means worship founded on good that stems from love. ‘And called his brothers to eat bread’ means [an invitation] to make the good from the Lord’s Divine Natural their own. ‘And they ate bread’ means the achievement of this. ‘And stayed the night in the mountain’ means serenity. ‘And in the morning Laban rose up early’ means the enlightenment of that good by the Lord’s Divine Natural. ‘And kissed his sons and his daughters’ means the acknowledgement of those truths and of affections for them. ‘And blessed them’ means the resulting joy. ‘And Laban went and returned to his place’ means the end of the representation by means of Laban.
[2] In the world people inevitably take heaven to be on high. One reason why they do so is that the word ‘heaven’ is used for the visible expanse which encircles them on high and another is that man is a dweller within time and space and so thinks from ideas derived from these. And a further reason is that few are aware of what anything interior may be, and fewer still are aware that neither place nor time exist there. This is why the mode of expression employed in the Word is one that accords with the ideas present in man’s thought. If it had not accorded with those ideas but with angelic ideas man would have perceived nothing at all, but everyone would have stood wondering what it was and whether it was anything at all, and so would have rejected it as being devoid of anything intelligible.
[2] The reason why the phrase ‘making the good from the Lord’s Divine Natural their own’ is used is that the subject is the good that exists with the gentiles, for it is this good that ‘Laban’ represents now, 4189. When man is joined to the Lord he is not joined to His Supreme Divine itself but to His Divine Human, for man cannot have any idea at all of the Lord’s Supreme Divine, because this lies so far beyond anything he can conceive of that it fades from view altogether and ceases to mean anything to him. But he is able to have an idea of His Divine Human. For everyone is joined through thought and affection to one of whom he can have some idea but not to one of whom he cannot have any idea. If, when a person thinks about the Lord’s Human, holiness is present in his ideas he also thinks of the holiness which comes from the Lord and fills heaven, and at the same time he thinks of heaven, since heaven in its entirety corresponds to a complete human being, which correspondence has its origin in the Lord, 684, 1276, 2996, 2998, 3624-3649. This explains why it is not possible to be joined to the Lord’s Supreme Divine, only to His Divine Human, and through that Divine Human to His Supreme Divine. Hence the statement in John 1:18 about nobody, except the only begotten Son, ever having seen God, also the statement about there being no way to the Father except through Him; as well as from the statement that He is the Mediator. The truth of all this can be plainly recognized from the fact that all within the Church who declare their belief in a Supreme Being and yet set the Lord at nought are people who have no belief in anything at all, not even in the existence of heaven or of hell, and who worship nature. And if such people are ready to learn from experience it will be clear to them that the wicked, even those who are extremely so, declare a like belief.
[3] But the way in which people think of the Lord’s Human varies, one person’s ideas being different from another’s, and one person’s more holy than another’s. Those within the Church are able to think that His Human is Divine, and also that He is one with the Father, as He Himself says that the Father is in Him and He is in the Father. But those outside the Church are unable to do this, for one thing because they do not know anything about the Lord and for another because their idea of the Divine is gained solely from visible images and tangible idols. Nevertheless the Lord joins Himself to them by means of the good they do from the charity and obedience present within their crude notions of Him. And this is why mention is made here about them making the good from the Lord’s Divine Natural their own. For when the Lord is joined to man the state of thought and consequent affection in him determines the exact nature of that conjunction. Those who have an entirely holy conception of the Lord and who at the same time have a true knowledge of and affections for what is good and true – as those within the Church are able to have – have been joined to the Lord as to His Divine Rational. Those however who do not have so holy a notion of Him and who do not have so interior a notion and affection, and yet the good of charity exists with them, have been joined to the Lord as regards His Divine Natural. And those whose holiness is cruder still are joined to the Lord as to His Divine Sensory Perception. This last type of joining is what is represented by ‘the bronze serpent’, in that those who looked at it recovered from serpent-bites, Num. 21: 9. This is the type of joining together which those among the gentiles have who worship idols and yet lead charitable lives in accordance with their own religion. From these considerations one may now see what is meant by making the good from the Lord’s Divine Natural their own, meant by ‘Jacob called his brothers to eat bread’.
[2] Most people believe that the enlightened consist of those who are able to reason about what is good and true, or about what is evil and false, and that the measure of their enlightenment increases in direct proportion to their growing ability to speak about those things with greater precision and accuracy, and at the same time to back up what they say with many facts, and also to make their assertions ring true by the use of comparisons drawn mainly from sensory evidence and by the use of other convincing ways of presentation. These reasoners however, in spite of all their mental and perceptive ability, are incapable of being enlightened at all. Two different kinds of mental and perceptive ability exist, the first of which comes from the light of heaven, the second from an illusory light. Both kinds look the same in outward form but are entirely different in internal form. That which comes from the light of heaven exists within good, that is, it exists with people who are governed by good. By virtue of that good they are able to see what is true, and to know – clear as daylight – whether something is right or not. But the kind which comes from the illusory light exists within evil, that is, with people who are governed by evil. The reason why they are able to reason about the things mentioned is that they do have a capacity to know them but no desire to practice them, a situation in which, as anyone can see, no enlightenment is present.
[3] With regard to illusory light and its existence in the next life, the following may be said: People who have dwelt in such light in the world dwell in a similar light in the next life. There also they reason about what is good and true, and about what is evil and false, doing so indeed far more perfectly and completely than during their lifetime since their thoughts are not held back and inhibited in that life by the cares which belong to the body and the world, nor are they so confined within them as they had been when in the body and the world. But it is immediately apparent, not to them but to good spirits and to angels, that their reasonings are the product of illusory light and that the light of heaven flowing in with them is instantly converted into that inferior kind of light. That which begins with them as the light of heaven is either stifled, as when sunlight falls on something opaque and turns black, or is cast back, as happens with people under the influence of false assumptions, or else is perverted, as when sunlight strikes objects that are offensive and foul and produces offensive colours as well as offensive odours. It is similar with people who dwell in illusory light and believe that they are more enlightened than everybody else because of their ability to reason intelligently and wisely, even though they lead evil lives.
[4] Who these spirits are and what they are really like is evident from every syllable of what they say, so long as they are simulating what is good with the intent to deceive. Such spirits include those who deny the Lord or hold Him in contempt, and among themselves mock those who do confess Him. Also included are those who delight in adultery and deride people who believe that marriages are holy and ought never to be dishonoured. Among such spirits too are those who believe that the commands and teachings of the Church are intended for the common people, who by means of them may be kept in bonds; but among themselves those spirits set no value at all on those commands and teachings. Likewise included are those who attribute all things to nature and suppose people to be simpletons and weak in judgement who claim that all things come from the Divine. Spirits who ascribe every single thing to their own prudence, and who have convinced themselves of the idea and say that a Supreme Being exists who has a kind of general or overall control of things but no particular or specific control of them, are included too. And the same applies to other cases.
[5] People like these dwell in illusory light in the next life also, where among those like themselves they reason with precision. But when they approach any heavenly community that light goes out and turns into darkness. As a consequence their thought is so beclouded that they are not in fact able to think at all. For the light of heaven there has an adverse effect on them, which with them, as has been stated, is either stifled or cast back or perverted. As a result they reel back from there and cast themselves down into hell, where that kind of light shines. These considerations show what true enlightenment is, namely that which is a product of good originating in the Lord, and what false enlightenment is, namely that which is a product of evil originating in hell.
[2] The reason why ‘kissing’ means a joining together resulting from affection lies in correspondence; for as is being shown at the ends of chapters, a correspondence exists between heaven and every organ and limb of the body. A correspondence exists between man’s inner self and every part of his face, so that his general frame of mind (animus) is revealed in his countenance, and more internal aspects of it – his inner mind (mens) – in his eyes. A correspondence also exists between the thoughts and affections of the mind and the actions and gestures of the body; and this is recognized to be so with all voluntary actions and gestures as well as involuntary ones. Humility of heats, for example, brings a person to his knees, an external gesture of the body; and still greater and more interior humility extends him prostrate on the ground. A feeling of gladness and joy of mind leads to singing and jubilation, sadness and inner grief to weeping and wailing. But a joining together resulting from affection leads to kissing.
[3] From this it is evident that because external actions like these correspond to inner virtues they are visible signs of these, and that as visible signs they hold within them something internal from which they receive their specific nature. With people however who wish by means of external actions to give the impression that they possess those inner virtues, their external actions are likewise visible signs; but they are signs of pretence, hypocrisy, and deceit. This is so with kisses, because everyone wishes by means of kisses to express his heartfelt love for another. For one who gives the impression that he possesses inner virtues knows that kisses have their origins in the heart and that they are a sign of a joining together resulting from affection. By means of them he wishes to convince his neighbour that he loves him because of the good he sees in him, but in fact it is all for his own sake and for the sake of personal position and gain, and it is not for good but for evil reasons that he loves him. For anyone who sees himself as the end in view and not as an intermediate end to promote good, and who wishes to be joined to another to succeed in gaining that end, is governed by evil.
[2] Not unlike this are the thoughts of the person who has a holy mind, when he receives the bread in the Holy Supper; for at that time he does not think of the bread but of the Lord and His mercy, and of the things which constitute love to Him and charity towards the neighbour, because he is thinking about repentance and amendment of life. Yet the way people think about these things varies according to the degree of holiness present not only in their thought but also in their affection. From this it is evident that when ‘bread’ is mentioned in the Word no idea of bread presents itself to angels but the idea of love and of countless things connected with love. It is similar when wine is referred to in the Word and also received in the Holy Supper. In this case angels do not think at all of wine but of charity towards the neighbour. This being so, and since man in this way is linked to heaven and through heaven to the Lord, bread and wine have been made the symbols and unite a person who leads a holy life to heaven, and through heaven to the Lord.
[3] The same applies to every detail within the Word, and therefore the Word is the means by which man is united to the Lord. If that uniting means did not exist heaven would not be able to flow in with man – for without a means no uniting together would be possible – but would remove itself from him. And if heaven were removed it would no longer be possible for anyone to be led to that which is good, not even to physical and worldly good. Instead all restraints, including external ones, would be abolished. For the Lord governs the person in whom good dwells by means of internal restraints, which are those of conscience, whereas the person in whom evil dwells is governed solely by external restraints. If these were abolished everybody governed solely by external restraints would become insane in the way a person is insane who has no fear of the law, no fear for his life, nor any fear of losing position and gain, and so of reputation – for these are the external bonds – and so the human race would perish. This explains why the Word exists, and the true nature of the Word. The Lord’s Church where the Word exists is like the heart and the lungs, and the Lord’s Church where it does not exist is like all the other internal organs which get their life from the heart and lungs – see 637, 931, 2054, 2853.
At the ends of chapters in the previous volumes* things are recorded which I have been allowed to see and to be made aware of in the world of spirits and in the heavens of angels, the last subject to be dealt with being the Grand Man and Correspondence. To enable people to understand more fully man’s state of being – that he lives connected to heaven not only as to his thoughts and affections but also as to his bodily organs, interior and exterior, and that without that connection he cannot remain in existence for a single instant – let what was begun at the ends of chapters immediately before the present one regarding Correspondence with the Grand Man be continued in this volume.
* i.e. Volumes One, Two, and Three of the Latin
[2] This shows also that the use they serve existed before the organic forms of the body came into being, and that the use produced and adapted those forms to itself, and not the reverse. But once the forms have been produced or the organs adapted, the uses they serve then flow from them, in which event it seems as though the forms or organs were prior to the uses, when that is not in fact the case. For the use flows in from the Lord, doing so by way of heaven, in keeping with order and with the form in which the Lord has arranged heaven, and so in keeping with correspondences. This is the manner in which man is brought into existence and in which he is kept in existence. This again shows the origin of the correspondence of the human being – every single part of him – with the heavens.
[2] Those outside the Grand Man, that is, outside heaven, cannot enter it since their lives are contrary to it. Indeed if they do gain any kind of entrance, as some on occasions do who during their lifetime have learned to impersonate angels of light (their entry into heaven being sometimes permitted to let them see what they themselves are really like), they are admitted no further than the first part of the way in, that is, no further than the part where those people are gathered who are still simple and have not yet been fully taught. Such people who come in impersonating angels of light are able to remain there for barely a few moments because the life there is that of love to the Lord and of love towards the neighbour. And because nothing there corresponds to their own life they are scarcely able to breathe; for spirits and angels too are beings who breathe, see 3884-3893. As a consequence those impersonating angels start to experience pain, because the act of breathing is directly related to one’s freedom to live in one’s own way; and what is remarkable, they are at length scarcely able to move but become such as are weighed down, inwardly seized with anguish and torment, as a result of which they cast themselves away from there headlong, even into hell where breathing and freedom of movement return to them. And this is why in the Word life is represented by movement.
[3] The breathing of those who are within the Grand Man however is free when the good of love is alive in them. Yet they are distinguishable any one from another according to the nature and the amount of that good; and this is the origin of so many heavens, which in the Word are called ‘rooms’, John 14:2. And anyone present in his own heaven leads the life that is his own and has the whole of heaven flowing into him. Everyone there is a focal point of all influxes, and because of that he experiences most perfect equilibrium, doing so in accordance with the amazing form heaven takes, which is received from the Lord alone, with much variety from person to person.
[2] I have come to know all this from actual experience of spirits of this sort when they have been with me, for at that time they acted in a similar manner but even more expertly and craftily – for spirits act more skillfully than men do because they have been released from all connection with the body and from being shackled to gross modes of sensation. They were so skillful that on some occasions I did not perceive that their intention or end in view was to exercise control; and while talking among themselves they took care that I did not hear or realize what they were saying. But I was told by others who did hear them that their proposals were unspeakable, and that they were planning by the use of the arts of magic, and so with the aid of the devil’s crew, how to attain their end. They thought nothing of murdering the upright; and as for the Lord in whose name they said that they wished to exercise control, they did not rate Him highly at all but regarded Him as just another human being, the worship of whom was a practice left over from ancient times, akin to that which existed among other nations who treated and worshipped human beings as gods. Yet they did not dare to decry Him because they had been born to that worship of Him, and if they did decry Him they would damage their own reputation. Of these spirits I can say this, that they beset the thoughts and will of people who are like themselves and worm their way into their affection and intention in such a manner that, but for the Lord’s mercy, those persons cannot possibly know that such spirits are present or that they are within a community of such spirits.
[3] These spirits correspond to the harmful elements present in man’s purer blood, termed the animal spirit, into which those elements enter without any order. They spread everywhere and are like poisons, freezing and putting out of action nerves and fibres, from which very serious and fatal diseases break out. When such spirits act in combination with one another, one knows that they do so from the fact that they go down on all fours, so to speak, and station themselves, at the back of one’s head below the left side of the cerebellum. For spirits who act below the back of the head work in a more clandestine way than others; and those whose activity is directed on one’s back desire to exercise control.
[4] They have reasoned with me regarding the Lord, saying that it was extraordinary He did not hear their prayers when they prayed and so did not come to the aid of those asking for help. But I was led to reply that they could not be heard because they had as their end in view such things as were contrary to the health of the human race and because they prayed for their own prosperity against that of all others. And when they prayed in this fashion, I added, heaven was closed, for those in heaven pay attention solely to the ends which those praying have in view. These spirits certainly did not wish to acknowledge anything I said; nevertheless they could not find anything to say in reply.
[5] There have been some men of this kind, accompanied by women, who said that they could follow many suggestions made by the women because women have a quicker and shrewder insight into such matters. They were especially delighted to have the company of those who had been whores. Such apply themselves in the next life to secret and magical arts for the most part, for very many magical arts exist in the next life which are totally unknown in the world. As soon as people of this nature enter the next life they apply themselves to those arts and learn how to bewitch those with whom they are present, especially those in whose name they wish to bear rule. They have no abhorrence of wicked ways. The nature of their hell and where they are when not in the world of spirits will be discussed elsewhere. From all this it may be seen that everyone’s life remains with him after death.
In Volume Three* an explanation was begun of what the Lord has foretold in Matthew 24 about the Last Judgement. The explanation stands in the preliminary sections to the final chapters of that volume and has been taken as far as Matthew 24:31, see 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3897-3901, 4056-4060. The internal sense in brief of all that He foretold is evident from the explanations contained in those paragraphs; that is to say, He foretold the progressive ruination of the Church and the establishment at length of a new Church, in the following order:
1 People ceased to know what good or truth was, and instead began to argue with one another about these.
2 They treated them with contempt.
3 They did not in their hearts acknowledge them.
4 They profaned them.
5 And because the truth of faith and the good of love would continue to exist with some who are called the elect, the state of faith as this will be at that time is described.
6 Then the state of charity as this will be.
7 And finally the beginning of a new Church is dealt with, which is meant by the words which were explained last of all, namely,
And He will send out His angels with a trumpet and a loud voice, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other end of them. Verse 31.
These words are used to mean the beginning of a new Church, see the end of 4060.
* i.e. of the Latin, which begins with paragraph number 2760. The treatment of Matthew begins with paragraph number 3353.
Tell us, when will those things take place; what especially will be the sign of Your coming and of the close of the age? Matt. 24:3.
There now remains to be explained therefore that which the Lord has foretold about the actual time of His coming and of the close of the age, which is the Last Judgement.
[2] But in this present foregoing section to a chapter the contents of only verses 32-35 are covered, which verses are these,
But from the fig tree learn a parable. When its branch now becomes tender and leaves sprout forth, you know that summer is near. So also yourselves – when you see all these things, know that He is near at the doors. Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away
The internal sense of these words is as follows.
[2] So also yourselves; when you see all these things, know that He is near at the doors means that when those things are apparent that are meant in the internal sense by the words spoken immediately before this in verses 29-31 as well as by these words concerning the fig tree, the end of the Church has arrived, which is the Last Judgement and the Coming of the Lord – a time therefore when the old Church is cast aside and a new one established. The phrase ‘at the doors’ is used because the good of the natural and its truths are the first things to be introduced into a person when he is being regenerated and becoming the Church.
Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place means that the Jewish nation will not be eradicated like other nations. For the reason why, see 3479.
[3] Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away means that the internal and the external features of the former Church will perish, but the Word of the Lord will remain. For ‘heaven’ means the internal aspect of the Church and ‘earth’ the external aspect of it, see 82, 1411, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355 (end). The fact that the Lord’s ‘words’ include not only those stated here concerning His coming and the close of the age but also all contained in the Word is self-evident. The words under consideration here were spoken immediately after those concerning the Jewish nation because the Jewish nation has been preserved for the sake of the Word, as may be seen from 3479, mentioned already. From all this it is now evident that these verses foretell the beginnings of a new Church.
GENESIS 32
1 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him.
2 And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God’s camp. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
3 And Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau, to the land of Seir, the field of Edom.
4 And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall you say to my lord Esau, Thus says your servant Jacob, With Laban I have sojourned, and have stayed until now.
5 And I have oxen and asses, flocks and men servants and women servants; and I am sending to tell my lord, so as to find favour in your eyes.
6 And the messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother, to Esau, and he also is coming to meet you, and four hundred men with him.
7 And Jacob was exceedingly afraid, and was distressed; and he split up the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps.
8 And he said, If Esau comes towards one camp and smites it, the camp that is left will escape.
9 And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah, who says to me, Return to your land, and to the place of your nativity, and I will deal well with you,
10 I am not worthy of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown to Your servant, for with just my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two camps.
11 Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him, lest he comes and smites me, the mother with the children.*
12 And You have said, I will certainly deal well with you and I will make your seed like the sand of the sea which cannot be counted for multitude.
13 And he spent that night there, and took from what came into his hand a gift for Esau his brother:
14 Two hundred she-goats and twenty he-goats; two hundred sheep and twenty rams;
15 Thirty milking camels and their colts; forty young cows and ten young bulls; twenty she-asses and ten foals
16 And he gave them into the hand of his servants, drove by drove separately; and he said to his servants, Pass over in front of me and put a space between drove and drove.
17 And he commanded the first, saying, When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, To whom do you belong; and where are you going; and whose are these in front of you?
18 Then you shall say, They belong to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau; and behold, he also is behind us.
19 And he commanded the second also, the third also, and all also following the droves, saying, In this manner** shall you speak to Esau when you find him.
20 And you shall also say, Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the gift that is going in front of me, and after that I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me.
21 And the gift passed over in front of him, and he spent that night in the camp.
22 And he rose up that night, and took his two wives (femina), and his two servant-girls, and his eleven sons, and passed over at the passage of Jabbok.
23 And he took them and made them pass over the river, and made all that he had pass over.
24 And Jacob remained alone; and a man wrestled with him until dawn came up.
25 And he*** saw that he did not prevail against him, and he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him.
26 And he*** said, Let me go, for the dawn is coming up. And he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me.
27 And he*** said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob.
28 And he’ said, Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed.
29 And Jacob asked and said, Tell me, I pray, your name. And he said, Why is it that you ask my name? And he blessed him there.
30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, [saying,] For I have seen God face to face, and my soul is delivered.
31 And the sun rose on him as he passed over Penuel, and he was limping on his thigh.
32 Therefore the children of Israel do not eat the sinew of that which was displaced, which is on the hollow of the thigh, even to this day, because he touched, in the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, the sinew of that which was displaced.
* lit. mother over children (or sons)
** lit. According to this word
*** i.e. the man
The subject now in the internal sense is a turning round of the state within the Natural, so that good comes to occupy the first place and truth the second. The implanting of truth within good is dealt with in verses 1-23, and the wrestlings involved in the temptations which have to be endured then, in verses 24-32. At the same time the subject is the Jewish nation – how even though it was incapable of receiving anything of the Church, that nation did nevertheless represent things of the Church.
Verses 1, 2 And Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God’s camp. And he called the name of that place Mahanaim.
‘Jacob went on his way’ means the progression of truth so that it might be joined to spiritual and celestial good. ‘And the angels of God met him’ means enlightenment coming from good. ‘And Jacob said when he saw them, This is God’s camp’ means heaven. ‘And he called the name of that place Mahanaim’ means the nature of that state.
[2] The good however to which that truth was to be joined is represented by ‘Esau’ – ‘Esau’ being the Divine Good of the Lord’s Divine Natural, see 3300, 3302, 3494, 3504, 3527, 3576, 3599, 3669, 3677. It is the actual joining together of the two – the joining of the Divine truth to the Divine good of the Lord’s Divine Natural – that is the subject now in the highest sense. For once Jacob has departed from Laban and come to the Jordan, and so to the place of entry into the land of Canaan, he comes to represent that conjunction; for in the internal sense the land of Canaan means heaven, and in the highest sense the Lord’s Divine Human, 3038, 3705. This explains why the words ‘And Jacob went on his way’ mean the progression of truth so that it might be joined to spiritual and celestial good.
[3] But these matters are such that a full and intelligible explanation of them cannot be given at all, for the reason that not even the learned in the Christian world possess the vaguest notions on the subject. For scarcely any knowledge exists of what man’s natural is, or of what his rational is, or of the fact that the two are altogether distinct and separate from each other. Nor is there much knowledge of what spiritual truth is or of the good which goes with that truth, or of the fact that these likewise are distinct and separate. Still less is it known that when a person is being regenerated truth is joined to good, in one distinct and separate way in the natural, in another in the rational, and by means that are countless. In fact it is not even known that the Lord made His Human Divine according to the same order as that by which He regenerates man.
[4] Since therefore not even the vaguest notions exist about these matters, any statements made about them are bound to seem obscure. Nevertheless such statements must be made because the internal sense of the Word cannot be explained in any other way. If nothing else they will show what angelic wisdom is and the nature of it, for the internal sense of the Word is primarily for angels.
[2] The tribes’ means all goods and truths in their entirety, see 3858, 3862, 3926, 3939, 4060. Consequently when Balaam saw Israel dwelling according to tribes and the Spirit of God came upon him, he delivered the utterance,
How good your tabernacles are, O Jacob; your dwelling-places, O Israel! They are like valleys that are planted, like gardens beside a river. Num. 24:2, 3, 5, 6.
It is quite plain that this prophecy did not mean the people named Jacob and Israel but that it was the Lord’s heaven which was represented. This also is why in other places in the Word their ordered settlements in the wilderness, or encampments according to tribes, are called camps, and in those places ‘a camp’ in the internal sense means heavenly order and ‘encampment’ an arrangement in conformity with that order, that is to say, with the order in which goods and truths exist in heaven – as in Lev. 4:12; 8:17; 13:46; 14:8; 16:26, 28; 24:14, 23; Num. 3; 4:4 and following verses; 5:2-4; 9:17-end; 10:1-11, 28; 11:31, 32; 12:14, 15; 31:19-24; Deut. 23:9-14.
[3] The meaning of ‘God’s camp’ as heaven may also be seen in Joel,
The earth quaked before Him, the heavens trembled. The sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars gathered back their shining; and Jehovah gave voice before His army, for His camp is exceedingly many; for that which executes His word is uncountable. Joel 2:10, 11.
In Zechariah,
I will encamp by My house with an army set against anyone passing through and against anyone leaving, so that the oppressor passes over them no more. Zech. 9:8.
In John,
Gog and Magog went up over the breadth* of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city; but fire came down** from God and consumed them. Rev. 20:9.
‘Gog and Magog’ stands for people whose worship is external separated from internal – worship that has become idolatrous, 1151. ‘The breadth of the earth’ stands for truth possessed by the Church – ‘breadth’, or a plain, meaning truth that constitutes doctrinal teaching, 2450, and ‘earth’ the Church, 556, 662, 1066, 1067, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355. ‘The camp of the saints’ stands for heaven or the Lord’s kingdom on earth, which is the Church.
[4] Since most things in the Word also have a contrary sense, so too does the word ‘camp’. In this case it means evils and falsities, and consequently hell, as in David,
Though the evil pitch camp against me, my heart will not fear. Ps. 27:3.
In the same author,
God has scattered the bones of those encamping against you;*** you have put them to shame, for God has rejected them. Ps. 53:5.
The camp of Asshur in which the angel of Jehovah smote a hundred and eighty- five thousand, Isa. 37:36, does not have any other meaning, nor likewise does the camp of the Egyptians, Exod. 14:19, 20.
* lit. the plain
** The Latin means went up, but the Greek means came down, which Sw. has in another place where he quotes this verse.
*** The Latin means me, but the Hebrew means you.
‘Jacob sent messengers ahead of him to his brother Esau’ means the first communication by that truth with celestial good. ‘To the land of Seir’ means celestial-natural good. ‘The field of Edom’ means truth derived from this. ‘And he commanded them, saying, Thus shall you say to my lord Esau’ means the first acknowledgement that good occupied the higher position. ‘With Laban I have sojourned, and have stayed until now’ means that it had taken to itself the good meant by ‘Laban’. ‘And I have oxen and asses, flocks and men servants and women servants’ means acquisitions existing there in their proper order. ‘And I am sending to tell my lord, so as to find favour in your eyes’ means information concerning its state, and also deference and self-abasement on the part of truth in the presence of good.
[2] From all this one may now see what is meant in the Word by ‘Seir’, as in Moses,
Jehovah came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon them; He shone from Mount Paran, and came out of myriads of holiness. Deut. 33:2, 3.
In the Song of Deborah and Barak in the Book of Judges,
O Jehovah, when You went forth from Seir, when You set out from the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, the clouds indeed dropped water, the mountains flowed down, this Sinai before Jehovah God of Israel. Judg. 5:4, 5.
In Balaam’s prophecy,
I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star will arise out of Jacob, and a sceptre will rise up out of Israel. And Edom will be an inheritance and Seir will be an inheritance of his enemies; and Israel is gaining strength. Num. 24:17, 18.
Anyone can see that in these places ‘Seir’ means some aspect of the Lord, since it is said that ‘Jehovah dawned from Seir’, that ‘He went forth from Seir and set out from the field of Edom’, and that ‘Edom and Seir will be an inheritance’. But what aspect of the Lord is meant no one can know except from the internal sense of the Word. It is the Lord’s Divine Human that is meant, and in particular the good of the Divine Natural within that Human, as may be seen from what has been mentioned above. ‘Dawning from and going out of Seir’ means that He made even the Natural Divine in order that this also might be a source of light, that is, of intelligence and wisdom, and in this way He might become Jehovah not only as regards the Human Rational but also as regards the Human Natural. This is why it is said that ‘Jehovah dawned from Seir’ and ‘Jehovah went out of Seir’ – the Lord being Jehovah, see 1343, 1736, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2156, 2329, 2921, 3023, 3035. Something similar is embodied in the prophetic utterance concerning Dumah,
One is calling to me from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, Morning comes, and also the night. Isa. 21:11, 12.
[3] In the relative sense ‘the land of Seir’ strictly speaking means the Lord’s kingdom existing with those outside the Church, that is, with gentiles when the Church is being established among them, while the previous or old Church is simultaneously falling away from charity and faith. As is clear from many places in the Word, light comes at that time to those who are in darkness. And this is strictly speaking the meaning of ‘dawning from Seir’, and of ‘going forth from Seir and setting out from the field of Edom’. It is also the meaning of ‘Seir will be an inheritance’, as well as of the words in Isaiah, ‘One is calling to me from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, Morning comes, and also the night.’ ‘Morning comes’ means the Lord’s advent, 2405, 2780, and as a consequence enlightenment coming to people who are ‘in the night’, that is, who dwell in ignorance; but that enlightenment is from the Lord’s Divine Natural, 4211. Since most things in the Word also have a contrary sense, so too does the name ‘Seir’, as in Ezekiel 25:8, 9; 35:2-15, and in various places in the historical parts of the Word.
since good is now the source of his perception and knowledge that they are truths. Such truth – truth which is the product of good – is that which is meant by ‘the field of Edom’, as also in the place quoted above from the Book of Judges,
O Jehovah, when You went forth from Seir, when You set out from the field of Edom. Judg. 5:4.
By your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother; and it will be, when you have dominion over him, that you will break his yoke from above your neck. Gen. 27:40.
It is the turning round within this state, foretold in these prophetic utterances, that is dealt with here.
[2] The implications of all this are as follows: Truth cannot be implanted in good unless means exist to effect this. Those means were the subject in previous chapters, where Jacob’s sojourning and staying with Laban, and the flock he acquired there, are referred to. The present chapter deals with the process by which truth and good are joined together, and so with an inversion of state, when order is turned around so that truth is made subordinate to good. Truth seemingly occupies the first position during the time a person is learning truth from an affection for it, though he is not as yet living in accordance with it to any real extent. But good occupies the first position when he does live in accordance with the truth he has learned from an affection for it, for in that case truth becomes good since that person now believes that good consists in acting in accordance with truth. People who are regenerate are governed by this good, as also are those who possess conscience, that is, who no longer reason whether it is the truth but do it because it is the truth, and so who have taken it to themselves in faith and in life.
[2] At the present day those who are being regenerated are few, and those who reflect fewer still. For that reason these things which are stated about truth and good are bound to be obscure and are perhaps of such a nature as not to be acknowledged, especially among people who place the truths of faith in first position and the good which flows from charity in second and who as a result give much thought to matters of doctrine but not to the good deeds of charity, and who consider eternal salvation to be a product of the former, not of the latter. Those who think in this way cannot possibly know, let alone perceive, that the truth of faith is subordinate to the good that flows from charity. The things which are the substance and the basis of a person’s thought have an affect on him. If he were to think from the goods of charity he would see plainly that the truths of faith occupied the second position, and he would also see truths themselves so to speak in light. For the good which flows from charity is like a flame which provides light and so illuminates every single thing which he had previously assumed to be true. He would also discern how falsities had intermingled themselves and had taken on the appearance of truths.
‘The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, We came to your brother, to Esau, and he also is coming to meet you’ means that good flows in constantly so as to make [truths] its own. ‘And four hundred men with him’ means its state now, set to take up the first position. ‘And Jacob was exceedingly afraid, and was distressed’ means the state when it is being changed. ‘And he split up the people who were with him, and the flocks and herds and camels, into two camps’ means the preparation and arrangement of truths and goods within the natural so as to receive the good represented by ‘Esau’. ‘And he said, If Esau comes towards one camp and smites it, the camp that is left will escape’ means to meet every eventuality.
[2] From what has been stated several times already on these matters one may see what the situation is with regard to good and truth, and with the influx of good into truth, and in this connection with good making truth its own. That is to say, one may see that good flows constantly into truth, and truth receives good, since truths are the vessels for good. The only vessels into which Divine Good can be placed are genuine truths, for good and truth match each other. When a person is moved by the affection for truth, as everyone is at first prior to being regenerated, good is constantly flowing in even then, but as yet it has no vessels, that is, no truths in which to place itself or make its own; for nobody at the outset of regeneration possesses any cognitions as yet. But because good at that time is flowing in constantly it produces the affection for truth, for there is no origin to the affection for truth other than the constant endeavour of Divine good to flow in. This shows that even at that time good occupies the first position and plays the leading role, although it seems as though truth did so. When a person is being regenerated however, which takes place in adult years when he possesses cognitions, good reveals itself, for he is then moved not so much by the affection for knowing truth as for doing it. For previously truth had been in the understanding, but now it is in his will, and when in his will it is in the person’s true self, since the will constitutes the person’s true self. With man the recurrent cycle of events exists in which every fact and every bit of knowledge is introduced through sight or hearing into his thought-process, and from there into his will, then passing from the will through thought into action. A similar cycle also exists starting from the memory which is so to speak an inner eye or inner sight. Starting from that inner sight it passes through the thought-process into the will, and from the will through thought into action; or else if some obstacle stands in the way it passes into the endeavour to act, that endeavour being actualized the moment the obstacle is removed.
[3] All of this shows the way in which good flows into truth and makes it its own. That is to say, it shows that first of all truths which belong to faith are introduced through hearing or sight and are then stored away in the memory, from where they are raised up one after another into the person’s thought- process and at length introduced into his will. Once in the will they pass from there through thought into action, or if they are not able to pass into action they remain in the endeavour. The very endeavour is internal action, for as often as the opportunity exists it is made an external action. It should be realized however that although there is this cycle of events it is nevertheless good which produces the cycle. For the life which comes from the Lord flows solely into good, and thus through good, doing so from things that are inmost. It may be seen by anyone that the life flowing in through the things that are inmost produces the cycle, for without life nothing is produced. And since the life which comes from the Lord flows only into good and through good, good is consequently that which produces and that which flows into truths and makes them its own, to the extent that a person possesses cognitions of truth and at the same time is a willing recipient.
[2] The things that occur among the spirits and angels present with a person are perceived by him purely as things going on within himself. For while he lives in the body and does not believe that everything within him flows in from somewhere other than himself, he imagines that the causes of the things that go on within him do not lie outside himself but that all causes lie within him and are his own – which is not in fact the case. For whatever a person thinks and what he wills, that is, all his thought and all his affection, originate either in hell or in heaven. When he thinks and wills anything evil and as a consequence takes delight in falsities, let him realize that his thoughts and affections originate in hell; but when he thinks and wills anything good and as a consequence takes delight in truths, let him realize that these originate in heaven, that is, in the Lord by way of heaven. But the person’s thoughts and affections more often than not take on a different outward appearance. A conflict between evil spirits and angels, for example, arising from the things in one who is to be regenerated, takes on the different outward appearance of fear and distress, and of temptation.
[3] These matters are bound to seem paradoxes to man, for almost every member of the Church at the present day believes that all the truth he thinks, and the good he wills and does, originate in himself, even though he says something other than that when speaking from doctrine taught by faith. Indeed his nature is such that if anyone told him that spirits from hell exist who flow into his thought and will when he thinks and wills anything evil, and angels from heaven when he thinks and wills anything good, he would be dumbfounded at anyone putting forward such an idea, for he would say that he can feel the life within himself and that he thinks from himself and wills from himself. His belief is based on that feeling and not on what doctrine teaches. Yet that doctrine is true and such feeling deceptive. This I have been allowed to know from almost uninterrupted experience lasting several years now, and to know it in such a way as to leave me in no doubt whatsoever.
[2] The implications of all this may be seen from what has been stated just above. That is to say, when good flows in, as happens when order is turned around and good takes up the first position, the natural receives light, and within the natural a person can see what genuine truth or good is and what that which is not genuine is. In this case genuine and non-genuine are so distinguished one from the other, that some things are retained while others are removed, as a consequence of which an altogether different order emerges from that which had existed previously. That is what happens when good has dominion over truth, for truths are then nothing else than ministers and servants, and they are arranged in ever closer conformity to heavenly order, to the reception of good by truths, and also to the character of the good, for good gets its specific character from truths.
‘Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah’ means the holiness of preparation and arrangement. ‘Who says to me, Return to your land, and to the place of your nativity, and I will deal well with you’ means to become joined to Divine Good and Truth. ‘I am not worthy of all the mercies and of all the truth which You have shown to Your servant’ means an expression, in that state, of humbleness before good and before truth. ‘For with just my staff I passed over this Jordan, and now I have become two camps’ means that from having little He now had much. ‘Deliver me, I pray, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau; for I fear him’ means the state of truth in relation to good, in which truth has made itself first. ‘Lest he comes and smites me, the mother with the children’ means that it is about to perish. ‘And You have said, I will certainly deal well with you’ means that it would nevertheless obtain life then. ‘And I will make your seed like the sand of the sea which cannot be counted for multitude’ means the fruitfulness and multiplication then.
* lit. mother over children (or sons)
4252[a] ‘[Jacob] said, O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah’ means the holiness of preparation and arrange meet. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the God of my father Abraham’ as the Lord’s Divine itself, dealt with in 3439, and from the meaning of ‘the God of my father Isaac’ as His Divine Human, dealt with in 3704, 4180. And because each of these is ‘Jehovah’, the words used are ‘O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O Jehovah’. Here however the holiness is meant which proceeds from the Divine, for all holiness begins there. The reason why holiness is meant is that all this was within the natural, represented by ‘Jacob’, and good, represented by ‘Esau’, had not yet been joined in the natural to truth. For the subject now is the state when good is received, at this point the state of preparation and arrangement to receive it. Jacob’s prayer does not embody anything else, and therefore the words he used mean the holiness of preparation and arrangement.
[2] The reason ‘the Jordan’ means introduction into cognitions of good and truth is that it was a boundary to the land of Canaan. For all the boundaries of that land meant things that are first and last in the Lord’s kingdom, and also those that are first and last in the Church, and so those that are first and last in the celestial and spiritual things which constitute the Lord’s kingdom and His Church, see 1585, 1866, 4116, 4240. Therefore, being a boundary, ‘the Jordan’ meant introduction into cognitions of good and truth, for these come first; but when at length a person becomes in himself a Church or the Lord’s kingdom they come to be last.
[3] That ‘the Jordan’ means things that are first and those that are last may be seen from other places in the Word, as in David,
O my God, my soul bows itself down within me;* therefore I remember You from the fund of Jordan, and the Hermons from the little mountain. Ps 42:6.
‘Remembering from the land of Jordan’ stands for doing so from what is last and so from a position of humbleness. In the same author,
Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His dominions. The sea saw and fled; the Jordan turned about backwards. Ps. 114:2, 3, 5.
‘Judah’ stands for the good of celestial love, and ‘Israel’ for the good of spiritual love, 3654. ‘The sea’ stands for cognitions of truth, 28, ‘the Jordan’ stands for cognitions of good which are said ‘to turn about backwards’ when the good of love gains dominion, for in that case cognitions are viewed from that good, not the good from those cognitions – in accordance with the things that have often been shown already.
[4] In the Book of Judges,
Gilead dwelling at the crossing of the Jordan; and Dan, why will he fear ships? Judg. 5:17.
‘Gilead’ stands for the sensory good or pleasure by means of which a person is first introduced into the path of his regeneration, 4117, 4124. ‘Dwelling at the crossing of the Jordan’ stands for the things effecting that introduction, and so things that are first and last in the Church and the Lord’s kingdom. These introductory things were also represented by ‘the Jordan’ when the children of Israel entered the land of Canaan Josh 3:14-end; 4:1-end; for ‘the land of Canaan’ represented the Lord’s kingdom, 1413, 1437, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3686, 3705. And the dividing of the Jordan and their passing through on dry ground meant the removal of evils and falsities and the admission into the Lord’s kingdom of those who are governed by goods and truths. Similar in meaning is the dividing of the waters of the Jordan by Elijah when he was carried up into heaven, 2 Kings 2:8, and by Elisha when he entered in place of Elijah into the prophetic role, 2 Kings 2:14.
[5] The cure of Naaman’s leprosy, effected by his having washed himself seven times in the Jordan according to Elisha’s command, 2 Kings 5:1-14, represented baptism, for baptism means introduction into the Church and into the things that belong to the Church, and so into regeneration and the things that belong to regeneration. Not that anyone is regenerated by baptism; rather it is the sign of it, which he should call to mind. And because the things which constitute the Church are meant by baptism, and baptism is meant by ‘the Jordan’, as mentioned above, it was the Jordan therefore in which people were baptized by John, Matt. 3:6; Mark 1:5. And the Lord too was willing to be baptized in it by John, Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9.
[6] Because ‘the Jordan’ means things that are first and last in the Lord’s kingdom and in the Church – such as the cognitions of good and truth, since these serve to introduce a person into His kingdom and Church – the Jordan is also for that reason referred to as a boundary of the new earth or holy land, in Ezekiel 47:18. The new earth or holy land means the Lord’s kingdom and also the new Church which is the Lord’s kingdom on earth, see 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end).
* lit. upon me
[2] The reason for this is that when truth occupied the first position, that is, when it seemed to itself to have dominion over good, falsities intermingled themselves. For truth is not able to see from itself whether it is the truth, but has to do so from good; and where falsities exist so does fear when good draws near. Furthermore all who are governed by good start to experience fear when falsities are seen in the light received from good, for they fear falsities and want to have them rooted out. But they cannot be rooted out if they are well established, except by Divine means provided by the Lord. This explains why, following the experience of fear and distress, those who are to be regenerated enter into temptations too; for temptations are the Divine means by which falsities are removed. And this reason why a person who is being regenerated undergoes spiritual temptations is a most profound one. Yet it is not seen at all by the person himself because it lies beyond his range of discernment, as does everything which stirs, pricks, and torments his conscience.
* lit. mother over children (or sons)
‘He spent that night there’ means in that state of obscurity. ‘And took from what came into his hand a gift for Esau his brother’ means Divine things that were to be introduced into celestial-natural good. ‘Two hundred she-goats and twenty he- goats; two hundred sheep and twenty rams’ means Divine goods and accompanying truths. ‘Thirty milking camels and their colts; forty young cows and ten young bulls; twenty she-asses and ten foals’ means things that are subservient, general and specific.
[2] The reason ‘a gift’ means introduction is that it was made to initiate goodwill and favour. Indeed in former times the gifts which were made and offered had differing meanings, the gifts presented by people to kings or priests when they went to them having one meaning, those offered on the altar another. The former meant introduction but the latter meant worship, 349, for all sacrifices in general of every kind were called ‘gifts’ while the minchahs, which were offerings of bread and wine, that is, of cakes accompanied by a libation, were specifically called such; for in the original language ‘minchah’ means a gift.
[3] The fact that gifts were presented to kings or priests when people went to them is clear from many places in the Word. Saul did so when he went to consult Samuel, 1 Sam. 9:7, 8, whereas the men who despised Saul did not bring him any gift, 1 Sam. 10:27. And the Queen of Sheba brought a gift when she came to Solomon, 1 Kings 10:2, like everyone else, of whom the following is said,
The whole earth sought Solomon’s presence to hear his wisdom; and every one brought his gift, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and garments and armour, and spices, horses and mules. 1 Kings 10:24, 25.
And as this was a customary and holy practice, meaning introduction, the wise men from the east who came to Jesus soon after His birth brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, Matt. 2:11. ‘Gold’ meant celestial love, ‘frankincense’ spiritual love, and ‘myrrh’ those loves as they exist within the natural.
[4] Indeed this customary practice was commanded, as is clear in Moses, Jehovah’s face shall not be seen by the empty-handed. Exod. 23:15; Deut. 16:16, 17.
Also, when gifts were presented to priests or kings it was as though they were presented to Jehovah, as may be seen from other places in the Word. As regards gifts that were sent meaning introduction, this is evident from the gifts which the twelve princes of Israel sent when the altar was introduced or dedicated after it had been anointed, Num. 7:1-end. In verse 88 of that chapter their gifts are actually called ‘the dedication (or introduction) offering’.
[2] I have sometimes been amazed that when angels’ conversing together came down into the world of spirits their conversation revealed itself in various numbers, and also that when numbers have been read in the Word the angels have understood real things. For no numerical value ever penetrates into heaven since numbers belong to measurements both of space and of time, and these belong to the world and to the natural order to which, in the heavens, states and changes of states correspond. The most ancient people, who were celestial and had communication with angels, were aware of what simple numbers and also compound numbers meant. The meanings of these were conveyed from those people to their descendants and to members of the Ancient Church. These are things which find scarcely any acceptance in the member of the Church at the present day who believes that nothing holier is concealed in the Word apart from that which is seen in the letter.
‘He gave them into the hand of his servants, drove by drove separately, and he said to his servants, Pass over in front of me and put a space between drove and drove’ means an arrangement of them into the order in which they were to be introduced. ‘And he commanded the first, saying, When Esau my brother meets you and asks you, saying, To whom do you belong; and where are you going; and whose are these in front of you? then you shall say, They belong to your servant Jacob; it is a gift sent to my lord Esau; and behold, he also is behind us’ means submission. ‘And he commanded the second also, the third also, and all also following the droves, saying, In this manner shall you speak to Esau when you find him’ means a continuation. ‘And you shall also say, Behold, your servant Jacob is behind us. For he said, I will appease him with the gift that is going in front of me, and after that I will see his face; perhaps he will accept me’ means preparation for what follows. ‘And the gift passed over in front of him’ means being carried into effect. ‘And he spent that night in the camp’ means the things which follow. ‘And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two servant-girls, and his eleven sons, and passed over at the passage of Jabbok’ means the first instillation of the affections for truth, together with truths that had been acquired, ‘the passage of Jabbok’ meaning the first instillation. ‘And he took them and made them pass over the river, and made all that he had pass over’ means a further instillation.
* lit. According to this word
[2] As regards the introduction of truth into good within the natural man, this cannot by any means be explained intelligibly, for the member of the Church at the present day does not even know what the internal or spiritual man is even though he often speaks about it. Nor does he know that if he is to become a member of the Church, truth has to be introduced to good within his external or natural man; and he knows even less about any arranging into order effected by the Lord within that natural man so that this may become joined to the internal man. These considerations, which are very general ones, are at the present day so hidden from people’s eyes that the existence of them is not even known. For that reason if one were to explain to them the specific details contained here in the internal sense concerning arrangement into order and concerning introduction, one would be declaring utter mysteries to them and so things wholly beyond what they are able to believe. One’s words would therefore be uttered in vain, or so to speak sown like seed on water or sand. This is the reason why specific details are being passed over here, and in this and the following verses of this section no more than a general explanation is given.
‘Jacob remained alone’ means the good of truth, which had now been arrived at and was at this point the ultimate form of good. ‘And a man wrestled with him’ means temptation that concerns truth. ‘Until dawn came up’ means before natural good, meant by ‘Jacob’, was joined to the celestial-spiritual, that is, to the Divine good of truth. ‘And he saw that he did not prevail against him’ means that in temptations He conquered. ‘And he touched the hollow of his thigh’ means where celestial-spiritual good is joined to natural good meant by ‘Jacob’. ‘And the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him’ means that truth did not as yet have the power to join itself completely to good.
[2] The same statements used here also have regard to Jacob and his descendants, in which case they are used to mean the essential nature of those people. Regarded in this sense the words ‘he touched the hollow of his thigh’ mean where conjugial love is joined to natural good, while the words ‘the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint as he wrestled with him’ mean that in the descendants of Jacob that conjunction had been thoroughly damaged and the two loves pulled apart.
* i.e. the man
[2] The reason why the conflict at first concerns truth or is about truth is that truth is what a person loves first. That which anyone loves is the object of evil spirits’ attack, but once he starts to love good more than truth, which takes place when order is being turned around, the temptation of him concerns good. But few know what temptation is, because few at the present day undergo any temptation; for none are able to be tempted except those who are governed by the good of faith, that is, by charity towards the neighbour. If those who are not governed by such charity experienced temptation they would instantly give way; and in those who give way evil becomes more firmly established and falsity more firmly believed, because in their case the evil spirits with whom they are thereby associated are victorious. This is the reason why at the present day few are allowed to enter into any spiritual temptation, but only into some natural forms of distress in order that they may be held back by means of them from self-love and love of the world into which they would otherwise plunge without any restraint.
[2] From this one may see the nature of the Word and what happens to it when a person reads it with a holy mind, that is, one in whom good and truth are present. For when he reads it, it is seen by him as something existing in this world or as a historical document, but which nevertheless is inwardly holy. But in the first heaven it is seen as something celestial-natural and spiritual-natural, which however is inwardly Divine. In the second heaven it is spiritual, and in the third celestial; and in the Lord it is Divine. The sense in the Word varies according to whatever heaven it may be. The highest sense of the Word, whose subject is the Lord, exists for the inmost or third heaven; the internal sense, whose subject is the Lord’s kingdom, exists for the middle or second heaven; the lower sense, in which the internal sense is narrowed down to the nation referred to there, exists for the lower or first heaven. But the lowest or literal sense exists for man while he is still living in the world. Yet man’s nature is such that the more interior sense, and also the internal and highest sense, can be communicated to him. For man has communication with the three heavens; indeed he is created on the pattern of the three heavens, so much so that when love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour constitute his life he is heaven in miniature. Consequently such a person has the Lord’s kingdom within him, as the Lord Himself teaches in Luke,
Behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:21.
[3] These things have been stated so that people may know that the Word contains not only a highest sense and an internal sense but also a lower sense, and that in this sense, that is to say, in the lower, the internal sense is narrowed down to the nation referred to there; and when this is done that sense is plain to see from the train of thought. At present it is self-evident that the man’s wrestling with Jacob and the disjointing and displacing of his thigh also has reference to Jacob and his descendants. That being so, let these same words be explained according to that sense. In what follows below this sense will be termed the INTERNAL HISTORICAL SENSE. It will be called this for the added reason that it is quite usual for this sense to be represented from time to time in the first heaven as something animate and taking visible form, as also I have been allowed to see several times. See the explanation given already in the latter part of 4272.
[2] As regards ‘the thigh’ meaning conjugial love and ‘the feet’ natural good, that is one of those realities known in the past which have grown old and died. The Ancient Church, which existed in an age of representatives and meaningful signs, was extremely well acquainted with these meanings, such knowledge of them constituting their intelligence and wisdom. Indeed it constituted the intelligence and wisdom not only of those who belonged to the Church but also of those outside the Church, as becomes clear from the oldest books written by gentiles and from the stories in them which are nowadays called myths – for meaningful signs and representatives spread from the Ancient Church to those gentiles. With these also ‘the thighs and loins’ meant that which belonged to marriage, and ‘the feet’ things that were natural. The origin of this meaning of ‘the thighs and the feet’ lies in the correspondences of all the members, organs, and viscera of the human being with the Grand Man, which – that is to say, such correspondences – are being dealt with now at the ends of chapters. The correspondences with the thigh and the feet will be discussed again further on, where actual experience will be used to corroborate that their meaning is as indicated above.
[3] These things are bound to seem like enigmas at the present day because, as has been stated, that knowledge has grown very old indeed and died. Yet how far that knowledge excels other types of knowledge becomes clear from the consideration that the internal sense of the Word cannot possibly be known without that knowledge, as well as for the reason that the angels present with man perceive the Word according to that sense. It becomes clear also from the consideration that by means of that knowledge man is provided with communication with heaven. And what is unbelievable, the internal man himself does not think in any other way; for when the external man understands the Word according to the letter the internal man does so according to the internal sense, though while living in the body a person is not at all conscious of doing so. This becomes particularly clear from the fact that when anyone enters the next life and becomes an angel he has no need to learn the internal sense but knows it instinctively, so to speak.
[4] What conjugial love is which is meant by ‘the thighs’ and also by ‘the loins’, see 995, 1123, 2727-2759; and conjugial love is the basic love of all loves, 686, 3021. Consequently people who have genuine conjugial love in them also have celestial love, which is love to the Lord, and spiritual love, which is charity towards the neighbour. For this reason the expression ‘conjugial love’ is used to mean not only that love itself but also all celestial and spiritual love. These kinds of love are said to be joined to natural good when the internal man is joined to the external, that is, the spiritual man to the natural – that joining together of them being meant by ‘the hollow of the thigh’. The fact that with Jacob and his descendants in general no such conjunction existed will be evident from what follows, for this is the subject dealt with here in the internal historical sense.
[2] Jacob and his descendants were by nature such that with them celestial and spiritual love could not be joined to natural good, that is, the internal or spiritual man could not be joined to the external or natural man. This is evident from the details told in the Word concerning that nation. For they neither knew nor wished to know what the internal or spiritual man was, and therefore that matter was not revealed to them. In fact it was their belief that nothing existed with man apart from the external and natural. Nor in all their worship did they have anything else in mind, so that Divine worship with them was wholly idolatrous; for once internal worship is separated from external, it is nothing but idolatrous. The Church which was established among them was not in fact a Church but only a representative of the Church, for which reason that Church is called a representative Church. For it was possible for a representative of the Church to exist among such people, see 1361, 3670, 4208.
[3] Indeed in representations no attention is paid to the person who represents, only to the thing represented by him. Consequently not only persons represented Divine, celestial, or spiritual things, but also inanimate objects, such as Aaron’s garments, the ark, the altar, the oxen and sheep which used to be sacrificed, the lampstand with its lamps, the bread of the presence on the table of gold, the oil with which they were anointed, the frankincense, and other objects like these. This was why their kings, bad ones no less than the good, represented the Lord’s kingship, and why their high priests, bad ones no less than the good, represented the things that belong to the Lord’s Divine priesthood, when they performed their own function in external form according to the prescribed rules and commands. In order therefore that among them a representative of the Church might come into existence they were provided through plainly visible revelation with such prescribed rules and such laws as would be entirely representative. Therefore as long as they kept to them and strictly complied with them, those people were able to play a representative role. But when they deviated from them into the prescribed rules and laws of other nations, and in particular to the worship of another god, they deprived themselves of their ability to play that representative role. For this reason they were coerced by external means – which were captivities, calamities, threats, and miracles – into obeying laws and prescribed rules that were truly representative, not by internal means, as those people are whose external worship has internal within it. These are the considerations that are meant in the internal historical sense by the words ‘the hollow of Jacob’s thigh was out of joint’, which sense has regard to Jacob and his descendants.
‘He said, Let me go, for the dawn is coming up’ means that the temptation came to an end when the joining together was at hand. ‘And he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me’ means that a joining together was to take place. ‘And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob’ means the essential nature of good done from truth. ‘And he said, Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel’ means the Divine celestial-spiritual at this point, for ‘Israel’ is the celestial-spiritual man within the natural, and so is the natural man, whereas the celestial-spiritual man proper – that is, the rational man – is ‘Joseph’. ‘For as a prince you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed’ means repeated victories in conflicts over truths and goods.
[2] In the internal historical sense in which Jacob and his descendants are the subject the same words have the following meaning: ‘Let me go, for the dawn is coming up’ means that the genuine representative role would depart from the descendants of Jacob before they entered into the representatives connected with the land of Canaan. ‘And he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me’ means that they insisted on being representative. ‘And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob’ means that they were the descendants of Jacob – together with their essential nature. ‘And he said, Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel’ means that they could not as [the descendants of] Jacob play the representative part, except by virtue of the new nature that was imparted to them. ‘For as a prince you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed’ means on account of the stubborn perverseness which was a product of their evil desires and of false delusions.
* i.e. the man
[2] The reason why the wrestling began before the dawn came up and why it finished after it came up, and why what happened when the sun had risen is mentioned after that, is that the times of day, like the seasons of the year, mean states, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3785. At present the state of conjunction effected by temptations is meant; for when the joining of the internal man to the external takes place it is ‘dawn’ to him, because at that time he enters a spiritual or a celestial state. At that time also light like that at dawn is seen by him, if his state is such that he is able to observe it. What is more, the understanding part of his mind receives light and becomes for him like the experience of waking up in the morning from sleep, when dawn first sheds her light and starts off the day.
[2] It is well known that there are three heavens – the inmost heaven, the middle heaven, and the ultimate heaven, or what amounts to the same, the third, second, and first heavens. The inmost or third heaven is celestial, the angels there being called celestial because they are governed by love to the Lord and as a consequence are the ones most closely linked to the Lord. And that being so they excel all other angels in wisdom. They are innocent and are for that reason called embodiments of innocence and wisdom. These angels are divided into internal and external, the internal being more celestial than the external. The middle or second heaven is spiritual, the angels there being called spiritual because they are governed by charity towards the neighbour, that is, by mutual love, the nature of which is such that one angel loves another more than himself. And because their nature is such, intelligence is present within them and for that reason they are called embodiments of intelligence. These angels too are divided into internal and external, the internal being more spiritual than the external. But the ultimate or first heaven is also celestial and spiritual, though not in the same degree as the previous ones; for the natural is closely associated with them, and so for that reason they are called celestial-natural and spiritual-natural. They too are governed by mutual love, but they do not love others more than themselves, only as themselves. What governs them is an affection for good and a knowledge of truth. They also are divided into internal and external.
[3] But what the celestial-spiritual is must also be stated briefly. The term celestial-spiritual applies to those who have been called spiritual immediately above and who are in the middle or second heaven. They are given the name celestial because of their mutual love, and spiritual because of their intelligence arising out of this. The internal members of that heaven are represented by Joseph, and also in the Word are actually called ‘Joseph’, whereas its external members are represented by Israel, and also in the Word are actually called ‘Israel’. The former, namely the internal members who are called Joseph, partake of the rational, whereas the external members who are called Israel partake of the natural, for they are half-way between the rational and the natural. These are the reasons why it has been said that ‘Israel’ is the celestial-spiritual man within the natural man, and so is the natural man, and that ‘Joseph’ is the celestial-spiritual man proper, which is the rational man. For in the universal sense all good which flows from love and charity is called celestial, and all truth which derives from this and constitutes faith and intelligence is referred to as spiritual.
[4] These things have been stated so that people may know what is meant by ‘Israel’. But by ‘Israel’ the Lord’s Divine celestial-spiritual is meant in the highest sense, whereas the Lord’s spiritual kingdom in heaven and on earth is meant in the internal sense. The Lord’s spiritual kingdom on earth is the Church, which is called the spiritual Church. And as ‘Israel’ means the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, ‘Israel’ also means the spiritual man, for the Lord’s kingdom exists within all who are spiritual, since each is heaven and also the Church in the smallest form these can take, 4279. As for Jacob, in the highest sense he represents the Lord’s natural, both His celestial-natural and His spiritual-natural, and in the internal sense the Lord’s kingdom as it exists in the ultimate or first heaven, and so also the corresponding area of the Church. Good within the natural is that which is called celestial here, and truth within it that which is called spiritual. From all this one may see what ‘Israel’ and ‘Jacob’ mean in the Word, and also why Jacob received the name Israel.
[5] But these ideas that have been stated will inevitably seem obscure, the chief reason being that few people know what the spiritual man is, and scarcely any what the celestial man is, or consequently that there is any difference between the spiritual man and the celestial man. The reason why they do not know is that no clear difference is perceived between good which is the good of love and charity, and truth which is the truth of faith. And the reason why these are not perceived is that genuine charity does not exist any longer. When something is non-existent no perception of it is possible. And a further reason why they are not perceived is that people do not bother very much about the things that have to do with the life after death, and so about those to do with heaven, but much about things to do with life in the body, and so with things which belong to the world. If people did bother about the things that have to do with the life after death, and so about those which have to do with heaven, they would easily grasp all that has been mentioned above, for that which a person loves he absorbs and grasps with ease, but that which he does not love with difficulty.
[6] The fact that ‘Jacob’ has one meaning and ‘Israel’ another is quite evident from the Word, for in its historical sections, and in the prophetical ones too, Jacob is used at one point, Israel at another; and sometimes the two names occur in the same verse. From this it becomes clear that there is an internal sense to the Word, and that without that sense this matter could in no way be known. The use of Jacob at one point, Israel at another is clear from the following,
Jacob dwelt in the land of his father’s sojournings. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph was a son of seventeen years. And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons. Gen. 37:1-3.
Here Jacob is first called ‘Jacob’ and immediately after that ‘Israel’ – Israel being used when Joseph is referred to. Elsewhere,
Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt; Jacob said to his sons . . . And the sons of Israel came to buy in the midst of others who came. Gen. 42:1, 5.
And after this,
They went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father. When they told him all Joseph’s words which he had spoken to them the spirit of Jacob their father revived. And Israel said, Enough; Joseph my son is still alive. Gen. 45:25, 27, 28.
Then,
And Israel set out and all that he had. God spoke to Israel in visions in the night and said, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Behold, here I am. And Jacob rose up from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried away* Jacob their father. Gen. 46:1, 2, 5.
And in the same chapter,
These are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons. Gen. 46:8.
Further on,
Joseph brought in Jacob his father and placed him before Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Jacob . . . and Jacob said to Pharaoh . . . Gen. 47:7-10.
And in the same chapter,
And Israel dwelt in the land of Goshen. And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. And Israel’s days drew near when he must die; he called his son Joseph. Gen. 47:27-29.
Yet again,
And someone reported to Jacob and said, Behold, your son Joseph has come to you, and Israel found some strength in himself and sat up on his bed. And Jacob said to Joseph, God Shaddai appeared to me in Luz. Gen. 48:2, 3.
The name Israel is again used in the same chapter in verses 8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 20, 21. And finally,
Jacob called his sons and said, Gather together, and hear, O sons of Jacob; and hearken to Israel your father. And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons . . . Gen. 49:1, 2, 33.
From all these places it becomes clear that Jacob is called Jacob at one point, Israel at another, thus that Jacob has one meaning, Israel another, that is, one thing is meant when he is called Jacob, another when he is called Israel. They also make it quite clear that this arcanum can in no way be known except from the internal sense.
[7] What ‘Jacob’ means however, and what ‘Israel’, has been stated above. In general ‘Jacob’ in the Word means the external aspect of the Church and ‘Israel’ the internal, for every Church has an external aspect and it has an internal one, that is, it is internal and also external. And because that which constitutes the Church is meant by ‘Jacob’ and by ‘Israel’ and because the Church in its entirety originates in the Lord, both Jacob and Israel therefore mean the Lord in the highest sense – ‘Jacob’ the Lord’s Divine natural, ‘Israel’ His Divine spiritual. Consequently the external aspect of the Lord’s kingdom and of His Church is meant by ‘Jacob’ and the internal by ‘Israel’, as becomes additionally clear from the following places in which again each name is used in its own sense. In the prophecy uttered by Jacob, who by then was Israel,
By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob; from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel. Gen 49:24.
In Isaiah,
Hear, O Jacob My servant, and Israel whom I have chosen. Fear not, O My servant Jacob, and Jeshurun whom I have chosen. I will pour out My spirit upon your seed, and My blessing upon your sons. This one will say, I am Jehovah’s, and another will call himself by the name of Jacob: and he will write with his hand, Jehovah’s, and surname himself by the name of Israel. Isa. 44:1-3, 5.
Here ‘Jacob’ and ‘Israel’ plainly stand for the Lord, while Jacob or Israel’s ‘seed’ and ‘sons’ stand for those whose faith is in Him. In Balaam’s prophecy in Moses,
Who will count the dust of Jacob, and its number together with a fourth part of Israel? Num. 23:10.
And again,
There is no divination against Jacob, nor enchantments against Israel. At that time it will be said to Jacob and to Israel, What has God done? Num. 23:23.
Further still,
How fine are your tabernacles, O Jacob; your dwelling-places, O Israel. Num. 24:5.
And again,
A star will arise out of Jacob, and a sceptre out of Israel. Num. 24:17.
In Isaiah,
My glory will I not give to another. Hearken to me, O Jacob, and O Israel whom I called: I am the same; I am the first; I am also the last. Isa. 48:11, 12.
In the same prophet,
Those who are to come Jacob will cause to take root. Israel will blossom and flower, and the face of the earth will be filled with produce. Isa. 27:6.
In Jeremiah,
Do not fear, O My servant Jacob, and do not be dismayed, O Israel, for behold, I have saved you from afar. Jer. 30:9, 10.
In Micah,
I will surely gather Jacob, all of you, I will surely assemble the remnant of Israel, I will put them together, like the sheep of Bozrah. Micah 2:12.
[8] The reason why Jacob received the name Israel is clear from the actual words used when he was given it, which are these,
Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed.
Israel in the original language means ‘one contending as a prince with God’, and these words mean in the internal sense that he overcame in the conflicts that accompany temptations; for it was through temptations and the conflicts which take place in temptations** that the Lord made His Human Divine, 1737, 1813, and elsewhere. And it is temptations and victories in temptations that make the spiritual man. This is why Jacob first received the name Israel after his wrestling – ‘wrestling’ meaning to undergo temptation, see 4274. It is well known that the Church, or the member of the Christian Church, calls itself Israel, but no one in the Church is an Israel except the one who has become a spiritual man through temptations. The name itself also implies the same. A subsequent confirmation of the fact that Jacob was to be called Israel was also given to him, as is clear from the following words further on,
And God appeared again to Jacob when coming from Paddan Aram, and blessed him; and God said to him, Your name is Jacob; your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel will be your name. And He called his name Israel. Gen. 35:9, 10.
The reason for this confirmation will be discussed below.
* i.e. in a cart
** Or, reading what Sw. had in his rough draft for it was through temptations and victories in temptations
[2] The subject in the highest sense being the Lord, it is He who is meant in that sense by ‘one contending as a prince with God and with men’, for by His own power He suffered all temptations and through them overcame the hells. Indeed He allowed into Himself all the hells in their order, and even the angels, as will be explained later on. In so doing he brought into order everything in the heavens and in the hells, and at length glorified Himself, that is, made the Human within Him Divine.
[3] From this it is evident that in the highest sense the Lord is meant by Jacob and Israel, as shown immediately above in 4286. Not only has He Himself ‘contended as a prince’, that is, has suffered all the conflicts brought about by temptations and has overcome in them, but also He suffers them in every individual human being. But see what has been stated many times already on these matters in the following references,
The Lord suffered the severest temptations, greater than anybody else has done, 1663, 1668, 1787, 2776, 2786, 2795, 2816.
Unlike any others the Lord fought out of Divine love, 1690, 1691 (end), 1789, 1812, 1813, 1820.
The Lord fought against hereditary evil from the mother, so that at length He was not her son; even so, no evil of His own doing was attached to Him, 1444, 1573, 2025, 2574, 2649, 3318 (end).
Through the conflicts brought about by temptations and through repeated victories the Lord arranged all things into the form which heaven possesses, 1928.
And through repeated victories in conflicts brought about by temptations He united the Divine Essence to the Human Essence, 1616, 1737, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2500, 2523, 2632, 2776.
The Lord suffers the temptations that take place in man, subduing evil and the hells, 987, 1661, 1692 (end).
[4] The arcanum that ‘contending with God and with men’ means being tempted over truths and over goods is one that is not open to view in the letter. It is clear to anyone, and will also be evident from the explanation given below, that it was not God with whom Jacob contended, for it cannot be said of anyone that he contends with God and prevails. But the internal sense teaches what ‘God’ and ‘men’ mean here – that ‘God’ means truth, and ‘men’ good. The reason for this is that ‘God’ in the internal sense means truth, and therefore whenever truth is dealt with the name God is used, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, whereas the term ‘man’ is used to mean good. And ‘man’ means good because the Lord is the only Man and anyone else is called such by virtue of Him, 49, 288, 565, 1894. A further reason is that by virtue of Him heaven is man and is called the Grand Man, 684, 1276, 3624-3649, 3741-3750. And this also was why the Most Ancient Church which was governed by celestial good was referred to as Man, 478.
[5] Therefore whenever good is dealt with in the Word, ‘man’ (homo) means good, as in Isaiah,
I will make the male person (vir homo) more rare than gold, and man (homo) than the gold of Ophir. Isa 13:12.
In the same prophet,
The inhabitants of the land will be scorched and few male persons (vir homo) left. Isa. 24:6.
‘Male persons’ stands for spiritual good or the good of truth. ‘Man’ stands for good. In the same prophet, The highways have been laid waste, the wayfarer has ceased. He has broken the covenant, he has despised the cities, he has no regard for the male person (vir homo). Isa. 33:8.
In Jeremiah,
I looked to the earth, and behold, that which is void and empty, and towards the heavens, and they had no light I looked, and behold, there was no man; and all the birds of the air had flown away. Jer. 4:23, 25.
In the same prophet, behold, the days are coming, said Jehovah, in which I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and the seed of beast. Jer. 31:27.
In Ezekiel,
Your merchants [traded] in the souls of men and vessels of bronze, giving these for your merchandise. Ezek. 27:13.
In the same prophet, You, O my flock, the flock of My pasture, you are men; I am your God. Ezek 34:31.
In the same prophet, They will be cities laid waste, filled with the flock of mankind. Ezek. 36:38.
In these places ‘man’ (homo) stands for people who are governed by good, and so stands for good, since good is what causes anyone to be ‘man’. Truth however which is grounded in good is referred to in the Word as ‘a male person’ (vir homo) and also as ‘the son of man’.
[2] But one must know what a representative Church is and what a representative of the Church is. A representative Church exists when internal worship is present within external, but a representative of the Church when no internal worship exists even though external does so. In both cases they observe very similar external practices, that is to say, they follow similar ordinances, laws, and commands. But in the representative Church external things correspond to internal so that they make one, whereas in a representative of the Church that correspondence does not exist because external things are either devoid of internal or else at variance with them. In the representative Church celestial and spiritual love is supreme, but in a representative of the Church bodily and worldly love is supreme. Celestial and spiritual love constitutes the internal itself, but when no celestial or spiritual love exists, only bodily and worldly, that which is external devoid of what is internal exists. The Ancient Church which existed after the Flood was a representative Church, but that which was established among the descendants of Jacob was merely a representative of the Church. But to make the difference between the two quite plain, let it be illustrated by examples.
[3] In the representative Church Divine worship took place on mountains because ‘mountains’ meant celestial love, and in the highest sense the Lord, 795, 1430, 2722, 4210; and when they held worship on mountains they were in their own holy place because they were at the same time abiding in celestial love. In the representative Church Divine worship also took place in groves because ‘groves’ meant spiritual love, and in the highest sense the Lord in regard to that love, 2722; and when they held worship in groves they were in their own holy place because they were at the same time abiding in spiritual love. When they held Divine worship in the representative Church they used to turn their faces towards the rising of the sun because ‘the rising sun’ too meant celestial love, 101, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643. And when they looked up at the moon they were again filled with holy reverence because ‘the moon’ meant spiritual love, 1529-1531, 2495, 4060. And the same applied when they looked up at the starry sky because this meant the angelic heaven or the Lord’s kingdom. In the representative Church they had tents or tabernacles in which they held Divine worship, and this was holy worship because ‘tents’ or ‘tabernacles’ means the holiness of love and of worship, 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3312. And countless other examples could be mentioned.
[4] In the representative of the Church Divine worship did indeed take place at first on mountains and also in groves. The practice also existed then of turning to face the rising of the sun, as well as that of beholding the moon and the stars. There was likewise worship in tents or tabernacles. But because their external worship was devoid of internal – that is, they were governed by bodily and worldly love and not by celestial and spiritual, and so worshipped the actual mountains or groves, and also the sun, moon, and stars, as well as their tents or tabernacles – those practices, which had been holy in the Ancient Church, were now made idolatrous by those belonging to a representative of the Church. They were therefore restricted to the same place and practices for them all, that is to say, to the mountain on which Jerusalem and at length Zion stood, where from the temple they beheld the rising of the sun, and also to one tent for them all, called the tent of meeting, and ultimately to the ark in the temple. They were restricted to these things to the end that a representative of the Church might come into being when they practiced what was outwardly holy. Otherwise they would have rendered holy things unholy.
[5] From these examples one may see what the difference is between a representative Church and a representative of the Church. In general, one may see that members of the representative Church communicated with the three heavens, and that they did so in things of an interior kind, for which external ones could serve as the foundation on which they rested. But those who belonged to a representative of the Church did not communicate with heaven in things of an interior kind. Yet the external things to which those people were limited were nevertheless able to serve as the foundation for interior ones. The Lord’s Providence in a miraculous manner enabled this to be so, for the reason that some kind of communication might be established between heaven and mankind through what was a semblance of the Church. For without any communication of heaven with mankind by means of some kind of Church the human race would perish. But what the communication is like when it takes place through external things devoid of any correspondence with internal ones cannot be stated briefly. In the Lord’s Divine mercy a statement is to be made about this later on.
People who know and acknowledge holy things are able to profane them, but not those who do not know and acknowledge them, 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 3398, 3898.
People inside the Church are capable of profaning holy things, but not those outside, 2051.
Therefore all who are unable to remain steadfast in goodness and truth are kept as far as possible from an acknowledgement of and faith in them, 3398, 3402; and they are kept in ignorance to prevent their profanation of them, 301-303.
What danger comes from profaning holy things, 571, 582.
Worship becomes external to prevent what is internal being profaned, 1327, 1328.
Therefore internal truths were not disclosed to the Jews, 3398.
[2] The Lord therefore made provision so that anything genuinely representative of the Church, that is, any internal representation of it, would have departed from the descendants of Jacob before they entered into the representatives connected with the land of Canaan. It so departed that they did not know anything at all about the Lord. They knew, it is true, that the Messiah was to come into the world, but they supposed that the reason for His coming would be to promote them to glory and pre-eminence over all nations in the whole world, but not that He would save their souls for ever. Neither indeed did they know anything whatever about the heavenly kingdom, nor anything about the life after death, nor even anything about charity and faith. To reduce them to such ignorance they were kept for several centuries in Egypt, and when summoned from there did not even know the actual name Jehovah, Exod. 3:12-14. What is more, they had lost all the worship of the representative Church, so much so that a month after the Ten Commandments had been publicly declared in their presence from mount Sinai they reverted to Egyptian worship, which was that of the golden calf, Exod. 32.
[3] And this being the nature of the nation which had been brought out of Egypt they all died in the wilderness. For nothing more was required of them than to keep ordinances and commands in the outward form these took, because to keep these in their outward form was to play the part of a representative of the Church. Those who had grown up in Egypt however could not be fitted for that part, but their children could, though with difficulty, at first by means of miracles and after that by terrors and captivities, as is evident from the Books of Joshua and Judges. From this it becomes clear that the entire genuine or internal representative of the Church had departed from them before they entered the land of Canaan where the full form of an external representative of the Church was begun among them; for the land of Canaan was the actual land where the representatives of the Church could be introduced. For all the places and all the boundaries had, since ancient times, been representative in that land, see 3686.
[2] The fact that Jacob’s descendants were not the elect, yet they insisted that the Church should have its existence among themselves, may be seen from the internal historical sense in many places in the Word, openly so in the following statements in Moses,
Jehovah said to Moses, Go up from here, you and the people which you made to go up out of the land of Egypt, into the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, To your seed I will give it. I will not go up in your midst, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way. When the people heard this bad news,* they mourned and took off every one his ornament from upon him. And Moses took a tent and pitched it for himself outside the camp, far away from the camp. Moses said to Jehovah, See, You say to me, Make this people go up, when You have not made known to me whom You will send with me. Now therefore, if, I pray, I have found favour in Your eyes, make known to me, I pray, Your ways, so that I may know of You, that I have found favour in Your eyes. See also that this nation is Your people. He said therefore, My presence will go [with you], until I give you rest. Exod. 33[:1, 3, 4, 7, 12-14].
In this chapter of Exodus it is said that Moses made the people go up out of Egypt and then that they took off their ornaments and mourned, and that Moses pitched the tent outside the camp and that Jehovah gave His assent. This shows plainly that they themselves were insistent.
[3] In the same author,
Jehovah said to Moses, How long will this people provoke Me? And how long will they not believe, for all the signs which I have performed in their midst? I will strike them down with pestilence and annihilate them, and I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are. But Moses entreated Jehovah, who being appeased said, I will be gracious according to your word. But yet, I am the living One, and all the earth will be filled with the glory of Jehovah; for as for all the men who have seen My glory and My signs which I performed in Egypt and in the desert, and despite this have tempted Me these ten times and have not obeyed My voice, they will not see the land which I swore to their fathers; all who provoke Me will not see it. In this desert will your bodies fall, but I will bring in your children. Num. 14[:11-13, 20-23, 29, 31].
From these verses also it is evident that Jehovah was willing to annihilate them and therefore not to establish the Church among them, but that they insisted it should be established among them, and therefore it was done. And there were many other occasions besides this when Jehovah would have wiped out that repeatedly rebellious nation but repeatedly He allowed Himself to be appeased by their entreaties.
[4] The same is also implied by the fact that Balaam was not allowed to curse that people, in Chapters 22-24 of Numbers; in addition to other places where it is said that Jehovah repented of having brought that people in; also that Jehovah was appeased, as well as that He repeatedly made a new covenant with them. These are the kinds of things that are meant in the internal historical sense by the words ‘I will not let you go unless you bless me’. Something similar is also meant by Jacob’s taking the birthright from Esau as well as taking the blessing by deceit from him, in Chapters 25 and 27 of Genesis.
* lit. evil word
[2] The implications of this particular matter – the inability of [the descendants on Jacob to play the representative part, except by virtue of the new nature imparted to them, meant by ‘Israel’ – are as follows: It was specifically Jacob’s descendants who were to represent the Church but not specifically Isaac’s since Isaac’s descended not only through Jacob but also through Esau. Still less was it specifically Abraham’s, for Abraham’s descended not only through Jacob but also through Esau, and likewise through Ishmael, as well as through his sons by his second wife Keturah, who were Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, Shuah, and the sons of these, see Gen. 25:1-4. Now because Jacob’s descendants insisted that they should be representative, as shown just above in 4290, they could not represent as Jacob, or as Isaac, or as Abraham. The reason why they could not do so as Jacob was that ‘Jacob’ represented the external aspect of the Church, but not the internal. And they could not do so as Isaac at the same time or as Abraham at the same time for the reason advanced immediately above.
[3] So that they could represent the Church therefore, a new name had inevitably to be given to Jacob, and through that name a new nature, which new nature was to be a sign of the internal spiritual man, or what amounts to the same, of the internal spiritual Church. That new nature is meant by ‘Israel’. Every Church of the Lord is internal and external, as has been shown several times already, the internal Church being that which is represented, the external that which represents. The internal Church is also either spiritual or else celestial, the internal spiritual Church being represented by ‘Israel’, but the internal celestial Church at a later time by ‘Judah’. Therefore a division also took place, and the Israelites became a kingdom on their own and the Jews another on their own. But these matters will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed later on. From this it is evident that ‘Jacob’, that is, Jacob’s descendants, could not represent the Church as Jacob, for that would have been to represent solely the external aspect of the Church. They had to do so as Israel as well because ‘Israel’ is the internal aspect.
[4] It has been shown in various places already that it is the internal which is represented and the external which represents, as may also be seen in the human being. A person’s speech represents his thought, and a person’s action represents his will. Speech and action are the external aspects of the person, thought and will the internal. In addition the various looks seen on a person’s face represent both, that is to say, both his thought and his will. It is well known to everyone that the looks on a person’s face are representative, for the looks on the faces of people who are sincere enable their interior states to be seen. In short, every part of the body represents some facet of a person’s inclination (animus) and mind (mens).
[5] It is similar with the external aspects of the Church, for these are like the body, while its internal aspects are like the soul. There were, for example, the altars and the sacrifices on them, which, as is well known, were external things. There was likewise the bread of the presence, also the lampstand with its lamps, as well as the fire that was kept burning all the time. Anyone can recognize that these external things represented internal ones, as likewise did everything else of a ritual nature. The fact that these external things could not represent anything external, only what was internal, becomes clear from the considerations introduced already. So ‘Jacob’ could not represent as Jacob, because ‘Jacob’ means the external aspect of the Church, but he could do so as Israel because ‘Israel’ means its internal aspect. This is what is meant by a new nature being imparted to enable the descendants of Jacob to play the representative part.
[2] As regards that nation’s insistence that they should play the representative part, that is, that they themselves should constitute the Church in preference to all nations throughout the whole world, see above in 4290. More than this it is the fact that they were allowed to do so on account of the stubborn perverseness which was a product of their false delusions and of their evil desires that is meant here. No one can know the nature of those delusions and desires unless he has some contact with them in the next life. To enable me to know, such contact has been granted to me, for I have talked on several occasions to those people there. They love themselves and worldly wealth more than anybody else does, and above all they fear loss of position as well as loss of gain more than anybody else does. Consequently today as in former times they despise everyone else in comparison with themselves; they are also utterly intent on the acquisition of wealth, and in addition are full of fear. Because that nation has been like this since ancient times they were better able than others to be kept in external holiness devoid of all internal holiness, and so in outward form to represent things that constituted the Church It was these false delusions and evil desires that produced such stubborn perverseness.
[3] This is also apparent from many things which are mentioned regarding them in the historical narratives of the Word. After being punished they were able to demonstrate an external humility such as no other nation could do, for they were able for whole days to lie prostrate on the ground and to roll themselves in the dust and not get up until the third day. They were also able for many days to beat their breasts, and to go around in sackcloth, in tattered garments, with ashes or dust sprinkled over their head. They were able to fast continuously for many days, and during that time to burst into bitter tears. But these were the expressions solely of bodily and earthly love, and a fear of losing their pre- eminence and worldly wealth. For there was not anything internal which moved them since they did not know at all, and did not even wish to know, what the internal was, such as the matter of a life after death, or that of eternal salvation.
[4] From this it may be seen that because their nature was such they had to be dispossessed of all internal holiness, for this holiness accords in no way at all with the kind of external holiness that has just been described; indeed the two are utterly contrary to each other. It may also be seen that they were better able than others to play the part of a representative of the Church, that is to say, to represent holy things in external form, devoid of all internal holiness; and that thus by means of that nation some kind of communication with the heavens was possible, see 4288.
‘Jacob asked and said, Tell me, I pray, your name’ means the angelic heaven and the nature of that heaven. ‘And he said, Why is it that you ask my name?’ means that heaven was unwilling to reveal itself. ‘And he blessed him there’ means a joining to the Divine celestial-spiritual. ‘And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel’ means a state of temptations. ‘For I have seen God face to face, and my soul is delivered’ means that He suffered the severest temptations, seemingly attributable to the Divine. ‘And the sun rose on him’ means when the one kind of good was joined to the other. ‘As he passed over Penuel’ means a state of truth within good. ‘And he was limping on his thigh’ means that truths were not yet arranged into such an order that together with good they could all enter celestial-spiritual good. ‘Therefore the children of Israel do not eat the sinew of that which was displaced, which is on the hollow of the thigh’ means that no truths containing falsities were assimilated. ‘Even to this day’ means that, perpetually so, falsities would not be attached. ‘Because he touched, in the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, the sinew of that which was displaced’ means for the reason that they were indeed falsities.
[2] In the internal historical sense, where the descendants of Jacob are the subject, ‘Jacob asked and said, Tell me, I pray, your name’ means evil, spirits ‘He said, Why is it that you ask my name?’ means that they did not acknowledge evil spirits to be the origin. ‘He blessed him there’ means that so it was done. ‘Jacob called the name of the place Peniel’ means a state in which they took on representations. ‘For I have seen God face to face, and my soul is delivered’ means His presence through representations. ‘The sun rose on him’ means when they entered into representations. ‘As he passed over Penuel’ means when they entered the land of Canaan. ‘He was limping on his thigh’ means that with those descendants goods and truths had been destroyed completely. ‘Therefore the children of Israel do not eat the sinew of that which was displaced, which is on the hollow of the thigh’ means that those descendants ought to know this. ‘Even to this day’ means that their nature was perpetually so. ‘Because he touched, in the hollow of Jacob’s thigh, the sinew of that which was displaced’ means because of their heredity which could not be rooted out through regeneration because they would not allow that to happen.
God stands in the assembly of God, in the midst of the gods will He judge. I said, You are gods, and sons of the Most High, all of you. Ps. 82:1 ,6.
Here it is quite plain that ‘the assembly of God’ and ‘the gods’ are the angelic heaven. In the same author,
Who in the sky will be compared to Jehovah? He will be likened to Jehovah among the sons of gods. Ps. 89:6.
In the same author,
Confess the God of gods; confess the Lord of lords Ps. 136:2, 3.
From these quotations it is evident – as it is also from the fact that no one can contend as a prince with God and prevail, and likewise from the fact that the one who is called a god was unwilling to reveal his name – that it was the angelic heaven with which the Lord fought. It is quite plain from the actual words themselves ‘Why is it that you ask my name?’ that an arcanum lies within them, for if he had been Jehovah God he would not have concealed his name. Nor would Jacob have asked ‘What is your name?’ for asking the name implies some person or persons other than God Himself.
[2] The truth that the Lord at length fought with actual angels, indeed with the whole angelic heaven, is an arcanum which has not been disclosed up to now. But the implications of this are as follows: Angels do indeed possess supreme wisdom and intelligence, yet all their wisdom and intelligence comes to them from the Lord’s Divine. They have no wisdom or intelligence at all that originates in themselves, that is, in their proprium. Therefore it is only insofar as they are governed by truths and goods received from the Lord’s Divine that they are wise and intelligent. The fact that angels have no wisdom or intelligence at all originating in themselves they themselves openly confess. Indeed they are also quite angry if anyone attributes to them any wisdom or intelligence at all, for they know and perceive that it would be taking away from the Divine that which is His and it would be claiming for themselves that which is not theirs, and so would be engaging in the crime of spiritual theft. Angels also say that their entire proprium consists in evil and falsity, both because of their heredity and also because of their own conduct in the world when they were men, 1880. Nor, they say, is evil or falsity separated – that is, wiped away – from them, whereby they are made righteous; rather, the whole of it remains with them, though the Lord withholds them from that evil and falsity and keeps them in good and truth, 1581. These things are confessed by every angel, and no one is allowed into heaven if he does not know and believe them. For otherwise they cannot dwell in the light of wisdom and intelligence coming from the Lord, nor consequently in good and truth. From this one can also know how the words in Job 15:15 stating that heaven is not pure in the eyes of God are to be understood.
[3] This being so, in order that the Lord might bring the whole of heaven into proper heavenly order, He even allowed angels into Himself to tempt Him, who, insofar as they acted from their proprium, did not do so from good and truth. These temptations are the inmost of all, for they go to work solely on the ends one has in view and with a subtlety such as can by no means be detected. But insofar as angels do not act from their proprium they act from good and truth and are unable to tempt anyone. What is more, angels are being perfected constantly by the Lord, and yet their perfection cannot ever reach the point when their wisdom and intelligence can be compared with the Lord’s Divine wisdom and intelligence, since they are finite whereas the Lord is Infinite, and no comparison of finite with Infinite is possible. From all this one may now see what ‘God with whom Jacob contended as a prince’ is used to mean, and also why he was unwilling to reveal his name.
[2] Conscience is a new will and a new understanding received from the Lord, and so is the Lord’s presence with a person, a presence which becomes all the closer the more the person is stirred by the affection for good or for truth. If the closeness of the Lord’s presence exceeds the amount of affection for good or for truth in him, he enters into temptation. The reason why is that the evils and falsities which reside with him, and which are moderated by the goods and truths residing with him, cannot suffer that closer presence. This becomes clear from the following things that happen in the next life: Evil spirits cannot by any means move towards any heavenly community without starting to feel distress and torment; also, evil spirits cannot stand angels looking at them because they are instantly tormented and collapse unconscious. And in addition there is the fact that hell is remote from heaven, for the reason that it cannot suffer heaven, that is, the Lord’s presence in heaven. This explains why in the Word it is said in reference to evil spirits,
Then they will begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. Luke 23:30.
And elsewhere,
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. Rev. 6:16.
Also the sphere of cloud and thick darkness which emanates from the evils and falsities of those in hell looks like a mountain or rock beneath which they are hidden, see 1265, 1267, 1270.
[3] From these considerations it can now be recognized that ‘I have seen God face to face and my soul is delivered’ means the severest temptations, seemingly attributable to the Divine. Temptations and torments do seem to be attributable to the Divine because they arise, as has been stated, through the Lord’s Divine presence. Yet they do not originate in the Divine or the Lord but in the evils and falsities residing with the person who is being tempted or tormented. From the Lord nothing else proceeds but a holiness which is good and true and merciful, and it is this holiness – which is good, true, and merciful – that those subject to evils and falsities cannot suffer; for such evils and falsities are opposite or contrary to it. Evils, falsities, and lack of mercy are bent all the time on doing violence to those qualities belonging to holiness; and in the measure they assail these, they themselves suffer torment. And when they assail them and consequently suffer torment they imagine that it is the Divine who torments them. These are the considerations meant by ‘seemingly attributable to the Divine’.
[4] It was well known to the ancients that no one can see Jehovah face to face and live, and from them knowledge of the same came down to the descendants of Jacob. This explains why they were so glad when they saw any angel and remained alive, as in the Book of Judges,
Gideon saw that he was the angel of Jehovah, therefore Gideon said, O Lord Jehovih! 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. Judg. 6:22, 23.
In the same book, Manoah said to his wife, We shall surely die, for we have seen God. Judg. 13:22.
And in Moses, Jehovah said to Moses, You cannot see My face, for no man will see Me and live. Exod. 33:20.
[5] The reason why it is said of Moses that he spoke to Jehovah face to face, Exod. 33:11, and that Jehovah knew him face to face, Deut. 34:10, is that He showed Himself to him in a human form suited to his reception, which was an external form – as a bearded old man sitting with him, as I have learned from angels. For the same reason the Jews had no other idea of Jehovah than of one who was very old with a long white beard, who was better able to perform miracles than other gods. They did not have the idea of His being the most holy because they did not know what holiness was, let alone that they could not in any way see the holiness proceeding from Him because they were governed by bodily and earthly love devoid of internal holiness, 4289, 4293.
[2] As for the state of truth within good, this can indeed be described but no one can grasp what it is except those who have celestial perception. People who do not have this perception cannot even have any concept of the joining of truth to good, since for them truth lies in obscurity. Indeed they call the truth that which they have learned from matters of doctrine, and they call good that which is done in accordance with that truth. But those who do have perception have an understanding or mental sight that dwells in heavenly light, and they take delight in truths which are joined to good, just as the eye or physical sight takes delight in flowers growing in gardens and meadows in springtime. And people who have interior perception take delight so to speak in the lovely scent coming from them. Such is the angelic state, and therefore those angels perceive all the differences and all the variations that go with the instillation of truth into good and the joining together of them one within the other. So they perceive immeasurably more than man does, for man does not even know of any such instillation and joining together and that it is in this way that man becomes spiritual.
[3] But so that people may have some concept of this matter a brief statement must be made about it. There are two things which constitute the internal man – understanding and will. To the understanding truths belong and to the will goods, for that which a person knows and understands to be true he calls the truth, and that which he does from the will, and so that which he wills, he calls good. These two abilities must constitute a single unit. This may be illustrated by comparison with the sight of the eye and with the pleasure and delight which is experienced through the use of this sight. When the eye beholds objects it takes pleasure and delight in their form and colour and the resulting beauty which these bring to the objects as a whole and to the individual parts; in short it takes delight in the order or patterns in these. That pleasure and delight does not belong to the eye but to the mind (animus) and its affection. And insofar as a person has any affection for them he beholds them and retains them in his memory. But things which the eye beholds without any affection for them slip away and are not sown in the memory and so made part of it.
[4] From this it is evident that the objects of external sight are implanted insofar as there exists the pleasure and delight that go with affections for them, and that those objects are present in that pleasure and delight. For whenever much the same pleasure or delight occurs such objects return with them; and likewise whenever much the same objects are seen again such pleasure and delight returns with them, though with variations that depend on the states involved. A similar situation exists with the understanding, which is internal sight. The objects of that sight am spiritual and are called truths, for the field in which those objects are active is the memory, and the pleasure and delight associated with that sight is good. So it is good in which truths are sown and implanted. From this one may gain some idea of what the instillation of truth into good is and the joining together of them one within the other, also some idea of what that good is which is the subject here, a kind of good about which angels perceive countless things, whereas man perceives scarcely anything.
[2] As regards the order which truths must possess when they enter good, in this case celestial-spiritual good, no intelligible explanation of it is possible, for one needs to know before that what order is, and then what kind of order goes with truths, also what celestial-spiritual good is and then how these truths enter by way of good into that celestial-spiritual good. Even if these matters were described they would not be understood except by those who see with heavenly perception; nothing at all would be understood by those who see with merely natural perception. For those who see with heavenly perception dwell in the light of heaven which comes from the Lord, a light that holds intelligence and wisdom within it. But those who dwell in natural light do not possess any intelligence or wisdom except insofar as the light of heaven flows into that natural light and uses it in such a way that things belonging to heaven may be seen – as in a mirror or in some representative image – within things belonging to natural light. For natural light does not render any spiritual truth visible unless the light of heaven is flowing into it.
[3] This alone can be said regarding the order in which truths must exist to enable them to enter good. As with goods, all truths – not only the general ones but also the particular, and indeed the most specific – must in heaven have been arranged into that order so that one truth relates to another within a form like that in which the members, organs, and viscera of the human body relate to one another. That is, their uses relate to one another in general, also in particular, as well as most specifically, and act so as to be a single whole. From this – that is to say, from the order in which truths and goods exist – heaven itself is called the Grand Man. Its actual life comes from the Lord, who from Himself arranges every single thing into such order. Consequently heaven is a likeness and image of the Lord. When therefore truths have been arranged into an order like that into which heaven is arranged they exist in heavenly order and are able to enter good. Truths and goods exist in such order with every angel, and they are also being arranged into such order with every person who is being regenerated. In short, the order of heaven consists in the proper arrangement of truths that are the truths of faith within goods that are those of charity towards the neighbour, and the arrangement of these goods within the good that is the good of love to the Lord.
[4] The fact that ‘limping’ means possessing good which does not as yet contain genuine truths but does nevertheless contain general truths into which genuine ones can be instilled, and which are the kind that do not disagree with genuine truths; and thus the fact that ‘the lame’ are those who do possess good though not genuine good because they are without knowledge of truth – good such as gentiles possess who lead charitable lives with one another – becomes clear from those places in the Word where the lame and those who limp are mentioned in the good sense, as in Isaiah,
The eyes of the blind will be opened. and the ears of the deaf will be opened; then will the lame man leap like a hart, and the dumb man sing with his tongue. Isa. 35:5, 6.
In Jeremiah,
Behold, I am bringing them from the north land, and I will gather them from the extremities of the earth, among them the blind one and the lame, the woman who is with child and her who is giving birth, together. Jer. 31-8.
In Micah,
On that day, said Jehovah, I will bring together her who limps and will gather her who has been driven away. And I will make her who limps into the remnant, and her who was driven away into a numerous nation; and Jehovah will reign over them in Mount Zion, from now on and for ever. Micah 4:6, 7.
In Zephaniah,
At that time I will save her who limps and will gather her who has been driven away, and I will make them a praise and a name. Zeph. 3:19.
Anyone can see that in these places ‘the lame’ and ‘her who limps’ does not mean the lame or one who limps; for it is said of them that they will leap, be gathered together, be made into the remnant, and be saved. But it is evident that people who are governed by good and less so by truths are meant, as upright gentiles are and also those like them within the Church.
[5] Such persons are also meant by ‘the lame’ to whom the Lord refers in Luke,
Jesus said, When you give a feast invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, and the blind, and you will be blessed. Luke 14:13, 14.
And in the same gospel,
The householder said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here the poor, and the maimed, and the lame, and the blind. Luke 14:21.
The Ancient Church distinguished the neighbour or neighbours to whom they were to perform charitable works into different categories. Some they called the maimed, others the lame, some the blind, and others the deaf, by which they meant those who were spiritually such. Some they also called the hungry, the thirsty, strangers, the naked, the sick, or prisoners, as in Matt. 25:35, 36, and likewise widows, orphans, the needy, the poor, and the wretched, by whom they meant none others than those who were such so far as truth and good were concerned, who were to be furnished with whatever was appropriate to their needs, led into ‘the way’, and thereby receive counsel regarding their souls. But because at the present day charity does not constitute the Church but faith, what those categories of people are used to mean in the Word is totally unknown. Yet it is evident to everyone that it is not an inviting of the maimed, the lame, and the blind to a feast that is meant, nor that the householder commanded such persons to be brought in, but that those who are like this spiritually are meant. It is also evident to them that every single utterance of the Lord contains what is Divine, and so has a celestial and a spiritual sense.
[6] The Lord’s words in Mark have a similar meaning,
If your foot causes you to stumble cut it off, it is better for you to enter into life lame than having two feet to be cast into the Gehenna of fire, into the unquenchable fire. Mark 9:45; Matt. 18:8.
A foot which has to be cut off if it causes stumbling means the natural which constantly sets itself against the spiritual and has to be destroyed if it is trying to crush truths, and so means that because of the disagreement and contrary-mindedness of the natural man it is preferable to be governed by simple good even though there is a denial of truth. This is what ‘entering into life lame’ means. As regards ‘the foot’ meaning the natural, see 2162, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280.
[7] ‘The lame’ also means in the Word those who possess no good at all and consequently no truth, as in Isaiah,
Then the prey will be divided; the prey multiplying, those who limp will take the prey. Isa. 33:23.
In David,
When I am limping they are glad and are gathered together; the lame whom I do not know are gathered together against me. Ps. 35:15.
Such persons being meant by ‘the lame’ it was also forbidden to sacrifice anything that was lame, Deut. 15:21, 22; Mal. 1:8, 13. Also, no lame person belonging to the seed of Aaron could serve in the priesthood, Lev. 21:18. As with the lame likewise with the blind, for ‘the blind’ in the good sense means people who have no knowledge of truth, and in the contrary sense those who are subject to falsities, 2383.
[8] In the original language one word is used to express a person who is
lame, another a person who limps. In the proper sense one who is lame means people who are governed by natural good into which spiritual truths are unable to flow owing to the outward natural appearances and the delusions of the senses, while in the contrary sense one who is lame means those who are not governed by any natural good but by evil, which totally blocks the inflow of spiritual truth. One who limps however means in the proper sense those who are governed by natural good into which general truths are allowed to enter but not particular and specific truths owing to lack of knowledge, whereas in the contrary sense one who limps means those who are subject to evil and so do not even allow general truths to enter in.
Thus said the Lord Jehovih to these bones, I will lay sinews upon you and cover you with flesh, and I will put spirit within you I looked, and behold, there were sinews upon them, and flesh came up. Ezek 37:6, 8.
Here the new creation of man, that is, the regeneration of him, is the subject. But once truths have been distorted they cease to be truths any longer; and the more they are distorted into the reverse of truths the nearer they get to falsities. This is why ‘the sinew of that which was displaced’ means falsity. For ‘the hollow of the thigh’ means the point where conjugial love is joined to natural good, and therefore the point where the influx of spiritual truth into natural good takes place, see 4277, 4280. From this it is evident that ‘therefore the children of Israel do not eat the sinew of that which was displaced, which is on the hollow of the thigh’ means that no truths containing falsities were assimilated. The reason why these things are said concerning the children of Israel is that ‘Israel’ means the Divine celestial-spiritual, 4286, while ‘children’ or ‘sons’ means truths, 489, 491, 2623. So the meaning is that the truths belonging to the Divine celestial-spiritual did not assimilate any falsities as part of themselves.
[2] The reason the one who wrestled with him called himself ‘God’ is Jacob’s own belief that he was. In this he was like his descendants who believed unceasingly that Jehovah was present in their holy external observances, when in fact Jehovah was present solely in what these represented, as will be clear from what follows below. They also believed that Jehovah led them into temptations, was the author of all evil, and was full of anger and fury whenever they were punished. It is because they believed He was like this that such descriptions of Him appear in the Word, when in actual fact Jehovah never leads anyone into temptations, is never the author of anything evil, and is never full of anger, still less of fury, see 223, 245, 592, 696, 1093, 1683, 1874, 1875, 2395, 3605, 3607, 3614. This also explains why the one who wrestled with Jacob was unwilling to reveal his name. The reason why in the internal spiritual sense the one who wrestled with Jacob is used to mean the angelic heaven, 4295, is that the Lord, who in the highest sense is there represented by ‘Jacob’, allowed even angels to enter in and tempt Him, and that the angels were in that case left alone to their proprium, as has been shown in the paragraph just referred to.
[2] What presence through representations is must be discussed briefly. Anyone who is governed by bodily and worldly love, and not at the same time by spiritual or by celestial love, does not have any but evil spirits with him, even when external holiness exists with him. Good spirits cannot in any way be present with such a person, for they perceive in an instant the kind of love which governs a person. There is a sphere emanating from the interior parts of him which the spirits perceive as plainly as man by his sense of smell perceives offensive and foul odours floating around him in the air. This is what the state of good and truth, or love and faith, was like with that nation dealt with here. But in order that they might nevertheless play the part of a representative of the Church, the Lord made provision in a miraculous way so that when an external holiness existed with them, and at the same time they were surrounded by evil spirits, that holiness existing with them might nevertheless be raised up to heaven. But this was effected through good spirits and angels who were not within them but outside them, for within them there was nothing but an empty void or else uncleanness. For this reason there was no communication with any person himself, only with the holiness which existed with them when they observed ordinances and commandments, all of which were representative of the spiritual and celestial things of the Lord’s kingdom. This is what is meant by the Lord’s presence with that nation through representations. But He is present in a different way with those within the Church in whom spiritual love and therefore faith are present. With these people good spirits and angels are present not only within external worship but also at the same time within internal, and therefore in their case the communication of heaven is with those persons themselves. Indeed the Lord is flowing in by way of heaven through their internals into their externals. For these latter people the holiness of worship is of value to them in the next life, but of no value to the former.
[3] It is similar with priests and ministers who preach about holy things and yet live wickedly and believe in what is wicked. With them no good spirits are present, only evil ones, even when they officiate at external acts of worship in a manner which is outwardly holy. For it is self-love and love of the world – that is, love directed towards the attainment of prominent positions and love directed towards the acquisition of gain and so of reputation – which fires them and is the reason for their display of holiness. Sometimes such ambitions are so great that those priests and ministers do not see any false presence in themselves, nor at the same time do they believe that such presence can even exist. Yet in fact they are in the midst of evil spirits whose state is at that time the same as theirs and who serve as their aspiration and inspiration. The presence of evil spirits in that kind of state – when priests or ministers officiate at external acts of worship and when a brake is put on their self-love and love of the world – I have been allowed to know from a considerable amount of experience, which will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be described further on at the ends of chapters. Those priests and ministers do not themselves have any communication with heaven, but those who hear and receive the words coming from their lips do so if internal reverence and holiness exists with them. For it does not matter at all who declares what is good and true, provided their lives are not openly wicked, because that would give offence.
[4] This was the situation with the nation descended from Jacob; that is to say, they were surrounded by evil spirits and yet the Lord was present with them through representations, as becomes clear from many places in the Word. In their hearts they did anything but worship Jehovah, for as soon as miracles ceased they instantly turned to other gods and became idolaters, which was a sure sign that in their hearts they worshipped other gods and made mere lip confession to Jehovah; and they made this to Him solely for the reason that they might be the greatest and be pre-eminent over all the nations round about them. The fact that this nation – Aaron included – in their hearts worshipped an Egyptian idol and made mere lip confession to Jehovah because of His miracles, is plainly evident from the golden calf which Aaron made for them, one month after they had seen such great miracles on Mount Sinai, in addition to those they had seen previously in Egypt – see Exod. 32. That Aaron too was like this is explicitly stated in verses 2-5 of that same chapter, and especially in verse 35. The same traits in that nation are in addition evident from marry other places in Moses, in the Book of Judges, in the Books of Samuel, and in the Books of the Kings.
[5] It is also evident that their worship was solely external and not at all internal from the fact that they were forbidden to go near Mount Sinai when the Law was being proclaimed, and that if they touched the mountain they would certainly die, Exod. 19:11-13; 20:19. The reason they were forbidden to do so was that internally they were unclean. It is also stated in Moses that Jehovah dwelt with them in the midst of their uncleannesses, Lev. 16:16. What that nation was like is also clear from the Song of Moses, Deut. 32:15-43, and from many places in the Prophets. From this it can be recognized that no Church resided with that nation but merely a representative of the Church, and that the Lord was present with it merely through representations.
[6] See also what has been presented already regarding these people,
With the descendants of Jacob a representative of the Church existed but not a Church, 4281, 4288.
A representative of the Church was not established among them until they had been vastated altogether as regards internal holiness, otherwise they would have profaned holy things, 3398, 4289.
When they adhered to ordinances they were able to play a representative role, but not when they deviated from them, 3881 (end).
Therefore they were kept strictly to religious observances and were coerced by external means, 3147, 4281.
So that they could play the part of a representative of the Church their worship became external worship devoid of internal, 4281.
Therefore also interior things of the Church; were not disclosed to them, 301- 303, 2520, 3398, 3479, 3769.
They were of such a nature that they were better able than others to have external holiness devoid of internal, 4293.
This is why they have been preserved even to the present day. 3479.
Their external holiness made no difference to their souls, 3479.
[2] The nature of that nation is made very plain by many things which the Lord Himself spoke in parables and which in the internal historical sense were said of that nation, as in the following,
In the parable about a certain king who was settling the account with the servant who showed no mercy towards another. Matt. 18:23-end.
In the parable about the householder who let his vineyard out to vine-dressers and went abroad; and the vine-dressers seized the servants he sent, beating one with rods, killing another, and stoning another. At length he sent his son whom they cast out of the vineyard and killed. When the scribes and Pharisees heard this parable they realized that He was speaking about themselves. Matt. 21:33-45; Mark 12:1-9; Luke 20:9 and following verses.
In the parable about the man who gave talents to his servants and how the servant who received one talent went and hid it in the ground. Matt 25:14-30; Luke 19:12-27.
In the parable about those who came upon the man who had been wounded by the robbers. Luke 10:30-37.
In the parable about those who were invited to the great supper and all of whom made excuses, and of whom the master said, I tell you, none of those men who were invited will taste my supper. Luke 14:16-24.
In the parable about the rich man and Lazarus. Luke 16:19-end.
In the parable about those who despised others compared with themselves.
Luke 18:10-14
In the parable about the two sons, one of whom said, I will go off into the
vineyard, but did not go, and in which Jesus said, Truly I say to you, Tax
collectors and prostitutes will go into the kingdom of heaven before you.
Matt. 21:28-32.
[3] The Lord states plainly what that nation was like in Matthew 23:13 onwards, towards the end of which passage He says,
You witness against yourselves that you are the sons of those who slew the prophets; and you are filling up the measure of your fathers. Matt. 23:31-33.
In Mark,
Jesus said to them, Rightly did Isaiah prophesy concerning you, This people honours Me with their lips, but their heart is very far away from Me. In vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men, forsaking the commandment of God. Mark 7:6-13.
In John,
The Jews answered Jesus that they were the seed of Abraham. But Jesus said to them, You are from your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and did not take a stand on the truth because the truth is not in him. When he speaks a lie he speaks from the things that are his own, for he is the teller of a lie and the father of it. John 8:33, 44.
Because their nature was such they are also called ‘a wicked and adulterous generation’, Matt. 12:39, as well as ‘a brood of vipers’, Matt. 3:7; 23:33; Luke 3:7; and in Matthew,
O brood of vipers, how can you speak good things when you are evil? Matt. 12:34.
[4] The fact that with that nation not even any natural good was left is meant by the fig tree referred to in Matthew,
Jesus seeing a fig tree by the wayside went to it but found nothing on it but leaves only, therefore He said to it, Let no fruit from now on ever be born from you! Therefore the fig tree withered at once. Matt. 21:19.
‘A fig tree’ means natural good, see 217. From all these places it may be seen that with that nation goods and truths had been destroyed completely.
[5] Goods and truths are said to have been destroyed when none exist interiorly. Goods and truths which are visible externally derive their being and their life from those that are internal. The nature of internal goods and truths therefore determines that of external ones, however these present themselves to human eyes. There are some people whom I knew during their lifetime and who during that period were to outward appearance zealous for the Lord, for the Church, for their country and the common good, and for what was right and fair; and yet in the next life these same people are among those in hell. Indeed I have been astonished to find them among the most evil ones there. The reason why they were there was that interiorly they had been filthy and profane, and that they had pretended to be zealous for the sake of reputation, so as to gain important positions and also to acquire wealth. Thus they had been zealous for selfish reasons and not for the things which they professed with their lips. Consequently when those external things are laid aside, as happens when people die, internals are laid bare and one sees what those people have been like inwardly; for during their lifetime they had concealed their internals from the eyes of the world. These are the considerations that are meant by the statement that goods and truths have been destroyed completely.
You shall not be a superior one, for you went up to your father’s bed; then you made yourself unworthy. He went up to my couch. Gen. 49:3, 4.
And of Simeon and Levi he said,
Into their secret place let my soul not come; with their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, and deliberately hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is severe. I will divide them within Jacob, and will scatter them within Israel. Gen. 49:5-7.
[2] What Judah was like becomes additionally clear from his marriage to a Canaanite, Gen. 38:1, 2, which was nevertheless contrary to what had been commanded, as may be seen from Abraham’s words addressed to the servant who was sent to betroth Rebekah to Isaac his son, Gen. 24:3, 6, and from many places in the Word. A third of that nation belonged to this lineage, that is to say, a third descended from his son Shelah who was born from a Canaanite mother, Gen. 38:11; 46:12. See Num. 26:20; and 1 Chron. 4:21, 22. Further evidence of what these and the rest of Jacob’s sons were like lies in the unspeakable crime which they committed against Joseph, Gen. 37:18-end. What their descendants in Egypt were like is evident from the details which are recorded about them when they were in the desert, where they were rebellious on so many occasions, and after that in the land of Canaan where they became idolaters on so many occasions; and lastly what they were like in the Lord’s time is shown just above, in 4314. And what they are like today is well known – they are opposed to the Lord, opposed to the things that constitute the Church, and opposed to charity towards the neighbour, being opposed even to one another. These considerations show that the nature of that nation has been such perpetually. Let no one therefore assume any longer that any Church has existed among them, only that which is a representative of the Church. Still less should anyone assume that they have been chosen in preference to others.
[2] The possession of such a heredity and their inability to be regenerated is quite clear from all that is recorded in the Word about them, and especially from the following in Moses,
Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, You yourselves saw all that Jehovah did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants, and to all his land; and Jehovah has not given you a heart to know, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, even to this day. Deut. 29:2, 4.
In the same author,
I know the people’s imagination, which they are performing today, before I bring them into the land which I have sworn [to give them]. Deut. 31:21.
And further on,
I will hide My face from them; I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, sons with no truth in them. I would scatter them far, I would make the memory of them cease from mankind, except that I feared the wrath of the enemy. For they are a nation from whose counsel is perishing and in whom there is no intelligence. For from the vine of Sodom comes their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah their grapes; they have grapes of hemlock, clusters that are bitter. The poison of dragons is their wine, and the cruel head of asps. Is not this stored up with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? Deut. 32:20, 26-34.
The same things are said in many other places, in particular in Jeremiah.
[3] Further evidence that their heredity is meant by the touching of Jacob’s thigh and his consequently having a limp may be seen in Hosea,
The controversy of Jehovah with Judah: He will make a visitation on Jacob over his ways, and will render to him according to his deeds. In the womb he supplanted his brother; in his grief he contended with God, and contended against the angel and prevailed; he wept and appealed to him. Hosea 12:2-4.
Here ‘contending with God’ means, in the internal historical sense, their insistence that a representative of the Church should exist with them, 4290, 4293. From this it is evident that the kind of heredity they possessed had been derived from Jacob himself, as may be shown from further places still but must be passed over for the time being.
[4] As regards heredity specifically, the belief at the present day in the Church is that all hereditary evil is derived from the first parent and that all are therefore condemned in respect of that evil. But this is untrue. The origin of hereditary evil in everyone lies with his parents and parents’ parents, that is, with successive generations of ancestors. Every evil which each of these has acquired to himself by his own actions in life, inasmuch as it becomes so to speak part of his character through regular practice or habit, is passed on to his children and becomes hereditary in them; and that evil accompanies what has been implanted in parents from grandparents and ancestors. Hereditary evil coming from the father is more internal, and hereditary evil from the mother more external. That coming from the father cannot be rooted out easily whereas that from the mother can. When a person is being regenerated the deeply-implanted hereditary evil that is received from immediate forbears is rooted out; but with those who are not being regenerated, or who are unable to be, it remains. This then is hereditary evil; see also 313, 494, 2122, 2910, 3518, 3701. This matter is also plain to anyone who reflects, as well as from the fact that every family has some evil or good characteristic by which it is distinguished from other families; and that characteristic, as is well known, is inherited from parents and ancestors. The same applies to the Jewish nation which is still in existence. It is clearly different from all other nations and may be recognized not only from its particular disposition but also from its customs, speech, and facial characteristics.
[5] But few people know what hereditary evil is. It is believed to consist in the doing of evil, when in fact it consists in the willing and therefore thinking of it. It is within the will itself and therefore within thought that hereditary evil dwells. It is the actual inclination to evil which is within them and which attaches itself even when the person does what is good. It is recognized through the kind of delight which enters in when evil befalls another. This root lies hidden deep down, for the interior form itself receiving good and truth from heaven, that is, from the Lord by way of heaven, is perverted and so to speak twisted out of shape, with the result that when good and truth flow in from the Lord these are either cast back or perverted or smothered. This is why no perception of what is good and true exists at the present day, but instead, in the case of the regenerate, conscience which acknowledges as good and true that which has been learned from parents and teachers. Hereditary evil leads to loving oneself more than others, willing evil on another if he does not promote oneself to honour, and taking delight in acts of revenge. It also leads to loving the world more than heaven and to all evil desires or evil affections, which spring from the same source. Man does not know that such things exist within him, still less that they are the opposite of heavenly affections. In the next life however he is shown plainly how much evil, hereditary in origin, he has drawn to himself through his own actions in life, and also how far he has removed himself from heaven through evil affections from the same source.
[6] The fact that hereditary evil in Jacob’s descendants could not be rooted out through regeneration because they would not allow that to happen is also evident from the historical descriptions in the Word – in all their temptations in the desert they gave in, as described in Moses, which they also did subsequently in the land of Canaan as often as they did not see miracles taking place. Those temptations however were external ones, and not internal or spiritual. In spiritual things they were incapable of being tempted because they had no knowledge of internal truths nor any possession of internal goods, as shown already; and nobody is able to be tempted except in what he knows or possesses. Temptations are the actual means by which regeneration is accomplished. This is what is meant by them not allowing regeneration to happen. Concerning their state and fate in the next life, see 939-941, 3481.
IN THIS SECTION CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE SENSES IN GENERAL
The chief characteristic of angels’ intelligence is their knowledge and perception that all life comes from the Lord, also that heaven in its entirety corresponds to His Divine Human and consequently that all angels, spirits, and men correspond to heaven. They also know and perceive in what way they correspond. These are the main characteristics of intelligence which are present in angels far more than in men. From them angels know and perceive countless things which exist in the heavens and consequently things in the world also, since the things which manifest themselves in the world and the natural order there are causes and effects that stem from those things in the heavens as their first beginnings. For the whole natural order is a theatre representative of the Lord’s kingdom.
[2] Evil people who have convinced themselves of the idea that they live independently by themselves, and therefore that whatever they think, will, and do begins in themselves, have declared, when shown that the truth of the matter is exactly as doctrine teaches, their readiness to believe it. But they have been told that knowing does not amount to believing, and that believing is something internal and cannot exist except within the affection for good and truth, and therefore can exist only with those who are governed by the good of charity towards the neighbour. Those same spirits, being evil ones, insisted that they were ready to believe it because they had seen it. But they were subjected to examination in a way commonly experienced in the next life, namely that of close inspection by angels. When they were inspected the upper part of their heads seemed to have been removed and their brains to be rough and hairy and also full of darkness. This showed the inner nature of people whose faith is no more than knowledge and not true faith, and that knowing something does not amount to believing it. For the heads of those who know and also believe look like human heads, and their brains look well-ordered, white, and shining, since heavenly light is received by them. But with those who merely know and imagine that in knowing they therefore believe, when in fact they do not believe because they lead an evil life, heavenly light is not received, nor consequently intelligence and wisdom which are present within that light. For this reason when they approach angelic communities, that is, heavenly light, it turns for them into darkness. This is why their brains are seen to be full of darkness.
There is one life alone, and from this all receive their life, each individual in a different way from another. Even the evil receive their life from that one life alone, and so too do the hells. Inflowing life acts according to the way it is received.
Heaven is ordered by the Lord in such a way that it is like a Human Being, on account of which it is called the Grand Man. Consequently everything in the human being corresponds to it.
Without influx from heaven into everything with him the human being cannot remain in being even for an instant. All in the Grand Man occupy an unchanging position determined by the nature and the state of the truth and good which governs them. Position there is not position but state, and therefore those on the left are seen constantly on the left, those on the right constantly on the right, those in front constantly in front, and those behind constantly behind. They are seen to be on a level horizontal with the head, chest, back, loins, or feet, overhead or underfoot, straight ahead or obliquely, closer in or further away. They occupy these positions, no matter how or in which direction a spirit turns.
The Lord as the Sun is seen constantly on the right, in the middle of the sky there, a little above a line horizontal with the right eye; and everything exists in relation to the Lord as the Sun and to the Centre there, and so in relation to its one and only source from which it is brought into being and kept in being. And since all appear before the Lord occupying their own unchanging positions, which are determined by states of good and truth, they are therefore seen in the same way by everyone, for the reason that the Lord’s life, and therefore the Lord Himself, is present in everyone in heaven.
And there are countless other arcana besides these.
[2] Influx from the cerebellum instills itself primarily into the face. This is clear from the consideration that a person’s disposition is written into his face and his affections are visible on it. This occurs for the most part independently of the person’s conscious will, as when fear, awe, shame, various kinds of gladness and also of sadness present themselves, besides many other emotions which become known to another in such a way that he recognizes from the person’s face which affections stir him and what changes of disposition and mind are taking place in him. These feelings are conveyed from the cerebellum through its fibres when no presence lies within. I was shown in the manner referred to above that in earliest times, that is, among the most ancient people, general sensory activity went on in the whole of the face, but that after those earliest times it was gradually limited to the left side of it, and finally after those later times moved away from the face, so much so that nowadays scarcely any general sensory activity that is involuntary is left in the face. The right side of the face, together with the right eye, corresponds to the affection for good, whereas the left corresponds to the affection for truth. The region where the ear belongs corresponds to mere obedience that is devoid of affection.
[3] For with the most ancient people, whose age was called the Golden Age, because they lived in a state of wholeness and in love to the Lord and in mutual love, as angels do, every involuntary endeavour of the cerebellum was evident in the face, and at that time they did not know how to display anything in the countenance in any way other than as heaven, in a comparable manner, flows into involuntary endeavours, and so into the will. But with the ancients whose age was called the Silver Age, because theirs was a state of truth from which they had charity towards the neighbour, the involuntary endeavour of the cerebellum was not evident on the right side of the face, only on the left. But with their descendants, whose times were called the Iron Age, because the affection for truth did not govern their lives, only an obedience to it, that involuntary endeavour was no longer evident in the face but moved away into the region around the left ear. I have been informed that the fibres of the cerebellum have thus effected a change in their outward flow into the face, and that in their place fibres from the cerebrum have been transferred to go in that direction, which now control those from the cerebellum. All this control of them stems from an endeavour to form expressions on the face as the person bids by his own will from the cerebrum. It is not apparent to man that these things are so, but it is quite evident to angels from the influx of heaven and from correspondence.
[2] These at the present day are the ones who for the most part constitute general and involuntary sensory activity. In ancient times however such people were the most heavenly of all, but at the present day they are the most infamous of all, most especially those from the Christian world. They are many in number and they present themselves beneath the rear of the head and at the back, where I have seen and perceived them many times. For those who relate at the present day to that sensory activity are ones who think deceitfully and devise evil against the neighbour. They present a friendly, indeed a very friendly, countenance, and their gestures too are such. They also speak agreeably as though they excelled everyone else in charity, and yet they are most bitter enemies not only of any person with whom they have contact but also of the human race. Their thoughts have been communicated to me, and these were unmentionable and abominable, full of ideas of cruelty and butchery.
[2] What the situation had been in the celestial Church so far as good was concerned was demonstrated by means of a blue-coloured column coming down from the sky, the left side of which was full of light, like the blazing light of the sun. This was a representation of the first state of those people, the blue colour representing their will, which was good, and the blazing light their understanding. After that the blue of the column turned to a dull red, which was a representation of their second state, a state in which their two kinds of life – that of the will and that of the understanding – still acted as one, though this was more dull so far as good from the will was concerned. For blue means good, and blazing light truth derived from good. After that the column became completely black, and surrounding the column there was a brightness which was variegated by means of something glittering and which presented colours. These changes meant the state of the spiritual Church. The black column meant that the will had been completely destroyed and that it was nothing but evil. The light variegated by something glittering meant the understanding in which a new will was provided by the Lord; for in heaven the understanding is represented by brightness.
[2] But they were provided with a spirit as an intermediary through whom they talked to me; for that kind of general thought could not be put into words without the help of others. And when I spoke to the spirits through the intermediary I said, as I supposed, that general things could not present a distinct and separate idea of any particular matter, only an idea so obscure as to be so to speak none at all. But after a quarter of an hour they showed that they had a distinct idea of things that were general, and of many aspects of those that were general. They showed this in particular by observing, so accurately and distinctly that no other spirits could do better, all the variations and changes in my thoughts and affections, and noting the smallest details in these. From these experiences I was able to deduce that a general idea which is obscure, as it is among people who have little knowledge and are therefore in obscurity about everything, is quite different from a general idea which is clear, as it is among those who have been taught about truths and forms of good. For those truths and forms of good have been introduced – in their own order and own connected series – into a general profile of them, and have been arranged in such a way that those people are able from that general profile to see them all distinctly.
[3] The spirits are those who in the next life constitute the general and voluntary sensory activity, and who by means of cognitions of goodness and truth have acquired to themselves the ability to look at things from what is general, and by doing that to contemplate things broadly and to discover instantly whether something is true. They see things, it is true, in obscurity so to speak, since they see them from the general profile to which they belong. Yet because they have been ordered and made distinct within the general profile, those things are therefore clear to them. This general sensory activity that is voluntary does not occur except in the wise. The fact that these spirits were such was another thing I learnt, for they could see in me every single detail of what I had concluded, and from this drew conclusions about the interior aspects of my thoughts and affections. Those conclusions were so accurate that I began to be afraid even to think anything more at all. For they uncovered things which I did not know to exist with me, and yet from the conclusions reached by them I had to admit to what they had uncovered. From this I perceived in myself a disinclination to talk to them, a disinclination which, when I became aware of it, took on the appearance of something hairy and of something in it speaking yet making no sound. I was told that this meant the general sensory awareness in the body that corresponds to those spirits. The next day I again spoke to them and once more discovered that they had a general perception that was not obscure but clear, and that as general things and the states that go with these varied so did particular ones and the states that go with them since the latter are related by their order and connected series to the former.
[4] I was told that general and voluntary sensory powers that are yet more perfect exist within the interior sphere of heaven and that when angels have a general or universal idea they have at the same time specific ideas which are ordered and made distinct by the Lord within the universal. General and universal wholes, I have been told, are not anything if they do not include within them the individual and the specific parts from which they exist and are so called, and that they exist just insofar as these individual and specific parts are present within them. From this it is also evident that without every most specific detail within it and from which it exists the Lord’s Providence is nothing at all, and that it is quite stupid to think of the existence of something universal in the case of the Divine and to take specific details away from it.
[2] I was shown by an actual experience how these persons are opposed to the internal man. Very many spirits from this planet were present who had been like them when they lived in the world. Before their eyes there came other spirits who related to the internal sensory man, at which point they began instantly to annoy these other spirits, almost in the way irrational persons annoy rational ones by speaking and reasoning all the time from the misconceptions of the senses and from illusions resulting from such misconceptions and wholly groundless assumptions, and as they do so believing nothing except that which could be proved by external sensory evidence. And in addition to this those spirits subjected the internal man to insults.
[3] But those who related to the internal sensory man were not troubled at all by such things, being amazed not only at the madness of those spirits from this planet but also at their stupidity. And wonder that it was, when the external, sensory-minded spirits drew near the internal sensory ones and came virtually into the sphere of their thoughts the external, sensory-minded spirits began to find it difficult to breathe (for spirits and angels breathe no less than men, though their breathing in contrast to men’s is internal, 3884, 3885 and following paragraphs, 3893) and so were almost choked, on account of which they drew back. And the further away they moved from the internal sensory-minded spirits the more tranquil and quiet it became among them because they found it easier to breathe, and again the nearer they came to them the more intranquil and unquiet it became.
[4] The reason for this was that when with external sensory-minded spirits their own misconceptions, delusions and groundless assumptions, and consequently falsities, are pre-eminent they feel tranquil but when conversely such things are removed from them, as happens when the internal man flows in with the light of truth, they feel intranquil. For thoughts and affections create spheres around themselves in the next life and these are communicated mutually from one party to another insofar as they become present with and draw near one another, 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504-1512, 1695, 2401, 2489. The conflict described lasted for several hours, and in that way I was shown how at the present day members of this planet are opposed to the internal man and that with them external sensory awareness constitutes almost the whole in them.
But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. As were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as they were in the days before the Flood – eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage – up to the day on which Noah entered the ark (and they were unaware of anything until the flood came and took them all away) so also will be the coming of the Son of Man. At that time two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left behind. Two women grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left behind.
[2] The second judgement occurred when the spiritual Church, which existed after the Flood and is called the Ancient, and which was spread through much of the Asiatic world, reached a point when it had destroyed itself.
[3] The third occurred when the representative of the Church among the descendants of Jacob was destroyed, a destruction which took place when the ten tribes were carried off into everlasting captivity and were scattered among the gentiles, and finally when Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews too were dispersed. Because the close of that age was reached after the Lord’s Coming, many of the Lord’s statements in the Gospels about the close of that age are therefore applicable to that nation also; many at the present day do apply statements to it. But though these can be understood in that way, they refer specifically and primarily to the close of the age which is now imminent; that is to say, they refer to the end of the Christian Church, which is the subject also in John, in the Book of Revelation. This will be the fourth last judgement on this planet. Exactly what is implied by the words contained in verses 36-41 quoted above will be clear from the internal sense of them, which is this.
[2] Not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only means that heaven does not know the specific nature of the state of the Church so far as good and truth are concerned; the Lord alone knows. Nor does it know when that state of the Church is going to be reached. The Lord Himself is meant by ‘the Father’, see 15, 1729, 2004, 2005, 3690; also the Divine Good within the Lord is called ‘the Father’ and the Divine Truth originating in Divine Good is called ‘the Son’, see 2803, 3703, 3704, 3736. People therefore who believe that the Father is one and the Son another, and who keep the two apart, do not understand the Scriptures.
[3] But as they were in the days before the Flood means the state of vastation undergone by those who belonged to the Church. This state is compared to the state of vastation which the first or Most Ancient Church underwent, the close of their age, that is, their last judgement, being described in the Word by means of the Flood. For ‘the Flood’ means a deluge of evils and falsities and the close of that age which followed as a result, see 310, 660, 662, 705, 739, 790, 805, 1120; and ‘days’ means states, see above.
[4] Eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage means their state insofar as they made evil and falsity their own, and by doing this became joined to these. For ‘eating’ means making good one’s own, and ‘drinking’ making truth one’s own, see 3168, 3513 (end), 3596; and so in the contrary sense they mean making evil and falsity one’s own. ‘Marrying’ means becoming joined to evil and ‘giving in marriage’ becoming joined to falsity, as may be seen from what has been stated and shown about marriage and conjugial love in 686, 2173, 2618, 2728, 2729, 2737-2739, 2803, 3132, 3155, to the effect that in the internal sense the joining together of good and truth is meant by them, though here in the contrary sense the joining together of evil and falsity is meant. Everything the Lord has said, since it is Divine, is of a different nature in the internal sense from what it is in the letter. So eating and drinking in the Holy Supper do not in the spiritual sense mean eating and drinking but making the good of the Lord’s Divine love one’s own, 2165, 2177, 2187, 2343, 2359, 3464, 3478, 3735, 4211, 4217. And as the joining of good which is the good of love to truth which is the truth of faith is meant when the idea of a marriage is used in reference to the Church or to the Lord’s kingdom, so therefore is the Lord’s kingdom in the Word called the heavenly marriage.
[5] Up to the day on which Noah entered the ark means the end of the former Church and the beginning of the new one, for ‘Noah’ means the Ancient Church in general which replaced the Most Ancient after the Flood, 773 and elsewhere, while ‘the ark’ means the Church itself, 639. The word ‘day’ which is used several times in these verses means state, as shown just above.
[6] And they were unaware of anything until the flood came and took them all away means that members of the Church at that time will not know that they have been swamped by evils and falsities because, on account of the evils and falsities in which they are immersed, they will have no knowledge of what the good of love to the Lord is and what the good of charity towards the neighbour is, nor also what the truth of faith is. Nor will they know that such truth originates in those forms of good and that it cannot exist except with people who lead lives filled with such love and charity, in addition to which they will have no knowledge of the fact that what is internal saves or condemns, not what is external separated from internal.
[7] So also will be the coming of the Son of Man means Divine Truth which they will not entertain. The meaning of ‘the coming of the Son of Man’ as Divine Truth which will be revealed at that time has been discussed already at verses 27-30, and in 2803, 2813, 3704, as well as 3004-3006, 3008, 3009.
[8] At that time two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left behind means those within the Church who are governed by good and those within the Church who are governed by evil; the former will be saved and the latter condemned. For ‘the field’ means the Church as regards good, see 2971, 3196, 3310, 3317, 3766.
[9] Two women grinding at the mill; one will be taken and one will be left behind means the future salvation of those within the Church who know the truth, that is, who are led by good to have an affection for it, and the future condemnation of those within the Church who know the truth, but who are led by evil to have an affection for it. These meanings which ‘grinding’ and ‘mill’ have in the Word will be clear from what appears immediately below.
From all this it is now evident that the words under consideration describe what the state of good and truth will be like within the Church when that Church is set aside and the new one is adopted.
Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babel; sit on the ground, without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. Take a mill and grind flour; uncover your hair, bare your feet, uncover your thigh, pass through the rivers. Isa. 47:1, 2.
‘The daughter of Babel’ stands for those among whom externally things give the appearance of being holy and good but interiorly they are unholy and evil, 1182, 1326. ‘The daughter of the Chaldeans’ stands for those among whom externally things give the appearance of being holy and true, but interiorly they are unholy and false, 1368, 1816. ‘Taking a mill and grinding flour’ stands for producing teachings out of the truths which they pervert; for ‘flour’, being the product of wheat or of barley, means truths which are products of good, but in the contrary sense truths which they pervert so as to lead people astray. In Jeremiah,
I will banish from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of mills, and the light of the lamp. And this whole land will be a waste and desolation. Jer. 25:10, 11.
[2] In John,
No craftsman of any craft will be found in Babylon any more; no sound of a mill will be heard in it any more; and the light of a lamp will not shine in it any more, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will not be heard in it any more. Rev. 18:21-23.
‘No sound of a mill will be heard in Babylon any more’ means that there will not be any truth. ‘The light of the lamp will not shine any more’ means that neither will there be any understanding of truth. In Lamentations,
They have ravished women in Zion, virgins in the cities of Judah. Princes have been hung up by their hands, the faces of the old men have not been honoured. The young men have been led away to grind at the mill, and the boys collapse under the wood. Lam. 5:11-14.
‘The young men have been led away to grind at the mill’ stands for being led away to produce falsities by the use of truths, and so by the power of persuasion.
[3] In Moses,
Ah the firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from Pharaoh’s firstborn seated upon his throne, even to the servant-girl’s firstborn who is behind the mill. Exod. 11:5.
‘The firstborn of Egypt’ stands for truths of faith which have been separated from the good of charity and therefore become falsities, 3325.
‘The servant-girl’s firstborn who is behind the mill’ stands for the affection for such truth from which falsities are obtained. These were the things represented by such historical events.
[4] In the same author,
He shall not take as a pledge the mill or the milling stone, for they are the livelihood* of him who pledges them. Deut. 24:6.
This law was laid down because ‘the mill’ meant matters of doctrine and ‘the milling stone’ the truths that were an integral part of them and are called ‘the livelihood of him who pledges them’. But for the spiritual meaning which ‘mill’ and ‘milling stone’ possess that law would obviously not have been given; nor would it have been said that they were ‘his livelihood’.
[5] I have been shown that ‘grinding’ derives its spiritual meaning from the representatives which manifest themselves in the world of spirits. For I have seen people there who seemed to be grinding; these spirits, I have been told, mean those who gather large numbers of truths together not with any use in view, other than for the sake of their own pleasure. Because truths in that case are devoid of their own affection which originates in good, they do indeed look like truths to external appearance; but because there is no inner substance to them they are sheer fancies. But if evil is present within them truths are used to support that evil, and so are made falsities through that use of them.
* lit. the soul
GENESIS 33
1 And Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. And he divided the sons over towards Leah, and over towards Rachel, and over towards the two servant-girls.
2 And he put the servant-girls and their sons first, and Leah and her sons further back, and Rachel and Joseph even further back.
3 And he himself passed over in front of them, and bowed to the ground seven times, until he came right up to his brother.
4 And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him; and they wept.
5 And he lifted up his eyes and saw the women and their sons, and said, Who are these with you? And he said, The sons whom God has graciously bestowed on your servant.
6 And the servant-girls came near, they and their sons, and bowed down.
7 And Leah also came near, then her sons, and they bowed down; and after that Joseph came near, then Rachel, and they bowed down.
8 And he said, What do you mean by all this camp which I met? And he said, To find favour in the eyes of my lord.
9 And Esau said, I have much, my brother; let what is yours be yours.
10 And Jacob said, No, I beg of you; if now I have found favour in your eyes, then take my gift from my hand; inasmuch as I have seen your face, as though seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me.
11 Take now my blessing which is brought to you, because God has graciously bestowed much on me, and because I have everything. And he urged him, and he took it.
12 And he said, Let us travel on and go, and I will go beside you.
13 And he said to him, My lord knows that the children are tender, and the flocks and herds with me are suckling, and if the men overdrive them for one day, all the flocks will die.
14 Let my lord now pass over before his servant, and I will move on slowly at the walking-pace of the cattle* that are before me, and at the walking-pace** of the children, until I come to my lord, to Seir.
15 And Esau said, Let me now place with you some of the people who are with me. And he said, Why so? Let me find favour in my lord’s eyes.
16 And Esau returned on that day on his own way, to Seir.
17 And Jacob travelled on to Succoth, and built a house for himself, and made booths for his cattle; therefore he called the name of the place Succoth.
18 And Jacob came to Salem, the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, as he was coming from Paddan Aram; and he encamped towards the face of the city.
19 And he bought the portion of the field where he had stretched his
tent, from the hand of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a
hundred kesitahs.
20 And he set up an altar there and called it El Elohe Israel.
* lit at the foot of the work
** lit. at the foot
The subject now in the internal sense is the joining together of Divine Natural Good, meant by ‘Esau’, and the Good of Truth, meant by ‘Jacob’. So the subject is the submission of this latter Good and the introduction of it into Divine Natural Good. The process by which this is effected is described. In the last part of the chapter the subject is the acquisition of interior truths.
Where Jacob is referred to in previous chapters, the subject in the internal sense has been the acquisition of truth within the Natural, an acquisition which is made there so that such truth may be joined to good; for all truth exists for the sake of that end. In the internal sense ‘Jacob’ is that truth, and ‘Esau’ is the good to which it is joined. Before the two are joined together truth seems to occupy first place, but after they have been joined good in fact does so, see 3539, 3548, 3556, 3563, 3570, 3576, 3603, 3701, 3995. This is also what is meant by Isaac’s prophecy addressed to Esau,
By your sword you will live, and you will serve your brother; and it will be, when you have dominion over him, that you will break his yoke from your neck. Gen. 27:40.
That state foretold there is the actual subject now. And this is why in verses 5, 8, 13, 14 of the present chapter Jacob calls Esau his lord and himself Esau’s servant
[2] It should be recognized that ‘Jacob’ at this point represents the good of truth. But regarded in itself such good is simply truth, for as long as truth exists solely in the memory it is referred to as truth. But once it exists in the will and as a consequence in action it is called the good of truth, for the performance of truth is nothing else. Whatever proceeds from the will is called good since in essence the will consists in love and in affection flowing from love, and everything that is done from love and attendant affection is termed good. Nor is truth able to be joined to good which flows in by way of the internal man and is Divine in origin – which good is represented here by ‘Esau’ – until truth exists as truth in will and action, that is, as the good of truth. For good which flows in by way of the internal man and is Divine in origin flows into the will, and there meets the good of truth which has been introduced by way of the external man.
‘Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw’ means the perception and the attention of the good of truth, meant by ‘Jacob’. ‘And behold, Esau was coming’ means Divine Natural Good. ‘And four hundred men with him’ means a state. ‘And he divided the sons over towards Leah’ means the deployment of external truths beneath their own specific affection. ‘And over towards Rachel’ means the deployment of interior truths beneath their own specific affection. ‘And over towards the two servant-girls’ means beneath the affection for the things that serve those two affections. ‘And he put the servant-girls and their sons first, and Leah and her sons further back, and Rachel and Joseph even further back’ means an ordering beginning with general things in which all else is included. ‘And he himself passed over in front of them’ means that which is universal, and so means all things. ‘And bowed to the ground seven times’ means the submission of all things. ‘Until he came right up to his brother’ means a joining on the part of good that develops from truth, meant by ‘Jacob’.
[2] It is not the good itself which is to be joined to truth that is tempted, but the truth. Nor is truth tempted by good but by falsities and evils, and also by misconceptions and illusions, and by the affection for these, which cling to the truths within the natural. For when good flows in, which it does by an internal route, that is, through the internal rational man, the ideas possessed by the natural man which have been formed from the misconceptions of the senses and from illusions resulting from these cannot bear the approach of it, for they do not accord with it; and this gives rise to distress within the natural and to temptation. These are the factors which in the internal sense of this chapter are described by the fear and therefore the distress that Jacob felt, and his consequent state of submission and humiliation when Esau was coming with four hundred men. For the joining together of good and truth is never effected by any other means. From this it may be seen that ‘four. hundred men’ means a state of temptations – ‘four hundred’ the actual state itself, ‘men’ rational truths which have been joined to good when this flows into the natural. For ‘men’ means things of the understanding and of the rational, see 265, 749, 1007, 3134.
[3] But these considerations are such that they pass into the unlit parts of the human mind, the reason being that while a person is living in the body the difference between the rational and the natural cannot be seen. It is not seen at all by those who are not regenerate, and barely so by those who are, since they neither reflect on nor are even interested in the matter. For knowledge of the interior aspects of the human being has been virtually wiped out, yet in former times that knowledge constituted the whole of intelligence among people within the Church. Those considerations are however able to be substantiated to some extent from what has been shown already about the rational and its influx into the natural, that is to say, from the explanation that the natural is regenerated by means of the rational, 3286, 3288, and that the rational receives truths before the natural does so, 3321, 3368, 3671. It is these truths which flow, accompanied by good, from the rational into the natural that are meant in the internal sense by the four hundred men who accompanied Esau.
[2] With regard to general truths, they are called general because they are made up of the particular truths and so include the particular ones within them. General truths without particular ones are not general truths, but are called such from the particular. They are like a general whole and its parts. No general whole can be called a whole if there are no parts, for the parts make up the whole. Indeed nothing exists in the nature of things which does not first exist from and then continue to exist from things other than itself. That which exists and continues to exist from things other than itself is called general, and the things which compose it and keep it in existence are called particular. Being composed of internal things, external ones in relation to internal are therefore general. The same applies to the human being and his mental faculties: the more external these are the more general they are since they are composed of things that are more interior, while these in turn are composed of those that are inmost.
[3] In relation to the rest of the human being the actual body and the things belonging to the body, as its external senses and its actions are called, are most general. The natural mind and the things belonging to the natural mind are less general because they are more internal, and in relation to the body and bodily things are called particulars. The rational mind however and the things belonging to the rational mind are more internal still, and are – in relation to the body, the natural mind and the things belonging to these – called specifics. These differences are clearly observable by a person when he casts aside his body and becomes a spirit, for then he is able to observe clearly that the things of the body had been nothing more than the most general forms taken by the things of his spirit, and that bodily things received their existence and were kept in existence by those of his spirit. Thus he sees that the things of his spirit in relation to those of his body were particulars. And when the same spirit becomes an angel, that is, when he is raised up into heaven, he is able to observe that the same things which previously he has seen and experienced in an obscure light he now sees and experiences in their particular form and in bright light. For he now observes countless details which previously he had seen and experienced as a single entity.
[4] The same is also evident from what is the case while that person is living in the world. The things which he sees and experiences in early childhood are most general, whereas those which he sees and experiences in later childhood and youth are the particular aspects of those general ones; and those that he sees and experiences in adult years are the specific details of those particular aspects. For as a person advances in years he introduces the particular ideas into general ones acquired in early childhood, and after that specific notions into the particular ideas; for he advances gradually towards more interior things, filling what is the general with the particular, and the particular with the specific. From this one may now see the implications of an ordering beginning with general things in which all else is included, which is the meaning of ‘he put the servant-girls and their sons first, Leah and her sons further back, and Rachel and Joseph even further back’.
[5] A similar situation exists when a person is being regenerated, or what amounts to the same, when in him truths are being joined to good; and this situation is the subject here. During that time general affections together with their truths, meant here by ‘the servant-girls and their sons’, are the first to be introduced into good; after that the less general are introduced, that is, those which in relation to the general are particular, meant here by ‘Leah and her sons’; and finally the less general still, that is, those which in relation to the same are specific, meant here by ‘Rachel and Joseph’. For when being regenerated a person passes so to speak through comparable phases of life – he experiences early childhood first; after that later childhood and youth; and finally adult years.
[2] As regards the expression of humility and submission, few know why these are necessary in the presence of the Divine when a person is engaged in worship. Nor consequently do they know what is accomplished by these actions. Those who have no knowledge of interior things cannot do other than believe that, like any human being bent on glory, the Divine desires people’s expression of humility and their submission to Him, and that therefore the Divine desires glory from them and is affected by the glory which people ascribe to Him. But the truth of the matter is altogether different from this. The Divine is not moved by any desire for glory. Indeed what glory does the Divine have which comes from man? He desires humility and submission not for His own sake but for man’s. For when humility is present in a person he turns away from the evil and falsity present in him, 2327, 2423, 3994, and in so doing removes them. Once these have been removed the Divine is able to flow in with good and truth. Anyone can recognize this within himself. One who is haughty is ruled by self-love and not only sets himself up above others but also does not care a thing about what is Divine; as a consequence he turns back the influx of good and therefore prevents it from being joined to truths. This is the real reason why a person should express humility in the presence of the Divine.
[3] From this it is evident that good cannot be joined to truths, and so a person cannot be regenerated, unless he humbles himself and is submissive. Humility and submission are attributed to truths because truths flow in by way of the external man whereas good does so by way of the internal. The things which flow in by way of the external man hold within them misconceptions and consequently falsities together with affections for them. Not so the things which flow in by way of the internal man since it is the Divine which flows in by way of this internal man and goes to meet truths so that they may be joined together. From this one may now see the implications of ‘the submission of all things’, which is the meaning of ‘Jacob bowed to the ground seven times until he came right up to his brother’.
‘Esau ran to meet him’ means the influx of Divine Natural Good. ‘And embraced him’ means a first joining together effected by love. ‘And fell on his neck’ means a second joining together involving everything included within that universal embodiment of truth. ‘And kissed him’ mean an interior joining together brought about by love. ‘And they wept’ means the outward expression.
[2] The joining together of good and truths within the natural is described here, and the nature of that joining together is as follows: Good flows by way of the internal man into the external man, where it joins itself to the truths which have been introduced by way of the external man. For the good which flows in by way of the internal man is the good of love; indeed no good exists, spiritual or celestial, which is not the good of love. Love is the source of such good and the reason why it is called good with man. It is the actual love present within good and going with good that effects any joining together. Unless love were present within and at hand no joining together would ever be possible, for love is nothing other than a spiritual joining together since it is love that brings it about. This love comes from nowhere else than the Lord, for He is the fountain and source of all celestial and spiritual love, and therefore of all good which flows from that love. That love is twofold, celestial and spiritual. Celestial love is love to the Lord, while spiritual love is love to the neighbour and is called charity. These are the kinds of love from which all celestial or spiritual good is derived and which join themselves to truths which are called the truths of faith. For the truths of faith regarded without love are mere sounds devoid of any life; but through love, and so through being joined to the good of love, they receive life. From this it becomes clear that no measure of faith at all exists except with those who have the good of love in them, and that faith exists insofar as love is present.
[3] And since no measure of faith at all exists except with those who have the good of love within them, neither therefore does any confidence or trust exist with them. With people other than those who have love and charity, trust or confidence which is called the trust or confidence of faith is either spurious or else the kind that can exist even with devil-spirits when subject to fear or to anguish, or else to false persuasion resulting from self-love and love of the world. However, even though at the present day faith without the good works of charity has been made the bringer of salvation, people in a remote way still see that the truths of faith have no power to save because those truths are known also by the evil. Therefore they recognize confidence or trust, to which they give the name faith. They call it faith without being aware of what it really is, or that such is possible even with the evil, or that no spiritual confidence exists if it does not flow in by way of the good of love and charity. They are unaware of the fact that such spiritual confidence does not flow in when a person is subject to fear or anguish, or to false persuasion resulting from self-love and love of the world, but when he is in a state of freedom. Nor are they aware that spiritual confidence does not exist in people other than those with whom good has been joined to truths and become deeply rooted during the course of their lives prior to this, and so does not exist in cases of illness, misfortune, danger to life, or when death is at hand. If this confidence or trust which shows itself in a case of compulsion could save a person, then every mortal human being would be saved, for every one is brought with ease to that confidence; indeed there are none to whom the Lord – who desires the salvation of all – would not grant it. But regarding the confidence or trust which is called faith – what it is, the nature of it, and whom it exists with – this must in the Lord’s Divine mercy be discussed elsewhere.
[2] It is evident from the explanations which have been given that the joining together of good and truths which leads to regeneration is a process that grows more and more interior; that is, truths are joined step by step more interiorly to good. For the object of regeneration is that the internal man may be joined to the external, and so the spiritual man be joined to the natural through the rational. Unless the two are joined together no regeneration is accomplished. Nor can that joining together be effected until good has first been joined to the truths within the natural; for the natural has to exist as the underlying groundwork, and things within the natural have to exist in correspondence with those above them. This is the reason why, when the natural is being regenerated, the joining together of good and truths becomes step by step more interior; for the spiritual first joins itself to the things that are inmost in the natural, and after that through these to those that are more exterior. Nor can man’s internal join itself to his external unless the truth within that external becomes the good of truth, that is, becomes truth in will and action, 4337. Only then can they be joined together, for the Lord flows into a person through his internal man, especially through the good there. The good there is able to be joined to the good in the external man, but not directly to the truth.
[3] From this it becomes clear that the truth residing with man must first of all become truth in will and action, that is, become the good of truth, before the joining together of the rational and the natural, or of the internal man and the external, can come about. But in what way truth becomes the good of truth may be clear to anyone who gives his attention to it. Every Divine truth is related to the following two commandments: Love God above all things, and love your neighbour as yourself. These two commandments are the base from which truths are derived, the reason why truths exist, and the end to which truths lead – immediately or remotely. Therefore when truths are translated into action they are introduced step by step into their beginning and into their end, that is to say, into charity towards the neighbour and love to the Lord, and as a consequence truth becomes the good which is called the good of truth. Once truth becomes such it is able to be joined to the internal man, a conjunction which becomes step by step more interior as truths that are more interior are implanted within that good. Action comes first, then the desire for it in the person’s will follows. For when a person is led by his understanding to carry out any action, he is at length led by his will to do it, till at last he has taken it on as an action performed habitually. When this point is reached it is introduced into the rational or internal man; and once it has been introduced, truth is no longer that which motivates him when he does a good action but good. For now he begins to feel within it something of what is blessed and so to speak of heaven. This remains with him after death, and by means of it the Lord raises him up to heaven.
‘He lifted up his eyes’ means a perception . . . ‘And saw the women and their sons’ means, of the affections for truth and of the truths which belong to those affections. ‘And said, Who are these with you?’ means acknowledgement. ‘And he said, The sons whom God has graciously bestowed on your servant’ means truths conferred by Divine Providence. ‘And the servant-girls came near, they and their sons, and bowed down’ means sensory knowledge and its truths, and their submission. ‘And Leah also came near, then her sons, and they bowed down’ means the affection for the truth of faith so far as exterior things and their truths are concerned, and their submissive introduction. ‘And after that Joseph came near, then Rachel, and they bowed down’ means affections for the truth of faith so far as interior things are concerned, and their submissive introduction.
‘He said, What do you mean by all this camp which I met?’ means the specific things which came from the good of truth. ‘And he said, To find favour in the eyes of my lord’ means an introduction that went favourably. ‘And Esau said, I have much, my brother; let what is yours be yours’ means a tacit acceptance, in order that in this way He might instill the affection for good that develops out of truth. ‘And Jacob said, No, I beg of you’ means the birth of that affection. ‘If now I have found favour in your eyes, then take my gift from my hand’ means the reciprocation of that affection, in order that it might be instilled. ‘Inasmuch as I have seen your face, as though seeing the face of God, and you have accepted me’ means the affection itself within that perception by which it was instilled reciprocally. ‘Take now my blessing which is brought to you’ means the Divine goods and truths which were to become linked to Divine Natural Good. ‘Because God has graciously bestowed much on me’ means conferred by Providence. ‘And because I have everything’ means his spiritual riches. ‘And he urged him, and he took it’ means that that affection originating in the good of truth was instilled by means of affection inspired by Divine Good.
[2] It is similar with spiritual things or matters of faith, when these are being joined to the good of charity. People believe that goods and truths Row in immediately from heaven, and so without any intermediate agents in man; but in this they are much mistaken. The Lord leads everyone through the agency of his affections and in so doing bends him by means of a Providence working silently; for He leads people by means of their freedom, 1937, 1947. All freedom entails a person’s affection or love, see 2870, 2873. Consequently every joining together of good and truth takes place in freedom and not under compulsion, 2875-2878, 2881, 3145, 3146, 3158, 4031. When therefore a person has been brought in freedom to good, truths find acceptance and are implanted. That person also starts to be stirred by an affection for them and is in this manner introduced little by little into heavenly freedom. One who is regenerate, that is, who loves the neighbour – more so one who loves the Lord – will discover, if he reflects on his life before then, that he has been led to that point by many ideas present in his thought and many impulses of his affection.
[3] What exactly is meant here by the things which came from the good of truth may be seen more easily from examples. Let truth which has to be introduced into good be exemplified by the truth that man has life after death. Unless this is supported by specific truths, it does not find acceptance, that is, not unless it is supported by the following: Man is able to think not only about the things he sees and perceives with the senses but also about those which he does not see or perceive with the senses. Also his affection can be stirred by them; and through his affection he can become linked to them and therefore to heaven, indeed to the Lord Himself. And those who are able to be linked to the Divine can never die. These and many more like them are the specific truths which present themselves before that truth is instilled into good, that is, before it is believed fully. That truth does indeed submit itself first, yet these specific truths nevertheless cause it to find acceptance.
[4] Take as another example the truth that man is a spirit and that he is clothed with a body while he lives in the world. This also is a truth that has to be instilled into good, for if it is not instilled he has no concern for heaven, in which case he looks on himself in the same way as he does on animals. But this truth cannot be instilled except by means of specific ones such as the following: The body which a person carries around ministers to uses in the world; that is to say, it enables him by means of material eyes to see things that are in the world, and to perform actions by means of material muscles, which give him power that is sufficient to lift heavy objects. Nevertheless some more interior part of him exists which thinks and wills, and for which the body is the instrumental or material organ. Also his spirit is his true self, or the person himself, who performs actions and has sensory perception through these organic forms. And there are many other personal experiences by which he can prove that truth to be so once he believes it. All of these are specific truths which are put forward first and which cause that truth itself to be instilled into good and also to come from it. It is these and other things like them that are meant here by ‘a camp’.
[2] The reason why this procedure is not apparent in the spiritual life as it is in everyday life is that the people with whom good is being joined to truths, that is, who are being regenerated, are few; and what is more, the few who are being regenerated neither reflect on nor are able to reflect on such matters as they do not know what spiritual good is because they do not know what charity is and what the neighbour is in the genuine sense. And because they do not know these things they cannot have any interior conception about truth which is the truth of faith. In addition to this they set the spiritual life and everyday life so far apart from each other that they do not dare to infer from everyday life any notion about the spiritual life. They are totally unaware of the fact that these correspond to each other and that the spiritual life is represented within everyday life; indeed some do not even allow any comparison to be made. But the fact of the matter is that no notion of the spiritual life can be had except from the things which belong to everyday life. Once everyday life is taken away therefore spiritual life falls to nothing, until at length belief in the existence of it remains no longer. This is made perfectly clear by the fact that people no longer have any belief in the idea that spirits and angels mix with one another as men mix, or that they converse with one another, reason with one another just as men reason, though in a far more perfect way, about what is honourable and decent, about what is just and fair, and about what is good and true. Even less belief exists in the idea that spirits and angels can see, hear, and find out about one another, combine into communities and live together, besides many other things.
[2] The reciprocation of that affection which is instilled by the good, meant by ‘Esau’, into the truth, meant by ‘Jacob’, is used to mean the affection for truth. For two affections that are heavenly exist – the affection for good and the affection for truth. These have been the subject several times already. The affection for truth has no other origin than good, the affection coming from there also; for by itself truth has no life but acquires it from good. Consequently when someone feels an affection for truth that affection does not originate in the truth but in the good which flows into the truth and creates the affection itself. This is what is meant at this point by the reciprocation of that affection in order that it might be instilled. It is well known that there are many within the Church who feel an affection for the Word of the Lord and put a lot of effort into reading it; but those whose end in view is to learn about what is true are only a few. The majority cling to their own dogmas, and are anxious only to confirm these from the Word. These people seem to be moved by an affection for truth, but they are not. The affection for truth exists solely with those who love to learn about truths, that is, to know what is true, and who search the Scriptures with that end in view. Nobody is moved by this affection except one who is governed by good, that is, one who is governed by charity towards the neighbour, and more so who is governed by love to the Lord. With people of this kind good itself flows into truth and creates the affection, for the Lord is present within that good.
[3] This can be illustrated by the following examples: Take those who are governed by the good of genuine charity and who read the following words which the Lord addressed to Peter,
I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matt. 16:15-19.
These people – that is to say, those who are moved by an affection for truth that originates in the good of genuine charity – like to be told what these words were really used to mean. When they hear that ‘the rock’ referred to here, on which ‘the Church will be built’, means faith rooted in charity, and that ‘Peter’ therefore has that meaning; and when they hear that the keys for opening and closing heaven are given to that faith, see Preface to Chapter 22 of Genesis, they are delighted and are stirred with affection for that truth, because it is in that case the Lord alone, the Source of faith, who possesses that power. But people who are not moved by an affection for truth that originates in the good of genuine charity but by an affection for truth originating in some other kind of good, and more so if it originates in self-love and love of the world, are not stirred by any affection for that truth, but become depressed and also angry since they wish to lay claim to that power as a priestly one. They are angry because they are deprived of the power to control, and depressed because they am deprived of other people’s deference to them.
[4] Take another example. If people who are moved by an affection for truth that originates in the good of charity hear that charity makes the Church, and not faith separated from charity, they accept that truth joyfully, whereas those who are moved by an affection for truth originating in self-love and love of the world do not accept it. Furthermore when those who are moved by an affection for truth that originates in the good of charity hear that love towards the neighbour does not begin in themselves but in the Lord they are delighted, whereas those who are moved by an affection for truth originating in self-love and love of the world do not accept that truth but fiercely defend the idea that love begins in themselves. Consequently they do not know what loving the neighbour as themselves really is. When people who are moved by an affection for truth that originates in the good of genuine charity hear that heavenly blessedness consists in doing good to others out of a desire to do it, with no selfish end in view, they are delighted, whereas those who are moved by an affection for truth originating in self-love and love of the world, want none of this; nor can they even understand what it is.
[5] When people who are moved by an affection for truth that originates in the good of genuine charity learn that the works of the external man are nothing if they do not proceed from the internal man, and so from the desire to do what is good, they accept it joyfully, whereas those who are moved by an affection for truth originating in self-love and love of the world applaud the works of the external man but show no interest in the desire to do good present in the internal man. Nor indeed are they even aware that this desire, if present in the internal man, remains after death and that when the works performed by the external man have no connection with the internal man they are dead and come to nothing.
The same may be seen in every other example that might be mentioned. The examples that have been given show that the truths of faith cannot possibly be joined to anyone if he is not governed by the good of genuine charity, and so cannot be joined to anything other than good. They show also that all genuine affection for truth originates in that good. Anyone can see a confirmation of this from his daily experience – when he sees that people moved by evil have no real belief, unlike those moved by good. From this it is quite evident that the truth of faith is joined to good and never to evil.
[2] To people who confine their minds to the historical details it is not indeed apparent that the internal sense of these words and those before them is anything of the kind; for their thought is of Esau, and of Jacob and the gift he sent ahead of him. They are not aware of the fact that ‘Esau’ represents Divine Good within the natural and ‘Jacob’ truth which is to be joined there to Divine Good. Nor are they aware that their friendly dialogue here means an affection inspired within truth by good. Yet the angels understand these historical details in no other way when these are read by man, for angels possess no other mental picture of things than a spiritual one. With them the historical sense is converted into that spiritual picture, and in this way angelic thoughts correspond to those of men. It is never-ending correspondences such as these that cause the Word to be holy and Divine, for as it rises up to heaven the literal sense becomes spiritual. It also rises all the way up to the Lord, where it becomes Divine. This is Inspiration.
‘He said, Let us travel on and go’ means a further stage. ‘And I will go beside you’ means that they are to be joined together. ‘And he said to him, My lord knows that the children are tender’ means truths which have not yet acquired Divine life. ‘And the flocks and herds with me are suckling’ means goods, interior ones and natural ones, which have not yet acquired Divine life. ‘And if the men overdrive them for one day, all the flocks will die’ means a passage of time and a subsequent stage; also that otherwise they would not live, and so needed to be prepared to be joined together. ‘Let my lord now pass over before his servant’ means a more general presence. ‘And I will move on slowly’ means the subsequent state of preparation. ‘At the walking-pace of the cattle that are before me’ means as determined by the things that are general. ‘And at the walking-pace of the children’ means as determined by the truths situated within. ‘Until I come to my lord, to Seir’ means until they could be joined together, ‘Seir’ meaning the joining of spiritual things to celestial ones within the natural. ‘And Esau said, Let me now place with you some of the people who are with me’ means that some truths supplied by the truth of good might be joined. ‘And he said, Why so? Let me find favour in my lord’s eyes’ means enlightenment received from their comparatively internal presence. ‘And Esau returned on that day on his own way, to Seir’ means the state at the time of Divine Natural Good to which the goods of truth had been linked, ‘way’ meaning, when compared with that Good, the good of truth.
* lit. at the foot of the work
** lit. at the foot
[2] In the state of infancy that a person passes through when being regenerated spiritual things are present in potentiality, for spiritual life emerges, as if from an egg, out of each consecutive age. The phase of infancy is so to speak the egg for that of childhood; the phase of childhood is so to speak the egg for that of adolescence and youth; and this phase is as it were the egg for that of adult years. Thus the person is so to speak repeatedly experiencing birth. This shows what is implied by goods, interior ones and natural ones, which have not yet acquired Divine life, meant here by ‘flocks and herds that are suckling’. See also what has been stated immediately above in 4377 about the state of infancy.
[2] Clear enough evidence of this exists in the fact that when a person is being born again he passes through phases analogous to those passed through after birth, and from the fact that a previous state is always like the egg in relation to the state that follows it, thus that there is a repeated occurrence of conception and birth. This is so not only when he lives in the world, but also when he enters the next life for ever. And even then he cannot be perfected beyond the point of being at the egg-stage so far as the limitless things to come are concerned. From this one may see how countless the things are which are involved in a person’s regeneration, but of which people know scarcely anything, and one may see how many are the things contained in the internal sense at this point, where a subsequent state and the manner by which good is instilled into truths is the subject.
[2] Nevertheless these particular truths, and indeed the specific ones that go with these, are themselves entirely general when considered in relation to even further truths that exist; for specific truths include an incalculable number of individual ones. Although their wisdom in contrast to man’s is so great that the things which they know and perceive are indescribable, angels nevertheless confess that, compared with what is above their knowledge, the truths they know are very general, while those which they do not know are limitless. They do not dare to call them infinite since finite and infinite are completely different from each other and cannot be measured one against the other. From this one can also deduce the nature of the Word. Being Divine the Word contains within itself things that are infinite which come from its first source, and as a consequence contains things beyond description such as constitute angelic wisdom; but in its lowest form it contains only such things as those that man is able to grasp.
Jehovah came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon them; He shone from Mount Paran, and came out of myriads of holiness. Deut 33:2, 3.
In Balaam’s prophecy,
I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star will arise out of Jacob, and a sceptre will rise up out of Israel. And Edom will be an inheritance, and Seir will be an inheritance, of His enemies – with Israel doing valiantly. Num. 24:17, 18.
In the Song of Deborah and Barak,
O Jehovah, when You went forth from Seir, when You set out from the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the mountains flowed down, this Sinai before Jehovah God of Israel. Judg. 5:4, 5.
In Isaiah,
One is calling to me from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, Morning comes, and also the night. Isa. 21:11, 12.
See 4240 for these texts referring to Seir, as well as others quoted there.
[2] It is not at all apparent from the historical sense of these words that such ideas are meant by them. All the same, it is just these ideas that those words hold within them in the spiritual or internal sense. For heaven, which is within man – that is, the angels who reside with him – do not have the slightest interest in details to do with the history of the world. Neither do they know who or what Esau was, who or what Seir was. Nor do they have any thought of the day when Esau returned or of the way to Seir; instead they gather ideas of the spiritual things which correspond to those historical facts, instantly deriving such a spiritual meaning from them. For correspondences work in the following way: They are very much like a person talking in a foreign language to someone else who instantly understands what is meant as if in his own language, the sounds and pronunciation of the words actually used being no hindrance to him. So it is with the internal sense of the Word, which sense is in perfect agreement with the universal language which angels use, that is, with the spiritual speech which is expressive of their thought. Their speech is spiritual because their thought is a product of the light of heaven which shines from the Lord.
‘Jacob travelled on to Succoth’ means the state of the life of the good from truth at that time. ‘And built a house for himself’ means an increase of good from truth within that state. ‘And made booths for his cattle’ means an increase in a similar way of the things which exist in general within good from truth at that time. ‘Therefore he called the name of the place Succoth’ means the nature of that state. ‘And Jacob came to Salem, the city of Shechem’ means interior truths of faith which go with a state of serenity. ‘Which is in the land of Canaan’ means within the Lord’s kingdom. ‘As he was coming from Paddan Aram’ means that which happened after the previous state. ‘And he encamped towards the face of the city’ means application. ‘And he bought the portion of the field’ means making the good that springs from that truth its own. ‘Where he had stretched his tent’ means holiness. ‘From the hand of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem’ means that the origin of that truth lay in a Divine stock from a different source. ‘A hundred kesitahs’ means that which is complete. ‘And he set up an altar there’ means interior worship. ‘And called it El Elohe Israel’ means that it originated in the Divine Spiritual.
[2] The reason why good and truth are mentioned so many times in the explanations given is that all things in heaven, and consequently all in the Lord’s Church, have a connection with truth and good In general these two include everything that is part of doctrine and everything that is part of life, ideas that are true being part of doctrine and those that are good being part of life. Furthermore the human mind generally does not have any objects of its thought and desire which do not involve truth or good, thought in the understanding involving truth and desire in the will involving good. From this it is evident that truth and good possess a very wide range of meaning and that they have an unimaginable number of derivations. This is why truth and good are mentioned so many times.
[2] This meaning carried by the booths or tents called ‘succoth’ is further evident from the following places in the Word: In David,
Jehovah God rode on a cherub, and flew, and was borne on the wings of the wind. He made darkness His hiding-place, and His surroundings His tent – darkness of waters, clouds of the heavens. Ps. 18:10, 11.
And elsewhere,
He bowed the heavens when He came down, and thick darkness was under His feet. And He rode on a cherub, and new, and was borne on the wings of the wind. And He made tents of darkness around Him, clusters of water, clouds of the heavens. 2 Sam. 22:10-12.
This refers to Divine revelation, or the Word. ‘Bowing the heavens when He came down’ stands for hiding the interior truths of the Word. ‘Thick darkness under His feet’ stands for the fact that compared with interior truths, those visible to man are like darkness, the literal sense of the Word being of such a nature. ‘Riding on a cherub’ stands for the fact that it was provided in this way. ‘Making tents of the darkness around Him’ or ‘making His surroundings His tent’ stands for the holiness of truth concealed in its hiding-place, that is to say, inwardly – within the literal sense. ‘Clusters of waters and clouds of the heavens’ means the Word in the letter. Regarding ‘clouds of the heavens’ meaning the Word in the letter, see Preface to Chapter 18 of Genesis, and 4060.
[3] The same is meant by the following in Isaiah,
Jehovah will create over every habitation of mount Zion, and over her assemblies, a cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be a covering. And there will be a tent for shade by day, and for a refuge and hiding-place from deluge and rain. Isa. 4:5, 6.
Here again ‘cloud’ means the literal sense of the Word and ‘the glory’ the internal sense, as they do in Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27. Again also ‘a tent’ stands for the holiness of truth. Interior truths are said to be in a hiding- place for the reason that if they had been revealed they would have been made profane, see 3398, 3399, 4289, a point that is also expressed in the following words in David,
In the hiding-place of Your face You conceal them from the treacherous plans of man; You hide them in a tent from the strife of tongues. Ps. 31:20.
[4] The fact that ‘a tent’ means the holiness of truth is also evident in Amos,
On that day I will raise up the tent of David that is fallen down, and I will close up the breaches, and I will raise up its destroyed places, and I will build it as in the days of old. Amos 9:11.
‘Raising up the tent of David that is fallen down’ stands for reestablishing the holiness of truth after it has perished. ‘David’ stands for the Lord as regards Divine Truth, 1888, since ‘a king’ means Divine Truth, 2015, 2069, 3009. Because ‘tent’ meant the holiness of truth and ‘dwelling in tents’ means worship that was the product of this, the feast of tents, called the feast of tabernacles, was established in the Jewish and Israelitish Church, Lev. 23-34, 42, 43; Deut. 16:13, 16, where also that feast is called the feast of succoth, or of tents.
I will divide Shechem and portion out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine, and Ephraim is the strength of My head, Judah is My lawgiver. Ps. 60:6, 7, and Ps. 108:7, 8.
In Judah is God known, in Israel His name is great; and in Salem is His tent, and His dwelling-place in Zion. There He broke the bow’s flashing arrows, the shield and the sword, and war. Ps. 76:1-3.
Here ‘Salem’ plainly means the serenity of peace since it is said that there He broke the bow’s flashing arrows, the shield, the sword, and war, as well as from the meaning of that name in the original language – for Salem means serenity and perfection. What the serenity of peace is, see 1726, 3696. Such peace involves interior truths, that is, it is experienced by those who in faith and life are governed by interior truths. But as long as they are governed by exterior truths, and especially while progressing from exterior to interior, their state is not one of serenity, for at that time the conflicts brought about by temptations are taking place. The same is also represented here by Jacob in that, following his fear and anxiety on account of Esau, he entered a state of serenity.
[2] The spiritual man is not the interior rational man but the interior natural. The interior rational man is that which is called celestial. How the spiritual man and the celestial differ from each other has often been stated already. A person becomes spiritual through the joining of the truths residing with him to good, that is, through the joining of matters of faith to those of charity, a joining together which takes place within his natural. There exterior truths first are joined to good, and after that interior truths. The joining of exterior truths within the natural has been dealt with in verses 1-16 of this chapter, the joining of interior truths to good in verses 17-end. Interior truths are not joined to good except by means of an enlightenment entering through the internal man into the external. That enlightenment makes Divine truths visible in a purely general way, as when, to use a comparison, countless objects are seen by the eye as an obscure single whole devoid of any distinguishable features. This enlightenment making truths visible in a purely general way was meant by Esau’s words to Jacob, ‘Let me now place with you some of the people who are with me’, and by Jacob’s reply, ‘Why so? Let me find favour in your eyes’, dealt with in 4385, 4386.
[3] On the point that the spiritual man, compared with the celestial, dwells in obscurity, see 2708, 2715, 2716, 2718, 2831, 2849, 2935, 2937, 3241, 3246, 3833. It is this spiritual man that is represented by ‘Israel’, 4286. The expression spiritual man is used because the light of heaven, which holds intelligence and wisdom within it, flows into those things with man which belong to the light of the world and causes those which belong to the light of heaven to be represented in those belonging to the light of the world, and in this way causes them to correspond. For regarded in itself the spiritual is the Divine Light itself which comes from the Lord, and therefore consists in intelligence which essentially is truth and as a consequence is wisdom. With the spiritual man however that light falls on things which are matters of faith with him and which he believes to be true, whereas with the celestial man it falls on the good of love. But although these considerations are clear to those who dwell in the light of heaven they are nevertheless obscure to those who dwell in the light of the world, and so to the majority at the present day. They are perhaps so obscure as to be barely intelligible. All the same, since they constitute the subject in the internal sense and are by nature as described, the exposition of them must not be left out. The time will come when people will be enlightened
[4] The reason why the altar was called El Elohe Israel and why interior worship originating in the Divine Spiritual was meant by it is that in the highest sense El Elohe is identical with the Divine Spiritual; as also is Israel. For ‘Israel’ means the Lord’s Divine Spiritual, and in the representative sense the Lord’s spiritual Church, or what amounts to the same, a person like that, see 4286, 4292. In the original language El Elohe means ‘God God’, and also, to be strictly literal, ‘God of gods’.* In the Word Jehovah, or the Lord, is referred to in very many places by the singular name ‘El’, or else ‘Eloah’, as well as by the plural name ‘Elohim’. Both names are sometimes used within the same verse or in the same section. A person who is not acquainted with the internal sense of the Word cannot know the reason why. Anyone may conclude that ‘El’ implies one thing, ‘Eloah’ another, and ‘Elohim’ another, from the consideration that the Word is Divine, that is, has its origin in the Divine, and that it is for that reason inspired as to every word, indeed as to the smallest part of every letter.
[5] What the name ‘El’ implies when it is used, or the name ‘Elohim’, may be seen from what has been shown in various places above, namely that El or Elohim – that is, God – is used when truth is the subject, see 709, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921 (end), 4287. This is why in the highest sense El and Elohim mean the Divine Spiritual, this being the same as Divine Truth. The two names differ however in that ‘El’ means truth in will and action, which is the same as the good of truth, 4337, 4353, 4390. The plural form Elohim exists for the reason that by Divine truth is meant all the truths which come from the Lord. This is also the reason why in the Word angels are sometimes called elohim or gods, 4295, as will be further evident from places in the Word that are quoted below. Now because El and Elohim in the highest sense mean the Lord as regards truth, they also mean Him as regards power; for truth is the entity to which power is attributed. Indeed when exercising power good acts by means of truth, 3091, 4015. Therefore when in the Word reference is made to the power received from truth, the Lord is called El and Elohim, that is, God. Hence also it is that El in the original language means one who is powerful.
[6] The fact that the names El and Elohim, or God, are used in the Word where the Divine Spiritual is the subject, or what amounts to the same, Divine Truth, and Divine Power received from this, may be seen in addition from the following places,
God spoke to Israel in visions in the night. I am the God of gods (El Elohe) of your father, do not be afraid of going down into Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. Gen. 46:2, 3.
Since these words are addressed to Israel, whom He is going ‘to make into a great nation’, and so the subject is truth and the power this possesses, El Elohe is used, which in the proximate sense means the God of gods. The fact that in the proximate sense Elohim means gods because it has reference to truths and to the power received from them, is also evident in the same author,
There Jacob built an altar, and called the place El Beth El, for there the Elohim were revealed to him, when he was fleeing from before his brother. Gen 35:7.
And elsewhere in the same author,
Jehovah your God, He is God of gods, and Lord of lords, the God (El) who is great, powerful, and fearful. Deut. 10:17.
Here ‘God of gods’ is expressed by Elohe Elohim, and after that ‘God’ by El, to whom greatness and power are attributed
[7] In David,
A great God (El) is Jehovah, and a great King above all gods (elohim), in whose hand are the deep places** of the earth; and the strength*** of the mountains are His. Ps 95:3, 4.
The name ‘God’ or El is used here because reference is made to Divine Truth and the Power received from this, and also ‘gods’ because reference is made to subordinate truths. For in the internal sense ‘a king’ means truth, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670. From this it is clear what ‘a great King above all gods’ implies. ‘The deep places of the earth’ too means the truths of the Church, which are called ‘the strength of the mountains’ from power rooted in good. In the same author,
Who in heaven will compare himself to Jehovah? Who will be likened to Jehovah among the sons of gods (elim). God (El) mighty in the secret place of the holy ones, O Jehovah God Zebaoth, who is strong as You are, O Jah? Ps. 89:6-8.
Here ‘sons of gods (or of elim)’ stands for Divine truths, to which, it is evident, power is attributed, since it is said ‘God (El) mighty, Jehovah God of hosts, who is strong as You are?’
[8] Similarly elsewhere in the same author,
Give to Jehovah, O sons of gods, give to Jehovah glory and strength. Ps. 29:1.
In Moses,
They fell on their faces, and said, O God of gods (El elohe) of the spirits of all flesh. Num. 16:22.
In David,
I said, You are gods (elohim), and sons of the Most High, all of you. Ps. 82:6; John 10:34.
Here they are called ‘gods’ from truths, for ‘sons’ means truths, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2628, 3373, 3704. In the same author,
Confess the God of gods (Elohe elohim), confess the Lord of lords. Ps 136:2, 3.
In Daniel,
The king will act according to his own pleasure, and will uplift himself, and exalt himself above every god (el), and will speak astonishing things above the God of gods (El elohim). Dan. 11:36.
These quotations show that in the proximate sense El elohe means God of gods, and that in the internal sense ‘gods’ is used in reference to truths which come from the Lord.
[9] The fact that the singular name El or God is used where the power which comes from Divine Truth is the subject, or what amounts to the same, from the Lord’s Divine Spiritual, becomes clear from the following
places: In Moses,
Let my hand be for God (El) to do you evil! Gen. 31:29.
And elsewhere,
Nor is there a hand for God (El). Deut. 28:32.
And in Micah,
Let there be a hand for God (El). Micah 2:1.
‘Let there be a hand for God’ means, let there be power. For ‘hand’ means power, see 878, 3387, and ‘hand’ is used in reference to truth, 3091. In David,
I will set His hand in the sea, and His right hand in the rivers. He will cry to Me, You are My Father, My God (El), the Rock of My Salvation. Ps. 89:25, 26.
This refers to power from truths. In the same author,
The wicked says in his heart, God (El) has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He never sees. Arise, O Jehovah God (El); lift up Your hand. For what reason does the wicked despise God (Elohim)? Ps. 10:11-13.
Here the meaning is similar.
[10] In the same author,
Jehovah is my rock (petra) and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God (El), my rock (rupes). Ps. 18:2.
This refers to power. In Isaiah, A residue will return, the residue of Jacob, to the God (El) of power. Isa. 10:21.
In the same prophet,
To us a Boy is born, to us a Son is given, the government upon His shoulder; He will call His name, Wonderful, Counsellor, God (El), the Powerful One, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. Isa. 9:6.
In the same prophet,
Behold the God (El) of my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid, for He is my strength. Isa. 12:2.
In the same prophet,
I am God (El) even from today; I am He, and nobody delivers from My hand; I work, and who will reverse it? Isa. 43:12, 13.
This refers to power. In Jeremiah, Great and powerful God (El), whose name is Jehovah of hosts. Jer. 32:18.
In the second Book of Samuel,
With my God (El) I will leap over the wall. God (El) is perfect in His way; the word of Jehovah is pure. Who is God (El) besides Jehovah? Who is a rock besides our God (Elohim)? God (El) is the strength of my refuge. 2 Sam. 22:30-33.
In Moses,
God (El) is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not act? Or has He spoken, and will He not carry it out? He brought them out of Egypt; He has so to speak the strength of a unicorn. At that time it will be said to Jacob and to Israel, What has God (El) been doing? Num. 23:19, 22, 23.
This in the internal sense refers to power and to truth.
[11] And in the same author,
God (El) who brought him out of Egypt has as it were the strength of a unicorn. He will consume the nations, his enemies, and will break their bones, and smash their weapons. Num. 24:8.
‘Horns’ and ‘the strength of a unicorn’ mean the power of truth that springs from good, see 2832. And there are many other places besides all these. Since most things in the Word also have a contrary sense, no less do ‘god’ and ‘gods’, names which are used when the subject is falsity and power from falsity, as in Ezekiel,
The gods (elim) of the mighty will speak to him in the midst of hell. Ezek. 32:21.
In Isaiah,
You inflamed yourselves among the gods (elim) under every green tree. Isa. 57:5.
Here the name ‘gods’ is used on account of falsities. Similar examples exist in other places.
* ‘El Elohe Israel may be understood in two different ways – ‘God, the God of Israel’ or ‘Israel’s God of gods’. Most English versions of the Bible prefer the first of these (e.g. in Gen. 46:3; Deut. 10:17).
** lit. the searchings
*** lit. the strengths
IN THIS SECTION CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE EYE AND WITH LIGHT
I have also been allowed to become aware of and get to know the character of spirits and which province of the body they belonged to from their position and place in relation to myself, and also from the level they were on, and from how far away they were on that level. Those I saw close to me were for the most part the subordinates of whole communities, for communities send spirits from themselves to other spirits, and through these they perceive others’ thoughts and affections, and in this manner communicate with others. But those subordinates so-called, or emissary spirits, will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be taken as a separate subject. Concerning them I have made the following observations. Those to be seen over and close to my head are ones who teach and also readily allow themselves to be taught. Those beneath the back of my head are ones who act quietly and with circumspection, and those just away from my back act in a similar yet differing manner to these. Those close to my chest or breast are ones who are moved by charity; those close to the loins ones moved by conjugial love; those close to the feet ones who are natural; and those close to the soles of the feet are more inferior members of this last kind. But those close to my face vary in disposition, that variation being determined by their correspondence with the sensory organs located there. Those close to the nostrils, for example, excel in perception; those close to the ears are the obedient; those close to the eyes are the intelligent and wise; and so on.
[2] Those however who are under the influence of evil and consequently of falsities are seen dwelling in an inferior light like that of a charcoal fire. This becomes a thoroughly murky light when it comes near the light of heaven. But the light by which those people see varies according to the falsity and evil which govern them. From this one could also see why people who lead a life of evil cannot possibly have faith in Divine truths that springs from sincerity of heart, for they are dwelling in that smoke-filled light which, when heavenly light falls upon it, becomes dark to them, as a result of which they see neither with their eyes nor with their mind. At the same time they suffer intense pains and some sink into a kind of unconsciousness. Consequently the evil cannot possibly accept truth, only the good can.
[3] Someone who is leading a life of evil is incapable of believing that he dwells in an inferior light like that because he is not able to see the light in which his spirit dwells, only the light in which the sight of his eye and consequently his natural mind dwells. But if he could see the light of his spirit and could find out what it would then become if the light of truth and good from heaven were to flow into it, he would know full well how far away he was from receiving the things of light, that is, matters of faith, and how much farther away he was from assimilating the things of charity, and so how distant he was from heaven.
[2] To convince them of this they were shown what their own life was like. When presented visually it was seen as smoke-filled light emitted from a charcoal fire. While dwelling in that inferior light they cannot do other than suppose that the life of their thought and of their will is the only life there is, all the more so from the fact that the light of the understanding of truth, which is the light of life itself, cannot be seen by them at all. For as soon as they enter that light their own inferior light becomes darkened, so much so that they cannot see anything distinctly, and so cannot perceive anything either. They were also shown what their state of life was like at that time by the removal of the delight they derived from falsity, which removal is effected in the next life by separating them from the spirits in whose community they dwell. Once this was done, they appeared with pallid faces, like those of corpses, so that one might have called them death masks. Regarding the life of animals however, this will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be dealt with as a separate subject.
[2] At that point he was shown by angels the nature of self-derived intelligence and the nature of intelligence derived from the Divine. Different kinds of light were used to do this, for matters like these are presented visually in the next life in wonderful ways by means of variegations of light. Self-derived intelligence was demonstrated by means of an inferior light which resembled a will-o’-the-wisp that had a band of darkness around it, and that spread only a little way from its centre. He was shown in addition that it was extinguished in an instant when some angelic community looked at it, just as a will-o’-the-wisp is extinguished on the arrival of the light of the sun or daylight. After this he was shown the nature of intelligence derived from the Divine, again by means of light. This time the light was brighter and more luminous than that of the sun at midday, spreading far and wide, and ending in the way sunlight does out in space. He was also told that intelligence and wisdom enter in from every side into the sphere of that light and cause truth and good to be perceived with an insight virtually unlimited. But this depends on the nature of the truth stemming from good.
Watch therefore, for you do not know at what hour your Lord is coming. But know this, if the master of the house knew at which period of the night the thief is coming, he would watch, and would not let his house be broken into. Therefore you also, be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect. Who then is the faithful and careful servant, whom his master has set over his household, to give them food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find doing so. Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his goods. But what if that wicked servant shall say in his heart, My master is delaying his coming, and he shall begin to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with drunkards? The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and in an hour he does not know. And he will cut him off and assign him his part with the hypocrites, where there is wailing and gnashing of teeth.
What these words hold within them may be seen from the train of thought, for the subject throughout this chapter in the gospel has been the last days of the Church, by which in the internal sense are meant the close of the age and the coming of the Lord. This can be seen plainly in the explanation of every statement in that chapter, in the preliminary sections of the chapters of Genesis immediately previous to this. That is to say, see 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3751-3757, 3897-3901, 4056-4060, 4229-4231, and 4332-4335, the preliminary sections of Chapters 26-33.
[2] The sequence of thought contained in this chapter of the gospel has also been stated in those paragraphs, that sequence being as follows: When the Christian Church established after the Lord’s Coming began to ruin itself, that is, to depart from good,
1 People ceased to know what good or truth was and began to argue with one another about them.
2 They treated them with contempt.
3 Then they did not in their hearts acknowledge them.
4 After that they profaned them.
5 And because the truth of faith and the good of charity were still to remain in existence with some who are called the elect, the state of faith as this will be at that time is described.
6 Then the state of charity as this will be.
7 Finally the beginning of a new Church is dealt with, and
8 The state of good and truth within the Church, so called, when that Church is set aside and the new one adopted.
From this sequence of thought one may come to see what is included within the final verses of Matthew 24, which are set out above. That is to say, they contain an exhortation to those within the Church to keep to the good of faith or else they will perish.
[2] The interior aspects of those who belong at such a time to the old Church and so have been removed from heaven are subjected to a kind of deluge, a deluge in fact that rises above the head. Of this deluge no one has any awareness during his lifetime, but comes to know it after death. The deluge is clearly visible in the next life; indeed it is like a dark cloud which envelops people and separates them from heaven. The state of those within that dark cloud is such that they cannot possibly see what the truth of faith is, let alone what the good of faith is. For the light of heaven which holds intelligence and wisdom within it cannot penetrate that cloud. This is the state of the Church once it has been ruined.
He will cut him off means separation and removal from goods and truths, for people who have a knowledge of what is good and true, as those within the Church do, but who lead a life of evil are said to be cut off when that knowledge is removed from them; for in the next life their knowledge of good and truth is separated from them and they are restricted to evils and derivative falsities also. The reason why this takes place is so that they do not communicate with heaven through their knowledge of good and truth and with hell through their evil and consequent falsity, and thereby are left hanging between the two. A further reason is so that they do not profane goods and truths, as happens when these are mixed together with falsities and evils. The same is also meant by the Lord’s words addressed to the one who hid his talent in the earth,
Take the talent from him and give it to him who has ten talents, for to everyone who has, it will be given, so that he may have in abundance; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. Matt. 25:28, 29.
And what the Lord says elsewhere has the same meaning – Matthew 13:12; also Mark 4:25, and Luke 8:18.
[2] And assign him his part with the hypocrites means that his lot, meant by ‘part’, lies with those who outwardly give the appearance of knowing the truth so far as doctrine is concerned, and of cherishing good so far as life is concerned, but who inwardly have no belief at all in truth nor any desire at all for good, who are ‘the hypocrites’. People like this have become ‘cut off’ in the sense described here. Consequently when external things are taken away from these people, as happens to all in the next life, they are seen to be what they are like internally – people devoid of faith and charity. Yet they have pretended to have these, so that, capturing the attention of others, they could earn themselves positions of importance, monetary gain, and reputation. Within the Church that has become ruined virtually everyone is like this, for they have things that are external but none that are internal. Hence the interior aspects of those people are engulfed in the deluge described immediately above in 4423.
[3] Where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth means their state in the next life, ‘wailing’ that state as regards evils, and ‘gnashing of teeth’ that state as regards falsities, for ‘teeth’ in the Word means lowest natural things – in the genuine sense truths going with these, and in the contrary sense falsities going with them. Teeth also correspond to those things. For these reasons ‘the gnashing of teeth’ means the clash of falsities and truths. People immersed in wholly natural things and governed by ideas resulting from sensory illusions, believing nothing which they do not see by means of these, are said to be where there is ‘the gnashing of teeth’, and in the next life seem to themselves to be there when they draw conclusions about the truths of faith on the basis of their own illusions. A Church in which good and truth have been brought to ruin teems with people such as these. The same is meant again in other places by the gnashing of teeth, as in Matthew,
The sons of the kingdom will be thrown into outer darkness, where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Matt. 8:12.
‘The sons of the kingdom’ means those within the ruined Church.
‘Darkness’ means falsities, 4418, for they are in darkness when surrounded by the dark cloud mentioned above. ‘The gnashing of teeth’ means the clash of falsities with truths there. The same matter occurs in other places, such as Matthew 13:42, 50; 22:13; 25:30; and Luke 13:28.
GENESIS 34
1 And Dinah went out, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, to see the daughters of the land.
2 And Shechem saw her, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land; and he took her, and lay with her, and ravished her.
3 And his soul clung to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke comfortingly to the young woman.*
4 And Shechem spoke to Hamor his father, saying, Get me this girl for a wife.
5 And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter; and his sons were with his cattle in the field; and Jacob kept silent until they came.
6 And Hamor, Shechem’s father, went out to Jacob to speak to him.
7 And Jacob’s sons came from the field when they heard; and the men were grieved and blazing with anger, because he had done something disgraceful in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing that ought not to be done.
8 And Hamor spoke to them, saying, Shechem my son, his soul longs for your daughter; give her, I beg you, to him for a wife.
9 And intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves.
10 And you shall dwell with us, and the land shall be before you; dwell, and carry on trade throughout it, and have possessions in it.
11 And Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, Let me find grace in your eyes, and I will give that which you tell me.
12 Increase the dowry and gift to any size,** and I will give whatever you tell me, and give me the young woman for a wife.
13 And Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and [so] spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister.
14 And they said to them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who has a foreskin; for that would be a reproach to us.
15 Only on this [condition] will we consent to you: If you will be as we are, by circumcising every male among you,
16 Then we will give our daughters to you, and your daughters we will take to ourselves, and we will dwell with you, and we will be one people.
17 And if you do not listen to us to be circumcised, then we will take our daughter and go.
18 And their words were good in the eyes of Hamor and in the eyes of Shechem, Hamor’s son.
19 And the young man did not delay to do the thing, because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter. And he was honoured above all those of his father’s house.
20 And Hamor came, then Shechem his son, to the gate of their city, and they spoke to the men of their city, saying,
21 These men are at peace with us; let them dwell in the land and carry on trade throughout it; behold, the land is broad and spacious before them. Let us take their daughters to us as wives (femina), and let us give our daughters to them.
22 Only on this [condition] will the men consent to us to dwell with us, to be one people: That every male among us be circumcised, as they are circumcised.
23 Their acquisition,*** and their purchase, and all their beasts, will these not be ours? Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us.
24 And they listened to Hamor and Shechem his son, all who went out of the gate of his city; and they circumcised every male, all who went out of the gate of his city.
25 And it happened on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, each took his sword, and came with confidence upon the city, and killed every male.
26 And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and they took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went away.
27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.
28 Their flocks, and their herds, and their asses, and whatever was in the city, and whatever was in the field, they took.
29 And all their wealth, and all their young children, and their women, they took captive and plundered, and everything that was in the house.
30 And Jacob said to Simeon and to Levi, You have brought trouble on me, by making me stink to the inhabitant of the land, to the Canaanite and the Perizzite; and I am [a few] mortals in number, and they will be gathered together against me and will smite me, and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
31 And they said, Is he going to treat our sister like a prostitute?
* lit. spoke to the young woman’s (or girl’s) heart
** lit. Multiply upon me exceedingly dowry and gift
*** i.e. small cattle – see 4487.
The subject now in the internal sense is the annihilation by the descendants of Jacob of all truth of doctrine which the Ancient Church possessed, Hamor and Shechem together with the people of their city representing that truth. For the representative of the Church among the descendants of Jacob consisted wholly in external things devoid of internal, whereas the representative Church among the Ancients consisted in external things together with internal.
Verses 1-4 And Dinah went out, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, to see the daughters of the land. And Shechem saw her, the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land; and he took her, and lay with her, and ravished her. And his soul clung to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young woman and spoke comfortingly to the young woman.* And Shechem spoke to Hamor his father, saying, Get me this girl for a wife.
‘Dinah went out’ means the affection for all things of faith, and also means the Church arising from that affection. ‘The daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob’ means in things that are external. ‘To see the daughters of the land’ means to get to know the affections for truth, and the Churches which arise from these. ‘And Shechem saw her’ means truth. ‘The son of Hamor the Hivite’ means received from the Ancients. ‘The prince of the land’ means which was first and foremost among the Churches. ‘And he took her, and lay with her, and ravished her’ means that there was no other way in which it could be joined to the affection for truth meant by the sons of Jacob, her brothers. ‘And his soul clung to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob’ means the inclination to be joined to it. ‘And he loved the young woman and spoke comfortingly to her’ means love. ‘And Shechem spoke to Hamor his father’ means thought from truth among the Ancients. ‘Saying, Get me this girl for a wife’ means that it wished to be joined to the affection for that truth.
* lit. spoke to the young woman’s (or girl’s) heart
[2] The meaning of these things contained in this verse becomes clear from those that follow, for the subject is the representative of the Church which was to be established among the descendants of Jacob. This representative among them could not be established until they had undergone complete vastation so far as interior truths were concerned, that is, until they no longer had any knowledge of them; see 4289. Interior truths are all those which are represented and meant by the religious observances which they were commanded to keep; for every religious observance represented, and was a sign meaning, something in the Lord’s kingdom in heaven, and consequently something in the Lord’s kingdom on earth, that is, in the Church. The things which they meant and represented are in this instance interior truths. The fact that all the things, each one, which the descendants of Jacob were commanded to observe when a representative of the Church was established among them – which things are laid down in the books of Moses, especially in Exodus and Leviticus – were representatives and meaningful signs of the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom has been shown throughout the explanatory sections. None of these spiritual and celestial things were known to the descendants of Jacob, for the character of those descendants was such that if they had known them they would have profaned them, 301-303, 2520, 3398, 3479, 3769, 4281, 4293. For that reason they did not enter into those representatives until they had undergone complete vastation so far as interior things were concerned. The subject in this chapter therefore is those truths and that people’s annihilation of them.
[3] The representatives which the descendants of Jacob were commanded to observe were not new, the majority being like those that had been in use formerly among the Ancients. Unlike the descendants of Jacob however, that is, unlike the Jews and Israelites, the Ancients did not worship external things but internal ones. Through internal things they acknowledged the Lord Himself. Remnants of the Church from ancient times still existed in the land of Canaan, especially among those who were called Hittites and Hivites. This is why those nations represent the truths of the Church. From all this one may now have some idea of what is meant by Dinah, the daughter of Jacob by Leah, going out to see the daughters of the land. For ‘Dinah’ represents the external Church such as was established among the descendants of Jacob, while ‘the daughters of the land’ means Churches existing among the Ancients. Everywhere in the Word Churches are meant in its internal sense by ‘daughters’, see 2362, 3024, where this meaning has been shown; and ‘land’ means an area and a nation where the Church exists, and so means the Church, 662, 1066, 1067, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, 3355, 3686, 3705.
[2] But in the present chapter the subject in the internal sense is the way in which the descendants of Jacob annihilated this first degree of light or interior truth residing with them. In this sense, which is the internal historical sense, ‘the sons of Jacob’ means all his descendants, for the internal sense of the Word deals solely with the things that belong to the Lord’s kingdom, and so those that belong to His Church. Jacob’s actual sons did not constitute any Church but their descendants did, though not until after they had come out of Egypt, and in actual fact not until they entered the land of Canaan.
[3] Furthermore regarding this city named after Shechem, it was called Salem in ancient times, as is clear in the previous chapter,
Jacob came to Salem, the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan. Gen. 33:18.
‘Salem’ means serenity, and ‘the city of Shechem’ the interior truths of faith; and a person comes into a state of serenity when he arrives at those truths, see 4393. But later on the same city was called Shechem, as may be seen in Joshua,
The bones of Joseph which the children of Israel caused to be brought up out of Egypt they buried in Shechem, in the part of the field which Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem, for a hundred kesitahs. Josh. 24:32.
And in the Book of Judges,
Gaal the son of Ebed said to the citizens of Shechem, Who is Abimelech, and who is Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal. and Zebul is his commander? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem; and why shall we serve him? Judg. 9:28.
[4] The same city after that was called ‘Sychar’, as is evident in John,
Jesus came into a city of Samaria, called Sychar, near the field that Jacob gave to Joseph his son; Jacob’s well was there. John 4:5, 6.
From these places, as well as from others where it is mentioned, it is evident that this city means interior truth. It is also clear in Hosea,
Gilead is a city of those who work iniquity; it is stained with blood; and as troops wait for a man so the company of priests murder on the way to Shechem, for they have committed villainy. In the house of Israel I have seen a foul thing. Hosea 6:8-10.
Here ‘they murder on the way to Shechem’ means that they annihilate truths, including interior ones, and so annihilate all truths. The annihilation of interior truth is also meant by the reference to Abimelech’s destruction of that city and sowing it with salt, Judg. 9:45.
[2] Actually every nation in the land of Canaan had in ancient times meant some good or else truth of the Church, for the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, had existed there, 4116. But subsequently the nations there, like every other with whom the Church existed, turned aside into idolatrous practices, and therefore these same nations also mean forms of idolatry. But because the Hivites since ancient times meant interior truth, and because they were one of the more upright nations among whom iniquity had not become so complete, that is, the truth of the Church had not been completely annihilated, as it had among others, the Lord in His Providence therefore preserved the Hivite Gibeonites by means of the covenant which Joshua and the princes made with them, Josh. 9:15. For those Gibeonites were Hivites, see Josh. 9:7; 11:19. From all this one may now see how ‘Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite’ comes to mean interior truth received from the Ancients.
[2] But the nation descended from Jacob, that is, the Israelitish and Jewish nation, was unable to be introduced in the rightful way which is through betrothal, for the reason that their external worship did not correspond [to anything internal]. For they received from their fore-fathers – from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – the worship established by Eber, which was different externally from the worship of the Ancient Church, see 1238, 1241, 1343, 2180. And because that worship was different, interior truths which existed among the Ancients were not able to be joined to it in the rightful way through betrothal, only in the way described in this chapter. This enables one to understand what is involved in the assertion that there was no other way in which it could be joined to the affection for truth meant by ‘the sons of Jacob, Dinah’s brothers’.
[3] But although a joining together could have been effected in this way, in accordance with the law, also known to the Ancients, which is set out in Exod. 22:16; Deut. 22:28, 29, the character of that nation was nevertheless such that it would by no means allow any joining of interior truth received from the Ancients to the external forms of worship that existed among the descendants of Jacob, 4281, 4290, 4293, 4307, 4314, 4316, 4317. Among that nation therefore no Church could be established, but instead merely that which was a representative of the Church, see 4281, 4288, 4307. The character of that nation, which was such that it was not only unable to receive interior truths but also completely annihilated them among themselves, is represented in this chapter by the sons of Jacob answering Shechem and Hamor deceitfully, verse 13; and after that by Simeon and Levi’s smiting the city with the edge of the sword and killing Shechem and Hamor, verses 25, 26; and by the rest of the sons coming upon the slain and plundering the city, and taking away the flocks, the herds, and whatever there was in the city, in the field, and in the houses, verses 27-29. This shows what is meant by the prophetical utterances of Jacob, who by then was Israel,
Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of violence are their swords. Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, and in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is severe. I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel. Gen. 49:5-7.
[2] Since the subject in the whole of this chapter is Shechem’s love towards Dinah and how he sought to make her his wife, and since things connected with conjugial love mean spiritual joining together, let it now be established from the Word that marriages and things that have a connection with marriages do not imply anything else: In John,
Let us be glad and exult, and let us give glory to Him, for the time of the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His Wife has made herself ready. Blessed are those who have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. Rev. 19:7, 9.
In the same book,
I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. One of the seven angels spoke to me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. He carried me away in the spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. Rev. 21:2, 9, 10.
It is quite evident that betrothal and marriage in these places mean nothing other than the joining of the Lord to the Church, which is effected by means of truth and good. For ‘the holy city’ and ‘the new Jerusalem’ mean nothing other than the Church – ‘city’ meaning the truth of the Church, see 402, 2268, 2449, 2451, 2712, 2943, 3216, and ‘Jerusalem’ the spiritual Church, 402, 2117, 3654.
[3] In Malachi,
Judah has acted faithlessly, and abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah has profaned the holiness of Jehovah, for he loved and married the daughter of a foreign god. Jehovah was a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have acted faithlessly. Mal. 2:11, 14, 15.
‘Loving and marrying the daughter of a foreign god’ means joining oneself to falsity instead of truth, which is ‘the wife of one’s youth’.
[4] In Ezekiel,
You took your sons and your daughters whom you had borne to Me, and sacrificed them so as to be devoured. Was the matter of your acts of whoredom a small one? You are your mother’s daughter who loathes her husband and her sons, and you are the sister of your sisters who loathed their husbands and their sons. Ezek. 16:20, 45.
This refers to the abominations of Jerusalem which, because they were the product of evils and falsities, are described in this chapter by means of the kind of things that are the direct opposite of marriages, that is to say, acts of adultery and of whoredom. ‘The husbands’ whom they loathed are goods, ‘the sons’ truths, and ‘the daughters’ the affections for these.
[5] In Isaiah,
Sing, O barren one that did not bear; resound with singing and cry out for joy, O one that has not been in travail, for the sons of her that is desolate will be more than the sons of her that is married. You will not remember any more the reproach of your widowhood, for your Maker is your Husband,* Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth He is called. For Jehovah has called you like a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a wife of youth when she is put away, said your God. All your sons are taught by Jehovah, and much is the peace of your sons. Isa. 54:1, 4-6, 13.
Since ‘a marriage’ means the joining together of truth and good and of good and truth, one may see what is meant by husband and wife, sons and daughters, widows, women who have been put away, and by bearing, giving birth, being desolate, and being barren; for all these expressions have some connection with marriage. The meaning in the spiritual sense of each of these expressions has been shown many times in the explanatory sections.
[6] In the same prophet,
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest. You will no more be called Deserted, but your land will be named Married, for Jehovah will take His pleasure in you, and your land will be married. Forasmuch as a young man will marry a virgin, your sons will marry you; and there will be the joy of a bridegroom over a bride, your God will rejoice over you. Isa. 62:1, 4, 5.
Anyone unacquainted with the internal sense of the Word may suppose that such imagery in the Word is simply an employment of comparisons like many of those used in everyday speech, and that this is the reason why the Church is compared to a daughter, a virgin, and a wife, and so why matters of faith and charity are compared to things which have some connection with marriage. But in the Word everything is representative of that which is spiritual or celestial, and it is a real correspondence; for the Word has come down from heaven, and because it has come down from there it is in origin something Divinely celestial and spiritual, to which everything in the sense of the letter corresponds. Consequently things connected with the heavenly marriage, which is good and truth joined together, pass into those that correspond to them, and so into those which have some connection with marriages on earth.
[7] This also explains why the Lord likened the kingdom of heaven – that is, His kingdom in heaven and His kingdom on earth, which is the Church – to a certain king, who arranged a wedding for his son and invited many to it, Matt. 22:2 and following verses, and also to ten virgins who took lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom, Matt. 25:1 and following verses. The Lord also referred to those who belong to the Church as ‘the sons of the wedding’,
Jesus said, Can the sons of the wedding mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. Matt. 9:15.
[8] For the same reasons the affection for good and the affection for truth are called ‘the joy and gladness of a bridegroom and bride’, for heavenly joy is the product of those affections and resides within them, as in Isaiah,
Your sons will marry you; and there will be the joy of a bridegroom over a bride, Jehovah your God will rejoice over you. Isa. 62:5.
In Jeremiah,
The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of those that say, Give thanks** to Jehovah, for Jehovah is good. Jer. 33:11.
In the same prophet,
I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land will turn into a waste. Jer. 7:34; 16:9; 25:10.
And in John,
The light of a lamp will not shine in Babylon any more, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride will not be heard in it any more. Rev. 18:23.
[9] Since marriages on earth correspond through truly conjugial love to the heavenly marriage which is that of good and truth, the laws laid down in the Word concerning betrothals and marriages correspond completely to the spiritual laws of the heavenly marriage, such as the law that men were to marry one wife only, Mark 10:2-8; Luke 16:18; for in the case of the heavenly marriage the situation is that no good can be joined to any but its own truth, or truth to any but its own good. If joined to any truth other than its own, good could not possibly be held together but would be torn apart and so would perish. In the spiritual Church ‘wife’ (uxor) represents good and ‘man’ (vir) represents truth, but in the celestial Church ‘husband’ (maritus) represents good and ‘wife’ (uxor) truth. Furthermore – and this is an arcanum – they not only represent those things but also in actual fact correspond to them.
[10] The laws also concerning marriages which have been laid down in the Old Testament have in a similar way a correspondence with the laws of the heavenly marriage, such as those in Exod. 21:7-11; 22:16, 17; 34:16; Num. 36:6; Deut. 7:3, 4; 22:28, 29; and also the laws about the forbidden degrees of affinity, Lev. 18:6-20. In the Lord’s Divine mercy these will be dealt with individually in some other place. The fact that the degrees and laws of marriages have their origin in the laws of truth and good which belong to the heavenly marriage and with which they correlate is evident in Ezekiel,
The priests the Levites shall not take as wives for themselves a widow or a woman that has been put away, but virgins from the seed of the house of Israel; only a widow who is the widow of a priest may they take. Ezek. 44:22.
This refers to the holy city, the new Jerusalem, and to the heavenly Canaan which clearly mean the Lord’s kingdom and His Church. Consequently ‘the Levites’ do not mean Levites, nor do ‘a widow and a woman who has been put away’ mean a widow and one put away, but the kind of things they correspond to.
* In both the Latin and the original Hebrew the words meaning Maker and Husband are plural at this point.
** lit. Confess
‘Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter’ means a wrongful joining together, ‘Jacob’ here being the external Ancient Church. ‘And his sons were with his cattle in the field’ means that his descendants dwelt in their own semblance of religion. ‘And Jacob kept silent until they came’ means counsel taken with the truths of faith which were known to him and his descendants. ‘And Hamor, Shechem’s father, went out to Jacob to speak to him’ means consultation regarding the truth of that Church. ‘And Jacob’s sons came from the field’ means that the counsel they took was based in their semblance of religion. ‘When they heard; and the men were grieved and blazing with anger’ means that they were under the influence of evil that was directed against the truth of the Church among the Ancients. ‘Because he had done something disgraceful in Israel by lying with Jacob’s daughter, a thing that ought not to be done’ means a joining together which in their eyes was not permissible, going against the truth which they possessed.
You have brought trouble on me, by making me stink to the inhabitant of the land. Verse 30;
and in the prophetical utterance he made before his death,
Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, and in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. Gen. 49:6.
And there are very many other places in the Word besides these in which ‘Jacob’ represents the external Ancient Church, 422, 4286. The reason why ‘Jacob’ represents that Church is that in the highest sense he represents the Lord’s Divine Natural, to which the external Church corresponds. His sons however mean his descendants who annihilated truth known to the Ancients as this existed among themselves, and in so doing destroyed that which was to constitute the Church, so that only that which was the representative of it remained with them, 4281, 4288, 4289, 4303.
* The primary meaning of the word translated cattle here in Genesis 34:5 is acquisition. See also 4487.
[2] The philosophers of old received this customary style from the Ancient Church which had been spread throughout much of the Asiatic world, 1238, 2385; for those who belonged to the Ancient Church linked together entities that were holy by means of representatives and meaningful signs. The Ancient Church however received the same by word of mouth from the most ancient people who lived before the Flood, 920, 1409, 1977, 2896, 2897; and these people received it from heaven since they had communication with heaven, 784, 1114-1125. For such representatives and meaningful signs occur in the first heaven, which is the lowest of the three heavens. This explains why the Word was written in that kind of style. But in contrast to the writings of the men of old the Word has this peculiar feature, that the separate entities in a continuous chain represent the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself; that the actual historical details are also such; and what is more, that they are real correspondences, these being continuous, extending through the three heavens from the Lord.
[2] The semblance of religion which existed among their descendants did indeed have good within it, in that all its details, each one, represented the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom. But in the case of those with whom it existed it did not hold anything good at all since they were confined solely to external things devoid of internal, as shown above. It is the same with the semblance of religion possessed by that nation among whom it exists even at the present day. They acknowledge Moses and the Prophets, and so the Word. In itself this is holy but in their case it is not holy, for within every detail there they see themselves and so that which is worldly. Indeed they turn the Word into something earthly, for they do not know or even care about anything heavenly within it. If the state of a people is like this, no good can exist in them when their own semblance of religion holds sway over them. Instead evil is present, for nothing heavenly enters into them because they will annihilate it.
[3] There was a law, also known in the Ancient Church, according to which anyone who ravished a virgin had to provide her with a dowry and take her to be his wife, as the following words in Moses laid down,
If a man persuades a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall endow her with a dowry to be his wife; if her father utterly refuses to give her to him he shall weigh silver according to the dowry of virgins. Exod. 22:16, 17.
And elsewhere,
If a man finds a young woman, a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered, the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman’s father fifty pieces of silver, and she shall become his wife, because he ravished her; and he will not be able to divorce her all his days. Deut. 22:28, 29.
The fact that this same law was known to the Ancients is quite evident from Shechem’s words to the young woman’s father and brothers,
Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, Let me find grace in your eyes, and I will give that which you tell me. Increase the dowry and gift to any size and I will give you whatever you tell me, and give me the young woman for a wife. Verses 11, 12.
Also, because Shechem was willing to fulfill this law and Dinah’s brothers gave their consent provided he became as they themselves were, by circumcising every male, according to the words that follow
Only on this [condition] will we consent to you: If you will be as we are, by circumcising every male among you, then we will give our daughters to you, and your daughters we will take to ourselves, and we will dwell with you, and we wit be one people. Verses 15, 16
– it is therefore evident that they did not act in conformity with the law, thus were not motivated by good, but acted contrary to the law, and consequently were motivated by evil.
[4] The law forbade them, it is true, to enter into marriages with the gentile nations, as laid down in Moses,
Lest you take their daughters for your sons, and their daughters go whoring after their gods, and they cause your sons to go whoring after their gods. Exod. 34:16.
And elsewhere,
You shall not establish a marriage relationship with the nations; you shall not give your daughter to his son, and you shall not take his daughter for your son, for he will turn your son from following Me, to serve other gods. Deut. 7:3, 4.
But this law referred to idolatrous nations. It was laid down to prevent their turning away, through such marriages, from truly representative worship to idolatrous worship; for once they became idolaters they were no longer able to represent the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom, only their opposites, namely the things of hell. In fact, once they were idolaters, they summoned from hell a certain devil whom they worshipped and to whom they applied Divine representatives. This accounts for its being said that they were not to go whoring after their gods. That law was also laid down for the further reason that ‘the nations’ means evils and falsities with which the goods and truths which they represented were not to be mingled, and therefore devilish and hellish things were not to be mingled with celestial and spiritual ones, 3024 (end).
[5] But they were in no way forbidden to contract marriages with nations who willingly adopted their worship and who, after being circumcised, acknowledged Jehovah. These they called sojourners sojourning with them, of whom the following is said in Moses,
If a sojourner sojourns with you and wishes to keep the Passover to Jehovah, every male he has shall be circumcised, and then he shall come near and keep it; and he will be as an inhabitant of the land. There shall be one law for the inhabitant and for the sojourner who sojourns in the midst of you. Exod. 12:48, 49.
And elsewhere,
When the sojourner has sojourned with you, he shall keep the Passover to Jehovah according to the statute for the Passover, and according to the regulations* for it. There shall be one statute for you, both for the sojourner and for the native of the land. Num. 9:14.
The reason why they were called sojourners sojourning in the midst of them and with them was that ‘sojourning’ meant receiving instruction, and so ‘a sojourner’ those who allowed themselves to receive instruction in statutes and matters of doctrine, see 1463, 2025, 3672. In the same author,
If a sojourner should sojourn with you who would make a fire-offering of an odour of rest to Jehovah, he shall do as you do. As for the assembly, one statute shall there be for you and for the sojourner who sojourns, an eternal statute throughout your generations. As you are, so shall the sojourner be before Jehovah. There shall be one law and one judgement for you and for the sojourner sojourning with you. Num. 15:14-16.
And elsewhere,
As the native among you shall the sojourner sojourning with you be to you.
Lev. 19:34.
One judgement shall there be for you; it shall be for the sojourner as for the native. Lev. 24:22.
[6] The fact that this statute was known not only to Jacob and his sons but also to Shechem and Hamor is evident from the words spoken by them. For the statutes, judgements, and laws which were given to the Israelite and Jewish nation were not new but such as existed previously in the Ancient Church and in the second Ancient Church which, from Eber, was called the Hebrew, as has been shown in various places. The consequent knowledge of this law is evident from the words of Jacob’s sons,
Jacob’s sons said to Hamor and Shechem, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who has a foreskin; for that would be a reproach to us. Only on this [condition] will we consent to you: If you will be as we are, by circumcising every male among you, then we will give our daughters to you, and your daughters we will take to ourselves, and we will dwell with you, and we will be one people. Verses 14-16.
That knowledge is also evident from Hamor and Shechem’s words, in that they not only consented but also did cause themselves and every male of their city to be circumcised, verses 18-24.
[7] This shows that Shechem became a sojourner such as is referred to in the Law, and so could take Jacob’s daughter as a wife; and that their killing them was accordingly an unmentionable deed, as Jacob also bore witness before his death, Gen. 49:5-7. The fact that not only Judah but also Moses, as well as the kings of the Jews and Israelites, and many of the people too, married wives from gentile nations is clear from the historical sections of the Word; and one should not doubt that those wives accepted their statutes, judgements, and laws and were acknowledged as sojourners.
* lit. statutes
‘Hamor spoke to them, saying’ means the good of the Church among the Ancients. ‘Shechem my son’ means the truth derived from that good. ‘His soul longs for your daughter; give her, I beg you, to him for a wife’ means a longing to be joined to this new Church which in outward appearance was similar to the Ancient Church. ‘And intermarry with us; give your daughters to us, and take our daughters to yourselves’ means the union of goods and truths. ‘And you shall dwell with us’ means life. ‘And the land shall be before you; dwell’ means the Church which would be one. ‘Carry on trade throughout it, and have possessions in it’ means matters of doctrine which, because they are communicated, would accord with one another. ‘And Shechem said to her father and to her brothers’ means counsel taken by the truth from the ancient Divine stock with the good and truth of this semblance of religion. ‘Let me find grace in your eyes, and I will give that which you tell me’ means that if they on their part were similar in mind to him on his part. ‘Increase the dowry and gift to any size, and I will give whatever you tell me’ means that he will accept the things which exist with them and will make those things his own. ‘And give me the young woman for a wife’ means provided the joining together takes place.
* lit. Multiply upon me exceedingly dowry and gift
[2] Remnants of the Most Ancient Church which was celestial were still in existence in the land of Canaan, especially among those in that land who were called Hittites and Hivites. The reason why such remnants did not exist anywhere else was that the Most Ancient Church, which was called Man or Adam, 478, 479, existed in the land of Canaan, where the garden of Eden, which meant the intelligence and wisdom of the members of that Church, 100, 1588, and the trees in it their perception, 103, 2163, 2722, 2972, was therefore situated. And because intelligence and wisdom were meant by that garden or paradise the Church itself is also meant by it. And because the Church is meant, so also is heaven; and because heaven is meant, so also in the highest sense is the Lord. So it is that in the highest sense the land of Canaan also means the Lord, in the relative sense heaven and also the Church, and in the personal sense the member of the Church, 1413, 1437, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705. So it is too that the word ‘land’ standing by itself in the Word has a similar meaning, 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1413, 1607, 3355; while a new heaven and a new earth mean a new Church, internally and externally, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end). The Most Ancient Church was situated in the land of Canaan, see 567, and it was from this that places there became representative. It explains why Abram was commanded to go there, and also why the land was given to his descendants from Jacob, namely that the representatives connected with the places which were to be used in the composition of the Word might be perpetuated, 3686. This was why every place in that land, including mountains and rivers, and also all the borders surrounding it, became representative, 1585, 1866, 4240.
[3] From all these considerations one may see what the expression ‘Church among the Ancients’ is used to mean, namely remnants of the Most Ancient Church. And because those remnants existed among the Hittites and Hivites, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, with their wives, acquired a burial-place among the Hittites in their land, Gen. 23:1-end; 49:29-32; 50:13; and Joseph among the Hivites, Josh. 24:32. Hamor, Shechem’s father, represented the remnants of that Church, and as a consequence means the good of the Church among the Ancients and therefore the origin of interior truth from a Divine stock, 4399. What the difference is between the Most Ancient Church which existed before the Flood and the Ancient Church which came into existence after the Flood, see 597, 607, 608, 640, 641, 765, 784, 895, 920, 1114-1128, 1238, 1327, 2896, 2897.
[2] With the Ancient Church, which was spiritual, it was different. This Church was not governed like the Most Ancient Church by love to the Lord but by charity towards the neighbour. Nor was it able to arrive at charity except through the truth of faith, of which, unlike the Most Ancient people, they did not have any perception and therefore began to make investigations into whether the truth was the truth. Regarding the difference between celestial people who had perception and spiritual ones who do not, see 2088, 2669, 2708, 2715, 3235, 3240, 3246, 3887.
[2] As regards that new Church which was established among the descendants of Jacob being in outward appearance similar to the Ancient Church, it should be realized that the statutes, judgements, and laws which were prescribed through Moses for the Israelite and Jewish nation were no different from the statutes, judgements, and laws which existed in the Ancient Church, such as those concerning betrothals and marriages, concerning slaves, concerning the living creatures which were suitable for food and those which were not suitable, concerning cleansings, festivals, tabernacles, the perpetual fire, and many other things; also concerning altars, burnt offerings, sacrifices, libations, that had been received in the second Ancient Church which began with Eber. The fact that all of these were known before they were prescribed for that nation is quite evident from the historical descriptions of the Word.
[3] Take merely altars, burnt offerings, and sacrifices. Of Balaam it is recorded that he ordered them to build seven altars and to offer on them burnt offerings and sacrifices of young bulls and rams, Num. 23:1, 2, 14, 15, 29. Besides this, it is said of the nations in many places, that their altars were to be destroyed; and of the prophets of Baal whom Elijah slew, that they offered sacrifices. These facts make it clear that sacrifices which were prescribed for the descendants of Jacob were not new; nor were the rest of the statutes, judgements, and laws. But because these things became idolatrous among the nations – in particular through their use of those things to worship some profane god, which resulted in them turning representatives of Divine things to what is of hell, in addition to the many: practices which they added to these – those same things were reinstated so that the representative worship of the Ancient Church might be restored. From this it becomes clear that this new Church which was established among Jacob’s descendants was in outward appearance similar to the Ancient Church.
* lit. garments of liberty for the chariot – possibly garments with loose sleeves
Jacob’s sons answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully’ means evil thought and intention regarding the truth and the good of the Church among the Ancients. ‘And [so] spoke, because he had defiled Dinah their sister’ means that the first stage in the joining together which could not be anything different was effected through acceptance. ‘And they said to them, We cannot do this thing’ means their disapproval. ‘To give our sister to a man who has a foreskin’ means unless they could identify the truth and the good of the Church with representatives and disregard the spiritual entities meant by these. ‘For that would be a reproach to us’ means that it would be contrary to them. ‘Only on this [condition] will we consent to you: If you will be as we are’ means acceptance of their semblance of religion. ‘By circumcising every male among you’ means a merely external representative, and then to them they would be pure. ‘Then we will give our daughters to you, and your daughters we will take to ourselves’ means a joining together in this manner. ‘And we will dwell with you’ means in life. ‘And we will be one people’ means in doctrine. ‘And if you do not listen to us to be circumcised’ means unless they forsook their own truths and accepted external representatives. ‘Then we will take our daughter and go’ means that there would be no joining together.
[2] The sons of Jacob, that is, his descendants, could have none but an evil thought and intention regarding the truth and the good belonging to the internal man, because they were interested in external things devoid of internal, 4281, 4293, 4307, 4429, 4433. They saw no value at all in internal things, and therefore utterly despised them. Such is also the nature of that nation at the present day, and so it is of all who are interested only in external things. People who are interested only in external things do not even know what it is to be interested in internal things, since they have no knowledge of what is internal. If anyone in their presence mentions that which is internal they either endorse the existence of it because they know from doctrine of its existence, though that endorsement is attributable to their deceit, or else they deny the existence of it with their lips as they do in their hearts. For they do not go further than the experiences of the senses of the external man, and as a consequence do not believe in any life after death. Nor do they believe any resurrection to be possible apart from their rising again in the physical body. That being so, they are allowed to have these thoughts concerning the resurrection, or else they would not have any at all. For they centre the whole of life in the body, not knowing that the life of their body flows from the life of their spirit which lives after death. People who are interested only in external things cannot possibly have any faith, for external things with them annihilate all thought concerning internal ones, and consequently all belief in them.
[3] Since this kind of ignorance reigns at the present day, an explanation needs to be given of what it is to be interested in external things devoid of internal. All people who are devoid of conscience are interested only in external things, for the internal man reveals itself through conscience. Anyone is devoid of conscience if he thinks and does what is true and good not for the sake of what is true and good but for the sake of his own personal position and gain, and also merely because he fears the law and fears for his own life. For if reputation, position, gain, and life were not endangered he would plunge without conscience into every unmentionable act. This is quite evident from those in the next life who were such during their lifetime. Because interior things are laid bare in that life those people are constantly endeavouring to destroy others, on account of which they are in hell, where they are held in bonds in a spiritual manner.
[4] To enable anyone to have a fuller knowledge of what is meant by an interest in external things, and what by an interest in internal ones; to enable him to know also that people who are interested only in external things cannot have any conception of what internal ones are and so cannot feel any affection for them (for nobody feels any affection for things of which he has no conception) let the following, for example, be considered. One who is least in heaven is the greatest, one who is humble is exalted, and also one who is poor and needy is rich and affluent. People who are interested only in external things cannot have any conception of these matters, for they think that the least cannot possibly be the greatest, nor the humble be the exalted, and that the poor cannot possibly be rich or the needy affluent. Yet this is precisely how it is in heaven. And because they cannot have any conception of these matters they are consequently unable to feel any affection for them; and when they reflect on them from the point of view of the bodily and worldly things which interest them they feel an aversion to them. How it is in heaven they do not know at all, and as long as they are interested only in external things they do not wish to know, nor indeed are they capable of knowing. For in heaven one who knows, acknowledges, and believes in his heart that is, with affection – that none of his power is self-derived, but that all the power he has comes from the Lord, is called the least. Yet he is the greatest because his power comes from the Lord. Similarly so with one who is humble yet exalted; for one who is humble, acknowledging and believing from affection that he has no self-derived power at all, nor any self-derived intelligence and wisdom, nor any goodness and truth, has power, an intelligent understanding of truth, and a wise discernment of good, conferred on him by the Lord more than on others. And likewise so with the poor and the needy being rich and affluent; for he is called poor and needy who believes in his heart and with affection that nothing he possesses begins in himself, nor does anything he knows and is wise in, nor does anything he has power in. In heaven he is rich and is affluent, the Lord granting him total wealth since he is wiser and richer than all others and lives in most magnificent palaces, 1116, 1626, 1627, and among the treasures constituting all the riches of heaven.
[5] Take as another example someone who is interested only in external things. Such a person cannot have any conception at all that heavenly joy consists in loving the neighbour more than himself and the Lord above all things, and that happiness depends on the amount and the quality of that love. For one interested only in external things loves himself more than his neighbour, and if he does love others it is because they show him favour; and so he loves them for a selfish reason – and he therefore loves himself in them and them in himself. A person like this cannot know what loving others more than himself is; indeed he does not wish to know, and is incapable of knowing. Consequently when told that heaven consists in such love, 548, he is repelled by the idea. Hence those who have been like this during their lifetime are unable to draw near any heavenly community; and when they do draw near, because they feel repelled by it, they cast themselves down headlong into hell.
[6] Because few at the present day know what it is to be interested in external things and what it is to be interested in internal ones, and because the majority believe that those interested in internal things cannot be interested in external ones, and vice versa, let one further example be introduced to illustrate the matter. Take the nourishment of the body and the nourishment of the soul. A person who is interested in merely external pleasures takes care of his own skin, gratifies his stomach, likes to live sumptuously, and finds that the choicest food and drink yields him the highest pleasure. A person however who is interested in internal things also takes delight in those same pleasures, but his governing affection is to nourish the body with pleasurable foods so that it may be healthy, the end in view being a healthy mind in a healthy body. His primary concern is health of mind, for which health of the body serves as a means. One who is a spiritual man does not stop there but regards health of mind or of the soul as the means provided to acquire intelligence and wisdom, not for the sake of reputation, position, or gain, but for the sake of the life after death. And one who is spiritual in a more interior degree regards intelligence and wisdom as a mediate end enabling him to serve as a useful member in the Lord’s kingdom; while one who is celestial regards the same as that which enables him to serve the Lord. To him bodily food is a means to the enjoyment of spiritual food; and spiritual food is a means to the enjoyment of celestial food. And because they ought to serve in this manner those foods also correspond, and are therefore called foods. From these examples one may see what is meant by being interested only in external things and what by being interested in internal ones.
[7] The Jewish and Israelite nation, which is the subject in this chapter in the internal historical sense, apart from those who have died as children, are for the most part such. They more than all others are interested in external things, for they are governed by avarice. Those who do not love profit and gain for the sake of any use, only for the sake of gold and silver, and who focus the whole delight of life in those possessions, dwell in the outermost or lowest places, since they are entirely earthly things which they love. But those loving gold and silver because of some use these may serve are people who rise above earthly things, in accordance with that use. The use itself which a person loves is what gives direction to his life and marks him off from others, an evil use making him like one in hell and a good use like one in heaven. It is not indeed the use itself that does so but the love behind it, for everyone’s life is inherent in his love.
[2] Scarcely anyone at the present day knows what circumcision means specifically, and this therefore must be stated. The genital organs in both sexes mean things associated with the joining together of good and truth. They not only mean them but also in actual fact correspond to them. It has been shown at the ends of chapters that all the organs and members in the human being have a correspondence with spiritual things in heaven, including therefore the organs and members devoted to procreation. These correspond to the marriage of good and truth, from which marriage conjugial love also comes down, see 2618, 2727- 2729, 2803, 3132, 4434. Because the foreskin covered the genital organ it corresponded in the Most Ancient Church to the obscuration of good and truth, but in the Ancient Church to the defilement of them. With a person who belonged to the Most Ancient Church, because he was an internal man, good and truth were able to be obscured but not defiled, but with one who belonged to the Ancient Church, because he was in comparison with his predecessor an external man, good and truth were able to be defiled since it is external things, that is to say, external loves, that cause defilement. For this reason those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church had no knowledge of circumcision, only those who belonged to the Ancient Church had it.
[3] In addition circumcision spread from this Church to many nations. It was imposed on Abraham and his descendants not as something new but as the revival of a practice which had been abandoned, it becoming for his descendants the sign that they belonged to the Church. But that nation did not know, and did not wish to know, what it was a sign of, for they identified religion with representatives alone, which are externals. They therefore condemned the uncircumcised as a whole, when yet circumcision was to be merely a sign representative of purification from self-love and love of the world, from which those are purified who have been circumcised spiritually and are called circumcised at heart, as in Moses,
Jehovah God will circumcise your heart, and the heart of your seed, so that you will love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul. Deut. 30:6.
In the same author,
You shall circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and you shall be stiff-necked no longer. Deut. 10:16, 18.
And in Jeremiah,
Break up your fallow ground, and remove the foreskin of your heart. Jer. 4:3, 4.
[4] People however who are governed by self-love and love of the world are called ‘uncircumcised’, in spite of their having been circumcised, as in Jeremiah,
Behold, the days are coming in which I will visit every one circumcised in the foreskin – Egypt, and Judah, and Edom, and the children of Ammon, and Moab, and all that have the corners [of their hair] cut and who dwell in the wilderness, for all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart. Jer. 9:25, 26.
From this it is also evident that many other nations were circumcised, for it is said ‘I will visit every one circumcised in the foreskin’, and so, as stated above, that circumcision was not something new, nor was it confined to the descendants of Jacob as a distinguishing feature. The Philistines were not circumcised, and therefore ‘the uncircumcised’ is generally used to mean the Philistines, 1 Sam. 14:6; 17:26, 36; 31:4; 2 Sam. 1:20; and elsewhere.
[2] Man is not immediately conscious of the fact that a spiritual sphere surrounds him, the nature of which is determined by the life of his affections. That sphere the angels are able to perceive more clearly than any aroma reaching the keenest sense of smell in the world. If in his life he has been interested only in external things, that is to say, in the pleasures that are gained from hatred against the neighbour, from consequent revenge and cruelty, from committing adultery, from self-aggrandizement and consequent contempt for others, from unseen acts of robbery, from avarice, from deceit, and from luxuriousness, and other vices like these, the spiritual sphere which surrounds him is as offensive as the aroma in the world coming from dead bodies, dung, stinking refuse, and other things such as these. Anyone who has been leading a life like this takes that sphere with him after death; and being entirely surrounded by that sphere he cannot exist anywhere else than in hell where such spheres belong. Concerning spheres in the next life and their origins, see 1048, 1053, 1316, 1504-1519, 1695, 2401, 2489.
[3] People however who are interested in internal things – that is to say, who have taken delight in expressing good-will and charity towards the neighbour, and most of all who have found blessedness in love to the Lord – have a pleasing and lovely sphere surrounding them, which is the heavenly sphere itself; and for that reason they are in heaven. All the spheres which are perceived in the next life have their origin in the loves and in the affections deriving from those loves which have governed them. Such spheres have their origins as a consequence in their life, for their loves and affections derived from these loves constitute their life itself. And because they have their origins in their loves and affections derived from these they have their origins in the intentions and the ends in view which cause a person to will and to act in the way he does. For everyone has as his end in view that which he loves, and therefore a person’s ends determine what his life is and constitute the essential nature of it; and this is the main source of the sphere around him. That sphere is perceived most perfectly in heaven the reason being that the sphere emanating from ends in view exists throughout the whole of heaven. These considerations show what someone is like whose interest is in internal things and what someone is like whose interest is in external ones, and why a person ought not to be interested only in external things but to be interested in internal ones also.
[4] But someone who is interested only in external things pays no attention to internal ones – no matter how skillful he may be in the conduct of public affairs and no matter how great a reputation he has earned for being learned – because he is the kind of person who does not believe in the existence of anything which he does not see with his eyes or feel by touch, and therefore does not believe in heaven or in hell. And if he were told that he was going to enter the next life immediately after death, where he will see, hear, speak, and enjoy a sense of touch more perfectly than when in the body he would reject it as an absurdity or sheer fantasy, when in actual fact that happens to be the truth. His reaction would be the same if anyone were to tell him that the soul or spirit which lives after death is the real person and not the body which he carries around in the world.
[5] From this it follows that those who are interested only in external things pay no attention at all to what is said concerning internal things, when yet it is these that make people blessed and happy in the kingdom which they are going to enter and in which they are going to live for ever. Such unbelief is present in most Christians, as I have been allowed to know from those to whom I have spoken who have entered the next life from the Christian world. For in the next life they are not able to conceal what they have thought since thoughts are laid completely bare there; nor are they able to conceal what ends they have had in view, that is, what they have loved, for this reveals itself through the sphere surrounding them.
‘Their words were good in the eyes of Hamor’ means conformity in life. ‘And in the eyes of Shechem, Hamor’s son’ means in doctrine. ‘And the young man did not delay to do the thing’ means a strong desire to accept. ‘Because he delighted in Jacob’s daughter’ means the semblance of religion in that Church. ‘And he was honoured above all those of his father’s house’ means the foremost of the truths of the Church among the Ancients. ‘And Hamor came, then Shechem his son, to the gate of their city’ means the goods and truths of the Church among the Ancients which lay within their doctrine. ‘And they spoke to the men of their city, saying’ means persuasion. ‘These men are at peace with us’ means agreement. ‘Let them dwell in the land’ means in life. ‘And carry on trade throughout it’ means in doctrine. ‘Behold, the land is broad and spacious before them’ means extension. ‘Let us take their daughters to us as wives, and let us give our daughters to them’ means a joining together. ‘Only on this [condition] will the men consent to us to dwell with us’ means that they would agree in life. ‘To be one people’ means in doctrine. ‘That every male be circumcised, as they are circumcised’ means provided they were introduced by this means into their representatives and meaningful signs, solely into the external observances involved in these. ‘Their acquisition, and their purchase’ means their truths. ‘And all their beasts’ means goods. ‘Will these not be ours?’ means that these two kinds of goods and truths would be alike and take the same form. ‘Only let us consent to them, and they will dwell with us’ means, If we conform to this. ‘And they listened to Hamor and Shechem his son’ means consent. ‘All who went out of the gate of his city’ means that they departed from the doctrine of the Church among the Ancients. ‘And they circumcised every male, all who went out of the gate of his city’ means the acceptance of externalities.
* i.e. small cattle – see 4487
[2] Anyone who does not know of the existence of anything spiritual in the Word other than that which stands out in the literal sense is bound to be amazed by the statement that ‘the land is broad and specious’ means the extension of truth which is the truth of doctrine within the Church. But the truth of this statement may be established from places where ‘breadth’ is mentioned in the Word, as in Isaiah,
Asshur will go through Judah, it will deluge it and pass through and will reach even to the neck; and the outstretchings of its wings will fill the breadth of the land. Isa. 8:8.
In David,
O Jehovah, You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have made my feet stand in a broad place. Ps. 31:8.
In the same author,
Out of my distress I called on Jah; He answered me in a broad place. Ps. 118:5.
In Habakkuk,
I am rousing the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation, marching’ into the breadths of the earth. Hab. 1:6.
‘Breadths’ here means nothing other than the truth of the Church.
[3] The reason why breadth has this meaning is that in the spiritual world, that is, in heaven, the Lord is the centre of all, for He is the Sun there. Those in a state of good are more interior, their exact position towards the middle being determined by the character and the amount of the good present in them. This is why ‘height’ is used in reference to good. Those who are in a similar degree of good are also in a similar degree of truth, and so dwell so to speak at the same distance from the centre, or one might say, dwell on the same contour; and this is why ‘breadth’ is used in reference to truths. Therefore when a person reads the Word the angels present with him do not understand by ‘breadth’ anything other than truths. When in the Historical sections, for example, the ark, the altar, the temple, and the spaces outside cities are referred to, states of good and truth are perceived by the dimensions indicating the lengths, breadths, and heights of these. The same is so with the new earth, new Jerusalem, and new Temple – described in Chapters 40-47 of Ezekiel – by which heaven and a new Church are meant, as may be seen from the detailed descriptions in those chapters. So also in John where it is said of the New Jerusalem that it will be foursquare, ‘its length being as great as its breadth’, Rev. 21:16.
[4] Things which in the spiritual world are interior are described as those that are higher, while those that are exterior are described by those that are lower, 2148, for while in the world, no one can conceive of interior things and exterior ones in any other way, for the reason that he dwells within space and time, and things that belong to space and time have entered in among the ideas comprising his thought and have conditioned the majority of these. From this it is also evident that expressions which give the spatial measurements of things such as the height, length, and breadth of them, are in the spiritual sense expressions used to indicate the magnitude of affections for good and affections for truth.
* lit. walking
[2] But let an example illustrate this matter. The altar on which they used to offer sacrifice was the chief representative of the Lord, 921, 2777, 2811. The altar was also for that reason fundamental to the worship in the Ancient Church that was called the Hebrew Church, and therefore every single thing that went into the construction of the altar was representative, such as its dimensions – its height, breadth, and length – its stones, its network of bronze, its horns; and so was the fire which was kept burning on it perpetually; and above all the sacrifices and burnt offerings. What they represented were the truths and goods which are the Lord’s and which come from the Lord. These were the internal things of worship which, because they were represented in that external object, were alike and took the same form as the truths and goods of the Most Ancient Church. Its dimensions – its height, breadth, and length – meant in general the good, the truth, and the holiness from these, see 650, 1613, 3433, 3434, 4482. ‘Its stones’ meant in particular those truths that are more basic, 1298, 3720. ‘The bronze’ from which the network around the altar was made meant natural good, 425, 1551. ‘The horns’ meant the power of truth that springs from good, 2832. ‘The fire’ on the altar meant love, 934. ‘The sacrifices and burnt offerings’ meant celestial and spiritual things, according to their various kinds, 922, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519. From all this it becomes clear that internal things were to be contained within external ones, and that internally the two sets of goods and truths would be alike. The same applies to all other external aspects of worship.
[3] But those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church had no interest in those external things because they were internal people, and the Lord flowed in by an internal way existing with them and taught them what was good. To them the variations and differences of good were truths, and from this they knew what every single thing in the world represented in the Lord’s kingdom; for the whole world or whole natural order is a theatre representative of the Lord’s kingdom, 2758, 3483. Those however who belonged to the Ancient Church were not internal people but external, as a consequence of which the Lord was not able with them to flow in by an internal way and teach them what was good, only by an external way. At first He flowed in and taught them by means of such things as were representatives and meaningful signs, from which the representative Church arose, and later on by means of matters of doctrine concerning good and truth which were so represented and meant, from which the Christian Church arose. In essence the Christian Church is identical so far as its internal form is concerned with the representative Church, but the representatives and meaningful signs of the latter were done away with after the Lord came into the world, for the reason that every single thing represented Him Himself and as a consequence the things of His kingdom, for these are derived from Him and are so to speak the Lord Himself.
[4] But the difference between the Most Ancient Church and the Christian Church is as great as that between the bright light of the sun by day and the inferior light of the moon or stars by night. For seeing goods by the internal or earlier way is like seeing in the daytime by the bright light of the sun, whereas seeing by the external or later way is like seeing in the night by the inferior light of the moon or stars. The difference was almost the same between the Most Ancient Church and the Ancient, except that those who belonged to the Christian Church could have dwelt in fuller light if they had acknowledged internal things, that is, if they had believed and practiced the truths and goods which the Lord taught. The actual good is the same in both, but the difference between them is that one sees that good in brightness, the other in obscurity. Those who see in brightness see countless arcana almost as angels in heaven do and also feel an affection for those which they see, whereas those who see in obscurity see scarcely anything that is free from doubt, and the things they do see mingle themselves with the shades of night, that is, with falsities. Nor can they inwardly feel any affection for them. Now because the good is the same in both, so also as a consequence is the truth; and this is why the words ‘will these not be ours?’ mean that the two sets of goods and truths would be alike and take the same form. For as stated already, Hamor and Shechem were part of the remnants of the Most Ancient Church, while the descendants of Jacob belonged to the Ancient Church called the Hebrew Church, though they were interested only in the external things of that Church. But the fact that Hamor and Shechem his son committed an enormous sin by accepting circumcision will be seen below in 4493.
[2] The implications of this must now be stated. Members of the Most Ancient Church, the remnants of which Hamor and Shechem with their families were a part, had an entirely different mental constitution and different disposition from adherents to the Ancient Church. The will in the case of the members of the Most Ancient Church contained that which was whole; but this was not so with adherents to the Ancient Church. Because of this the Lord was able with members of the Most Ancient Church to flow in through the will, and therefore by an internal way, but not so with adherents to the Ancient Church, since in these the will had been destroyed. But the Lord flowed into their understanding, and so not by an internal way but by an external one, as stated above in 4489. Flowing in through the will involves flowing in through the good of love, for all good belongs to the will part of the mind, whereas flowing in through the understanding involves flowing in through the truth of faith, for all truth belongs to the understanding part. Within the latter – the understanding – the Lord formed, in the case of adherents to the Ancient Church, a new will when He regenerated them. For goods and truths were implanted in the will part of the mind of members of the Most Ancient Church, see 895, 927, but in the understanding part of that of adherents to the Ancient Church, 863, 875, 895, 927, 2124, 2256, 4328. The new will is formed within the understanding part of the mind, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 4328. A parallelism exists between the Lord and the good residing with man, but not between Him and the truth there, 1831, 1832, 2718, 3514. As a consequence adherents to the Ancient Church dwelt in obscurity compared with members of the Most Ancient, 2708, 2715, 2935, 2937, 3246, 3833. From all this it may be seen that members of the Most Ancient Church had an entirely different mental constitution and different disposition from adherents to the Ancient Church.
[3] It was for this reason that those who belonged to the Most Ancient Church were internal people and had no external forms of worship, while those who belonged to the Ancient Church were external people and did have them. For the former saw external things in the light of internal ones, as if by the light of the sun in the daytime, whereas the latter saw internal things in the light of external ones, as if by the light of the moon or stars at night. This also explains why the Lord is seen by the former in heaven as the Sun, but by the latter as the Moon, 1521, 1529-1531, 2441, 2495, 4060. The former are those who in explanations above are called celestial, the latter those who are called spiritual.
[4] To illustrate the essential difference between the two let an example be taken. If a member of the Most Ancient Church had read the Word, the historical or the prophetical, he would have seen its internal sense without prior instruction or any explanation. He would have seen it so perfectly that the celestial and spiritual things belonging to the internal sense would have instantly met his eyes, and scarcely anything belonging to the sense of the letter. Thus the internal sense would have been for him in brightness, but the sense of the letter in obscurity. He would be like someone listening to a person speaking, and taking in only the sense and paying no attention to the words used by the speaker. But if a member of the Ancient Church had read the Word he would not have been able, without prior instruction or explanation, to see its internal sense, and so the internal sense would have been for him in obscurity but the sense of the letter in brightness. He would be like someone listening to a person speaking and in thought hanging on to the words used by him, all the while paying no attention to the sense of them, which would therefore be lost on him. But when a member of the Jewish Church reads the Word he does not understand anything beyond the sense of the letter. He does not know of and also denies the existence of any internal sense. And it is similar with the member of the Christian Church at the present day.
[5] These considerations show the essential difference between those represented here by Hamor and Shechem who, being part of the remnants of the Most Ancient Church, were interested in internal things and not in external ones, and those meant by the sons of Jacob who were interested in external things and not in internal ones. Those considerations show in addition that Hamor and Shechem could not have acceded to external things and accepted those which existed among the sons of Jacob unless their internals were closed. But if these had been closed they would have perished for ever.
[6] This is the hidden reason why Hamor and Shechem with their families were slain, a deed that would not otherwise have been allowed. Not that this absolves the sons of Jacob from blame for having committed that hideous crime. They had no knowledge of that hidden reason, nor did they have that as their end in view. Everyone is judged according to the end he has in view, that is, his intention; and it is plainly stated in verse 13 that their intention was deceitful. When the Lord allows any such crime as this it is carried out by the evil and by those in hell who instigate it. But all evil which the evil intend and do to the good the Lord converts into good, as is the case here in that Hamor and Shechem with their families were [eternally] saved.
‘It happened on the third day’ means that which is continuous even to the end. ‘When they were in pain’ means evil desires. ‘That two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi’ means faith and love. ‘Dinah’s brothers’ means the truths and goods of that Church. ‘Each took his sword’ means falsity and evil. ‘And came with confidence upon the city, and killed every male’ means that they utterly destroyed the truths of doctrine of the Church among the Ancients. ‘And [they killed] Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword’ means the Church itself. ‘And they took Dinah from Shechem’s house, and went away’ means that they took away the affection for truth. ‘The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city’ means that all his descendants destroyed that doctrine. ‘Because they had defiled their sister’ means that they had violated the truth of faith. ‘Their flocks, and their herds’ means that they destroyed rational good and natural good. ‘And their asses’ means the truths derived from these. ‘And whatever was in the city, and whatever was in the field, they took’ means every truth and good of the Church. ‘And all their wealth’ means all factual knowledge which they had acquired for themselves. ‘And all their young children’ means all innocence. ‘And their women’ means charity. ‘They took captive and plundered’ means that they seized them and perverted them. ‘And everything that was in the house’ means everything of the Church.
[2] Sometimes, when I have been talking to angels, I have seen in front of me what looked like numbers written, as if on a sheet of paper, in broad daylight, and I have realized that the spiritual entities about which the angels spoke pass into numbers like these. From this experience I have also been given to know that each number in the Word contains some arcanum. This may be seen plainly from the following in John,
He measured the wall of the holy Jerusalem, a hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. Rev. 21:17.
And elsewhere,
Let him who has intelligence reckon the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, that is, its number is six hundred and sixty-six. Rev. 13:18.
It is evident that the first of these numbers, namely a hundred and forty-four, is the product of twelve times twelve, and that the number six hundred and sixty-six is a product of that involving three or six; but what degree of holiness is implied by them may be seen from the holiness associated with the number twelve, concerning which number see 577, 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3272, 3858, 3913; and concerning the holiness associated with the number three, 720, 901, 1825, 2788, 4010.
[3] Because the number three meant that which is complete even to the end, and so an entire period, whether long or short, it was therefore adopted in the representative Church and used whenever such a meaning needed to be conveyed. It is also used in the same way in the Word, in which every detail carries a spiritual meaning, as may be seen from the following places:
They were to go a three days’ journey and to offer sacrifice. Exod. 3:18; 5:3.
They were to be ready on the third day, for on the third day Jehovah would come down onto Mount Sinai. Exod. 19:11, 15, 16, 18.
Nothing from the flesh of a sacrifice was to be left until the third day. Lev. 7:16-18; 19:6, 7.
The water of separation was to be sprinkled over the unclean person on the third day and on the seventh day. Num. 19:11-end.
Those who touched one killed in war were to be cleansed on the third day and on the seventh day. Num. 31:19-25.
[4] Joshua commanded the people that within three days they would be crossing the Jordan. Josh. 1:11; 3:2.
Jehovah called Samuel three times, and three times Samuel ran to Eli and the third time Eli understood that Jehovah was calling Samuel. 1 Sam. 3:1-8.
Jonathan told David to hide in the field until the third evening. And Jonathan sent to him on the third day from then, and revealed his father’s intention. Jonathan at that point fired three arrows to the side of the stone. And after that David bowed down to the ground three times before Jonathan. Sam. 20:5, 12, 19, 20, 35, 36, 41.
Three things were set before David, of which he was to choose one – either the coming of famine for seven years, or his fleeing before his enemies for three months, or the existence of pestilence in the land for three days. 2 Sam. 24:11- 13.
[5] Rehoboam told the assembly of Israel which asked for relief from his father’s yoke that they should go away for three days and then return And they came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king said, Return to me on the third day. 1 Kings 12:5, 12.
Elijah stretched himself over the widow’s son three times. 1 Kings 17:21.
Elijah told them to pour water over the burnt offering and the wood a third time and they did so a third time. 1 Kings 18:34.
Jonah was in the stomach of the monster for three days and three nights Jonah 1:17; Matt. 12:40.
The Lord talked of someone who planted a vineyard and sent servants three times, and after that his son. Mark 12:2, 4-6, Luke 20:12, 13.
Of Peter, He said that he was to deny Him three times. Matt. 36:34, John 13:38.
He said to Peter three times, Do you love Me? John 21:15-17.
[6] From these and many other places in the Word it becomes clear that the number three holds an arcanum within it, and that for this reason this number was adopted within the ancient Churches as a meaningful sign. It is evident that it means the entire period of a Church and of things within a Church, whether long or short, and therefore that which is complete and also that which is continuous even to the end, as is plain in Hosea,
Jehovah will revive us after two days, on the third day He will raise us up, and we shall live before Him. Hosea 6:2.
[2] It was the Church among the Ancients, a descendant of the Most Ancient Church, that was going to be established among the descendants from Jacob, because the Ancient Church had begun to perish. But the fact that they utterly destroyed every truth of faith and good of charity, and thus every internal aspect of worship among them, and so the fact that no Church could be established among Jacob’s descendants, is described at this point in the internal sense. This explains how it came about that, because of their stubborn insistence, that which was merely a representative of the Church was established among them 4281, 4288-4290, 4293, 4307, 4314, 4316, 4317, 4429, 4433, 4444.
[2] The truth of what has been explained so far regarding Simeon and Levi becomes clear from the prophetical utterances of Jacob before he died, where the following occurs,
Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of violence are their swords. Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is severe. I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel. Gen. 49:5-7.
‘Simeon and Levi’ means the truth of faith which among the descendants of Jacob was turned into falsity, and the good of charity into evil, as above in 4499, 4500. They are called ‘brothers’ because good is the brother of truth, or charity is the brother of faith, 4498. ‘Instruments of violence are their swords’ means that falsities and evils did violence to truths and goods, 4499. ‘Into their secret place let my soul not come, in their congregation let not my glory be united’ means severance as regards life and doctrine, for in the Word ‘soul’ is used to refer to life, 1000, 1040, 1742, 3299, and ‘glory’ to doctrine. ‘For in their anger they killed a man, in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox’ means that with evil intent they annihilated the truth of the Church and the good of the Church, ‘a man’ meaning the truth of the Church, 3134, and ‘an ox’ its good, 2180, 2566, 2781. ‘Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is severe’ means the punishment incurred for turning away from truth and good – ‘cursing’ meaning turning oneself away and also being punished on that account, 245, 379, 1423, 3530, 3584, while anger means the departure from good, and ‘fury’ the departure from truth, 357, 3614. ‘I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel’ means that goods and truths will exist no longer within either the external or the internal aspect of their Church – ‘dividing’ and ‘scattering’ meaning separating and completely removing from them, 4424, ‘Jacob’ being the external aspect of the Church and ‘Israel’ the internal, 4286.
[3] These things are said about Simeon and Levi in this prophetical utterance because those two mean in general the truth and good of the Church, and when these cease to exist, and more so when falsities and evils take their place, the Church has been wiped out. Nothing other than this is contained in these prophetical words, as may be seen from the fact that neither the tribe of Simeon nor the tribe of Levi was cursed more than any other tribe. For the tribe of Levi was selected for the priesthood, and the tribe of Simeon existed as one of the rest of the tribes of Israel.
[2] That arcanum is this: After the truth and good of the Church which are represented by ‘Simeon and Levi’ were wiped out and falsity and evil took their place, further falsities and evils were added, which are meant in the contrary sense by the rest of Jacob’s sons. Each son of Jacob represented some general aspect of faith and charity, as has been shown in 2129, 3858, 3913, 3926, 3939, 4060. Which aspect is represented by each, see the following: Reuben, 3861, 3866, 3870; Judah, 3881; Dan, 3921-3923; Naphtali, 3927, 3928; Gad, 3934, 3935; Asher, 3938, 3939; Issachar, 3956, 3957; Zebulun, 3960, 3961. These general aspects of faith and charity which those sons represented become falsities and evils of that kind once the truth and good of the Church have been wiped out and those further falsities and evils have been added to them; for falsities and evils are constantly on the increase within the Church once it has been perverted and wiped out. It is these added falsities and evils that are meant by the reference to Jacob’s sons coming upon the slain and plundering the city after Simeon and Levi had killed every male in the city as well as Hamor and Shechem, and had taken Dinah and gone away.
[3] That ‘the slain’ in the Word means truths and goods which have been wiped out may be seen from the following places: In Isaiah,
You are cast out from your sepulchre like an abominable branch, a garment of the killed – slain with the sword – who go down to the stones of the pit like a dead body trodden underfoot. Isa. 14:19.
This refers to Babel. ‘Those slain with the sword’ stands for those who have profaned the truths of the Church. In the same prophet,
So that their slain are cast out and the stench of their dead bodies rises up. Isa. 34:3.
This refers to the falsities and evils which infest the Church, ‘the slain’ standing for these.
[4] In Ezekiel,
The violent of the nations will draw the sword against the beauty of your wisdom, and they will profane your loveliness. They will bring you down into the pit and you will die the deaths of those slain in the midst of the seas. Ezek. 28:7, 8.
This refers to the prince of Tyre who means the leading cognitions of truth and good. ‘Dying the deaths of those slain in the midst of the seas’ stands for those who use facts to hatch falsities and in consequence defile the truths of the Church.
[5] In the same prophet,
They also will go down with them into hell, to those slain with the sword. You will be made to go down with the trees of Eden into the nether world, in the midst of the uncircumcised you will lie with those slain with the sword. Ezek. 31:17, 18.
In the same prophet,
Go down and lie with the uncircumcised; they will fall in the midst of those slain with the sword; the chief of the powerful ones will speak to him in the midst of hell. Ezek. 32:19-21.
This refers to Pharaoh and Egypt. ‘Those slain with the sword’ stands for those who by their use of knowledge become insane; by their use of it they destroy all belief in the truth known to the Church.
[6] In David,
I have been reckoned with them going down to the pit; I have become as a man with no strength, neglected among the dead, like the slain lying in the sepulchre whom you remember no more and who have been cut off by your hand.
‘The slain’ in hell – those in the pit and ‘in the sepulchre’ – stands for those who have destroyed the truths and goods residing with them by means of falsities and evils. Anyone can recognize that these are not in hell merely because they have been slain with the sword.
[7] In Isaiah,
A city of tumults, an exultant city, [your slain] have not been slain with the sword, and they have not been killed in war. All who have been found in you have been bound together in chains. They have fled from far away. Isa. 22:2, 3.
This refers to the illusions resulting from the evidence of the senses which do not enable the truths of the Church to be seen. It refers therefore to people subject to negative doubt, and these are called ‘slain but not with the sword’.
[8] In Ezekiel,
I am bringing a sword upon you and destroying your high places; and your altars will be destroyed, and your statues will be broken; and I will cause your slain to lie before your idols. When the slain have fallen in the midst of you, you will know that I am Jehovah. Then you will acknowledge, when the slain are in the midst of their idols, around their altar. Ezek. 6:3, 4, 7, 13.
‘The slain’ stands for those who are governed by falsities of doctrine.
[9] In the same prophet,
Defile the house, and fill the courts with the slain. They went forth and smote in the city. Ezek. 9:7.
This is a prophetic vision. ‘Defiling the house and filling the courts with the slain’ stands for profaning goods and truths. In the same prophet,
You have multiplied your slain in this city, and have filled its streets with the slain. Therefore said the Lord Jehovih, Your slain whom you have placed in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and that is the pot; and he will lead you out from the midst of it. Ezek. 11:6, 7.
[10] Because ‘the slain’ meant those who have annihilated the truths of the Church by means of falsities and evils, therefore also in the representative Church those who touched one who had been slain were unclean. Such persons are referred to in Moses as follows,
Everyone who has touched on the surface of the field one slain with the sword, or one dead, or a human bone, or a sepulchre will be unclean for seven days. Num. 19:16, 18.
Inquiry was therefore made and atonement effected by means of a heifer. In the same author,
If one is found slain, lying in the field, and it is not known who smote him, then the elders of the city and the judges shall come out and they shall measure [the distance] to the cities which are around the one slain. It shall be, that in the city nearest to the one slain the elders of that city shall take a heifer by means of which no work has been done, which has not pulled in the yoke, and they shall bring it down to the river or valley, and there they shall break the heifer’s neck. And they shall wash their hands over the heifer whose neck has been broken and shall say, Our hands have not shed blood, and our eyes have not seen it. Expiate Your people Israel, O Jehovah, and do not set innocent blood in the midst of Your people; and the blood shall be expiated for them. Deut. 21:1-8.
[11] These laws were laid down because one who has been slain means the perversion, destruction, and profanation of the truth of the Church by means of falsity and evil, as is evident from each detail in the internal sense. The expression ‘one slain, lying in the field’ is used because ‘the field’ means the Church, see 2971, 3310, 3766. ‘A heifer by means of which no work has been done’ means the innocence of the external man which is present within ignorance. Without a clear knowledge of these things meant in the internal sense everyone will be surprised that a procedure such as this for making expiation should ever have been ordained.
‘Jacob said’ means the external Ancient Church. ‘To Simeon and Levi’ means that which was the representative of spiritual and celestial things. ‘You have brought trouble on me, by making me stink to the inhabitant of the land’ means that those who belonged to the Ancient Church abominated them. ‘To the Canaanite and the Perizzite’ means those who are governed by good and truth. ‘And I am [a few] mortals in number’ means that it would be easy…. ‘And they will be gathered together against me and will smite me, and I shall be destroyed’ means, for the Ancient Church so to perish. ‘I and my house’ means as regards truth and good. ‘And they said’ means the reply. ‘Is he going to treat our sister like a prostitute?’ means on account of the fact that they had no affection [for truth].
Everyone who has any knowledge about air and sound may know that the formation of the ear is determined wholly and completely by the nature of the modifications of these, so that the actual physical and material ear corresponds to such modifications. And everyone who has acquired any knowledge concerning the atmosphere and light knows that the actual physical and material eye is formed in such a way that it corresponds to the modifications of these. So perfectly do the ear and the eye correspond to them that any arcanum hidden within the natural existence of air and sound is inscribed on the organism of the ear, and any arcanum hidden within the existence of the atmosphere and light is inscribed on the organism of the eye.
[2] Consequently anyone who has studied anatomy and at the same time physics may know by investigation that other physical and material organs – not merely the sensory but also the motor ones, as well as the internal organs – correspond to things that are part of the natural world. Thus the whole body is an organ composed of the deepest arcana belonging to everything which exists within the natural world, and its formation is determined by the hidden forces by which all things act and the wonderful manner in which they flow. This was why the ancients called the human being a little world or microcosm.
[3] One who knows these things may also know that whatever exists in the world and in the natural system does not come into being of itself but from something prior to itself; and that this something prior cannot come into being of itself but from something even more prior; and so on back to Him who is the First, from whom in their ordered sequence things come into being. And because they come into being from Him they are also kept in being from Him, for being kept in being is constant coming into being. Consequently all things without exception, right down to the last that belong to the natural order, have not only come into being from the First but are also being kept in being from the First. For if every single thing were not constantly coming into being, and if this continuous connection extending from the First and so linked to the First did not exist, it would instantly fall to pieces and perish.
[2] Some of them had not believed anything other than that after death human beings would be like ghosts, an idea which they had become convinced was true because of the apparitions they had heard about. But from this they concluded that a ghost was no more than some gross principle of life which is initially released from the life of the body but then returns again to the corpse, and in so doing is snuffed out. Others had believed however that they would not rise again until the time of the Last Judgement when the world would be destroyed, at which time they would rise again with the body which, though it had crumbled to dust, would be reassembled and in this way they would rise again with their bones and flesh. And because they had in vain been awaiting that Last Judgement or destruction of the world for many centuries they had sunk into the error of thinking that they would not rise again at all. They had not thought about what they had learned from the Word, and had sometimes even quoted that when a person dies his soul is in the hand of God,* and is among the happy or the unhappy depending on the life he had come to know; nor have they thought about what the Lord said concerning the rich man and Lazarus. But these recently arrived spirits were informed that everyone’s last judgement takes place when he dies, at which time it seems to him that he is endowed with a body as when in the world, and has the use of every sense as he has done here, though that sense is now purer and more perfect because nothing bodily imposes any limitations on it, and things which belong to the light of the world no longer cloud over those that belong to the light of heaven. Thus he now lives in a body that so to speak has been purified. In that world he could not possibly carry around a body of bones and flesh like that he had in the world, for in this case he would once again be invested with earthly dust.
[3] I have talked on this subject to some on the very day that their bodies were being buried, and through my eyes they have seen their own dead body, bier, and interment. They then said that they were casting that body aside, and that it had served them for uses performed in the world in which they had been but that now they were living in a body which served them for the uses performed in that world in which they were now. They also wished me to tell these things to their mourning relatives, but I was led to reply that if I did they would laugh at it because they did not believe in the existence of anything which they were unable to see with their own eyes, and so they would include what I said among visions which were mere illusions. For people cannot be brought to believe that as men see one another with their eyes so spirits see one another with theirs, and that man is unable to see spirits except with the eyes of his spirit, and that he sees them when the Lord opens his sight, as happened to the prophets, who saw spirits and angels, and also many of the things in heaven. But whether people living today would have believed those things if they had seen them at that time is open to doubt.
* A saying that is possibly derived from Deut. 33:3, or from Wisdom of Solomon 3:3 in the Apocrypha.
[2] The paradise gardens are in the first heaven, on the verge leading to the inner parts of that heaven. They are representations which come down from the heaven above it when the angels of that higher heaven are engaged in serious discussion about the truths of faith. To communicate with one another the angels there rely on spiritual and celestial ideas to serve them as verbal expressions, and on consecutive sequences of representations, the beauty and loveliness of which cannot be described in any way at all. It is these beautiful and lovely expressions of ideas that are represented in the lower heaven as paradise gardens.
[3] This heaven is divided into many separate heavens, to which the individual parts within the chambers of the eye correspond. There is a heaven where the paradise gardens referred to above may be found. There is a heaven where different coloured skies may be seen, where the whole air is flashing so to speak with gold, silver, pearls, precious stones, very tiny flowers, and countless other things. There is a rainbow heaven where very beautiful rainbows appear, large and small, variegated with most splendid colours. Each of these is a product of the light from the Lord which holds intelligence and wisdom within it, and therefore every single object there holds some measure of intelligence and wisdom – the attributes of truth and good respectively – which is manifested in this representative fashion.
[4] Those who do not have any concept of heaven or of the light there can scarcely be led to believe that such things exist there. Consequently if those who bring that absence of belief with them into the next life have been governed by the truth and good of faith, they are taken by angels to those sights, and when they see them they are astounded. Concerning the paradise gardens, the skies, and the rainbow scenes, see previous descriptions of my experience of them in 1619-1626, 2296, 3220; also in the heavens consecutive representations occur constantly, 1807, 1808, 1971, 1980, 1981, 2299, 2763, 3213, 3216-3218, 3222, 3350, 3475, 3485.
[2] He spoke to me from there and said that he had never believed anything such as this, and that if people in the world were to hear of such things they would regard them as absurdities. He went on to say that the flowers visible there were far more abundant than those he had seen at any time in the world and were scarcely able to be appreciated by any worldly kind of discernment, and that each one sparkled with unimaginable brightness because it was a product of the light of heaven. He was not as yet able to perceive that that sparkling had a spiritual origin, namely that in every one there existed some measure of intelligence and wisdom – the attributes of truth and good – as the source of their sparkling. He said in addition that people on earth would never believe this because few believe in the existence of any heaven or hell; and those who do believe may know merely that there is joy in heaven, few among these believing that things exist there such as the eye has never seen, the ear has never heard, and the mind has never been able to contemplate. Such unbelief exists in spite of their knowing from the Word that amazing scenes were seen by the Prophets, like the many seen by John, as described in the Book of Revelation, which however were nothing other than representatives which occur continuously in heaven and which were seen by him once his internal sight had been opened.
[3] But these things are comparatively unimportant. People who possess true intelligence and wisdom, in which those representatives originate, dwell in a state of happiness which is such that the things which have been mentioned belong among those that are not so important. There have also been others who have said when in the paradise gardens that these surpass every degree of happiness. They were therefore taken into a heaven further over to the right whose radiancy was brighter still, and at length to that heaven where they experienced the blessedness of intelligence and wisdom which those representatives hold within them. While they were there they spoke to me, saying that the things which they had seen previously were as nothing compared with what they experienced now. At last they were taken to that heaven where they were scarcely able to bear the bliss of interior affection, for that bliss pierced them through to the marrow; and when their marrow so to speak was dissolved into bliss they began to sink into a holy swoon.
Behold, I am creating new heavens and a new earth; therefore the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.* Be glad and rejoice for ever in the things I am creating; behold, I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. Isa. 65:17, 18; 66:22.
[2] Those who do not look beyond the literal sense cannot conceive of anything else than this – that the whole sky together with this planet will be annihilated, and then the dead – for the first time – will rise again and dwell in the new heaven and on the new earth. But these places in the Word should not be understood in that way, as may be recognized from other places in the Word where the heavens and the earth are referred to. Those who have any belief in an internal sense can see plainly that ‘a new heaven’ and ‘a new earth’ are used to mean a new Church which takes over when the previous one passes away, 1733, 1850, 3355 (end), and that ‘heaven’ is the internal aspect of that new Church and ‘earth’ the external aspect of it.
[3] This last period of the previous Church and the first of the new one are also called the Close of the Age, about which the Lord has spoken in Matthew 24. They are called also His Coming, for at that time the Lord departs from the previous Church and comes to the new. The description of that period as the Close of the Age may also be seen from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,
On that day a remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the God of power. For though your people Israel will be as the sand of the sea, a remnant of it will return. The close has been determined, overflowing with righteousness, for the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth is bringing the whole earth to its close and to its determined end. Isa. 10:20-23.
In the same prophet,
Now do not be derisive, lest your punishments increase, for a close and a cutting off I have heard from the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth over the whole earth. Isa. 28:22.
In Jeremiah,
Thus said Jehovah, The whole earth will be a waste, yet I will not bring it to a close. Jer. 4:27.
In Zephaniah,
I will bring men into distress, and they will go as the blind, because they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood will be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung. For Jehovah will bring to a close, indeed to a hasty one, all the inhabitants of the earth. Zeph. 1:17, 18.
From each detail stated here it is evident that ‘a close’ means the last period of the Church and ‘the earth’ the Church itself.
[4] The reason why ‘the earth (or land)’ means the Church is that the land of Canaan was the land where the Church had existed since most ancient times, and later on where among the descendants of Jacob a representative of the Church existed. When this land is said to have been ‘brought to a close’ it is not the nation dwelling there that is meant but the holiness of worship which existed with the nation where the Church was. For the Word is spiritual; but the actual land is not spiritual, nor is the nation dwelling in it, only that which constitutes the Church there. For evidence that the land of Canaan was the land where the Church had existed from most ancient times, see 567, 3686, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517; and this explains why ‘the land’ or ‘the earth’ in the Word means the Church, 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 3355, 4447. From all this one may see what is meant in Isaiah by ‘bringing the whole earth to a close’, and in Zephaniah by ‘bringing all the inhabitants of the earth to a hasty one’. It is well known that the Jewish nation which inhabited that land was not ‘brought to a close’ but that the holiness of worship among them was.
[5] This meaning of ‘the close’ is even clearer in Daniel,
Seventy weeks have been decreed concerning your people and your holy city to bring transgression to a close and to seal up sins and to atone for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the Most Holy Place. In the middle of the week he will cause sacrifice and offering to cease. At length upon the bird of desolations will come desolation; until a close and a cutting off will it drop upon the devastation. Dan. 9:24, 27.
[6] From this one may now see that the close of the age – about which the disciples were asking when they said to the Lord ‘What will be the sign of Your coming and of the close of the age?’ Matt. 24:3 – does not mean anything else than the final period of the Church. The same is also meant by the Lord’s words, which are the very last in the same gospel,
Jesus said to the disciples, Teaching them to observe** all things whatever I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you at all times*** even to the close of the age. Matt. 28:20.
The reason why the Lord said that He would be with the disciples even to the close of the age is that the Lord’s twelve disciples are similar in meaning to the twelve tribes of Israel. That is to say, they mean all things of love and faith, and therefore all things of the Church, see 3354, 3488, 3858, as do the twelve tribes, 3858, 3926, 3939, 4060. The fact that the Church reaches its close when no charity exists there any longer, nor consequently any faith, has been shown several times already; and that within the Church at the present day, called the Christian Church, scarcely any trace of charity or consequently of faith survives there; and that the close of the age is accordingly now at hand, will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be shown further on.
* lit. come up upon the heart
** Reading servare (to observe) for the imperative servate (observe)
*** lit. I am with you all the days
GENESIS 35
1 And God said to Jacob, Rise up, go up to Bethel and settle there, and make there an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from before Esau your brother.
2 And Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, Remove the gods of the foreigner which are in the midst of you, and be purified, and change your garments.
3 And let us rise up and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to the God who answered me on the day of my distress, and was with me in the way that I went.*
4 And they gave to Jacob all the gods of the foreigner which were in their hand, and the jewels which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
5 And they travelled on; and the terror of God was on the cities which were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.
6 And Jacob came to Luz which is in the land of Canaan – that is, Bethel – he and all the people who were with him.
7 And he built an altar there, and called the place El Bethel, for there the gods were revealed to him, when he was fleeing from before his brother.
8 And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and was buried below Bethel under an oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.
9 And God was seen by Jacob again, when he was coming from Paddan Aram; and He blessed him.
10 And God said to him, Your name is Jacob; your name will no longer be called Jacob, but indeed Israel will be your name; and He called his name Israel.
11 And God said to him, I am God Shaddai, be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will go out from your loins.
12 And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and to your seed after you I will give the land.
13 And God went up from over him in the place where He talked to him.
14 And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked to him, a stone pillar, and poured out a drink-offering onto it, and poured oil onto it.
15 And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke to him, Bethel.
16 And they travelled on from Bethel, and there was still a stretch of land to go to Ephrath; and Rachel gave birth, and suffered severely’ in giving birth.
17 And it happened in her suffering severely,** in giving birth, that the
midwife said to her, Do not be afraid, for this also is a son for you.
18 And it happened as her soul was departing, when she was about to die, that she called his name Ben-oni; and his father called him Benjamin.
19 And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.
20 And Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; this is the pillar of Rachel’s grave even to this day.
21 And Israel travelled on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.
22 And it happened while Israel was residing in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard of it. And the sons of Jacob were twelve.
23 The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.
24 The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.
25 And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant-girl: Dan and Naphtali.
26 And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant-girl: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.
27 And Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, Kiriath Arba, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.
28 And the days of Issac were a hundred and eighty years.
29 And Isaac breathed his last, and died, and was gathered to his peoples, old and full of days. And Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.
* lit. walked
** lit. hard things
This chapter deals in the internal sense with how all else in the Lord’s Natural was made Divine, the interior aspects of the Natural which were made Divine being meant by ‘Israel’ now. Progress towards aspects even more interior, where the Rational is situated, is described by the birth of Benjamin, and after that by Jacob’s sons when they came to Isaac.
Verses 1-4 And God said to Jacob, Rise up, go up to Bethel and settle there, and make there an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from before Esau your brother. And Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, Remove the gods of the foreigner which am in the midst of you, and be purified, and change your garments. And let us rise up and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to the God who answered me on the day of my distress, and was with me in the way that I went.* And they gave to Jacob all the gods of the foreigner which were in their hand, and the jewels which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.
‘God said to Jacob’ means the perception which the kind of natural good that ‘Jacob’ now represents received from the Divine. ‘Rise up, go up to Bethel’ means concerning the Divine Natural. ‘And settle there’ means life. ‘And make there an altar to the God who appeared to you’ means that which is holy there. ‘When you fled from before Esau your brother’ means when truth was placed above good. ‘And Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him’ means the arrangement within the kind of natural good that existed at that point. ‘Remove the gods of the foreigner which are in the midst of you’ means that falsities were to be cast aside. ‘And be purified, and change your garments’ means the holiness that was to be put on. ‘And let us rise up and go up to Bethel’ means the Divine Natural. ‘And I will make there an altar to the God’ means the holiness by which interior things are enveloped. ‘Who answered me on the day of my distress’ means within the state in which truth is placed above good. ‘And was with me in the way that I went’ means His Divine Providence. ‘And they gave to Jacob all the gods of the foreigner which were in their hand’ means that [natural good] did, as far as possible, cast aside all falsities. ‘And the jewels which were in their ears’ means realized in actions. ‘And Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem’ means an eternal casting away, ‘the oak of Shechem’ meaning the deceptive natural.
* lit. walked
[2] In the highest sense ‘Jacob’ represents in general the Lord’s Divine Natural. But the Lord’s Natural, when He glorified it, was different at the beginning of the process of glorification from what it was during this and at the end of it; and this is why Jacob’s representation was varying. That is to say, at the beginning of the process the Lord’s Natural as regards truth is represented by him, during that process the Lord’s Natural as regards the good of truth, and at the end of it as regards good. For the Lord’s glorification advanced from truth to the good of truth, and finally to good, as shown many times in what has gone before. The end of the process being the subject at present, ‘Jacob’ represents the Lord as regards natural good. See what has been shown already about these matters, that is to say, about Jacob’s representation in the highest sense – how at the beginning of the process he represents the Lord’s Divine Natural as regards truth, 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 3576′ 3599, during it the Lord’s Divine Natural as regards the good of truth, 3659, 3669, 3677, 4234, 4273, 4337. But now he represents the Lord’s Divine Natural as regards good, for the reason, as stated, that it is the end of the process.
[3] Such was the process which took place when the Lord made His Natural Divine. A similar process also takes place when the Lord regenerates man, for when the Lord made His Human Divine He was pleased to do things in the same sequence as He does when He makes man new. This explains why it has been stated frequently that man’s regeneration is an image of the Lord’s glorification, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402. When the Lord makes man new He first of all supplies him with the truths of faith, for without the truths of faith he does not know who the Lord is, what heaven is, or what hell is; he does not even know of their existence, let alone of the countless things which have to do with the Lord, His kingdom in heaven, and His kingdom on earth, which is the Church. Nor does he know the identity or nature of the opposite of these, namely the things of hell.
[4] Until he does know these things no one can know what good is. The word ‘good’ is not used to mean the public good or the good of the individual, for one can learn in the world about these through laws and regulations and through reflection on human customs and habits, which is why gentiles outside the Church know such things too. ‘Good’ is a word used to mean spiritual good, which in the Word is called charity, and this good in general implies willing and doing to another that which is good not for any selfish reason but out of delight and affection for doing it. This good is spiritual good, which no one can possibly arrive at except through the truths of faith, which are taught by the Lord through the Word and regular preaching of the Word.
[5] Once a person has been supplied with the truths of faith he is then gradually led by the Lord to will the truth, and from willing it to putting it into practice. This truth is called the good of truth, for that good is truth present in will and action and is called the good of truth because truth which has been a matter of doctrine now becomes a matter of life. When at length the person takes delight in willing good and so putting it into practice, it is no longer called the good of truth, but simply good. For now he is regenerate, and it is no longer truth leading him to will and do what is good, but good moving him to will and put truth into practice. And the truth now practiced by him is also so to speak good, since that truth derives its essential being from that in which it originates – in good. From all this one may see what is meant by the statement that in the highest sense ‘Jacob’ represents the Lord’s Natural as regards good, and one may see where that representation has its origin. The reason why ‘Jacob’ here represents this good is that the subject now in the internal sense is further advances, that is to say, advances made into more interior parts of the natural, which are meant by ‘Israel’, 4536. No one who is being regenerated by the Lord can be led to those more interior things until the truth present with him has become good.
[2] The reason why ‘going up’ means a raising up towards more interior aspects is that things which are interior are spoken of as those that are higher, 2148, and therefore when the subject in the internal sense is an advance towards things that are more interior the expression ‘going up’ is used. Examples of this usage are, going up from Egypt to the land of Canaan; going up into the interior parts of the land of Canaan itself; going up from any part there to Jerusalem; and when in Jerusalem itself, going up to the house of God there. Going up from Egypt to the land of Canaan is referred to in Moses,
Pharaoh said to Joseph, Go up and bury your father. And Joseph went up. And there went up with him all Pharaoh’s servants. And there went up with him chariot and horseman. Gen. 50:6-9.
And in the Book of Judges,
The angel of Jehovah went up from Gilgal to Bochim, and he said, I caused you to go up out of Egypt. Judg. 2:1.
In the internal sense ‘Egypt’ means factual knowledge which helps people to have some conception of things belonging to the Lord’s kingdom, while ‘the land of Canaan’ means the Lord’s kingdom. And because facts are lower, or what amounts to the same, exterior, while things belonging to the Lord’s kingdom are higher, or what amounts to the same, interior, the Word therefore speaks of ‘going up’ from Egypt to the land of Canaan, or – when travelling in the opposite direction – of ‘going down’ from the land of Canaan to Egypt, as in Gen. 42:2, 3; 43:4, 5, 15; and elsewhere.
[3] Going up into the interior parts of the land of Canaan itself is spoken of in Joshua,
Joshua said, Go up and spy out the land. And the men went up and spied out Ai, and they resumed to Joshua and said to him, Do not let all the people go up; let about 2000 men or about 3000 men go up. Therefore there went up of the people about 3000 men. Josh. 7:2-4.
Because ‘the land of Canaan’ means the Lord’s kingdom, parts further in from its border regions meant things that are interior; hence the use in this quotation of the verb ‘to go up’. The same is true of Jerusalem in relation to all the regions surrounding it, and of the house of God in relation to Jerusalem within which it stood, 1 Kings 12:27, 28; 2 Kings 20:5, 8; Matt. 20:18; Mark 10:33; Luke 18:31; and in many other places besides these. For Jerusalem was the inmost part of the land because the Lord’s spiritual kingdom was meant by it, and the house of God was the inmost part of Jerusalem because the Lord’s celestial kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself were meant by it. This is why one speaks of ‘going up’ to these places. From all this one can see what is meant by ‘rise up, go up to Bethel’, namely that ‘going up’ means an advance towards things that are more interior, the subject dealt with in the present chapter, [see] 4536.
[2] ‘Changing their garments’ was representative of the need to put on holy truths, as may also be seen from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,
Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion, put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city, for there will no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Isa. 52:1.
Since ‘Zion’ means the celestial Church and ‘Jerusalem’ the spiritual Church, and the celestial Church is that which dwells in good by virtue of its love to the Lord, and the spiritual Church in truth by virtue of its faith and charity, ‘strength’ is therefore used in reference to Zion, and ‘garments’ in reference to Jerusalem. And when clothed with these the two are ‘clean’.
[3] In Zechariah,
Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and so stood before the angel. And [the angel] answered and said to those standing before him – he said – Remove the filthy garments from upon him. And he said to him, See, I have caused your iniquity to pass away from upon you, by putting on you a change of garments Zech. 3:3, 4.
From this place too it is evident that ‘removing garments’ and ‘putting on a change of garments’ represented purification from falsities, for the words ‘I have caused your iniquity to pass away from upon you’ are used. This also explains why people had changes of garments – which they called simply ‘changes’, an expression occurring in various places in the Word – because different representations were set forth by means of those changes.
[4] Because the kinds of things mentioned here were represented by changes of garments it is therefore said in Ezekiel, in the description of the new Temple, which in the internal sense means a new Church,
When the priests enter they shall not go out of the holy place to the outer court, but there shall lay aside their garments in which they have ministered, for these are holy,* and they shall put on other garments and go near the things which are for the people. Ezek. 42:14.
And in the same prophet,
When they go out to the outer court, to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, and they shall not sanctify the people in their own garments.** Ezek. 44:19.
[5] Anyone may see that a new temple and the holy city and land which are referred to by the prophet in this chapter, and in the chapters before and after it, are not used to mean any new temple, new city, or new land. For reference is made to sacrifices and religious ceremonies being introduced anew, when in fact these had to be brought to an end; and mention is also made of how the tribes of Israel, referred to by name, were to divide the land among themselves into inheritances, when in fact they were dispersed and never returned to the land. From this it is evident that the religious ceremonies referred to in those chapters mean the spiritual and celestial things constituting the Church. Much the same is meant by Aaron’s change of garments when he was going to minister, to offer a burnt offering; in Moses,
He shall put on his linen robe, and linen breeches. He shall place the ashes at the side of the altar. After he takes off his own garments and puts on other garments he shall carry away the ashes to a clean place outside the camp. Lev. 6:9-12.
This was what he had to do when offering the burnt offering.
[6] As regards ‘being cleansed’ meaning being made holy, this may be seen from the cleansings that were commanded, such as the command to wash their flesh and their garments, and the command to be sprinkled with the waters of separation. Everyone who knows anything about the spiritual man may also recognize that nobody is made holy by carrying out commands such as these. For what does iniquity or sin have to do with the garments a person is wearing? Yet it is stated several times that after people had cleansed themselves they would be holy. From this it is also evident that such rituals which the Israelites were commanded to carry out were in no way holy except by virtue of their representation of holy things, and that as a consequence people who served as representers did not on that account become holy persons. It was the holiness they represented, quite apart from them as actual persons, that stirred the affections of the spirits present with them, and through these the affections of the angels in heaven, 4307.
[7] For in order that the human race may be kept in being, human beings must of necessity live in communication with heaven; and that communication is effected through the Church. Otherwise human beings would become like animals, lacking any restraints internally or externally, so that all would plunge unchecked into the destruction of others and would annihilate one another. And because in the time of the Israelites no communication through any Church was possible, the Lord therefore provided in an amazing way for a communication to be effected by means of representatives. It is evident from many places in the Word that being made holy was represented by the ritual observance of washing and cleansing, as when Jehovah came down on Mount Sinai and then said to Moses,
Make them holy today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready on the third day. Exod. 19:10, 11.
In Ezekiel,
I will sprinkle clean water over you, and you will be cleansed from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I give in the midst of you. Ezek. 36:25, 26.
Here it is plain that ‘sprinkling clean water’ represented purification of the heart, so that ‘being cleansed’ means being made holy.
* lit. holiness
** The Latin means they shall sanctify the people in other garments, but the Hebrew means they shall not sanctify the people in their own garments, which Sw. has in another place where he quotes this verse.
[2] A person is totally unaware of this happening to him, yet that kind of removal and casting aside of falsities is going on from earliest childhood to the last stage of his life. This activity goes on in everyone, but it does so in a particular manner in one who is being regenerated. In one who is not being regenerated a similar activity is taking place, for when he becomes grown up and he matures in judgement that belongs to that stage in life, he regards his childhood judgements as unintelligent and absurd, thus very far removed from what he now thinks. But the difference between one who is regenerate and one who is not is that the regenerate regards as being remote from his thinking those things which do not accord with the good of faith and charity, whereas the unregenerate regards as being remote from his thinking those which do not accord with the delight he takes in what he loves. The unregenerate therefore, for the most part, regards truths as falsities, and falsities as truths. As regards jewels there were two kinds – those fastened above the nose to the forehead and those fastened to the ears. Those fastened above the nose to the forehead were symbols representative of good and were called nose-jewels, dealt with in 3103, whereas those fastened to the ears were symbols representative of obedience and are ear-jewels. But in the original language the same word is used to describe both nose-jewel and ear-jewel.
[2] Furthermore, when falsities are being removed in the case of a regenerate person they are cast away to the lowest part of the natural. For this reason when anyone has become mature in judgement and clear-sighted, and especially when he has become intelligent and wise, those things in the natural seem to be far removed from the interior sight he has. For with one who is regenerate truths are present within the inmost part of his natural alongside the good there, which is like a small sun. Other kinds of truths which are dependent on these are distanced from them by, so to speak, their relationships by blood or through marriage to good. Deceptive truths exist in the more outlying parts, and falsities are cast away to the outermost parts. These remain with a person for ever, arranged – when he allows himself to be led by the Lord – into the kind of order that has just been described. For that ordering is a heavenly one since heaven itself is ordered in a similar way. But when a person does not allow himself to be led by the Lord but by evil, a contrary ordering exists. In his case evil together with falsities is at the centre; truths have then been cast away to the surrounding parts, and actual Divine truths to the ultimate parts. This ordering is a hellish one since hell itself is ordered in a similar way. The most outlying parts constitute the lowest of the natural.
[3] The reason why ‘the oak’ means falsities which are the lowest parts of the natural is that in the Ancient Church, when external worship representative of the Lord’s kingdom existed, all trees of every kind had some spiritual or else celestial meaning. The olive, for example, and consequently olive oil, meant those things which belonged to celestial love; the vine and consequently wine those things that belonged to charity and from this to faith; and so on with every other kind of tree, such as the cedar, the fig, the poplar, the beech, and the oak, which too had their own individual meanings, as shown in various places in explanatory sections. It is because of the meaning these trees had in the Ancient Church that they are mentioned so many times in the Word, as also in general are gardens, groves, and forests, and that people held their worship in these, under particular trees. But because that worship became idolatrous, and the descendants of Jacob, among whom a representative of the Church was to be established, were inclined to idolatrous practices and therefore set up so many idols in such places, they were forbidden to hold worship in gardens and groves, under the trees there. Even so, these trees retained their spiritual or celestial meanings. Consequently not only the more noble trees, such as olives, vines, and cedars, but also the poplar, the beech, and the oak, when mentioned in the Word, have the same meanings as they had in the Ancient Church.
[4] ‘Oaks’ in the good sense means the truths and forms of good that make up the lowest parts of the natural, and in the contrary sense the falsities and evils which do so, as is clear from places where they are mentioned in the Word and understood in the internal sense, as in Isaiah,
Those forsaking Jehovah will be consumed, for they will be ashamed of the oaks which you have desired. And you will be like an oak, casting down its leaves and like a garden that has no water. Isa. 1:28-30.
In the same prophet,
The day of Jehovah Zebaoth upon everyone uplifted or lowly, and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, and upon all the oaks of Bashan. Isa. 2:12, 13.
Anyone may recognize that ‘the day of Jehovah’ is not going to be a visitation upon cedars and oaks but upon people meant by those trees. In the same prophet,
He who fashions a god cuts down cedars for himself, and takes a beech and an oak and strengthens himself among the trees of the forest. Isa. 44:[10,] 14.
[5] In Ezekiel,
You will acknowledge that I am Jehovah, when their slain lie in the midst of the idols around their altars, upon every high hill, on all the mountain-tops, and under every green tree, and under every entangled oak, in the place where they offered an odour of rest to all their idols. Ezek. 6:13.
The ancients also worshipped on hills and mountains because ‘hills and mountains’ means heavenly love – though when idolaters do the same, self-love and love of the world are meant, 795, 796, 1430, 2722, 4210 – and also under trees because, as stated above, each had a meaning of its own depending on what kind of tree it was. ‘Under an entangled oak’ here means worship based on falsities constituting the lowest parts of the natural, for they exist there in an entangled condition, 2831. In Hosea,
They offer sacrifice on mountain-tops and burn incense on hills, under oak, poplar, and hard oak, because its shade is good. Therefore your daughters commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. Hosea 4:13.
‘Committing whoredom’ means falsifying truths, and ‘committing adultery’ perverting forms of good – see 2466, 2729, 3399. In Zechariah,
Open your doors, O Lebanon, and let fire consume your cedars, for the cedar is fallen, for the magnificent ones are ruined. Howl, O oaks of Bashan, for the forest of Bazir has come down. Zech. 11:1, 2.
‘They travelled on’ means a continuation. ‘And the terror of God was on the cities which were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob’ means that falsities and evils were unable to come near. ‘And Jacob came to Luz which is in the land of Canaan’ means the natural as it was in the previous state. ‘That is, Bethel’ means the Divine Natural. ‘He and all the people who were with him’ means with all things there. ‘And he built an altar there’ means through being made holy. ‘And called the place El Bethel’ means a holy natural. ‘For there the gods were revealed to him’ means holy truths. ‘When he was fleeing from before his brother’ means after truths were placed above good.
[2] The truth that ‘the terror of God’ means protection may be illustrated by things that happen in the next life. There the hells cannot possibly go near heaven, nor evil spirits go near any heavenly community, because the terror of God enters into them. Indeed when evil spirits approach any heavenly community they are suddenly seized by feelings of distress and torment, and those who have been through this experience a number of times do not dare to make such an approach. This not daring to do so is what ‘the terror of God’ is used to mean in the internal sense. Not that God or the Lord sets out to terrify them. Rather they are terrified because they are under the influence of falsities and evils, and so of things that are the opposite of goods and truths; and it is those actual falsities and evils, when they approach goods and truths, that cause the evil spirits to feel distressed and tormented.
The boundary of the lot of the children of Benjamin between the children of Judah and the children of Joseph went out to Luz, to the side of Luz southwards, that is, Bethel. Josh. 18:13.
And in the Book of Judges,
The house of Joseph went up to Bethel and spied out Bethel; and the name of the city formerly was Luz. Judg 1:23.
‘Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died’ means that hereditary evil was cast out. ‘And was buried below Bethel under an oak’ means cast away for ever. ‘And its name was called Allon Bacuth’ means the essential nature of the natural which was cast out.
[2] It is well known that a person derives evil from both parents and that this evil is called hereditary evil. He is therefore born with that evil, but it does not show itself until he grows up and acts from his understanding and his will based on his understanding. In the meantime it lies hidden, especially during early childhood. Now because in the Lord’s mercy no one can come to be blamed for his hereditary evil, only for the evil of his own doing, 966, 2308, and hereditary evil cannot become evil of his own doing until he acts from his own understanding and his own will, young children are therefore guided by the Lord by means of young children and angels. It is for this reason that they are seen to live in a state of innocence; yet hereditary evil lies hidden within each particular thing they do, 2300, 2307, 2308. This hereditary evil even provides them with nourishment, that is, it acts like a nurse until they reach the age of discretion, 4063. Then, if they are being regenerated, they are brought by the Lord into the state of a new infancy, and at length into heavenly wisdom, and so into genuine infancy, which innocence is; for genuine infancy, or innocence, dwells within wisdom, 2305, 3183. The difference is that the innocence of infancy is present outwardly and hereditary evil inwardly, whereas the innocence of wisdom is present inwardly and evil – hereditary and that of the person’s own doing – outwardly. From these considerations, and many others mentioned previously, it is evident that hereditary evil serves so to speak as nourishment from earliest infancy to the age of the new infancy. This explains why ‘a nurse’ means hereditary evil, as well as meaning the instillation of innocence by means of that which is celestial-spiritual.
[3] Since the arrangement or ordering of truths by good within the Lord’s Natural, and consequently the progression towards aspects more interior, 4536, is the subject in the internal sense of this chapter therefore the casting out of hereditary evil is dealt with too. This is the reason why in this verse the death of Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, and her burial under an oak tree are recorded, which are matters that would be too unimportant to interrupt the sequence of events described here if they did not embody the kind of the things that have been mentioned.
[4] The actual arcanum meant specifically by Rebekah’s nurse cannot as yet be disclosed. One must first know about the nature of the influx of the rational into the natural, which is an influx from the good of the rational directly into the good of the natural, and an influx from the good of the rational indirectly by way of the truth there into the good of natural truth. ‘Rebekah’ is the truth of the rational, 3012, 3013, 3077, whereas ‘Isaac’ is the good of the rational, 3012, 3194, 3210. ‘Esau’ is the good of the natural resulting from direct influx from the good of the rational, meant by ‘Isaac’, and ‘Jacob’ is the good – that is, the good of natural truth – resulting from an indirect influx through the truth of the rational, meant by ‘Rebekah’. Regarding this indirect and direct influx see 3314, 3573. This must be known first before anyone can have specific knowledge of the arcanum why ‘Rebekah’s nurse’ means and describes hereditary evil here. It is from such knowledge about influx that one is able to see the nature of that hereditary evil.
[2] The implication of this is that with a person who is being regenerated,
neither hereditary evil nor that of his own doing is removed in such a way as to disappear or be eliminated, but is merely separated and through the
rearrangement effected by the Lord is cast away to the most outlying parts, 4551, 4552. It accordingly remains with that person, and does so for ever, but he is withheld from evil by the Lord and maintained in good. When this happens it seems as though evils have been cast away and the person has been purified from them or, as it is said, made righteous. All the angels of heaven confess that in their case, insofar as anything originates in themselves it is entirely evil and consequently false, but insofar as it originates in the Lord it is good and consequently true.
[3] People who have adopted any other notion concerning this matter, and who from the teaching they received while living in the world have become convinced that they have been made righteous and are in that case without sins, and so are holy, are taken back to the state where their evils reigned – both those of their own doing and those received through heredity. They are then kept in that state until they know from personal experience that of themselves they are nothing but evil and the good which had seemed to them to be their own came from the Lord, and that therefore it was not theirs but the Lord’s. This is the situation with angels, as it is with the regenerate among men.
[4] But in the Lord’s case it was different. He entirely removed, cast out, and cast away from Himself all hereditary evil from His mother, for being conceived from Jehovah He had no evil by heredity from His Father, only from His Mother. This is the difference; and this is what is meant by the Lord’s being made Righteousness, the Holy itself, and the Divine.
‘God was seen by Jacob again, when he was coming from Paddan Aram; and He blessed him’ means interior natural perception. ‘And God said to him, Your name is Jacob’ means the nature of the Lord’s external Divine Natural. ‘Your name will no longer be called Jacob’ means that it would no longer be solely external. ‘But indeed Israel will be your name’ means the nature of the internal natural, or the nature of the spiritual aspect of it, represented by ‘Israel’. ‘And He called his name Israel’ means the internal natural or celestial-spiritual aspect of the natural. ‘And God said to him’ means perception from the Divine. ‘I am God Shaddai’ means a state of temptation is past, and now there is Divine comfort. ‘Be fruitful and multiply’ means good, and Divine truth arising out of this. ‘A nation and a company of nations will be from you’ means good and Divine forms of good. ‘And kings will go out from your loins’ means truths from the Divine Marriage. ‘And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you’ means Divine Natural Good made over to Him. ‘And to your seed after you I will give the land’ means Divine Natural Truth made over to Him. ‘And God went up from over him in the place where He talked to him’ means the Divine within that state.
[2] Two quite distinct and separate degrees exist in man – the rational and the natural. The rational constitutes the internal man and the natural the external; but the natural, like the rational also, has an external aspect of its own and an internal one. The external aspect of the natural is composed of the physical senses and of the impressions received from the world through these senses immediately. By means of his sensory impressions a person is in touch with things belonging to the world and to the body; and people who are confined solely to this natural are called sensory-minded because their thought goes scarcely at all beyond sensory experience. But the internal part of the natural is made up of ideas inferred – by the use of analysis and analogies – from what is in the external, even though it draws on and derives its ideas from sensory impressions. So the natural is in touch through the senses with things belonging to the world and to the body, and through ideas, arrived at by the use of analogy and analysis, with the rational, thus with things belonging to the spiritual world. Such is the composition of the natural. There is another part that exists between and has links with both of them – with the external aspect and with the internal – and so is in touch through the external with things in the natural world, and through the internal with those in the spiritual world. This external natural is represented specifically by ‘Jacob’, and the internal natural by ‘Israel’. The situation is similar with the rational; that is to say, there is an external aspect and an internal, and a further one between the two. But this, in the Lord’s Divine mercy, is to be discussed where Joseph is the subject, for ‘Joseph’ represents the external aspect of the rational.
[3] What the celestial-spiritual is however has been stated several times already – that essentially the celestial is good and the spiritual truth, so that the celestial-spiritual is that which is good resulting from truth. Now because the Lord’s Church is both external and internal, and internal features of the Church had to be represented by the descendants of Jacob through things of an external nature, Jacob could not therefore be called Jacob any longer, but was called Israel – see what has been introduced already about these matters in 4286, 4292. Further to this it should be recognized that the terms celestial and spiritual are used both of the rational and of the natural. Celestial is used when people receive good, and spiritual when they receive truth from the Lord; for the good which flows from the Lord into heaven is called celestial, and the truth is called spiritual. In the highest sense the naming of Jacob as Israel means that the Lord progressed towards more interior aspects and made the Natural within Him Divine, both the external aspect of it and the internal. For in the highest sense that which is represented is the Natural itself.
[2] In general it should be recognized that every joining together of good and truth is effected by means of temptations. The reason for this is that evils and falsities offer resistance and so to speak engage in rebellion, and by every means try to prevent the joining of good to truth, and of truth to good. This conflict takes place between the spirits present within man, that is to say, between the spirits governed by evils and falsities and the spirits governed by goods and truths. Man experiences that conflict as temptation within himself. When therefore the spirits governed by evils and falsities are conquered by the spirits governed by goods and truths, the former are compelled to depart and the latter receive joy from the Lord by way of heaven. This joy is also felt by the person concerned as comfort; he feels it within himself. Yet the joy and comfort do not come because a victory has been won but because good and truth have been joined together. Joy is present within every joining together of good and truth, for that joining together is the heavenly marriage, in which the Divine is present.
[2] What forms of good are must be stated first, and after this the fact that ‘a company of nations’ means such forms. Truths which spring from good are called forms of good because they are nothing else than goods that have been given outward form. Anyone who conceives of truths in any other way, more so anyone who separates them from good, does not know what truths are. Truths do indeed seem to be separate from good and so seem to be forms that exist unconnected to anything else. Yet they seem to be so only to those who have no affection for what is good, that is, people whose thought and speech are at variance with what they will and therefore do. For the human being has been so created that his understanding and will may constitute a united mind; and they do constitute a united mind when the understanding acts in unison with the will, that is, when his thought and speech are in keeping with what he wills and therefore does, in which case also the thoughts in his understanding are the forms which give expression to his will. Thoughts present in the understanding are called truths, for truths belong properly to the understanding, whereas desires present in the will are called goods, for goods belong properly to the will. Consequently, regarded in itself that which exists in the understanding is nothing else than the form taken by that which exists in the will.
[3] But since the expression ‘forms’ smacks of human philosophy, let an example serve to show that truths are the forms taken by good: Two virtues of everyday life, public or private, are integrity and propriety. Integrity consists in the heartfelt desire for another person’s good within everyday life, whereas propriety consists in the demonstration of that integrity in speech and gestures, so that regarded in itself propriety is nothing other than the form which integrity takes, for this is what gives rise to propriety. This being so, when integrity displays itself through propriety, that is, through proper and appropriate speech and gestures, integrity is seen in every aspect of proper behaviour. This is so much the case that everything uttered through speech or expressed through gestures is seen as integrity, for everything is a form or image by means of which integrity shines forth. Integrity and propriety accordingly go together like essence and its form, or what is essential and what is formal. But if anyone severs integrity from propriety – that is, if he bears ill-will towards his fellow man, yet speaks well of him and behaves well towards him – there is no longer any integrity at all in his words or actions, no matter how much he tries to present through propriety an outward form that looks like integrity. It is absence of integrity, and one who is clear-sighted calls it this, because it is either pretentious, fraudulent, or deceitful.
[4] From all this one may see what the situation is with truths and goods. Truths in spiritual life may be likened to propriety in everyday life, and good in spiritual life to integrity in everyday life. This comparison shows what truths are like when they are the forms assumed by good, and what they are like when severed from good. When they are not extensions from good, they are extensions from something bad and are forms assumed by this, no matter how much they may be spoken of as forms assumed by good. As regards ‘a company of nations’ meaning forms of good, this becomes clear from the meaning of ‘nations’ as goods, dealt with immediately above. Hence a company or assembly of them is a gathering together of them, which is nothing other than the form they receive; and this, as has been shown, is truth. Since truths are meant, yet ‘a nation’ means good, not only ‘a nation’- it is said – will descend from him but also ‘a company of nations’. Otherwise one of the expressions would be sufficient. Furthermore ‘company’, ‘assembly’, and ‘multitude’, when used in the Word, have reference to truths. For ‘multitude’ or ‘being multiplied’, see 43, 55, 913, 983, 2846, 2847.
‘Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked to him, a stone pillar’ means the holiness of truth within that Divine state. ‘And he poured out a drink-offering onto it’ means the Divine Good of Truth. ‘And poured oil onto it’ means the Divine Good of love. ‘And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke to him, Bethel’ means the Divine Natural and its state.
First, let something be said about the origin of erecting pillars in those times, of pouring out drink-offerings onto them, and of pouring wine onto them.
[2] The pillars which were erected in ancient times were set up to serve either as a sign, or as a witness, or for worship. Those set up for worship used to be anointed with oil and were thereby made holy; and in these places, people also held their worship – in temples, in groves, under trees in forests, and in other places. This practice of erecting pillars owed its representative nature to the fact that in most ancient times stones were set up on the boundaries between families of nations, to stop them crossing those boundaries to do one another any harm, as with the pillar set up by Laban and Jacob, Gen. 31:51. Not crossing them to do harm was the law of nations among those people. And because those stones were on the boundaries, whenever the most ancient people saw them as boundary stones they thought of the truths which exist in the ultimate degree of order; for those people saw in every object on earth the spiritual or celestial reality to which it corresponded. Their descendants however, who saw less of what was spiritual and celestial within the same objects and more of what was worldly, began to regard these in a holy way merely because they were objects venerated from of old. At length those descendants of the most ancient people who lived immediately before the Flood, and who no longer saw anything spiritual or celestial in earthly and worldly things as objects, began to make the actual stones holy, pouring out drink-offerings onto them and anointing them with oil. These were now called pillars and were used for worship. The position remained the same after the Flood – in the Ancient Church which was a representative Church – though with this difference, that pillars served these people as a means enabling them to offer internal worship. For infants and children were taught by parents what those pillars represented, and in this way they were led to know holy objects and to have an affection for the things which these represented. This explains why the ancients had pillars for worship in their temples, groves, and forests, also on hills and mountains.
[3] But once the internal existence of worship had perished completely in the Ancient Church and people began to regard external objects as being holy and Divine and in so doing began to worship those objects in an idolatrous manner, they erected pillars to particular deities. And because the descendants of Jacob were very inclined towards idolatrous practices, they were forbidden to erect pillars or have groves. They were not even allowed to offer any worship on mountains or hillsides, but were required to meet in one particular place – where the Ark was, and later on where the Temple stood, thus in Jerusalem. Otherwise each family would have had its own external objects and idols which it would have worshipped, and so no representative of the Church could have been established among that nation. See what has been shown already about pillars in 3727.
From all this one may see how the erecting of pillars originated, and what they were signs of, and that when they were used for worship, holy truth was represented by them, for which reason the expression ‘a stone pillar’ is also used, ‘stone’ meaning truth in the ultimate degree of order, 1298, 3720, 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789, 3798. It should be recognized in addition that holiness is a particular attribute of Divine Truth, for Divine Good exists within the Lord, while Divine Truth proceeds from that Good, 3704, 4577, and is called holiness.
[2] Nobody, it is true, can see that such things as these were meant by ‘oil’ and ‘a drink-offering’ unless he does so from the internal sense. Yet anyone may see that things of a holy nature were represented by them, for unless those holy things were represented by them what else would pouring out a drink-offering or pouring oil onto a stone pillar be but some ridiculous and idolatrous action? It is like the coronation of a king. What else would the ceremonies performed on that occasion be if they did not mean and imply things of a holy nature – placing the crown on his head; anointing him with oil from a horn, on his forehead and on his wrists; placing a sceptre in his hand, as well as a sword and keys; investing him with a purple robe, and then seating him on a silver throne; and after that, his riding in his regalia on a horse, and later still his being served at table by men of distinction, besides many other ceremonies? Unless these represented things of a holy nature and were themselves holy by virtue of their correspondence with the things of heaven and consequently of the Church, they would be no more than the kind of games that young children play, though on a grander scale, or else like plays that are performed on the stage.
[3] But all those ceremonies trace their origin back to most ancient times when ceremonies were holy by virtue of their representation of things that were holy and of their correspondence with holy things in heaven and consequently in the Church. Even today they are considered holy, though not because people know their spiritual representation and correspondence but through the interpretation so to speak they put on symbols in common use. If however people did know what the crown, oil, horn, sceptre, sword, keys, purple robe, silver throne, riding on a white horse, and eating while men of distinction act as the servers, all represented and to what holy thing each corresponded, they would conceive of those things in an even holier way. But they do not know, and surprisingly do not wish to know; indeed that lack of knowledge is so great that the representatives and the meaningful signs included within such ceremonies and within every part of the Word have been obliterated from people’s minds at the present day.
[4] The fact that ‘a drink-offering’ means the good of truth, or spiritual good, may be seen from the sacrifices in which drink-offerings were used. When sacrifices were offered they were made either from the herd or from the flock, and they were representative of internal worship of the Lord, 922, 923, 1823, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519. To these the minchah and the drink-offering were added. The minchah, which consisted of fine flour mixed with oil, meant celestial good, or what amounted to the same, the good of love – ‘the oil’ meaning love to the Lord and ‘the fine flour’ charity towards the neighbour. But the drink-offering, which consisted of wine, meant spiritual good, or what amounted to the same, the good of faith. Both these therefore, the minchah and the drink-offering, have the same meaning as the bread and wine in the Holy Supper.
[5] The addition of a minchah and a drink-offering to a burnt offering or to a sacrifice is clear in Moses,
You shall offer two lambs in their first year, each day continually. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the second you shall offer between the evenings; and a tenth of fine flour mixed with beaten oil, a quarter of a hin, and a drink- offering of a quarter of a hin of wine, for the first lamb; and so also for the second lamb. Exod. 29:38-41.
In the same author,
You shall offer on the day when you wave the sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest a lamb without blemish in its first year as a burnt offering to Jehovah, its minchah being two tenths of fine flour mixed with oil, and its drink-offering wine, a quarter of a hin. Lev. 23:12, 13, 18.
In the same author,
On the day when the days of Naziriteship are completed he is to offer his gift to Jehovah, sacrifices and also a basket of unleavened [loaves] of fine flour, cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, together with their minchah and their drink-offerings. Num. 6:13-17.
In the same author,
Upon the burnt offering they shall offer a minchah of a tenth [of an ephah] of fine flour mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil, and wine as the drink-offering, a quarter of a hin – in one way upon the burnt offering of a ram, and in another upon that of a bull. Num. 15:3-11.
In the same author,
With the continual burnt offering you shall offer a drink-offering, a quarter of a hin for a lamb; in the holy place pour out a drink-offering of wine to Jehovah. Num. 28:6, 7.
Further references to minchahs and drink-offerings in the different kinds of sacrifices are continued in Num. 28:7-end; 29:1-end.
[6] The meaning that ‘minchah and drink-offering’ had may be seen in addition from the considerations that love and faith constitute the whole of worship, and that in the Holy Supper ‘the bread’ – described in the quotations above as fine flour mixed with oil – and ‘the wine’ mean love and faith, and so the whole of worship, dealt with in 1798, 2165, 2177, 2187, 2343, 2359, 3464, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217.
[7] But when people fell away from the genuine representative kind of worship of the Lord and turned to other gods and poured out drink-offerings to these, ‘drink-offerings’ came to mean things that were the reverse of charity and faith, namely the evils and falsities that go with the love of the world; as in Isaiah,
You inflamed yourselves among the gods under every green tree. You have also poured out a drink-offering to them, you have brought a minchah. Isa. 57:5, 6.
‘Inflaming oneself among the gods’ stands for cravings for falsity – ‘gods’ meaning falsities, 4402 (end), 4544. ‘Under every green tree’ stands for the trust in all falsities which leads to those cravings, 2722, 4552. ‘Pouring out a drink-offering to them’ and ‘bringing a minchah’ stand for the worship of those falsities. In the same prophet,
You who forsake Jehovah, who forget My holy mountain, who set a table for Gad, and fill a drink-offering for Meni. Isa. 65:11.
In Jeremiah,
The sons gather pieces of wood, and the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to other gods. Jer. 7:18.
[8] In the same prophet,
We will surely do every word that has gone out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink-offerings to her, as we did, we and our fathers, and our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Jer. 44:17-19.
‘The queen of heaven’ stands for all falsities, for ‘the hosts of heaven’ in the genuine sense means truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, and so in the same way do ‘king’ and ‘queen’. ‘Queen’ accordingly stands for all [falsities] and ‘pouring out drink-offerings to her’ means worshipping them.
[9] In the same prophet,
The Chaldeans will burn the city, and the houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense to Baal and poured out drink-offerings to other gods. Jer. 32:29.
‘The Chaldeans’ stands for people whose worship involves falsity. ‘Burning the city’ stands for destroying and laying waste those whose doctrines teach falsity. Upon the roofs of the houses burning incense to Baal’ stands for the worship of what is evil, ‘pouring out drink-offerings to other gods’ for the worship of what is false.
[10] In Hosea,
They will not dwell in Jehovah’s land, but Ephraim will return to Egypt, and in Assyria they will eat what is unclean. They will not pour libations of wine to Jehovah. Hosea 9:3, 4.
‘Not dwelling in Jehovah’s land’ stands for not abiding in the good of love. ‘Ephraim will return to Egypt’ stands for the Church when its understanding will come to be no more than factual and sensory knowledge. ‘In Assyria they will eat what is unclean’ stands for impure and profane desires that are the product of reasoning. ‘They will not pour libations of wine to Jehovah’ stands for no worship based on truth.
[11] In Moses,
It will be said, Where are their gods, the rock in which they trusted, who ate the fat of the sacrifices, [who] drank the wine of their drink-offering? Let them rise up and help them! Deut. 32:37, 38.
‘Gods’ stands for falsities, as above. ‘Who ate the fat of the sacrifices’ stands for their destruction of the good belonging to worship, ‘[who] drank the wine of their drink-offering’ for their destruction of the truth belonging to it. A reference to ‘drink-offerings of blood’ also occurs in David,
They will multiply their pains; they have hastened to another, lest I pour out their drink-offerings of blood, and take up their names upon My lips. Ps. 16:4.
By these ‘drink-offerings’ are meant profanations of truth, for in this case ‘blood’ means violence done to charity, 374, 1005, and profanation, 1003.
‘They travelled on from Bethel, and there was still a stretch of land to go to Ephrath’ means the spiritual of the celestial at this point – ‘Joseph’ being the celestial of the spiritual. ‘And Rachel gave birth, and suffered severely in giving birth’ means the temptations endured by interior truth. ‘And it happened in her suffering severely, in giving birth’ means following temptations. ‘That the midwife said to her, Do not be afraid’ means perception received from the natural. ‘For this also is a son for you’ means spiritual truth. ‘And it happened as her soul was departing, when she was about to die’ means a state of temptations. ‘That she called his name Ben-oni’ means the nature of that state. ‘And his father called him Benjamin’ means the nature of the spiritual of the celestial. ‘And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath’ means the end of the initial affection for interior truth. ‘That is, Bethlehem’ means a new spiritual of the celestial raised up in place of it. ‘And Jacob set up a pillar over her grave’ means the holiness of the spiritual truth that was to be raised up again there. ‘This is the pillar of Rachel’s grave even to this day’ means the state of holiness lasting perpetually.
* lit. hard things
[2] In these verses progress made by the Lord’s Divine towards aspects more interior is the subject, for when the Lord made His Human Divine His progress involved a similar order to that employed by Him when He makes man new through regeneration. That is to say, it was a progression from external things to more interior ones, and so from truth as this exists in the ultimate degree of order to good which is more interior and is called spiritual good, and from this to celestial good. But ideas about these things do not come within the mental grasp of anyone unless he knows what the external man is and what the internal man is, and that the former is distinct and separate from the latter, though the two seem to be one and the same while a person lives in the body. Nor do those ideas come within his grasp unless he knows that the natural constitutes the external man, and the rational the internal man, and above all unless he knows what the spiritual is, and what the celestial is.
[3] These matters, it is true, have been explained several times already. Even so, those who have not previously had any idea concerning them – for the reason that they have not had any desire to know the things which belong to eternal life – are incapable of having any such idea. These people say, ‘What is the internal man? How can it be anything different from the external man?’ They also say, ‘What is the natural, or the rational? Are these not one and the same thing?’ Then they ask, ‘What is the spiritual and the celestial? Isn’t this some new distinction? We’ve heard about the spiritual, but not that the celestial is something different’. But the fact of the matter is that these are people who have not previously acquired any idea of these matters. They have failed to do so either because the cares of the world and of the body occupy their whole thought and take away all desire to know anything else, or because they suppose that no one needs to know anything beyond what the common people are taught and that there is nothing to be gained if their thought goes any further. For these say, ‘The world we see, but the next life we do not see. Maybe it exists, maybe it doesn’t’. People like these push those ideas away from themselves, for at heart they reject them the moment they see them.
[4] All the same, because such ideas are contained in the internal sense of the Word, though they cannot be explained without suitable terms to depict them, and as no terms more suitable exist than ‘natural’ to express exterior things and ‘rational’ to express interior, or ‘spiritual’ to express matters of truth and ‘celestial’ masters of good, the use of words like these is unavoidable. For without the right words nothing can be described. Therefore so that some idea may be formed by those who have a desire to know what the spiritual of the celestial is, which ‘Benjamin’ represents and which ‘Bethlehem’ means, a brief reference to it must be made here. The subject so far in the highest sense has been the glorification of the Lord’s Natural, and in the relative sense the regeneration of man’s natural. It was shown above, in 4286, that ‘Jacob’ represented the external man of one who belongs to the Church, and ‘Israel’ his internal man, thus that ‘Jacob’ represented the exterior aspect of the natural and ‘Israel’ the interior aspect; for the spiritual man develops out of the natural, but the celestial man out of the rational. It was also shown that the Lord’s glorification advanced, even as the regeneration of man advances, from external things to more interior ones, and that for the sake of such a representation Jacob received the name Israel.
[5] But now the subject is further progress towards aspects more interior still, that is, towards the rational, for as stated immediately above, the rational constitutes the internal man. The part which exists between the internal of the natural and the external of the rational is what the term ‘the spiritual of the celestial’ – meant by ‘Ephrath’ and ‘Bethlehem’, and represented by ‘Benjamin’ – is used to denote. This intermediate part is derived to some extent from the internal of the natural, meant by ‘Israel’, and to some extent from the external of the rational, meant by ‘Joseph’; for that intermediate part must be derived to some extent from each one, or else it cannot serve as an intermediary. So that anyone who is already spiritual can be made celestial he must of necessity make progress by means of this intermediate part. Without it no advance to higher things is possible.
[6] The nature of the progress made therefore by means of this intermediate part is described here in the internal sense by the statements that Jacob went to Ephrath, and that Rachel gave birth to Benjamin there. From this it is evident that ‘they travelled on from Bethel, and there was still a stretch of land to go to Ephrath’ means a continuation of the progress of the Lord’s Divine from the Divine Natural to the spiritual of the celestial, meant by ‘Ephrath’ and ‘Bethlehem’, and represented by ‘Benjamin’. The spiritual of the celestial is the intermediate part about which something is said above; it is spiritual insofar as it is derived from the spiritual man, which regarded in itself is the interior natural man, and it is [celestial] insofar as it is derived from the celestial man, which regarded in itself is the rational man. ‘Joseph’ is the exterior rational man, and therefore he is spoken of as the celestial of the spiritual derived from the rational.
* i.e. in 4594
[2] The likeness of the natural to a midwife, inasmuch as it is a recipient when the interior man gives birth, becomes clear also from the internal sense of what is recorded concerning the midwives who, contrary to Pharaoh’s orders, allowed the sons of the Hebrew women to live. This is described in Moses as follows,
The king of Egypt spoke to the midwives of the Hebrew women, and he said, When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the stools, if it is a son you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter she shall be allowed to live. And the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt told them, but allowed the sons to live. And the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them Why have you done this thing and allowed the sons to live? And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are lively; before the midwife reaches them they have given birth. And God did well to the midwives; and the people multiplied and became extremely numerous. And it happened because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses. Exod. 1:15-21.
‘The daughters and sons’ to whom the Hebrew women gave birth represent the goods and truths of a new Church; ‘the midwives’ represent the natural, inasmuch as this is the recipient of goods and truths; ‘the king of Egypt’ represents factual knowledge in general, 1164, 1165, 1186, that wipes out truths, as happens when factual knowledge enters into matters of faith by a wrong path, which it does when nothing except that dictated by sensory experience and factual knowledge is believed. The fact that ‘the midwives’ in that passage means receptions of truth, within the natural, will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be corroborated when the contents of that chapter in Exodus come up for explanation.
[2] From this it is evident what ‘Benjamin’ means in the genuine sense, namely spiritual truth which springs from celestial good, meant by ‘Joseph’. Both together therefore constitute that which lies between the spiritual man and the celestial man, as stated above in 4585. But this good and this truth are distinct and separate from the celestial represented by ‘Judah’ and from the spiritual represented by ‘Israel’, the former entity being higher or more interior, the latter one lower or more exterior, for as stated they constitute that which lies between. But no one can have any conception of the good represented by ‘Joseph’ or of the truth represented by ‘Benjamin’ except him who has been enlightened by the light of heaven. Angels have a clear conception of them because all the ideas forming their thought are products of the light of heaven which comes from the Lord, a light in which they see and perceive an unending number of things which man cannot possibly understand, let alone speak about.
[3] Take the following as an illustration. All without exception are born natural yet with the capacity to become either celestial or spiritual, whereas the Lord alone was born spiritual-celestial. It was for this reason that He was born in Bethlehem, where the border of the land of Benjamin ran. Indeed ‘Bethlehem’ means the spiritual of the celestial, and ‘Benjamin’ represents the same. The reason He alone was born spiritual-celestial is that the Divine dwelt within Him. These are matters which no one can possibly comprehend who does not dwell in the light of heaven; for one who dwells in the light of the world, and relies for his perception on that light, hardly knows what truth is or what good is, still less what it is to rise up by degrees to more interior levels of truth and good, and so hardly knows anything at all about the countless manifestations of truth and good in every degree which are visible to angels in light as clear as that shining at midday. This shows the nature of angels’ wisdom in comparison with men’s.
[4] There are six names which occur frequently [in the Word] – in the prophetical sections, where the Church is the subject. These are Judah, Joseph, Benjamin, Ephraim, Israel, and Jacob. Anyone who does not know which aspect of good or truth of the Church each of these is used to mean in the internal sense cannot know a single one of the Divine arcana of the Word in those sections. Nor can he know which aspect of the Church is meant unless he knows what the celestial is, meant by ‘Judah’; what the celestial of the spiritual is, meant by ‘Joseph’; what the spiritual of the celestial is, meant by ‘Benjamin’; what the intellectual side of the Church is, meant by ‘Ephraim’; what the internal spiritual is, meant by ‘Israel’; and what the external spiritual is, meant by ‘Jacob’.
[5] As regards ‘Benjamin’ in particular, he represents the spiritual of the celestial, while ‘Joseph represents the celestial of the spiritual; and both together accordingly represent the intermediate part between the celestial man and the spiritual man. This being so they are linked together very closely, and for this reason that close link between them is also described by the following details in the historical narratives about Joseph,
Joseph told his brothers to bring their youngest brother, so as not to die. Gen. 42:20.
When they resumed with Benjamin, and Joseph saw Benjamin his brother, he said, Is this your youngest brother, of whom you told me? And he said, God be kind to you, my son. And Joseph hastened, for his bowels were stirred with emotion for his brother, and he sought to weep, and therefore went into his room and wept there. Gen. 43:29, 30.
He multiplied Benjamin’s portion five times more than the portion of any of the others. Gen. 43:34.
After disclosing who he was to his brothers he fell on the neck of Benjamin his brother and wept; and Benjamin wept on his neck. Gen. 45:14.
He gave changes of clothing to them all, but to Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing. Gen. 45:22.
[6] From these places it is evident that Joseph and Benjamin were linked very closely together, not because they had the same mother but because the spiritual link that exists between the good meant by ‘Joseph’ and the truth meant by ‘Benjamin’ is represented by them. And because these two constitute that which lies between the celestial man and the spiritual man Joseph and his brothers could not be brought together, nor he and his father brought together, except by means of Benjamin; for without that intermediary no such bringing together is possible. This was the reason why Joseph did not reveal his true identity before he did.
[7] Elsewhere in the Word, especially the prophetical part, there are other places where Benjamin means the spiritual truth which is the Church’s, as in Moses’ prophecy regarding the sons of Israel,
To Benjamin he said, Beloved of Jehovah, he will dwell in confidence upon him, covering him all the day, and he will dwell between his shoulders. Deut. 33:12.
‘Beloved of Jehovah’ means spiritual truth springing from celestial good. The presence of this good with that truth is referred to as ‘dwelling in confidence’, ‘covering it the whole day’, and also ‘dwelling between his shoulders’, for in the internal sense ‘the shoulders’ means all power, 1085, and all power which good possesses is expressed by means of truth, 3563.
[8] In Jeremiah,
Flee, sons of Benjamin, out of the midst of Jerusalem, and sound the trumpet, and take up a prophecy over the house of the vine; for evil stares from the north, and great destruction. Jer. 6:1.
‘Sons of Benjamin’ stands for spiritual truth springing from what is celestial. ‘Jerusalem’ stands for the spiritual Church, as does ‘the house of the vine’ or Beth Hakkerem. ‘Evil from the north’ stands for man’s sensory perception and his knowledge acquired through this. In the same prophet,
It will happen if you keep the sabbath day holy, that people will come in from the cities of Judah and from places surrounding Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin, and from the plain, and from the mountain, and from the south, bringing burnt offering and sacrifice, and minchah, and frankincense, and bringing thanksgiving, to the house of Jehovah. Jer. 17:24, 26.
[9] And elsewhere in the same prophet,
In the mountain cities, in the cities of the plain, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places surrounding Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, flocks will again pass under the hands of him who counts them. Jer. 33:13.
Here ‘the land of Benjamin’ too stands for spiritual truth which is the Church’s, for all things that constitute the Church, from the first to the final degree of these, are meant by ‘the cities of Judah’, ‘the places surrounding Jerusalem’, ‘the land of Benjamin’, ‘the plain’, ‘the mountain’, and ‘the south’.
[10] In Hosea,
Sound the trumpet (buccina) in Gibeah, the trumpet (tuba) in Ramah. Cry out, Beth Aven; after you, Benjamin. Ephraim will become lonely places on the day of reproach. Hosea 5:8, 9.
‘Gibeah’, ‘Ramah’, and ‘Beth Aven’ stand for aspects of the spiritual springing from the celestial meant by ‘Benjamin’, for Gibeah was part of Benjamin, Judg. 19:14, as also was Ramah, Josh. 18:25, as well as Beth Aven, Josh. 18:12. ‘Sounding the trumpets (buccina et tuba)’ and ‘crying out’ stand for declaring that the intellectual side of the Church, meant by ‘Ephraim’, has been destroyed.
[11] In Obadiah,
The house of Jacob will become fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, the house of Esau stubble; and those in the south will inherit the mountain of Esau, and those who are in the plain the Philistines; and they will inherit the field of Ephraim and the field of Samaria, and Benjamin [will inherit] Gilead. Obad. verses 18, 19.
Here, as in other places, it is quite evident that the names used mean spiritual realities, for unless one knows what is meant by ‘the house of Jacob’, ‘the house of Joseph’, ‘the house of Esau’, ‘the mountain of Esau’, ‘the Philistines’, ‘the field of Ephraim’, ‘the field of Samaria’, ‘Benjamin’, and ‘Gilead’, and in addition to these what is meant by ‘those in the south’, ‘the house’, ‘the plain’, ‘the mountain’, and ‘the field’, one will never understand anything here. Nor did the details described here as historical events actually take place. But anyone who knows what each individual expression implies will discover heavenly arcana within this particular use of them. Here also ‘Benjamin’ stands for what is spiritual springing from that which is celestial.
[12] Similarly the following in Zechariah,
Jehovah will be King over all the earth; in that day there will be one Jehovah, and His name one. Round about the whole land will be as the plain from Geba even to Rimmon. And [Jerusalem] will dwell in her own place, from the Gate of Benjamin even to the place of the first gate, to the corner gate,** and the tower of Hananel, even to the king’s winepresses. Zech. 14:9, 10.
Similarly in David,
Turn Your ear, O Shepherd, You who lead*** Joseph like a flock, who are seated on the cherubim; before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh, stir up Your power and come to save us. Ps. 80:1, 2.
Similarly in the prophecy of Deborah and Barak,
Jehovah will have dominion for me among the strong. Out of Ephraim whose root is in Amalek, following you, Benjamin, among your peoples, out of Machir lawgivers will come down, and out of Zebulun those who carry the sceptre of the scribe. Judg. 5:13, 14.
[13] In John,
I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed out of every tribe of Israel – twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Benjamin. Rev. 7:4, 8.
By ‘the tribes of Israel’ here are meant those with whom goods and truths exist and who as a consequence are in the Lord’s kingdom. For ‘the tribes’ and ‘twelve’, or what amounts to the same ‘twelve thousand’, mean all aspects of love and faith, or all aspects of good and truth, 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913, 3926, 3939, 4060. In that chapter of the Book of Revelation the tribes are divided into four groups, the last group being made up of twelve thousand sealed out of Zebulun, twelve thousand out of Joseph, and twelve thousand out of Benjamin, because ‘the tribe of Zebulun’ means the heavenly marriage, 3960, 3961, in which marriage heaven and so all things consist. ‘Joseph’ in this case means the celestial of the spiritual, or the good of truth, while ‘Benjamin’ means the truth of that good, or the spiritual of the celestial. These form the marriage in which heaven consists, and this is why these three tribes are mentioned last.
[14] Because ‘Benjamin’ was to represent the spiritual of the celestial of the Church, or the truth of good, which is the intermediate part between celestial good and spiritual truth, Jerusalem was therefore allowed to the children of Benjamin as an inheritance; for before Zion was built there Jerusalem meant the Church in general. For the allotment of Jerusalem to Benjamin, see Josh. 18:28 and Judg. 1:21.
* virtue is used here in the now almost obsolete sense of ‘The power or operative influence inherent in a supernatural or divine being’. (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary)
** lit. the sate of the corners
*** The Latin means He who leads, but the Hebrew means You who lead.
[2] In the genuine sense ‘Rachel died and was buried on the way to Ephrath’ means that an inherited characteristic was cast out for ever by means of temptations, that characteristic being the human affection for interior truth, cast out by the Divine affection. This also explains why this son was called Ben-oni, or Son of pain, by his mother, but Benjamin, or Son of the right hand, by his father. Present in the human affection derived from the mother there is a hereditary characteristic that holds evil within it, whereas in the Divine affection nothing but good is present. In the human affection there is a self- concern which has the glory of self and the world as the end in view, but in the Divine affection a self-concern exists that it should effect the salvation of the human race, as accords with the Lord’s words in John,
I pray for those whom You have given Me, for all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine; but I am glorified in them; that they may all be one, as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they may also be one in Us. The glory which You have given Me I have given to them that they may be one even as We are one, I in them and You in Me. John 17:9, 10, 21-23.
[2] The reason the Lord was born there and nowhere else was that He alone has been born a spiritual-celestial man. Everyone else has been born a natural man with the ability or capacity to become, through regeneration by the Lord, either celestial or spiritual. The Lord was born a spiritual-celestial man to the end that He might make His Human Divine, doing so according to order from the lowest degree to the highest, and so would bring order to everything in the heavens and everything in the hells. For the spiritual of the celestial is an intermediate part between the natural or external man and the rational or internal man, see above in 4585, 4592, so that below it there was the natural or external, and above it the rational or internal.
[3] Until he can grasp these things no one will ever come to understand in the light of any revelation at all why the Lord was born in Bethlehem. From most ancient times ‘Ephrath’ meant the spiritual of the celestial, as therefore did ‘Bethlehem’ subsequently. This now explains why the following words occur in David,
He swore to Jehovah, he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob, If I enter the tent of my house, if I go up onto the couch of my bed, if I give sleep to my eyes, slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for Jehovah, dwelling-places for the Mighty One of Jacob. Behold, we heard of Him in Ephrath, we found Him in the fields of the forest; we will enter His dwelling-places, and bow down at His footstool. Ps. 132:2-7.
It is quite evident that these words are used to refer to the Lord. In the original language the pronoun ‘Him’ in ‘we have heard of Him’ and in ‘we have found Him’ is expressed by a letter added to the end of the verb – by the letter H, taken from the name Jehovah.
[4] And in Micah,
You, Bethlehem Ephrath, it is little that you are among the thousands of Judah; from you will come forth for Me one who will be ruler in Israel; and His origins are from of old, from the days of eternity Micah 5:2; Matt. 2:6.
From these prophecies it was well known to the Jewish people that the Messiah or Christ was to be born in Bethlehem, as is clear in Matthew,
Assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people Herod inquired of them where the Christ (the Messiah) was to be born. They told him, In Bethlehem of Judea. Matt. 2:4, 5.
And in John,
The Jews said, Does not the Scripture say that the Christ (the Messiah) is going to come from the seed of David, and from Bethlehem, the city where David was? John 7:42.
His birth did in fact take place there, see Matt. 2:1; Luke 2:4-7. For this reason also, and because He was descended from David, the Lord is called ‘a shoot from the stem of Jesse’, and ‘the root of Jesse’, Isa. 11:1, 10. For Jesse, David’s father, was a Bethlehemite, and David was born there and also anointed king there, 1 Sam. 16:1-14; 17:12, for which reason Bethlehem was called the city of David, Luke 2:4, 11; John 7:42. David in particular represents the Lord’s kingship or Divine Truth, 1888.
‘Israel travelled on’ means the celestial-spiritual of the natural then. ‘And pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder’ means more interior aspects of this. ‘And it happened while Israel was residing in that land’ means during this state. ‘That Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine’ means the profanation of good by means of faith separated from charity. ‘And Israel heard’ means that this faith was cast aside.
[2] What an advance towards interior things is like is not apparent to anyone in the world; but in the next life it is plain to see. In that life it is an advance out of a kind of haze into light; for compared with others people who are concerned solely with more external things live in a haze, and are also seen by the angels to do so, whereas those who have a concern for more internal things dwell in light, and consequently in wisdom since the light there is wisdom. And what is amazing, those living in the haze cannot see that those in light are in light, whereas those dwelling in light can see that those in the haze are in a haze. Since the subject is the advance made by the Lord’s Divine towards more interior aspects, Jacob is called Israel here; but where that advance is not the subject he is called Jacob, as in verse 20 immediately before this, and in the final verse of this chapter.
[2] That ‘towers’ means interior things may also be seen from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,
My beloved had a vineyard on a very fertile hill,* which he surrounded [with an enclosure] and gathered out the stones, and planted it with the choicest vine, and built a tower in the midst of it. Isa. 5:1, 2.
‘A vineyard’ stands for the spiritual Church, ‘the choicest vine’ for spiritual good, ‘he built a tower in the midst of it’ for the interior aspects of truth. Similarly also in the Lord’s parable in Matthew,
A householder planted a vineyard, and set a hedge around it, and dug a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to tenants. Matt. 21:33; Mark 12:1.
[3] In Ezekiel,
The sons of Arvad, and your army, were on your walls round about, and Gammadim were in your towers; they hung their shields on your walls round about; they made perfect your beauty. Ezek. 27:11.
This refers to Tyre, by which are meant cognitions of good and truth, or people who possess these cognitions. ‘Gammadim in its tower’ stands for cognitions of interior truth.
[4] In Micah,
Jehovah will reign over them in Mount Zion, from now on and for ever. And you, O tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, to you will it come, and the former kingdom will return, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. Micah 4:7, 8.
This describes the Lord’s celestial kingdom. ‘Mount Zion’ describes the inmost part of it, which is love to the Lord; ‘hill of the daughter of Zion’ its immediate derivative, which is mutual love, called in the spiritual sense charity towards the neighbour; ‘tower of the flock’ describes its interior truths of good. The existence of a spiritual-celestial kingdom from this is meant by ‘the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem’. In David,
Mount Zion will be glad, the daughters of Judah will be exultant, because of Your judgements. Encompass Zion, and go around her; count up her towers. Ps 48:11, 12.
Here ‘towers’ stands for interior truths which defend the things that constitute love and charity.
[5] In Luke,
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For who of you, when he wishes to build a tower, does not first sit down and work out the cost, whether he has the means to complete it? Or what king going to encounter another king in war does not first sit down and take counsel whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? So every one of you who does not renounce all that is his own cannot be My disciple. Luke 14:27, 28, 31, 33.
Anyone who is not acquainted with the internal sense of the Word can only suppose that here the Lord was using comparisons, and that the expressions ‘building a tower’ and ‘going to war’ were not used to mean anything more. He does not know that each comparison in the Word has a spiritual meaning, and is representative, and that ‘building a tower’ means acquiring interior truths to oneself and ‘going to war’ fighting from those truths. For the subject in this quotation is the temptations undergone by those who belong to the Church and are here called the Lord’s disciples. Those temptations are meant by ‘his own cross’ which each of them has to carry; and the truth that they do not in any way conquer of themselves and from what is their own but from the Lord is meant by ‘he who does not renounce all that is his own cannot be My disciple’. This is how these expressions hang together; but if the references to a tower and to war are understood to be simply comparisons without a more interior sense they do not hang together. From this one may see what light flows from the internal sense.
[6] The interiors of those who are governed by self-love and love of the world, and so the falsities from which they fight and from which they reinforce their kind of religion, are also expressed as ‘towers’ in the contrary sense, as in Isaiah,
The height of men (vir) will be brought low, and Jehovah alone will be exalted on that day, for the day of Jehovah Zebaoth will be against everyone that is lofty and high, and against everyone that is lifted up, and he will be humbled; and against all the cedars of Lebanon that are high and lifted up and against all the oaks of Bashan, and against all high mountains, and against all hills that are lifted up, and against every lofty tower and against every fortified wall. Isa. 2:11-18.
Here the interior and exterior aspects of those loves are described by cedars, oaks, mountains, hills, a tower, and a wall – interior falsities being described by ‘a tower’. Thus interior things are again described by objects that are ‘high’. The difference however is this: People who are governed by these – by evils and falsities – believe that they themselves are high and above others, whereas those who are governed by goods and truths believe that they themselves are least and below others, Matt. 20:26, 27; Mark 10:44. All the same, goods and truths are described as things that are ‘high’ because in heaven they are closer to the Most High, that is, to the Lord. Furthermore ‘towers’ is used in the Word in reference to truths, but ‘mountains’ to forms of good.
* lit. on a horn of a son of oil
Reuben, you my firstborn, are my strength and the beginning of my might, excelling in eminence, and excelling in power. Unstable as water, may you not excel, for you went up to your father’s bed; then you profaned It. He went up to my couch. Gen. 49:3, 4.
The same is also evident from the fact that because of what he did Reuben was deprived of the birthright, 1 Chron. 5:1. These considerations show that ‘Israel heard’ means that that faith was cast aside. As regards the birthright meaning the faith of the Church, see 352, 2435, 3325.
[2] The profanation of good by faith separated from charity takes place when people acknowledge and believe the truth of the Church and its good and yet lead lives contrary to these. Indeed with those who in understanding and consequently in life separate matters of faith from those of charity, evil is joined to truth and falsity to good; and it is this joining together that is called profanation. The situation is different with those who, though they know what the truth and good of faith are, nevertheless do not in their hearts have any belief in these. See what has been stated and shown already concerning profanation in 301-303, 571, 582, 593, 1001, 1003, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 2426, 3398, 3399, 3402, 3489, 3898, 4050, 4289; also that the profanation of good by faith separated from charity was represented by Cain when he killed Abel, by Ham when he was cursed by his father, and by the Egyptians when they were drowned in the Red Sea, 3325,* as well as here by Reuben, 3325, 3870.
[3] In order that members of the spiritual Church might be saved the Lord miraculously separated the understanding part of their minds from the will part and imparted to the understanding the ability to accept a new will, 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256, 4328, 4493. When therefore the understanding takes hold of and perceives the [truth and] good of faith and makes these its own, and yet the person’s own will – that is, his will to do evil – reigns and rules, truth comes to be joined to evil and good to falsity. This joining of truth to evil and of good to falsity is profanation and is meant by eating and drinking in an unworthy manner in the Holy Supper. From people like this the good meant by the body and the truth meant by the blood [cannot] be separated; for when these have been joined to falsity and evil as described, they cannot be separated ever at all, and as a consequence the deepest hell awaits those persons. But those who know what the truth and good of faith are and yet in their hearts have no belief in them, as is the case with the vast majority of people at the present day, are unable to profane them because the understanding does not accept them and absorb them into itself.
[4] The subject here is the casting aside of this faith, for in what follows immediately after this the subject is truths and goods in their genuine order, and immediately after that the joining of these to the rational or understanding part, ‘the sons of Jacob’ who in the verses immediately after this are mentioned by name being truths and goods in that order, ‘Isaac’ the rational or understanding part, and ‘Jacob’s coming with his sons to Isaac’ being in the internal sense that joining to the understanding part.
* 3325 refers to the death of the firstborn but not to the drowning in the Red Sea.
‘The sons of Jacob were twelve’ means a state in which all things were now present in the Divine Natural. ‘The sons of Leah’ means external Divine Goods and Truths in their proper order. ‘Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn’ means the good of faith. ‘And Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun’ means the essential characteristics of these. ‘The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin’ means interior goods and truths. ‘And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant-girl: Dan and Naphtali’ means secondary goods and truths which serve the interior ones. ‘And the sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant-girl: Gad and Asher’ means those that serve the exterior ones. ‘These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram’ means the origin and the state of these at this point.
May Reuben live and not die; and his mortal men will be [few in] numbers. Deut. 33:6.
The reason ‘Reuben’ here means the good of faith is that in the Prophecy of Moses regarding the sons of Jacob, Reuben is placed first and Judah second, thus in a different ordering in this prophecy from that of Jacob in Gen. 49. For, as stated above at the end of 4603, the order in which their names appear is determined by the state belonging to the subject under discussion.
[2] Similarly in John,
I heard the number of the sealed, a hundred and forty-four thousand sealed out of every tribe – twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand sealed out of the tribe of Gad. Rev. 7:4, 5.
In this case Judah is mentioned first, Reuben second, and Gad third. These three in this place make up a first group; and because the Lord’s kingdom is the subject here, ‘Judah’ means celestial good such as exists in the inmost or third heaven, ‘Reuben’ spiritual good, which is the same as the good of faith, such as exists in the second or middle heaven, and ‘Gad’ the good of the natural, such as exists in the first heaven. But a different meaning is found in the prophecy of Deborah and Barak,
Princes in Issachar were with Deborah; and as was Issachar, so was Barak, into the valley he was sent under his command* – into the divisions of Reuben great decrees of the heart. Why do you dwell between two burdens to hear the hissings of the droves? – towards the divisions of Reuben great searchings of the heart. Judg. 5:15, 16.
Unless he knows what ‘Issachar’, ‘Deborah’, ‘Barak’, and ‘Reuben’ represent, and what ‘princes’, ‘the valley’, ‘a division’, ‘decrees of the heart’, ‘two burdens’ and ‘the hissings of the droves’ mean, no one can know what these words are used to mean. But ‘Reuben’, it is evident, means faith here.
* lit. at his feet
‘Jacob came to Isaac his father’ means that at this point the Divine Rational was joined to the Divine Natural. ‘To Mamre, Kiriath Arba’ means its state. ‘Which is Hebron’ means the state when they were joined together. ‘Where Abraham and Isaac sojourned’ means Divine life together with it. ‘And the days of Isaac were’ means the state of the Divine Rational at this point. ‘A hundred and eighty years’ means the nature of this state. ‘And Isaac breathed his last, and died’ means an awakening within the Divine Natural. ‘And was gathered to his peoples’ means that it was now among the things which belonged to the Divine Natural. ‘Old and full of days’ means newness of life. ‘And Esau and Jacob his sons buried him’ means that it rose again within the good of the Natural and within the good of truth in the Natural.
[2] As regards the joining of the natural to the rational, the subject in what follows below, it should be remembered that the rational receives truths and goods before the natural does, and in a more perfect way, 3286, 3288, 3321, 3368, 3498, 3513. For the rational is purer and more perfect than the natural because it is more internal or higher, and regarded essentially dwells in the light of heaven to which it is suited. This is why the rational receives things belonging to that light – that is to say, truths and goods, or what amounts to the same, the things that constitute intelligence and wisdom – before the natural does, and in a more perfect way. The natural, on the other hand, is grosser and less perfect because it is more external or lower, and regarded essentially dwells in the light of the world, a light which holds no intelligence or wisdom within itself, except insofar as it receives these from the light of heaven shining through the rational. Influx, which the learned talk about at the present day, is nothing other than this.
[3] With the natural however the position is that from earliest infancy and childhood it receives its essential nature from impressions gained from the world which come through the external senses; and a person uses and draws on these impressions to develop his understanding. But because the delights of self-love and love of the world reign in him at that time of life, and consequently selfish desires, which are the product of both his heredity and his own actions, the understanding so developed is filled with those desires. And all that accords with his delights he sees as goods and truths. Consequently the way these are ordered in the natural is the reverse or opposite of a heavenly ordering. When this is a person’s state the light of heaven is, it is true, flowing in through the rational, for it is this that gives him the ability to think, to reason, to speak, and in outward appearance to act decently and politely. But things belonging to the light of heaven which contribute to such a person’s eternal happiness are not present in the natural, since the delights which reign there are antagonistic towards them; for the delights of self-love and love of the world are by nature utterly opposed to the delights that go with love of the neighbour and consequently with love to the Lord. That person is able, it is true, to have a knowledge of the things belonging to light or heaven, but he cannot have any affection for them, except insofar as they are conducive to the acquisition of important positions and material gain, thus insofar as they accord with the delights of self-love and love of the world.
[4] From this it may be seen that order within the natural is the complete reverse or opposite of heavenly order. This being so, when the light of heaven flows in by way of the rational into the natural it is inevitably turned back, or smothered, or perverted. This is why the natural must be regenerated before it can be joined to the rational. Once the natural has been regenerated the things which flow in from the Lord by way of heaven, and so through the rational into the natural, are received there because they accord with it. For the natural is nothing else than the receptacle of good and truth coming from the rational, that is, from the Lord by way of the rational. By the natural is meant the external man, also called the natural man, and by the rational the internal man. These preliminary remarks have been made to enable one to see the implications of what follows below, for there the joining of the natural to the rational is the subject.
[2] The reason why ‘Isaac breathed his last, and died’ means an awakening within the Divine Natural is that the rational has no life until the natural corresponds to it, 3493, 3620, 3623. It is like the sight of the eye. If this does not have any objects outside itself to look at it perishes; and it is similar with each of the other senses. It likewise perishes if the objects are utterly incompatible with it, for these bring death to it. It is also like the outlet of a spring from which no water flows, and therefore is a stream that is blocked up. Similarly with the rational. Unless its light is received within the natural its sight perishes, for facts present within the natural are the objects of sight for the rational. Or if these objects are incompatible with that light, that is, with an intelligent understanding of truth and a wise discernment of good, again the sight of the rational perishes, for it is unable to enter into things incompatible with itself. This is why in the case of those under the influence of evils and falsities the rational is closed, so that no communication with heaven lies open through it, except so to speak through chinks enabling them to think, reason, and speak. Consequently, so that the natural may be joined to the rational, it must be made ready to receive it; and this is effected through regeneration by the Lord. When it is so joined the rational lives within the natural, for within the natural it sees objects proper to the rational, as has been stated, just as within the world the eye sees objects proper to the eye.
[3] The rational does indeed possess life within itself which is distinct and separate from the life of the natural. Nevertheless the rational exists within the natural, like a person within his own house, or the soul within the body. The same is true of the heavens, in that the inmost or third heaven lives distinct and separate from the heavens beneath it, and yet if there were no reception of it in the second or middle heaven the wisdom there would evaporate. In a similar way if there were no reception of the light and intelligence of this middle heaven within the ultimate or first heaven, and finally of this heaven within man’s natural, the intelligence of those heavens would likewise evaporate unless the Lord provided for its reception somewhere else. The heavens therefore have been formed by the Lord in such a way that one serves as the recipient of another, and lastly man who, as to his natural and sensory degrees, serves as the ultimate recipient of all; for at this point in him the Divine is present in the ultimate degree of order and passes into the world. If therefore the ultimate degree accords or corresponds with the degrees prior to it, those prior degrees exist simultaneously within the ultimate; for the things constituting the ultimate are the receptacles of those prior to itself, and things that are consecutive to one another are present together there within it. This shows what is meant by an awakening within the Divine Natural.
IN THIS SECTION THE CORRESPONDENCE OF SMELL AND OF THE NOSTRILS WITH THAT GRAND MAN
The dwelling-places of the blessed in the next life are many and varying. They are built so elegantly that they are so to speak the embodiments of architectural art itself or the direct products of that art. Concerning the dwelling-places of the blessed, see what has been described already from experience, in 1119, 1626-1630. The blessed are aware of these dwelling- places not only through the sense of sight but also through that of touch; for everything in that life is suited to the sensory powers which spirits and angels possess. Consequently their dwelling-places are not of the same nature as the objects perceived by man with his physical senses, but as the objects perceived by the senses which those in the next life possess. I realize that many cannot believe this, and the reason they cannot do so lies in their lack of belief in anything which they cannot see with their bodily eyes or touch with their physical hands. As a consequence man today, the interiors of whose being are closed, has no knowledge of the things which come into being in the spiritual world or in heaven. He does, it is true, say – because the Word and doctrine so teach it – that there is a heaven, where angels live in joy and glory; but beyond that he knows nothing. He would indeed like to know what it is like there, but when he is told this he still fails to believe it, because in his heart he denies the very existence of heaven. The reason he would like to know stems from no more than curiosity aroused by what is taught in doctrine; it does not stem from any delight to know because of any real belief. Those who do not have any real belief in heaven also deny its existence in their hearts, whereas those who do have such belief acquire to themselves ideas about heaven, its joy and glory, from various sources. Each individual does so from whatever knowledge or understanding he has gained, or in the case of the simple from what they discern by means of their bodily senses.
[2] Even so, the majority of people do not grasp the idea that spirits and angels have sensory powers that are far keener than men’s in the world; that is to say, they have the powers of sight, hearing, smell, something analogous to taste, and touch, and above all else delights belonging to affections. If people did but believe that the inner essence of their being is spirit and that the body, and the senses and members of this, are suited solely to uses that are served in the world, whereas the spirit, and the senses and organs of this, are suited to uses that are served in the next life, they would arrive unaided and almost spontaneously at ideas about the state of their spirit after death. For in that case they would think of a person’s spirit as his true self which thinks, has longings, has desires, and feels emotions, and after that they would think of each sensory power manifested in the body as that which belongs to the spirit, and to the body only through influx from this. These thoughts they would subsequently confirm for themselves from many other pieces of evidence, and so at length they would take more delight in the powers of their spirit than in those of their body.
[3] There is something further to be said on this matter, namely that it is not the body which sees, hears, smells, and feels through touch, but a person’s spirit. That being so, when the spirit sheds its body it retains the sensory powers it possessed when within the body; indeed these are now far keener. For that which belongs to the body, being gross compared with that belonging to the spirit, has blunted those sensory powers; and these have been made even blunter because of the person’s immersion of them in earthly and worldly interests. I can say this quite definitely, that a spirit has far keener eyesight than man has in the body, as well as far keener hearing. A spirit also has – and this fact will astonish people – the sense of smell, and especially the sense of touch. For spirits can see one another, hear one another, and touch one another. Anyone who believes in a life after death would also deduce this from the fact that no life is possible without the senses, and that the exact nature of that life is determined by that of the senses. Indeed he would deduce that the power of understanding is nothing else than a keener sensory awareness of interior things, a more superior power of understanding being a sensory awareness of spiritual realities. This also explains why the powers of the understanding and their perception of things are called the internal senses.
[4] So far as a person’s sensory powers immediately after death are concerned, the position is this: As soon as he dies and the parts of the body grow cold, he is raised up into life, into a state which involves each of his sensory powers. At first he is scarcely aware that he is not still in the body, for the experience of his senses leads him to think he is still in it. But when he notices that his sensory powers are keener than before, and especially when he starts to speak to other spirits, he realizes that he is in the next life and that the death of his body has been a continuation of the life of his spirit. I have spoken to two of my acquaintances on the very day they were to be buried, and to one who through my eyes beheld his own coffin and bier. Since he still possessed each of the senses he had in the world, he spoke to me about his burial service even as I was taking part in the funeral procession. Regarding his body he said that they were putting this away because he was alive.
[5] But it should be recognized that those in the next life cannot see anything whatever of what is in the world through the eyes of anyone in the world. The reason they have been able to do so through my eyes is that in my spirit I am present with them at the same time as I am present in my body with those who are in the world; see also 1880. In addition to this it should be recognized that I have not used the eyes of my body to see those I have spoken to in the next life, but the eyes of my spirit. I have seen them as clearly, and sometimes more clearly, than with my bodily eyes, for in the Lord’s Divine mercy the sensory powers of my spirit have been opened.
[6] But I realize that what has been stated up to now is not going to be believed by people who are concerned solely with bodily, earthly, and worldly interests, that is, by those of them who have these interests as their end in view. For such people have no conception of anything apart from that which is dissipated by death. I also realize that what has been stated up to now is not going to be believed by those who have thought a lot about the soul and have asked many questions about it, without at the same time grasping the point that man’s soul is his spirit and that his spirit is his real self living within the body. For these people have been unable to conceive of the soul as anything else than something like thought, or flame, or what is ethereal, which operates solely within the organic forms of the body, not within purer forms belonging to his spirit within the body, and so is the kind of thing that is dissipated along with the body. This applies especially to those who have convinced themselves of ideas like these because the picture they have of themselves has been magnified out of all proportion by the false notion that they are wiser than others.
[2] Those in hell have the five senses no less than anyone else, and are not aware of things being in reality or in actual fact anything other than what they perceive them to be with their senses. Yet when the angels look at the selfsame things these look to them like phantoms which then disappear, while the spirits themselves do not look like human beings but like monsters. I have also been allowed to talk to those in hell about this matter, and certain of them have said that they believe things are real when they can see and touch them, adding that the senses cannot mislead one. But I have been led to reply that no matter how real such things were seen to be by those spirits they were not real because those spirits themselves were governed by what was contrary or opposed to the Divine, that is to say, by evils and falsities. Furthermore, insofar as evil desires and false notions existed with those spirits, every thought they had was nothing else than an illusion. And when illusions lie behind one’s view of anything, one sees real things as those which are not real, and those which are not real as those which are real. Also, unless the Lord in His Divine mercy gave them the use of the five senses they would not have any life that depends on sensory experience, nor therefore any life at all; for the whole of life involves the use of the senses. But to include every experience I have had in these matters would fill up very many pages.
[3] Let people therefore be on their guard when they enter the next life, so that they are not deceived; for evil spirits know all kinds of ways to deceive the eyes of those recently arrived there from the world. Or if they are unable to delude them, those evil spirits nevertheless try by means of their deceptions to convince recent arrivals that nothing is real but that all things, including those in heaven, are no more than mental abstractions.
* Used here in the primary sense of ‘Acute in perception, esp. by smell’ (Shorter Oxford English Dictionary)
[2] Finally I was aware of a brilliant white light. I was told that here were situated the dwelling-places of those women who constitute the province of the inner nostrils – for those there were members of the female sex – and that the sharpness of perception of the women there is represented in the world of spirits by means of the kinds of openings I saw. For spiritual things in heaven are represented by means of natural ones, or rather by means of the kinds of things in the world of spirits that resemble natural ones. After this I was allowed to speak to those women, who said that through the representative openings they were able to have a perfect view of things happening below, and that the openings, as could be seen, were facing the communities which they were endeavouring to observe. And because at that time the openings were facing in my direction, the women said that they were able to detect all the ideas forming my thought, and also the ideas of those around me. More than that, they declared that they not only detected those ideas but also saw them represented in varying ways – those of the affection for good, for example, by appropriate little flames, those of the affection for truth by variations of light. They added that they saw certain angelic communities present with me, the thoughts of these communities being represented by objects of many different colours, by purple shades of colour like those used on painted curtains, and also by the colours of the rainbow set against a darker background. From these representations, they said, they perceived that those angelic communities belonged to the province of the eye.
[3] After this I saw some other spirits who were cast down from there and were scattered in all directions. Speaking about these, the women said that they were the kind of spirits who had wormed their way into their own company to find something out, and to see what was going on below, but with insidious intentions. I saw those spirits being cast down every time groups of angels drew near, to whom also I spoke. These said, referring to the ones who were cast down, that they correlated with mucus in the nose and that they were lacking in perception and intelligence, as well as in conscience, and thus were utterly devoid of any interior perception. The woman whom I had seen, and have referred to above, represented such women as have insidious intentions. I was allowed to speak to these women also. These were astonished by the idea that anyone possessing conscience should have no knowledge at all of what conscience is. But when I said that conscience was an inward discernment of goodness and truth, and that acting contrary to that discernment gave rise to distress, they did not understand this. Such is the nature of those who correspond to the mucus which irritates the nose and is therefore expelled from it.
[4] I was then shown what the bright light is in which those women live who correlate with the inner parts of the nostrils. It was a light beautifully varied by beams of golden flame and silver light, affections for good being represented in it by the beams of golden flame, and affections for truth by those of silver light. I was also shown that they have openings positioned at the side, through which they see what looks like a blue sky studded with stars; and I was told that the light in their chambers is so bright that not even the light of the world at midday can be compared to it. In addition I was told that the temperature where these women are is warm, like that in spring and summer on earth; and that young children, who are just a few years old, also live with them, but that these do not wish to be there when the women with insidious intentions, who are meant by mucus, come around. Countless representatives such as these are seen in the world of spirits, but these were representatives of the perceptions which those women share who correspond to the sense of smell possessed by the inner nostrils.
[2] But the odours which originate in the perception of evil are most displeasing. They are foul and stinking, like the reek of stinking waters, excrement, dead bodies, or people with the disgusting smell like that of mice or lice coming from them. Among malodorous spheres such as these live the inhabitants of hell. And what is astonishing, those living among them do not find them offensive. Indeed those foul smells are delightful to them, and when such exist the inhabitants of hell are within the sphere of things that give them joy and delight. But when hell is opened and the exhalation from it reaches good spirits, these are seized with horror and also distress, like those in the world who encounter the sphere of such stenches.
Then the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the Bridegroom. Five of them however were wise, but five were foolish. Taking their lamps the foolish did not take oil with them, whereas the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. While the Bridegroom was tarrying they were all drowsy and went to sleep. At midnight there was a shout, Behold, the Bridegroom is coming; go out to meet Him. Then all those virgins were roused and they trimmed their lamps. But the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. But the wise replied, saying, Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you; go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves. While they were going to buy however, the Bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with Him to the wedding feast; and the door was shut. Afterwards the remaining virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He replying said, Truly, I say to you, I do not know you. Watch therefore, for you do not know the day, nor the hour, in which the Son of Man will be coming. Matt. 25:1-13.
Watch therefore, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will be coming. Matt. 24:42.
It has been shown already that His coming is the close of the age or the final period of the Church.
[2] Who took their lamps means spiritual things which have what is celestial within them, or truths that have good within them, or what amounts to the same, faith that has charity towards the neighbour within it, and charity that has love to the Lord within it. For ‘oil’ means the good of love, dealt with below; but ‘lamps that have no oil in them’ means those same things when there is no good within them.
[3] They went out to meet the Bridegroom means their reception.
Five of them however were wise, but five were foolish means that one group of them possessed truths which had good within them, and another group possessed truths which did not have good within them. The former are ‘the wise’, but the latter ‘the foolish’. In the internal sense ‘five’ means some, in this case therefore a group from within the whole.
Taking their lamps the foolish did not take oil with them means that they did not have within their truths the good of charity, ‘oil’ in the internal sense being the good of charity and love.
Whereas the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps means that they did have within their truths the good of charity and love – ‘vessels’ being matters of doctrine concerning faith.
[4] While the Bridegroom was tarrying they were all drowsy and went to sleep means delay, and therefore doubt. In the internal sense, ‘being drowsy’ means becoming, because of the delay, inattentive to things of the Church, while ‘going to sleep’ means nurturing doubt, in the case of ‘the wise’ doubt that goes with an affirmative attitude of mind, but in the case of ‘the foolish’ doubt that goes with a negative one.
At midnight there was a shout means the period of time which is the final one of the old Church and the first of the new. In the Word when the subject is the state of the Church this period is called ‘night’. ‘A shout’ means a change taking place.
Behold, the Bridegroom is coming; go out to meet Him means judgement, that is to say, a time of being accepted or rejected.
[5] Then all those virgins were roused and they trimmed their lamps means the preparation of all, for those whose truths do not have good within them believe themselves to be no less accepted than those whose truths do have good within them. Indeed they imagine that faith alone saves and are unaware of the fact that no faith can exist where no charity does so.
But the foolish said to the wise, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out means their desire for that good to be communicated from others to their own empty truths, that is, to their own hollow faith. For those who are in the next life communicate to one another every spiritual or celestial thing they possess, though only through good.
[6] But the wise replied, saying, Perhaps there will not be enough for us and for you means that no communication of it is possible because the small amount of good they have would be taken away from them. For in the next life, when good is communicated to those whose truths are devoid of good, they take away good so to speak from those who do have it and then keep it to themselves. They do not communicate it to others but defile it, which is why no good is communicated to them. My own experience of these people will be seen at the end of Chapter 37 below.
[7] Go rather to those who sell and buy for yourselves means meritorious good. Those who boast of having this kind of good are meant by ‘those who sell’. Also, more than all others in the next life, people whose truth has no good within it think that they have earned merit through every deed they have performed which to all outward appearance looked like good, though inwardly it was evil, as the Lord says of them in Matthew, Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by Your name, and by Your name cast out demons, and do many mighty works in Your name? But then I will confess to them, I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity! Matt. 7:22, 23.
And in Luke,
Once the Householder has risen up and shut the door, then you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He replying will say to you, I do not know where you come from. Then you will begin to say, We ate in your presence and we drank; and You taught in our Streets. But He will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come from; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity! Luke 13:25-27.
This describes what those meant here by the foolish virgins are like, and that is why the following words referring to them occur in this parable – they ‘came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he replying said, Truly, I say to you, I do not know you’.
[8] While they were going to buy however, the Bridegroom came means their perverse approach.
And those who were ready went in with Him to the wedding feast means that those who were governed by good, and from this by truth, were accepted into heaven. Heaven is likened to a wedding feast by virtue of the heavenly marriage, which is a marriage of good and truth, and the Lord to the Bridegroom because these people are joined to Him, while the Church is therefore called the Bride.
And the door was shut means that no others can enter.
[9] Afterwards the remaining virgins came also, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us means that they wish to enter on the basis of faith alone without charity, and of works in which the life of the Lord is not present, only selfish life.
But He replying said, Truly, I say to you, I do not know you means rejection. In the internal sense ‘not knowing them’ means that they lack any charity towards the neighbour, and are not joined through such charity to the Lord. Those who are not so joined to Him are said ‘not to be known’ by Him.
[10] Watch therefore, for you do not know the day, nor the hour, in which the Son of Man will be coming means an eagerness to live according to the commandments constituting a person’s faith, meant by ‘watching’. The actual time of acceptance, which is unknown to a person, and his state then, are meant by ‘you do not know the day, nor the hour, in which the Son of Man will be coming’. One who is governed by good, that is, whose deeds conform to the commandments, is called ‘wise’, but one who has a knowledge of the truth, yet does not act in accordance with this, is called ‘foolish’, as they are elsewhere by the Lord in Matthew,
Everyone who hears My words and does them I will liken to a wise man. But everyone hearing My words and not doing them will be likened to a foolish man. Matt. 7:24, 26.
GENESIS 36
1 And these are the generations of Esau, he being Edom.
2 Esau took his wives (femina) from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite; and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite;
3 And Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth.
4 And Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau; and Basemath bore Reuel;
5 And Oholibamah bore Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah. These were the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan.
6 And Esau took his wives (femina), and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his purchase which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to a land away from Jacob his brother.
7 For their acquirements were too many for them to dwell together, and the land of their sojournings could not bear them because of their cattle.
8 And Esau dwelt on Mount Seir, Esau himself being Edom.
9 And these are the generations of Esau the father of Edom on Mount Seir.
10 These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau; Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau.
11 And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz.
12 And Timna was a concubine belonging to Eliphaz the son of Esau; and she bore Amalek to Eliphaz. These were the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife.
13 And these were the sons of Reuel: Nahath and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife.
14 And these were the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife, the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon; and to Esau she bore Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah.
15 These were the chiefs of the sons of Esau. The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau: Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz,
16 Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, Chief Amalek; these were the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom, these were the sons of Adah.
17 And these were the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, Chief Mizzah; these were the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom, these were the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife.
18 And these were the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife: Chief Jeush, Chief Jaalam, Chief Korah; these were the chiefs of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife.
19 These were the sons of Esau, and these were their chiefs – he being Edom.
20 These were the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land: Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah,
21 And Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan; these were the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir, in the land of Edom.
22 And the sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and the sister of Lotan was Timna.
23 And these were the sons of Shobal: Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho and Onam.
24 And these were the sons of Zibeon: Both Aiah and Anah, this being the Anah who found the mules in the desert while he was feeding the asses for Zibeon his father.
25 And these were the children of Anah: Dishan, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah.
26 And these were the sons of Dishon: Hemdan, and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran.
27 These were the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Akan.
28 These were the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.
29 These were the chiefs of the Horites: Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibeon, Chief Anah,
30 Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, Chief Dishan. These were the chiefs of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir.
31 And these were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom, before a king reigned over the children of Israel.
32 And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom; and the name of his city was Dinhabah.
33 And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in place of him.
34 And Jobab died, and Husham from the land of the Temanites reigned in place of him.
35 And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad, who smote Midian in the field of Moab, reigned in place of him; and the name of his city was Avith.
36 And Hadad died, and Samlah from Masrekah reigned in place of him.
37 And Samlah died, and Saul from Rehoboth on the river reigned in place of him.
38 And Saul died, and Baal Hanan the son of Achbor reigned in place of him.
39 And Baal Hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in place of him; and the name of his city was Pau. And his wife’s name was Mehetabel the daughter of Matred the daughter of Mezahab.
40 And these were the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their families, according to their places, by their names: Chief Timna, Chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth,
41 Chief Oholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon,
42 Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar,
43 Chief Magdiel, Chief Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom according to their habitations, in the land of their possession, Esau himself being the father of Edom.
The subject now in the internal sense is the Lord’s Divine Natural Good. The entire order which that Good possesses is described by the names that are given, the Lord’s Divine Natural Good being meant by ‘Esau’.
Verse 1 And these are the generations of Esau, he being Edom. ‘These are the generations of Esau’ means the derivatives within the Lord’s Divine Natural Good. ‘He being Edom’ means the Natural and bodily degree of the Lord’s Divine Human.
[2] Outwardly this had been clothed with what He took upon Himself from His mother. But since that which He took from her was not good but essentially evil, He cast this out by means of His own power, in particular by means of the conflicts that came with temptations. Then after that He joined this Human which He made new within Himself to the Divine Good which He had had from when He was born. ‘Jacob’ represented the good which He acquired to Himself by His own power and which has been the subject in the chapters immediately before the present one. This acquired good is what He joined to the Divine Good; and in this way He made the entire Human within Him Divine. The Good which ‘Esau’ represents was coming in by an internal route, through rational good directly into the Natural. But the good which ‘Jacob’ or ‘Israel’ represents was coming in by an external route to be met by the Divine coming through rational good, though indirectly through the truth of the Rational into the Natural. ‘Isaac’ represents the rational good, and ‘Rebekah’ the rational truth; see what has been stated already concerning them in 3334, 3573, 4563 (end).
[2] In the verses that follow now the subject is the Lord’s Divine Natural Good. But mere names are used to describe the derivatives within this, for the reason, as stated above, that the derivatives within that Good are far beyond the understanding any man possesses, and even beyond that of an angel. For angels are finite beings, and that which is finite cannot comprehend that which is Infinite. Even so, when this chapter is read a general impression is conveyed to angels of the derivatives contained in the names that are given. It is conveyed to them by an influx of Divine Love from the Lord, and this influx by a heavenly flame which gives them a feeling for what Divine Good is.
[3] Anyone who thinks that the Word is not inspired even to the smallest letter, or who thinks that the Word is inspired in some other manner than one in which strings of detailed information represent Divine matters, and so also celestial and spiritual ones, and that such strings of information have those matters as their spiritual meaning, cannot do other than suppose that the names used imply nothing more than genealogical details to do with the people descended from Esau. What real connection do genealogical details have with the Word; do they have anything Divine within them? But all names in the Word have spiritual realities as their meaning, see 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888, 4442, as well as every other place where explanations are given regarding the spiritual meanings of names.
‘Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan’ means the first joining of Natural good – to the affection for apparent truth. ‘Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the daughter of Zibeon the Hivite’ means its essential nature which it received from the Ancient Church. ‘And Basemath, Ishmael’s daughter, the sister of Nebaioth’ means the second joining – to the affection for truth from a Divine stem. ‘And Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, and Basemath bore Reuel’ means the first derivatives. ‘And Oholibamah bore Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah’ means the second derivative. ‘These were the sons of Esau who were born to him in the land of Canaan’ means from the good of the Lord’s kingdom.
[2] In addition it should be recognized that no human being at all is born into any good. Rather, each person is born into evil – into more internal evil from his father and into more external from his mother – for everyone’s heredity is an evil one. The Lord alone was born into good, actually into Divine Good itself, in that He received this from His Father. This Divine Good into which the Lord was born is the subject now. Its derivatives are those things which came to exist in the Lord’s Human when He made this Divine and by means of which He glorified it. All this explains why it is possible for just a general explanation to be added here.
‘Esau took his wives, and his sons, and his daughters, and all the souls of his house, and his cattle, and all his beasts, and all his purchase which he had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to a land away from Jacob his brother’ means all forms of Divine Good, and of Truth rooted in that Good, which were nevertheless His, with which there was correspondence in heaven and from which heaven existed. Esau’s departure from Jacob took place for the sake of what was represented by his departure. ‘For their acquirements were too many’ means on account of the infinity of them. ‘For them to dwell together’ means the representatives. ‘And the land of their sojournings could not bear them because of their cattle’ means that it is impossible to describe them all. ‘And Esau dwelt on Mount Seir’ means the truth of Natural Good. ‘Esau being Edom’ means the Lord’s Divine Human.
‘These are the generations of Esau the father of Edom’ means derivatives within Divine Natural Good, ‘the father of Edom’ meaning Divine Good from which other forms of good were derived. ‘On Mount Seir’ means with regard to the Truths of Good. ‘These are the names of Esau’s sons’ means the essential nature of the derivatives. ‘Eliphaz the son of Adah the wife of Esau; Reuel the son of Basemath the wife of Esau’ means the states of those derivatives from the marriage of Good and Truth. ‘And the sons of Eliphaz were Teman, Omar, Zepho, and Gatam, and Kenaz’ means first derivatives of Good. ‘And Timna was a concubine belonging to Eliphaz the son of Esau’ means things of service to these. ‘And she bore Amalek to Eliphaz’ means a derivative of a sensory nature. ‘These were the sons of Adah, Esau’s wife’ means second derivatives. ‘And these were the sons of Reuel: Nahath and Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife’ means third derivatives. ‘And these were the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife, the daughter of Anah the daughter of Zibeon; and to Esau she bore Jeush, and Jaalam, and Korah’ means subsequent derivatives.
‘These were the chiefs of the sons of Esau’ means the leading Truths of Good. ‘The sons of Eliphaz, the firstborn of Esau: Chief Teman, Chief Omar, Chief Zepho, Chief Kenaz, Chief Korah, Chief Gatam, Chief Amalek’ means a first grouping and the essential nature of those Truths, and also what they are like in the Lord’s kingdom. ‘These were the chiefs of Eliphaz in the land of Edom, these were the sons of Adah’ means the leading truths belonging to the first group. ‘And these were the sons of Reuel, Esau’s son: Chief Nahath, Chief Zerah, Chief Shammah, Chief Mizzah’ means a second group, and the essential nature of them, as they are in heaven. ‘These were the chiefs of Reuel in the land of Edom’ means a second grouping. ‘These were the sons of Basemath, Esau’s wife’ means from the marriage of Good and Truth. ‘And these were the sons of Oholibamah, Esau’s wife’ means the leading Truths of a third grouping. ‘Chief Jeush, Chief Jaalam, Chief Korah’ means the essential nature of them, and what they are consequently like in the Lord’s kingdom. ‘These were the chiefs of Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, Esau’s wife’ means the leading Truths from the joining together of Good and Truth. These twelve chiefs are like the twelve tribes in the way they are ranged in order by Good. ‘These were the sons of Esau, and these were their chiefs’ means that these are the leading Truths from among the Truths of Good. ‘He being Edom’ means within the Lord’s Divine Human.
[2] ‘These were the sons of Seir the Horite, the inhabitants of the land’ means derivative truths in their proper order. ‘Lotan, and Shobal, and Zibeon, and Anah, and Dishon, and Ezer, and Dishan’ means the essential nature of these. ‘These were the chiefs of the Horites, the sons of Seir’ means the leading truths of good which are secondary to the truths mentioned above. ‘In the land of Edom’ means within the Lord’s Divine Human. ‘And the sons of Lotan were Hori and Hemam; and the sister of Lotan was Timna’ means a second group of truths. ‘And these were the sons of Shobal: Alvan, and Manahath, and Ebal, Shepho and Onam’ means a third group and its essential nature.
[3] ‘And these were the sons of Zibeon: Both Aiah and Anah’ means a third group and its essential nature. ‘This being the Anah who found the mules in the desert’ means truths arising out of factual knowledge. ‘While he was feeding the asses for Zibeon his father’ means when He was occupied with factual knowledge. ‘And these were the children of Anah: Dishan, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah’ means a third group and its essential nature. ‘And these were the sons of Dishon: Hemdan and Eshban, and Ithran, and Cheran’ means a fourth group and its essential nature. ‘These were the sons of Ezer: Bilhan, and Zaavan, and Akan’ means a fourth group and its essential nature. ‘These were the sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran’ means a fifth group and its essential nature.
‘These were the chiefs of the Horites’ means the leading truths from among those next in order. ‘Chief Lotan, Chief Shobal, Chief Zibeon, Chief Anah, Chief Dishon, Chief Ezer, Chief Dishan’ means their essential nature. ‘These were the chiefs of the Horites, according to their chiefs in the land of Seir’ means the leading truths among those next in line.
‘These were the kings who reigned in the land of Edom’ means the main truths within the Lord’s Divine Human. ‘Before a king reigned over the children of Israel’ means when interior spiritual-natural truth had not yet arisen. ‘And Bela the son of Beor reigned in Edom’ means the first truth. ‘And the name of his city was Dinhabah’ means teaching arising out of this truth. ‘And Bela died, and Jobab the son of Zerah from Bozrah reigned in place of him’ means the truth which derived from this as its essential element, and the essential nature of it. ‘And Jobab died, and Husham reigned in place of him’ means the truth which derived from this. ‘From the land of the Temanites’ means where it originated. ‘And Husham died, and Hadad the son of Bedad reigned in place of him’ means the truth which derived from this. ‘Who smote Midian in the field of Moab’ means purification from falsity. ‘And the name of his city was Avith’ means doctrinal teachings arising out of this truth. ‘And Hadad died, and Samlah from Masrekah reigned in place of him’ means the truth which derived from this, and the essential nature of it. ‘And Samlah died, and Saul reigned in place of him’ means the truth which derived from this, ‘from Rehoboth on the river’ meaning the essential nature of it. ‘And Saul died, and Baal Hanan the son of Achbor reigned in place of him’ means the truth which derived from this, and the essential nature of it. ‘And Baal Hanan the son of Achbor died, and Hadar reigned in place of him’ means the truth which derived from this. ‘And the name of his city was Pau’ means teaching. ‘And his wife’s name was Mehetabel the daughter of Matred the daughter of Mezahab’ means the good of that truth.
‘These were the names of the chiefs of Esau, according to their families, according to their places, by their names’ means matters of doctrine concerning good which are derived from these truths, and the origin, state, and essential nature of them. ‘Chief Timna, Chief Alvah, Chief Jetheth, Chief Oholibamah, Chief Elah, Chief Pinon, Chief Kenaz, Chief Teman, Chief Mibzar, Chief Magdiel, Chief Iram’ means the essential nature of those matters of doctrine. ‘These were the chiefs of Edom’ means the leading matters of doctrine. ‘According to their habitations, in the land of their possession’ means with regard to truths and goods. ‘Esau himself being the father of Edom’ means the Lord’s Divine Natural Good within the Lord’s Divine Human.
IN THIS SECTION THE CORRESPONDENCE OF HEARING AND OF THE EARS WITH HEAVEN
The nature of the correspondence that exists between the soul and the body – that is, between the things constituting a person’s inward spirit and those constituting his outward body – may be clearly recognized from the correspondence, influx, and communication of thought and discernment, which are functions of the spirit, with speech and hearing, which are functions of the body. When a person is speaking, his thought is nothing else than the power of speech which his spirit possesses, while his discernment of speech is nothing else than the power of hearing which his spirit possesses. When a person speaks, his thought does not, it is true, present itself to him as speech because it links itself to and is present within the power of speech that his body possesses. And when he hears something his discernment of it seems to him to be simply a hearing within his ear. For this reason the majority of people who have not stopped to reflect on the matter do not know that all five senses are located somewhere else than within organs belonging to the body; so they think that when these organs cease to function through death no sensory perception remains, when in actual fact a person, that is, his spirit, then passes into a life of perfect sensory perception.
[2] The fact that it is the spirit which has the powers of speech and hearing has become quite clear to me from my conversations with spirits. Their speech was communicated to my spirit; it entered my own interior power of speech, and from there into the organs corresponding to it. What they communicated ended as an endeavour in me, which I have perceived clearly on several occasions. Consequently I have heard what they said in tones as clear as anything spoken by someone on earth. Sometimes spirits have spoken to me while I was among a group of people, and some of those spirits have imagined that, because I could hear so clearly what they – the spirits – said, those people present with me could hear them too. But I have told them that their speech was flowing into my ear by the internal route, whereas human speech comes in by the external route. From this one may see how a spirit spoke to one of the prophets – not as a man speaks to another man but as a spirit speaks to a man, that is to say, within him – as in Zech. 1:9, 13, 19; 2:3; 4:1, 4, 5; 5:5, 10; 6:4; and elsewhere. But I realize that these matters are unintelligible to people who do not believe that man is a spirit, the body serving him solely for functions to be performed in the world. Those who have become quite convinced that man is not a spirit refuse even to listen to talk about any kind of correspondence; and if they do listen they reject what they hear because they have a negative attitude Indeed they are unhappy if anything is said not to belong to the body.
[4653a] There are many different kinds of spirits who correspond to the ear, that is, to its functions and duties. There are those who correlate with the specific parts of that organ – those who correlate with the outer ear; those who do so with the membrane there which is called the ear-drum, the interior membranes termed fenestrae; and those who correlate with the malleus, the stapes, the incus, the cylinders, and the cochlea. There are also those who correlate with parts more interior still, including those immaterial or insubstantial parts that are closer to the spirit. Lastly there are those spirits, within the spirit itself, who are linked ultimately – at the most internal point – to spirits belonging to internal sight, from whom they differ in that they themselves are not so discerning, yet, like those who are passively obedient, support them.
[2] Meanwhile two were talking to each other overhead, and I asked who they were. I was told that one of them was a very renowned figure in the learned world, and I was led to believe that he was Aristotle. Who the second one was, I was not told. The first of them was at that point taken back to a state he had passed through when he lived in the world; for anyone can easily be taken back to a state of his life when in the world because every state of his life is present within him. But to my surprise he positioned himself at my right ear and there spoke in a hoarse yet intelligible voice. From the meaning conveyed in his utterances I became aware that he was of an entirely different disposition from those schoolmen who had emerged first, in that the things he had written were the product of his own thought and that this was the origin of his philosophical ideas. Consequently the terms which he invented and gave to different facets of his thoughts were verbal expressions by which he described the things of an interior kind. I also became aware of the fact that he had been prompted to engage in such pursuits by a great delight and a desire to know the ideas that are part of thought, and that he followed obediently whatever his spirit had told him. This was why he had positioned himself at my right ear. His followers, called the Schoolmen,* are different. They do not proceed from thought to terms but from terms to ideas comprising thought, and so go down the road from the opposite end. Indeed, many do not even set off down it to these ideas but stay with terms; and if they use these it is to prove whatever they like, and to give falsities an appearance of truth, in keeping with their desire to convince people of these. Consequently their pursuit of philosophy serves to make them stupid rather than wise persons, so that darkness prevails among them instead of light.
[3] I talked to them after that about the science of analysis, and I was led to say that a small child speaking for merely half an hour presents more philosophy, analysis, and logic than he could have done in volumes describing them, for the reason that every detail of human thought and consequently of human speech involves analysis, the laws of which originate in the spiritual world. I went on to say that anyone who wishes in his thinking to begin in an artificial way with terms is not unlike a dancer who wishes to start to learn how to dance from what he knows about motor fibres and muscles. If in trying to dance he fixed his mind simply on his knowledge of these he could scarcely lift a foot. Yet even without that knowledge he moves all his motor fibres spread throughout the whole body, using them to operate his lungs, diaphragm, sides, arms, neck, and every other part of the body, to describe all of which many volumes would not be sufficient. Similar to such a dancer were those who wish in their thinking to begin with terms. He agreed with what I said and declared that if that is the way people learn they are proceeding in the wrong direction. If anyone wished to be so stupid, he added, then let him go that way; even so, let him always keep in mind what is useful and what is interior.
[4] After this he showed me what kind of idea he had had about the Supreme Deity. He had represented Him to himself as one with a human face and a halo around his head. He now knew that the Lord was that Person, that the halo was the Divine as this proceeded from Him, and that He flowed not only into heaven but also into the whole world, disposing and ruling over these. He added that the one who disposes and rules heaven also disposes and rules the whole world because the one is inseparable from the other. He also declared that he had believed in one God alone whose attributes and qualities had been designated by the same number of names as there were gods whom others worshipped.
[5] I saw a woman who was reaching out her hand, desiring to stroke his cheek. When I wondered at this he said that while in the world he had often seen a woman like this one who seemed to be stroking his cheek, and that her hand had been beautiful. Angelic spirits said that women like her had been seen on occasions by people in early times who gave the name Pallas to them, and that whoever had appeared to him had been one of those spirits who, when they had lived as people in ancient times, had taken delight in ideas and so had gone into the field of thought, though not into philosophy. And since such spirits had resided with him and had taken delight in him because he had begun in his thinking with that which was interior they had put forward such a woman to represent this.
[6] Finally he intimated what kind of idea he had had about the human soul or spirit, which he called pneuma, namely something living but invisible, like something ethereal. He also said that he had known his spirit would live on after death because it was his inward essential self which, having the ability to think, could not die. He then went on to say that he had not been able to have any clear thought about the soul, only an obscure one, because his only source of knowledge about it was himself and, to a small extent, what he had received from the ancients. Aristotle himself lives among intelligent spirits in the next life, but many of his followers dwell among people who are stupid.
* i.e. medieval Aristotelians
[2] Those who maintain that a person is saved by faith alone cannot explain the things which the Lord speaks of as works as anything else than the fruits of faith, and that He made mention of these alone for the sake of the simple who know nothing about mysteries. But even this opinion of theirs shows that the fruits of faith are what make a person blessed and happy after death. The fruits of faith are nothing else than a life led in keeping with what faith commands, and therefore it is a life in keeping with what faith commands that saves a person, not faith apart from life. For a person takes with him after death every state of his life, so that he is like what he was when in the body. That is to say, anyone who during his lifetime despised others compared with himself continues in the next life to despise others compared with himself. Anyone who hated his neighbour during his lifetime continues in the next life to hate his neighbour. Anyone who engaged in deceitful practices against companions during his lifetime continues to engage in them against companions in the next life. And so on. Everyone retains in the next life the essential character he has acquired during his lifetime; and it is well known that it is not possible to get rid of one’s essential character, for if one does so, no life at all remains.
[3] This then is the reason why solely the works of charity are mentioned by the Lord, for anyone who practices the works of charity – or what amounts to the same, leads the life of faith – possesses the ability to receive faith, if not during his lifetime, then in the next life. But anyone who does not practice the works of charity, or lead the life of faith, has no ability at all to receive faith, neither during his lifetime nor in the next life. For evil never does accord with truth; rather, the one rejects the other. And even if people who are under the influence of evil utter truths, they do so with their lips but not from their hearts, so that evil and truths are still very far away from each other.
GENESIS 37
1 And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan.
2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, a son of seventeen years, was pasturing the flock with his brothers; and he, still a boy, was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s womenfolk; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.
3 And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, for he was the son of his old age; and he made him a tunic of various colours.
4 And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.
5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him all the more.*
6 And he said to them, Hear now this dream which I have dreamed.
7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the middle of the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood up, and behold, your sheaves gathered round it and bowed down to my sheaf.
8 And his brothers said to him, Are you indeed going; to reign over us? Or are you indeed going to have dominion over us? And they hated him all the more* for his dreams and for his words.
9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and he recounted it to his brothers, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream again, and behold, the sun and the moon, and the eleven stars were bowing down to me.
10 And he recounted it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall we indeed come – I and your mother, and your brothers – to bow down to you to the earth?
11 And his brothers envied him; and his father kept the matter** [in mind].
12 And his brothers went to pasture the flock of their father, in Shechem.
13 And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers pasturing [the flock] in Shechem? Go, and I will send you to them. And he said to him, Behold, here I am.
14 And he said to him, Go now, see the peace of your brothers and the peace of the flock,*** and bring back word to me. And he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
15 And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field and the man asked him, saying, What are you looking for?
16 And he said, I am looking for my brothers; tell me now, where they are pasturing [the flock].
17 And the man said, They have travelled on from here, for I heard them saying, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.
18 And they saw him from a distance; and before he drew near to them they plotted against him, to put him to death.
19 And they said, a man to his brother, Behold, that dreamer**** is coming.
20 So now come, and let us kill him, and let us throw him into one of the pits, and let us say, An evil wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what his dreams are going to be.
21 And Reuben heard it and rescued him out of their hands, and said Let us not strike him, [as to his] soul.*****
22 And Reuben said to them, Do not shed blood; throw him into this pit in the wilderness and do not lay a hand on him – so that he might therefore rescue him out of their hands, to return him to his father.
23 And it happened, when Joseph came to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of various colours that was on him.
24 And they took him and threw him into the pit, and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
25 And they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted up their eyes and saw, and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites came from Gilead, and their camels bearing spices, and resin, and stacte,****** taking them down to Egypt.
26 And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there in our killing our brother and concealing his blood?
27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, because he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers hearkened.
28 And men passed by, Midianites, who were traders; and they drew Joseph out and caused him to come up out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they led Joseph to Egypt.
29 And Reuben resumed to the pit, and behold, there was no Joseph in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
30 And he resumed to his brothers and said, The lad is no more; and I, where do I go?
31 And they took Joseph’s tunic and killed a he-goat of the she-goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood.
32 And they sent the tunic of various colours, and brought it to their father, and said, We have found this; recognize now whether this is your son’s tunic or not.
33 And he recognized it, and said, My son’s tunic! An evil wild animal has devoured him; Joseph has been torn to pieces.
34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned over his son many days.
35 And all his sons rose up, and all his daughters, to comfort him; and he refused to comfort himself, and said, For I will go down to my son, to the grave mourning. And his father wept for him.
36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s bedchamber-servant, the chief of the attendants.
* lit. they added more still to hating him
** lit. word
*** A Hebrew idiom meaning See whether all is well with your brothers and with the flock.
**** lit. lord of dreams
***** i. e. Let us not kill him
****** spices, resin, and stacte are all aromatic substances.
This chapter deals in the internal sense with the eventual rejection, within the Church, of Divine truths received from the Lord’s Divine Human, and the acceptance at length of falsities instead. Specifically the chapter deals with the opposition to the Lord’s Divine Human of those governed by faith separated from charity.
Verses 1-3 And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, a son of seventeen years, was pasturing the flock with his brothers; and he, still a boy, was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s womenfolk; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, for he was the son of his old age; and he made him a tunic of various colours.
‘Jacob dwelt in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan’ means the Lord’s Divine Natural, which existed in accord with and beneath Divine Rational Good. ‘These are the generations of Jacob’ means the things that follow. ‘Joseph’ means the Lord’s Spiritual [from His] Divine Human. ‘A son of seventeen years’ means His state. ‘Was pasturing the flock with his brothers’ means its presence among those governed by faith who were teachers. ‘And he, still a boy’ means at first. ‘Was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s womenfolk’ means that he was cast away from them. ‘And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father’ means that this showed up the essential nature of those people. ‘And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons’ means a joining of the Divine Spiritual of the Rational to the Divine Spiritual of the Natural. ‘For he was the son of his old age’ means its own life within it. ‘And he made him a tunic of various colours’ means the resulting appearances of truth by which the spiritual of the natural is recognized and distinguished.
[2] The phrase ‘beneath Divine Rational Good’ is used because the Natural lives beneath that Good. For the Rational is higher or more internal – or prior, to use the customary expression – whereas the Natural is lower or more external, and therefore posterior. Thus the Natural is subordinate to the Rational; indeed when they accord with each other the Natural is nothing else than the general outline of the Rational, for whatever the Natural possesses does not belong to it but to the Rational, the only difference between the two being like that between particular aspects and their general outline, or like that between individual details and the form in which those details are seen as a single whole. It is well known to the learned that the end in view constitutes the whole within the cause, and the cause the whole within the effect so that the cause is the outward form given to the end, and the effect the outward form given to the cause. Consequently the effect altogether ceases to exist if you take away the cause, and the cause altogether ceases to exist if you take away the end. Also, the cause comes beneath the end, and the effect beneath the cause. The relationship between the Natural and the Rational is similar to all this.
[2] It does indeed seem as though numbers of years, or ages measured in years, mean nothing else than numbers of years. This is because these numbers more than any others have so to speak a more specific historical application. But these numbers too include spiritual realities and states within them, as is clear from the applications given at Genesis 5 and from what has been stated at Gen. 17:1 and Gen. 25:7 about Abraham’s age and at Gen. 35:28 about Isaac’s. The same is clear in addition from the fact that no historical detail exists anywhere in the Word which does not include within it something heavenly into which it is also changed when it passes from the thought of the reader to the angels present with him, and through those angels into heaven where the spiritual sense rises up out of every historical reference in the Word.
[3] But what is meant by Joseph’s being seventeen years old may be seen from the meaning which this number has elsewhere, namely a beginning, in this case the beginning of the representation through Joseph. As to its meaning a beginning and that which is new, see 755, 853. What is more, this number includes within itself in a general way, and so to speak potentially, all the things that are represented by ‘Joseph’ – ‘seven’ meaning that which is holy and ‘ten’ remnants. For ‘seven’ when used in the Word adds holiness to any meaning, see 881, while ‘ten’ means remnants, 576, 1906, 2284. The remnants present in the Lord were Divine and His own, and by means of them He united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, 1906.
[2] Every Church which begins with faith is like this, but a Church beginning with charity is different. A Church that begins with faith is controlled solely by the understanding, and the understanding by that which has been inherited, namely self-love and love of the world. These loves induce the understanding to gather texts from the Word which support their desires, and to give its own interpretation to those which do not support them. It is different in the case of a Church which begins with charity. This Church is controlled by good, the Lord being within that good. For good which is the good of charity and love is a mediator between the Lord and faith; and unless it is there as a mediator between them no spiritual communication is possible. Without that intermediary He cannot possibly flow into faith. If evil exists there instead of good it drives away the Lord and casts aside or else perverts everything that is the Lord’s and so the whole of faith; for faith comes from Him through good.
[2] As regards the falsities and evils of the Church – that is, of people in the Church – they are not seen by those people, because from falsities one cannot see falsities, nor from evils see evils. For false assumptions altogether darken truths, and a life of evil snuffs them out. Both of these – false assumptions and a life of evil – make falsities look like truths and truths like falsities, and good look like evil and evil like good, as experience abundantly makes plain. But the Church, or its members, are seen completely differently in heaven, for in heaven Divine Truth from the Lord is present, and Divine Truth constitutes the light there. Within that light the essential nature of those people is revealed, for the soul or spirit of every one is present in some community, whether it is one of angels or of devils. His thought exists there, but his speech and actions exist among men in their associating with one another.
[3] Further evidence that the essential nature of members of the Church is shown up by Divine Truth, that is, within Divine Light, is provided by the following: Before casting themselves into hell evil spirits recently arrived from the world desire more strongly than anyone else to be accepted into heaven. They believe that it is merely a matter of being accepted and that anyone, irrespective of what he is really like, may by grace be admitted into heaven. They are sometimes told that the Lord refuses heaven to none and that they can be admitted if they feel able to live there. Some are even taken up to the first communities situated in the outskirts of heaven. But when these get there they start to be seized with pain and to be almost suffocated, because of the strain placed on the life of their thought and will – the life of their thought consisting of false assumptions and the life of their will of the evil life they led in the world. And when they look at themselves in the light there they see themselves as devils, some being corpse-like, some monster-like. For this reason they cast themselves down headlong from that community, passing from the light there into a hellish mist, where they start to breathe again as they had done previously and where they are deluded into thinking they look like spirits who are not evil ones. This is the way they get to know what they are like essentially. From this it is now plain how one is to understand the explanation that this – Divine Truth – showed up the essential nature of those people.
* This reference appears to be incorrect. Probably 4592 or 4669 is intended.
[2] Just above it was said that man’s spirit or the internal man does not know what old age is, and yet before that it was said that it is in this spirit within the body where thinking takes place, and also that life flows from the spirit to the body. The reason why that thought belonging to the spirit cannot be communicated to the body, enabling the person to know that he lives after death is that as long as his spirit remains within the body he cannot do other than think from the assumptions which his natural man has been adopting. And if he has made the assumption and is convinced that only the body is living and that when this dies the whole human being does so, the influx of that spiritual reality is not received. Evidence of the existence of that influx may nevertheless be seen in the fact that most people are concerned about their own burial and the tributes paid to them after death, some about their reputation then, on account of which they also erect splendid monuments to themselves so that the memory of them may not be lost. These are the kinds of things into which the influx from heaven regarding the continuance of life is channeled by those who otherwise have no belief in that life. Without that influx they would treat with utter disdain all remembrance of themselves after they have died.
[2] It has been stated already in 3301 that ‘a tunic’ means the truth of the natural, but as this meaning was not substantiated there from other places in the Word, let these be mentioned here. Because kings in the Jewish Church represented the Lord as regards the Divine Spiritual or Divine Truth, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, their daughters therefore wore tunics of various colours, for ‘daughters’ meant affections for good and truth, and so meant Churches, 2362, 3963. The following is said of them in the second Book of Samuel,
On Tamar, David’s daughter, there was a tunic of various colours, for virgin daughters of the king wore such clothes. 2 Sam. 13:18.
[3] And because high priests represented the Lord as regards the Divine
Celestial or Divine Good, Aaron therefore wore vestments which represented Divine Truth that was derived from the Lord’s Divine Good; for Divine Good exists within the Lord, whereas Divine Truth proceeds from Him. This was what those vestments represented. Something similar was represented when the Lord was transfigured before Peter, James, and John, in that Divine Good was seen as the sun, and Divine Truth was manifested by means of His garments which had the appearance of light, Matt. 17:2.
[4] Regarding the vestments worn by Aaron and his sons, the following is said in Moses,
You shall make for Aaron a tunic of fine linen, and a turban of fine linen; and you shall make a girdle, the work of an embroiderer. And you shall make tunics for Aaron’s sons, and you shall make girdles for them, and you shall make head-coverings for them, for glory and adornment. Exod. 28:39, 40.
Each article of clothing here meant something connected with Divine Truth
derived from the Lord’s Divine Good, ‘a tunic of fine linen’ meaning specifically the Divine Spiritual. The same applies elsewhere in the same author,
You shall take the vestments, and put the tunic on Aaron, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and you shall clothe him with the girdle of the ephod. Then you shall cause his sons to come near, and you shall put them in tunics. Exod. 29:5, 8; 40:14.
What each article of clothing means here will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be stated when those verses come up for consideration. ‘Garments’ in general are truths, see 297, 1073, 2576, 4545.
[5] Prophets too wore tunics, though theirs were made of hair. This was because prophets represented the Lord as regards truths of doctrine, and since truths belong to the natural or external man, their tunics were made of hair – ‘hair’ meaning the natural, see 3301.
[6] The fact that ‘a tunic’ means Divine Truth received from the Lord is evident further still from those places where a tunic is mentioned in the New Testament, as in John,
The soldiers took His garments and made four parts, a part for each soldier, and His tunic. But the tunic was without seam, woven from the top throughout. Therefore they said to one another, Let us not divide it- so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saying They divided My garments for themselves, and for My tunic they cast lots. John 19:23, 24.
Anyone reading this description supposes that it does not hold anything deeper within it than the facts that the garments were divided among the soldiers and that lots were cast for the tunic. But each detail described here represented and meant spiritually something Divine – that is to say, those two details about the garments being divided into four and about the tunic not being divided but having lots cast for it, and above all the detail about the tunic being without seam and woven from the top throughout. ‘The tunic’ meant the Lord’s Divine Truth, which being singular – derived from Good – was represented by the tunic’s being without seam and woven from the top throughout.
[7] Much the same was meant by Aaron’s tunic which, as is evident in Moses, was woven or the work of a weaver,
They made tunics of fine linen, the work of a weaver, for Aaron and his sons Exod. 39:27.
Also represented by the tunic without seam was the fact that the Lord did not allow Divine Truth to be torn apart, as was done by the Jews to the lower truths of the Church.
[8] Because Divine Truth is singular – that is to say, it is derived solely from Divine Good – the twelve disciples were commanded, when they were being sent out to preach the gospel of the kingdom, not to have two tunics. This is recorded in Luke as follows,
Jesus sent the twelve disciples to preach the kingdom of God. And He said to them, Take nothing for the way, neither staves, nor bag, nor bread, nor silver, nor have two tunics each. Luke 9:2, 3.
In Mark,
He charged them to take nothing for the way except a staff; not a bag, nor bread, nor bronze in the belt, but to wear sandals; and do not put on two tunics. Mark 6:8, 9.
And in Matthew,
Do not possess gold, nor silver, nor bronze in your belts, nor bag for the way, nor two tunics, nor sandals, nor staves. Matt. 10:9, 10.
[9] All the individual instructions given in these places are representative of the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom which the disciples were sent to preach. The reason they were not to take gold, silver, bronze, bag, or bread with them was that those things meant different kinds of good and truth received from the Lord alone. ‘Gold’ means good, 113, 1551, 1552, while ‘silver’ means truth derived from that good, 1551, 2954; ‘bronze’ means natural good, 425, 1551, and ‘bread’ the good of love, which is heavenly good, 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3478, 3735, 4211, 4217. ‘Tunic’ however and ‘sandal’ meant the truths with which they were to be endued, and ‘staff the power of truth derived from good. For ‘staff’ means that power, see 4013, 4015; ‘sandal’ the lowest natural, 1748, here its truth; and ‘tunic’ interior natural truth. Now because these things had to be not twofold but singular, they were forbidden to have two staves, two pairs of sandals, or two tunics. These are the arcana contained in what the Lord commanded, but no one can possibly know about them except from the internal sense.
[10] All the detailed instructions spoken by the Lord were representative of Divine things, and consequently of the celestial and spiritual things of His kingdom. They were accordingly suited to the mental grasp of men and at the same time to the understanding of spirits and angels. Therefore the things spoken by the Lord pervaded the whole of heaven and continue to do so. From this it is also evident how valuable and important it is to know the internal sense of the Word. Without it anyone can use the Word to support whatever dogma he likes; and because this is seen to be so by those who are subject to evil, they therefore deride the Word and think it is anything but Divine.
‘His brothers saw’ means things that are matters of faith – in the proximate sense, the descendants of Jacob. ‘That their father loved him more than all his brothers’ means that [the Lord’s Divine Spiritual or Divine Truth] was joined to the Divine Natural – in the proximate sense, to the Ancient Church meant by ‘father’. ‘And they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him’ means contempt and aversion. ‘And Joseph dreamed a dream’ means a declaration concerning Himself. ‘And he told it to his brothers’ means to the adherents to faith separated from charity. ‘And they hated him all the more’ means still greater contempt and aversion. ‘And he said to them, Hear now this dream which I have dreamed’ means the contents of the declaration. ‘Behold, we were binding sheaves in the middle of the field’ means that they were teaching from doctrine. ‘And behold, my sheaf arose and also stood up’ means teaching concerning the Lord’s Divine Human. ‘And behold, your sheaves gathered round it’ means those who were governed by faith. ‘And bowed down to my sheaf’ means worship. ‘And his brothers said to him’ means the adherents to faith separated from charity. ‘Are you indeed going to reign over us? Or are you indeed going to have dominion over us?’ means, Were the concepts in their understandings and the desires in their wills to be made subject to it? ‘And they hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words’ means still greater contempt and aversion on account of that declaration of truth. ‘And he dreamed yet another dream’ means a further declaration. ‘And he recounted it to his brothers, and said’ means to the adherents to faith separated from charity. ‘Behold, I have dreamed a dream again’ means the contents. ‘And behold, the sun and the moon’ means natural good and natural truth. ‘And the eleven stars’ means cognitions of good and truth. ‘Were bowing down to me’ means worship. ‘And he recounted it to his father and to his brothers’ means being given to know it. ‘And his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have dreamed?’ means indignation, ‘father’ at this point being the Jewish religion, an offspring of ancient religion. ‘Shall we indeed come – I and your mother, and your brothers – to bow down to you to the earth?’ means, Will the Church come to worship? ‘And his brothers envied him’ means their aversion. ‘And his father kept the matter [in mind]’ means that truth remained within their semblance of religion.
* lit. they added more still to hating him
** lit. word
[2] The Ancient Church established by the Lord after the Flood was a representative Church. It was the kind of Church in which the external features of its worship, every single one, represented the celestial and spiritual things belonging to the Lord’s kingdom, and in the highest sense represented those Divine things which are the Lord’s own. Every single internal aspect of its worship however had to do with charity. This Church was widespread in much of the Asiatic world and in many kingdoms there. And although differences existed among them so far as teachings about matters of faith were concerned, there was nevertheless one Church because all people everywhere made charity the essential element of the Church. People at that time who separated faith from charity and made faith the essential element of the Church were called Ham. But in process of time this Church turned aside to idolatrous practices, and in Egypt, Babylon, and other places to magical ones; for they began to worship external things devoid of anything internal. So because they departed from charity, heaven departed from them, and in its place spirits from hell came and led them.
[3] Once this Church had been laid in ruins a new Church originating in Eber came into being, which was called the Hebrew Church. This existed in Syria and Mesopotamia, and also among other nations in the land of Canaan. But it differed from the Ancient Church in that it made sacrifices the essential requirement of external worship. It did, it is true, acknowledge charity as the inner substance of worship, but not so much with the heart as the Ancient Church had done. This Church too became idolatrous.
[4] At length the Lord was pleased to establish a new type of Church among Abraham’s descendants through Jacob and to introduce among that nation the external features of the worship of the Ancient Church. But that nation was the kind that could not accept anything internal constituting the Church because their hearts were utterly opposed to charity. For this reason no more than what was representative of the Church was set up among that nation. From this it is now clear that ‘Jacob’s sons’ or ‘Joseph’s brothers’ in the proximate sense means that kind of Church, and that ‘Jacob their father’ means the Ancient Church. Furthermore, in many other places in the Word, especially the prophetical part, ‘Jacob’ is used to mean the Ancient Church, in addition to which this Church – the Ancient – is frequently called ‘father’ or ‘mother’, ‘father’ to refer to its good and ‘mother’ to its truth. From this it is now evident that ‘their father loved Joseph more than all his brothers’ means that the Lord’s Divine Truth was joined to the Ancient Church.
[2] The same is therefore meant by ‘seeing visions’, and ‘dreaming dreams’, as in Joel,
I will pour out My spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy; your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions. Even on your men servants and women servants in those days I will pour out My spirit. Joel 2:28, 29.
‘Pouring out the spirit on these’ stands for informing them of truths, ‘prophesying’ for teaching and declaring them, as also does ‘dreaming dreams’. ‘Old men’ stands for those who have wisdom, ‘young men’ for those who have intelligence, and ‘men servants’ for those who have knowledge.
[3] In Jeremiah,
Thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, Pay no attention to the words of prophets prophesying to you; they render you worthless. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of Jehovah I have heard what the prophets have said, who prophesied a lie in My name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed! Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let him who has My word tell My word truthfully. Behold, I am against those prophesying lying dreams, said Jehovah; they tell them and lead My people astray by their lies. Jer. 23:16, 25, 28, 32.
Here also ‘prophesying’ stands for teaching and declaring, but from lying dreams which are the substance of their declaration.
[4] The same theme occurs elsewhere, as in Jer. 29:8, 9; Zech. 10:2. In Moses:
When a prophet or the dreamer of a dream arises in the midst of you, who has given you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder comes to pass, which he has spoken to you, saying, Let us go to other gods, whom you have not known, and let us serve them; you shall not obey the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of a dream. And that prophet and that dreamer of a dream shall be slain because he has spoken rebellion against Jehovah your God. Deut. 13:1-3, 5.
‘A prophet’ and ‘the dreamer of a dream’ both stand for one who teaches and declares, in this case falsities.
[2] Members of that Church do, it is true, link faith and works together in this way, but doctrine, not life, is the basis on which they do so. And because they do not make salvation depend in any way at all on the life of faith, which is good, only on faith – even though they know plainly from the Word, and their own understanding also tells them, that doctrine is nothing without life, or that faith is nothing without its fruits – they make the saving power of faith depend on confidence. As a result of this they also forsake the fruits of faith, unaware that all confidence owes its existence to the end in view which is life, or that true confidence cannot possibly exist except in good, and that spurious and also false confidence rest in evil. And to set faith and charity even further apart they also declare persuasively that the confidence of only a moment’s duration, engendered even in the final moment of life, can save a person, no matter what his life had been prior to that. Yet for all this they know that the life which is his own awaits everyone after death and that each will be judged according to the works he has done in life. These few remarks make clear the nature of faith separated from charity, and therefore the nature of the Church which makes faith essential and not the life of faith. The falsities which flow from this as their fountainhead will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be mentioned further on.
[2] The reason ‘a sheaf means doctrine is that ‘a field’ means the Church, as has just been stated, while the grain-crop in the field means truth present in the Church. Thus a sheaf of the crop means doctrine containing truth. ‘Sheaves’ has a similar meaning in David,
Those who sow in tears will reap with singing; he who indeed goes forth weeping, carrying a cast of seed, will indeed come with singing, carrying his sheaves. Ps. 126:5, 6.
This refers to people who have been in spiritual captivity and then have been set free. ‘Carrying a cast of seed’ stands for instruction in truths, ‘coming with singing’ for the gladness that results from the affection for truth, ‘carrying sheaves’ for matters of doctrine belonging to that truth.
[2] So far as this highest matter of doctrine is concerned, the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial and was called Man more so than all others, worshipped the Infinite Being (Esse) and the Infinite Manifestation (Existens) of that Being. And because they could not have any perception of an Infinite Being, yet could have – from what they could perceive in their internal man, what they could experience with their senses in their external man, and what was visible to them in the world – some perception of the Infinite Manifestation of the Infinite Being, they therefore worshipped the Infinite Manifestation which held the Infinite Being within it. That Infinite Manifestation holding the Infinite Being within it they perceived as a Divine Man. They did so because they knew that the Infinite Manifestation was brought forth from the Infinite Being by means of heaven. And because heaven is the Grand Man corresponding to every single part of the human being – as has been shown at the ends of chapters before this one and will be shown at the ends of several more coming after it they were unable to have through perception any other conception of the Infinite Manifestation of an Infinite Being than that of a Divine Man. For whatever passes from the Infinite Being by way of heaven as the Grand Man presents an image of that Being in every single thing. When that celestial Church started to fall they foresaw that that Infinite Manifestation could not continue any longer to come into people’s minds and that this being so the human race would perish. For this reason they received by revelation the knowledge that One was to be born who would make Divine the Human within Himself and in this way an Infinite Manifestation like that which had existed previously would come about, and would at length be one with the Infinite Being as this had also been previously. From this arose their prophecy concerning the Lord contained in Gen. 3:15.
[3] This whole matter is described in John as follows,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we beheld His glory as of the Only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1-4, 14.
‘The Word’ is Divine Truth which in its Essence is the Infinite Manifestation of the Infinite Being, and is the Human of the Lord Himself. This Human is the source from which Divine truth now proceeds and flows into heaven, and through heaven into the minds of men. Consequently this Human rules and governs everything, even as it has done so from eternity; for it is one and the same with the Infinite being by virtue of His joining the Human to the Divine, which He effected by making even the Human within Him Divine. From this it may now be seen that the highest aspect of Divine truth is the Lord’s Divine Human, and from this that the Church’s highest matter of doctrine is that His Human is Divine.
[2] The fact that adherents to faith separated from charity do anything but worship the Lord’s Divine Human has been proved to me quite clearly from this kind of people entering the next life from the Christian world, many of whom I have spoken to. For in that life it is not their lips that speak, as in the world, but people’s hearts. Everyone’s thoughts there are communicated far more perfectly than by the use of any speech in the world; nor are those there allowed to say anything other than what they think, and so what they believe. Many of those who have also preached the Lord in the world deny Him altogether in the next life. If one asks what end or purpose they had in view when they preached Him and also worshipped Him outwardly with reverence, one learns that they did so because the office they held required them to do so and because they thereby acquired important positions and wealth. And those who did not preach Him but did nevertheless confess Him did so because they were born inside the Church and would have earned themselves a bad reputation if they had spoken out against religion. Not a single person from the Christian world knows that the Lord’s Human is Divine, and scarcely any that He alone rules heaven and the whole world, let alone that His Divine Human is the all in heaven. The truth of this could not have been plainly revealed because the Lord foresaw that the Christian Church would turn aside from charity to faith, thereby separating itself from Him, and so would not only cast aside but would also profane the holiness proceeding from His Divine Human. For faith separated from charity cannot do anything other than this.
[3] Faith is clearly separated from charity at the present day. For doctrinal reasons one Church separates itself from another, and any individual who believes something different from what official doctrine teaches is excommunicated and also vilified. But anyone who acts like a robber, mercilessly depriving others of their goods, provided he does not do so openly, or who practices deceit against his neighbour, or infects the works of charity with dishonour, or commits adultery, is for all that called a Christian, provided that he attends church services and utters what doctrine teaches. From this it is evident that at the present day doctrine constitutes the Church, not life, and that the fruits which people link with faith reside merely in doctrine and have no place at all in their minds.
[2] The Christian Church however applies the term faith to matters of doctrine which constitute the more internal features of the Church and are called matters of belief. For by faith the ordinary people understand nothing other than that contained in the Creeds or that taught by books expounding the Creeds. But those who think that matters of doctrine concerning faith or knowledge of these cannot save anyone, and that few lead the life of faith, call faith confidence. But these are above the ordinary people and are more learned than others. From these considerations one may see that the subject at this point in the internal sense is not only that representative of the Church which had been established among the descendants of Jacob but also the Christian Church that followed it. For the Lord’s Word is all-embracing and in general includes every Church. Indeed the Lord foresaw what the Christian Church would be like no less than what the Jewish Church would be like, though more immediately or proximately in the case of the Jewish. This is why this sense is called the proximate or internal historical sense, and the other the internal sense.
To Him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, so that all peoples, nations and languages might worship Him. His dominion is an eternal dominion which will not pass away, and His kingdom one that will not perish. Dan. 7:14.
And in David,
Your kingdom is a kingdom to all eternity, and Your dominion to every generation after generation. Ps. 145:13.
[2] The subject in particular is that the Church which has separated faith from charity holds in utter contempt and turns away in utter aversion from the highest truth of all – the truth that the Lord’s Human is Divine. All who belonged to the Ancient Church and did not separate charity from faith believed that the God of the whole world was a Divine Man, and that He was the Divine Being (Esse), which also was why they called Him Jehovah. They knew of Him as such from the most ancient people, and also because He had appeared to many of their brethren as Man. They also knew that all the ritual and external practices of their Church represented Him. But those who adhered to faith separated from charity were unable to share that belief of those who did not separate faith from charity because they could not grasp how the Human could ever be Divine, or that Divine love could make it such. For anything they did not grasp with some idea acquired through their bodily senses they considered to be worthless. This is what faith separated from charity is like; for with those people the internal degree of perception is closed because nothing intermediate exists to enable one to flow into the other.
[3] The Jewish Church which came next did in fact believe that Jehovah was Man as well as God, because He had appeared to Moses and the Prophets as a human being, on account of which they called every angel who appeared Jehovah. Yet their idea of Him was no different from ideas the gentiles had of their gods, though they preferred Jehovah God because He could work miracles, 4299. They were unaware of the fact that this Jehovah was the Lord in the Word, 2921, 3035, and that His Divine Human was represented in all their religious observances. They had no other idea of the Messiah or Christ than one who would be a very great prophet, greater than Moses, and a very great king, greater than David, who would lead them into the land of Canaan to the accompaniment of amazing miracles. Of His heavenly kingdom they did not wish to hear anything at all, for the reason that they grasped none but worldly ideas since they were people separated from charity.
[4] The Christian Church, it is true, does in its religious services adore the Lord’s Human as one that is Divine. It does so in particular in the Holy Supper, because He has said that the bread there is His body, and the wine His blood. But they do not in their doctrine make His Human Divine, for they make a distinction between His Divine nature and His human nature. Also, they make this distinction because the Church has turned aside from charity to faith, and at length to faith separated from charity. And failing to acknowledge that the Lord’s Human is Divine, many go wrong and in their heart deny Him, 4689. Yet the truth of the matter is that the Lord’s Divine Human is the Divine Manifestation of the Divine Being, dealt with above in 4687, and that He Himself is the Divine Being; for Divine Being and Divine Manifestation make one, as the Lord also plainly teaches in John,
Jesus said to Philip, Have I been so long a time with you and you do not know Me? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me. John 14:9-11.
The same teaching occurs elsewhere. The Divine Manifestation is the Divine itself proceeding from the Divine Being and in image is Man, since heaven, of which He is its all, represents the Grand Man, as stated above in 4687 and shown at the ends of chapters where the correspondence with heaven of everything in the human being is dealt with. The Lord, it is true, was born as any human being is born, and received an infirm human from His mother; but the Lord cast out this human completely, to the point of His being no longer Mary’s son, and made the Human within Himself Divine, which is what is meant by His being glorified. He also showed Peter, James, and John that He was a Divine Man, when He was transfigured.
[Thus] said Jehovah who gives the sun for light by day and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for light by night, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar. Jer 31:35.
This refers to a new Church. ‘Giving the sun for light by day’ means good flowing from love and charity, and ‘the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for light by night’ means truth and cognitions.
[2] Similarly in David,
Jehovah who made the great lights, the sun to have dominion by day, the moon and stars to have dominion by night. Ps. 136:7-9.
Anyone unacquainted with the internal sense of the Word will presume that here ‘the sun’ is used to mean the sun of this world, and ‘the moon and stars’ to mean the moon and the stars, but no spiritual and heavenly meaning comes out of that presumption. Yet the Word in every individual part is heavenly. From this it is also evident that it is the goods of love and charity, and the truths of faith, together with cognitions of these, that are meant.
[3] This is similar to what occurs in Chapter 1 of Genesis, where the new creation of the heavenly man is the subject,
God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens, to make a distinction between the day and the night; and they will be for signs, and for set times, and for days and for years. And they will be for lights in the expanse of the heavens, to give light upon the earth; and it was so. And God made the two great lights, the greater light to have dominion over the day, and the lesser light to have dominion over the night, and the stars. And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, and to have dominion over the day and the night, and to make a distinction between the light and the darkness. Gen. 1:14-18.
See [in Volume One, paragraphs] 30-38.
[4] In Matthew,
Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matt 24:29.
Here ‘the sun’ and ‘the moon’ mean love and charity, or good and truth, while ‘stars’ means cognitions – see 4060; and because the last day or last state of the Church is the subject here, ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light’ means that at that time the good of love and charity will perish, and ‘the stars will fall from heaven’ means that the cognitions of good and truth will perish too. That these things are meant is evident from the prophetical parts of the Word where similar descriptions occur regarding the day or state of the Church.
[5] As in Isaiah,
Behold, the day of Jehovah will come, cruel, to make the earth a waste, and He will destroy sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not shine with their light. The sun will be obscured in its rising, and the moon will not give its light. Isa. 13:9, 10.
In Joel,
The day of Jehovah is near. The sun and the moon have been darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their shining. Joel 3:14, 15.
In Ezekiel,
When I have blotted you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars, I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the bright lights in heaven I will make dark over you, and I will put darkness over your land. Ezek. 32:7, 8.
And in John,
The fourth angel sounded, and a third part of the sun was struck, and a third part of the moon, and a third part of the stars, so that a third part of them was darkened and the day did not shine for a third part of it; and the night likewise. Rev. 8:12.
[6] This meaning of ‘stars’ as cognitions of good and truth is in addition evident from the following places: In Daniel,
Out of one horn of the he-goat of the she-goats there grew one small-sized horn and it grew exceedingly towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the glorious [land]; and it grew even towards the hosts of heaven, and it cast down to the earth some of the host, and of the stars, and trampled on them. Dan 8:9, 10.
And in John,
The great dragon drew with his tail a third part of the stars of heaven and cast them down to the earth. Rev. 12:4.
Clearly the actual stars are not meant here, the subject in Daniel and John being the state of the Church in the last times.
[7] Similarly in David,
Jehovah counts the number of stars; He gives names to them all. Ps. 147:4.
In the same author,
Praise Jehovah, sun and moon; praise Him, all stars of light. Ps. 148:3.
In John,
A great sign was seen in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Rev. 12:1.
[8] Since cognitions of good and truth are meant by ‘stars’, the teachings of the Church are meant too, since these are cognitions. Teaching to do with faith separated from charity in the last times is described as ‘a star’ in the following verses in John,
The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from heaven, burning like a torch, and It fell onto a third part of the rivers, and onto the fountains of waters. The name of the star is called Wormwood; and a third part of the waters became wormwood, and many people died in the waters, because they were made bitter. Rev. 8:10, 11.
‘The waters’ which were made bitter by that star are truths, and ‘the rivers’ and ‘the fountains of waters’ are intelligence imparted by those truths, and wisdom from the Word. For ‘waters’ meaning truths, see 2702, 3058, 3424; for ‘rivers’ intelligence, 3051; and for ‘fountains’ wisdom from the Word, 2702, 3424.
[2] It is much the same with the Christian Church. Those of its members among whom external ceremony is devoid of anything internal eat the bread and drink the wine in the Holy Supper; but their thought goes no further than the idea that they should do this because it has been commanded and the Church has complied. Some of these people also believe that the bread and the wine are holy, yet not that the bread and wine contain what is holy because the bread corresponds to the holiness of love and charity in heaven and the wine to the holiness of charity and faith there, 3464, 3735. But those members of the Church among whom external worship is at the same time internal do not venerate the bread and wine but the Lord whom these represent, and from whom springs the holiness of love, charity, and faith. They are led to do this not by doctrine but by love, charity, and faith which have been assimilated by them into their life.
‘His brothers went to pasture the flock’ means those teaching from faith. ‘Of their father’ means of the Ancient Church and of the Primitive [Christian] Church. ‘In Shechem’ means the broad outlines. ‘And Israel said to Joseph’ means perception from the Divine Spiritual. ‘Are not your brothers pasturing [the flock] in Shechem?’ means that they are teaching. ‘Go, and I will send you to them’ means that it would teach Divine spiritual forms of good. ‘And he said, Behold, here I am’ means assent. ‘And he said to him, Go now, see the peace of your brothers’ means every coming of the Lord, and a perception of what the situation was with those who taught. ‘And the peace of the flock’ means what the situation was with those who learned, that is, with the Church. ‘And bring back word to me’ means knowledge. ‘And he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron’ means going forth from the Divine Natural and Sensory degrees. ‘And he came to Shechem’ means knowledge of the general aspects of doctrine. ‘And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field’ means that they had fallen away from general truth known to the Church. ‘And the man asked him, saying, What are you looking for?’ means foresight. ‘And he said, I am looking for my brothers; tell me now, where they are pasturing [the flock]’ means knowledge of what the situation was and what their state was. ‘And the man said, They have travelled on from here, for I heard them saying, Let us go to Dothan’ means that they moved on from the general aspects to the specific details of doctrine. ‘And Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan’ means that they were steeped in the specific details belonging to false assumptions.
* A Hebrew idiom meaning See whether all is well with your brothers and with the flock.
[2] The meaning ‘going forth from the Divine Natural and Sensory degrees’ carried by the words used here is their higher meaning. For the expression ‘lower things of the Church’ is used to describe those which have their origin in the Lord’s Divine Natural and Sensory degrees. Not that within the Lord these things are lower ones – for within the Lord and within His Divine Human everything is Infinite, indeed He is Jehovah as regards both Essences, 2156, 2329, 2921, 3023. Those things are lower because of what the situation is with man. People who are sensory-minded rely on ideas as grasped by the senses to think of things which exist within the Lord and which go forth from the Lord, and those who are natural-minded rely on natural ideas. The nature of the recipients is the reason for the way any matter is stated. People however who are heavenly-minded and are as a consequence truly rational do perceive interior things. These are the ones of whom it is said that they teach from the Lord’s Divine Rational. This, as has been stated, is the higher meaning which these words carry.
[3] The meaning of ‘a valley’ as the lower things of the Church may be seen from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,
The prophecy of the valley of vision. What is this, that you have gone up, every one onto the housetops? The Lord Jehovih Zebaoth has a day of tumult and of trampling and of confusion in the valley of vision. Isa. 22:1, 5.
‘The valley of vision’ stands for false notions about spiritual things – notions formed from sensory impressions, and so from lower things. In the same prophet,
The choicest of your valleys were filled with chariots, and the horsemen positioned themselves at the gate. Isa. 22:7.
‘The choicest of the valleys’ stands for goods and truths within the natural or external man. In the same prophet,
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah; make plain in the lonely place a highway for our God; every valley will be lifted up. Isa. 40:3, 4.
‘Valley’ stands for things that are lowly.
[4] In Jeremiah,
How will you say, I have not been defiled, I have not gone after the baalim. Look at your way in the valley; acknowledge what you have done. Jer. 2:23.
‘The valley’ stands for factual knowledge and sensory impressions, which are lower things, by means of which they would pervert truths. In the same prophet,
I am against you, O inhabitant of the valley, O rock of the plain, said Jehovah, you who say, Who will come down against us? Jer. 21:13.
‘Inhabitant of the valley’ and ‘rock of the plain’ stand for faith which
has no charity in it. In the same prophet,
He who lays waste will come upon every city, and no city will escape; but the valley will perish, and the plain will be destroyed. Jer. 48:8.
Here the meaning is similar. In the same prophet,
You will not boast of valleys; your valley has flowed away, O perverse daughter. Jer 49:4.
‘Valley’ stands for the external things within worship which are also the lowest.
[5] In Ezekiel,
I will give to Gog a place for burial in Israel, the valley of those that pass over. There they will bury Gog and all his multitude, from which they will call it the valley of the multitude of Gog. Ezek. 39:11, 15.
‘Gog’ stands for those whose worship is external devoid of internal, 1151, which is why the expressions ‘his grave’, ‘the valley of those that pass over’, and ‘the valley of his multitude’ are used. In David,
Even when I walk in the valley of the shadow I will fear no evil. Ps 23:4.
‘The valley of the shadow’ stands for lower things which, compared with others, are in shadow.
[6] Because valleys lay between mountains and hills and beneath them, ‘valleys’ therefore means the lower or more external things of the Church; for ‘hills’ and ‘mountains’ mean the higher or more internal things of it, ‘hills’ things of charity and ‘mountains’ those of love to the Lord, 795, 1430, 2722, 4210. And because ‘the land of Canaan’ means the Lord’s kingdom and His Church, that Church is therefore called,
A land of mountain’s and valleys, on the arrival of the rain of heaven it drinks water. Deut. 11:11.
The reason Joseph is said at this point of have been sent out of the Valley of Hebron is that he was sent to those who taught about faith, 4705.
Those who are governed by faith, not by charity, adhere to lower things, for with them faith exists merely in the memory and consequently on the lips, not in the heart and consequently in action.
[2] Since all historical details in the Word are representative of the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord’s kingdom, so too are these. ‘The king of Syria’ represents people who possess cognitions of truth, 1232, 1234, 3249, 3664, 3680, 4112, though at this point in the contrary sense he represents those who possess cognitions which have no connection with truth. ‘Elisha’ represents the Word of the Lord, 2762. ‘Dothan’ means matters of doctrine drawn from the Word. ‘Chariots and horsemen and the large army which the king of Syria sent’ means falsities of doctrine. ‘The mountain full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha that were seen by his servant’ means goods and truths taught by doctrine drawn from the Word, 2762. ‘The blindness’ with which those were struck whom the king of Syria sent there means utter falsities, 2383. ‘Their being led by Elisha to Samaria’, where their eyes were opened, means instruction given through the Word. These are the kinds of things implied in the historical narrative here, ‘Dothan’, where Elisha was, meaning matters of doctrine drawn from the Word concerning goodness and truth. The historical details here in Genesis are much the same in meaning, for specific details of doctrine are not anything different. Yet at this particular point the specific details of false assumptions are meant, for the subject is a Church which begins with faith and so right from the start separates it from charity. Matters of doctrine which are formulated after that all smack of the general assumption made initially, and so of faith devoid of charity. Consequently those matters of doctrine are falsities which are the specific details belonging to false assumptions.
[3] When it first begins every Church knows only the general aspects of doctrine, for at that time it is in a state of simplicity and so to speak in childhood. With the passage of time it adds particular aspects, which in part are confirmations of general aspects, in part are additions which do not however conflict with what is general, and also explanations which resolve manifest contradictions but do not in any way offend the dictates of common sense. But in the present instance all the specific details belong to false assumptions, for all aspects of any kind of doctrine are interrelated like members within a community, and are linked to one another as in blood relationships and relationships by marriage, acknowledging a general assumption made initially as their father. From this it is evident that everything smacks of falsity when the general assumption made initially is false.
[2] So that anyone can know what ‘specific details belonging to false assumptions’ is used to mean, let some of the ideas taught by the Church making and acknowledging faith alone as its basic assumption serve to illustrate that phrase. That is to say, the ideas that a person is justified by faith alone; that in this case all sins are wiped away from him; that by faith alone he is saved even in the last hour of his life; that salvation is simply being admitted by grace into heaven; that even young children are saved through faith; that because they do not possess that faith gentiles are not saved; besides many other ideas that are taught. These ideas and others like them are the specific details belonging to the basic assumption made regarding faith alone. But if the Church were to make and acknowledge the life of faith as its basic assumption it would acknowledge charity towards the neighbour and love to the Lord, and consequently the works of charity and love. Then all those specific details that have just been mentioned would fall to the ground. Instead of justification the Church would acknowledge regeneration, of which the Lord speaks in John,
Unless anyone is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3:3.
It would also acknowledge that regeneration is effected by means of the life of faith, not by faith separated from charity. It would not acknowledge that all sins are in that case wiped away from a person, but that in the Lord’s mercy he is withheld from them and maintained in good and from this in truth; so the Church would acknowledge that all good originates in the Lord and all evil in oneself. Nor would it acknowledge that a person is saved through faith even in the last hour of his life but through his life of faith which awaits his arrival [in heaven]. It would not acknowledge either that salvation is simply being admitted by grace into heaven, for heaven is refused to none by the Lord, but that if his life is not the kind that enables him to exist together with angels he is impelled to flee from it, 4674. Nor would the Church acknowledge that young children are saved through faith, but that in the next life they are taught about the good deeds of charity and about the truths of faith by the Lord and in this way are accepted into heaven, 2289-2308. Nor also would it acknowledge that because they do not possess faith gentiles are not saved, but that the life they have led awaits their arrival in heaven, and that those who have led charitable lives with one another are taught about the good deeds of faith and are equally accepted in heaven. Those who lead a good life also desire the same and believe in it, see 2589-2604. And so on with many other specific ideas.
[3] The Church which makes and acknowledges faith alone as its basic assumption cannot possibly know what charity is, not even what the neighbour is, and so cannot know what heaven is. It will be astonished whenever anyone says that the happiness of the life after death and the joy in heaven consist in the Divine which flows into desiring and doing for others that which is good, and that the happiness resulting from this, and the bliss, surpass one’s entire ability to perceive them. It will be astonished to learn that the reception of that influx from the Divine is by no means possible with anyone who has not been leading the life of faith, that is, with whom the good of charity has not been present. That the life of faith is what saves a person is also explicitly taught by the Lord in Matthew 25:31-end. The same teaching is found in many other places, and that too is why the Creed, called the Athanasian, states towards the end of it,
Everyone will give an account of his works: he who has done well will go into eternal life, but he who has done wickedly into eternal fire.
‘They saw him from a distance’ means the Lord’s Divine Human perceived remotely. ‘And before he drew near to them they plotted against him, to put him to death’ means that they desired to annihilate the Divine Spiritual which proceeded from the Lord’s Divine Human. ‘And they said, a man to his brother’ means the thoughts held mutually by them. ‘Behold, that dreamer is coming’ means those futile ideas. ‘So now come, and let us kill him’ means an annihilation of the essential teaching regarding the Lord’s Divine Human. ‘And let us throw him into one of the pits’ means among falsities. ‘And let us say, An evil wild animal has devoured him’ means a lie invented out of a life of evil desires. ‘And we shall see what his dreams are going to be’ means that declarations concerning Him were by their reckoning false ones and were seen by them as such. ‘And Reuben heard it’ means the Church’s confession of faith in general. ‘And rescued him out of their hands’ means deliverance. ‘And said, Let us not strike him, [as to his] soul’ means that it must not be annihilated because it is the life of religion. ‘And Reuben said to them’ means an exhortation. ‘Do not shed blood’ means not to do violence to what is holy. ‘Throw him into this pit in the wilderness” means that for the time being they should conceal it among their falsities. ‘And do not lay a hand on him’ means, and should not do any violence to it. ‘So that he might therefore rescue him out of their hands, to return him to his father’ means so that it might lay claim to it for the Church.
* lit lord of dreams
** lit. Let us not kill him
[2] The implications of this are as follows: All Divine Truth in the whole of heaven proceeds from no other source than the Lord’s Divine Human. That which proceeds from the Divine itself, since this is Infinite, cannot possibly flow directly to any angel, only indirectly through the Lord’s Divine Human. This is also what the following words spoken by the Lord mean,
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.
This also explains why as to His Divine Human the Lord is called the Mediator.
[3] This Human has existed even from eternity, for unless the Divine Being flowed through heaven, and in so doing became the Divine Manifestation, that Being could not have been communicated to any angel, still less to any spirit, and least of all to any man. For as regards the Divine itself the Lord is the Divine Being, and as regards the Divine Human He is the Divine Manifestation, see 4687. Yet the Lord’s Human could not have received any influx from the Divine Being if the Human within Him had not been made Divine, for that which is to receive the Divine Being must itself be Divine.
[4] From these few observations it may be seen that Divine Truth does not proceed directly from the Divine itself but from the Lord’s Divine Human. What is more, those who champion faith alone within themselves and do not lead the life of faith annihilate that Divine Human, for they believe that the Lord’s Human is purely human, not unlike the human of any other person. Many of these people as a consequence also deny the Lord’s Divinity, even though they confess Him with their lips. But those who lead the life of faith worship the Lord, on bended knees and with humble hearts, as their God and Saviour. As they do so the teaching that His Divine Nature is distinct and separate from His Human Nature does not enter their heads, as is likewise the case with them during the Holy Supper. From this it is evident that in their case the Lord’s Divine Human has a place in their hearts.
[2] Many things reveal that Divine Truths are seen by such people as futile ideas. For example, one Divine Truth is that the Word is holy and divinely inspired even to every tiny letter, and that its holiness and Divine inspiration are due to the fact that everything in it serves as a representative and as a sign meaning celestial and spiritual things in the Lord’s kingdom. But when the internal sense of the Word is laid open and teaching is provided to show what each detail represents and means, such adherents to faith alone reject those things as futile ideas, saying that they have no use, when in fact they are celestial and spiritual matters that would bring more delight to the internal man than worldly ones do to the external man. The same is so with many other Divine Truths.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah; make plain in the lonely place a highway for our God. Isa. 40:3.
It is quite clear from the writers of the Gospels that these words were used to refer to the Lord and that the way was prepared for Him, and the highway made plain, by John the Baptist, Matt. 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4; John 1:23. The same is additionally clear from the Lord’s own actual words staking that He was one with the Father, that the Father was within Him and He was within the Father; also that all power was given to Him in heaven and on earth, and that judgement was His. Anyone who has but little knowledge about power in heaven and on earth, or about judgement, can see that these words would be meaningless if He were not Divine even as to His Human.
[2] Adherents to faith alone cannot have any knowledge of what makes a human being new, that is, makes him holy, let alone what makes the Lord’s Human Divine, since they know nothing about love and charity – it being love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour that make a human being new and make him holy. It was Divine love itself however that made the Lord Divine. Love constitutes a person’s very being (esse), and lies at the root of the life he leads. That Divine love fashions him to be an image of itself, being much like the human soul – a person’s inner and essential self – which so to speak creates or moulds the body into an image of itself, so that it uses the body to enable it to act and to discern things exactly as it wills and thinks. The body is then so to speak the effect, and the soul is so to speak the cause that has the end within it, the soul therefore being the all within the body, even as the cause containing the end is the all within the effect. The soul of Divine love was Jehovah Himself, as He was the Lord’s soul, since He was conceived from Jehovah; and His Human, once it was glorified, could not be anything else. These considerations show how
much those people go astray who make the Lord’s Human after it has been glorified like the human of anyone else. In fact it is Divine, and from His Divine Human all wisdom, all intelligence, and also all light go forth in heaven. Whatever goes forth from Him is holy, and anything [regarded as] holy which does not go forth from the Divine is not holy.
[2] From this one may have some idea of what is meant by hell, the lower earth, or the pit, when these are mentioned in the Word, as in Isaiah,
You have been sent down to hell, to the sides of the pit; you are cast out from your sepulchre like an abominable branch, a garment of the slain, those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit. Isa. 14:15, 19.
This refers to the king of Babel, who represents the profanation of truth, for ‘a king’ represents truth, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, and ‘Babel’ profanation, 1182, 1326. ‘Hell’ is the place where the condemned are, and their state of condemnation is compared to ‘an abominable branch’ and ‘a garment of the slain and of those pierced by the sword, who go down to the stones of the pit’. ‘A garment of the slain’ means truth that has been made profane; ‘those pierced by the sword’ means people among whom truth has been annihilated; ‘the pit’ means falsity that is to be laid waste, ‘stones’ the limits of that falsity, which are also therefore called ‘the sides’, for surrounding the pits there are the hells. ‘A garment’ means truth, 2576, and therefore ‘a garment of the slain’ means truth that has been made profane, for ‘the blood’ with which it has been stained means that which has been made profane, 1003. ‘Those pierced by the sword’ means those among whom truth has been annihilated, 4503. From all this it is also evident that without the internal sense one cannot by any means know what these things mean.
[3] In Ezekiel,
When I cause you to go down with those going down to the pit, to the people of old, and I cause you to dwell in the land of the lower ones, in the desolations from of old, so that you do not dwell with those going down to the pit, I will give beauty in the land of the living. Ezek. 26:20.
‘Those going down to the pit’ stands for those who are made to undergo vastation. ‘Not dwelling with those who go down to the pit’ stands for being delivered from falsities.
[4] In the same prophet,
That none of all the trees by the waters may become arrogant because of their height nor send their trunk up among entangled boughs, and that none of all [the trees] that drink water may reach above them because of their height – all will be given over to death, to the lower earth in the midst of the sons of men, to those going down to the pit. At the sound of its crashing down I will make the nations tremble, when I cause him to go down into hell with those going down to the pit. And all the trees of Eden, the choicest and the most excellent of Lebanon, all those drinking water, will comfort themselves on the lower earth. Ezek. 31:14, 16.
This refers to Egypt, meaning knowledge, which enters by itself into the mysteries of faith, that is, people who enter into them, 1164, 1165, 1186. What has been stated above makes plain the meaning of hell, the pit, and the lower earth mentioned at this point in the prophet. Nor from anywhere else than the internal sense can anyone see what is meant by ‘the trees by the waters’, ‘the trees of Eden’, ‘the trunk sent up among entangled boughs’, ‘the choicest and the most excellent of Lebanon’, and ‘those drinking water’.
[5] In the same prophet,
Son of man, wail over the multitude of Egypt, and cause it and the daughters of magnificent nations to go down to the lower earth. with those going down into the pit. Asshur is there to whom graves have been given in the sides of the pit, all of them slain with the sword. Ezek. 32:18, 22, 23.
What these words mean may be seen from the explanations given above. In David,
Jehovah, You have caused my soul to come up out of hell; You have caused me to live, out of those going down to the pit. Ps. 30:3.
In the same author,
I have been reckoned with them going down to the pit; I have become as a man with no strength. You have put me in the pit of the lower ones, in darkness, in the depths. Ps. 88:4, 6.
In Jonah,
I had gone down to the bottoms of the mountains; the bars of the land were upon me for ever. Nonetheless You brought up my life from the pit. Jonah 2:6.
This refers to the Lord’s temptations, and to deliverance from them. ‘The bottoms of the mountains’ means where the most condemned are, for the gloomy dark clouds which seemingly surround them are mountains.
[6] As regards ‘the pit’ meaning falsity laid waste, and in the abstract sense falsity itself, this is clear in addition in Isaiah,
They will be gathered together, in a gathering as the bound for the pit, and they will be shut up in the dungeon; but after a multitude of days they will be visited. Isa. 24:22.
In the same prophet,
Where is the anger of the oppressor? He that leads out will hasten to open, and he will not die at the pit; nor will bread fail. Isa. 51:13, 14.
In Ezekiel,
Behold, I am bringing strangers upon you, the violent of the nations, who will draw their swords against the loveliness of your wisdom, and they will profane your splendour. They will bring you down into the pit, and you will die the deaths of those slain in the heart of the seas. Ezek. 28:7, 8.
This refers to the prince of Tyre, who means people under the influence of false assumptions.
[7] In Zechariah,
Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion! Make a noise, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you, just, meek, and riding on an ass, and on a colt, the young of she-asses. Through the blood of the covenant I will let out your bound ones from the pit in which there is no water. Zech 9:9, 11.
‘The pit in which there is no water’ stands for falsity that has no truth at all within it, as also in verse 24 below where it is said that they cast Joseph into the pit and the pit was empty, having no water in it. In David,
To You, O Jehovah, do I call; my rock, do not be silent to me, lest if You are silent to me I seem like those going down into the pit. Ps. 28:1.
In the same author,
Jehovah caused me to come up out of the pit of VASTATION, out of the miry clay, and He set my feet upon a rock. Ps. 40:2.
[8] In the same author,
Do not let the flow of waters rush over me, nor the deep swallow me up, nor the pit close its mouth over me. Ps. 69:15.
In the same author,
He sent His word and healed them, and rescued them from their pits. Ps. 107:20.
‘From pits’ stands for from falsities. In the same author,
Make haste, answer me, O Jehovah. My spirit is consumed. Do not hide Your face from me, lest I become like those going down into the pit. Ps. 143:7.
Because ‘a pit’ means falsity, and ‘the blind’ those who are immersed in falsities, 2383, the Lord therefore says,
Let them alone; they are blind leaders of the blind. For if the blind leads the blind both will fall into a pit. Matt. 15:13, 14; Luke 6:39.
Something similar to what was represented by Joseph was also represented by the prophet Jeremiah, who describes what happened to him as follows,
They took Jeremiah and cast him into the pit which was in the court of the guard, and let Jeremiah down by ropes into the pit where there was no water. Jer. 38:6.
That is, they cast Divine Truths away among falsities that had no truth at all within them.
* The Latin has 2711, 2714, but 2701, 2704 seem to be intended
[2] As is well known, man has two inner mental powers – the understanding and the will. That which the understanding takes in and absorbs does not therefore pass over into the will, but that which the will takes in and absorbs does pass over into the understanding; for what is in a person’s will occupies his thought also. Consequently when his desires lead him to will what is evil he is also thinking about it and confirming it. And when thoughts of evil have become confirmations of it they are called falsities arising from a life of evil desires. These falsities are seen by that person as truths, and once he has confirmed those falsities, truths are then seen by him as falsities, for he has now blocked off the light that flows from the Lord through heaven. But if he has not confirmed those falsities, truths which have been previously absorbed by his understanding stand in the way and prevent those falsities from being confirmed.
[2] A further reason why the life of evil desires leads to the confirmation of falsities is that those people do not know what heaven is or what hell is, nor also what love towards the neighbour is, and what self-love and love of the world are. If they did know what these were, indeed if they had merely the wish to know, their thoughts would be completely different. Who at the present day knows of love towards the neighbour as anything other than giving what he possesses to the poor, using his own wealth to help anyone else, and doing good to him in every possible way, irrespective of whether he is good or wicked? And because by doing this he would deprive himself of his own resources and would make himself poor and wretched, he therefore casts aside teaching concerning charity and embraces that concerning faith. Then he uses many ideas to confirm himself against charity, that is to say, the idea that he is born in sins and as a consequence cannot by himself do anything good at all; and that if he does do the works of charity or genuine piety he inevitably places merit in them. And when on the one hand he has thoughts like these, and on the other he is motivated by a life of evil desires, he associates himself with those who say that faith alone saves. In doing this he confirms himself all the more in that idea, until he is convinced that the works of charity are not necessary for salvation. Once these ideas have crystallized, he then easily accepts a new one – that because this is what a person is like the Lord has provided the means of salvation which is called faith. At length he accepts the idea that he is saved even in his final hour when he dies, provided that in confidence or trust he asks that God may be merciful to him by looking upon the Son as having suffered for his sake – giving no weight at all to what the Lord said in John 1:12, 13, and in a thousand places elsewhere. So it is that faith alone has been acknowledged within Churches as the essential thing. But the reason it is not acknowledged everywhere in this way is that parish priests can gain nothing from faith alone, only from preaching about works.
[3] But if those same people had known what charity towards the neighbour really was they would never have fallen for this falsity that is taught. The fundamental requirement of charity is to act in an upright and just way in everything connected with one’s duty or function. For example, if a judge punishes a wrong-doer in accordance with the laws, and does so out of zeal, he is moved by charity towards the neighbour, for he desires the reform, and so the good, of that person, as well as desiring what is good for the community and his country. He punishes him to prevent him doing further harm to the community, and so is able to love him if he is reformed – as a father loves a son whom he chastises – and in so doing loves the community and his country, which in general is his neighbour. The same applies to all other people in the duties or functions they perform. But in the Lord’s Divine mercy these matters will be discussed more fully elsewhere.
[2] This supreme or inmost truth that the Lord’s Human is Divine is denied by those within the Church who adhere to faith alone. Nevertheless because they know from the Word that there is a Divine side to the Lord and yet they do not grasp how the Human can be Divine, they therefore say He is both, by making a distinction between His Divine nature and His Human nature. But those who lead the life of faith – that is, those who have charity – worship the Lord as their God and Saviour; and while engaged in worship they think of the Lord’s Divine without separating it from His Human. In so doing they acknowledge in their hearts everything in the Lord to be Divine. But because, when thinking from doctrine, they cannot grasp how the Human can be Divine, they speak purely from what doctrine teaches.
[2] The majority of those who say that they acknowledge a supreme being, but of whom they have no mental picture, do not acknowledge any God, but nature instead, which they acknowledge because they have a mental grasp of what this is. Very many learned persons among Christians are like this, and for the added reason that they do not believe that the Lord’s Human is Divine. Therefore to withhold from the worship of wood and stones those people who have set themselves far apart from the Divine and have become bodily-minded; to withhold them also from the worship of anyone after his death and so of some devil within this person, instead of the worship of God Himself because they could not perceive Him in any way; thus to withhold everything of the Church from destruction, and the human race along with the Church, the Divine was willing to take the Human upon Himself and make this Divine. Let the learned beware therefore of thinking of the Lord’s Human without at the same time believing that this is Divine. Otherwise they set themselves a stumbling-block and at length believe nothing.
Blessed are you, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. Matt. 16:17.
Therefore the flesh and blood meant in the Holy Supper by the bread and wine are the Lord’s Human Proprium. The Lord’s actual Proprium which He acquired to Himself by His own power is Divine. His Proprium was since His conception that which He had from Jehovah His Father and was Jehovah Himself, and therefore the Proprium which He acquired to Himself within the Human was Divine. It is this Divine Proprium within the Human that is called flesh and blood, ‘flesh’ being His Divine Good, 3813, ‘blood’ Divine Truth that goes with Divine Good.
[2] The Lord’s Human, now that it has been glorified or made Divine, cannot be thought of as something merely human but as Divine Love within a human form. This is more true of Him than it is of angels, who – when they come to be seen, as I myself have seen them – are seen as forms of love and charity taking on a human appearance, the Lord enabling this to be so. For it was by Divine Love that the Lord made His Human Divine, even, as has been stated, as heavenly love serves to make someone an angel after death, so that he too is seen as a form of love and charity taking on a human appearance. From this it is evident that in the celestial sense the Lord’s Divine Human means Divine Love itself, which is a love directed towards the whole human race whom He wishes to save, making them blessed and happy for ever, and to whom He wishes to impart, insofar as its members can accept it, what is His and is Divine, so that it becomes their own. This love, and man’s reciprocated love to the Lord as well as his love towards the neighbour, are meant and represented in the Holy Supper, Divine celestial love by the flesh or bread in it and Divine spiritual love by the blood or wine.
[3] From all this one may now see what is meant by eating the Lord’s flesh and drinking His blood in John,
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live for ever. But the bread which I shall give is My flesh. Truly, truly, I say to you, Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drank His blood you will have no life in you. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is truly food, and My blood is truly drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. This is the bread which came down from heaven. John 6:50-58.
Because ‘flesh’ and ‘blood’ mean the Divine Celestial and the Divine Spiritual that proceed from the Lord’s Divine Human, as has been stated, or what amounts to the same, mean Divine Good and Divine Truth that proceed from His Love, ‘eating’ and ‘drinking’ mean making these things one’s own. They become one’s own through the life of love and charity which is also the life of faith. For ‘eating’ means making good one’s own, and ‘drinking’ making truth one’s own, see 2187, 3069, 3168, 3513, 3596, 3734, 3832, 4017, 4018.
[4] Because ‘blood’ in the celestial sense means the Divine Spiritual or Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord’s Divine Human, it therefore means that which is holy, for Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord’s Divine Human is Holiness itself. There is no other Holiness, nor any other source of it.
[5] As regards ‘blood’ meaning that Holiness, this may be seen from many places in the Word, of which let the following be quoted here: In Ezekiel,
Son of man, thus said the Lord Jehovih, Say to every bird of the air, to every wild animal of the field, Assemble and come, gather yourselves from all around to My sacrifice which I am sacrificing for you, a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink wine. You will eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth – rams, lambs, and he-goats, all of them fatlings of Bashan. And you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I will sacrifice for you. You will be glutted at My table with horse and chariot, with the mighty, and with every man of war. Thus will I set My glory among the nations. Ezek. 39:17-21.
This refers to the calling together of all people to the Lord’s kingdom, and specifically to the establishment of the Church among gentiles. ‘Eating flesh and drinking wine’ means making Divine Good and Divine Truth one’s own, and so making one’s own the Holiness which proceeds from the Lord’s Divine Human. Is there anyone who cannot see that here in the references to their eating the flesh of the mighty and drinking the blood of the princes of the earth, and their being glutted with horse, chariot, the mighty, and every man of war, ‘flesh’ is not used to mean flesh nor ‘blood’ to mean blood?
[6] Similarly in John,
I saw an angel standing in the sun, who called out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds flying in mid-heaven, Come, gather yourselves together to the supper of the Great God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and those seated on them, and the flesh of all, free men and slaves, small and great. Rev. 19:17, 18.
Can anyone ever understand these things unless he knows what ‘flesh’ means in the internal sense, or what ‘kings’, ‘captains’, ‘mighty men’, ‘horses’, ‘those seated on them’, ‘free men and slaves’ mean?
[7] Also in Zechariah,
He will speak peace to the nations; His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River even to the ends of the earth As for you also, through the blood of your covenant I will let out your bound ones from the pit. Zech. 9:10, 11.
This refers to the Lord. ‘The blood of the covenant’ is Divine Truth proceeding from His Divine Human and is the Holiness itself which has gone out from Him since He was glorified. This Holiness is that which is also called the Holy Spirit, as is evident in John,
Jesus said, If anyone thirsts let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. This He said about the spirit which those believing in Him were to receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet because Jesus was not yet glorified. John 7:37-39.
As regards the holiness proceeding from the Lord being ‘the spirit’, see John 6:63.
[8] Further to ‘blood’ meaning the holiness proceeding from the Lord’s Divine Human – in David,
From deceit and from violence He will redeem* their soul, and precious will their blood be in His eyes. Ps. 72:14.
‘Precious blood’ stands for the holiness which they are to receive. In John,
These are they who are coming out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. Rev. 7:14.
And in the same author,
They have conquered the dragon by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony; and they did not love their soul even to death. Rev. 12:11.
[9] The Church at the present day knows no more than this, that ‘the blood of the Lamb’ here means the Lord’s passion, for it believes that people are saved solely through the Lord’s passion and that it was to endure this that He was sent into the world, a belief which may be enough for the simple who are incapable of grasping interior arcana. The Lord’s passion was the last stage of His temptation, by which He fully glorified His Humanity, Luke 24:26; John 12:23, 27, 28; 13:31, 32; 17:1, 4, 5. But ‘the blood of the Lamb’ here in Revelation is the same as the Divine Truth or that which is holy proceeding from His Divine Human, and so is the same as ‘the blood of the covenant’ referred to just above, and also in Moses,
[10] Moses took the book of the covenant, and read it in the ears of the people, who said, All that Jehovah has spoken we will do and hear. Then Moses took the blood and sprinkled it over the people. and said, Behold the blood of the covenant which Jehovah has made with you, upon all these words. Exod. 24:7, 8.
‘The book of the covenant’ was Divine Truth as it existed with them at that time, which Truth was corroborated by means of the blood that bore witness to the fact that such Truth proceeded from His Divine Human.
[11] In the ritual requirements of the Jewish Church ‘blood’ meant nothing other than the holiness proceeding from the Lord’s Divine Human. When people were being consecrated blood was therefore used to effect this, as when Aaron was consecrated along with his sons. At that time the blood was sprinkled over the horns of the altar, the residue being poured out at the base of it. Some was also put on the tip of their right ear, on their right thumb and the big toe of their right foot, and on their vestments, Exod. 29:12, 16, 20, 21; Lev. 8:15, 19, 23, 30. And when Aaron went within the veil to the mercy-seat the blood had also to be sprinkled with his finger seven times over the east side of the mercy-seat, Lev. 16:12-15. Likewise in all other consecrations, as well as expiations and cleansings, mentioned in Exod. 12:7, 13, 22; 30:10; Lev. 1:5, 11, 15; 3:2 ,8, 13; 4:6, 7, 17, 18, 25, 30, 34; 5:9; 6:27, 28; 14:14-19, 25-30; 16:12-15, 18, 19; Deut. 12:27.
[12] As ‘blood’ in the genuine sense means that which is holy, so in the contrary sense ‘blood’ and ‘bloods’ mean things which bring violence to it. This is because ‘shedding innocent blood’ means doing violence to that which is holy. For the same reason too infamous deeds in life and profane acts of worship are called ‘blood’. The fact that such things are meant by ‘blood’ and ‘bloods’ is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
When the Lord will have washed the excrement of the daughters of Zion and washed away the blood of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgement and by a spirit of purging. Isa. 4:4.
In the same prophet,
The waters of Dimon are full of blood. Isa. 15:9.
In the same prophet,
Your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity. Their feet run to evil, and they hasten to shed innocent blood; their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity. Isa. 59:3, 7.
In Jeremiah,
Yes, in your skirts the blood of poor innocent souls is found. Jer. 2:34.
[13] In the same prophet,
For the sins of the prophets, the iniquities of the priests who shed in the midst of Jerusalem the blood of the righteous. They went astray blind in the streets, they are defiled with blood. Things which have no power they touch with their garments. Lam. 4:13, 14.
In Ezekiel,
I passed by you and saw you weltering in your blood,** and I said to you, Live in your blood;** I indeed said to you, Live in your blood’. I washed you with water and washed away your blood** from upon you, and anointed you with oil. Ezek. 16:6, 9.
In the same prophet,
You, son of man, will you dispute with the city of blood?** Declare to her all her abominations. By your blood which you have shed you have become guilty, and by the idols which you have made you are defiled. Behold, the princes of Israel, each according to his power,*** have been among you and have shed blood. Men of intrigue have been among you, [ready] to shed blood, and among you have eaten on the mountains. Ezek. 22:2-4, 6, 9.
In Moses,
If anyone sacrifices anywhere else than on the altar at the tent of meeting it shall be [regarded as] blood, and as though he had shed blood. Lev. 17:1-9.
[14] Truth that has been falsified and rendered profane is meant in the following references to ‘blood’: In Joel,
I will give portents in the heavens and on earth, blood and fire, and columns of smoke. The sun will be turned into thick darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah comes. Joel 2:30, 31.
In John,
The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became like blood. Rev. 6:12.
In the same author,
The second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third part of the sea became blood. Rev. 8:8.
In the same author,
The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of one dead, from which every living soul died in the sea. The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and into the fountains of water, and blood was made. Rev. 16:3, 4.
[15] A similar meaning occurs in the turning of the rivers, pools and ponds in Egypt into blood, Exod. 7:15-22, for ‘Egypt’ means knowledge which enters of its own accord into heavenly arcana and as a consequence perverts Divine truths, refuses to accept them, and renders them profane, 1164, 1165, 1186. Being Divine ones, all the miracles performed in Egypt embodied the same kind of meanings. ‘The rivers’ which were turned into blood means the truths that go with intelligence and wisdom, 108, 109, 3051, as likewise do ‘waters’, 680, 2702, 3058, and ‘springs’, 2702, 3096, 3424. ‘Seas’ means factual truths taken as a single whole, 28. ‘The moon’, which, it is also said, is to be turned into blood, means Divine Truth, 1529-1531, 2495, 4060. From this it is evident that the turning of the moon, sea, springs, waters, and rivers into blood means Truth that has been falsified and rendered profane.
* The Latin means bring back (imperative singular), but the Hebrew means He will redeem.
** lit. bloods
*** lit. arm
[2] The expression ‘no truth is present because no good is there’ is used for the reason that if a person believes that faith saves without works, truth may indeed exist. Even so, it is not truth residing with him, because it does not look to good nor is it rooted in good. This truth is not a living one because it contains a false premise, and therefore when a truth of this kind exists with that person it is nothing but a falsehood based on the false premise that reigns within it. That premise may be likened to the soul from which all else has its life. On the other hand falsities can exist which are accepted as truths if good lies within them, especially if it is the good of innocence, as with gentiles and even with many within the Church.
[2] To know more regarding this truth, it should be recognized that the Ancient Church acknowledged it, as also did the Primitive Christian Church. But there came a time when the papacy so extended its authority that it had control over every human soul; it exalted itself in the way the king of Babel is said to have done, in Isaiah,
You said in your heart. I will go up into the heavens, above the stars of God* I will raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of assembly, I will go up above the heights of the clouds, and I will make myself like the Most High. Isa. 14:13, 14.
Then – at that time – Divinity was taken away from the Lord’s Human, that is, His Divine was made distinct and separate from His Human.
[3] The way in which this distinction was decreed in a certain council** has also been revealed to me. I saw some people appear on the right in front of me, some distance away on a level with the sole of my foot. They were talking among themselves, but I did not hear what about. I was told that they were some of those who had come together in the council when the decree was made regarding the Lord’s two Natures – His Divine one and His Human one. Shortly after that I was allowed to talk to them. They said that those who had the greatest influence in the council and who held higher positions and had higher authority than the rest met together. They did so in a room that was dark, where they decided that both Divinity and Humanity should be attributed to the Lord, the main reason for their decision being that otherwise the papacy could not have remained in being. For if they had acknowledged that the Lord was one with the Father, as He Himself says, no one could then have been acknowledged as His vicar on earth. Schisms were developing at that time, which would have toppled and destroyed the power of the papacy, had they not made that distinction. To strengthen it they also assembled proof texts from the Word and swayed the rest of the council.
[4] Those who spoke to me added that by doing this they were able to have control in heaven and on earth. They knew from the Word that all power in heaven and on earth had been given to the Lord, and this power could not have been granted to any vicar [of Christ] if the Human too were acknowledged to be Divine. For they knew that no one was allowed to make himself equal to God and that that power existed essentially in the Divine, not in the Human unless it was granted to it as it was also subsequently granted to Peter. They said that by doing what they did they were then able to keep the schismatics quiet who were most astute, and were also able to strengthen the power of the papacy. From this it is clear that they invented the distinction they made purely for the sake of having control, and that therefore they had no wish to know that the gift of power to the Lord’s Human in heaven and on earth demonstrates that His Human too is Divine. It is also clear that ‘Peter’, to whom the Lord gave the keys of heaven, does not mean the man Peter but faith rooted in charity, which is received from the Lord alone and is therefore a power that belongs to the Lord alone – see Preface to Gen. 22.
* The Latin means heaven, but the Hebrew means God, which Sw. has in other places where he quotes this verse.
** Council of Chalcedon 451AD
‘It happened, when Joseph came to his brothers’ means when a declaration was made concerning Him. ‘That they stripped Joseph of his tunic’ means that they removed and annihilated the appearances of truth. ‘The tunic of various colours that was on him’ means the nature of the appearances which is determined by that of the truths derived from good. ‘And they took him and threw him into the pit’ means among falsities. ‘And the pit was empty, there was no water in it’ means that at that time there was no truth at all. ‘And they sat down to eat bread’ means making evil that was a product of falsity their own. ‘And they lifted up their eyes and saw’ means further thought. ‘And behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites came from Gilead’ means those in whom simple good is present like that present in gentiles. ‘And their camels bearing spices, and resin, and stacte’ means interior natural truths. ‘Taking them down to Egypt’ means teaching based on factual knowledge. ‘And Judah said to his brothers’ means the corrupt within the Church who are opposed to all good whatever. ‘What profit is there in our killing our brother and concealing his blood?’ means that no advantage would be gained, nor any supremacy, if that truth was completely destroyed. ‘Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites’ means that those in whom simple good is present acknowledge Him. ‘And let not our hand be upon him’ means so that they may be blameless. ‘Because he is our brother, our flesh’ means because that which is received from them is accepted. ‘And his brothers hearkened’ means acquiescence. ‘And men passed by, Midianites, who were traders’ means those in whom the truth partnering that good is present. ‘And they drew Joseph out and caused him to come up out of the pit’ means the help provided by these so that [Divine Truth] is no longer among falsities. ‘And sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites’ means the acceptance of it by those in whom simple good is present and the alienation of it from those adhering to faith separated from charity. ‘For twenty pieces of silver’ means the value set upon it. ‘And they led Joseph to Egypt’ means a consultation with factual knowledge. ‘And Reuben returned to the pit’ means the Church’s faith in general. ‘And behold, there was no Joseph in the pit’ means that no faith existed any longer. ‘And he rent his clothes’ means mourning. ‘And he returned to his brothers’ means those teaching [from faith]. ‘And said, The lad is no more’ means that no faith in Him exists. ‘And I, where do I go?’ means, Where now is the Church?
* spices, resin, and stacte are all aromatic substances.
[2] Take an example to illustrate this. Who does not see that willing what is good and doing it is the whole essence of the Christian life? And if anyone is told that this is charity he is bound to agree. Indeed all who agree will go on to say that they know what willing and doing good is because this is a matter of life. But as for thinking, by the confidence imparted through faith, that this or that is true, as the adherents to faith separated from charity wish to do, they will say that they do not know what this is, for they can have no other conception of it than of smoke which vanishes. Now since faith alone and the confidence it imparts is seen to be like this by all who think seriously about it, especially by the good, those adherents to faith separated from charity strive to remove and annihilate even those appearances by cutting away every idea that is close to Divine Truth or in the neighbourhood of it. This is what is meant by stripping Joseph of the tunic that was on him.
[3] The same people also believe that those persons are wiser than all others who, once they have accepted some dogma, can substantiate it in various ways, and use various reasonings to present it as the truth. This however is anything but the mark of one who is wise. Anyone who is clever enough can do it, the wicked being more expert at it than the upright. Nor indeed is it the mark of a rational man; for a rational man can see from so to speak a higher viewpoint whether it is truth that is being substantiated or whether it is falsity. And this being what he sees he is quite unmoved by arguments substantiating falsity but regards them as senseless and absurd, no matter how much another person believes they are the result of wrestling to obtain pure wisdom. In short, it is anything but the mark of one who is wise, indeed anything but rationality, to be able to substantiate falsities; for it is the mark of a wise one, and it is rationality, when something is first seen to be the truth and is substantiated only after that. That is to say, seeing the truth implies seeing it by the light of heaven which comes from the Lord, but seeing falsity as truth implies seeing it by the inferior light which comes from hell.
Consequently in his case the light of heaven is dimmed to such an extent that he scarcely knows that the light and sight in his understanding are a product of the light of heaven. But in the next life when the sight of the eye is no longer reliant on the light of the world but on that of heaven it is then obvious that his thought is formed from the latter.
[2] When this light passes from heaven into the world of spirits it manifests itself there in the form of various colours, the beauty, variation, and loveliness of these colours being immensely superior to the colours produced by the light of the world; see what has already been presented from experience regarding colours, in 1053, 1624, 3993, 4530, 4677. Because colours in the next life are formed from the light of heaven they are in origin nothing else than appearances of truth derived from good. The source from which truth shines is not truth itself because by itself alone it does not possess any flame; rather, good is the source of it since this is like the flame from which light shines. The nature of good therefore determines the nature of the truth that appears from it, and the nature of the truth is the same as that of the good from which it shines. From this one may see what is meant in the internal sense by ‘the tunic of various colours’ – that the nature of the appearances is determined by that of the truths derived from good; for as shown already, ‘Joseph’, to whom the tunic belonged, represents Divine Truth.
The nobles sent their inferiors for water, they came to the pits, and they found no water; they resumed with empty vessels, they were subjected to shame and ignominy, and they covered their heads. Jer. 14:3.
‘Empty vessels’ stands for truths in which there is no truth derived from good. In the same prophet,
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel has devoured me, he has troubled me, he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me up. Jer. 51:34.
‘An empty vessel’ stands for where there is no truth, ‘Babel’ for those who lay waste, that is, divest others of truths, 1327 (end). In the same prophet,
I looked to the earth, and behold, it was void and empty; and towards the heavens, and they had no light. Jer. 4:23.
In Isaiah.
The spoonbill and the duck will possess it, and the owl and the raven will dwell in it; and they will stretch over it the line of a void and the plumb-line of emptiness. Isa. 34:11.
[2] In the same prophet,
The city of emptiness will be broken down, every house will be shut up so that no one may enter in. There is an outcry in the streets over [the lack of] wine. The joy of the earth will be banished; what is left in the city will be a waste. Isa. 24:10-12.
In this case a different word is used in the original language to denote that which is ’empty’, but it carries a similar meaning. The meaning of ’empty’ as a place where there is no truth because there is no good is evident from the particular expressions here in the internal sense, that is to say, from the meaning of ‘city’, ‘house’, ‘outcry’, ‘wine’ and ‘streets’. In Ezekiel,
The Lord Jehovih said, Woe to the city of bloodshed!* I too will make the hearth great, placing the pot empty on the burning coals, so that it is heated and is bronze becomes hot and is filthiness in it may be melted, its scum consumed. Ezek. 24:9, 11.
Here it is quite plain what ’empty’ means – ‘the pot’ is said to be ’empty’, having filthiness and scum, that is, evil and falsity, inside it.
[3] Similarly in Matthew,
When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person he goes through dry places seeking rest, but does not find it. Then he says, I will return into my house from which I came out; and when he comes and finds it empty, and swept, and prepared for him, he goes away and links to himself seven other spirits more evil than himself; and they enter and dwell there. Matt. 12:43-45.
‘The unclean spirit’ stands for the unclean life led by a person and also for the unclean spirits that reside with him, for unclean spirits dwell in a person’s unclean life. ‘Dry places’, or places where there is no water, stands for where there are no truths. ‘The house that is empty’ stands for that person’s interiors which have been filled again with forms of uncleanness, that is, with falsities that are the products of evil In Luke,
God has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. Luke 1:53.
‘The rich’ stands for those who know a great deal, for in the spiritual sense factual knowledge, matters of doctrine, and cognitions of good and truth are meant by ‘riches’. People are called ‘rich’ but ’empty’ if they know these things but do not carry them out; for with them truths are not truths because these are devoid of good, 4736.
* lit. bloods
Behold, the princes of Israel, each according to his power,* have been among you and have shed blood. Men of intrigue have been among you, [ready] to shed blood, and have eaten on the mountains. Ezek. 22:6, 9.
What is more, it should be recognized that generally evil has two sources, the first being life and the second doctrine. That which has its origin in false doctrine is called evil that is a product of falsity; and it is this kind of evil that is meant here.
* lit. arm
[2] The implications of this may be seen from what has been stated up to now and from what follows below, in advance of which only this needs to be mentioned: If people within the Church who have set themselves firmly against Divine truths – in particular against the truths that the Lord’s Human is Divine and that the works of charity do contribute something towards salvation – have so set themselves against them not only from doctrine but also in life, they have driven themselves interiorly into the kind of state in which they cannot possibly be brought after that to accept those truths. For once such opposition has become firmly established in life as well as from doctrine it remains for ever. People who have no knowledge of man’s interior state may suppose that no matter how much he has set himself firmly against those truths he can still accept them without difficulty after that, provided he is convinced they are truths. But this is impossible, as I have been allowed to know from a great deal of experience of such persons in the next life. For that which is firmly accepted from doctrine is absorbed into the understanding, and that which is firmly accepted in life is absorbed into the will. That which is deeply implanted in both areas of life in man – that is to say, in the life of his understanding and in the life of his will – cannot be rooted out. A person’s essential soul which lives after death is shaped by these and it is such that it never withdraws from them. This also is the reason why the lot of those within the Church in whom such attitudes of mind have developed is worse than the lot of those outside the Church. Those outside the Church, called the gentiles, have not set themselves firmly against those truths because they have no knowledge of them. For this reason those among them who have led charitable lives with one another accept Divine truths with ease, if not in the world then in the next life. See what has been presented from experience regarding the state and lot of gentile nations and peoples in the next life, in 2589-2604.
[3] Consequently when a new Church is established by the Lord it is not established among those within the Church but among those outside it, that is, among gentiles. These are referred to many times in the Word. These preliminary remarks have been made so that what is implied by Joseph’s being thrown into the pit by his brothers may be known and what by his being drawn out of it by the Midianites and sold to the Ishmaelites. For by ‘Joseph’s brothers’ are represented those people within the Church who have set themselves firmly against Divine Truth, in particular against the two truths that the Lord’s Human is Divine and that the works of charity do contribute something towards salvation, being opposed to them not only from doctrine but also in life. By ‘the Ishmaelites’ however those in whom simple good is present are represented, and by ‘the Midianites’ those who rely on the truth partnering that good. The latter are recorded as having drawn Joseph out of the pit, the former as having bought him. But what is meant by their bringing him down into Egypt where they sold him to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s bedchamber-servant, will be stated further on.
[2] The reason frankincense and incense were used among the ancients in sacred acts of worship is that ‘odour’ corresponds to perception, and ‘a fragrant odour’ – like that of the aromas which various kinds of spices have – to a pleasing and acceptable perception, as is the perception of truth derived from good, or of faith from charity. Indeed the correspondence of one to the other is such that, as often as it pleases the Lord, actual perceptions in the next life are converted into odours. Regarding these, see what has already been told from experience in 925, 1514, 1517-1519, 3577, 4624-4634. What specifically is meant here by ‘spices, resin, and stacte’ may be seen from other places where these three are mentioned. In general they mean interior truths within the natural, but those truths which are derived from the good there; for truths do not on their own constitute the natural, but good does by means of truths. Consequently variations exist, conditioned by what the truth joined to the good is like and therefore by what the good is like, since the particular nature of the good depends on what the truths are like.
[3] ‘Gilead’ means exterior good like that belonging to the senses, called pleasure, 4117, 4124, while ‘Egypt’ in the good sense means facts, which are the external truths of the natural man that correspond to, that is, are in accord with, that good, 1462. Therefore the reference to Ishmaelites from Gilead bringing down those aromatic commodities on camels to Egypt means bringing their own interior truths, based on their own facts, to the facts meant by ‘Egypt’, which matters are dealt with below. Interior truths are conclusions based on exterior truths, that is, on facts; for the facts belonging to the natural man are the means that enable conclusions to be drawn about interior truths and thereby to identify them, just as a person identifies another’s state of mind in his facial expressions and in the twinkling of light in his eyes, as well as in his tone of voice and his gestures.
[4] Because such truths are the means by which a person’s natural is made more perfect and also receives correction, healing is therefore associated with spices of this kind – with resin, for example, in Jeremiah,
Is there no balsamic resin in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why has not the healing of the daughter of my people arisen? Jer. 8:22.
In the same prophet,
Go up to Gilead to take resin, O virgin daughter of Egypt! In vain you have multiplied medicaments; there is no healing for you. Jer. 46:11.
In the same prophet,
Suddenly Babel has fallen and been broken; wail over her! Take resin for her pain; perhaps she will be healed. Jer. 51:8.
[5] Wares similar to this mean spiritual things, as is quite evident in John,
The merchants of the earth will weep and will mourn over Babel, that nobody buys their wares any longer, wares of gold and silver, and precious stones, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel made of most precious wood, and bronze, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and incense, and ointment, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and draught-cattle, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and the bodies and souls of people. Rev. 18:11-13.
These wares would never have been listed in this specific manner if each and all had not meant the kinds of things that exist in the Lord’s kingdom and in His Church. Otherwise they would have been words that had no real meaning. It is well known that ‘Babel’ means those who turn all worship of the Lord into worship of themselves, so that profanity exists inwardly while outwardly they are doing what is holy. This being so, ‘their wares’ means the things which, for the sake of worship of themselves, they themselves have invented enthusiastically and skillfully, as well as doctrinal teachings and ideas of good and truth from the Word which they have twisted to suit themselves. Thus the individual wares mentioned in these verses mean specific features of their invention, ‘cinnamon, incense, ointment, and frankincense’ meaning truths that are derived from good, but with those people perverted truths and falsities that are the products of evil.
[6] Something similar may be seen in what is recorded in Ezekiel regarding the wares of Tyre,
Judah and the land of Israel, they were your traders. Wheat of minnith and pannag, and honey, and oil, and resin, they exchanged for your trading. Ezek. 27:17.
Here also ‘resin’ means truth derived from good. To one who has no belief in the internal sense of the Word all these expressions will be mere words and so vessels with nothing in them, when in fact they hold Divine, celestial, and spiritual things within them.
[2] The factual knowledge on which the interior truths meant by the spices, resin, and stacte which the Ishmaelites were carrying on their camels are based are not the kind of facts which the Church possesses but the kind found among gentiles. The truths obtained from these facts found among gentiles cannot receive correction and be made sound except by means of the facts which the genuine Church possesses, and so by instruction in those facts. These are the matters meant at this point.
[2] Since this love, that is, this form of the good of love, which is called celestial, is represented in the good sense by ‘Judah’, he therefore represents in the contrary sense the kind of thing that is the opposite of celestial good, and so is opposed to any good whatever. Most things in the Word have two meanings – a good one, and another contrary to this. The good meaning they have enables one to see the nature of their contrary one, for things in the contrary sense are the direct opposite of whatever are meant in the good sense.
[3] Each form of the good of love falls in general into one of two categories – the good of celestial love and the good of spiritual love. The opposite of the good of celestial love is in the contrary sense the evil of self-love, and the opposite of the good of spiritual love is in the contrary sense the evil of love of the world. Those governed by the evil of self-love are opposed to all good whatever, but those governed by the evil of love of the world less so. In the Word ‘Judah’ in the contrary sense represents those who are governed by self- love, while ‘Israel’ in the contrary sense represents those who are governed by love of the world, the reason being that ‘Judah’ represented the Lord’s celestial kingdom, and ‘Israel’ His spiritual kingdom.
[4] The hells too are distinguished in accordance with those two loves. Spirits governed by self-love, being opposed to all good whatever, are in the deepest and consequently the most dreadful hells, whereas those governed by love of the world, being less opposed to all good whatever, are in hells not quite so deep and consequently less dreadful ones.
[5] The evil of self-love is not, as people commonly regard it, the display of superiority which is called arrogance; rather, it is hatred against the neighbour and a resulting burning desire for revenge and a delight in cruelty. These are the more internal features of self-love. Its more external features are contempt for others in comparison with oneself and an aversion to those in whom spiritual good is present. These more external features of it are sometimes accompanied by a manifest display of superiority or arrogance, sometimes they are not. For anyone who hates his neighbour in that fashion loves solely himself inwardly, and only any others whom he regards to be at unity with him, so that they are part of him and he is part of them, solely for the sake of his own selfish ends.
[6] This is what those people are like whom ‘Judah’ represents in the contrary sense. The Jewish nation was governed by that kind of love right from the start, for it regarded all people throughout the world as the basest slaves, of no value at all compared with themselves, and it also hated them. What is more, when self-love and love of the world did not hold them together they persecuted even their companions and brethren with similar hatred. This disposition remains with that nation even now, but because they have to seek asylum in lands not their own they conceal it.
[2] The reason why ‘profit’ here means not only advantage but also superiority – that is, why ‘what profit?’ means that no advantage would be gained, nor any superiority – is that what was said was motivated by the desire for gain and by avarice. For the desire for gain and avarice hold within themselves not only the wish to possess the whole world but also, for the sake of gain, to rob and even to kill no matter whom. Indeed one who is minded in this way would kill for little return if laws did not stand in the way to deter him. Furthermore, in the gold and silver he possesses such a person sees himself as one who is very powerful, however much to outward appearance he seems to be anything but powerful. From this it is evident that avarice includes not only love of the world but also self-love, indeed the foulest self-love. But with the disgustingly avaricious the sense of superiority or arrogance is not so obvious to outward appearance – for sometimes they have no interest in wealth for the sake of show, and do not have that kind of self-love which is usually tied up with the pursuit of pleasures. Indeed the disgustingly avaricious take little interest in their body, or in food and clothing for it. Theirs is a wholly earthly love, aiming at nothing else than money which, they believe, makes them, potentially if not actually, superior to all. From this one may see that avarice holds within it the lowest and basest self-love of all, which is why the avaricious in the next life seem to themselves to live among pigs, 939. They are also opposed more than anyone else to all good whatever. They dwell as a consequence in darkness so thick that they cannot by any means see what good is or what truth is. They do not grasp at all the idea that in the human being there is something internal which lives after death, and in their hearts they mock those who say there is.
[3] The Jewish nation was like this from the start, and for that reason nothing internal could be plainly revealed to it, as is evident from the Old Testament Word. They were indeed rooted in this worst kind of self-love, and therefore, if their avarice had not removed them very far away from internal things and as a consequence had not kept them in thickest darkness, they would have defiled interior truths and goods, and in so defiling them would have rendered them profane more than anyone else did. For they are unable to profane them as long as they do not acknowledge them, 1008, 1010, 1059, 2051, 3398, 3402, 3489, 3898, 4289, 4601. This is why the Lord says of them in John,
You are from your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning. John 8:44.
And of Judas Iscariot who represented the Jewish Church He says in the same gospel,
Did I not choose you twelve, but one of you is a devil? John 6:70.
Also when he sold the Lord, Judas’ representation was similar to that which Judah has here who said, Come, and let us sell Joseph.
[2] This further meaning which ‘twenty’ has of that which is not holy is clear in Zechariah,
I looked, and behold, a flying scroll. And he said to me, What do you see? I said to him, I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, its breadth ten cubits. And he said to me, This curse is going out over the face of the whole land. Zech. 5:1-3.
In Haggai,
When one came to the winevat to draw fifty measures from the winevat, there were only twenty; I smote you with blight, and all the work of your hands with mildew. Hagg. 2:16, 17.
[3] In Ezekiel,
Your food which you eat shall be in weight twenty shekels each day; from time to time shall you eat it; and you shall eat it indeed as a barley-cake. As regards that cake, with human excrement you shall make it in their sight. For thus, Jehovah said, shall the children of Israel eat their bread unclean among the nations. Ezek. 4:10, 12, 13.
In these places ‘twenty’ stands for that which is unholy, unclean, and profane. The death in the wilderness of all over twenty years – a prediction recorded in Num. 14:29; 32:11 – also represented that which was holy in the case of those under that age, and that which was not holy in the case of those over it. For all numbers in the Word mean spiritual realities, see 482, 487, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 4670; and remnants are good and truth stored away by the Lord within the interior man, 468, 530, 560, 561, 576, 660, 798, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284.
[2] Take for example the truth that a person lives after death. When those with a negative attitude towards this truth consult facts they confirm the contrary for themselves by means of countless ideas, such as that animals have life, sensory perception, and activity no less than man does, and in many respects to a more perfect degree; that thought which man possesses pre-eminently over animals is something he comes to have because he takes longer to reach maturity, and that man is an animal belonging to a genus of this kind; and a thousand other ideas besides these. From this it is evident that if those with a negative attitude consult facts they sink themselves all the more into falsities, so that at length they believe nothing whatever about eternal life.
[3] But when those with an affirmative attitude to the truth that man lives after death consult facts they confirm themselves in it by means of them, doing so by means of countless ones. They see that everything in nature is below man; that animals act from instinct-but man from reason; and that animals cannot do other than look downwards, whereas man can look upwards and by the use of thought can come to understand things belonging to the spiritual world and also to feel an affection for them – indeed that through love he can be joined to God, thereby making life from the Divine his own; and that it is to enable him to be led and raised up to Him that he takes longer to reach maturity. And in everything else in addition belonging to nature he sees confirmations, and at length within the whole natural order sees that which is representative of the heavenly kingdom.
[4] It is a common and well-known fact that the learned have less belief than the simple in a life after death, and that in general they see Divine Truths less clearly than the simple do. The reason is that they consult facts, of which they possess a greater abundance than others, with a negative attitude, and by this destroy in themselves any insight gained from a higher or more interior position. Once this has been destroyed they no longer see anything in the light of heaven but in the light of the world; for facts exist in the light of the world, and if they are not lit up by the light of heaven they bring darkness, however different it may seem to be to them. This was why the simple believed in the Lord but not the scribes and Pharisees, who were the learned in that nation, as is evident from the following in John,
Many from the crowd when they heard this utterance said, This is truly the Prophet. Others said, This is the Christ (Messiah). The Pharisees answered them, Has any of the leaders believed in Him, or any of the Pharisees? John 7:40, 41, 47, 48.
And in Luke,
Jesus said, I confess to You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden such things from the wise and intelligent but have revealed them to infants. Luke 10:21.
‘Infants’ stands for the simple. Also in Matthew,
Therefore I speak to them in parables, because those who see do not see, and those who hear do not hear, nor do they understand. Matt. 13:13.
[2] When Jehudi had read before the king the scroll which Jeremiah wrote, it is said that he threw it into the fire, but the king and his servants who were listening to all those words did not tear their clothes apart, Jer. 36:23, 24. ‘They did not tear their clothes apart’ meant that they did not mourn on account of the non-acceptance of Divine Truth. Something similar is implied by Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh rending their clothes, when the spies spoke in opposition to them, by speaking unfavourably about the land of Canaan, Num. 14:6; for ‘the land of Canaan’ means the Lord’s kingdom, and ‘to speak in opposition to this’ describes falsity in opposition to Divine Truth. Mourning over the loss of Divine Truth and Divine Good is meant where it is said, in 1 Sam. 4:11, 12, that when the ark of God was captured by the Philistines and both of Eli’s sons died, a man ran from the line of battle to Shiloh, with rent clothes and dust on his head. Because ‘the ark’ represented the Lord’s kingdom, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself, and consequently represented everything holy in the Church, ‘rent clothes’ meant grief over the loss of Divine Truth, while ‘dust on his head’ meant grief over the loss of Divine Good.
[3] In the narrative about Samuel and Saul one reads,
When Samuel turned to go away Saul took hold of the skirt of his tunic, and it was torn away. Therefore Samuel said to him, Jehovah has torn the kingdom of Israel from upon you this day and has given it to your companion. I will not return with you, for you have rejected the word of Jehovah, and Jehovah has rejected you from being king over Israel. 1 Sam 15:26-28.
The tearing away by Saul of the skirt of Samuel’s tunic represented that which Samuel then stated – that the kingdom would be torn from him and that he would not be the king of Israel any longer. For ‘the kingdom’ in the internal sense means Divine Truth, 1672, 2547, 4691, as also does ‘king’ and ‘kingship’, 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, especially the king and the kingdom of Israel, since ‘Israel’ represented the Lord’s kingship. The meaning is similar in what is recorded concerning Jeroboam and Ahijah the prophet,
When Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, and Ahijah the prophet found him on the road, when he was covered with a new garment and both were alone in the field, Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him and rent it into twelve pieces; and he said to Jeroboam, Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus said Jehovah, the God of Israel, behold, I am rending [the kingdom] from the hand of Solomon and I will give you ten tubes. 1 Kings 11:29-31.
[4] The second Book of Samuel likewise records that when Saul was killed in battle they tore their clothes apart,
When Saul was killed in battle, on the third day a man came from the camp, whose clothes had been rent. And when David heard about the death of Saul, David took hold of his garments and tore them apart; and so did all his servants who were with him. 2 Sam. 1:2, 10-12.
This too represented mourning because of Divine Truth, lost and cast away by those who adhered to faith separated from charity. For as stated above, ‘kingship’ meant Divine Truth, while ‘the Philistines’ by whom Saul was slain represented adherents to faith separated from charity, 1197, 1198, 3412, 3413. The same is also evident from David’s lament over him, in verses 18-27 of the same chapter.
[5] When Absalom had slain Amnon his brother and the news reached David that Absalom had slain all the king’s sons, David tore his clothes apart and lay on the ground; and all his servants standing by tore their clothes apart, 2 Sam. 13:28, 30, 31. This too was done for the sake of the representation that truths from the Divine were lost, those truths being meant in the internal sense by ‘the king’s sons’. A similar meaning exists in the reference to Hushai the Archite who with his tunic torn apart came to meet David when he fled from Absalom, 2 Sam. 15:32; for in the Word ‘a king’, and in particular David, represents Divine Truth. The meaning is also very similar in the reference to Ahab, who tore his clothes apart and put sackcloth over his flesh when Elijah told Ahab the king of Israel the words of Jehovah, to the effect that he would be completely wiped out for the evil he had done, 1 Kings 21:27-29.
[6] The fact that tearing apart or rending clothes represented mourning the loss of Truth is additionally clear from the following: Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the law in the house of Jehovah. When Shaphan read it before king Josiah and the king heard the words of the Book of the law, he tore his clothes apart, 2 Kings 22:11. Plainly the king did so because the Word, that is, Divine truth, had been lost for so long and in their hearts and life had been blotted out.
[7] The tearing apart of his own clothes by the high priest, when the Lord confessed He was the Christ the Son of God, and his declaration that He had spoken utter blasphemy, Matt. 26:63-65; Mark 14:63, 64, meant that the high priest was absolutely convinced that the Lord had spoken against the Word and so against Divine truth. When Elijah went up in the whirlwind, and Elisha saw it, it is said,
He took hold of his own clothes and tore them into two pieces. And he took up Elijah’s tunic that had fallen from upon him, and he struck the waters and they were divided this way and that, and Elisha went over. 2 Kings 2:11-14.
Elisha tore his own clothes apart at that time to express mourning the loss of the Word, that is, of Divine Truth; for ‘Elijah’ represents the Lord as regards the Word, that is, Divine Truth, 2762. When the tunic fell from Elijah and was picked up by Elisha, the continuation of Elijah’s representation by Elisha was represented, ‘the tunic’ meaning Divine Truth, see 4677. This also explains why the garment torn apart when such mourning took place was the tunic, as is evident from some of the places that have been quoted. Because ‘a garment’ meant the truth possessed by the Church, and in the highest sense Divine Truth, it was therefore shameful, except when one was mourning, to go about with clothes that were torn. This is evident from what was done to David’s servants by Hanun king of the children of Ammon, when he cut off half the beard of each one, and their garments at the middle even to their buttocks, for which reason they were not allowed to come to David, 2 Sam. 10:4, 5.
* Reading commemorator (recorder) for commentator (interpreter)
[2] If there is no acceptance of this Divine Truth, that the Lord’s Human is Divine, then of necessity it follows that a triad and not a single entity should be worshipped, and only half the Lord, that is, His Divine but not His Human (for is there anyone who worships that which is not Divine?) Is the Church anything when a triad is worshipped, each of the three separately from another, or what amounts to the same, when equal homage is paid to each of them? For although the three are called one, thought still keeps them separate and makes them three, the declaration ‘a single entity’ being no more than a saying spoken with the lips. Let anyone ask himself, when he says that he acknowledges and believes in one God, whether or not he has thoughts of three. Or when he says that the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and that these are distinct and separate both in their persons and as to their functions, whether he can think that there is one God, except in the way that three who are distinct from one another make one through unanimity and also through deference insofar as one goes forth from another. When therefore three gods are worshipped, where then is the Church?
[3] But if the Lord alone is worshipped, in whom the perfect Triad dwells, and in whom is the Father and the Father in Him, as He Himself says in the following places –
Even though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in the Father. John 10:38.
He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Do you not believe, Philip, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. John 14:9-11.
He who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. John 12:45.
All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine. John 17:10.
– then it is a Christian Church, as it is when it keeps to the following spoken by the Lord,
The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord; therefore you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. The second is like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There Is no other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:29-31.
‘The Lord our God’ is the Lord, see Matt. 4:7, 10; 22:43, 44; Luke 1:16, 17; John 20:28, ‘Jehovah’ in the Old Testament being called ‘the Lord’ in the New, see 2921.
[4] If this Divine Truth too goes unaccepted both in doctrine and in life – the Truth that love towards the neighbour, that is, charity, and therefore the works of charity, is the essential element of the Church – then of necessity it follows that thinking what is true exists in the Church but not thinking what is good. That being so, the thought of one who belongs to the Church may consist of elements that contradict and stand opposed to each other; that is to say, thinking what is evil and thinking what is true may be present simultaneously. In thinking what is evil he lives with the devil and in thinking what is true he does so with the Lord. But truth and evil cannot possibly be in accord,
No one can serve two masters, either he will hate the one and love the other . . . Luke 16:13.
When faith separated from charity advocates this, and endorses it in life, then no matter how much it talks about the fruits of faith, where indeed is the Church?
‘They took Joseph’s tunic’ means appearances. ‘And killed a he-goat of the she- goats’ means external truths received from delights. ‘And dipped the tunic in the blood’ means that they defiled those appearances with falsities arising from evils. ‘And they sent the tunic of various colours’ means the appearances that have been defiled in this way. ‘And brought it to their father’ means comparison with the goods and truths of the Ancient Church and of the Primitive [Christian] one. ‘And said, We have found this’ means that this is what they see it to be. ‘Recognize now whether this is your son’s tunic or not’ means whether there was any likeness. ‘And he recognized it’ means, yes, there was. ‘And said, My son’s tunic!’ means that it was the truth possessed by the Church. ‘An evil wild animal has devoured him’ means that desires for evil annihilated it. ‘Joseph has been torn to pieces’ means that falsities render that truth entirely non-existent. ‘And [Jacob] rent his clothes’ means mourning for lost truth. ‘And put sackcloth on his loins’ means mourning for lost good. ‘And mourned over his son many days’ means a state. ‘And all his sons rose up’ means those who are governed by falsities. ‘And all his daughters’ means those who are governed by evils. ‘To comfort him’ means to provide explanations based on the sense of the letter of the Word. ‘And he refused to comfort himself’ means that this was not possible. ‘For I will go down to my son, to the grave mourning’ means that the Ancient Church was perishing. ‘And his father wept for him’ means interior mourning.
[2] This meaning of ‘a he-goat of the she-goats’ as adherents to faith separated from charity may be seen in Daniel,
Behold, a he-goat of the she-goats came from the west across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground;* and this goat had a conspicuous horn between his eyes. Out of one of the four horns there came forth one little hoary, and it grew exceedingly towards the south, and towards the east, and towards the glorious [land]. Indeed, it grew even towards the host of heaven, and cast down to the earth some of the host, and of the stars, and trampled on them; and it cast down truth to the earth. Dan. 8:5, 9, 10, 12.
This refers to the state of the Church in general, not merely to the state of the Jewish Church but also to the state of the Church that followed it, the Christian one; for the Word of the Lord is all-embracing. When used in reference to the Jewish Church ‘a he-goat of the she-goats’ means those who considered internal truths to be worthless; but they did accept external truths, insofar as these were in accord with their loves, which were their desire to be the greatest and to be the wealthiest people. Consequently they did not think of their expected Christ or Messiah as anyone other than a king who would exalt them above all nations and peoples throughout the world and would make these subject to them as the meanest slaves. This was the level to which they reduced their love of Him. As for what love towards the neighbour was, they had no knowledge at all, except as being associated with others with whom they shared the exalted position referred to above and as enjoying material gain.
[3] But when used in reference to the Christian Church ‘a he-goat of the she-goats’ means those who possess external truths received from delights, that is, who adhere to faith separated from charity, for these people too have no interest at all in internal truths. If they do teach these it is solely so that they may thereby earn acclaim, be raised to exalted positions, and acquire material gains. These are the delights their hearts are set on when they utter truths with their lips. What is more, by wrong interpretations of the truths of genuine faith they make these accord with their own loves. From this one may see what the words in Daniel that are quoted above mean in the internal] sense. The phrase ‘a he-goat of the she-goats’ means adherents to faith separated from charity. The he-goat ‘came from the west’ means coming from evil, for ‘the west’ means evil, see 3708. It came ‘across the face of the whole earth, without touching the ground’ means coming into the whole Church, for ‘earth’ or ‘land’ in the Word means nothing else than the earth where the Church exists, and so means the Church, 566, 662, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2928, 3355, 4435, 4447. ‘The horns’ it had means powers derived from falsity, 2832, ‘a conspicuous horn between the eyes’ meaning power derived from reasoning about the truths of faith, as becomes clear from what has been shown regarding the eye in 4403- 4421, 4523-4534. ‘The one horn which grew towards the south, the east, and the glorious [land]’ means the expansion of power derived from faith separated from charity even into states lit by the light of heaven – states of goodness and truth; for ‘the south’ means a state of light, see 3708, ‘the east’ a state of goodness, 1250, 3249, 3708, ‘the glorious [land]’ a state of truth, as is clear from various places in the Word. ‘It grew even towards the host of heaven, and cast down to the earth some of the host, and of the stars, and trampled on them’ means that such a thing happened to cognitions of good and truth, for ‘the hosts of heaven, and the stars’ means cognitions of good and truth, 4697. From this one may see what is meant by ‘it cast down truth to the earth’, namely that faith itself was cast down, which in essence is charity; for faith looks to charity because it stems from it. That which in the Ancient Church was called truth is in the new one called faith, 4690.
[4] ‘He-goat’ is used with a similar meaning in Ezekiel,
Behold, I am judging between one member of the flock and another, between rams and he-goats. Is it a small thing to you? You feed off the good pasture and tread down with your feet the rest of your pastures; you drink the water that has settled down** and stir up the rest with your feet. You butt with your horns all the weak [sheep] till you have scatted them abroad. Ezek. 34:17, 18, 21.
Here also ‘he-goats’ means adherents to faith separated from charity, that is, those who set doctrine above life and at length have no interest at all in life. Yet it is life that makes the human being, not doctrine separated from life; and it is life that remains after death, not doctrine except insofar as this teaches about life. Of these people it is said that they feed off the good pasture and tread down the rest of the pastures with their feet, and that they drink the water that has settled down and stir up the rest with their feet; also that with their horns they butt the weak [sheep] till they have scattered them.
[5] From this one may now see which persons are meant by ‘the he-goats’, and which by ‘the sheep’, that the Lord speaks of in Matthew,
Before Him will be gathered all the nations, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the he-goats; and He will peace the sheep at His right hand, out the he-goats at the left, etc. Matt. 25:32, 33.
The fact that ‘the sheep’ means those who have charity and therefore have the truths of faith, and that ‘the he-goats’ means those who do not have any charity even though they have the truths of faith – that is, they are adherents to faith separated from charity – is plain from each detail in this passage, where such people are described.
[6] Which ones are the adherents to faith separated from charity, meant by ‘the he-goats’, and what kind of people they are, may be seen from the following two places: In Matthew,
Every tree that does not male good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who toes the will of My Father who is in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and by Your name cast out demons, and do many mighty works in Your name? But then I will confess to them, I do not know you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity. Matt. 7:19-23.
And in Luke,
Then you will begin to stand outside and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But He replying will say to you, I do not know where you are from. Then you will begin to say, We ate in Your presence and we drank; and You taught in our streets. But He will say, I tell you, I to not know where you come from; depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity. Luke 13:25-27.
These are the ones who adhere to faith separated from charity and are called ‘the he-goats’. But what is meant by ‘he-goats’ in the good sense, such as the ones used in sacrifices and those mentioned in various places in the Prophets, will in the Lord’s Divine mercy be stated elsewhere.
* lit. earth or land
** lit. the sediment of the waters
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