4504. 'Because they had defiled their sister' means that they had violated the truth of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'defiling' as violating, and from the meaning of 'a sister' as truth, dealt with in 1495, 2508, 2524, 2556, 3386, in this case the truth of faith because Dinah, to whom 'their sister' refers here, means the affection for all things of faith, 4427. The reason why Shechem's defilement of their sister means that they befouled the truth of faith is that she represents the affection for all truths, and so means the Church itself, 3963, 3964. And because she was not given by her brothers to Shechem as a wife but remained with them as one defiled, therefore like her brothers she subsequently had a contrary representation. That is to say, she represented the affection for all falsities, and so represented the corrupted Church. Consequently the statement that they defiled their sister means that they had violated the truth of faith.

10498. 'That Moses said to the people, You have committed a great sin' means a total alienation and turning away. This is clear from the meaning of 'sin' as a turning away and alienation from the Divine, dealt with in 5229, 5474, 5841, 7589, 9346, at this point a total turning away and alienation, since the expression 'a great sin' is used. A total turning away and alienation from the Divine is the situation when no truth or good at all from heaven is received any longer, for truth and good from heaven constitute the Divine with a person. The fact that there was no reception of truth and good from heaven by that nation and that a total turning away from the Divine was consequently the situation with them is described by the following words in Isaiah,

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 perhaps they see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and their heart understands, and they turn again, so that they are healed. Isaiah 6:9-10; John 12:37-40.

The words 'lest they turn again, so that they are healed' are used to mean that if they had an understanding of the internal things of the Word, the Church, and worship they would render them profane, in accord with what has been stated above in 10490.