4844. Remain a widow in thy father’s house. That this signifies alienation from itself, is evident from the fact that thereby he wanted her to go away and return no more to him. He indeed told her to remain there until Shelah his son was grown up; but still he thought that she would not be given to Shelah his son, for he said in himself, “Lest he also die, like his brethren.” This is proved also by his action in the matter, as appears from verse 14: “Tamar saw that Shelah was grown up, and she was not given unto him to wife.” From this it follows that by his words is signified that he alienated her away from himself; that is, in the internal sense, that the church representative of spiritual and celestial things, which is represented by Tamar (n. 4811, 4831), was alienated from the Jewish Church, which is represented by Judah. For they could not agree together, because Judaism was only a representative of a church, and not a representative church (n. 4307, 4500); because it acknowledged what is external, but not what is internal.

[2] A “widow” also signifies the truth of the church without its good, because a “wife” in the representative sense signifies truth, and a “husband” good (see n. 4823, 4843); wherefore a wife without a husband is the truth of the church without its good. And when it is said of her that she should “remain in her father’s house,” it signifies that the truth of the church would be alienated, and also that it would not be received in his house; neither could the Jewish nation receive it, because it was not in good, but in evil.

[3] A “widow” is often mentioned in the Word, and one unacquainted with the internal sense cannot but believe that by a “widow” is signified a widow. But a “widow” in the internal sense signifies the truth of the church without good, that is, those who are in truth without good and still desire to be in good, consequently who love to be led by good; and a “husband” is the good which should lead. In the Ancient Church such persons were understood in the good sense by widows, whether they were women or men. For the Ancient Church distinguished the neighbor toward whom they were to exercise charity into a number of classes, some of which they called poor, some miserable and afflicted, some bound and in prison, some blind and lame, and others strangers, orphans, and widows; and they dispensed works of charity to them according to their qualities. Their doctrinals taught them these things; and that church knew no other doctrinals. Wherefore they who lived at that time both taught and wrote according to their doctrinals, and consequently when they spoke of widows they had in mind no other than such as were in truth without good and yet desired to be led by good.

[4] From this it is also plain that the doctrinals of the Ancient Church taught those things which related to charity and the neighbor, and that their knowledges consisted in knowing what external things signified. For the church was representative of spiritual and celestial things, and therefore the spiritual and celestial things which were represented and signified were what they learned by means of doctrinals and knowledges. But these doctrinals and knowledges are at this day entirely obliterated, and indeed to such a degree that it is not known that they ever existed; for the doctrinals of faith succeeded in their place, which if widowed and separated from those of charity, teach almost nothing. For the doctrinals of charity teach what good is, but the doctrinals of faith what truth is, and to teach truth without good is to walk as one who is blind, because good is what teaches and leads, and truth is what is taught and led. There is as great a difference between these two doctrinals as between light and darkness; and unless the darkness be illumined by the light, that is, unless truth be illumined by good, or faith by charity, there is nothing but darkness. Hence it is that no one knows by looking at it, and consequently neither from perception, whether truth is truth, but only from doctrine imbibed in childhood and confirmed in adult age. Hence also it is that churches differ so widely that what one calls truth, another calls falsity, and they are never in agreement.

[5] That by “widows” in a good sense are signified those who are in truth without good, but still desire to be led by good, is evident from the passages in the Word in which “widows” are mentioned, as in David:

Jehovah, who executeth judgment for the oppressed, who giveth food to the hungry; Jehovah, who looseth the bound; Jehovah, who openeth [the eyes of] the blind; Jehovah, who raiseth up them that are bowed down; Jehovah, who loveth the just; Jehovah, who preserveth the sojourners; He upholdeth the orphan and the widow (Psalms 146:7-9);

here in the internal sense those are meant who are instructed in truths and led to good by the Lord; but some of these are called the “oppressed,” some the “hungry,” others the “bound,” the “blind,” those who are “bowed down,” the “sojourners,” the “orphan,” and the “widow,” and this according to their quality; but what this is, no one can know except from the internal sense. The doctrinals of the Ancient Church taught this. In this passage, as in several others, the sojourner, orphan, and widow are named jointly, because by the “sojourner” are signified those who wish to be instructed in the truths of faith (n. 1463, 4444), by the “orphan,” those who are in good without truth and desire to be led to good by means of truth, and by the “widow,” those who are in truth without good, and desire to be led to truth by means of good. These three are named jointly here and elsewhere in the Word for the reason that in the internal sense they constitute one class, inasmuch as by them, taken together, are signified those who wish to be instructed and to be led to good and truth.

[6] Again:

A father of the orphans, and a judge of the widows, is God in the habitation of His holiness (Psalms 68:5).

The “orphans” denote those who, like little children, are in the good of innocence, but not yet in truth, whose father is said to be the Lord, because He leads them as a father, and this through truth into good, that is, into the good of life or of wisdom. “Widows” denote those who as adults are in truth, but not yet in good, whose judge is said to be the Lord, because He leads them, and this through good into truth, that is, into the truth of intelligence; for by a “judge” is signified one who leads. Good without truth, which is the “orphan,” becomes the good of wisdom through the doctrine of truth; and truth without good, which is the “widow,” becomes the truth of intelligence through a life of good.

[7] In Isaiah:

Woe unto them that decree statutes of iniquity to turn aside the poor from judgment, and to take away into judgment the miserable of My people, that widows may be their spoil, and that they may plunder the orphans (Isaiah 10:1-2);

here by the “miserable,” the “poor,” the “widows,” and the “orphans,” are signified not those who are naturally, but those who are spiritually such; and because in the Jewish church, as in the Ancient, all things were representative, it was also representative to do good to the orphans and the widows; for thus charity toward those who in the spiritual sense were such was represented in heaven.

[8] In Jeremiah:

Do ye judgment and justice, and rescue the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor; and defraud not the sojourner, the orphan, or the widow, neither do violence, neither shed innocent blood in this place (Jeremiah 22:3);

here also by the “sojourner, the orphan, and the widow” are signified those who are spiritually such; for in the spiritual world or heaven it is not known who the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow are, those who have been in this condition in the world not being so there; and therefore when these words are read by man, they are perceived by angels according to their spiritual or internal sense.

[9] Likewise in Ezekiel:

Behold, the princes of Israel, everyone according to his arm, have been in thee to shed blood. In thee have they set light by father and mother; in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the sojourner; in thee have they defrauded the orphan and the widow (Ezekiel 22:6-7).

Also in Malachi:

I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the orphan, and that turn aside the sojourner, and fear not Me (Malachi 3:5).

And in Moses:

A sojourner shalt thou not wrong, neither shalt thou oppress him. Ye shall not afflict any widow or orphan. If thou shalt afflict them in any wise, and they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry; and My anger shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your sons orphans (Exodus 22:21-24).

[10] This, like all the rest of the precepts, judgments, and statutes in the Jewish Church, was representative; and in that church they were kept so to do in externals, and by such things to represent the internal things of charity, although they had nothing of charity, nor did them from internal affection. The internal was from affection to instruct in truths and to lead by truths to good those who were in ignorance, and to lead by good to truths those who had knowledge; whereby they would have done good in the spiritual sense to the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow. Yet that the external might remain for the sake of representation, it was among the curses pronounced on Mount Ebal, to turn aside the judgment of the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow (Deuteronomy 27:19). To “turn aside their judgment” means to do what is contrary, that is, by instruction and life to lead to what is false and evil. And because depriving others of goods and truths, and appropriating them to self for the sake of self-honor and gain was among those curses, the Lord said:

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees! For ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense make long prayers; therefore ye shall receive more abundant judgment (Matthew 23:14; Luke 20:47);

“devouring widows’ houses” means taking away truths from those who desire them, and teaching falsities.

[11] In like manner it was representative that what was left in the fields, oliveyards, and vineyards, should be for the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow (Deuteronomy 24:19-22); and also that when they had made an end of tithing the tithes of their increase in the third year, they should give it to the sojourner, the orphan, and the widow, that they might eat within their gates, and be filled (Deuteronomy 26:12). Because it is the Lord alone who instructs, and leads to good and truth, it is said in Jeremiah:

Leave thy orphans, I will make them alive; and the widows shall confide upon Me (Jeremiah 49:11);

and in Moses:

Jehovah doth execute the judgment of the orphan and widow, and loveth the sojourner, in giving him bread and raiment (Deuteronomy 10:18);

“bread” denotes the good of love (n. 2165, 2177, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4211, 4217, 4735); “raiment,” the truth of faith (n. 4545, 4763).

[12] What is related of Elijah, that when there was a famine for want of rain in the land he was sent to Zarephath to a widow, and that he asked of her a little cake, which she was first to make and to give to him, and was afterwards to make for herself and her son, and that then the barrel of meal with her was not consumed, and the cruse of oil did not fail (1 Kings 17:1-16), was representative, like all the other things related of Elijah, and in general all that are in the Word. The famine that was in the land because there was no rain, represented the vastation of truth in the church (see n. 1460, 3364); the widow in Zarephath represented those outside of the church who desire truth; the cake which she was to make for him first, represented the good of love to the the Lord, (n. 2177), whom, out of the little she had, she was to love above herself and her son; the barrel of meal signifies truth from good (n. 2177), and the cruse of oil charity and love (n. 886, 3728, 4582); Elijah represents the Word, by means of which such things are done (see n. 2762).

[13] This is meant also, in the internal sense, by the Lord’s words in Luke:

No prophet is accepted in his own country. But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when there was a great famine over all the land; but unto none of them was Elijah sent, except to Zarephath of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow (Luke 4:24-26).

That is, to those without the church who desire truth. But the widows within the vastated church, to whom Elijah was not sent, are they who are not in truth, because not in good, for wherever there is no good there is also no truth, however much truth may appear with them in outer form like truth, and yet be as a shell without a kernel.

[14] They who are in such truth, and also they who are in falsity, are signified by “widows” in the opposite sense-as in Isaiah:

Jehovah will cut off from Israel head and tail, branch and rush, in one day. The elder and the honored in faces is the head, and the prophet the teacher of a lie is the tail. Therefore the Lord will not be glad over their young men, neither will He have compassion on their orphans and widows (Isaiah 9:14-15, 9:16-17).

In Jeremiah:

I will fan them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy My people; they have not turned from their ways. Their widows are increased to Me above the sand of the seas; I will bring to them, upon the mother a young man, a waster at noonday. She that hath borne seven languisheth; she hath breathed out her soul, her sun is gone down while it is yet day (Jeremiah 15:7-9).

Again:

Our inheritance is turned unto strangers, our houses unto aliens. We have become fatherless orphans, our mothers are as widows (Lam. 5:2-3).

[15] As by “widows” were signified those who are not in truth because not in good, it was reproachful for churches, even such as were in falsities from evil, to be called widows-as in Revelation:

She hath said in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and I shall not see mourning. Therefore in one day shall her plagues come, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be burned with fire (Revelation 18:7-8

speaking of Babylon. In like manner of the same in Isaiah:

Hear this, thou delicate one, that sitteth securely, that sayest in thy heart, I am, and there is none else like me; I shall not sit a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children. But these two evils shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood (Isaiah 47:8-9).

[16] From all this it is now evident what is meant by a “widow” in the internal sense of the Word; and as a widow represented and thence signified the truth of the church without its good-because a wife signifies truth and a husband good-therefore, in the ancient churches, where all things in general and particular were representative, it was forbidden the priests to marry a widow who was not the widow of a priest, as is written in Moses:

The high priest shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow, or one divorced, or a polluted woman, or a harlot, these shall he not take; but a virgin of his own people shall he take to wife (Leviticus 21:13-14);

and concerning the new temple and the new priesthood in Ezekiel:

The priests, the Levites, shall not take for their wives a widow, nor one divorced; but they shall take virgins of the seed of the house of Israel; yet a widow that is the widow of a priest they may take (Ezekiel 44:22).

For the virgins whom they were to marry represented and thence signified the affection of truth, and the widow of a priest the affection of truth from good; for a “priest” in the representative sense is the good of the church. For this reason it was also allowed the widows who were daughters of a priest, who were childless, to eat of the offerings or holy things (Leviticus 22:12-13).

[17] That this is the signification of a “widow,” was known from their doctrinals to those who were of the Ancient Church; for their doctrinals were doctrinals of love and charity, which contained innumerable things that at this day are wholly obliterated. From these doctrinals they knew what charity to exercise, or what duty they owed the neighbor, thus who were called widows, who orphans, who sojourners, and so on. Their knowledges of truth and memory-knowledges were to know what the rituals of their church represented and signified; and those who were learned among them knew what the things on the earth and in the world represented; for they knew that universal nature was a theater representative of the heavenly kingdom (n. 2758, 2989, 2999, 3483). Such things elevated their minds to heavenly things, and their doctrinals led to life. But after the church turned aside from charity to faith, and still more after it separated faith from charity, and made faith saving without charity and its works, men’s minds could no longer be elevated by knowledges to heavenly things, nor by doctrinals be led to life; and this to such a degree that at last scarcely anyone believes that there is any life after death, and scarcely anyone knows what the heavenly is. That there is any spiritual sense in the Word which does not appear in the letter, cannot be believed. In this way men’s minds have been closed.

2177. That the “meal of fine flour” denotes the spiritual and the celestial which were then with the Lord, and that “cakes” denote the same when both are conjoined, is very evident from the sacrifices of the Representative Church, and from the meat-offering then made use of, which consisted of fine flour mingled with oil and made into cakes. The chief part of representative worship consisted in burnt-offerings and sacrifices. What these represented has already been stated, where bread is treated of (n. 2165), namely, the celestial things of the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens and of the Lord’s kingdom on the earth (that is, in the church), and also those of the Lord’s kingdom or church with each person; and in general all the things of love and charity, because these are celestial. All these offerings and sacrifices were at that time called “bread,” and to them was adjoined the meat-offering also, which, as already said, consisted of fine flour mingled with oil, to which frankincense was likewise added, as well as a libation of wine.

[2] What these represented is also evident, namely, similar things as the sacrifices, but in a less degree, thus the things which are of the spiritual church, and likewise those of the external church. Everyone can see that such things would never have been commanded unless they had represented Divine things, and also that each one represents something special and peculiar, for unless they had represented Divine things, they would not have differed from similar things in use among the Gentiles, among whom also there were sacrifices—meat-offerings, libations, frankincense, perpetual fires, and many other things, derived to them from the Ancient Church, and especially from the Hebrew Church. But as internal things (that is, the Divine things that were represented) were separated from these Gentile rites, they were merely idolatrous, as also they became with the Jews, who for this reason fell into all kinds of idolatry. From what has been said everyone can see that there were heavenly arcana in every rite, especially in the sacrifices and all their particulars.

[3] As regards the meat-offering, the nature of it and how it was to be prepared into cakes, is described in a whole chapter in Moses (Leviticus 2; also in Numbers 15, and elsewhere). The law of the meat-offering is described in Leviticus in these words:

Fire shall be kept burning upon the altar continually, it shall not go out. And this is the law of the meat-offering: the sons of Aaron shall bring it before Jehovah to the faces of the altar; and he shall take therefrom his handful of the fine flour of the meat-offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat-offering, and shall burn it upon the altar, an odor of rest, for a memorial unto Jehovah; and the residue thereof Aaron and his sons shall eat; unleavened shall they be eaten in a holy place; in the court of the tent of meeting shall they eat it. It shall not be baked leavened; I have given it as their portion of My offerings made by fire; it is a holy of holies (Leviticus 6:13-17).

[4] The fire which must be kept burning upon the altar continually, represented the love, that is, the mercy of the Lord, perpetual and eternal. That in the Word “fire” signifies love, see n. 934; hence “offerings made by fire for an odor of rest” signify the Lord’s pleasure in the things which are of love and charity. (That “odor” denotes what is well-pleasing, that is, what is grateful, see n. 925, 1519.) Their “taking a handful” represented that they should love with all the strength, or with all the soul; for the hand, or the palm of the hand, signifies power (as shown n. 878), from which “handful” also signifies power. The fine flour, with the oil and the frankincense, represented all things of charity-the fine flour the spiritual, and the oil the celestial of charity, the frankincense what was in this manner grateful. (That fine flour represents what is spiritual, is evident from what has just been said, and from what follows; that oil represents what is celestial, or the good of charity, may be seen above, n. 886; and also that frankincense, from its odor, represents what is grateful and acceptable, n. 925.)

[5] Its being “unleavened,” or not fermented, signifies that it should be sincere, and thus from a sincere heart, and free from uncleanness. That Aaron and his sons should eat the residue, represented man’s reciprocality and his appropriation, thus conjunction through love and charity; on which account it was commanded that they should eat it in a holy place. Hence it is called a “holy of holies.” These were the things that were represented by the meat-offering; and the representatives themselves were so perceived in heaven; and when the man of the church so apprehended them, he was then in an idea similar to the perception of the angels, thus he was in the Lord’s kingdom itself in the heavens although he was on earth.

[6] The meat-offering is further treated of, as regards what it ought to be in connection with each kind of sacrifice, and how it should be baked into cakes, also what kind should be offered by those who were being cleansed, and what on other occasions; to mention and explain all of which would be too tedious; but concerning all these matters see Exodus 29:39-41; Leviticus 5:11-13; 6:14-23; 10:12-13; 23:10-13, 23:16-17; Numbers 5:15, etc.; 6:15-17, 19-20, 7:1-89, in several places; 28:5, 7, 9, 12-13, 20-21, 28-29; 29:3-4, 9-10, 14-15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 37.

[7] Fine flour made into cakes in general represented the same as bread, namely, the celestial of love, and meal the spiritual of it, as is evident from the passages cited above. The “breads” [or loaves] that were called the “bread of faces,” or the “show bread” [panis propositionis], were made of fine flour, which was prepared in cakes and placed upon the table, for a perpetual representation of the love, that is, the mercy, of the Lord toward the universal human race, and the reciprocality of man. Concerning these loaves we read as follows in Moses:

Thou shalt take fine flour and shalt bake it into twelve cakes; of two tenths shall one cake be; and thou shalt set them in two rows, six in a row, upon the clean table, before Jehovah; and thou shalt put pure frankincense upon each row, and it shall be to the breads for a memorial, an offering made by fire unto Jehovah. On every Sabbath day he shall set it in order before Jehovah continually, from the sons of Israel in a covenant of eternity. And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, for it is a holy of holies unto him, of the offerings made by fire unto Jehovah by a statute of eternity (Leviticus 24:5-9).

Every particular in this description and all the smallest details represented the holy of love and of charity, the “fine flour” the same as the “meal of fine flour,” namely, the celestial and its spiritual, and the “cake” the two conjoined.

[8] Hence it is evident what is the holiness of the Word to those who are in heavenly ideas, nay, what holiness there was in this very representative rite, on account of which it is called a holiness of holinesses; and on the contrary, how void of holiness it is to those who suppose that there is nothing heavenly in these things, and who abide solely in the externals; as do they who perceive the meal here merely as meal, the fine flour as fine flour, and the cake as a cake, and who suppose these things to have been stated without each particular involving something of the Divine. These do in like manner as do those who think the bread and wine of the Holy Supper to be nothing but a certain rite, containing nothing holy within; whereas there is such holiness that human minds are by that Supper conjoined with heavenly minds, when from internal affection they are thinking that the bread and wine signify the Lord’s love and the reciprocality of man, and are thus in holiness from interior thought and feeling.

[9] The like was involved in that the sons of Israel on their coming into the land of Canaan were to offer a cake of the first of their dough, as a heave-offering unto Jehovah (Numbers 15:20). That such things are signified is also evident in the Prophets, from which we may at present adduce only this from Ezekiel:

Thou wast decked with gold and silver; and thy raiment was fine linen and silk, and broidered work; thou didst eat fine flour, honey, and oil, and thou wast become beautiful very exceedingly, and thou wast prospered unto a kingdom (Ezekiel 16:13); where the subject treated of is Jerusalem, by which is signified the church, that was so decked in its earliest time-that is, the Ancient Church-and which is described by the garments and other ornaments; as also its affections of truth and good by the fine flour, honey, and oil. Everyone can see that all these things have a very different meaning in the internal sense from that in the sense of the letter. And so have these words which Abraham said to Sarah: “Make ready quickly three measures of the meal of fine flour, knead, and make cakes.” (That “three” signifies holy things has been shown before, n. 720, 901)