10399. 'Rise, make [us] gods to go before us' means producing falsities that figure in religious teachings and worship, thus producing things of an idolatrous nature. This is clear from the meaning of 'gods' as truths, dealt with in 4295, 4402, 7010, 7268, 7873, 8301, and in the contrary sense as falsities, 4402(end), 4544, 7873, so that 'making gods' means producing falsities that figure in religious teachings, or teachings composed of falsities; and from the meaning of 'to go before us' as falsities for them to follow, thus falsities according to which they may establish their worship. The fact that 'making gods to go before us' means producing things of an idolatrous nature is self-evident. Idolatry furthermore consists in worshipping external things devoid of internal ones, see 4825, 9424. But something brief must be stated here regarding this kind of idolatry. The externals of the Church to be established among the Israelite nation consisted of all those things the Lord told Moses to make, when he was on Mount Sinai. These were the tent of meeting together with the ark there, the mercy-seat above it, the table on which the loaves of the Presence were laid, the lampstand, the altar of incense, also the altar of burnt offering, and the garments of Aaron and his sons, in particular the ephod with the breastplate over it. In addition, the anointing oil, the incense, the blood of burnt offerings and of sacrifices, the wine for drink-offerings, the fire on the altar, and much more besides. The Israelite and Jewish nation venerated all these elements as things that were holy, yet without any respect for the holiness they represented. They had no thought at all of the Lord, heaven, love, faith, regeneration, nor thus of the realities meant by those elements. Since their worship was like this it was a worship of pieces of wood, loaves of bread, wine, blood, oil, fire, and garments, but not of the Lord within those objects. That worship as practised by them is not Divine but idolatrous worship, as is self-evident.

4825. 'And yet again she bore a son' means idolatry. This is clear from the meaning of 'a son' in this case as idolatry; for those born before him meant falsity and evil, 4821, 4823. From this it follows that the third son means idolatry, for these two - falsity and evil - lead to idolatry and are contained within it. Of the three born to Judah by the Canaanite this son was the only one to survive, a third of the Jewish nation being descended from him. The meaning in the internal sense at this point is that this nation sprang from idolatry. Its very strong inclination to idolatrous practice is clear from the historical and the prophetical parts - from the sense of the letter - of the Word; and from its internal sense it is evident that this nation was constantly an idolatrous one. For idolatry consists not only in the worship of idols and graven images, and also the worship of other gods, but even in the worship of external things devoid of internal ones. This kind of idolatrous practice existed constantly among that nation, for they revered external things alone and cast internal ones completely aside, and did not even wish to know about them. They indeed had holy things - such as the Tent of Meeting containing the Ark and the Mercy seat on this, the tables with the loaves on them, the lampstand, and incenses; and outside the Tent there was the altar on which they presented burnt offerings and sacrifices. All these things were called holy, while the inmost part there was called the Holy of Holies, as well as the Sanctuary. Also, there were the vestments they had which were worn by Aaron and their high priests, which were referred to as holy vestments, for these included the ephod and the breastplate where the Urim and Thummin were, besides much else. But these things were not inherently holy; they were holy because they were representative of holy things, that is to say, they were representative of the Divine celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom, and representative of the Lord Himself. Still less was the holiness of those things due to the people among whom they existed, for those people had no affection at all for the internal things that were represented, only for external ones; and having an affection for external things alone is idolatry. This involves the worship of wood and stone, and also of gold and silver covering these, from a delusion that those objects are inherently holy. This is what the nation was like then and is also like at the present day.

[2] Yet a representative of the Church was nevertheless able to exist among such people because in that which is representative no attention is paid to the person who represents, only to whatever is represented, see 665, 1097 (end), 3670, 4208, 4281, 4288. Consequently their worship did not lead them to blessing and happiness in the next life, but merely to worldly prosperity, provided they adhered to those representatives and did not turn aside to the idols of the gentiles, and in so doing did not become openly idolatrous. For if they did it was no longer possible for that nation to represent anything at all of the Church. This then is what the idolatry, meant by Judah's third son by his Canaanite wife, is describing. This idolatry among that nation had its origin in internal idolatry, for more than all others this nation was governed by self-love and love of the world, 4459 (end), 4570. Among those governed by self-love and love of the world internal idolatry exists, for they worship themselves and they worship the world. They pay attention to holy things for the sake of personal adoration and gain; that is, they have a selfish end in view, and do not have the Lord's Church and kingdom, and so the Lord Himself, in view.