4434. And his soul clave unto Dinah. That this signifies an inclination to conjunction, is evident from the signification of “his soul cleaving,” as being an inclination. That it is to conjunction is evident, because in the internal sense the things which belong to conjugial love involve spiritual conjunction, which is that of truth with good, and of good with truth. The reason why in the internal sense the things which belong to conjugial love involve this conjunction, is that conjugial love derives its origin from the marriage of truth and good, and of good and truth (n. 2618, 2727-2729, 2737, 2803, 3132). Hence also the adulterations of good are meant in the Word by “adulteries,” and the falsifications of truth by “whoredoms” (n. 2466, 2729, 2750, 3399). From all this it may be seen that by all that is related of Shechem and of Dinah in this chapter nothing else is meant in the internal sense than the conjunction of the truth represented by Shechem with the affection of truth represented by Dinah; thus that by the words “his soul clave unto Dinah” is signified an inclination to conjunction.

[2] As in the whole of this chapter conjugial love toward Dinah is treated of, and how Shechem sought her for a woman, and as by the things of conjugial love there is signified spiritual conjunction, I may confirm from the Word that marriages and what belongs to them involve nothing else.

In John:

Let us be glad and exult, and let us give the glory unto Him, because the wedding of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready, as have they who are called unto the wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7, 9).

In the same:

I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. One of the seven angels spoke with me, saying, Come, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife; and he carried me away in the spirit upon a mountain great and high, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God (Revelation 21:2, 9-10).

That by what relates to betrothal and marriage naught else is here signified than the Lord’s conjunction with the church, and this by means of truth and good, is very evident, for the “holy city” and the “New Jerusalem” are nothing else than the church. (That a “city” is the truth of the church may be seen above, n. 402, 2268, 2449, 2451, 2712, 2943, 3216; and that “Jerusalem” is the spiritual church, n. 402, 2117, 3654)

[3] In Malachi:

Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah hath profaned the holiness of Jehovah, because he hath loved and hath betrothed to him the daughter of a strange god. Jehovah hath borne witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously (Malachi 2:11, 14); where “to love and betroth the daughter of a strange god” is to conjoin one’s self with falsity instead of truth, which is the “wife of youth.”

[4] Ezekiel:

Thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters whom thou hast borne unto Me, and hast sacrificed to devour them. Was there little of thy whoredoms? Thou art the daughter of thy mother, who loathes her husband and her sons; and thou art the sister of thy sisters who loathed their husbands and their sons (Ezekiel 16:20, 45);

here the abominations of Jerusalem are treated of, which because they were from evils and falsities, are described in this chapter by such things as are contrary to marriages, namely, by adulteries and whoredoms. The “husbands whom they loathed” are goods; the “sons” are truths; and the “daughters” are the affections of these.

[5] In Isaiah:

Sing, O barren one, that didst not bear, resound with singing and shout for joy that didst not travail, because more are the sons of the desolate than the sons of the married one. The reproach of thy widowhood shalt thou remember no more, because thy makers are thy husbands, Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth is He called; for as a woman forsaken and afflicted in spirit hath Jehovah called thee, and as a woman of youth when she is divorced, hath said thy God. All thy sons are taught of Jehovah, and much is the peace of thy sons (Isaiah 54:1, 5-6, 13);

as by marriage is signified the conjunction of truth and good and of good and truth, it is evident what is signified by “husband and wife,” by “sons and daughters,” by “widows,” by the “divorced,” and by “bearing,” “travailing,” “being desolate,” and “being barren;” for these things belong to marriage. What these signify in the spiritual sense has been frequently shown in the explications.

[6] In the same:

For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest; it shall no longer be said to thee, Forsaken one; but thy land shall be called The married one, for Jehovah shall be well pleased in thee, and thy land shall be married; because a young man shall marry a virgin, thy sons shall marry thee, and there shall be joy of the bridegroom over the bride, thy God shall rejoice over thee (Isaiah 62:1, 4-5);

he who knows not the internal sense of the Word may suppose that such things in the Word are only comparisons, like many expressions in common speech, and that this is the reason why the church is compared to a daughter, to a virgin, and a wife; thus the things of faith and charity to those of marriage. But in the Word all things are representative of spiritual and celestial things, and are real correspondences; for the Word has come down from heaven, and because it has come down thence it is in its origin the Divine celestial and spiritual to which those things which belong to the sense of the letter correspond. Hence it is that the things of the heavenly marriage, which is the conjunction of good and truth, fall into such as correspond, thus into those which belong to marriages on earth.

[7] Hence also it is that the Lord likened the kingdom of the heavens (that is, His kingdom in heaven, and His kingdom on earth which is the church) to a “man, a king, who made a wedding for his son, and invited many to it” (Matthew 22:2-14); and also to “ten virgins who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom” (Matthew 25:1-13). And the Lord likewise called those who are of the church “sons of the wedding”:

Jesus said, Can the sons of the wedding mourn, so long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast (Matthew 9:15).

[8] Hence also the affection of good and the affection of truth are called “the joy and gladness of the bridegroom and the bride,” because heavenly joy is from and in these affections. As in Isaiah:

Thy sons shall marry thee, and there shall be the joy of the bridegroom over the bride, Jehovah thy God shall rejoice over thee (Isaiah 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 them that say, Confess ye to Jehovah, because good is Jehovah (Jeremiah 33:11).

In the same:

I will cause 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, because the land shall go forth into a waste (Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9; 25:10).

And in John:

The light of a lamp shall not shine in Babylon anymore, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall not be heard in her anymore (Revelation 18:23).

[9] As through love truly conjugial marriages on earth correspond to the heavenly marriage, which is that of good and truth, therefore the laws delivered in the Word concerning betrothals and marriages wholly correspond to the spiritual laws of the heavenly marriage, as that they were to espouse only one wife (Mark 10:2-8; Luke 16:18); for such is the case in the heavenly marriage, namely, that good cannot be conjoined except with its own truth, and truth with its own good. If good were conjoined with any other truth than its own, it would not subsist at all, but would be rent asunder and so would perish. In the spiritual church the wife represents good and the man represents truth, but in the celestial church the husband represents good and the wife truth; and-what is a mystery-they not only represent, but also in all their activities correspond to them.

[10] Moreover, the laws delivered in the Old Testament about marriages have in like manner a correspondence with the laws of the heavenly marriage, such as those in Exodus 21:7-11; 22:15-16; 34:16; Numbers 36:6; Deuteronomy 7:3-4; 22:28-29, and also the laws about the forbidden degrees (Leviticus 18:6-20); as regards each of which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere. That the degrees and laws of marriages have their origin in the laws of truth and good, which are those of the heavenly marriage, and bear relation to them, is manifest in Ezekiel:

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

The subject here treated of is the holy city New Jerusalem and the heavenly Canaan, and it is evident that these are the Lord’s kingdom and His church. Consequently by “the Levites” are not signified Levites, nor by a “widow and her that is divorced” are there signified a widow and one who has been divorced, but the things to which these correspond.

661. To destroy all flesh wherein is the breath of lives from under the heavens. That this signifies that the whole posterity of the Most Ancient Church would destroy themselves, is evident from what is said above, and from the description of them given before: that they derived by inheritance from their parents in succession such a genius that they more than others were imbued with direful persuasions; and especially for the reason that they immersed the doctrinal things of faith that they possessed in their cupidities. It is otherwise with those who have no doctrinal things of faith, but live entirely in ignorance; these cannot so act, and therefore cannot profane holy things, and thereby close up the way for remains; and consequently they cannot drive away from themselves the angels of the Lord.

[2] Remains, as has been said, are all things of innocence, all things of charity, all things of mercy, and all things of the truth of faith, which from his infancy a man has had from the Lord, and has learned. Each and all of these things are treasured up; and if a man had them not, there could be nothing of innocence, of charity, and of mercy, and therefore nothing of good and truth in his thought and actions, so that he would be worse than the savage wild beasts. And it would be the same if he had had the remains of such things and had closed up the way by foul cupidities and direful persuasions of falsity, so that they could not operate. Such were the antediluvians who destroyed themselves, and who are meant by “all flesh wherein is the breath of lives, under the heavens.”

[3] “Flesh” as before shown, signifies every man in general, and the corporeal man in particular. The “breath of lives” signifies all life in general, but properly the life of those who have been regenerated, consequently in the present case the last posterity of the Most Ancient Church. Although there was no life of faith remaining among them, yet as they derived from their parents something of seed therefrom which they stifled, it is here called the “breath of lives” or (as in Genesis 7:22) “in whose nostrils was the breathing of the breath of lives.” “Flesh under the heavens” signifies what is merely corporeal; the “heavens” are the things of the understanding that are of truth and the things of the will that are of good, on the separation of which from the corporeal a man can no longer live. What sustains man is his conjunction with heaven, that is, through heaven with the Lord.