976. And thou had given them blood to drink. That this signifies that they are, consequently, in falsities of evil, is evident from the signification of drinking blood, as denoting to receive falsities; for by blood is signified truth falsified, and by drinking is signified to receive. And because falsified truth is the falsity of evil, therefore in this case by drinking blood, is signified to be in falsities of evil. The reason why falsified truth is the falsity of evil is, that evil falsifies truth.
Their being in the falsities of evil is here ascribed to the Lord, for it is said, Thou hast given them blood to drink, as if the Lord had done it from vengeance, although the Lord never avenges the evil done by man against Himself. It is therefore evident that an interior sense lies hidden in these words, and that it is manifest when the sense of the letter, which is that of apparent truth, is put off; for when this is done, the spiritual sense is manifest, which is, that the Lord did not give them blood to drink, but that man did this to himself; that is, that man, from the evil in which he is, has falsified the Word, and that, consequently, he is in the falsities of evil.
Continuation concerning the Fifth Precept:-
[2] [In confirmation of what has been said, take,] for example, judges. All those who make justice venal, by loving the office of judging for the sake of gain from judgments given and not for the sake of uses to their country, are thieves, and their judgments are thefts. Similarly, if they give judgment through friendship and favour, such judgments are thefts, for friendship and favour are also profits and gains. As long as such things are regarded as an end, and judgments as so many means to an end, all the things they do are evil, and are meant in the Word by evil works, and by not doing judgment and justice, by perverting the right of the poor, of the needy, of the fatherless, of the widow, and of the innocent. In fact, even if they do justice, and yet regard profit as the end, they indeed do a good work, but it is not good so far as they are concerned; for justice, which is Divine, is to them a means, and such gain is an end; and that which is regarded as the end is the all in all; whereas that which is put for the means is nothing, except so far as it is serviceable to the end. Wherefore, such judges, after death, continue to love what is unjust as well as what is just, and as thieves they are condemned to hell. I speak this from experience. These are they who do not abstain from evils as sins, but only because they fear the punishments of the civil law, and the loss of reputation, honour, function, and thus of gain.
[3] But it is otherwise with judges who abstain from evils as sins, and shun them because they are contrary to the Divine laws, and thus contrary to God. Such men regard justice as the end, and they venerate, esteem, and love it as Divine. They see, as it were, God in justice; because everything just, like everything good and true, is from God. They always unite justice with equity, and equity with justice, knowing that justice must pertain to equity in order to be justice, and that equity must pertain to justice in order to be equity, just as truth belongs to good, and good to truth. Because they regard justice as the end, therefore, in their case, to give judgments is to do good works. But these works, which are judgments, are more or less good, so far as they are concerned, in proportion as there is more or less of respect for friendship, favour, and gain in their judgments, also as there is more or less in them of the love of what is just for the sake of the public good, which is, that justice may reign among their fellow-citizens, and that those who live according to the laws may be in security. Such judges have life eternal in a degree according to their works; for they are judged just as they themselves had judged.
