9259. 'You shall surely remove [it] with him' means nevertheless exhorting and striving hard to correct. This is clear from the meaning of 'removing', when used in reference to falsity which is not in accord with the Church's good, as correcting, as above in 9258, at this point striving hard to correct and exhorting since such falsity is not easily corrected. The falsities which are not in accord with the Church's good are all those that are contrary to the Lord, and to the good of love to Him and to the good of charity towards the neighbour. Something else which shows that the kinds of things which have now been explained lie concealed within these two laws or judgements is the fact that people hardly ever find themselves in the situations described in the literal sense. That is to say, they hardly ever meet an enemy's ox or ass going astray, or see the ass of one who hates them lying under its burden. These situations would not therefore have been important enough for them to be included among the laws and judgements declared from Mount Sinai; but the truths they hold within themselves place them among the chief judgements. For they hold within them the truth that even the gentiles were to be loved, taught the truths of faith, and led to correct their life. But these truths within these laws could not be disclosed to the Israelite and Jewish people because they were interested only in things of an external nature and not in anything internal, and because they had received it from their fathers that they should hate and therefore regard as enemies and adversaries all who were not related to them as brothers, that is, who were not born from Jacob. Regarding what the Jews were like, see 4307, 4314, 4316, 4317, 4429, 4433, 4444, 4825, 4903, 6304, 8588, 8788, 8806, 8871.

4316. In the internal historical sense 'even to this day' means that their nature was perpetually so. This is clear from the meaning of 'even to this day', when used in the Word, as that which is perpetual, dealt with in 2838. The fact that the nature of those descendants was such from earliest times becomes clear from Jacob's sons themselves - from Reuben, in that he lay with Bilhah, his father's concubine, Genesis 35:22; from Simeon and Levi, in that they killed Hamor and Shechem and all the men of their city [Genesis 34:25-26]; and from the remaining sons, in that these came on the slain and destroyed the city, Genesis 34:27-29. Because of all this Jacob, who by then was Israel, spoke of them in the following manner before he died: Of Reuben he said,

You shall not be a superior one, for you went up to your father's bed; then you made yourself unworthy. He went up to my couch. Genesis 49:3-4.

And of Simeon and Levi he said,

Into their secret place let my soul not come; with their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, and deliberately hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is severe. I will divide them within Jacob, and will scatter them within Israel. Genesis 49:5-7.

[2] What Judah was like becomes additionally clear from his marriage to a Canaanite, Genesis 38:1-2, which was nevertheless contrary to what had been commanded, as may be seen from Abraham's words addressed to the servant who was sent to betroth Rebekah to Isaac his son, Genesis 24:3, 6, and from many places in the Word. A third of that nation belonged to this lineage, that is to say, a third descended from his son Shelah who was born from a Canaanite mother, Genesis 38:11; 46:12. See Numbers 26:20; and 1 Chronicles 4:21-22. Further evidence of what these and the rest of Jacob's sons were like lies in the unspeakable crime which they committed against Joseph, Genesis 37:18-end. What their descendants in Egypt were like is evident from the details which are recorded about them when they were in the desert, where they were rebellious on so many occasions, and after that in the land of Canaan where they became idolaters on so many occasions; and lastly what they were like in the Lord's time is shown just above, in 4314. And what they are like today is well known - they are opposed to the Lord, opposed to the things that constitute the Church, and opposed to charity towards the neighbour, being opposed even to one another. These considerations show that the nature of that nation has been such perpetually. Let no one therefore assume any longer that any Church has existed among them, only that which is a representative of the Church. Still less should anyone assume that they have been chosen in preference to others.