9193. 'Shall be utterly destroyed' means being cast out. This is clear from the meaning of 'being utterly destroyed', when it refers to people whose worship is that of falsities arising from evil, as being cast out, that is to say, cast out of the Church. The fact that casting such falsities out of the Church, and so rooting them out, is meant by their being 'utterly destroyed', is evident in Moses,

If men of belial ¹ have gone out of your midst, and have urged the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, whom you have not known - if it is true and certain, ² that [this] abomination has been committed in the midst of you - you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword. You shall utterly destroy it and everyone who is in it, and also the beasts in it, with the edge of the sword. You shall bring together all the spoil from it into the middle of the street, and shall burn the city with fire, and all the spoil from it, the whole of it, to Jehovah your God, so that it may be a heap forever and not be built ever again. Do it so thoroughly that nothing of what is given to utter destruction sticks in your hand. Deuteronomy 13:13-17.

[2] The fact that falsity arising from evil is what 'that which is given to utter destruction' means is evident from the details of these verses in the internal sense. 'Cities' which were to be utterly destroyed are religious teachings, in this instance false teachings, 2712, 2943, 3216. 'The edge of the sword' with which they were to strike man and beast is truth fighting against and destroying falsity that arises from evil, 2799, 4499, 7102, 8294. 'The street' into the middle of which the spoil was to be brought is truth presented by religious teachings and in the contrary sense falsity presented by them, 2336. 'Fire' with which the spoil was to be burned along with the city is the evil of self-love, 1297, 2446, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324. From all this it is evident that 'utter destruction' means being cast out of the Church and being rooted out. Therefore also it was commanded that the nations in the land of Canaan should be utterly destroyed, Deuteronomy 7:2, 24-26. For the nations had originally constituted the Church in that land, which also was why they had altars and in addition offered sacrifices, 3686, 4447, 4516, 4517, 5136, 6306, 6516, 8054. But when they turned representative worship - the worship of the Ancient Church - into idolatrous worship, and in so doing falsified truths and adulterated forms of good, 8317, the command came for them to be given to utter destruction, not only people but also cities and what was in them.

[3] The command came because everything there represented falsities arising from evil. The cities represented the actual teachings presenting falsity; the beasts represented evil affections; the gold and silver of those people represented evils and falsities; and so on with everything else. The worship of the Ancient Church had consisted first and foremost in worshipping God in human form, that is, in worshipping the Lord. But then they turned aside from good to evil and began to worship the actual objects that had served to represent Him, such as the sun, moon, and stars, also groves and pillars, and God in the form of various kinds of idols. Thus they worshipped external objects separated from anything of an internal nature; and this is brought about when the internal man has been closed. What closes the internal man is a life of evil; for good is that through which the Lord flows in and opens the internal man, and therefore evil is that which closes this. Once the internal man has been closed truths are turned into falsities; and when they remain they serve solely the evils of self-love and love of the world. Internal worship consists first and foremost in acknowledging the Lord, the one and only God, and in acknowledging that He is the source of everything good and true. People in the Church who do not acknowledge Him cannot be governed by good, nor thus by truth; and the ones to acknowledge Him are those who possess faith and at the same time lead a good life, but not those who lead a bad life, 8878. Acknowledging and worshipping the Lord consists in living according to His commandments, that is, leading the life of faith and of charity, see 8252-8257. The life of faith lies in doing His commandments in a spirit of obedience, and the life of charity lies in doing them out of love.

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2897. The Word in the Ancient Church after the Flood however was derived from these people meant by 'Enoch'. The member of this Church, being spiritual and not celestial, knew but did not see with perception what was embodied in representatives and meaningful signs. And because these embodied Divine things they held out a use to members of that Church and were employed by them in their Divine worship, to the end that they might have a communication with heaven; for, as has been stated, all things in the world represent and mean such things as exist in heaven. Also the Word which they had was a written Word, consisting of Historical Sections and Prophetical Parts, like the Old Testament Word. But in course of time that Word came to be lost. The historical sections were called The Wars of Jehovah, and the prophetical parts The Utterances, as is clear in Moses, Numbers 21:14, 27, where they are quoted. The historical sections of their Word were written in the prophetical style and were for the most part made-up historical narratives, like those in Chapters 1-11 of Genesis, as is evident from the quotations of those historical narratives in Moses, where the following words occur,

Therefore it is said in The Book of The Wars of Jehovah, Waheb in Suphah, and the streams of Arnon, and the descent of the streams which runs down to the dwelling at Ar and leans to the border of Moab. Numbers 21:14-15.

The prophetical parts of their Word were written in a style similar to the prophetical parts of the Old Testament, as is also evident from the quotation of these in Moses, where the following words occur,

Therefore The Utterances (or The Utterers of Prophecies) say, Come to Heshbon the city of Sihon shall be built and established. For fire went out of Heshbon flame out of the city of Sihon. It consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the high places of Arnon. Woe to you, O Moab! You have perished, O people of Chemosh! He gave his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon, king of the Amorites. But we shot at them; Heshbon has perished even to Dibon; and we have laid waste even to Nophah, which reaches even to Medebah. Numbers 21:27-30.

These prophetical utterances embody heavenly arcana in the same way as the prophetical parts of the Old Testament. This is quite evident not only from the fact that Moses copied them and applied them to the state of affairs prevailing in his own day, but also from the fact that almost the same words occur in Jeremiah. Included there among his prophetical sayings, they hold - as becomes clear from what has been stated about the internal sense of the Word - as many heavenly arcana within them as they consist of words. Those sayings as they occur in Jeremiah are as follows,

A fire has gone out of Heshbon, and a flame from between Sihon, and has devoured the corner of Moab and the crown of the head of the sons of tumult. Woe to you, O Moab! The people of Chemosh have perished, for your sons have been taken away into captivity, and your daughters into captivity. Jeremiah 48:45-46.

From this also it is evident that that Word too possessed an internal sense. Regarding the Ancient Church after the Flood, see 640, 641, 765, 1238, 1327, 2385.