260. 7. Strict materialists justify their rejection of divine providence when they see the continued survival of Judaism. They observe that after all these centuries the Jews have still not been converted even though they live among Christians, and that in keeping with the prophecies in the Word they do not confess the Lord and recognize him as the Messiah who, in their minds, will lead them back into the land of Canaan. They remain steadfast in their denial, and yet they prosper. However, people who think along these lines and therefore raise doubts about divine providence are not aware that "the Jews" in the Word means all the people who are part of the church and believe in the Lord, and that "the land of Canaan" where it promises to lead them means the Lord's church.

[2] The reason they are steadfast in their denial of the Lord is that given their own nature, if they were to accept and believe in the Lord's divine nature and the holy attributes of the church, they would profane them. This is why the Lord said of them, "He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart so that they will not see with their eyes or understand with their heart and turn, and I heal them" (John 12:42 [John 12:40]; Matthew 13:14; Mark 4:12; Luke 8:10; Isaiah 6:9-10). It says "so that they will not turn, and I heal them," because if they did turn and were healed, they would commit profanation, and the law of divine providence given in 221-233 above is that the Lord does not grant us deeper access to the truths that our faith discloses and the good effects of our caring except as we can be kept in them to the end of our life; and if we were granted access, we would profane these holy things.

[3] The reason that the Jewish people has been cared for and spread around much of the world is for the sake of the Word in its original tongue. They revere this more than Christians do; and the Lord's divine nature is present there in every detail. It is actually divine truth united to divine good, emanating from the Lord. As a result, the Word is a union of the Lord and the church and a presence of heaven, as explained in Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Sacred Scripture 62-69. The presence of the Lord and heaven takes place wherever the Word is read reverently. This is the purpose of divine providence for which the Jews are maintained and spread over much of the world.

For their lot after death, see Supplements on the Last Judgment and the Spiritual World 79-82.