9817. 'And you shall speak to all the wise at heart' means an influx from the Lord through the Word into all who are governed by the good of love. This is clear from the meaning of 'speaking' as influx, dealt with in 2951, 5481, 5743, 5797, 7270; and from the meaning of 'the wise at heart' as those who are governed by the good of love, dealt with below. The reason why influx from the Lord through the Word is meant is that for members of the Church the main channel by which the Lord flows in is the Word. This is so because the nature of the Word is such that all things without exception there correspond to the Divine spiritual and Divine celestial realities that exist in the heavens; and as a result of this a person shares affections and thoughts with angels, in so complete a manner that he and they are seemingly one. So it is that the world has been joined to heaven through the Word, but only among those who are governed by the good of faith and love. From all this it becomes clear that for members of the Church the Lord flows in through the Word; for the Lord is the all in the heavens, since what is Divine and emanates from the Lord, and is received by angels, composes heaven.

[2] The reason why 'the wise at heart' means those who are governed by the good of love is that the presence of wisdom in a person is attributable to the life of heaven in him, also that 'heart' means the good of love. In the Word 'spirit' and 'heart' are expressions that have regard to the life of heaven present with a person, 'spirit' being used to mean that life in the understanding part of the person's mind and 'heart' that life in the will part. To the understanding part belongs truth, but to the will part belongs good; the former has to do with faith, but the latter with love. For the understanding receives truths that constitute faith, and the will forms of good that are aspects of love. From this it is evident that by 'the wise at heart' those governed by the good of love received from the Lord are meant. The good of love is celestial good, through which spiritual good comes into being; and spiritual good is that which covers celestial good, like garments the body. And since Aaron's garments represented the Lord's spiritual kingdom lying adjacent to His celestial kingdom, and the former comes into being through the latter, the present verse goes on to say that 'the wise at heart', that is, those governed by the good of love received from the Lord, should make the garments for Aaron and his sons. As regards 'heart', that it means the good of love or celestial good, see 3635, 3880, 3883-3896, 9050; and that it therefore means the will, 2930, 3888, 7542, 8910, 9113, 9300, 9495.

4903. 'Saying, Tamar your daughter-in-law has committed whoredom' means a perception at this point that to say anything of marriage exists between them is a falsity. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' in the historical descriptions of the Word as perception, dealt with above in 4892; from the meaning of 'committing whoredom' as falsity, dealt with in 2466, 2729, 3399, 4865; from the representation of 'Tamar' as the internal aspect of the representative Church, also dealt with above, in 4864; and from the meaning of 'a daughter-in-law' as the truth of the Church, dealt with in 4843, 4869. Consequently the words 'saying, Tamar your daughter-in-law has committed whoredom' means a perception at this point that to say anything of marriage exists between them is a falsity. The implications of all this may be seen above in 4864-4866; with its semblance of religion the Jewish nation perceived the internal aspect of the Church to be nothing else than a harlot, and its preaching and life based on this to be nothing else than whoredom. For those people who are confined to what is external devoid of anything internal do not look on the internal aspect of the Church in any other way. They give the name falsity to that which is true, and the name truth to that which is false. They do so for the reason that being confined to what is external does not enable anyone to see whether a thing is false or true; only what is internal makes this possible internal sight is a necessary ability which can make judgements about things seen by external sight; and to make such judgements internal sight must be fully in the light of heaven. But it is not in the light of heaven unless the person has faith in the Lord and this faith leads him to read the Word.

[2] The fact that the Jewish nation were confined to what was external devoid of anything internal, so that it believed what was true to be falsity, and conversely what was false to be the truth, is quite evident from their teaching that one was allowed to hate an enemy and also from their life of hating all who did not belong to their semblance of religion. Indeed it is quite evident from their belief that they pleased and served Jehovah when they treated gentile nations in a savage and cruel fashion, that is to say, when they exposed the bodies of those whom they had slaughtered to be devoured by wild animals or birds, cut up those who were still alive, hacked them to pieces with iron picks and axes, or made them pass through the brickkiln, 2 Samuel 12:31. Indeed their teachings asserted that even an ally who for some reason had been declared an enemy was to be treated in much the same way. From these considerations it becomes quite clear that nothing internal at all lay within their semblance of religion. If anyone at that time had told them that such actions were contrary to the inner spirit of the Church they would have replied that this was a falsity. The fact that they were confined to what was external, having no knowledge at all of anything internal and leading lives contrary to what was internal, is also evident from what the Lord teaches in Matthew 5:21-48.