9349. In chapters 20-23, the laws, judgments, and statutes, that were promulgated from Mount Sinai, have been treated of, and it has been shown what they contain in the internal sense, thus how they are perceived in heaven; namely, not according to the literal sense, but according to the spiritual sense, which is not apparent in the letter, but still is within it. One who does not know how this is, may indeed suppose that the Word as to its literal sense is thus annihilated, because in heaven no attention is paid to it. But be it known that the literal sense of the Word is by no means thereby annihilated; but is indeed rather confirmed; and that each word has weight, and is holy, from the spiritual sense which is within; because the literal sense is the basis and support on which the spiritual sense rests, and with which it coheres in the closest conjunction, insomuch that there is not even a jot or point, or a little horn, in the letter of the Word, which does not contain within it the holy Divine; according to the words of the Lord in Matthew:

Verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one little horn shall not pass away from the law, till all things be done (Matthew 5:18);

It is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one point in the law to fail (Luke 16:17).

(That “the law” denotes the Word, see n. 6752, 7463.)

[2] Therefore also it has come to pass through the Divine providence of the Lord, that the Word, especially the Word of the Old Testament, has been preserved in respect to every jot and point from the time when it was written. It has also been shown from heaven, that in the Word not only every expression, but also every syllable, and what seems incredible, every little horn of a syllable in the original tongue infolds in it something holy, which becomes perceptible to the angels of the inmost heaven. That this is the case I am able to affirm; but I know that it transcends belief. From this it is evident that the outward rituals of the church, which represented the Lord and the internal things of heaven and the church that are from the Lord, and which are treated of in the Word of the Old Testament, have indeed been for the most part abrogated, but that the Word nevertheless remains in its Divine sanctity; because, as before said, each and all things therein still infold holy Divine things, which are perceived in heaven while the Word is being read; for in every detail there is a holy internal which is its internal sense; that is, its heavenly and Divine sense. This sense is the soul of the Word, and it is truth Divine itself proceeding from the Lord; thus it is the Lord Himself.

[3] From all this it can be seen how the case is with the laws, judgments, and statutes promulgated by the Lord from Mount Sinai, and which are contained in chapters 20-23, which have been explained; namely, that each and all things therein are holy because they are holy in their internal form; but that nevertheless some of them have been abrogated in respect to present use where the church is, which is an internal church. Some of them however are of such a nature that they may serve a use if one so pleases; and some of them are to be altogether observed and done. And yet those which have been abrogated in respect to use where the church is, and those which may serve a use if one so pleases, and also those which are to be altogether observed and done, are equally holy in their holy internal; for in its bosom the whole Word is Divine. This holy internal is that which the internal sense teaches, and is the same as the internal things of the Christian Church, which the doctrine of charity and faith teaches.

[4] In order that what has been said may be placed within the apprehension, let us take for illustration the laws, judgments, and statutes treated of in the aforesaid chapters. Those which are to be altogether observed and done are those contained in Exodus 20:3-5, 7-8, 12-17, 23; in Exodus 21:12, 14-15, 20; in Exodus 22:18-20, 28; and in Exodus 23:1-3, 6-8, 24-25, 32. Those which may serve a use if one so pleases, are such as are contained in Exodus 20:10; in Exodus 21:18-19, 22-25, 33-36; in Exodus 22:1-14, 17, 21-23, 25-27, 31; and in Exodus 23:4-5, 9, 12-16, 33. And those which have been abrogated in respect to present use where the church is, are contained in Exodus 20:24-26; 21:2-11, 16, 21, 26-29, 31-32; in Exodus 22:15, 29-30; and in Exodus 23:10-11, 17-19. But, as before said, both the latter and the former are equally holy, that is, are equally the Divine Word.

4503. The sons of Jacob came upon those who were pierced, and plundered the city. That this signifies that all that posterity destroyed the doctrine, is evident from the signification of the “sons of Jacob,” as being the posterity from Jacob (of which above); from the signification of “to plunder” as being to destroy; and from the signification of a “city,” as being the doctrine of the church (see above, n. 4500). That after Simeon and Leviticus had slain every male in the city, and also Hamor and Shechem, they went forth, and that the sons of Jacob then came upon those who were pierced and plundered the city, is a mystery not manifest except from the internal sense.

[2] This mystery is that after the truth and good of the church represented by Simeon and Leviticus had been extinguished, and falsity and evil had taken their place, there were then superadded those falsities and evils which are signified in the opposite sense by the rest of the sons of Jacob. (That each son of Jacob represented some general principle of faith and charity was shown above, n. 2129, 3858, 3913, 3926, 3939, 4060; what was represented by Reuben, n. 3861, 3866, 3870; what by Judah, n. 3881; what by Dan, n. 3921-3923; what by Naphtali, n. 3927, 3928; what by Gad, n. 3934, 3935; what by Asher, n. 3938, 3939; what by Issachar, n. 3956, 3957; and what by Zebulun, n. 3960, 3961.) These generals of faith and charity represented by them become falsities and evils of that kind when once the truth and good of the church have been extinguished, and then these falsities and evils are superadded; for falsities and evils continually grow in the church that has once been perverted and extinguished, and it is these which are signified by the sons of Jacob coming upon those who were pierced and plundering the city, after Simeon and Leviticus had slain every male in the city, and Hamor and Shechem also, and had taken away Dinah, and had gone forth.

[3] That by “those who are pierced” are signified in the Word truths and goods extinguished is evident from the following passages.

In Isaiah:

Thou art cast forth out of thy sepulchre like an abominable shoot, the raiment of the slain that are pierced with the sword, that go down to the stones of the pit, as a carcass trodden under foot (Isaiah 14:19);

said of Babylon; “those pierced with the sword” denote those who have profaned the truths of the church. Again:

So that their pierced shall be cast forth, and the stink of their carcasses shall come up (Isaiah 34:3);

treating of the falsities and evils that infest the church, which are meant by the “pierced.”

[4] In Ezekiel:

The violent of the nations shall draw their sword against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall profane thy comeliness; they shall let thee down into the pit, and thou shall die the deaths of those who are pierced in the midst of the seas (Ezekiel 28:7-8);

said of the prince of Tyre, by whom are signified the primary things of the knowledges of truth and good; “dying the deaths of those who are pierced in the midst of the seas,” denotes those who hatch falsities by means of memory-knowledges, and thereby defile the truths of the church.

[5] Again:

These also shall go down with them into hell, unto those who are pierced with the sword; when thou shalt be made to go down with the trees of Eden into the earth of lower things, thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, with them that are pierced with the sword (Ezekiel 31:17-18).

Again:

Go down and lie with the uncircumcised; they shall fall in the midst of those who are pierced with the sword; the chief of the mighty ones shall speak to him in the midst of hell (Ezekiel 32:19-21);

said of Pharaoh and Egypt; “those pierced with the sword” denote those who become insane through knowledges, by which they extinguish in themselves the faith of the truth of the church.

[6] In David:

I am accounted among those who go down into the pit; I have become as a man that has no strength, neglected among the dead, like the pierced that lie in the grave, whom Thou hast remembered no more, and who have been cut off by Thy hand (Psalms 88:4-5);

“those who are pierced in hell,” “in the pit,” and “in the grave,” denote those who have destroyed truths and goods in themselves by falsities and evils. It is obvious that they are not in hell merely because they had been pierced with the sword.

[7] In Isaiah:

A city of tumults, a city that exulteth, they are not pierced with the sword, and are not slain in war; all who have been found in thee were bound together, they fled from afar (Isaiah 22:2-3);

said of fallacies from sensuous things through which the truths of the church cannot be seen, and concerning which they are therefore in negative doubt, and are said to be “pierced, but not with the sword.”

[8] In Ezekiel:

I bring a sword upon thee, and I destroy your high places, and your altars shall be destroyed, and your statues shall be broken, and I will cause your pierced ones to lie before your idols; when the pierced ones shall fall in the midst of you, you shall know that I am Jehovah; then ye shall acknowledge, when the pierced ones shall be in the midst of their idols, round about their altar (Ezekiel 6:3-4, 7, 13); where the “pierced ones” denote those who are in falsities of doctrine.

[9] Again:

Defile the house, and fill the courts with the pierced ones; they went forth and smote in the city (Ezekiel 9:7);

a prophetic vision; “to defile the house and fill the courts with the pierced ones,” denotes to profane goods and truths. Again:

Ye have multiplied your pierced ones in this city, and ye have filled the streets thereof with the pierced one; wherefore said the Lord Jehovih, Your pierced ones whom ye have put in the midst of it, they are the flesh, and that is the pot, and He shall bring you forth out of the midst of it (Ezekiel 11:6-7).

[10] As by “the pierced” are signified those who have extinguished the truths of the church in themselves by falsities and evils, therefore also in the representative church they who touched one who was pierced were unclean, of whom we read in Moses:

Whosoever has touched upon the surface of the field one that is pierced with a sword, or the dead, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days (Numbers 19:16, 18).

And therefore inquiry was made, and expiation was made by means of a calf, as again in Moses:

If one pierced be found lying in the field, and it be not known who has smitten him, then the elders of the city and the judges shall come forth, and they shall measure toward the cities which are round about him that is pierced; and it shall be, at the city which is nearest unto him that is pierced the elders of that city shall take a she-calf of an ox, by which labor hath not been done, and which hath not drawn in the yoke, and they shall bring her down unto a river or a valley, and shall behead the calf there, and wash their hands over the beheaded calf, and shall say, Our hands have not shed blood, and our eyes have not seen it; expiate Thy people Israel, O Jehovah, and give not innocent blood in the midst of Thy people; and the blood shall be expiated for them (Deuteronomy 21:1-8).

[11] That these laws were given because by the “pierced” is signified the perversion, destruction, and profanation of the truth of the church by falsity and evil, is manifest from every particular in the internal sense. It is said “a pierced one lying in the field,” because by a “field” is signified the church (see n. 2971, 3310, 3766). A “she-calf” by which labor has not been done signifies that innocence of the external man which is in ignorance. Unless these things were made known by the internal sense, the enjoining of such an expiatory process would excite universal surprise.