117. Internal Meaning of Jeremiah, Chapter 51

Of those who by traditions or reasonings from the natural man have perverted the truths and goods of the church, who are here meant by Babylon. (3)

1-4 All truths of doctrine with them will be destroyed. (3)

5 The Jewish church is such, and is against the Lord. (3)

6 Let them beware of such. (3)

7-10 Those who are there are vastated by such things, and they do not refrain. (3)

11-13 They pervert truths and goods, which they have in abundance. (2, 3)

14-18 They have the Word so that they can be wise, but they falsify it. (2)

19-23 When the judgment overtakes them from the Lord, all things appertaining to them, from firsts to lasts, are to be scattered. (15)

24-26 Their destruction will come, because they have destroyed everything of the church. (15)

27-29 They will seize upon falsities of every kind. (3)

30-32 Hence they will no longer have any power. (2)

33 Her last time is coming. (15, 17)

34-40 They will perish because they have destroyed the church. (15, 2)

41-44 They will be destroyed by mere falsities. (15)

45-50 Let them not come near those who are of the church, lest they perish together with them. (15)

51-53 They cannot resist, however much they trust in themselves. (15, 3)

54-58 Those who trust in their own falsities will come to nothing and will be destroyed. (15)

59-61 This is told to those who in the church have been taken captive by such, and who have become Babylon. 15 (15)

62-64 They are to be cast into hell. (15)

A company might have executives setting policy and strategy, engineers designing products, managers handling personnel and others handling various functions. They all do different things -- but if they're doing them with a shared underlying purpose, the company -- and the individuals in it -- will likely be successful. The Lord wants all human society to function in a similar way. We have different skills and individual loves, but if we all share a mutual love -- a love of serving others -- then society will function as one, will be a reflection of heaven and will be a good receptacle for the Lord's love. This can also happen within each of us, as we unify our talents and ideas around a central love. And in an abstract sense, it illustrates how a wide collection of varying ideas can be unified around a shared good intention. That is the kind of love pictured when “one” is used in the Bible, either as a specific number or in the sense of several people or objects “being one.” In more casual references -- when used to identify a specific person or object -- the meaning is relatively literal, and is connected to that person or object.