9211. 'You shall not charge him interest' means that therefore it must not be done for the sake of gain to be acquired from it. This is clear from the meaning of 'charging someone interest' as doing good for the sake of gain, dealt with immediately above in 9210, at this point not doing it for the sake of gain since it says 'you shall not charge him interest'. From this law about increase and interest the situation with the laws the Israelite people had which were called 'judgements' can be seen. That is, it can be seen that they came to an end along with the sacrifices and every other ritual observance, when the Lord came into the world and disclosed the more internal things within acts of worship, and in general the more internal things of the Word. The more internal things within that law are that good done to the neighbour should come from the heart, and that people should believe that there is no merit at all in deeds which spring from self, only in deeds which spring from the Lord present with them. For only the Lord has earned merit, and only He is righteousness; and when a person believes this he does not attach any merit or reward at all to deeds springing from self but ascribes all good deeds to the Lord. And since the Lord in His Divine mercy is the real doer of that good the person ascribes everything to mercy alone. So it is also that one who is led by the Lord has no thought whatever of reward, and yet from the heart does good to the neighbour.

[2] These are the more internal things from which the law among the Israelite and Jewish nation about lending things at interest comes down. When therefore a person is acquainted with those more internal things that law comes to an end along with the others like it which were referred to as judgements. For the Israelite and Jewish nation was confined to the outward forms that represented internal things. Consequently that law was binding on that nation then, but it is not binding on Christians, to whom the more internal things have been revealed by the Lord. Those who belong to the Church at the present day see this to be so, and this is why laws that have to do with charging interest are altogether different at the present day. Even so, the holiness of that law does not therefore come to an end, as though this part of the Word has been abrogated; for its holiness remains by virtue of the more internal things it holds within it. These more internal holy things continue to stir angels' affections when this part of the Word is read. But let people beware of thinking that the laws of life such as are contained in the Ten Commandments and elsewhere throughout the Old Testament have been abrogated; for those laws have been firmly established in an inward as well as an outward form, because the two are inseparable.

2400. 'He spoke to his sons-in-law who were marrying his daughters' means together with those governed by truths to which affections for good could be allied. This is clear from the meaning of 'sons-in-law' as cognitions of truth, and consequently truths, dealt with above, in 2389, and from the meaning of 'daughters' as affections for good, also dealt with above, in 2362. And because it is said that he spoke to his sons-in-law who were marrying his daughters, the meaning is, together with those governed by truths to which affections for good were able to be joined. Because those affections could be so joined the expression 'his sons-in-law' is used, but because they had not actually been joined the expression 'who were marrying his daughters' is added.

[2] Here the subject is a third group of persons inside the Church, that is to say, those who have knowledge of truths but nevertheless lead evil lives. There are in fact three groups of people inside the Church:

1. Those in whose lives the good of charity is present; these are represented by 'Lot'.

2. Those who are immersed completely in falsity and evil, and who repudiate both truth and good; these are represented by 'the men of Sodom'.

3. Those who do indeed have knowledge of truths but nevertheless lead evil lives; these are meant here by 'sons-in-law'.

The last of these are chiefly people who teach, but the truth which they teach sends its roots down no more deeply than knowledge solely in the memory is accustomed to do; for it is learned and displayed by them solely for the sake of position and gain. And because with such people the ground in which the truth is sown is accordingly self-love and love of the world their belief in truth is no more than a certain persuasion, resulting from those loves. The nature of that persuasion will in the Lord's Divine mercy be spoken of elsewhere. Here they are described as the sons-in-law who did not believe a thing about the overthrow of Sodom but laughed at the idea. And the faith within their heart is also of that nature.