5135. 'For I have indeed been taken away by theft' means that evil caused celestial things to become alienated. This is clear from the representation of 'Joseph', who says this about himself, as the celestial within the natural, dealt with in 5086, 5087, 5106, and consequently the celestial things there; and from the meaning of 'being taken away by theft' as undergoing alienation caused by evil. For 'to commit theft' means to alienate, while 'theft' itself means the evil which causes alienation, as well as meaning evil which lays claim to the things existing there in the natural. 'Theft' means an alienation caused by evil that happens in the place which such evil takes possession of; for it expels everything good and true and fills up that place with evils and falsities. 'Theft' also means its laying claim to what belongs to others; for it takes to itself everything good and true in that place and makes such its own as well as attaching it to evils and falsities. But to enable anyone to know what is meant by 'theft' in the spiritual sense, a statement must be made about what happens to evils and falsities when they enter in and take possession of a place, and also when they lay claim to everything good and true there.

[2] From infancy to childhood, and sometimes on into early youth, a person is absorbing forms of goodness and truth received from parents and teachers, for during those years he learns about those forms of goodness and truth and believes them with simplicity - his state of innocence enabling this to happen. It inserts those forms of goodness and truth into his memory; yet it lodges them only on the edge of it since the innocence of infancy and childhood is not an internal innocence which has an influence on the rational, only an external one which has an influence solely on the exterior natural, 2306, 3183, 3494, 4563, 4797. When however the person grows older, when he starts to think for himself and not, as previously, simply in the way his parents or teachers do, he brings back to mind and so to speak chews over what he has learned and believed before, and then he either endorses it, has doubts about it, or refuses to accept it. If he endorses it, this is an indication that he is governed by good, but if he refuses to accept it, that is an indication that he is governed by evil. If however he has doubts about what he has learned and believed before, it is an indication that he will move subsequently either into an affirmative attitude of mind or else into a negative one.

[3] The truths that a person learns and believes in his earliest years when he is a young child but which later on he either endorses, has doubts about, or refuses to accept, are in particular these: There is God, and He is one; He created everything; He rewards those who do what is good and punishes those who do things that are bad; there is life after death, when the bad go to hell and the good go to heaven, and so there is a hell and a heaven; the life after death lasts for ever; also, people ought to pray every day and to do so in a humble way; they ought to keep the sabbath day holy, honour their parents, and not commit adultery, kill, or steal; and many other truths like these. Such truths are learned and absorbed by a person from earliest childhood; but if, when he starts to think for himself and to lead his own life, he endorses them, adding to them further truths of a more interior kind, and leads a life in conformity with them, all is well with him. But if he starts to disobey them, refusing at length to accept them, then even though outwardly he leads a life in conformity with them, because the law and society expect him to do so, he is governed by evil.

[4] This evil is what is meant by 'theft', to the extent that thief-like it usurps the position held previously by good. With many people it is thief-like to the extent that it takes away the forms of goodness and truth previously there and uses them to lend support to evils and falsities. So far as is possible with these people the Lord removes the forms of goodness and truth absorbed in early childhood from where these are to a more internal position, where - within the interior natural - He stores them away for future use. These forms of goodness and truth that are stored away within the interior natural are meant in the Word by 'the remnant', dealt with in 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 661, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284. But if evil steals the forms of goodness and truth there and uses them to lend support to evils and falsities, especially if it does so by the use of deceit, it destroys those remnants; for in this case it mingles evil with good, and falsity with truth, to such an extent that one cannot be separated from the other; and then a person is done for.

[5] The fact that 'theft' means the kinds of things mentioned above may be seen from the mere use of that word to refer to what constitutes a person's spiritual life. For the only riches in that life are cognitions of good and truth, and the only possessions and inheritances are the different forms of happiness in life which are gained from forms of good and from truths deriving from these. The stealing of such things, as stated above, is what 'theft' relates to in the spiritual sense, and therefore by the thefts mentioned in the Word nothing else is meant in the internal sense, as in Zechariah,

I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. Then he said to me, This curse is going out over the face of the whole land, for everyone committing theft from now on, according to it, will be innocent, and everyone swearing falsely, according to it, will be innocent. I have cast it forth, that it may enter the house of the thief, and the house of him swearing falsely by My name, and may pass the night in his house and consume it, both its timbers and its stones. Zechariah 5:1-4.

Evil which takes away remnants of good is meant by 'one committing theft' and by 'the house of the thief', and falsity which takes away remnants of truth by 'one swearing falsely' and by 'the house of him swearing falsely'. 'The face of the whole land' stands for the whole Church, which is why the statement is made that the curse will consume the house, both its timbers and its stones - 'house' meaning the natural mind or a person so far as that mind is concerned, 3128, 3538, 4973, 5023, 'timbers' the forms of good present there, 2784, 2812, 3720, 4943, and 'stones' the truths, 643, 1298, 3720.

[6] Profanation and a consequent removal of goodness and truth are meant in the spiritual sense by the action of Achan, who took some of 'the devoted things' - a mantle of Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold - and hid them in the earth in the middle of his tent, on account of which he was stoned and everything was burned, as described in Joshua,

Jehovah said to Joshua, Israel has sinned; they have transgressed My covenant which I commanded them, and have taken some of that which was devoted; they have committed theft, have lied, and have put it among their own vessels. Joshua 7:11, 12, 25.

'The devoted things' meant falsities and evils, which were not on any account to be mixed with anything holy. 'A mantle of Shinar, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold' in the spiritual sense are specific types of falsity. 'Hiding them in the earth in the middle of the tent' meant a mingling with things that are holy - for 'a tent' means that which is holy, see 414, 1102, 1566, 2145, 2152, 3312, 4128, 4391, 4599. Such was the meaning of the declaration that they had committed theft, lied, and put [what was devoted] among their own vessels; for 'vessels' means holy truths, 3068, 3079, 3316, 3318.

[7] In Jeremiah,

I will bring the disaster ¹ of Esau upon him, the time I will visit him. If grape-gatherers come to you, will they not leave grape-gleanings? if thieves in the night, will they not destroy a sufficiency? I will strip Esau bare, I will uncover his secret places, and he will not be able to be concealed. His seed has been laid waste, and his brothers, and his neighbours; and he is no more. Jeremiah 49:8-10.

'Esau' stands for the evil of self-love to which falsities have been allied, 3322. The destruction by this evil of the remnants of good and truth is meant by the statements that 'thieves in the night will destroy a sufficiency' and that 'his seed has been laid waste, also his brothers and his neighbours, and he is no more'. 'Seed' stands for truths which are those of faith grounded in charity, 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3310, 3373; 'brothers' for forms of good which are those of charity, 367, 2360, 2508, 2524, 3160, 3303, 3459, 3815, 4121, 4191; 'neighbours' for the adjoining and related forms of truth and good which belong to it.

[8] A similar reference to Esau occurs in Obadiah,

If thieves come to you, if those who overturn in the night - how you will have been cut off! - will they not steal that which is enough for themselves? If grape-gatherers come to you, will they not leave some clusters? Obad. verse 5.

'Grape-gatherers' stands for falsities which are not a product of evil. These falsities do not destroy the forms of goodness and truth - that is, the remnants - stored away by the Lord in a person's interior natural. But falsities that are the product of evils do destroy them, for they steal forms of truth and good and also use them, through misapplication of them, to lend support to evils and falsities.

[9] In Joel,

A great and mighty people, like heroes they will run, like men of war they will scale the wall; and they will pass on, every one on his way. They will run about the city, they will run on the wall, they will climb into the houses, they will go in through the windows like a thief. Joel 2:7, 9.

'A great and mighty people' stands for falsities fighting against truths, 1259, 1260; and because they fight in a mighty way, by destroying truths, they are spoken of as 'heroes' and 'like men of war'. 'The city' through which they are said to run about stands for matters of doctrine regarding truth, 402, 2268, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216; 'the houses which they will climb into' stands for the forms of good which they destroy, 710, 1708, 2048, 2233, 3128, 3652, 3720, 4982; 'the windows which they will go through' stands for intellectual concepts and for reasonings derived from these, 655, 658, 3391. This being so, those falsities are compared to a thief because they usurp the position held previously by truths and forms of good.

[10] In David,

Since you hate discipline and cast away My words behind you, if you see a thief you run with him, and your part is with adulterers. You open your mouth towards evil, and with your tongue you frame deceit. Psalms 50:17-19.

This refers to someone wicked, 'running with a thief' standing for his use of falsity to alienate truth from himself.

[11] In Revelation,

They did not repent of their murders, or of their enchantments, or of their whoredoms, or of their thefts. Revelation 9:21.

'Murders' stands for evils which destroy forms of good, 'enchantments' for falsities from these which destroy truths, 'whoredoms' for falsified truths, 'thefts' for forms of good that have consequently been alienated.

[12] In John,

Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter by the door into the sheepfold but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. I am the door; if anyone enters through Me he will be saved, and will go in, and will go out, and will find pasture. The thief does not come except to steal and to kill and to destroy. John 10:1-2, 8-10.

'A thief' in this instance also stands for the evil of merit-seeking, for anyone who takes away from the Lord that which is His and claims it as his own is called 'a thief'. This evil closes the path so as to prevent the flow of good and truth from the Lord, for which reason it is referred to as 'killing and destroying'. Much the same is meant in the Ten Commandments, at Deuteronomy 5:19, by You shall not steal, 4174. From all this one may see what is meant in the spiritual sense by the laws laid down in the Jewish Church regarding thefts, such as those at Exodus 21:16; 22:1-4; Deuteronomy 24:7; for all laws in that Church had their origin in the spiritual world, and they therefore correspond to the laws of order which exist in heaven.

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3322. 'Therefore he called his name Edom' means the resulting nature of the good, to which matters of doctrine regarding truth were allied. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling the name' or calling by name as the essential nature, dealt with in 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006, and from the representation of 'Edom'. In the Word Esau is mentioned in various places, as also is Edom. In those places 'Esau' means the good of the natural before matters of doctrine regarding truth have been joined to it, and also before the good of life brought by an influx from the rational has been joined to it - to natural good; while 'Edom' means the good of the natural to which matters of doctrine regarding truth have been allied. But in the contrary sense 'Esau' means the evil stemming from self-love before falsities have been allied to it, that is to say, to self-love, while 'Edom' means the evil stemming from that love once they have been allied to it. The majority of names in the Word, as shown quite often, also have the contrary sense. The reason why is that in course of time the self-same things which in the Churches were forms of good and truth deteriorated into forms of evil and falsity through various kinds of adulterations.

[2] That 'Esau' and 'Edom' mean these things becomes clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Who is this who is coming from Edom, with spattered clothes from Bozrah glorious in his apparel, marching in the vast numbers of his strength? Why are you red as to your clothing, and your clothes like his that treads in the winepress? I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no man was with me. I looked around but there was none helping, and I wondered, and there was nobody to uphold, and my own arm saved me. Isaiah 63:1-3, 5.

Here it is quite clear that 'Edom' is the Lord, and the fact that it is the Lord as regards the Divine Good of the Divine Natural is evident because the subject is the joining together of good and truth in the Lord's Human, and the conflicts brought about by temptations through which He joined the two together. 'Clothes' here means the truths of the natural man, or truths that are lower compared with other truths, see 2576, while 'red' is the good of the natural man, 3300. The Lord's work in which - by His own power, and through the conflicts brought about by temptations - He joined truths present there to good is described by the words 'I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no man was with me. I looked around but there was none helping; I wondered, and there was nobody to uphold, and my own arm saved me' - 'arm' meaning power, 878.

[3] In the Book of Judges,

O Jehovah. when You went forth from Seir, when You set out from the field of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, the clouds indeed dropped [water], the mountains flowed down. Judges 5:4-5.

'Setting out from the field of Edom' is almost the same in meaning as 'coming from Edom' in Isaiah. Likewise in Moses,

Jehovah came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon them. Deuteronomy 33:2.

In the same author,

I see Him, but not now; I behold Him, but not near. A star will arise out of Jacob, and a sceptre will rise up out of Israel. And Edom will be an inheritance, and Seir will be an inheritance, of his enemies - with Israel doing valiantly - and will have dominion in regard to Jacob, and will destroy what is left of the city. Numbers 24:17-19.

This refers to the Lord's Coming into the world, His Human Essence being called 'a star out of Jacob, and a sceptre out of Israel'. 'Edom' and 'Seir' which are to be 'an inheritance' stand for the Divine Good of the Lord's Divine Natural. Their becoming 'an inheritance of his enemies' stands for the fact that it would take the place of those things that existed previously in the Natural. Dominion at that time over the truths there is meant by 'he will have dominion over Jacob, and he will destroy what is left of the city' - 'Jacob' being the truth of the natural, 3305, and 'a city' doctrine, 402, 2268, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216. Dominion is said to be had over those truths when they are subsidiary to and subject to good. Before this comes about they are called enemies because they constantly offer resistance, as shown above in 3321.

[4] In Amos,

On that day I will raise up the tent of David that is fallen down, and I will close up their breaches, and I will restore its destroyed places, and I will build it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnants of Edom, and all the nations which have been called by My name. Amos 9:11-12.

'The tent of David' stands for the Church and worship of the Lord; 'the remnants of Edom' for those within the Church who are governed by good, 'the nations which have been called by His name' for those outside the Church who are governed by good - 'the nations' being those who are governed by good, 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849. In David,

Upon Edom I will cast my shoe. Who will bring me to the fortified city? Who will lead me even to Edom? Will not You, O God? Psalms 60:8-10.

'Edom' stands for the good of the natural. Its being the good of the natural is evident from the meaning of 'shoe' as the lowest part of the natural, 1748.

[5] In Daniel,

At the time of the end the king of the south will clash with him; therefore the king of the north will rush upon him like a whirlwind with chariots, and will overflow and penetrate; and when he comes into the glorious land many will fall These however will be delivered out of his hand, Edom and Moab, and the firstfruits of the children of Ammon. Daniel 11:40-41.

This refers to the final state of the Church. 'The king of the north' stands for falsities, or what amounts to the same, for people in possession of falsities. 'Edom' stands for those in whom simple good is present, the type of good that exists with those who constitute the Lord's external Church. The same applies to 'Moab' and 'the children of Ammon', 2468; and as the two of them, that is to say, Edom and Moab, mean those in whom natural good exists, both are therefore mentioned together in many places. But the difference between them is that 'Edom' is the good of the natural to which matters of doctrine concerning truth have been allied, whereas 'Moab' is natural good such as also exists with those with whom the two have not been joined together. Both sets of people seem to outward appearance to be alike, but they are not so inwardly.

[6] From this it is now evident why it was said that they were not to abhor an Edomite since he was a brother, nor an Egyptian since they had been strangers in his land, Deuteronomy 23:7. Because 'an Edomite' means the good of the natural, and 'an Egyptian' means the truths of the same, which are facts, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, therefore the two are mentioned in the good sense. It is also evident why Jehovah told Moses that they were not to quarrel ¹ with the children of Esau, for none of their territory would be given to the children of Jacob, not even enough to leave a footprint, Deuteronomy 2:4-6.

[7] In the contrary sense however Esau and Edom represent those who turn away from good by utterly despising truth and who are unwilling to associate any truth of faith at all with it, which happens chiefly for reasons of self-love. Consequently Esau and Edom in the contrary sense mean those people The same was also represented by the king of Edom coming out with many people and a strong force and refusing to let Israel pass across his frontier, Numbers 20:14-22. This evil, that is to say, the evil of self-love, which is such as does not accept the truths of faith, nor thus matters of doctrine concerning truth, is described in various places in the Word as Esau and Edom, the state of the Church when it comes to be such also being described at the same time; as in Jeremiah,

Against Edom. Is there no wisdom any longer in Teman? Has counsel perished from those who have intelligence? Has their wisdom become rotten? Flee! They have turned themselves away, they have gone down to dwell in the deep, O inhabitants of Dedan, for I will bring the calamity of Esau upon him. I will strip Esau bare, I will uncover his secret places, and he is not able to be concealed. His seed have been laid waste, and his brothers, and his neighbours. Leave your orphans, I will keep them alive, and let your widows trust in Me. Edom will become a waste; everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss at all its plagues. Jeremiah 49:7-8, 10-11, 17, and following verses.

[8] In David,

They say, Let not the name of Israel be remembered any more, for they consult together with one accord; against You they make a covenant - the tents of Edom, and the Ishmaelites, and Moab, and the Hagrites. Psalms 83:4-6.

In Obadiah,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih to Edom, Behold, I have made you small among the nations; you are utterly despised. The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose seat is on high, who say in your heart, Who will bring me down to the ground? Though you exalt yourself like the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there will I bring you down. How are the men of Esau searched out, their hidden treasures sought out! Will I not on that day destroy the wise men out of Edom, and those who have intelligence out of Mount Esau, so that your mighty men may be dismayed, O Teman, and every man from Mount Esau cut off by slaughter? For the violence done to Jacob your brother shame will cover you, and you will be cut off for ever. The house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau turned into stubble; and they will burn them and consume them, and there will be nothing left over to the house of Esau. And the people of the south will inherit the mountain of Esau. Obad. verses 1-4, 6, 8-10, 18, 19, 21.

'Edom' and 'Esau' here stand for the evil of the natural man, which evil, arising out of self-love, despises and rejects all truth - which leads to its devastation.

[9] In Ezekiel,

Son of man, set your face against Mount Seir, and prophesy against it, and say to it, Thus said the Lord Jehovih, I am against you, Mount Seir, and I will stretch out My hand against you, and I will make you a waste and a desolation. Because you possess eternal enmity, and give over the children of Israel to the power of the sword ² in the time of their disaster and in the time of the iniquity of the end. Because you said concerning the two nations and the two lands, They are mine and we will inherit them - and Jehovah is there. And you will know that I Jehovah have heard all your insults which you have uttered against the mountains of Israel. You will be a waste, Mount Seir, and all Edom. the whole of it. Ezekiel 35:2-5, 8-10, 12, 15.

Here it is quite clear that 'Edom' in the contrary sense is those who despise, reject, and insult spiritual goods and truths, meant by 'the mountains of Israel'.

[10] In the same prophet,

Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Surely in the fire of My jealousy have I spoken against the remnants of the nations, and against the whole of Edom, who have given My land to themselves as an inheritance with the joy of all [their] heart, with utter contempt. ³ Ezekiel 36:5.

Here similarly 'giving the land to themselves as an inheritance' stands for laying waste the Church, that is, good and truth that are the Church's.

[11] In Malachi,

The Word of Jehovah against Israel; I have loved you, said Jehovah, and you say, How have You loved us? Is not Esau Jacob's brother? And I love Jacob, and I hate Esau and am making his mountain into a waste. Malachi 1:1-3.

Here 'Esau' stands for the evil of the natural which does not accept spiritual truth, meant by 'Israel', 3305, or the doctrine of truth, meant by 'Jacob', 3305, and is for that reason 'laid waste', meant by 'hating'. For 'hating' has no other meaning, as is evident from what has been introduced above from the Word regarding Esau and Edom in the good sense. But when truth does not allow itself to be allied to good, Jacob is referred to in a contrary way, as in Hosea,

He will make a visitation on Jacob over his ways and requite him according to his deeds; in the womb he supplanted his brother. Hosea 12:2-3.

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