840. Verse 17. And that no one be able to buy and ¹ to sell if he hath not the mark of the beast, signifies forbidding anyone to learn and teach anything but what has been acknowledged and thence accepted in doctrine. This is evident from the signification of "to buy and to sell," as being to acquire knowledges to oneself and to communicate them to others, thus to learn and to teach (of which presently). "To cause no one to be able" signifies to forbid. It is evident also from the signification of a "mark," as being an attestation and sign of acknowledgment that those who are in these so-called truths and goods of that faith are of the church (See just above, n. 838). From this it is clear that "to cause that no one be able to buy and to sell save he that hath the mark of the beast" signifies forbidding anyone to learn and to teach anything but what has been acknowledged and also accepted in doctrine. "To buy and to sell" signifies to acquire for oneself the knowledges of truth and good from the Word and to communicate them, or what is the same, to learn and teach, because "wealth and riches" signify in the Word the knowledges of truth and good; and "silver and gold," by means of which buying and selling are conducted, signify the truths and goods of heaven and the church; and this is why "buying and selling," and also "doing business and trading," are spoken of in the Word here and there, and why they signify spiritual buying and selling, and doing business and trading.

[2] As in Isaiah:

Ho, everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; and he that hath no silver, come ye, buy and eat; come, I say, buy wine and milk without silver and without price (Isaiah 55:1).

Everyone sees that by "buying wine and milk" is not here meant buying such things. And as "to buy" signifies to acquire for oneself such things as contribute to man's spiritual life, evidently the particulars here are to be spiritually understood; thus the "waters" to which everyone that thirsts may come signify truths for those that desire them; "waters," meaning truths from the Word, and "to thirst" meaning to desire them; that these are given freely from the Lord is signified by "he that hath no silver," also by "without silver and without price;" "to eat" signifies to appropriate to oneself; "wine and milk" signify spiritual truth and natural truth therefrom, both from good.

[3] In Matthew:

The prudent virgins said to the foolish, Go ye rather to them that sell, and buy oil for yourselves; but while they went away to them to buy the bridegroom came (Matthew 25:9, 10).

"The prudent virgins" signify those in the church with whom faith is conjoined to charity, and "the foolish" signify those in the church with whom faith is separated from charity; for "lamps" signify the truths of faith, and "oil" signifies the good of love; therefore "to go to them that sell and to buy" signifies to those who teach, and to learn or acquire for oneself. But as such had not acquired for themselves the good of love, and vivified by that means the truths of faith, while they lived in the world, but had acquired them afterwards, and as no one can acquire for himself the good of love after death and retain it, so these foolish virgins, by whom all who separate the good of love or the good of charity from the truths of faith are signified, were not admitted to the marriage feast nor received by the bridegroom. "The marriage feast" signifies heaven, and "the bridegroom" the Lord.

[4] In the Gospels:

Jesus entered into the temple, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the money-changers and the seats of them that sold doves (Matthew 21:12; Mark 11:15; Luke 19:45).

"Those that sold and bought" here signify those who make gain for themselves out of holy things; the "tables of the money-changers" signifies those who do this from holy truths; and the "seats of them who sold doves" those who do it from holy goods; therefore it is afterwards said that they made the temple "a den of thieves," "thieves" meaning those who pillage the truths and goods of the church, and thus make to themselves gain.

[5] In Luke:

As it came to pass in the days of Lot, so shall it be in the days of the Son of man, they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded (Luke 17:28).

"To eat and drink" signifies here to live for self and the world, and to appropriate to oneself evils and falsities; "to buy and sell" signifies to acquire these and to communicate them to others; "to plant and build" signifies to confirm oneself in these, and to live in them.

[6] In the same:

Jesus said, Now he who hath a purse let him take it, and likewise a wallet; but he that hath no sword let him sell his garments and buy one (Luke 22:36).

What is meant by these words is evident from what follows there, namely, that "this which was written must be fulfilled in the Lord" (verse 37), thus that He was to suffer the cross; and since this must needs distract the minds of those who were then living, as well as the minds of the disciples, and lead them into doubts respecting the Lord and His kingdom, and thus into temptations, and these doubts could be dispelled only by means of truths, therefore the Lord says, "he that hath a purse and a wallet let him take them," that is, he that possesses truths from the Word, in which it is foretold that Christ must suffer such things, let him take heed not to lose them; for the purse and the wallet have a similar signification as the coins and money in them, namely, the knowledges of truth and good from the Word. "But he that hath no sword let him sell his garments and buy one," signifies let those who have no truths reject what is their own, and acquire the truths with which they may fight against falsities, "sword" signifying the combat of truth against falsity, and the destruction of falsity.

[7] As "Tyre" signifies the church in respect to the knowledges of truth and good, and thence also the knowledges of truth and good which belong to the church, and which are serviceable for its doctrine, so where "Tyre" is treated of in the Word, her "tradings" are also treated of, which signify the acquisition and also the communication to others of these knowledges, as in Ezekiel:

All the ships were for the trading of thy traffic; Tarshish was thy trader in silver, iron, tin, and lead; they traded for thy merchandise. Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, these were thy merchants; they traded for the merchandise with the soul of man and with vessels of brass. The sons of Dedan were thy merchants, many islands were the merchants of thy hand. Syria was thy trader with chrysoprasus. But thy riches and thy tradings, thy merchandise, and they who trade thy traffic, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of thy fall (Ezekiel 27:1, to the end).

In Isaiah:

Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is devastated, whose merchants are princes, her traders the honored of the earth (Isaiah 23:1, 8).

Everyone can see that tradings and merchandise here do not mean tradings and merchandise; for what has the Word, which in itself is Divine and heavenly, and teaches man about God, heaven and the church, eternal life, and the like, in common with such things? Therefore who cannot see that all the particulars here signify spiritual things which pertain to heaven and the church, not only the names of the lands here mentioned with which trading was carried on, but also their special kinds of merchandise? But it would take too much space to explain here what the particulars in the spiritual sense signify; it is enough to know that "tradings" here signify the acquisition and communication of the knowledges of truth and good; and that "merchandise or wares" signify these knowledges; which are multifarious.

[8] That this is the signification is evident also from these words in Ezekiel:

In thy wisdom and in thine intelligence thou hast made to thyself wealth; and hast made gold and silver in thy treasures; by the abundance of thy wisdom in thy trading thou hast multiplied to thyself wealth (Ezekiel 28:4, 5).

This treats of the prince of Tyre, by whom the knowledges of truth from the Word, through which come intelligence and wisdom, are meant; and as these same knowledges are signified by "wealth," and the acquisition of them by "trading," it is said, "by the multiplication ² of thy wisdom in thy trading thou hast multiplied to thyself wealth."

[9] From all this it can now be seen why:

The Lord compared the kingdom of the heavens to a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it (Matthew 13:45, 46).

"Pearls" signify knowledges, and also truths themselves; and "the one of great price" signifies the acknowledgment of the Lord; and "to sell all that he had" signifies to set aside all things that are of one's own love, and "to buy it" signifies to procure for oneself that Divine truth.

[10] The like is meant by:

The treasure hidden in a field, which a man having found hid, and for joy he went and sold all things whatsoever that he had and bought the field (Matthew 13:44).

The "treasure" signifies the Divine truth that is in the Word; and the "field" signifies the church and its doctrine; and "to sell all things whatsoever that he had and buy the field" signifies here as above, to set aside what is one's own and to acquire for oneself the Divine truth that is in the Lord's church.

[11] As "trading" signifies the acquisition and possession of truths, the Lord spake by a parable:

Of a man going on a journey, who gave to his servants talents, that they might trade with them and make gain (Matthew 25:14-30);

and of another:

Who gave to his servants ten pounds, that they might trade with them (Luke 19:12-26).

"To trade," "tradings," and "traders," have the same signification elsewhere in the Word; also the contrary sense, in which they signify the reception and appropriation of falsities (as in Isaiah 48:15; Ezekiel 16:3; Nahum 3:14; Revelation 18:3, 11-24). So the church in which such things exist is called:

A land of trading (Ezekiel 16:29; 21:30, 31; 29:14).

Moreover, "to sell" and "to be sold" signify to alienate truths and to be alienated from them, and to accept falsities in their place, and to be captivated by them (Isaiah 50:1; 52:3; Ezekiel 30:12; Joel 3:6, 7; Nahum 3:4; Zechariah 13:5; Psalms 44:11-13; Deuteronomy 32:30). From this can be seen what is properly signified by "being redeemed and redemption," where the Lord is treated of; as in Isaiah:

Ye have sold yourselves for nought; therefore ye shall be redeemed without silver (Isaiah 52:3);

and in many passages elsewhere.

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2466. It is certainly possible to confirm that in the internal sense such things are meant as have been set forth in the paragraph above, and indeed to confirm them as to each word. But apart from the fact that they have been confirmed already they are also such as shock people's minds and offend their ears. From the summary explanation given above it may become clear that those things are used to describe how such a religion originated as that meant in the Word by 'Moab' and 'the son of Ammon'. The nature of it will be stated later on where Moab and the son of Ammon are the subject. The fact that adulterated good and falsified truth are meant is clear. Adulterations of good and falsifications of truth are commonly described in the Word as acts of adultery and whoredom, and are actually called such. The reason for this is that good and truth belong together like a married couple, 1904, 2173. Indeed, though scarcely anyone may credit it, it is from this marriage of good and truth as its own true source that the holiness of marriages on earth is derived as well as the marriage laws laid down in the Word.

[2] The truth of the matter is that when celestial things together with spiritual come down from heaven into a lower sphere they are in a most perfect way converted there into the likeness of marriages. They do so on account of the correspondence which exists between spiritual things and natural, a correspondence which in the Lord's Divine mercy will be described elsewhere. But when those same things are perverted in the lower sphere, as happens when evil genii and evil spirits are present there, they are in that case converted into the kind of things that go with acts of adultery and whoredom. This is why in the Word defilements of good and perversions of truth are described as acts of adultery and whoredom and are also called such, as becomes quite clear from the following places: In Ezekiel,

You committed whoredom because of your renown, and poured out your acts of whoredom on every passer-by. You took some of your garments and made for yourself high places variously coloured, and on them committed whoredom. For your adornment you took vessels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself figures of the male, and committed whoredom with them. You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to Me, and sacrificed them to them. Were your acts of whoredom a small matter? You committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, your neighbours, great in flesh, and multiplied your whoredom to provoke Me to anger. You committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, and you committed whoredom with them and were not satisfied. And you multiplied your whoredom, even as far as the trading land of Chaldea; and yet you were not satisfied with this. Ezekiel 16:15-17, 20, 26, 28-29, and following verses.

This refers to Jerusalem, which means in this instance the Church perverted as regards truths. Anyone may see that all the things referred to here have entirely different meanings.

[3] That the perversion of some aspect of the Church is called whoredom is quite evident. 'The garments' referred to are truths that are being perverted. Consequent falsities which are worshipped are meant by 'the variously coloured high places' on which whoredom took place - 'garments' meaning truths, see 1073, and 'high places' worship, 796. 'The vessels for adornment made of the gold and the silver which I had given' are cognitions of good and truth drawn from the Word which they use to confirm falsities. And when such falsities are seen as truths they are called 'figures of the male with whom whoredom was committed'. For 'vessels for adornment made of gold and silver' means cognitions of good and truth, as is evident from the meaning of 'gold' as good, 113, 1551, 1552, and of 'silver' as truth, 1551, 2048; 'figures of the mare' means falsities which are seen as truths, 2046. 'The sons and daughters whom they had borne and sacrificed to them' means the goods and truths which they perverted, as is evident from the meaning of 'sons and daughters', 489-491, 533, 2362; 'committing whoredom with the sons of Egypt' means perverting those goods and truths by means of facts, as is evident from the meaning of 'Egypt' as factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462. 'Committing whoredom with the sons of Asshur' means perverting by means of reasonings, as is evident from the meaning of 'Asshur' as reasoning, 119, 1186; 'multiplying whoredom even as far as the land of Chaldea' means even to the profanation of truth, which is Chaldea, 1368. All this makes plain the nature of the internal sense of the Word within the sense of the letter.

[4] A similar passage occurs elsewhere in the same prophet,

Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt. In their youth they committed whoredom. Oholah is Samaria, Oholibah is Jerusalem. Oholah committed whoredom under Me and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours. She bestowed her acts of whoredom on them, the choicest of all the sons of Asshur. Her acts of whoredom brought from Egypt she did not give up, for they had lain with her in her youth. Oholibah corrupted her love more than she, and her acts of whoredom more than her sister's acts of whoredom; she doted on the sons of Asshur. She added to her acts of whoredom and saw the images of the Chaldeans. As soon as her eyes saw them she desired them. The sons of Babel came to her, into her love-bed. Ezekiel 23:2-5, 7-8, 11-12, 14, 16-17.

'Samaria' is a Church with the affection for truth, 'Jerusalem' a Church with the affection for good. By 'the acts of whoredom' committed by such affections with 'the Egyptians' and with 'the sons of Asshur' are meant the perversions of good and truth by means of facts and reasonings used to confirm falsities, as is evident from the meaning of 'Egypt', 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, and of 'Asshur', 119, 1186. These perversions extended even to profane worship which in respect of truth is 'Chaldea', 1368, and in respect of good is 'the sons of Babel', 1182, 1326.

[5] In Isaiah,

And it will be at the end of seventy years, that Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she will return to hiring herself out as a harlot, and will commit whoredom with all the kingdoms of the earth. Isaiah 23:17.

It is the flaunting of falsity that is meant by Tyre's 'hiring herself out as a harlot and committing whoredom'. 'Tyre' means cognitions of truth, see 1201, 'kingdoms' truths with which whoredom took place, 1672.

[6] In Jeremiah,

You have committed whoredom with many partners; but return to Me. Lift up your eyes to the hills and see - where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat waiting for them, like an Arab in the wilderness, and you have profaned the land with your acts of whoredom and with your wickedness. Jeremiah 3:1-2.

'Committing whoredom' and 'profaning the land with acts of whoredom' is perverting and falsifying the truths of the Church. 'The land' is the Church, see 662, 1066, 1067.

[7] In the same prophet,

With the voice of her whoredom she profaned the land, she committed adultery with stone and wood. Jeremiah 3:9.

'Committing adultery with stone and wood' means perverting truths and goods that are part of external worship - 'stone' meaning that kind of truth, see 643, 1298, 'wood' that kind of good, 643.

[8] In the same prophet,

Because they have committed folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their companions' wives, and have in My name spoken a false word which I did not command. Jeremiah 29:23.

'Committing adultery with companions' wives' is teaching falsity as from them.

[9] In the same prophet,

In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: in their committing adultery and walking in falsity. Jeremiah 23:14.

Here 'committing adultery' has regard to good which is being defiled, 'walking in falsity' to truth which is being perverted. In the same prophet,

Your adulterous acts and your neighings, the filth of your whoredom committed on the hills, in the field - I have seen your abominations. Woe to you, O Jerusalem; you will not be made clean after this; how long yet? Jeremiah 13:27.

[10] In Hosea,

Whoredom, and wine, and new wine have taken possession of the heart. My people inquire of a piece of wood and their staff makes declaration to them, for the spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have committed whoredom beneath their god. They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn incense on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth. Therefore your daughters commit whoredom and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. Shall I not punish ¹ your daughters because they commit whoredom and your daughters-in-law because they commit adultery, for the men themselves divide with harlots and sacrifice with cult-prostitutes? Hosea 4:11-14.

What each of these things means in the internal sense becomes clear from the meaning of 'wine' as falsity, of 'new wine' as evil deriving from this, of 'the piece of wood which they inquire of' as the good belonging to the delight that goes with some evil desire, 'the staff which makes a declaration' as the imaginary power of their own understanding, also of 'mountains and hills' as self-love and love of the world, of 'oak, poplar, and terebinth' as so many dull-witted perceptions in which they trust, of 'daughters and daughters-in-law' as affections that are such. From this it is evident what acts of 'whoredom', 'adultery', and 'cult-prostitution' mean here.

[11] In the same prophet,

O Israel, you have committed whoredom beneath ² your god; you have taken delight in hiring yourself out as a harlot on every threshing-floor. Hosea 9:1.

'Hiring oneself out as a harlot' stands for a flaunting of falsity. In Moses,

Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go whoring after their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone calls you and you eat of his sacrifices, and you take his daughters for your sons, and his daughters go whoring after their gods, and they cause your sons to go whoring after their gods. Exodus 34:15-16.

In the same author,

I will cut off from the midst of their people all who go whoring after him, for whoring after Molech. And anyone who looks to those who have familiar spirits and to wizards, and goes whoring after them, I will set My face against that person and will cut him off from the midst of his people. Leviticus 20:5-6.

In the same author,

Your sons will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and will bear your acts of whoredom until your bodies are consumed in the wilderness. Numbers 14:33.

In the same author,

May you remember all the commandments of Jehovah and do them, and may you not seek after your own heart and after your own eyes, which you go whoring after. Numbers 15:39.

[12] An even plainer usage occurs in John,

One angel said, Come, I will show you the judgement of the great harlot who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed whoredom, and with the wine of whose whoredom the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk. Revelation 17:1-2.

'The great harlot' stands for people whose worship is profane. 'The many waters on which she is seated' are cognitions, 28, 739, 'the kings of the earth who committed whoredom with her' are the truths of the Church, 1672, 2015, 2069. 'The wine with which the people became drunk' is falsity, 1071, 1072. It is because wine' and 'drunkenness' have this meaning that Lot's daughters are said to have made their father drink wine, verses 32-33, 35.

[13] In the same book,

Babylon has given all nations drink from the wine of the fury of her whoredom; and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her. Revelation 18:3.

'Babylon' or Babel stands for worship whose external features appear holy but whose interiors are unholy, 1182, 1295, 1326. 'The nations to whom she gives drink' means goods which are rendered profane, 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849, 'the kings who commit whoredom with her' means truths, 1672, 2015, 2069. In the same book,

The judgements of the Lord God are true and right, for He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her whoredom. Revelation 19:2.

'The earth' stands for the Church, 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 2117, 2118.

[14] It was because 'acts of whoredom' had such a meaning, and 'daughters' meant affections, that a priest's daughter was so strictly forbidden to commit whoredom, concerning which the following is said in Moses,

Any priest's daughter, in that she has begun to commit whoredom, is profaning her father; she shall be burnt with fire. Leviticus 21:9.

Also they were forbidden to bring the earnings of a harlot into the house of Jehovah because it was an abomination, Deuteronomy 23:18. And for the same reason a certain procedure had to be followed - given in Numbers 5:12-31 - for investigating the behaviour of a wife whom the husband suspected of adultery; every single detail of that procedure has reference to the adulteration of good. Besides these many more genera and still more species of adultery and whoredom are referred to in the Word. The genus described by means of Lot's daughters lying with their father and called 'Moab' and 'the son of Ammon' is dealt with immediately below.

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