5317. 'And Pharaoh took off his ring from upon his hand' means a confirmation regarding the power which belonged at first to the natural. This is clear from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as the natural, dealt with already; from the meaning of 'ring' as a confirmation, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'hand' as power, dealt with in 878, 3091, 3387, 4931-4937, 5296. From this it is evident that 'he took off the ring from upon his hand' means that the natural renounced the power which at first belonged to itself, and that 'he put it onto Joseph's hand', as stated next, means that it passed all that power over to the celestial of the spiritual. The fact that 'the ring upon the hand' means a confirmation regarding power is not easy to show from parallel places in the Word, because no references are made to rings worn on the hand, apart from the following in Luke, where the father of the son who had squandered everything said to his servants,

Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring upon his hand and shoes on his feet. Luke 15:22.

Here also, as before, 'a ring' means a confirmation regarding power in the house, such as a son possesses. The same meaning is evident even from the customs which have come down to us from ancient times, such as the customs followed at betrothals and weddings, also at inaugurations, when rings are placed upon the hand. By these rings too a confirmation regarding power is meant. In addition to this, signets, which were likewise worn on the hand, Jeremiah 22:24, mean consent and confirmation, see 4874.

4874. 'And she said, Your seal' means a token of consent. This is clear from the meaning of 'a seal' as a token of consent. The reason 'a seal' means a token of consent is that in ancient times decrees were authenticated by means of one, and therefore 'a seal' strictly speaking means authentication itself, and so a witness to the truth of the matter. Tamar's demand for his seal, cord, and rod as a pledge that the kid of the she-goats (which subsequently she did not accept) would be sent holds an arcanum which cannot in any way be known without the internal sense. The arcanum is this: 'A kid of the she-goats' meant that which belonged to genuine marriage, and consequently meant everything internal, for everything genuine is at the same time something internal. But nothing like this existed on Judah's side, and therefore, as is evident from what follows, Tamar did not accept the kid of the she-goats, but instead took something external with which the internal aspect of the Church, meant by 'Tamar', could be joined. The external aspect of the Church is meant by the seal, cord, and rod - actual consent by 'the seal', external truth by 'the cord', and the power of that truth by 'the rod'. These are also pledges assuring a joining to the external or natural man.

[2] The joining of internal truth to something external, that is, to the semblance of religion existing among the Jewish nation, is represented by Tamar's being joined to Judah as a daughter-in-law joined to her father-in-law under the pretext that the duty of a near kinsman was being performed. But the joining of the semblance of religion existing among the Jewish nation to the internal aspect of the Church is represented by Judah's being joined to Tamar as to a prostitute. This is exactly what these joinings together are like, but it is not so easy to give an intelligible explanation of the essential nature of them. Their essential nature is laid quite bare before the eyes of angels and good spirits, for it is set before them in the light of heaven. In this light the arcana of the Word are laid bare in broad daylight so to speak, quite unlike their appearance in the light of the world which man sees by. Let just a brief word be said about this. The representatives which had been established among the descendants of Jacob were not exactly the same as those which existed in the Ancient Church. For the most part they were like those in the Church established by Eber, which was called the Hebrew Church. Within this Church many new forms of worship existed, such as burnt offerings and sacrifices, which had been unknown in the Ancient Church, and other forms besides these. To these representatives the internal aspect of the Church was not linked in the way it had been to the representatives of the Ancient Church. But in what way the internal aspect of the Church was linked to the representatives among the Jewish nation, and these representatives to that internal aspect, is described in the internal sense by Tamar's being joined to Judah as a daughter-in-law to her father-in-law under the pretext that the duty of a near kinsman was being performed, and by Judah's being joined to Tamar as to a prostitute. Regarding the Hebrew Church, see 1238, 1241, 1327, 1343, 3031, 4516, 4517; and for information about the sacrifices offered in this Church not being a feature of the Ancient Church, 923, 1128, 1343, 2180, 2818.