1201. That 'Sidon' means the exterior cognitions of spiritual things is clear from the fact that he is called 'Canaan's firstborn', for in the internal sense the firstborn of every Church is faith, see 352, 367. Here however, where faith does not exist because internal things are missing they are no more than exterior cognitions of spiritual things taking the place of faith, thus cognitions such as those with the Jews which are cognitions not only of the ceremonies of external worship but also of many other things belonging to that worship, such as matters of doctrine. That 'Sidon' has this meaning is also evident from the fact that Tyre and Sidon were the furthest limits of Philistia, and were in fact by the sea. 'Tyre' therefore meant interior cognitions, and 'Sidon' those which were exterior, and yet cognitions of spiritual things. This is also clear from the Word: in Jeremiah,

On the day that is coming to lay waste all the Philistines, to cut off from Tyre and Sidon every helper that remains, for Jehovah is laying waste the Philistines, the remnants of the island of Caphtor. Jeremiah 47:4.

Here 'the Philistines' stands for knowledge of the cognitions of faith and charity, 'Tyre' for interior cognitions, and 'Sidon' for cognitions of spiritual things.

[2] In Joel,

What are you to Me, O Tyre and Sidon, and all the borders of Philistia? You have taken My silver and gold, and My good and desirable treasures you have carried into your temples. Joel 3:4-5.

Here 'Tyre' and 'Sidon' clearly stand for cognitions and are called 'the borders of Philistia', for 'gold and silver' and 'good and desirable treasures' are cognitions. In Ezekiel,

The princes of the north, all of them, and every Sidonian, who have gone down with the slain ¹ into the pit. He was made to lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with those slain' by the sword, Pharaoh and all his multitude. Ezekiel 32:30, 32.

Here 'the Sidonian' stands for exterior cognitions, which when devoid of things that are internal are nothing else than facts, and it is for this reason that he is mentioned along with Pharaoh, or Egypt, who means facts. In Zechariah,

Hamath also will border on it, Tyre and Sidon, for it is exceedingly wise. Zechariah 9:2.

This refers to Damascus. 'Tyre and Sidon' stands for cognitions.

[3] In Ezekiel,

The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were your rowers; your wise men, O Tyre, were in you, they were your pilots. Ezekiel 27:8.

Here 'Tyre' stands for interior cognitions, and therefore her wise men are called 'pilots', while 'Sidon' stands for exterior cognitions and her inhabitants are therefore called 'rowers', for such is the relationship of interior cognitions to exterior. In Isaiah,

The inhabitants of the island are silent, O merchant of Sidon passing over the sea; they have replenished you. But on the great waters the seed of Shihor, the harvest of the river, was her revenue, and was the merchandise of nations. Blush, O Sidon, for the sea has spoken, the stronghold of the sea saying, I have not gone into labour, nor have I given birth, nor reared young men, nor brought up virgins. Isaiah 23:2-5.

Here 'Sidon' stands for exterior cognitions which, because they have nothing internal within them are called 'the seed of Shihor, the harvest of the river, her revenue, the merchandise of the nations', and also 'the sea, the stronghold of the sea', and 'one that does not go into labour and give birth'. What these expressions may mean could never be discerned in the literal sense, but their meaning is perfectly plain in the internal sense, as with everything else in the Prophets. Since 'Sidon' means exterior cognitions it is also referred to as the region surrounding Israel, which is the spiritual Church, Ezekiel 28:24, 26, for exterior cognitions are like a surrounding region.

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9093. 'And divide the silver from it' means that its truth will be dispersed. This is clear from the meaning of 'dividing' as banishing and dispersing, dealt with in 6360, 6361; and from the meaning of 'silver' as truth, dealt with in 1551, 2048, 5658, 6112, 6914, 6917, 7999. The reason why 'dividing' means dispersing is that if things existing in association are divided they are also scattered, as when a person destroys his mind by dividing it. For the human mind consists of two parts existing in association; one part is called the understanding, the other part is called the will. A person who divides these two parts scatters what belongs to each part individually; for one part must receive its life from the other, and therefore when one perishes, so does the other. It is similar when someone divides truth from good, or what amounts to the same thing, faith from charity; when anyone does this he destroys both. In short, all the things which ought to be a single whole perish if they are divided.

[2] This division is meant by the Lord's words in Luke,

No one can serve two masters; either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will prefer the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Luke 16:13.

That is, it is not possible to serve the Lord through belief in Him and at the same time serve the world by loving it, thus to acknowledge truth and at the same time to do evil. Anyone who behaves in this way has his mind divided, as a result of which it is destroyed. From all this it is evident why it is that 'dividing' means dispersing; and the same is clearly the meaning in Matthew also,

The master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and in an hour he does not know. And he will divide him and assign him his part with the hypocrites. Matthew 24:50-51.

'Dividing' here means separating and removing from forms of good and truths, 4424, thus dispersing them.

[3] In Moses,

Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is hard. ¹ I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel. Genesis 49:7.

These words occur in Israel's prophetic utterance regarding Simeon and Levi. 'Simeon' and 'Levi' here represent those steeped in faith separated from charity, 6352; and 'Jacob' and 'Israel' represent the external and the internal Church, also the external and the internal man, 4286, 4598, 5973, 6360, 6361. 'Dividing them in Jacob' means banishing them from the external Church, and 'scattering them in Israel' from the internal Church, thus dispersing the Church's forms of good and its truths residing with them.

[4] It is also evident that 'dividing' has this meaning from the words written on the wall when Belshazzar king of Babel, together with his nobles, wives, and concubines, drank wine out of the vessels of gold and of silver that had belonged to the Temple in Jerusalem, Daniel 5:2-4, 25, 28. What was written said, 'Numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided,' 'divided' here meaning separated from the kingdom. Those verses show how all things at that time were representative. They describe the profanation of goodness and truth, which is meant by 'Babel'. Profanation is meant by 'Babel', see 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326. Forms of the good of love, also the truths of faith, received from the Lord, are meant by 'the vessels of gold and silver', 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917. Profanation is meant by drinking out of them, and by praising then the gods of gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and stone (as verse 4 says there), which are a string of evils and falsities, 4402 (end), 4544, 7873, 8941. 'The Temple in Jerusalem' from which the vessels had come means in the highest sense the Lord, and in the representative sense His kingdom and Church, 3720. Belshazzar's kingdom when it had been divided was a sign of the dispersion of goodness and truth, and his being killed that very night a sign of deprivation of the life of truth and good, which is damnation. For 'being divided' is being dispersed; 'king' is the truth of good, 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148, the same thing being meant by 'kingdom', 1672, 2547, 4691; 'being killed' means being deprived of the life of truth and good, 3607, 6767, 8902; and 'the night' in which he was killed is a state of evil and falsity, 2353, 7776, 7851, 7870, 7947. From this it is evident that all things there were representative.

[5] It says in David,

They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing cast lots. Psalms 22:18.

And in Matthew,

They divided the garments (the Lord's), casting lots, that it might be fulfilled which was said by the prophet. Matthew 27:35.

Also in John,

The soldiers took the garments and made four parts; and the tunic. The tunic was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said regarding it Let us not divide it, but cast lots for it, whose it may be - so that the Scripture might be fulfilled. John 19:23-24.

The person who reads these things, knowing nothing about the internal sense of the Word, is unaware of any arcanum that lies concealed within them, when in fact every detail holds a Divine arcanum. The arcanum was that Divine Truths had been dispersed by the Jews. For the Lord was Divine Truth, which is why He is called the Word in John 1:1 and the following verses, 'the Word' being Divine Truth. His garments represented truths in the outward form they take, His tunic truths in their inward form; and the dividing of the garments represented the dispersing of the truths of faith by the Jews. For the meaning of 'garments' as truths in the outward form they take, see 2576, 5248, 5954, 6918, and for that of 'tunic' as truth in its inward form, 4677. Truths in their outward form are truths as they exist in the literal sense of the Word, but truths in their inward form are truths as they exist in the spiritual sense of the Word. 'Dividing the garments into four parts' meant total dispersion, in the same way that dividing does in Zechariah 14:4, and elsewhere. Dividing into two parts - as it says in Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38, regarding the veil of the Temple - has a like meaning. The splitting apart of the rocks also at that time, Matthew 27:51, represented the dispersing of all matters of faith; for 'rock' means the Lord in respect of faith, and therefore means faith received from the Lord, 8581.

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