312. [292.] Jews

Jews are less aware than others that they are in the spiritual world. They think there of the Messiah as they did in the world and continue to await Him. They also say that He will come. But when they are told that He would be born in Bethlehem and be of the house of David, ¹ and are asked where Bethlehem is now and where the house of David is now, they do not know how to reply other than to say that He Himself knows where that city is and where that family is. Some of them in the other life say that the Messiah is in heaven, and that He will not come to them in the spiritual world before He has first been born in the world.

[293.] When they are asked whether He will lead into Canaan only those who are in the world, they reply that at that time they will return into the world and dwell in the land of Canaan with them. When they are asked whether they will then be born again, they say that they will not, but will descend to those in the world, believing that thus they will be people like them.

When they are asked whether Canaan would be a land capable of holding all who have been born of that nation from the time of Abraham, they say that the land of Canaan will then be enlarged.

When asked how the Messiah, the son of Jehovah, could dwell with people so evil, they say they are not evil. When they are told that Moses said in his song that they were the worst of people, ² and are asked whether they read that song and sing it as Moses commanded, they reply that Moses was angry when he wrote it because he was to leave them, and that they therefore do not read it but skim through it quickly.

When told that they have their origin from a Canaanite woman and from whoredom with a daughter-in-law, ³ they then become angry and go away, saying that it is enough that they are descended from Abram and Jacob.

They say that Moses and David also will return and will accompany the Messiah, one on His right, and the other on His left.

They tell many fictitious tales regarding the Messiah - how He will lead them into Canaan, and how wealthy Christians, if they turn over their money, will follow by His grace.

Yet many of them know that Christ, who is the Messiah, rules all things in the heavens, and they say that they want to accept it, but cannot. They hear this from Moses, who sometimes appears from on high with his rod and teaches it, and when they hear it they go off in different directions.

They said to me, "Why did He suffer the cross?" I replied, "Because he was the greatest prophet, and therefore He bore the iniquities of the people, like the prophet who lay on his right side and on his left and ate bread made of barley and dung, of whom it is also said that he bore their iniquities. ⁴ So, too, other prophets, like the one who took as a wife a harlot, ⁵ the one who shaved his hair, ⁶ and the one who went barefoot, ⁷ who thus bore the people's iniquities. Something similar is said of the Messiah in Isaiah 53." When they heard this, they said they would go off by themselves and confer.

Those who have not been foully defiled with avarice, and who have not become devils as a result of fraud, hatred and vengeance, are tolerated beneath the heavens where they have their dwellings, because they hold the Word sacred. Moreover, those who allow themselves to be taught about the Lord are transferred into a society where they are instructed; and they are sent back to those who have not yet accepted such instruction. Their conduct of business is in diamonds and precious stones as in the world. They acquire these from heaven. They learn that their dealing in these is because they hold the Word sacred, because the sense of its letter corresponds to them and symbolizes them. Consequently the more sacred they hold the Word, the more successful their conduct of business is for them there.

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