5622. 'Pistachio nuts and almonds' means forms of the good of life that agree with those truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'pistachio nuts' as forms of the good of life that agree with the truths of exterior natural good, meant by 'resin', dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'almonds' as forms of the good of life that agree with the truths of interior natural good, meant by 'aromatic wax and stacte'. Those nuts have that meaning because they are fruits, and 'fruits' in the Word means deeds - fruits produced by useful trees meaning good deeds, or what amounts to the same, forms of the good of life, since these, so far as the use they serve is concerned, are good deeds. The reason 'pistachio nuts' means forms of the good of life that agree with the truths of exterior natural good is that they are the fruit borne by an inferior kind of tree, and things of an exterior nature are meant by objects of an inferior kind, for the reason that essentially exterior things are not so specific as interior ones since they are the general appearances produced by large numbers of inner components.

[2] The reason 'almonds' means forms of the good of life that agree with the truths of interior natural good is that the almond is a superior kind of tree. In the spiritual sense the tree itself means a perception of interior truth derived from good, its blossom means interior truth derived from good, while its fruit means the good of life resulting from that truth. The word 'almond' is used with this meaning in Jeremiah,

The word of Jehovah came [to me], saying, What do you see, Jeremiah? And I said, A rod of almond do I see. Then Jehovah said to me, You have seen well, ¹ for I am watching over My word to perform it. Jeremiah 1:11-12.

'A rod' stands for power, 'almond' for a perception of interior truth; and because this rod is said to be Jehovah's it stands for a watching over that truth -'word' standing for truth.

[3] The almonds which blossomed on Aaron's rod for the tribe of Levi also mean the good deeds of charity or forms of the good of life. They are described in Moses as follows,

It happened the next day, when Moses went into the tent of meeting, that behold, Aaron's rod for the house ² of Levi had blossomed, and had produced buds, ³ so that it flowered and produced almonds. Numbers 17:8.

This was the sign that that tribe had been chosen for the priesthood; for charity was meant by that tribe, 3875, 3877, 4497, 4502, 4503, and charity is the essential characteristic of the spiritual Church.

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4502. 'And they took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went away' means that they took away the affection for truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Dinah' as the affection for truth, dealt with above in 4498. The meaning according to the internal proximate sense is that they took away the affection for truth from those who were part of the remnants of the Most Ancient Church, for the phrase 'from Shechem's house' is used and by 'Shechem's house' is meant the good of truth of that Church. But as the subject here is the utter destruction of truth and good among those descended from Jacob, who are meant here by Jacob's sons, and as every detail mentioned has a specific application to the particular subject that is under discussion, 'Shechem's house' therefore means here simply the good of truth, like that which had existed with the member of the Most Ancient Church. Thus the meaning is that this good was wiped out among the nation descended from Jacob. For in the internal sense of the Word every expression or name means some aspect of the subject to which it belongs. At the same time the extinction of good and truth among Hamor and Shechem and his family is meant, because they accepted external usages, as shown in 4493.

[2] The truth of what has been explained so far regarding Simeon and Levi becomes clear from the prophetical utterances of Jacob before he died, where the following occurs,

Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of violence are their swords. Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their congregation let not my glory be united; for in their anger they killed a man, in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is severe. I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel. Genesis 49:5-7.

'Simeon and Levi' means the truth of faith which among the descendants of Jacob was turned into falsity, and the good of charity into evil, as above in 4499, 4500. They are called 'brothers' because good is the brother of truth, or charity is the brother of faith, 4498. 'Instruments of violence are their swords' means that falsities and evils did violence to truths and goods, 4499. 'Into their secret place let my soul not come, in their congregation let not my glory be united' means severance as regards life and doctrine, for in the Word 'soul' is used to refer to life, 1000, 1040, 1742, 3299, and 'glory' to doctrine. 'For in their anger they killed a man, in their pleasure they hamstrung an ox' means that with evil intent they annihilated the truth of the Church and the good of the Church, 'a man' meaning the truth of the Church, 3134, and 'an ox' its good, 2180, 2566, 2781. 'Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their fury, for it is severe' means the punishment incurred for turning away from truth and good - 'cursing' meaning turning oneself away and also being punished on that account, 245, 379, 1423, 3530, 3584, while anger means the departure from good, and 'fury' the departure from truth, 357, 3614. 'I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel' means that goods and truths will exist no longer within either the external or the internal aspect of their Church - 'dividing' and 'scattering' meaning separating and completely removing from them, 4424, 'Jacob' being the external aspect of the Church and 'Israel' the internal, 4286.

[3] These things are said about Simeon and Levi in this prophetical utterance because those two mean in general the truth and good of the Church, and when these cease to exist, and more so when falsities and evils take their place, the Church has been wiped out. Nothing other than this is contained in these prophetical words, as may be seen from the fact that neither the tribe of Simeon nor the tribe of Levi was cursed more than any other tribe. For the tribe of Levi was selected for the priesthood, and the tribe of Simeon existed as one of the rest of the tribes of Israel.