4289. 'Let me go, for the dawn is coming up' means that the genuine representative role would depart from the descendants of Jacob before they entered into the representatives connected with the land of Canaan. This becomes clear from the train of thought in the internal historical sense in which the descendants of Jacob are the subject. Their state in regard to things of the Church is also described in the Word as evening, night, and morning or dawn - dawn being used to describe the time when they entered the land of Canaan and as a consequence into that which was a representative of the Church in that land. The implications of this are as follows: A representative of the Church could not be established among them until they had been completely vastated, that is, until no knowledge of internal things existed with them. For if knowledge of internal things had existed with them it would have been possible for them to have an affection for them, in which case they would have profaned them. For the ability to profane holy things, that is, internal truths and goods, exists with those who know and acknowledge them, more so with those who have an affection for them, but not with those who do not acknowledge them. But see what has been stated and shown already about profanation:

People who know and acknowledge holy things are able to profane them, but not those who do not know and acknowledge them, 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 3398, 3898.

People inside the Church are capable of profaning holy things, but not those outside, 2051.

Therefore all who are unable to remain steadfast in goodness and truth are kept as far as possible from an acknowledgement of and faith in them, 3398, 3402; and they are kept in ignorance to prevent their profanation of them, 301-303.

What danger comes from profaning holy things, 571, 582.

Worship becomes external to prevent what is internal being profaned, 1327, 1328.

Therefore internal truths were not disclosed to the Jews, 3398.

[2] The Lord therefore made provision so that anything genuinely representative of the Church, that is, any internal representation of it, would have departed from the descendants of Jacob before they entered into the representatives connected with the land of Canaan. It so departed that they did not know anything at all about the Lord. They knew, it is true, that the Messiah was to come into the world, but they supposed that the reason for His coming would be to promote them to glory and pre-eminence over all nations in the whole world, but not that He would save their souls for ever. Neither indeed did they know anything whatever about the heavenly kingdom, nor anything about the life after death, nor even anything about charity and faith. To reduce them to such ignorance they were kept for several centuries in Egypt, and when summoned from there did not even know the actual name Jehovah, Exodus 3:12-14. What is more, they had lost all the worship of the representative Church, so much so that a month after the Ten Commandments had been publicly declared in their presence from mount Sinai they reverted to Egyptian worship, which was that of the golden calf, Exodus 32.

[3] And this being the nature of the nation which had been brought out of Egypt they all died in the wilderness. For nothing more was required of them than to keep ordinances and commands in the outward form these took, because to keep these in their outward form was to play the part of a representative of the Church. Those who had grown up in Egypt however could not be fitted for that part, but their children could, though with difficulty, at first by means of miracles and after that by terrors and captivities, as is evident from the Books of Joshua and Judges. From this it becomes clear that the entire genuine or internal representative of the Church had departed from them before they entered the land of Canaan where the full form of an external representative of the Church was begun among them; for the land of Canaan was the actual land where the representatives of the Church could be introduced. For all the places and all the boundaries had, since ancient times, been representative in that land, see 3686.

4751. 'What profit is there in our killing our brother and concealing his blood?' means that no advantage would be gained, nor any supremacy, if that truth was completely destroyed. This is clear from the meaning of 'what profit?' as no advantage gained, nor any supremacy, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'killing' as destroying, in this case Divine Truth, specifically the Truth regarding the Lord's Divine Human, which 'brother', that is, Joseph, is used to mean; and from the meaning of 'concealing blood' as removing holy truth completely out of sight, 'blood' meaning holy truth, see above in 4735. The implications of all this are made plain in what follows below.

[2] The reason why 'profit' here means not only advantage but also superiority - that is, why 'what profit?' means that no advantage would be gained, nor any superiority - is that what was said was motivated by the desire for gain and by avarice. For the desire for gain and avarice hold within themselves not only the wish to possess the whole world but also, for the sake of gain, to rob and even to kill no matter whom. Indeed one who is minded in this way would kill for little return if laws did not stand in the way to deter him. Furthermore, in the gold and silver he possesses such a person sees himself as one who is very powerful, however much to outward appearance he seems to be anything but powerful. From this it is evident that avarice includes not only love of the world but also self-love, indeed the foulest self-love. But with the disgustingly avaricious the sense of superiority or arrogance is not so obvious to outward appearance - for sometimes they have no interest in wealth for the sake of show, and do not have that kind of self-love which is usually tied up with the pursuit of pleasures. Indeed the disgustingly avaricious take little interest in their body, or in food and clothing for it. Theirs is a wholly earthly love, aiming at nothing else than money which, they believe, makes them, potentially if not actually, superior to all. From this one may see that avarice holds within it the lowest and basest self-love of all, which is why the avaricious in the next life seem to themselves to live among pigs, 939. They are also opposed more than anyone else to all good whatever. They dwell as a consequence in darkness so thick that they cannot by any means see what good is or what truth is. They do not grasp at all the idea that in the human being there is something internal which lives after death, and in their hearts they mock those who say there is.

[3] The Jewish nation was like this from the start, and for that reason nothing internal could be plainly revealed to it, as is evident from the Old Testament Word. They were indeed rooted in this worst kind of self-love, and therefore, if their avarice had not removed them very far away from internal things and as a consequence had not kept them in thickest darkness, they would have defiled interior truths and goods, and in so defiling them would have rendered them profane more than anyone else did. For they are unable to profane them as long as they do not acknowledge them, 1008, 1010, 1059, 2051, 3398, 3402, 3489, 3898, 4289, 4601. This is why the Lord says of them in John,

You are from your father the devil, and the desires of your father you will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning. John 8:44.

And of Judas Iscariot who represented the Jewish Church He says in the same gospel,

Did I not choose you twelve, but one of you is a devil? John 6:70.

Also when he sold the Lord, Judas' representation was similar to that which Judah has here who said, Come, and let us sell Joseph.