5702. Because this is an abomination to the Egyptians. That this signifies that they are in opposition, is evident from the representation of the Egyptians, as being those who are in inverted order (see n. 5700); and from the representation of the Hebrews, to eat with whom was an abomination to the Egyptians, as being those who are in genuine order (n. 5701); thus they are in opposition to each other, whence comes aversion, and at last abomination. In regard to this abomination be it known that those who are in inverted order, that is, in evil and the derivative falsity, become at last so averse to the good and truth of the church that when they hear them, and especially when they hear the interior things of them, they so greatly abominate them that they feel as it were a nausea and vomiting. This has been told and shown me, when I have wondered why the Christian world does not receive these interior things of the Word. There appeared spirits from the Christian world who, on being compelled to hear the interiors of the Word, were seized with so great a nausea that they said they felt as if they were going to vomit; and I was told that such is the Christian world at this day almost everywhere. The reason of its being so is that they are in no affection of truth for truth’s sake, still less in the affection of good from good. Their thinking and speaking anything from the Word or from their doctrine is from habit acquired from early childhood, and from the established form; thus it is an external without an internal.

[2] That all things of the Hebrew Church that was afterward instituted among Jacob’s descendants were an abomination to the Egyptians, is plain not only from their being unwilling even to eat with them, but also from the sacrifices which the Hebrew Church regarded as the chief part of its worship being an abomination to them, as is evident in Moses:

Pharaoh said, Go ye, sacrifice in the land; but Moses said, It is not meet so to do; because we shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to Jehovah our God; lo if we sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians before their eyes will they not stone us? (Exodus 8:25-26).

The pasturing of flocks, and a shepherd also, were an abomination to them, as is plain in Moses:

Every shepherd of a flock is an abomination unto the Egyptians (Genesis 46:34).

Thus the Egyptians abominated everything that belonged to that church. The reason was that at first the Egyptians had been among those who constituted the Ancient representative Church (n. 1238, 2385); but in course of time they rejected the God of the Ancient Church, that is, Jehovah or the Lord, and served idols, especially calves; and they also turned into magic the very representatives and significatives of the celestial and spiritual things of the Ancient Church, which they had learned when they belonged to that church. Hence order was inverted with them, and consequently all things of the church were an abomination to them.

1238. That by “Eber” is signified a nation also, whose father was Eber, one who was called by this name, is to be understood in this way. Those mentioned hitherto were the nations among whom the Ancient Church existed, and were all called sons of Shem, of Ham, of Japheth, and of Canaan, because by Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Canaan are signified the various worships of the church. Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Canaan never existed as men; but because the Ancient Church specifically, and in general every church, is such that it is true internal, corrupt internal, true external, and corrupt external, therefore the above-mentioned names were given in order that all the differences in general might be referred to them and their sons, as to their heads. Moreover the nations here named originally had such worship; and therefore are called the sons of one of the sons of Noah. And for the same reason also, such worships themselves are signified by the names of these nations in the Word.

[2] This first Ancient Church, signified by Noah and his sons, was not confined to a few, but extended over many kingdoms, as is evident from the nations mentioned, namely, Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia, Lybia, Egypt, Philistia as far as Tyre and Sidon, and the whole land of Canaan, on this side and beyond Jordan. But afterwards in Syria a kind of external worship began, which from thence spread itself widely around, over many countries, especially over Canaan, and which was different from the worship of the Ancient Church. And as something of a church thus arose that was separate from the Ancient Church, there sprang up thence as it were a new church, which may therefore be called the Second Ancient Church. The first institutor of this was Eber, and therefore this church is called after Eber. At that time, as has been said before, all were distinguished into households, families, and nations. Each nation acknowledged one father, from whom also it was named, as is seen in various places in the Word. Thus the nation which acknowledged Eber as its father was called the Hebrew nation.