4852. 'The wife of Judah' means the semblance of religion existing among the nation descended from Jacob, specifically that from Judah. This is clear from the meaning of 'the wife' as the Church, dealt with in 252, 253, 409, 749, 770, but here as a semblance of religion because the subject is the Jewish nation, among which no Church existed, only an external shell of a Church separated from anything internal, 4281, 4288, 4289, 4307, 4433, 4500, 4680, 4825, 4844, 4847 (this cannot be called anything else than the semblance of religion, for only external holiness completely devoid of any internal holiness could exist with them, 4293); and from the representation of 'Judah' as the nation descended from Jacob, and specifically that descended from Judah, dealt with above in 4815, 4842.

4842. 'Judah said' means in general the descendants of Jacob, specifically those descended through Judah. This is clear from the meaning of 'Judah' in the proximate sense as the nation descended from Jacob, and specifically those descended from Jacob through Judah, as also stated above in 4815. In the Word a distinction is indeed drawn between Judah and Israel, 'Judah' being used in the historical sense to mean the tribe of Judah, and 'Israel' to mean the ten tribes that had been separated from that tribe. But in the internal or spiritual sense 'Judah' represents the celestial element of the Church, which is good, and 'Israel' the spiritual element, which is truth. In the contrary sense however 'Judah' represents the evil of the Church and 'Israel' the falsity of the Church, wherever such evil or falsity existed, whether among Jews or among Israelites. For the internal or spiritual sense of the Word is universal and does not draw the same distinctions between the tribes as are drawn in the external or historical sense. This is the reason why in the proximate sense 'Judah' means the whole nation descended from Jacob, but specifically those descended from Jacob through Judah.