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.

4500. 'And came with confidence upon the city, and killed every male' means that they utterly destroyed the truths of doctrine of the Church among the Ancients. This is clear from the meaning of 'the city' as the doctrine of the Church, dealt with in 402, 2449, 2943, 3216, 4478, in this case of the Church among the Ancients, for that Church is represented by Hamor and Shechem whose city it was; from the meaning of 'with confidence' as with trust, in this case with trust in falsity and evil; and from the meaning of 'a male' as truth, dealt with in 749, 2046, 4005. From these meanings it is evident that 'they came with confidence upon the city, and killed every male' means that with a trust in falsity and evil they utterly destroyed the truths of doctrine of the Church among the Ancients.

[2] It was the Church among the Ancients, a descendant of the Most Ancient Church, that was going to be established among the descendants from Jacob, because the Ancient Church had begun to perish. But the fact that they utterly destroyed every truth of faith and good of charity, and thus every internal aspect of worship among them, and so the fact that no Church could be established among Jacob's descendants, is described at this point in the internal sense. This explains how it came about that, because of their stubborn insistence, that which was merely a representative of the Church was established among them 4281, 4288-4290, 4293, 4307, 4314, 4316, 4317, 4429, 4433, 4444.