8593. 'And Amalek came' means falsity arising from interior evil. This is clear from the representation of 'Amalek' as falsity arising from interior evil, dealt with below. Who exactly are steeped in falsity arising from interior evil, and what they are like, must be stated first. Interior evil is that which resides with a person, hidden inwardly. It is concealed in his will and consequently in his thinking, not a trace of it being apparent outwardly, in his actions, speech, or face. People ruled by this kind of evil strive by every method and skill to hide it away, to conceal it under an outward show of being honourable and righteous, and an outward show of love of the neighbour. Nevertheless their only thought is how to inflict harm, and so far as possible to use others to inflict it, taking care to prevent anyone from seeing that they are the instigators. They also disguise actual evil so that it does not look like evil. The greatest delight of their life is to contemplate such things and secretly try to carry them out. This is called interior evil. Those ruled by this evil are called evil genii and in the next life they have been completely separated from those who are ruled by exterior evil and are called spirits. The former - the evil genii - have their hell behind a person, that is, behind his back, where they live in various caverns. But the evil spirits have their hell in front of a person, and also to the sides. The genii belong in the Grand Man to the province of the cerebellum, and also to that part of the spinal cord which sends out the fibres and nerves that control involuntary actions.

[2] One may say further of the falsity arising from this interior evil that it is not like the falsity arising from evil that the evil spirits possess, because it is in itself evil. Those ruled by this evil do not attack the truths of faith but forms of the good of faith. They act through corrupt affections; through these they pervert good thoughts, doing so in a way almost inconceivable. Because they are like this their hells are completely separated from the hells of evil spirits, so completely that they have scarcely any contact with them; and they are separated in order that they may also be separated from members of the spiritual Church. For if they were to flow in from their hells, the member of that Church would be destroyed because they would act very secretly on his conscience and would pervert it, which they would do by inflating his corrupt affections. Those hellish genii never attack a person openly, or when he can offer strong resistance, but when it is seen that the person is slipping and may therefore give in. At this point they are suddenly at hand, and give him a shove so that he falls completely. This is also represented by Amalek's coming up to attack Israel now, as well as at a later time when the children of Israel set themselves against Jehovah and were afraid of the nations in the land of Canaan,

Then also Amalek came down with the Canaanite from the mountain, and struck down the children of Israel as far as Hormah. Numbers 14:43, 45.

[3] From all this one may recognize what those people are like who are represented by Amalek, and the reason for the judgement pronounced over him by Jehovah that war will be waged against them forever and that the memory of them will be wiped out from under heaven, in accordance with the following words in the final verse of the present chapter,

Because the hand of the evil ones is against the throne of Jah, the war of Jehovah will be against Amalek from generation to generation.

And in Deuteronomy,

Remember what Amalek did to you on the way when you came out of Egypt, that he met you on the way, and cut off at your rear all the weak, when you were tired and weary; he did not fear God. When Jehovah your God has given you rest, you shall wipe out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget. Deuteronomy 25:17-19.

Also in the first book of Samuel,

Jehovah declared to Saul through Samuel, I have resolved to punish ¹ what Amalek did to Israel, how he set [himself] against him on the way when he came up from Egypt. Therefore go and strike Amalek, and utterly destroy all that he has; do not spare him, but kill man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. But Saul spared Agag the king, and the best of the flock and the oxen, and of the fatlings, ² and the rams, and all that was good. Therefore it was declared to Saul that because of this he would no longer be king over Israel. 1 Samuel 15:2-3, 9, 23.

The declaration that the memory of Amalek should be wiped out and that everything there should be utterly destroyed meant that evil genii should have no contact whatever with those belonging to the spiritual Church; for they are in contact with those who are not governed by truths but from an evil affection uphold falsities.

[4] Who can fail to see that except for some more deeply hidden reason Jehovah would never have said that war was to be waged forever against Amalek, that the memory of him was to be wiped out from under heaven, and that everything there was to be utterly destroyed, though all this was not in fact carried out? That more deeply hidden reason why these things were said and done is embodied in Samuel's words to Agag the king of the Amalekites, whom Saul had spared,

Agag the king of Amalek went to Samuel delicately. ³ But Samuel said, As your sword has bereaved women, so shall your mother become the most bereaved of women. And Samuel cut him in pieces before Jehovah. 1 Samuel 15:32-33.

'Going delicately' means the outwardly charming ways that such people have in the presence of others. 'Your sword has bereaved women' means that their falsity does violence to good affections; 'your mother shall become the most bereaved of women' means that evil affection which originates in the will, not in the understanding, will hold sway among them; 'and Samuel cut him in pieces before Jehovah' means that they were separated from those ruled by falsity arising from evil that originated in the understanding, that is, genii were separated from spirits, as stated above. For the meaning of 'women' as affections, see 568, 6014, 8337; and for 'sword' as falsity engaged in conflict and laying waste, 2799, 4499, 7102.

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2760. PREFACE ¹

How deluded those people are who confine themselves to the sense of the letter and do not look for the internal sense in other places where this is explained in the Word becomes quite clear from the great number of heresies there are, each one of which confirms its own doctrinal position from the literal sense of the Word. It is particularly clear from that great heresy which insane and hellish self-love and love of the world have made out of the Lord's words to Peter,

I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Matthew 16:15-19.

[2] People who keep rigidly to the sense of the letter imagine that these words refer to the man Peter and that such great power was given to him. Although they know that Peter was just an ordinary simple human being who by no means exercised such power, and that the exercise of that power is contrary to the Divine, they nevertheless adopt and stoutly defend a literal interpretation of what the Lord said, because of the insane and hellish self-love and love of the world which fill them with the desire to arrogate such power to themselves on earth and in heaven and to make gods of themselves. But the internal sense of those words is that faith itself in the Lord, which exists solely with those in whom love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour are present, possesses that power, yet not faith but the Lord, the Source of faith. In the words addressed to Peter 'rock' is used to mean that faith, as it is everywhere else in the Word. It is on this faith that the Church is built, and against this faith that the gates of hell do not prevail. It is that faith also which holds the keys of the kingdom of heaven, for that faith closes heaven to prevent evils and falsities entering in, and it opens heaven to goods and truths. This is the internal sense of these words.

[3] Like the twelve tribes of Israel the twelve apostles represented nothing else than all aspects of such faith, 577, 2089, 2129, 2130 (end). Peter represented faith itself, James charity, and John the good works that flow from charity - see the Preface to Genesis 18 - as in a similar way did Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, Jacob's three eldest sons, in the Jewish and

Israelitish representative Church, a point that is clear from a thousand places in the Word. And it was because Peter represented faith that those words were addressed to him. From all these considerations one may recognize what darkness it is into which people plunge themselves, and others with them, who explain everything literally, as they do who, taking literally the words addressed to Peter, use them to take the power of saving the human race away from the Lord and arrogate it to themselves.

² 2760. In John - in the Book of Revelation - the Word as to its internal sense is described as follows,

I saw heaven standing open, and, behold, a White Horse; and He who sat on it was called faithful and true, and in righteousness He judges and goes into battle. His eyes a flame of fire, and on His head many jewels, He has a name written which nobody knows but He Himself, and He is clothed in a garment dyed with blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And the armies that are in heaven were following Him on white horses and were clothed in linen, white and clean. And on His garment and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. Revelation 19:11-14, 16.

What each individual part of this description embodies nobody can know except from the internal sense. Plainly, each one is representative and carries a spiritual meaning, such as 'heaven standing open'; 'the horse which was white'; 'He who sat on it was called faithful and true, and in righteousness He judges and goes into battle'; 'His eyes a flame of fire'; 'on His head many jewels'; 'He has a name which nobody knows but He Himself'; 'He is clothed in a garment dyed with blood'; 'the armies in heaven following Him on white horses'; 'clothed in linen, white and clean'; 'on His garment and on His thigh He has a name written'. It is stated openly that the One sitting on the White Horse is the Word, and that He is the Lord who is the Word, for it is said, 'His name is called the Word of God', and after that, 'on His garment and on His thigh He has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords'.

[2] From the interpretation of each individual expression it is evident that the Word as to the internal sense is described here. 'Heaven standing open' represents and means that the internal sense of the Word is not seen except in heaven and by those to whom heaven stands open, that is, those in whom love to the Lord and faith in Him-derived from that love are present. 'The horse which was white' represents and means the understanding of the Word as regards its interior contents. The next paragraph shows that 'a white horse' has this representation and meaning. 'He who sat on it' is, it is clear, the Word and the Lord who is the Word. He is called 'faithful' and 'one who judges out of righteousness' by virtue of good, and 'true' and 'one who goes into battle out of righteousness' by virtue of truth; for the Lord Himself is righteousness. 'His eyes a flame of fire' means Divine Truth glowing from the Divine Good that issues from His Divine Love. 'On His head many jewels' means all things of faith. 'He has a name written which nobody knows but He Himself' means that nobody sees the essential nature of the Word in the internal sense except the Lord Himself and he to whom He reveals it. 'Clothed in a garment dyed with blood' means the Word in the letter. 'The armies in heaven that were following Him on white horses' means people who have an understanding of the Word as regards its interior contents. 'Clothed in linen, white and clean' means that in these same persons love and faith derived from love are present. 'On His garment and on His thigh a name written' means truth and good. From these verses in Revelation and from those which come before and after them it is evident that around the last period [of the Church] the internal sense of the Word will be opened. But what is going to happen in that last period is also described in verses 17-21 of that chapter.

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