3470. 'And he took for a wife Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite' means the wedding to it of natural truth from a source other than genuine truth itself. This is clear from the meaning of 'a wife' as truth wedded to good, dealt with where Sarah and where Rebekah are the subject, 1468, 1901, 2063, 2065, 2172, 2173, 2198, 2507, 2904, 3012, 3013, 3077, here natural truth wedded to the natural good that is the subject here; and from the representation of 'Judith the daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and Basemath the daughter of Elon the Hittite' as truth from a source other than genuine truth itself. The Hittites were one of the upright nations in the land of Canaan, among whom Abraham dwelt and from whom he bought as a grave the cave of Machpelah, Genesis 23:3-end. The Hittites also represent the spiritual Church among the nations in that land, see 2913, 2986. And because that Church does not possess truth that is from the Word the same persons mean truth not derived from genuine truth itself. For a nation which represents a Church also means truth and good, as these exist with that Church, since it is by virtue of truth and good that a Church is a Church. When therefore a Church is spoken of, its truth and good are meant, and vice versa.

[2] The implications of this are that natural good of truth is not spiritual good, that is, it is not the good of faith nor the good of charity until it has been reformed. Natural good comes from parents, as stated immediately above in 3469, but spiritual good comes from the Lord. To receive spiritual good therefore a person has to undergo regeneration. At first, while this is taking place truths from a source other than genuine truth itself are allied to him, such as do not remain permanently with him but merely serve as the means by which genuine truths are brought in. Once these have been brought in, truths that are not genuine are separated. It is akin to the stages through which children pass: At first they learn very many things, including those that are childish - games and so on - not to make them wise but to prepare the way for them to receive the useful things that lead to wisdom. Once they have received the latter the former things are separated, indeed they are put away. Or it is like fruit which at first is filled with sour juice before it is able to receive sweet. The sour juice, which is not the genuine, is the means by which the sweet is brought in. As the latter comes in the former is dispelled.

[3] So it is with the natural part of man's mind when this is being regenerated, for natural good is such that of itself it is unwilling to obey and serve the rational as a slave does his master but wishes to take command. To render it submissive and subservient however it is chastened by means of states of vastation and temptation to the point when its cravings die down. At that point it is moderated by means of an influx from the Lord, by way of the internal man, of the good of faith and charity, even to the point where good acquired by heredity is gradually rooted out and a new good implanted in place of it. Into this new good truths of faith are introduced, like new fibres into the human heart, along which fibres new fluid is borne in, until a new heart has slowly been developed. The truths that are borne in at first cannot come from the genuine fount of truth because evils and falsities exist within the good present previously, which is natural good. Instead they are the kind of seeming truths or appearances of truth that have some affinity with genuine truths, and through which little by little the opportunity and place for those genuine truths to insert themselves is provided. Genuine good is like the blood in blood vessels or the fluid in fibres, bringing truths along and giving them shape. The good which takes shape in this way in the natural or external man is general, structured or joined together so to speak from particular and individual facets of spiritual good coming by way of the rational or internal man from the Lord, who alone forms and creates things anew. This explains why so many times in the Word the Lord is called One who forms and Creator.

409. The same applied to the heresy called Cain, which was vastated with the passage of time, for it did, it is true, acknowledge love, yet it made faith the chief thing and set it above love. The heresies descending from Cain however gradually strayed even from this, and Lamech, who was the sixth in the line, went so far as to reject faith altogether. At this point new light or the morning began to dawn, and a new Church came into being which is here called 'Adah and Zillah', the names of the wives of Lamech. They are called the wives of Lamech, who was devoid of any faith, just as the internal and external Church among the Jews, who were also devoid of any faith, are in the Word called wives. The same was also represented by Leah and Rachel, Jacob's two wives, Leah representing the external Church and Rachel the internal. These Churches, seemingly two, are nevertheless one, for a Church that is purely external or representative and lacks the internal is something completely idolatrous or dead, but the internal Church and the external together constitute one and the same Church, as Adah and Zillah do here. But because, like Lamech, Jacob, that is, the descendants of Jacob, were totally devoid of faith, the Church could not continue with them. Instead it was transferred to gentiles whose lives were not contrary to faith but were without knowledge. Rarely, if ever, does a Church remain with people who, once vastated, are in possession of truths. Instead it is transferred to those who know absolutely nothing about such truths, for such people embrace faith far more easily than the former do.