7042. 'And Jehovah came to meet him' means opposition. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming to meet' as opposition, opposition to the establishment of any Church among that nation. Opposition to the Divine is what is meant when it says that Jehovah came to meet him. To judge from the sense of the letter it seems as though Jehovah or the Divine was the opposer, since it says 'Jehovah came to meet him'. But the internal sense is that it was an opposition to the Divine; for the Divine never places Himself in opposition to anyone. Rather it is the person or nation who place themselves in opposition to the Divine; and when they do so it seems, because they cannot abide the Divine, as though there were resistance from the Divine. What this is like may be recognized from those who enter the next life and wish to enter heaven, yet are not the kind of people who can stay there. When their wish is granted and they are on their way, near the entrance to heaven, they seem to themselves to be like monsters and begin to feel pain and torment because they cannot abide the truth and goodness that are there. They think that heaven and the Divine have placed themselves in opposition to them, when in fact they are the ones, having an opposite attitude of mind, who bring it on themselves. From this one may also see that the Divine does not place Himself in opposition to anyone, but that it is a person who places himself in opposition to the Divine.

4820. 'And he took her and came [in] to her' means that the tribe of Judah joined itself to these, that is to say, to evils begotten by falsities springing from evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'taking her', that is to say, making her his wife, and of 'coming (or going in) to her' as being joined together, dealt with frequently already; for in the internal sense marriages represent the joining together of good and truth, because good and truth are the source of them, 2727-2759. But in the contrary sense marriages represent the joining together of evil and falsity, in this case the joining of the tribe of Judah to these; for what is said here refers to Judah who, as seen above in 4815, means the tribe named after him. It is not said that he took her as his wife, only 'he took her and came [in] to her'. This wording is used because the coupling was an illicit one, 4818, and also because, without actually saying so, it points out that the union was not a marriage but whoredom, and thus that the sons born from her were also the result of whoredom. The fact that after this she is called his wife - in the words 'And the days were multiplied, and Shua's daughter died, the wife of Judah', verse 12 - will be discussed below.