9262. And the innocent and the righteous slay thou not. That this signifies an aversion for destroying interior and exterior good, is evident from the signification of “the innocent,” as being one who is in interior good, thus in the abstract sense, interior good (of which below); from the signification of “the righteous,” as being one in exterior good, and in the abstract sense, exterior good, for “righteous” is predicated of the good of love toward the neighbor, and “innocent” of the good of love to the Lord. The good of love toward the neighbor is exterior good, and the good of love to the Lord is interior good. And from the signification of “slaying,” as being to destroy. That “righteous” denotes the good of love toward the neighbor, will also be seen below. But that “innocent” denotes the good of love to the Lord, is because those are in innocence who love the Lord. For innocence is to acknowledge in the heart that of ourselves we desire nothing but evil, and perceive nothing but falsity, and also that all the good which is of love, and all the truth which is of faith, are from the Lord alone. None can at heart acknowledge these things except those who are conjoined with the Lord by love. Such are they who are in the inmost heaven, which from this is called the “heaven of innocence.” Wherefore the good they have is interior good; for it is the Divine good of love that proceeds from the Lord which is received by those who are in the heaven of innocence. Hence also they appear naked, and likewise as little children, from which it is that innocence is represented by nakedness, and also by infancy. (That it is represented by nakedness, see n. 165, 213, 214, 8375; and by infancy, n. 430, 1616, 2280, 2305, 2306, 3183, 3494, 4563, 4797, 5608.)

[2] From what has just been said about innocence it can be seen that the Lord’s Divine cannot be received except in innocence, from which it follows that good is not good, unless innocence is within it (n. 2526, 2780, 3994, 6765, 7840, 7887), that is, the acknowledgment that from one’s own proceeds nothing but what is evil and false, and that from the Lord is everything that is good and true. To believe the former, and to believe and also to will the latter, is innocence. Therefore the good of innocence is good Divine itself from the Lord with man. Consequently “the innocent” signifies one who is in interior good, and in the abstract sense, interior good.

[3] As Divine good which is from the Lord is signified by “the innocent,” or by “innocence,” it was a most heinous crime to shed innocent blood; and when it was committed, the whole land was under condemnation until it was expiated, as can be seen from the procedure of inquiry and purgation that took place if anyone was found stabbed in the land; of which it is thus written in Moses:

When one who has been stabbed is found in the land, lying in the field, and it is not known who hath smitten him; then the elders of the city shall come forth unto the cities which are round about him that is stabbed; and it shall be, that the city which is nearest unto him that is stabbed, the elders of that city shall take a female calf of an ox by which labor hath not been done, and which hath not drawn in the yoke; and the elders of that city shall bring down the calf unto a barren valley, which is neither cultivated nor sown, and shall cut off the calf’s neck there in the valley; and the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near; and all the elders of that city, standing near him that is stabbed, shall wash their hands over the calf whose neck was cut off in the valley; and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen it; expiate Thy people Israel whom Thou hast redeemed, O Jehovah, and put not innocent blood in the midst of Thy people Israel. So shall the blood be expiated for them. And thou shalt put away the innocent blood from the midst of thee, if thou shalt do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah (Deuteronomy 21:1-9);

everyone can see that this procedure of inquiry and of purgation in respect to innocent blood shed in the land, involves arcana of heaven, which cannot possibly be known unless it is known what is signified by “one stabbed in the field,” by “a female calf of an ox by which labor hath not been done and which hath not drawn in the yoke,” by “a barren valley which is neither cultivated nor sown,” by “cutting off the calf’s neck there in the valley,” by “washing the hands over the calf,” and by all the other particulars. That these things should have been commanded unless they signified secret things, would by no means be consistent with a Word that has been dictated by the Divine, and inspired in respect to every word and jot; for without some deeper meaning such a procedure would have been a ceremonial of no sanctity, and scarcely of any account.

[4] Nevertheless it is evident from the internal sense what arcana are hidden within it. Thus if it is known that by “one stabbed in the land lying in the field” is signified truth and good extinguished in a church where there is good, that by “the city which is nearest unto him that is stabbed” is signified the truth of doctrine of the church whose good has been extinguished; that by “a female calf of an ox by which work hath not been done and which hath not drawn in the yoke” is signified the good of the external or natural man, that has not as yet, through subjection to cupidities, drawn to itself any falsities of faith and evils of love; that by “a barren valley which is neither cultivated nor sown” is signified the natural mind which through ignorance is not improved with the truths and goods of faith; that by “cutting off the calf’s neck there in the valley” is signified expiation on account of the absence of guilt, because it was the result of ignorance; and that by “washing the hands” is signified purification from this heinous crime; then from the knowledge of all these things it is evident that by the “shedding of innocent blood” is signified the extinction with the man of the church of the Divine truth and good which are from the Lord, and thus of the Lord Himself.

[5] Be it known that by this whole procedure there was represented in heaven a crime of this nature done without guilt, because done from ignorance in which there is innocence, consequently as not evil. Every detail of this procedure, even the smallest, represented some essential thing in this matter; and what it represented is evident from the internal sense. (That “one who has been stabbed” denotes truth and good extinguished, see n. 4503; that “the land” denotes the church, n. 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577, 8011, 8732; that “a field” denotes the church as to good, thus the good of the church, n. 2971, 3310, 3766, 4982, 7502, 7571, 9139; that “a city” denotes the doctrine of truth, thus the truth of the doctrine of the church, n. 402, 2268, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493; that “an ox” denotes the good of the external or natural man, n. 2180, 2566, 2781, 9134; consequently that “a calf” denotes infantile good, n. 1824, 1825.)

[6] That it “hath not done labor, and hath not drawn in the yoke” denotes that this good has not yet, through ignorance, been enslaved to falsities and evils, is evident, for “laboring and drawing in a yoke” denotes to serve. That “a valley” denotes the lower mind, which is called the natural mind, see n. 3417, 4715; that “barren” denotes a mind devoid of truths and goods, n. 3908; thus that “a valley which is neither cultivated nor sown” denotes the natural mind not as yet improved with truths and goods, thus which is as yet in ignorance; that the “seed” with which it is sown denotes the truth of faith, n. 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3373, 3671, 6158. That “cutting off the neck” denotes expiation, is because by the slaying of various beasts, as well as by sacrifices, were signified expiations. That “washing the hand” denotes purification from falsities and evils, see n. 3147; here therefore it denotes purification from that heinous crime; for “to shed blood” signifies in general to do violence to good and truth (n. 9127); thus to “shed innocent blood” signifies to extinguish in a man what is Divine from the Lord, thus the Lord Himself in him; for the truth and good in a man are the Lord Himself, because they are from Him.

[7] The like is signified by “the shedding of innocent blood” in Deuteronomy 19:10; 27:25; Isaiah 59:3, 7; Jeremiah 2:34; 7:6; 19:4; 22:3, 17; Joel 3:19; Psalms 94:21. In the proximate sense “the innocent” signifies one who is without guilt and without evil, which in olden times was attested by the washing of the hands (Psalms 26:6; 73:13; Matthew 27:24; John 18:38; 19:4). The reason of this was that the good which is from the Lord with man is devoid of guilt and of evil. This good, as has been shown, is in the internal sense the good of innocence. But the good in the external man, that is, exterior good which is devoid of guilt and of evil, is called “the righteous,” as also in David:

The throne of perditions shall not have fellowship with Thee; who gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood (Psalms 94:20-21).

4447. And Hamor spoke with them, saying. That this signifies the good of the Church among the Ancients, is evident from the representation of Hamor, as being what is from the ancients (see n. 4431), that is, the good of the church which was among them. For the good of the church is father, and the derivative truth (“Shechem”) is son; and therefore by “father” in the Word is signified good, and by “son” truth. It is here said “the good of the Church among the Ancients,” but not “the good of the Ancient Church,” for the reason that by the “Church among the Ancients” is meant the church that was derived from the Most Ancient Church which existed before the flood, and by the “Ancient Church” is meant the church that existed after the flood. These two churches have sometimes been treated of in the preceding pages, and it has been shown that the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood was celestial, but the Ancient Church which was after the flood was spiritual, and the difference between them has often been treated of.

[2] The remains of the Most Ancient Church which was celestial still existed in the land of Canaan, especially among those called Hittites and Hivites. The reason why these remains did not exist anywhere else was that the Most Ancient Church called “Man” or “Adam” (n. 478, 479) was in the land of Canaan, and therefore the “garden of Eden,” by which was signified the intelligence and wisdom of the men of that church (n. 100, 1588), and by the trees in it their perception, (n. 103, 2163, 2722, 2972), was in that land. And because intelligence and wisdom were signified by this “garden” or paradise, the church itself was meant by it; and because the church was meant, so also was heaven; and because heaven, so also in the supreme sense, was the Lord; and therefore in this sense the “land of Canaan” itself signifies the Lord, in the relative sense heaven and also the church, and in the individual sense the man of the church (n. 1413, 1437, 1607, 3038, 3481, 3705); and therefore also the term “land” or “earth” when mentioned alone in the Word has a like signification (n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1413, 1607, 3355); the “new heaven and new earth” being a new church in respect to its internal and its external (n. 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355). That the Most Ancient Church was in the land of Canaan may be seen in n. 567; and the result of this was that the places there became representative, and for this reason Abram was commanded to go there, and the land was given to his descendants the sons of Jacob in order that the representatives of the places in accordance with which the Word was to be written, might be retained. (See n. 3686 and that for the same reason all the places there, as well as the mountains and rivers, and all the borders round about, became representative, n. 1585, 1866, 4240.)

[3] All this shows what is here meant by the “Church among the Ancients,” namely, remains from the Most Ancient Church. And as these remains existed among the Hittites and Hivites, therefore Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, together with their wives, obtained a place of burial with the Hittites in their land (Genesis 23:1-20; 49:29-32; 50:13); and Joseph with the Hivites (Josh. 24:32). Hamor the father of Shechem represented the remains of this Church, and therefore by him is signified the good of the Church among the Ancients, and consequently the origin of interior truth from a Divine stock (n. 4399). (What the distinction is between the Most Ancient Church which was before the flood, and the Ancient Church which was after the flood, may be seen above, n. 597, 607, 608, 640, 641, 765, 784, 895, 920, 1114-1128, 1238, 1327, 2896, 2897.)