9320. For destroying thou shalt destroy them. That this signifies that evils must be wholly removed, is evident from the signification of “destroying,” when said of the evils and falsities which are signified by the nations of the land of Canaan and by their gods, as being to remove. That “to destroy” denotes to remove, is because those who are in good and truth never destroy those who are in evil and falsity, but only remove them; for the reason that they act from good, and not from evil; and good is from the Lord, who never destroys anyone. But those who are in evil and from it in falsity endeavor to destroy, and as far as they are able do destroy, those who are in good, for the reason that they act from evil. But because they then run counter to the good which is from the Lord, thus counter to the Divine, they destroy themselves, that is, they cast themselves headlong into damnation and into hell. Such is the law of order, as may be seen above (n. 4299, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7926, 7989, 8137, 8146, 8265, 8945, 8946).

[2] That the Israelites and the Jews destroyed the nations of the land of Canaan, was because the former represented spiritual and heavenly things, and the nations infernal and diabolical things, which cannot possibly be together; for they are opposites. The reason why the Israelites were permitted to destroy the nations, was that there was no church among the Israelites, but only the representative of a church, and consequently the Lord was not present with them except representatively (n. 4307); for they were in external things without anything internal; that is, they were in a worship representative of good and truth, but not in good and truth. Such people are permitted to destroy, to kill, to exterminate, and to devote to destruction; but this is not permitted to those who are in external things and at the same time in internal things, because these people must act from good, and good is from the Lord.

[3] That the Jews and Israelites were of such a character is openly declared by Moses:

Speak not thou in thine heart, after that Jehovah thy God hath thrust the nations out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land. Not for thy righteousness, and for the uprightness of thine heart; for thou art a stiffnecked people (Deuteronomy 9:4-6).

They are a nation ruined in counsels, neither is there any understanding in them. Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall; their clusters of bitterness; their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps. Is not this hidden away with Me, sealed up in My treasuries (Deuteronomy 32:28, 32-34);

in the internal sense “a vine” signifies the church (n. 1069, 5113, 6375, 6376, 9277); “grapes,” and “clusters,” signify the internal and external goods of that church (n. 1071, 5117, 6378); and “wine” signifies the internal truth of that church (n. 1071, 1798, 6377). From this it is plain what is signified by “their vine being of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah,” “their grapes, grapes of gall, and their clusters of bitterness,” and “their wine the poison of dragons and the cruel gall of asps.” That these things are known to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, is signified by its being “hidden away with Him, and sealed up in His treasuries.”

[4] In John:

Jesus said to the Jews, Ye are of your father the devil, and the desire of your father ye will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).

Consequently they are called “a depraved and adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:39); and also “an offspring of vipers” (Matthew 3:7; 12:34; 23:33; Luke 3:7). That such was their nature was also described by the Lord in parables (Matthew 21:33-45; Mark 12:1-9; Luke 14:16-24; 20:9-19). (That that nation was the worst of all; that when in worship they were in external things without any internal; that there was no church among them, but only the representative of a church; and that nevertheless they could represent the internal things of the church, see n. 3398, 3479, 3480, 3732, 3881, 4208, 4281, 4288-4290, 4293, 4307, 4314, 4316, 4317, 4429, 4433, 4444, 4500, 4503, 4680, 4815, 4818, 4820, 4825, 4832, 4837, 4844, 4847, 4865, 4868, 4874, 4899, 4903, 4911-4913, 5057, 5998, 6304, 6832, 6877, 7048, 7051, 7248, 7401, 7439, 8301, 8588, 8788, 8806, 8814, 8819, 8871, 8882, 9284)

8265. The horse and his rider hath He cast into the sea. That this signifies that by His mere presence the falsities from evil were damned and cast into hell, is evident from the signification of a “horse,” as being falsities from a perverted understanding (that a “horse” denotes the understanding, see n. 2761, 2762, 3217, 5321; and in the opposite sense a perverted understanding, and as this is no understanding, in this sense by a “horse” is signified falsity, and by “the horse of Pharaoh,” false memory-knowledge, n. 6125, 8146, 8148); from the signification of a “rider” or “horseman,” as being the consequent reasonings (n. 8146, 8148); and from the signification of “casting into the sea,” as being to damn and cast into hell. That “the sea,” here the sea Suph, denotes the hell where are the falsities from evil of those who being of the church have been in faith separate and in a life of evil, see n. 8099, 8137, 8148; hence it is that they are called falsities “from evil.” That these falsities were damned and cast into hell by the mere presence of the Lord, was shown in the preceding chapter. For the evil can by no means endure and support the Divine presence, because by the Divine presence they are tortured, tormented, and as it were deprived of life, and comport themselves like those who are in the death agony. The reason is that in the Divine there is omnipotence, which destroys and extinguishes that which is opposed, thus what is false and evil; consequently the life of those who are in falsity and evil is distressed by the Divine presence, and hence feels hell in itself according to the degree of the presence. But lest they who are in falsities and evils should be tortured until they are utterly destroyed, they are veiled over by their falsities and evils as by thick mists, which are of such a nature as to mitigate the influx of the Divine, or to repel or to stifle it, as earthly mists or clouds do the rays of the sun.

[2] These things are meant by the words in John:

They shall say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb; because the great day of His anger is come; who therefore shall be able to stand? (6:16-17);

by “the mountains and rocks to which they shall say, Fall upon us and hide us” are signified evils and falsities; by “the anger of the Lamb” is signified torment, for it appears as if the Divine tormented from anger, when yet it is the falsities and evils themselves. In like manner in Isaiah 2:10; and in Hosea 10:8; andin Luke 23:30. That damnation is from the mere presence of the Lord, is also signified by what follows in this Song:

Thou sendest forth Thy wrath, it devoureth them as stubble; and with the wind of Thy nostrils the waters were heaped up, the floods stood together like a heap; Thou didst blow with Thy wind, the sea covered them; they sought the deep; Thou stretchedst out Thy right hand, the earth swallowed them (verses 7-8, 10, 12).

In like manner in many other passages in the Word.