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)

3887. In heaven or the Grand Man there are two kingdoms, one of which is called Celestial, and the other Spiritual. The celestial kingdom consists of angels who are called celestial, and these are they who have been in love to the Lord, and thence in all wisdom; for they are in the Lord, and thereby they are pre-eminently in a state of peace and innocence. They appear to others like little children; for a state of peace and innocence presents this appearance. Everything there is as it were alive before them, for whatever comes immediately from the Lord is alive. Such is the Celestial Kingdom. The other kingdom is called Spiritual. It consists of angels who are called spiritual, and these are they who have been in the good of charity toward the neighbor. They make the delight of their life to consist in the fact that they can do good to others without recompense; to them it is sufficient recompense to be allowed to do good to others. The more they will and desire this, in so much the greater intelligence and happiness are they; for in the other life everyone is gifted with intelligence and happiness by the Lord, in accordance with the use he performs from the affection of the will. Such is the Spiritual Kingdom.

[2] They who are in the Lord’s celestial kingdom all belong to the province of the heart; and they who are in the spiritual kingdom all belong to the province of the lungs. The influx from the celestial kingdom into the spiritual kingdom is like that of the heart into the lungs; as also is the influx of all things of the heart into those of the lungs; for by means of the blood vessels the heart rules in the whole of the body and in all its parts; and the lungs in all its parts by the respiration. Hence there is everywhere in the body as it were an influx of the heart into the lungs; but according to the forms there; and according to the states. From this arises all the sensation as well as all the action that is proper to the body, as may be seen from the case of foetuses and newborn infants, which cannot have any bodily sensation, nor any voluntary action, until their lungs have been opened, and thus an influx established of the one into the other. The case is similar in the spiritual world, but with the difference that there are not there bodily and natural things, but celestial and spiritual ones, which are the good of love and the truth of faith. Hence the cardiac motions with those in the spiritual world are according to the states of love, and the respiratory motions are according to the states of faith; the influx of the one into the other causes in them spiritual sensation and spiritual action. These things will necessarily appear to man as paradoxical, from his having no other idea of the good of love and the truth of faith than that they are certain abstract things without the power of effecting anything, when yet the contrary is true, namely, that all perception and sensation, and all energy and action, even in man on earth, are from the good of love and the truth of faith.