4431. 'The son of Hamor the Hivite' means received from the Ancients. This is clear from the meaning of 'the son', who in this case is Shechem, as interior truth, dealt with immediately above - for 'a son' means truth, see 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 3373, 4257; and from the representation of 'Hamor' as the father of that truth, and so truth received from the Ancients. Indeed the truth which was present interiorly within religious observances and within representatives emanated from the Church of old. This being so, Hamor was also named 'the Hivite', for the Hivites were a nation which meant that kind of truth among the Ancients, because that kind of it had existed with them since ancient times. This is the reason why at this point Hamor is called 'the Hivite'.

[2] Actually every nation in the land of Canaan had in ancient times meant some good or else truth of the Church, for the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, had existed there, 4116. But subsequently the nations there, like every other with whom the Church existed, turned aside into idolatrous practices, and therefore these same nations also mean forms of idolatry. But because the Hivites since ancient times meant interior truth, and because they were one of the more upright nations among whom iniquity had not become so complete, that is, the truth of the Church had not been completely annihilated, as it had among others, the Lord in His Providence therefore preserved the Hivite Gibeonites by means of the covenant which Joshua and the princes made with them, Joshua 9:15. For those Gibeonites were Hivites, see Joshua 9:7; 11:19. From all this one may now see how 'Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite' comes to mean interior truth received from the Ancients.

1441. That these things are meant by 'Shechem' becomes clear also from the fact that Shechem is so to speak the first stopping-place in the land of Canaan that one comes to when journeying from Syria, or Haran. And since 'the land of Canaan' means the celestial things of love it is clear that 'Shechem' means the first stage in the appearance of celestial things. When Jacob returned from Haran to the land of Canaan he likewise came to Shechem, as becomes clear from the following,

Jacob travelled on to Succoth and built a house for himself, and made shelters ¹ for his cattle; therefore he called the name of the place Succoth. And Jacob came to Shalem, a city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan-Aram; and he camped before the city. And he set up an altar there. Genesis 33:17-20.

Here also 'Shechem' means the first appearance of light. In David,

God has spoken in His holiness, I will exult, I will divide up Shechem and portion out the valley of Succoth. Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; and Ephraim is the strength of My head, Judah is My lawgiver, Moab is My washbasin, upon Edom I will cast My shoe, over Philistia I will make a loud noise. Psalms 60:6, 8; 108:7, 9.

Here also 'Shechem' has a similar meaning. That names, including Shechem therefore, mean nothing other than real things becomes quite clear from these prophetic utterances of David. Otherwise they would be scarcely more than a heap of names. References to Shechem becoming a city of refuge, Joshua 20:7, and also a priestly city, Joshua 21:21, and a place where the covenant was made, Joshua 24:1, 25, also embody the same.

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