4852. The wife of Judah. That this signifies the religiosity with the nation descended from Jacob, specifically that from Judah, is evident from the signification of a “wife,” as being the church (n. 252, 253, 409, 749, 770), but here a religiosity, because it is said of the Jewish nation, with which there was no church, but only the external of a church separate from the internal (see n. 4281, 4288, 4289, 4311, 4433, 4500, 4680, 4825, 4844, 4847), which cannot be called anything else than a religiosity, for they could be in a holy external, yet entirely without a holy internal (n. 4293); and from the representation of Judah, as being the nation descended from Jacob, and specifically from Judah, of which above (n. 4815, 4842).