10402. 'Pull away the ear-jewels of gold from the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters' means drawing out of the literal sense of the Word such things as are favourable to external forms of love and to the immediate offspring of these loves. This is clear from the meaning of 'pulling away' as drawing out, at this point out of the literal sense of the Word since that sense is the subject; from the meaning of 'the ear-jewels of gold which are on the ears' as symbols representative of obedience to the delights belonging to external kinds of love and discernment of them, for obedience and discernment are meant by 'the ears', and the good of love - at this point the delight belonging to external kinds of love - is meant by 'gold', so that 'the ear-jewels of gold' are symbols representative of that obedience and discernment (for the meaning of 'the ears' as obedience and discernment, see 2542, 4652-4660, 8990, 9397, 10061; for that of 'gold' as the good of love, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 9510, 9874, 9881, so that when it has reference to external kinds of love, which are self-love and love of the world, 'gold' means the delight belonging to them, thus that which is evil, 8932; and the fact that 'ear-jewels' consequently are symbols representative of obedience and discernment, 4551); from the meaning of 'wives' as forms of good in the Church, dealt with in 3160, 4823, 6014, 7022, 8337, and therefore in the contrary sense as forms of evil there, 409; from the meaning of 'sons' as truths, and in the contrary sense as falsities, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257, 6583, 6584, 9807; and from the meaning of 'daughters' as affections for truth and good, and therefore in the contrary sense as affections for falsity and evil, dealt with in 2362, 3963, 6729. From all this it is evident that 'pull away the ear-jewels of gold from the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters' means drawing out of the literal sense of the Word such things as are discerned to be obedient or favourable to the delights belonging to external forms of love and favourable to the major ideas resulting from these.

[2] The fact that 'ear-jewels' are symbols of obedience and discernment is clear in Hosea,

Contend with your mother, since she is not My wife, in order that she may remove her whoredoms from her sight ¹ , lest perhaps I strip her naked, and make her like a wilderness, and do not have mercy on her children, since she has said, I will go after my lovers, those giving me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen. And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain and the new wine and the oil, and who multiplied the silver for her, and the gold they made for baal. And I will lay waste her vine and her fig tree. And I will visit on her ² the days of the baals to whom she burned incense and decked herself with her ear-jewels and her other jewellery, and went after her lovers and forgot Me. Hosea 2:1-13.

'Burning incense to and decking herself with ear-jewels for the baals' denotes worshipping the baals as gods and being obedient to them.

[3] Earlier parts of that chapter have also been quoted to allow it to be seen what the outward sense of the Word is like without the inward, and what it is like together with the inward, and so how the Word is understood by those who see its outward statements in isolation from what is inward, and how it is understood by those who see the outward statements from the point of view of that which is inward. Those who see the outward statements in isolation from what is inward inevitably take them literally. That is, they take them to mean that they should literally contend with the mother of the children of Israel; that she was literally no longer loved by Jehovah as a wife; that if she did not remove the whoredoms from herself she would literally be stripped naked and made like a wilderness, and Jehovah would not have mercy on her children, since she had said that she was going to go after her lovers who gave her bread, water, wool, and linen; that she did not know it was Jehovah who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied the silver; that they made the gold for baal; that for this reason her vine and her fig tree would be laid waste; and that there would literally be a visitation on her because she burned incense to the baals, decked herself with ear-jewels and other jewellery for them, and went after her adulterous lovers, forgetful of Jehovah.

[4] All this is the literal meaning, and so it is how those who see the outward statements in isolation from their inward meaning understand the Word, for it is how the Jews at the present day and also some Christians understand it. But that is not the real meaning of the Word, as all who have any degree of enlightenment may see. By 'mother', regarding whom all those things are stated, they do not understand a mother but the kind of Church that existed among that nation. They take each of the things stated regarding her to mean something that has to do with the Church; for all those things are such as follow in order from what is put forward or laid down first. That is how they take 'whoredoms', 'lovers', and 'children' or 'sons', then 'bread, water, wool, linen, grain, new wine, oil, silver, gold', after that 'vine and fig', and also 'incense' and 'ear-jewels'.

[5] What each of these serves to mean can be known from no other source than the internal sense. In this sense 'mother' and 'wife' mean the Church; 'making her naked, and like a wilderness' means leaving it without any good of love or truth of faith, truths of faith and forms of the good of love, of which it will be bereft, being meant by 'sons', 'bread and water', 'wool and linen', 'grain, new wine, oil, silver, and gold', and finally 'vine and fig'. The actual worship springing from obedience to falsities and evils, which take over for truths and forms of good, is meant by 'burning incense to the baals and being decked out with ear-jewels and other jewellery for them'.

'Mother' means the Church, see 289, 2691, 2717, 4257, 5581.

So does 'wife', 252, 253, 409, 749, 770, 7022.

'Her being made naked' means being deprived of forms of the good of love and the truths of faith, 9960.

'A wilderness' means a state devoid of the Church's truth and good, 2708, 3900, 4736, 7055.

'Whoredoms' means falsifications of truth, 2466, 2729, 4865, 8904, so that 'lovers' means those who falsify.

'Sons' means truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257, 6583, 6584, 9807.

'Bread and water' means the good of love and truth of faith, 9323.

'Wool' means the good in the external man, 9470.

'Linen' means the truth there, 7601, 9959.

'Grain' means good from which truth may be obtained, 5295, 5410, 5959.

'New wine' means truth derived from good, 3580.

'Oil' means celestial good, 9780, 10261.

'Silver' means truth and 'gold' good in general, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914,

6917, 9881.

'Vine' means the internal spiritual Church, 1069, 6376, 9277.

'Fig' means the external good of that Church, 217, 4231, 5113.

'Burning incense' means worship, 10177, 10298.

'Ear-jewel' is a symbol representative of obedience, 4551, so that 'being decked out with it' means offering obedience.

[6] When all the entities listed immediately above are understood instead of or in conjunction with the people or things that serve to mean them, the nature of the Word discerned on a spiritual level, thus the nature of the spirit within it, becomes apparent. All who read the Word are sustained by the Lord on that level of meaning; but none receive and accept it apart from those whose interiors are open. And since these receive it within the cognitions or knowledge they possess, they accept it so far as they can understand it, that is, in the measure and manner that their power of understanding can be enlightened through the cognitions or knowledge in their possession. In addition to this, they are affected in a general way by the holiness that radiates from the Word.

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