4494. Verses 25-29 And it happened on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword, and came with confidence upon the city, and killed every male. And they killed Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and they took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went away. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister. Their flocks, and their herds, and their asses, and whatever was in the city, and whatever was in the field, they took. And all their wealth, and all their young children, and their women, they took captive and plundered, and everything that was in the house.

'It happened on the third day' means that which is continuous even to the end. 'When they were in pain' means evil desires. 'That two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi' means faith and love. 'Dinah's brothers' means the truths and goods of that Church. 'Each took his sword' means falsity and evil. 'And came with confidence upon the city, and killed every male' means that they utterly destroyed the truths of doctrine of the Church among the Ancients. 'And [they killed] Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword' means the Church itself. 'And they took Dinah from Shechem's house, and went away' means that they took away the affection for truth. 'The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and plundered the city' means that all his descendants destroyed that doctrine. 'Because they had defiled their sister' means that they had violated the truth of faith. 'Their flocks, and their herds' means that they destroyed rational good and natural good. 'And their asses' means the truths derived from these. 'And whatever was in the city, and whatever was in the field, they took' means every truth and good of the Church. 'And all their wealth' means all factual knowledge which they had acquired for themselves. 'And all their young children' means all innocence. 'And their women' means charity. 'They took captive and plundered' means that they seized them and perverted them. 'And everything that was in the house' means everything of the Church.

6677. 'And if it is a daughter, let her live' means that they were not to destroy it if it was a form of good. This is clear from the meaning of 'a daughter' as a form of good, dealt with in 489, 491, 2362; and from the meaning of '[allowing] to live' as that it should not be destroyed. The reason why the king of Egypt said that a son should be killed but not a daughter is evident from the internal sense, which is that they could attempt to destroy truth but not good. For when those from hell molest anyone they are allowed to set upon truths but not upon forms of good, the reason being that truths are what can be made to suffer attack, not forms of good. The latter are protected by the Lord, and when those from hell do try to set upon forms of good they are cast far down into hell. They cannot stand the presence of good, since the Lord is present in every form of good. This explains why the angels, being governed by good, have so much power and control over hellish spirits that just one of them can subdue thousands of those from hell. It should be recognized that good holds life within it, for good springs from love, and love is the life in a person. If evil that springs from selfish and worldly love and seems to be good to those governed by evil attacks good which springs from heavenly love, the life of the one fights against the life of the other. And since the life belonging to the good that comes with heavenly love originates in the Divine, the life belonging to selfish and worldly love starts to be annihilated if it comes into conflict with that life from the Divine. For it is stifled and so those involved suffer torment like those in the threes of death. Because of this they hurl themselves into hell, where they recover the life that is theirs, see 3938, 4225, 4226, 5057, 5058. This is another reason why evil genii and spirits are unable to attack good and so do not dare to destroy it. It is different with truth. This has no life within it, other than what it receives from good, that is, from the Lord through good.