10287. 'And he who puts any of it on a foreigner' means a joining together for those who do not acknowledge the Lord, and so who are subject to evils and to the falsities of evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'putting it on someone' - when the subject is Divine Truths, meant by the sweet-smelling ointment - as a joining together; and from the meaning of 'a foreigner' as those who do not belong to the Church, thus those who do not acknowledge the Lord, consequently who are subject to evils and falsities. Anyone who does not acknowledge the Lord does not belong to the Church; and anyone who rejects the Lord is subject to evils and falsities. For goodness and truth come from no other source than Him. The fact that such people are meant by 'foreigners' will be clear from the places in the Word which will follow below. But first something must be stated regarding the joining of Divine Truth among those who do not acknowledge the Lord. Such a joining together constitutes profanation, for profanation is a joining of Divine Truth to falsities arising from evil. The joining together that constitutes profanation is something which cannot happen with any at all except those who have first acknowledged the things which are the Church's, and especially the Lord, but subsequently reject them. For acknowledgement of the Church's truths and of the Lord leads to contact with the heavens, and consequently to an opening of a person's interiors towards heaven; and a subsequent rejection of them leads to a joining of the same truths to falsities arising from evil. For everything a person acknowledges remains implanted in him; nothing present with a person which has entered through acknowledgement is destroyed.

[2] The state of a person with whom profanation exists is one in which he is in contact with the heavens and at the same time with the hells, through truths with the heavens and through the falsities of evil with the hells. As a result of this, in the next life a tearing apart takes place with such people, which destroys the whole of their inner life. After the tearing apart they hardly look like human beings any longer; they look like bones that have been scorched and have little life in them. See what has been stated and shown previously regarding profanation in the following places,

Profaners are those who have first acknowledged God's truths but subsequently reject them, 1001, 1010, 1059, 2051, 3398, 4289, 4601, 6348, 6959, 6963, 6971, 8394.

People who have rejected them since early childhood, such as Jews and others, are not profaners, 593, 1001, 1010, 1059, 3398, 3489, 6963.

The Lord takes the greatest care to guard against the occurrence of profanation with a person, 301-303, 1327, 1328, 2426, 3398, 3402, 3489, 6595.

[3] But it should be realized that the genera of profanation are very many, and the species composing those genera are very many. For there are those who profane the Church's forms of good and those who profane its truths; there are those who profane greatly and those who profane slightly; there are those who profane on a more internal level and those who profane on increasingly external levels; there are those who profane through belief contrary to the Church's truths and forms of good, there are those who profane through the life they lead, and those who profane through their worship. Consequently there exist very many hells of profaners, which are distinct and separate from one another, in accord with their different kinds of profanation. The hells of those who profane good are behind one's back, whereas the hells of profanation of truth are underfoot and to the sides. They are deeper than the hells of all other evils and are rarely opened.

[4] Those who do not acknowledge the Lord and refuse to do so, whether they are outside the Church or inside it, thus those who are subject to evils and to the falsities of evil, are meant by 'foreigners'; and in the abstract sense, without reference to actual persons, evils and the falsities of evil are meant. This is clear from very many places in the Word. The reason for saying 'those who do not acknowledge the Lord, thus those who are subject to evils and the falsities of evil' is that people who do not acknowledge the Lord are inevitably subject to evils and the falsities of evil; for the Lord is the source of all good and of all the truth of good. Those therefore who reject the Lord are subject to evils and the falsities of evil, as accords with the Lord's words in John,

Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. John 8:24.

[5] The fact that such people are meant by 'foreigners' is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Your land will be a lonely place, your cities have been burned with fire; foreigners will devour your ground before you, and it will be a lonely place, as if overturned by foreigners ¹ . Isaiah 1:7.

Here land should not be understood by 'land', nor cities and ground by 'cities' and 'ground'. Instead the Church should be understood by 'land' and likewise by 'ground', and by 'cities' the Church's truths, called its doctrinal teachings, which are said to have been 'burned with fire' when they have been destroyed by the evils of self-love and love of the world. From this it is evident what is meant by 'foreigners will devour your ground', namely evils and the falsities of evil destroying the Church, and by 'your land will be a lonely place' and 'your cities have been burned with fire'.

'Land' or earth means the Church, see in the places referred to in 9325, and 'ground' likewise, 566, 1068.

'Cities' are the Church's doctrinal teachings, thus its truths, 2268, 2451, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493.

'Fire' means the evil of self-love and love of the world, 1297, 1861, 2446, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7575, 9141.

[6] In Jeremiah,

Shame covered our faces when foreigners came against the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house. Jeremiah 51:51.

'Foreigners coming against the sanctuaries of Jehovah's house' are evils and the falsities of evil that go against the Church's truths and forms of good. The word 'foreigners' was used to mean members of the gentile nations who were slaves in the Jewish Church, and the gentile nations of that land also mean evil and falsities, 9320. In the same prophet,

You say, There is no hope, no; but I will love foreigners, and after them I will go. Jeremiah 2:25.

'Loving foreigners and going after them' means loving evils and the falsities of evil, and worshipping them.

[7] In Ezekiel,

I will bring a sword upon you, and will give you into the hand of foreigners. Ezekiel 11:8-9.

'Bringing a sword upon' means falsities arising from evil set in conflict against truths springing from good. 'Giving into the hand of foreigners' means to the end that they may believe and serve those falsities. For the meaning of 'a sword' as truth engaged in conflict against falsities, and in the contrary sense falsity engaged in conflict against truths, see 2799, 6353, 7102, 8294.

[8] In the same prophet,

You will die the deaths of the uncircumcised in the hand of foreigners. Ezekiel 28:10.

'The uncircumcised' are those who, for all the religious teachings they know, lead lives steeped in foul loves and the desires that go with them, 2049, 3412, 3413, 4462, 7045, 7225, the death they die being spiritual death. 'In the hand of foreigners' means subject to evils themselves and the falsities of evil.

[9] In the same prophet,

Jerusalem, an adulterous woman, takes foreigners instead of her husband. Ezekiel 16:32.

'Jerusalem, an adulterous woman' stands for the Church in which good has been adulterated; 'taking foreigners' stands for its acceptance, in life and doctrine, of evils and the falsities of evil. In Joel,

Jerusalem will be holy, and foreigners will not pass through her any longer. Joel 3:17.

Here also 'Jerusalem' stands for the Church, but one in which people acknowledge the Lord, lead good lives, and believe truths coming from the Lord. 'Foreigners will not pass through her any longer' means that evils and the falsities of evil coming from hell will not enter it.

[10] In David,

Foreigners have risen up against me, and violent ones have sought my soul. Psalms 54:3.

Here also 'foreigners' stands for evils and the falsities of evil, and 'violent ones' for these same evils and falsities acting violently against forms of good and truths. Those who see solely the literal sense of the Word take 'foreigners' to mean nothing more than those outside the Church who were rising up against David. But no ideas of actual persons enter the thinking of those in heaven, only the realities meant by them, 8343, 8985, 9007, so that they think not of people but things that are foreign or alien, that is, those which are alienated from the Church, thus evils and the falsities of evil which destroy the Church. And by 'David', against whom the foreigners were rising up, those in heaven understand the Lord, 1888, 9954.

[11] In Moses,

He forsook the God who made him, and despised the Rock of his salvation. They provoked Him to jealousy through foreign [gods]. Deuteronomy 32:15-16.

'Forsaking God' and 'despising the Rock of salvation' stand for rejecting the Lord, 'provoking through foreign [gods]' for doing so through evils and the falsities of evil, 'the Rock of salvation' being the Lord in respect of the truths of faith, see 8581. In addition to all this there are other places in which 'foreigners' stands for evils and falsities, such as Isaiah 25:2, 4-5; Jeremiah 30:8; Ezekiel 31:11-12.

[12] Since 'foreigners' meant those who are subject to evils and the falsities of evil, and consequently in the abstract sense meant evils and the falsities of evil, it was forbidden for a foreigner to eat that which was holy, Leviticus 22:10; no foreigner was permitted to come near and perform the priestly function or guard the sanctuary; and any who did come near was to be put to death, Numbers 1:51; 3:10, 38; 18:7;

[13] furthermore no incense was to be offered on foreign ² fire, and because Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu did offer incense on it they were devoured by fire from heaven, Leviticus 10:1-2. For holy fire which was taken from the altar was a sign of love derived from God, whereas foreign fire was a sign of love coming from hell, and therefore also of evils and the desires that go with them, see 1297, 1861, 2446, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7575, 9141.

[14] Mention is also made in the Word of those who are foreign-born, a different word being used in the original language from that rendered 'foreigners', and by them falsities themselves are meant, as in Lamentations,

O Jehovah, look upon our shame. Our inheritance has been turned over to foreigners, and our houses to the foreign-born. Lamentations 5:1-2.

In Obadiah,

Foreigners led his strength ³ captive, and the foreign-born entered his gates and cast ⁴ lots for Jerusalem. Obad. verse 11.

'Casting lots for Jerusalem' stands for destroying the Church and scattering its truths.

[15] In Zephaniah,

I will punish ⁵ the princes and the king's sons, and all clothed with the clothing of him who is foreign-born. Zephaniah 1:8.

Those 'clothed with the clothing of him who is foreign-born' stand for people subject to falsities; for 'the princes' and 'the king's sons' who are to undergo punishment mean leading truths and in the contrary sense leading falsities. For this meaning of 'princes', see 1482, 2089, 5044, and for that of 'kings' as truths themselves and in the contrary sense falsities themselves, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148, so that 'the king's sons' means things derived from those truths or falsities.

[16] In David,

Deliver me, and rescue me from the hands of the sons of him who is foreign-born, whose mouths speak vanity, and whose right hands are the right hands of falsehood. Psalms 144:7-8, 11.

'The sons of him who is foreign-born', it is plainly evident, means those subject to falsities, and so means falsities themselves, for it says, 'Whose mouths speak vanity, and whose right hands are right hands of falsehood', 'vanity' meaning false ideas composing doctrine, and 'falsehood' false ways of life, 9248.

3021. 'Put now your hand under my thigh' means being bound, as regards its power, to the good of conjugial love. This is clear from the meaning of 'the hand' as power, dealt with in 878, and from the meaning of 'the thigh' as the good of conjugial love, dealt with in what follows. A binding of this good to that power is indeed the meaning, as is clear from the consideration that those who were bound by an obligation to carry out some matter connected with conjugial love put their hand, according to ancient custom, under the thigh of the one to whom they were so bound, and in so doing swore by him. This was done because 'the thigh' meant conjugial love, and 'the hand' power, or the full extent of whatever one's capability might be. For all parts of the human body correspond to spiritual and celestial things in the Grand Man, which is heaven, as shown in 2996, 2998, and will in the Lord's Divine mercy be shown more extensively later on. The thighs themselves, together with the loins, correspond to conjugial love. Those things were well known to the most ancient people, and for that reason so many customs came down from them, including that of putting their hands under the thigh when being bound by an obligation to carry out something connected with the good of conjugial love. Their knowledge of such things, which was valued most highly by the ancients, and belonged among the chief things that constituted their knowledge and intelligence, is totally lost today, so much so that not even the existence of any such correspondence is known, and for this reason people will probably be astounded that such things are meant by that custom. Here, because the subject is the betrothal of Isaac his son to another member of Abraham's family, and the oldest servant was called on to perform that task, this custom was therefore followed.

[2] It has been stated that 'the thigh', because of its correspondence, means conjugial love, and this may also be seen from other places in the Word, for example, from the procedure to be followed when a woman was accused by her husband of adultery, in Moses,

The priest shall make the woman take the oath of a curse, and the priest shall say to the woman, Jehovah will make you a curse and an oath in the midst of your people, when Jehovah makes your thigh fall away and your belly swell. When he has made her drink the water, then it will happen, if she has defiled herself and committed a trespass against her husband, that the water causing the curse will enter into her and become bitter, and her belly will swell, and her thigh will fall away; and the woman will be a curse in the midst of her people. Numbers 5:21, 27.

'The falling away of the thigh' means the evil of conjugial love, which is adultery. Every other detail in the same procedure had some specific meaning, so that not even the smallest detail fails to embody something, though anyone reading the Word who has no concept of its sacredness will wonder why such things are included there. It is because 'the thigh' means the good of conjugial love that the expression 'those coming out of the thigh' is used frequently, as in a reference to Jacob,

Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will go out from your thighs. Genesis 35:11.

And elsewhere in the same author,

Every soul coming with Jacob to Egypt, who came out of his thigh. Genesis 46:26; Exodus 1:5.

And in a reference to Gideon, Gideon had seventy sons, who came out of his thigh. Judges 8:30.

[3] Since 'the thigh' and 'the loins' mean the things that belong to conjugial love they also mean those that belong to love and charity, the reason being that conjugial love underlies every other kind of love, see 686, 2733, 2737-2739. These all have the same source - the heavenly marriage - which is a marriage of good and truth, regarding which see 2727-2759. For 'the thigh' means the good of celestial love and the good of spiritual love, as may be seen from the following places: In John,

He who sat on the white horse had on His robe and on His thigh the name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Revelation 19:16.

'He who sat on the white horse' is the Word, and so the Lord, who is the Word, see 2760-2762. 'Robe' means Divine Truth, 2576, and for that reason He is called 'King of kings', 3009. From this it is evident what 'the thigh' means, namely the Divine Good which flows from His love, on account of which He is also named 'Lord of lords', 3004-3011. And this being the Lord's essential nature, it is said that He had a name written on His robe and on His thigh, for 'name' means essential nature, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006.

[4] In David,

Gird Your sword on Your thigh, O Mighty One, in Your glory and honour! Psalms 45:3.

This refers to the Lord. 'Sword' stands for truth engaged in conflict, 2799, 'thigh' for the good of love. 'Girding the sword on the thigh' means that the truth which He was to use in the fight was allied to the good of love. In Isaiah,

Righteousness will be the girdle of His loins, and truth the girdle of His thighs. Isaiah 11:5.

This too refers to the Lord. Because 'righteousness' has reference to the good that flows from love, 2235, it is called 'the girdle of His loins', while 'truth' because it comes from good, is called 'the girdle of His thighs'. Thus 'loins' is used in reference to the love within good, and 'thighs' to the love within truth.

[5] In the same prophet'

None will be weary, and none will stumble in Him. He will not slumber nor sleep. Nor has the girdle of His thighs been loosed, nor the thong of His shoes torn away. Isaiah 5:27.

This refers to the Lord. 'The girdle of His thighs' stands, as above, for the love within truth. In Jeremiah Jehovah told the prophet to buy a linen girdle and put it over his loins but not dip it in water. He was then told to go away to the Euphrates and hide it in a cleft of the rock. When he went back at a later time to retrieve it from that place it was spoiled, Jeremiah 13:1-7. 'A linen girdle' stands for truth, but the placing of it over his loins was representative of the fact that truth was the outward expression of good. Anyone may see that these actions are representative. Their meaning however cannot be known except from correspondences, which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with at the ends of certain chapters further on.

[6] It is similar with the meaning of the things seen by Ezekiel, Daniel, and Nebuchadnezzar: Ezekiel saw,

Above the firmament that was above the heads of the cherubim, in appearance like a sapphire stone, there was the likeness of a throne, and above the likeness of a throne, there was a likeness, as the appearance of a Man (Homo) upon it above. And I saw as it were the shape of fiery coals, as the shape of fire, within it round about. From the appearance of His loins and upwards, and from the appearance of His loins and downwards, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, whose brightness was round about it like the appearance of the rainbow which is in the cloud on the day of rain; so was the appearance of the brightness round about, thus was the appearance of the likeness of the Glory of Jehovah. Ezekiel 1:26-28.

This scene was clearly representative of the Lord and His kingdom. 'The appearance of His loins upwards and the appearance, of His loins downwards' is descriptive of His love, as is evident from the meaning of 'fire' as love, 934, and from the meaning of 'brightness' and of 'the rainbow' as wisdom and intelligence from that love, 1042, 1043, 1053.

[7] Daniel saw,

A man clothed in linen whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz, and whose body was like tarshish, ¹ and whose face was like the appearance of lightning and whose eyes were like fiery torches, and whose arms and feet were like the shine of burnished bronze. Daniel 10:5-6.

What each of these expressions means - the loins, the body, the face, the eyes, the arms, and the feet - does not become clear to anyone except from representations and correspondences involved in these. From these it is evident that in what Daniel saw the Lord's heavenly kingdom was represented, in which Divine Love constitutes the loins, and 'the gold of Uphaz' with which He was girded, the good resulting from wisdom that is grounded in love, 113, 1551, 1552.

[8] In Daniel: Nebuchadnezzar saw a statue whose head was fine gold, breast and arms silver, belly and thighs bronze, feet partly iron, partly clay, Daniel 2:32-33. This statue represented consecutive states of the Church. The head of gold represented the first state, which was celestial because it was a state of love to the Lord; the breast and arms of silver represented the second state, which was spiritual because it was a state of charity towards the neighbour; the belly and thighs of bronze represented the third state, which was a state of natural good meant by 'bronze', 425, 1551 - natural good being love or charity towards the neighbour as this exists on a lower level than spiritual good - while the feet of iron and clay were the fourth state, which was a state of natural truth meant by 'iron', 425, 426, and also a state involving complete lack of cohesion with good, which is meant by 'clay'.

From all this one may see what is meant by the thighs and loins, namely conjugial love primarily, and from this love every genuine kind of love, as is evident from the places quoted and also from Genesis 32:25, 31-32; Isaiah 20:2-4; Nahum 2:1; Psalms 69:23; Exodus 12:11; Luke 12:35-36. The thighs and loins also mean in the contrary sense those loves that are the reverse of conjugial love and all genuine loves, namely self-love and love of the world, 1 Kings 2:5-6; Isaiah 32:10-11; Jeremiah 30:6; 48:37; Ezekiel 29:7; Amos 8:10.

Fußnoten: