4835. 'Come [in] to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a husband's brother to her' means that this - that representative of the Church - might be continued. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming (or going in) to a brother's wife and performing the duty of a husband's brother to her' as preserving and continuing that which constitutes the Church. The requirement laid down in the Mosaic Law, that if a man died without issue his brother was to marry his widow and raise up seed for his brother, and that the firstborn was to receive his dead brother's name, whereas all other sons were to be his own, was called the duty of a brother-in-law. The fact that this directive was nothing new in the Jewish Church but a practice already in existence is clear from the words used here; and the same goes for many other directives given to the Israelites through Moses, such as the law forbidding them to take wives from the daughters of the Canaanites and requiring them to marry within their own families, Genesis 24:3-4; 28:1-2. From these and many other examples it is evident that a Church had existed previously in which the same kind of practices were followed as those at a later time which were declared to and demanded of the sons of Jacob. Altars and sacrifices likewise had been in use since ancient times, as is evident from Genesis 8:20-21; 22:3, 7-8. From this it is plain that the Jewish Church was not a new Church but a revival of the Ancient Church which had perished.

[2] What the law regarding the duty of a brother-in-law had been is clear in Moses,

If brothers dwell together but one of them dies, and has no son, the wife of the dead one shall not marry a stranger outside [the family]; her brother-in-law shall go in to her, and take her to himself as his wife, and so perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her. Then it will happen, that the firstborn whom she bears shall succeed to the name of his dead brother, so that his name is not wiped out from Israel. But if the man is unwilling to take his sister-in-law, his sister-in-law shall go up to the gate to the elders, and she shall say, My brother-in-law refuses to raise up for his brother a name in Israel; he is unwilling to perform the duty of a brother-in-law for me. Then the elders of his city shall call him and speak to him; and if he stands and says, I do not desire to take her, his sister-in-law shall go up to him in the sight of the elders, and she shall remove his shoe from upon his foot and spit in his face; and she shall answer and say, So will it be done to the man who does not build up his brother's house. Therefore his name will be called in Israel, The house of him who has his shoe taken off. Deuteronomy 25:5-10.

[3] Anyone who does not know what the duty of a brother-in-law represents inevitably believes that the practice existed solely for the sake of preserving a name and consequently an inheritance. But the preservation of a name and an inheritance was not in itself a great enough reason why a brother should have been required to enter into a marriage with his sister-in-law. Rather, the practice was ordained so that the preservation and continuation of the Church might be represented through it. For a marriage represented the marriage of good and truth, which is the heavenly marriage. It therefore represented the Church too, for the Church is a Church by virtue of the marriage of good and truth, and when this marriage exists within it the Church makes one with heaven, which is the true heavenly marriage. And because a marriage represented these things, 'sons and daughters' were therefore representations and also meaningful signs of truths and goods. This being so, 'being without issue' meant a lack of good and truth, and so meant that no representative of the Church existed in that house any longer, and that as a consequence it was not in communion with the Church. In addition 'brother' represented a kindred good to which the truth represented by a widow might be joined. For to be the kind of truth that has life, produces fruit, and thereby continues that which constitutes the Church, truth cannot be joined to any other good but that which is its own and a kindred one. This was how those in heaven perceived the duty of a brother-in-law.

[4] The meaning of this practice - of a sister-in-law removing the shoe from upon the foot of the man who refused to do the duty of a brother-in-law, and of her spitting in his face - was this: Anyone devoid of good and truth, external and internal, would destroy those things that constitute the Church; for 'the shoe' means that which is external, 1748, and 'the face' that which is internal, 1999, 2434, 3527, 4066, 4796. From this it is evident that 'the duty of a brother-in-law' represented the preservation and continuation of the Church. But when through the Lord's Coming representatives of internal things came to an end, that particular law was done away with. It is like a person's soul or spirit in relation to his body. A person's soul or spirit is the internal part of him and his body the external; or what amounts to the same, the soul or spirit is the true likeness of the person, whereas the body is merely a representative image of him. When a person rises again his representative image or that which is external, namely his body, is cast aside, for he is now conscious in that which is internal, namely the true likeness of him. It is also like a person who is in darkness and from there looks at things belonging to light; or what amounts to the same, like one who is in the light of the world and from there looks at things belonging to the light of heaven. For the light of the world in comparison with the light of heaven is as darkness. Within that darkness, that is, within the light of the world, things belonging to the light of heaven as they exist essentially cannot be seen, but are seen so to speak within a representative image, even as the human mind is seen in a person's face. Therefore when the light of heaven is seen in its own essential brightness, the darkness of representative images is dispelled. This was effected through the Lord's Coming.

[4835a] 'And raise up seed for your brother' means so that the Church does not perish. This is clear from the meaning of 'seed' as truth derived from good, or faith grounded in charity, dealt with in 1025, 1447, 16110, 1940, 2848, 3310, 3373, 3671. The same is also meant by the firstborn who was to succeed to the name of the dead brother, 352, 367, 2435, 3325, 3494. 'Raising up seed for a brother' means continuing that which constitutes the Church, in line with what has been stated just above in 4834, and thus means so that the Church does not perish.

1097. 'Canaan will be a slave to him' means that such people as make worship consist solely in external things are among those who are able to perform inferior services to members of the Church. This becomes clear especially from the representatives in the Jewish Church. In the Jewish Church the internal Church was represented by Judah and Israel - the celestial Church by Judah, the spiritual by Israel - and the external Church by Jacob. People however who made worship consist solely in external things were represented by 'the gentiles' whom they called foreigners. The latter were to be 'their slaves' and were to perform inferior services in the Church, as in Isaiah,

Aliens will stand and pasture your flock, and sons of the foreigner will be your field-workers and your vine-dressers; and you will be called the priests of Jehovah, you will be spoken of as the ministers of our God. You will eat the wealth of the gentiles, and in their glory will you glory. Isaiah 61:5-6.

Here celestial people are called 'the priests of Jehovah', spiritual people 'the ministers of God', while those who made worship consist solely in external things are called 'sons of the foreigner' who were to serve in their fields and vineyards.

[2] In the same prophet,

The sons of the foreigner will build up your walls, and their kings will minister to you. Isaiah 60:10.

Here similar reference is made to the service they were to render. In reference to the Gibeonites the following is said in Joshua,

You are cursed, and some of you will always be slaves, ¹ both hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. Joshua made them on that day hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, especially for the altar of Jehovah. Joshua 9:23, 27.

It may be seen elsewhere whom the Gibeonites represented because of the covenant made with them, even though they belonged among those who were to be servants in the Church. Regarding foreigners, the law was laid down that if they would accept peace and open their gates they would become tributary and serve, ² Deuteronomy 20:11; 1 Kings 9:21-22. Every single detail written down in the Word concerning the Jewish Church was representative of the Lord's kingdom. The Lord's kingdom is such that everyone, no matter who or what kind of person, must perform a use. In His kingdom the Lord looks to nothing else than use. Even those in hell have to perform a use, though the uses they do perform are the lowest of all. Among those performing inferior uses are people in the next life whose worship has been wholly external, separated from internal.

[3] Furthermore representatives in the Jewish Church were such that no attention was paid to the person who represented, but to that which was represented by him. The Jews, for example, who were anything but celestial people, nevertheless represented these, while Israel, anything but a spiritual man, nevertheless represented that man; and it was similar with Jacob and the rest. The same applied to kings and priests; they nevertheless represented the Kingship and Holiness of the Lord. This matter becomes clearer still from the fact that even inanimate objects were representative, such as Aaron's garments, the altar itself, the tables with the leaves on them, the lamps, bread and wine; as well as oxen, calves, goats, sheep, kids, lambs, doves, and pigeons. And because the sons of Judah and Israel did no more than represent the internal and the external worship of the Lord's Church, and yet more than anybody else made all worship consist merely in external things, it is therefore they, more than all others, who may be called 'Canaan' according to his meaning here.

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