4434. And his soul clave unto Dinah. That this signifies an inclination to conjunction, is evident from the signification of “his soul cleaving,” as being an inclination. That it is to conjunction is evident, because in the internal sense the things which belong to conjugial love involve spiritual conjunction, which is that of truth with good, and of good with truth. The reason why in the internal sense the things which belong to conjugial love involve this conjunction, is that conjugial love derives its origin from the marriage of truth and good, and of good and truth (n. 2618, 2727-2729, 2737, 2803, 3132). Hence also the adulterations of good are meant in the Word by “adulteries,” and the falsifications of truth by “whoredoms” (n. 2466, 2729, 2750, 3399). From all this it may be seen that by all that is related of Shechem and of Dinah in this chapter nothing else is meant in the internal sense than the conjunction of the truth represented by Shechem with the affection of truth represented by Dinah; thus that by the words “his soul clave unto Dinah” is signified an inclination to conjunction.

[2] As in the whole of this chapter conjugial love toward Dinah is treated of, and how Shechem sought her for a woman, and as by the things of conjugial love there is signified spiritual conjunction, I may confirm from the Word that marriages and what belongs to them involve nothing else.

In John:

Let us be glad and exult, and let us give the glory unto Him, because the wedding of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready, as have they who are called unto the wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:7, 9).

In the same:

I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. One of the seven angels spoke with me, saying, Come, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife; and he carried me away in the spirit upon a mountain great and high, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God (Revelation 21:2, 9-10).

That by what relates to betrothal and marriage naught else is here signified than the Lord’s conjunction with the church, and this by means of truth and good, is very evident, for the “holy city” and the “New Jerusalem” are nothing else than the church. (That a “city” is the truth of the church may be seen above, n. 402, 2268, 2449, 2451, 2712, 2943, 3216; and that “Jerusalem” is the spiritual church, n. 402, 2117, 3654)

[3] In Malachi:

Judah hath dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem, for Judah hath profaned the holiness of Jehovah, because he hath loved and hath betrothed to him the daughter of a strange god. Jehovah hath borne witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously (Malachi 2:11, 14); where “to love and betroth the daughter of a strange god” is to conjoin one’s self with falsity instead of truth, which is the “wife of youth.”

[4] Ezekiel:

Thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters whom thou hast borne unto Me, and hast sacrificed to devour them. Was there little of thy whoredoms? Thou art the daughter of thy mother, who loathes her husband and her sons; and thou art the sister of thy sisters who loathed their husbands and their sons (Ezekiel 16:20, 45);

here the abominations of Jerusalem are treated of, which because they were from evils and falsities, are described in this chapter by such things as are contrary to marriages, namely, by adulteries and whoredoms. The “husbands whom they loathed” are goods; the “sons” are truths; and the “daughters” are the affections of these.

[5] In Isaiah:

Sing, O barren one, that didst not bear, resound with singing and shout for joy that didst not travail, because more are the sons of the desolate than the sons of the married one. The reproach of thy widowhood shalt thou remember no more, because thy makers are thy husbands, Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth is He called; for as a woman forsaken and afflicted in spirit hath Jehovah called thee, and as a woman of youth when she is divorced, hath said thy God. All thy sons are taught of Jehovah, and much is the peace of thy sons (Isaiah 54:1, 5-6, 13);

as by marriage is signified the conjunction of truth and good and of good and truth, it is evident what is signified by “husband and wife,” by “sons and daughters,” by “widows,” by the “divorced,” and by “bearing,” “travailing,” “being desolate,” and “being barren;” for these things belong to marriage. What these signify in the spiritual sense has been frequently shown in the explications.

[6] In the same:

For Zion’s sake I will not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest; it shall no longer be said to thee, Forsaken one; but thy land shall be called The married one, for Jehovah shall be well pleased in thee, and thy land shall be married; because a young man shall marry a virgin, thy sons shall marry thee, and there shall be joy of the bridegroom over the bride, thy God shall rejoice over thee (Isaiah 62:1, 4-5);

he who knows not the internal sense of the Word may suppose that such things in the Word are only comparisons, like many expressions in common speech, and that this is the reason why the church is compared to a daughter, to a virgin, and a wife; thus the things of faith and charity to those of marriage. But in the Word all things are representative of spiritual and celestial things, and are real correspondences; for the Word has come down from heaven, and because it has come down thence it is in its origin the Divine celestial and spiritual to which those things which belong to the sense of the letter correspond. Hence it is that the things of the heavenly marriage, which is the conjunction of good and truth, fall into such as correspond, thus into those which belong to marriages on earth.

[7] Hence also it is that the Lord likened the kingdom of the heavens (that is, His kingdom in heaven, and His kingdom on earth which is the church) to a “man, a king, who made a wedding for his son, and invited many to it” (Matthew 22:2-14); and also to “ten virgins who took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom” (Matthew 25:1-13). And the Lord likewise called those who are of the church “sons of the wedding”:

Jesus said, Can the sons of the wedding mourn, so long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then will they fast (Matthew 9:15).

[8] Hence also the affection of good and the affection of truth are called “the joy and gladness of the bridegroom and the bride,” because heavenly joy is from and in these affections. As in Isaiah:

Thy sons shall marry thee, and there shall be the joy of the bridegroom over the bride, Jehovah thy God shall rejoice over thee (Isaiah 62:5).

In Jeremiah:

The voice of joy and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that say, Confess ye to Jehovah, because good is Jehovah (Jeremiah 33:11).

In the same:

I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, because the land shall go forth into a waste (Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9; 25:10).

And in John:

The light of a lamp shall not shine in Babylon anymore, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall not be heard in her anymore (Revelation 18:23).

[9] As through love truly conjugial marriages on earth correspond to the heavenly marriage, which is that of good and truth, therefore the laws delivered in the Word concerning betrothals and marriages wholly correspond to the spiritual laws of the heavenly marriage, as that they were to espouse only one wife (Mark 10:2-8; Luke 16:18); for such is the case in the heavenly marriage, namely, that good cannot be conjoined except with its own truth, and truth with its own good. If good were conjoined with any other truth than its own, it would not subsist at all, but would be rent asunder and so would perish. In the spiritual church the wife represents good and the man represents truth, but in the celestial church the husband represents good and the wife truth; and-what is a mystery-they not only represent, but also in all their activities correspond to them.

[10] Moreover, the laws delivered in the Old Testament about marriages have in like manner a correspondence with the laws of the heavenly marriage, such as those in Exodus 21:7-11; 22:15-16; 34:16; Numbers 36:6; Deuteronomy 7:3-4; 22:28-29, and also the laws about the forbidden degrees (Leviticus 18:6-20); as regards each of which, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere. That the degrees and laws of marriages have their origin in the laws of truth and good, which are those of the heavenly marriage, and bear relation to them, is manifest in Ezekiel:

The priests the Levites shall not take for their wives a widow nor her that is divorced, but virgins of the seed of the house of Israel and a widow that has been the widow of a priest shall they take (Ezekiel 44:22).

The subject here treated of is the holy city New Jerusalem and the heavenly Canaan, and it is evident that these are the Lord’s kingdom and His church. Consequently by “the Levites” are not signified Levites, nor by a “widow and her that is divorced” are there signified a widow and one who has been divorced, but the things to which these correspond.

2466. That the things now set forth are signified in the internal sense, can be confirmed, and indeed as to each word; but most of them have been confirmed before, and besides, they are such as do violence to our ideas and give offense to chaste ears. From the summary explication we can see that by the things in question there is described the origin of such a religion as is signified in the Word by “Moab” and the “son of Ammon.” The nature of this religion will be told hereafter, where Moab and the son of Ammon are treated of. That it is adulterated good and falsified truth, is evident. The adulterations of good and the falsifications of truth are commonly described in the Word by “adulteries” and “whoredoms,” and are also so called, the reason of which is based on the fact that good and truth form a marriage with each other (n. 1904, 2173); nay, incredible as it may appear to most, it is from this marriage as from its genuine origin that there comes the sanctity of marriages on earth, and also the laws of marriages given in the Word.

[2] For the case is this: When celestial and spiritual things descend out of heaven into a lower sphere, they are there turned in the most perfect manner into some likeness of marriages, and this from the correspondence that exists between spiritual and natural things (concerning which correspondence of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere). But when they are perverted in the lower sphere, as is done where evil genii and evil spirits are present, the same are then turned into such things as belong to adulteries and whoredoms. Hence it is that contaminations of good and perversions of truth are described in the Word by adulteries and whoredoms, and are also so named, as is very evident from the following passages in Ezekiel:

Thou didst commit whoredom because of thy name, and pouredst out thy whoredoms on everyone that passed by; thou didst take of thy garments and madest for thee high places decked with diverse colors, and didst commit whoredom upon them; thou didst take the vessels of thy adornment of My gold and of My silver, which I had given thee, and madest for thee images of a male, and didst commit whoredom with them; thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto Me, and these hast thou sacrificed unto them. Was there but little of thy whoredoms? Thou hast committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, thy neighbors, great of flesh and hast multiplied thy whoredom to provoke Me to anger; thou hast committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, and hast committed whoredom with them, and wast not satisfied; and thou hast multiplied thy whoredom even unto the land of traffic, unto Chaldea; and yet thou wast not satisfied therewith (Ezekiel 16:15-17, 20, 26, 28-29, etc.),

[3] where Jerusalem is treated of, by which is here signified the church perverted in respect to truths. Everyone can see that all these things have quite different meanings. That something of the church that has been perverted is called “whoredom” is quite evident; the “garments” here mentioned denote the truths that are being perverted; the falsities thence derived, which are worshiped, are the “high places decked with divers colors,” with which there was whoredom. (That “garments” denote truths may be seen above, n. 1073; and that “high places” denote worship, n. 796.)

The “vessels of adornment of gold and silver which I had given,” denote the knowledges of good and truth from the Word by which they confirm falsities; and when these appear as truths, they are called “images of a male” with which whoredom was committed. (That the “vessels of adornment of gold and silver,” denote the knowledges of good and truth, is evident from the signification of “gold,” as being good, n. 113, 1551, 1552; and of “silver” as being truth, n. 1551, 2048; and that the “images of a male” signify that they appear as truths may be seen above, n. 2046.) That the “sons and daughters” which they bore and sacrificed to them denote the truths and goods which they have perverted, is evident from the signification of “sons and daughters” (see n. 489-491, 533, 2362). That to “commit whoredom with the sons of Egypt,” denotes to pervert these truths and goods by means of memory-knowledges is evident from the signification of “Egypt” as being memory-knowledge (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462). That to “commit whoredom with the sons of Asshur,” denotes to pervert them by reasonings, is evident from the signification of “Asshur,” as being reasoning (n. 119, 1186). That to “multiply whoredom even unto the land of Chaldea,” denotes to pervert them even to the profanation of truth, which is “Chaldea” (n. 1368). All this makes clear what is the nature of the internal sense of the Word in the very sense of the letter.

[4] In like manner elsewhere in the same Prophet:

Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt; they committed whoredom in their youth; Samaria is Oholah, Jerusalem is Oholibah. Oholah committed whoredom under Me, and she doted on her lovers, the Assyrians her neighbors, she bestowed her whoredoms upon them, the choice of all the sons of Asshur; she hath not forsaken her whoredoms from Egypt, for they lay with her in her youth. Oholibah corrupted her love more than she, and her whoredoms more than the whoredoms of her sister; she doted upon the sons of Asshur; she added to her whoredoms, and saw the images of the Chaldeans, she doted upon them at the view of her eyes; the sons of Babel came to her into the bed of loves (Ezekiel 23:2-5, 7-8, 11-12, 14, 16, etc.).

“Samaria” denotes the church which is in the affection of truth, and “Jerusalem” that which is in the affection of good; whose “whoredoms with the Egyptians,” and “with the sons of Asshur,” denote perversions of good and truth by means of memory-knowledges and reasonings, by which falsities are confirmed, as is evident from the signification of “Egypt” (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462); and of “Asshur” (n. 119, 1186). That this was done even to profane worship, which in respect to truth is “Chaldea” (n. 1368); and in respect to good is the “sons of Babel” (n. 1182, 1326).

[5] In Isaiah:

And it shall come to pass at the end of seventy years that Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she shall return to her harlot hire, and shall commit whoredom with all the kingdoms of the earth (Isaiah 23:17).

It is the vaunting of what is false that is signified by the “harlot hire” and the “whoredom” of Tyre. That “Tyre” denotes the knowledges of truth may be seen above (n. 1201); and also that the “kingdoms” with which the whoredom was committed denote truths (n. 1672).

[6] In Jeremiah:

Thou hast committed whoredom with many companions; and return again unto Me. Lift up thine eyes unto the hills, and see; where hast thou not been debauched? Upon the ways hast thou sat for them as an Arab in the wilderness, and thou hast profaned the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness (Jeremiah 3:1-2).

To “commit whoredoms” and to “profane the land with whoredoms” denote to pervert and falsify the truths of the church (that the “land” denotes the church see above, n. 662, 1066, 1067).

[7] Again:

By the voice of her whoredom she hath profaned the land, she hath committed adultery with stone and with wood (Jeremiah 3:9);

to “commit adultery with stone and with wood,” denotes to pervert the truths and goods of external worship (that “stone” is such truth may be seen above, n. 643, 1298; and that “wood” is such good, n. 643).

[8] Again:

Because they have wrought folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with the wives of their fellows, and have spoken a word in My name that is false, which I commanded them not (Jeremiah 29:23);

to “commit adultery with the wives of their fellows,” is to teach falsity as from them.

[9] Again:

In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing, in committing adultery and walking in falsehood (Jeremiah 23:14); where to “commit adultery” regards good which is contaminated; and to “walk in falsehood” regards truth which is perverted. Again:

I have seen thine abominations; thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the foulness of thy whoredom upon the hills in the field. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem, thou wilt not be made clean; how long shall it yet be? (Jeremiah 13:27).

[10] In Hosea:

Whoredom, and wine, and new wine, have taken possession of the heart. My people inquireth of wood, and the staff thereof will declare it; for the spirit of whoredom hath led them astray, and they have committed whoredom from under their God; they sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under the oak, the poplar, and the terebinth [robore]; therefore your daughters commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery; shall I not visit upon your daughters because they commit whoredom, and upon your daughters-in-law because they commit adultery? For they divide with whores, and sacrifice with prostitutes (Hos. 4:11-14).

What each of these things signifies in the internal sense can be seen from the signification of “wine,” as being falsity; of “new wine,” as being the evil thence derived; of the “wood that is inquired of,” as being the good of the delight of some cupidity; of the “staff that will declare,” as being the imaginary power of their understanding; also of the “mountains” and the “hills,” as being the loves of self and of the world; of the “oak, the poplar, and the terebinth,” as being so many gross perceptions thence derived in which they trust; of “daughters” and the “daughters-in-law” as being such affections; all of which show what is here signified by “whoredoms,” “adulteries,” and “harlots.”

[11] In the same:

O Israel, thou hast committed whoredom over thy God, thou hast loved harlot hire upon all the corn floors (Hos. 9:1);

“harlot hire” denotes the vaunting of what is false.

In Moses:

Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they commit whoredom after their gods, and sacrifice unto their gods; and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifices, and thou take of his daughters for thy sons, and his daughters commit whoredom after their gods, and make thy sons commit whoredom after their gods (Exodus 34:15-16).

In the same:

I will cut off all that commit whoredom after him, committing whoredom after Molech, from the midst of their people; and the soul that turneth unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto the soothsayers, to commit whoredom after them, I will set My face against that soul, and will cut him off from the midst of his people (Leviticus 20:5-6

In the same:

Your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms, until your bodies be consumed in the wilderness (Numbers 14:33).

In the same:

Remember all the precepts of Jehovah, and do them, that ye seek not after your own heart, and your own eyes, after which ye do commit whoredom (Numbers 15:39).

[12] And still more plainly in John:

An angel said, Come hither, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed whoredom, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her whoredom (Revelation 17:1-2).

The “great harlot” denotes those who are in profane worship; the “many waters” upon which she sits, are knowledges (n. 28, 739); the “kings of the earth” who have committed whoredom with her, are the truths of the church (n. 1672, 2015, 2069); the “wine” with which they were made drunk, is falsity (n. 1071, 1072). Because “wine” and “drunkenness” signify these things, it is said of the daughters of Lot, that they made their father drink wine (verses 32-33, 35).

[13] In the same:

Babylon hath made all nations drink of the wine of the fury of her whoredom, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her (Revelation 18:3).

“Babylon” or “Babel” denotes a worship the externals of which appear holy, while the interiors are profane (n. 1182, 1295, 1326); the “nations that she makes to drink,” are the goods which are being profaned (n. 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849); the “kings” who committed whoredom with her, are truths (n. 1672, 2015, 2069). In the same:

True and just are the judgments of the Lord God, for He hath judged the great harlot, who corrupted the earth with her whoredom (Revelation 19:2); where the “earth” denotes the church (n. 566, 662, 1066, 1068, 2117, 2118).

[14] As “whoredoms” signify such things, and “daughters” signify affections, it was therefore forbidden so severely that the daughter of a priest should commit whoredom; concerning which we read in Moses:

The daughter of a priest, having begun to commit whoredom, she is profaning her father, she shall be burned with fire (Leviticus 21:9).

It was also commanded that they should not bring the hire of a harlot into the house of Jehovah, because it is an abomination (Deuteronomy 23:18). And for the same reason there was such an inquisitorial process concerning a wife whose husband had conceived a suspicion of adultery (Numbers 5:12-31), in which instance each and all things have relation to the adulterations of good. Moreover in the Word many different kinds of adulteries and whoredoms are spoken of, and still more varieties. This kind which is here described by Lot’s daughters lying with their father, is what is called “Moab” and the “son of Ammon,” now to be explained.