3875. 'And she said, Now this time my husband will cling to me' means in the highest sense love and mercy, in the internal sense charity, in the external sense a joining together - spiritual love being meant here. This is clear from the meaning of 'clinging to'. As regards 'clinging' in the external sense, or inner sense nearest to the literal, meaning a joining together, this may be seen without explanation; and as regards 'clinging' in the internal sense meaning charity, this is evident from the consideration that charity, or what amounts to the same, mutual love, is a spiritual joining together. For mutual love is a joining together of affections belonging to the will and a consequent agreement of thoughts belonging to the understanding, and so is a joining of minds as to both parts. That 'clinging' in the highest sense means love and mercy is evident from this, for when the description 'infinite and eternal' is applied to charity or spiritual love the attribute of mercy is meant, mercy being Divine love directed towards the human race engulfed in such great miseries. For man of himself is nothing but evil, and what is within him, insofar as this has its origin in himself, is altogether from hell. Yet the Lord beholds him with Divine Love, and therefore the raising up of him from the hell in which of himself he dwells and his deliverance from it is called mercy. And because that mercy is an attribute of Divine Love, 'clinging' in the highest sense therefore means both love and mercy.

[2] As regards 'clinging' in the internal sense meaning spiritual love, or what amounts to the same, charity towards the neighbour, this may also be seen from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

Do not let the son of the foreigner who has clung to Jehovah say, Jehovah surely separates me from being with His people. The sons of the foreigner who cling to Jehovah, to minister to Him and to delight in the name of Jehovah, will be His servants. Isaiah 56:3, 6.

'Clinging to Jehovah' stands for keeping His commandments, which is an act of spiritual love, for no one at heart keeps God's commandments except him in whom good that flows from charity towards the neighbour is present. In Jeremiah,

In those days the children of Israel will come, they and the children of Judah weeping as they come; and they will seek Jehovah their God. They will ask Zion concerning the way, their faces towards it, [saying,] Come and let us cling to Jehovah in an everlasting covenant that is not forgotten. Jeremiah 50:4-5.

'Clinging to Jehovah' in like manner stands for keeping His commandments at heart, that is, doing so from good that flows from charity.

[3] In Zechariah,

Many nations will cling to Jehovah on that day and will be My people. Zechariah 2:11.

Here the meaning is similar. In Isaiah,

Jehovah will have compassion on Jacob, and will again choose Israel, and will set them on their own land. And the sojourner will cling to them, and they will join themselves to the house of Jacob. Isaiah 14:1.

'The sojourner clinging to them' stands for having a similar allegiance to the law. 'Joining themselves to the house of Jacob' stands for the good that flows from charity, which is present in those meant by 'the house of Jacob'. In Matthew,

No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will cling to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon. Matthew 6:24.

Here the celestial form of love is meant by 'loving', the spiritual form by 'clinging to'. Both of these expressions are used because those two forms of love are distinct and separate. Otherwise one expression would have been sufficient.

[4] People who are stirred by spiritual love are therefore called 'the sons of Levi', as in Malachi,

Who can endure the day of His coming, and who will stand when He appears? He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi and purge them like gold, and like silver. Malachi 3:2-3.

In the highest sense the Lord is meant by 'Levi' by virtue of Divine love and of mercy towards those in whom spiritual love is present. This may be seen in the same prophet,

That you may know that I have sent this command to you, to be My covenant with Levi, said Jehovah Zebaoth. My covenant with him will be [a covenant] of life and peace. You have turned back from the way; you have caused many to stumble at the law, you have corrupted the covenant of Levi; therefore I have made you despised. Malachi 2:4-5, 8-9.

And because in the highest sense the Lord's Divine Love or His Mercy was meant by 'Levi', and in the internal sense spiritual love, the tribe of Levi was therefore established as the priesthood; for in the internal sense of the Word 'the priesthood' is nothing other than the holiness of love and 'kingship' the holiness of faith, 1728, 2015 (end), 3670.

[5] Because the expression 'cringing to' from which Levi received his name means spiritual love, which is the same as mutual love, the same expression in the original language is used to mean lending and borrowing. ¹ And these two - lending and borrowing - in the Jewish Church represented mutual love, a representation which will in the Lord's Divine mercy be dealt with elsewhere. Mutual love is different from friendship inasmuch as mutual love has a person's good in view, and in directing itself towards that good is directed towards the person in whom good is present. Friendship however has the person in view, which is also mutual love when it looks at that person from the point of view of, that is, on account of, that good. But when it does not look at him from the point of view of good or on account of that good but on account of self which it calls good, friendship is not in that case mutual love but something close to the love of self. And insofar as it is close to this it is opposed to mutual love. In itself mutual love is nothing else than charity towards the neighbour, for in the internal sense 'the neighbour' means nothing else than good, and in the highest sense the Lord because all good originates in Him and He is Good itself, see 2425, 3419. This mutual love or charity towards the neighbour is what is understood by spiritual love and meant by 'Levi'. What is more, in the Word celestial love, and also conjugial love, is expressed in the sense of the letter as 'clinging to', but this is derived from a different expression in the original language from that from which the name Levi is obtained.

[6] This other expression means an even closer joining together, as in the following places: In Moses,

You shall fear Jehovah your God: you shall serve Him and cling to Him. Deuteronomy 10:20.

You shall go after Jehovah your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, and hear His voice, and serve Him, and cling to Him. Deuteronomy 13:4.

To love Jehovah your God, to go in all His ways, and to cling to Him. Deuteronomy 11:22.

To love Jehovah your God, to obey His voice, and to cling to Him, for He is your life. Deuteronomy 30:20.

In Joshua,

Take good care to carry out the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, to love Jehovah your God, and to walk in all His ways, and to keep His commandments, and to cling to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. Joshua 22:5.

In the second Book of Kings,

King Hezekiah trusted in Jehovah the God of Israel. He clung to Jehovah; he did not turn back from going after Him, and he kept His commandments which

Jehovah had commanded Moses. 2 Kings 18:5-6.

In Jeremiah,

As a waistcloth clings to the loins of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me, to be for Me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory; but they were not obedient. Jeremiah 13:11.

[7] The fact that conjugial love as well is expressed by 'clinging to' is evident from the following,

Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother and will cling to his wife, and they will be one flesh. Genesis 2:24.

On account of your hardness of heart Moses wrote this commandment, but from the beginning of creation God made them male and female. For this reason a man (homo) will leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two will be one flesh. What therefore God has joined together man (homo) must not put asunder. Mark 10:5-9; Matthew 19:5.

The soul of Shechem clung to Dinah, Jacob's daughter. He loved the girl, and spoke to the girl's heart. Genesis 34:3.

Solomon loved many foreign women. Solomon clung to these in love. 1 Kings 11:1-2.

These quotations show then that 'clinging to' is an expression descriptive of love which was adopted in ancient times by Churches in which meaningful signs were prominent, and that it means nothing else in the internal sense than a spiritual joining together, which is charity and love.

Notas a pie de página:

847. And his number is six hundred sixty-six, signifies that its quality nevertheless is from all falsities and all evils therefrom in the complex. This is evident from the signification of "number," as being the quality of faith separated from the life; also from the signification of "six hundred sixty-six" as being all falsities and all evils therefrom in the complex. This is the signification of that number, because "six" signifies all things, and is predicated of truths and of goods therefrom, and in the contrary sense of falsities and of evils therefrom; for that number is composed of the numbers two and three multiplied together, and the number two is predicated of goods, and in the contrary sense of evils; and the number three of truths, and in the contrary sense of falsities; and a composite number has a similar signification as the simple numbers of which it is composed. This, then, is why "six" signifies all truths and all goods therefrom in the complex, and in the contrary sense all falsities and all evils therefrom in the complex. That all these may be signified to the full, that number is tripled; and by triplication the number 666 arises. For a thing triplicated signifies completeness and fullness from beginning to end; so here it signifies that nothing whatever of truth and good remains.

[2] That every number in the Word signifies something pertaining to a thing or state, and that its quality is determined by the numbers added, may be seen above (n. 203, 429, 574, 841). That larger numbers composed of the smaller have a similar signification as the smaller and simple numbers from which they arise by multiplication may be seen above n. 430; thus the number six hundred sixty-six has a similar signification as six, and six the like as three and two, from which it arises by multiplication. That three signifies fullness, completeness, altogether, and all things from beginning to end, and is predicated of truths and falsities, may be seen above (n. 532); and that two is likewise predicated of goods and evils (n. 532, at the end). Again, six has a similar signification as twelve, because twelve arises from the multiplication of three by four; and four, like two, is predicated of goods and also of evils. From this it is clear that the number "six hundred sixty-six," which is said to be "the number of a man," and "to count" which is said to be a matter of intelligence, signifies the quality of faith separated from good works, that it is composed of all falsities and of all evils therefrom in the complex. Its being said to be a matter of intelligence to count that number does not signify that it is a matter of intelligence to know or find out the signification of that number, but that it is a matter of intelligence to inquire into and see the falsities and evils that make up the quality of faith separated from life.

[3] That the quality of that faith is such in respect to falsities will be seen in what presently follows. It is also such in respect to evils because when good works are set aside (and they are set aside when it is believed that they contribute nothing at all to justification or salvation), it follows that evil works take their place; for a man must be either in goods or in evils. That he cannot be in both together is meant by these words of the Lord:

No one can serve two masters; he will either hate the one and love the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Matthew 6:24).

Therefore all evils in the complex follow from a faith that sets aside good works, which are the goods of life. Moreover, every religion has life as its end; for it teaches the evils that must be shunned, and the goods that are to be done. A religion that does not have life as its end, consequently a religion in which it is taught that the works of life are of no account, but faith alone, cannot be called a religion; and where this is taught, are not all evils of life permitted so far as they are not forbidden and restrained by the civil laws, since faith alone covers, remits, and takes them away? That this is so can be seen from this, that faith alone is said to justify the life; and yet it is taught that man is not saved by any good of life, also that he may be saved by this faith even in the last hour of death, also that he is justified at the same moment that he receives this faith, with other like things, which altogether persuade that life is not the end of that religion. And if religion does not have life as its end it follows that it must give loose reins to evils of every kind.

[4] That those who are in that faith both in doctrine and in life have all falsities in the complex is clear from the claim that this faith is the only justifying or saving faith, namely, that the Father sent the Son that He might reconcile to Him the human race by the passion of the cross and by thus taking away damnation. But it has been shown above what the quality of this faith is, and what there is in it of truth and untruth; and anyone can see that in this faith there is nothing except thought, and nothing of life; for it is said that if we believe this with trust and confidence, that is, if we acknowledge it in thought, we are saved. If in this faith alone there is salvation what need is there of knowing what love to the Lord is, what charity towards the neighbor is, what the life of man is, what the goods and evils of life are, what remission of sins is, what reformation and regeneration are? Are not all these this faith alone? If it be asked what remission of sins is, is it not this faith alone? If it be asked what charity towards the neighbor is, is it not this faith alone? If it be asked what the church is, is it not this faith alone? So in the rest. It is clear, therefore, that this faith alone has absorbed, and has swallowed up like a dragon, all the goods and truths of the Word, and thus of the church, although these are innumerable, and through these the angels have all their intelligence and wisdom, and men have all their salvation.

[5] As all the truths and goods of the church have been banished by means of this faith alone, it follows that falsities and evils therefrom have taken their place, and as a consequence the church is devastated. Yea, by means of this truth that man of himself can do no good that is good, all the truths and goods of the church are cast aside, as if this made it permissible for man to refrain from doing them, because if they are not good they are rather damnable than saving. And it is wonderful that through a single truth wrongly understood all the truths and goods of the church in the whole complex should have been cast aside. This is what is signified in the spiritual sense by "the number of the beast, six hundred sixty-six."