3024.'That you do not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites' means that the Divine Rational should not be joined to any affection incompatible with truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'taking a woman' as being joined by means of the marriage covenant; from the meaning of 'my son', namely Isaac, as the Lord's Divine Rational, dealt with in 1893, 2066, 2083, 2630; from the meaning of 'daughters' as affections, dealt with in 489-491, 568, 2362; and from the meaning of 'the Canaanites' as evil, dealt with in 1444, 1573, 1574. Consequently 'the daughters of the Canaanites' are affections incompatible with truth. The subject here is Divine truth which was to be allied to the Divine good of the Lord's Rational, as may be seen in 3013 under 'Contents'. 'A woman' who was to be associated by means of a marriage covenant is used to mean that truth itself which is summoned from the natural man in the normal manner. 'My son' is used to mean the Lord's Rational as regards the good with which it was to be allied or associated. From this one may recognize that the command not to take a wife for his son from the daughters of the Canaanites means that the Divine Rational should not be joined to any affection incompatible with truth. All joining of truth to good is effected by means of affection, for no truth ever enters the rational part of a person's mind or is joined to it except by means of affection, for affection has within it the good that flows from love, which good alone effects the joining together, 1895, as also anyone may know who stops to reflect on it.

[2] As regards 'the daughters of the Canaanites' meaning affections incompatible with truth, that is, affections for what is false, this becomes clear from the meaning of 'daughters'. For the noun 'daughters' occurs in many places in the Word, and in these anyone may see that it is not used to mean daughters. By such expressions as 'the daughter of Zion', 'the daughter of Jerusalem', 'the daughter of Tarshish', 'the daughter of My people', affections for good and truth are meant, as shown in the paragraphs referred to above. And since affections for good and truth are meant so also are Churches, for Churches are Churches by virtue of these affections. Consequently 'the daughter of Zion' means the celestial Church, and means this by virtue of the affection for good, whereas 'the daughter of Jerusalem' means the spiritual Church from the affection for truth, 2362. And it is the same with 'the daughter of My people' in Isaiah 22:4; Jeremiah 6:14, 26; 8:19, 21-22; 9:1; 14:17; Lamentations 2:11; 4:6; Ezekiel 13:17.

[3] This shows what is meant by the daughters of the nations, such as by the daughters of the Philistines, the daughters of Egypt, the daughters of Tyre and Sidon, the daughters of Edom, the daughters of Moab, the daughters of the Chaldeans and Babel, and the daughters of Sodom. They mean affections for evil and falsity, from which their varieties of religion sprang, and so mean those varieties themselves. That this is the meaning of 'daughters' becomes clear from the following places: In Ezekiel,

The daughters of the nations will lament over Egypt. Wail over the multitude of Egypt, and send her down, her and the daughters of majestic nations, to the lower earth, together with those who go down to the pit. Ezekiel 32:16, 18.

'The daughters of majestic nations' stands for affections for evil. In Samuel,

Tell it not in Gath; publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon, lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters of the uncircumcised exult. 2 Samuel 1:20.

In Ezekiel,

You committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt. I delivered you to those who hated you, the daughters of the Philistines. Before your badness was revealed, as at the time of the reproach of the daughters of Syria, and of all round about her, the daughters of the Philistines who despise you from round about. Ezekiel 16:26-27, 57.

Anyone may see that not daughters were meant here but the varieties of religion among such people as are meant by the Philistines - those who speak repeatedly of faith yet do not at all pursue the life taught by faith, see 1197, 1198. This also explains why they are called 'the uncircumcised', that is, devoid of charity.

[4] In Jeremiah,

Go up to Gilead and take balm, O virgin daughter of Egypt! Make for yourself vessels of migration, O inhabitant daughter of Egypt. The daughter of Egypt has been put to shame; she has been delivered into the hand of the people from the north. Jeremiah 46:11, 19, 24.

'The daughter of Egypt' stands for the affection for reasoning from facts about whether truths of faith really are true, and so stands for the variety of religion which springs from this, the nature of which is to believe nothing except that grasped by the senses, and so to believe nothing of the truth of faith, see 215, 232, 233, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1385, 2196, 2203, 2209, 2568, 2588. In Isaiah,

He said, You will no more exult, O oppressed virgin daughter of Sidon. Isaiah 23:12.

In David,

The daughter of Tyre with an offering, the rich of the people will entreat your face. Psalms 45:12.

What 'the daughter of Sidon' and 'the daughter of Tyre' mean is evident from the meaning of Sidon and Tyre, dealt with in 1201. In Jeremiah,

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom. Your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is at an end. He will no more cause you to migrate; your iniquity will be punished, O daughter of Edom. Lamentations 4:21-22.

In Isaiah,

Like a wandering bird, a scattered nest, will the daughters of Moab be. Isaiah 16:2.

In the same prophet,

Come down and sit on the dust, O virgin daughter of Babel; sit on the ground without a throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans. Sit quietly and go into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans, for no more will they call you the mistress of kingdoms. Isaiah 47:1, 5.

In Jeremiah,

A people coming from the north, arrayed as a man for war against you, O daughter of Babel. Jeremiah 50:41-42.

In the same prophet,

The daughter of Babel is like the threshing-floor; it is time to thresh her. Jeremiah 51:33

In Zechariah,

Ho, Zion! escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babel. Zechariah 2:7.

In David,

The daughter of Babel has been laid waste. Psalms 137:8.

In Ezekiel,

Your sisters, Sodom and her daughters will return to their condition as of old, and Samaria and her daughters will return to their condition as of old. Ezekiel 16:55.

[5] Anyone may see that in these places 'daughters' is not used to mean daughters but affections incompatible with truth, and so the varieties of religion that spring from them. But which particular varieties they are is evident from the meaning of those peoples - from the meaning of Edom, Moab, the Chaldeans, Babel, Sodom, Samaria, all of which have been dealt with in various places in the explanations to previous chapters of Genesis. From this what is meant in the present chapter by 'the daughters of the Canaanites' becomes clear.

[6] This command not to contract marriages with the daughters of the Canaanites also had regard to the spiritual requirements that good should not be joined to falsity, nor evil to truth, for the result of any such joining together is profanation. The prohibition was also a representative of the matter referred to in Deuteronomy 7:3, and in Malachi,

Judah has profaned the holiness of Jehovah, in that he loved and married the daughter of a foreign god. Malachi 2:11.

2466. It is certainly possible to confirm that in the internal sense such things are meant as have been set forth in the paragraph above, and indeed to confirm them as to each word. But apart from the fact that they have been confirmed already they are also such as shock people's minds and offend their ears. From the summary explanation given above it may become clear that those things are used to describe how such a religion originated as that meant in the Word by 'Moab' and 'the son of Ammon'. The nature of it will be stated later on where Moab and the son of Ammon are the subject. The fact that adulterated good and falsified truth are meant is clear. Adulterations of good and falsifications of truth are commonly described in the Word as acts of adultery and whoredom, and are actually called such. The reason for this is that good and truth belong together like a married couple, 1904, 2173. Indeed, though scarcely anyone may credit it, it is from this marriage of good and truth as its own true source that the holiness of marriages on earth is derived as well as the marriage laws laid down in the Word.

[2] The truth of the matter is that when celestial things together with spiritual come down from heaven into a lower sphere they are in a most perfect way converted there into the likeness of marriages. They do so on account of the correspondence which exists between spiritual things and natural, a correspondence which in the Lord's Divine mercy will be described elsewhere. But when those same things are perverted in the lower sphere, as happens when evil genii and evil spirits are present there, they are in that case converted into the kind of things that go with acts of adultery and whoredom. This is why in the Word defilements of good and perversions of truth are described as acts of adultery and whoredom and are also called such, as becomes quite clear from the following places: In Ezekiel,

You committed whoredom because of your renown, and poured out your acts of whoredom on every passer-by. You took some of your garments and made for yourself high places variously coloured, and on them committed whoredom. For your adornment you took vessels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and made for yourself figures of the male, and committed whoredom with them. You took your sons and your daughters, whom you had borne to Me, and sacrificed them to them. Were your acts of whoredom a small matter? You committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, your neighbours, great in flesh, and multiplied your whoredom to provoke Me to anger. You committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, and you committed whoredom with them and were not satisfied. And you multiplied your whoredom, even as far as the trading land of Chaldea; and yet you were not satisfied with this. Ezekiel 16:15-17, 20, 26, 28-29, and following verses.

This refers to Jerusalem, which means in this instance the Church perverted as regards truths. Anyone may see that all the things referred to here have entirely different meanings.

[3] That the perversion of some aspect of the Church is called whoredom is quite evident. 'The garments' referred to are truths that are being perverted. Consequent falsities which are worshipped are meant by 'the variously coloured high places' on which whoredom took place - 'garments' meaning truths, see 1073, and 'high places' worship, 796. 'The vessels for adornment made of the gold and the silver which I had given' are cognitions of good and truth drawn from the Word which they use to confirm falsities. And when such falsities are seen as truths they are called 'figures of the male with whom whoredom was committed'. For 'vessels for adornment made of gold and silver' means cognitions of good and truth, as is evident from the meaning of 'gold' as good, 113, 1551, 1552, and of 'silver' as truth, 1551, 2048; 'figures of the mare' means falsities which are seen as truths, 2046. 'The sons and daughters whom they had borne and sacrificed to them' means the goods and truths which they perverted, as is evident from the meaning of 'sons and daughters', 489-491, 533, 2362; 'committing whoredom with the sons of Egypt' means perverting those goods and truths by means of facts, as is evident from the meaning of 'Egypt' as factual knowledge, 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462. 'Committing whoredom with the sons of Asshur' means perverting by means of reasonings, as is evident from the meaning of 'Asshur' as reasoning, 119, 1186; 'multiplying whoredom even as far as the land of Chaldea' means even to the profanation of truth, which is Chaldea, 1368. All this makes plain the nature of the internal sense of the Word within the sense of the letter.

[4] A similar passage occurs elsewhere in the same prophet,

Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt. In their youth they committed whoredom. Oholah is Samaria, Oholibah is Jerusalem. Oholah committed whoredom under Me and doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours. She bestowed her acts of whoredom on them, the choicest of all the sons of Asshur. Her acts of whoredom brought from Egypt she did not give up, for they had lain with her in her youth. Oholibah corrupted her love more than she, and her acts of whoredom more than her sister's acts of whoredom; she doted on the sons of Asshur. She added to her acts of whoredom and saw the images of the Chaldeans. As soon as her eyes saw them she desired them. The sons of Babel came to her, into her love-bed. Ezekiel 23:2-5, 7-8, 11-12, 14, 16-17.

'Samaria' is a Church with the affection for truth, 'Jerusalem' a Church with the affection for good. By 'the acts of whoredom' committed by such affections with 'the Egyptians' and with 'the sons of Asshur' are meant the perversions of good and truth by means of facts and reasonings used to confirm falsities, as is evident from the meaning of 'Egypt', 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, and of 'Asshur', 119, 1186. These perversions extended even to profane worship which in respect of truth is 'Chaldea', 1368, and in respect of good is 'the sons of Babel', 1182, 1326.

[5] In Isaiah,

And it will be at the end of seventy years, that Jehovah will visit Tyre, and she will return to hiring herself out as a harlot, and will commit whoredom with all the kingdoms of the earth. Isaiah 23:17.

It is the flaunting of falsity that is meant by Tyre's 'hiring herself out as a harlot and committing whoredom'. 'Tyre' means cognitions of truth, see 1201, 'kingdoms' truths with which whoredom took place, 1672.

[6] In Jeremiah,

You have committed whoredom with many partners; but return to Me. Lift up your eyes to the hills and see - where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat waiting for them, like an Arab in the wilderness, and you have profaned the land with your acts of whoredom and with your wickedness. Jeremiah 3:1-2.

'Committing whoredom' and 'profaning the land with acts of whoredom' is perverting and falsifying the truths of the Church. 'The land' is the Church, see 662, 1066, 1067.

[7] In the same prophet,

With the voice of her whoredom she profaned the land, she committed adultery with stone and wood. Jeremiah 3:9.

'Committing adultery with stone and wood' means perverting truths and goods that are part of external worship - 'stone' meaning that kind of truth, see 643, 1298, 'wood' that kind of good, 643.

[8] In the same prophet,

Because they have committed folly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their companions' wives, and have in My name spoken a false word which I did not command. Jeremiah 29:23.

'Committing adultery with companions' wives' is teaching falsity as from them.

[9] In the same prophet,

In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: in their committing adultery and walking in falsity. Jeremiah 23:14.

Here 'committing adultery' has regard to good which is being defiled, 'walking in falsity' to truth which is being perverted. In the same prophet,

Your adulterous acts and your neighings, the filth of your whoredom committed on the hills, in the field - I have seen your abominations. Woe to you, O Jerusalem; you will not be made clean after this; how long yet? Jeremiah 13:27.

[10] In Hosea,

Whoredom, and wine, and new wine have taken possession of the heart. My people inquire of a piece of wood and their staff makes declaration to them, for the spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have committed whoredom beneath their god. They sacrifice on the tops of the mountains and burn incense on the hills, under oak, poplar, and terebinth. Therefore your daughters commit whoredom and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. Shall I not punish ¹ your daughters because they commit whoredom and your daughters-in-law because they commit adultery, for the men themselves divide with harlots and sacrifice with cult-prostitutes? Hosea 4:11-14.

What each of these things means in the internal sense becomes clear from the meaning of 'wine' as falsity, of 'new wine' as evil deriving from this, of 'the piece of wood which they inquire of' as the good belonging to the delight that goes with some evil desire, 'the staff which makes a declaration' as the imaginary power of their own understanding, also of 'mountains and hills' as self-love and love of the world, of 'oak, poplar, and terebinth' as so many dull-witted perceptions in which they trust, of 'daughters and daughters-in-law' as affections that are such. From this it is evident what acts of 'whoredom', 'adultery', and 'cult-prostitution' mean here.

[11] In the same prophet,

O Israel, you have committed whoredom beneath ² your god; you have taken delight in hiring yourself out as a harlot on every threshing-floor. Hosea 9:1.

'Hiring oneself out as a harlot' stands for a flaunting of falsity. In Moses,

Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go whoring after their gods and sacrifice to their gods, and someone calls you and you eat of his sacrifices, and you take his daughters for your sons, and his daughters go whoring after their gods, and they cause your sons to go whoring after their gods. Exodus 34:15-16.

In the same author,

I will cut off from the midst of their people all who go whoring after him, for whoring after Molech. And anyone who looks to those who have familiar spirits and to wizards, and goes whoring after them, I will set My face against that person and will cut him off from the midst of his people. Leviticus 20:5-6.

In the same author,

Your sons will be shepherds in the wilderness for forty years, and will bear your acts of whoredom until your bodies are consumed in the wilderness. Numbers 14:33.

In the same author,

May you remember all the commandments of Jehovah and do them, and may you not seek after your own heart and after your own eyes, which you go whoring after. Numbers 15:39.

[12] An even plainer usage occurs in John,

One angel said, Come, I will show you the judgement of the great harlot who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed whoredom, and with the wine of whose whoredom the inhabitants of the earth have become drunk. Revelation 17:1-2.

'The great harlot' stands for people whose worship is profane. 'The many waters on which she is seated' are cognitions, 28, 739, 'the kings of the earth who committed whoredom with her' are the truths of the Church, 1672, 2015, 2069. 'The wine with which the people became drunk' is falsity, 1071, 1072. It is because wine' and 'drunkenness' have this meaning that Lot's daughters are said to have made their father drink wine, verses 32-33, 35.

[13] In the same book,

Babylon has given all nations drink from 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 stands for worship whose external features appear holy but whose interiors are unholy, 1182, 1295, 1326. 'The nations to whom she gives drink' means goods which are rendered profane, 1259, 1260, 1416, 1849, 'the kings who commit whoredom with her' means truths, 1672, 2015, 2069. In the same book,

The judgements of the Lord God are true and right, for He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her whoredom. Revelation 19:2.

'The earth' stands for the Church, 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 2117, 2118.

[14] It was because 'acts of whoredom' had such a meaning, and 'daughters' meant affections, that a priest's daughter was so strictly forbidden to commit whoredom, concerning which the following is said in Moses,

Any priest's daughter, in that she has begun to commit whoredom, is profaning her father; she shall be burnt with fire. Leviticus 21:9.

Also they were forbidden to bring the earnings of a harlot into the house of Jehovah because it was an abomination, Deuteronomy 23:18. And for the same reason a certain procedure had to be followed - given in Numbers 5:12-31 - for investigating the behaviour of a wife whom the husband suspected of adultery; every single detail of that procedure has reference to the adulteration of good. Besides these many more genera and still more species of adultery and whoredom are referred to in the Word. The genus described by means of Lot's daughters lying with their father and called 'Moab' and 'the son of Ammon' is dealt with immediately below.

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