295. And by thy will they are, and were created. That this signifies that by means of the Divine good they are, and by means of the Divine truth they exist, is evident from the signification of will, when said of the Lord, as being Divine love; and from the signification of are, or being (esse), as being the good of love, in this case, the Divine good of the Divine love received (concerning which we shall speak presently); and from the signification of they were created, or being created, as being the Divine truth also received, thus those who are reformed by it. The reason why to be created signifies to exist is that those alone are said to exist who are reformed, for in them is life, and they have intelligence and wisdom; whereas those who are not reformed have not life in them but spiritual death, neither have they intelligence and wisdom, but insanity and folly, hence they cannot be said to exist. Everything which appears to any of the senses may indeed be said to exist, but it cannot be said of man spiritually, unless he be in good and truth; for man was created that he might be alive, intelligent and wise; consequently, when he is dead, he is insane and foolish, and so far as this is the case with him, he does not exist. There are two things which constitute man, namely good and truth, and both are from the Lord; good is the being (esse) of life, but truth is the manifestation (existere) of life therefrom, for all truth exists from good, because it is the form of good, and hence the quality of good; and whereas good is the being (esse) of life, and truth is the manifestation (existere) of life therefrom, and by being created is signified to exist, it is therefore said, "by thy will they are, and were created." This, then, is the spiritual content of these words.

[2] The reason why will, when said of the Lord, denotes Divine love is, that the essential Divine, from which all things exist, is the Divine love; hence the Lord appears before the angels as a Sun, fiery and flaming, the ground and reason of which is, that love, in the spiritual world, appears as fire; this is why fire in the Word, when said of the Lord, of heaven, or of the church, signifies love. From that Sun in the heavens proceed heat and light; and the heat there is Divine good proceeding, and the light is Divine truth proceeding. (These things are more fully shown in the work, Heaven and Hell, concerning the Sun of heaven, n. 116-125; and concerning heat and light in heaven, n. 126-140). And because the essential Divine from which all things exist is Divine love, therefore will also, when said of the Lord, denotes Divine love, for what love itself wills is the good of love; the truth which is called the truth of faith being only a means that good may exist, and that the truth of faith may afterwards exist from good. From this origin man possesses will and understanding; the will is the receptacle of the good of love with him, and the understanding is the receptacle of the truth of faith with him; the understanding is the means by which the will may be reformed, and by which afterwards the will may appear in form, such as it is by means of the understanding. Hence also it is evident that the will is the being (esse) of man's life, and the understanding is the manifestation (existere) of life therefrom. (But these things may also be seen more fully shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, where the will and understanding are treated of, n.28-35).

[3] Because the will of man is his love, and the will of God is the Divine love, it is plain what is meant in the spiritual sense by doing the will of God, and the will of the Father, viz., that it is to love God above all things and the neighbour as oneself. And because to love is to will, so also it is to do, for what a man loves that he wills, and what he wills he also does. Hence, by doing the will of God, or of the Father is meant to do His precepts, or to live according to them, from the affection of love or charity.

This is what is meant by the will of God and of the Father in the following passages.

In John:

"God heareth not sinners; but if any man worshippeth God, and doeth his will, him he heareth" (9:31).

In Matthew (that he who does the will of the Father who is in the heavens, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens):

"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in the heavens" (7:21).

Again:

"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven so upon the earth" (6:10).

And again:

"It is not the will of the Father that one of the little ones should perish" (18:14).

That it's not being His will that one of the little ones should perish, denotes love, is evident. It is said "The will of your Father" because the Father denotes the Divine good. In John:

"If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you" (15:7),

The reason why it is said that whatsoever they should will and ask, should be done to those who abide in the Lord, and in whom His words abide, is that in such case they will nothing but what the Lord gives them to will, and this is good, and good is from Himself.

[4] The will of the Lord is called His good pleasure in the Old Testament, and in like manner signifies the Divine love; and to do His good pleasure, or His will, signifies to love God and the neighbour, thus to live according to the Lord's precepts, because this is to love God and the neighbour. And this also descends from the Lord's love; for no one can love the Lord and the neighbour, except from the Lord, for this is the very essential good pertaining to man, and all good is from the Lord. That good pleasure has this signification is clear from the following passages. In Isaiah:

"In mine anger I smote thee, but in my good pleasure have I had mercy on thee" (60:10).

By smiting in anger is signified temptation; and by having mercy in good pleasure is signified deliverance, from love (having mercy, is doing good to the needy from love).

[5] In David:

"My prayer is unto thee, O Jehovah, in the time of thy good pleasure; O God, in the greatness of thy mercy answer me, in the truth of thy salvation" (Psalms 69:13).

The time of the good pleasure of Jehovah signifies acceptance from love; time signifies the existing state when said of men, but perpetually existing when said of Jehovah, thus His love, because this is perpetual. Hearing and help springing from love by the proceeding Divine which is Divine truth is signified by in the greatness of thy mercy answer me, in the truth of thy salvation.

[6] In Isaiah:

"Jehovah said, In the time of good pleasure have I heard thee, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee" (49:8).

By the time of good pleasure, or will, also here is signified the Divine love; and to answer signifies to bring aid, and to benefit.

[7] In the same:

"To proclaim the year of the good pleasure of Jehovah, to comfort all that mourn" (61:2).

Here the subject is the advent of the Lord, and by the year of his good pleasure is signified the time and state of the members of the church, when they must be aided from love; therefore it is also said, to comfort all that mourn.

[8] In David:

"Thou wilt bless the just; with good pleasure wilt thou compass him as with a shield" (Psalms 5:12).

Here good pleasure manifestly means the Divine love, from which the Lord protects every one; His protection from love is signified by, thou wilt compass him as with a shield.

[9] Again:

Jehovah "opening his hand and satisfying every living thing with good pleasure" (Psalms 145:16).

Here by opening the hand is signified to gift with good; and by satisfying every living thing with good pleasure is signified, from love to enrich with Divine truth all who receive life from Him.

[10] In Moses:

"Of the precious things of the earth and of the fulness thereof, and for the good pleasure of him who dwelleth in the bush, let them come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the head of the Nazarite of his brethren; of Naphtali, satisfied with the good of pleasure and the blessing of Jehovah " (Deuteronomy 33:16, 23).

By Joseph, in the highest sense, is signified the Lord as to the spiritual Divine, in the internal sense the spiritual kingdom, and, in the external sense, salvation, fructification of good and multiplication of truth (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3969, 3971, 4669, 6417). Hence it is evident what is signified by the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof, and the good pleasure of him that dwelleth in the bush, belonging to Joseph. The precious things of the earth denote the spiritual goods and truths pertaining to the church, the earth denoting the church; the good pleasure of him that dwelleth in the bush is the Lord's Divine love of truth, the bush in which the Lord also appeared before Moses signifies that Divine love. The head of Joseph signifies the wisdom pertaining to the internal man, and the crown of the head of the Nazarite of his brethren signifies the intelligence and knowledge (scientia) belonging to the external man. Naphtali, so called from strugglings, signifies temptations, and consolation and benediction from the Divine love after them, which are meant by being satisfied with the good pleasure and the blessing of Jehovah.

[11] In Isaiah:

"Wilt thou call this a fast, and a day of the good pleasure of Jehovah? Is it not to break thy bread to the hungry, and when thou seest the naked that thou cover him?" (58:5, 7).

That by the good pleasure of Jehovah, when said of men, is signified to live according to His precepts, which is to love God and the neighbour (as said above), is evident; for it is said that His good pleasure is that they should break their bread to the hungry and cover the naked. By breaking bread to the hungry is signified from love to do good to the neighbour who desires good; and by covering the naked is signified to instruct in truths him who desires to be instructed.

[12] In David:

"I have desired to do thy good pleasure (or thy will), my God, and thy law is in my bowels" (Psalms 40:8).

Again:

"Teach me to do thy good pleasure; let thy good spirit lead me in the land of uprightness" (Psalms 143:10).

And again:

"Bless ye Jehovah, all ye his hosts; ye his ministers who do his good pleasure" (Psalms 103:21).

To do the good pleasure of Jehovah God signifies to live according to His precepts; this is His good pleasure, or will, because from Divine love He wills that all may be saved, and by this they are saved. The word good pleasure, in the Hebrew tongue, also signifies will; for whatever is done according to the will is well pleasing, and the Divine love wills no other than that the love which is from Himself may be with angels and men, and His love is with them, when they love to live according to His precepts. That this is to love the Lord, He himself teaches in John (14:15, 21, 23, 24; 15:10, 14; 21:15, 16).

[13] That will signifies love in the opposite sense, namely, the love of evil and the love of falsity, is evident in John:

As many as received Jesus, "to them gave he power to become the sons of God, to them that believe in his name; who were born, not of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (1:12, 13).

To believe in the name of the Lord signifies to live according to the precepts of His doctrine. (That the name of the Lord signifies all those things by which He is worshipped, consequently all those things that appertain to love and faith, may be seen above, n. 102, 135.) Who are not [born] of bloods signifies those who are not in a life contrary to good and truth; nor of the will of the flesh signifies those who are not in the love of evil; who are not [born] of the will of man (vir) signifies those who are not in the love of falsity. (That flesh, when said of man, denotes his voluntary proprium, consequently evil, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 148, 149, 780, 999, 3813, 8409, 10283; and that man (vir) denotes the intellectual proprium of man, which is falsity, may be seen, n. 4823).

9458. 'Speak to the children of Israel' means the representative Church. This is clear from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as the Church, in particular the spiritual Church, dealt with in 8805, 9340, but at this point the representative Church, since the kinds of objects that represented the holy things of the Church and of heaven are the subject, such as the ark, the mercy-seat, the cherubs, the table on which the loaves of the Presence were laid, the lampstand, and further on the tabernacle, Aaron's garments, and the altar and sacrifices, all of which were representative. The reason why the spiritual Church is meant by 'the children of Israel' is that it was represented by them. However no actual representative Church could be established among that people, only a representative of a Church, see 4281, 4288, 4311, 4444, 4500, 6304, 7048, 9320.

4444 .'When they heard; and the men were grieved and blazing with anger' means that they were under the influence of evil that was directed against the truth of the Church among the Ancients. This is clear from the meaning of 'being grieved and blazing with anger' here as being under the influence of evil. Its direction against the truth of the Church among the Ancients follows because the anger was against Shechem the son of Hamor, who means the truth known to the Ancients, as stated above in 4430, 4431. Their being under the influence of evil is evident from details given further on, namely that they spoke deceitfully, verse 13, and then after Shechem and Hamor had submitted to their demands they killed them, verses 26-29. Consequently 'being grieved' here and 'blazing with anger' mean that they were under the influence of evil. Their action looks like zeal aroused in them because he had lain with their sister, to judge by the words which immediately follow 'because he had done something disgraceful in Israel by lying with Jacob's daughter, a thing that ought not to be done' - and by those at the end of the chapter 'They said, Is he going to treat our sister like a prostitute?' verse 31. But it was not zeal, for zeal cannot possibly exist with someone who is under the influence of evil, only with one governed by good; for zeal has good within it, 4164.

[2] The semblance of religion which existed among their descendants did indeed have good within it, in that all its details, each one, represented the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom. But in the case of those with whom it existed it did not hold anything good at all since they were confined solely to external things devoid of internal, as shown above. It is the same with the semblance of religion possessed by that nation among whom it exists even at the present day. They acknowledge Moses and the Prophets, and so the Word. In itself this is holy but in their case it is not holy, for within every detail there they see themselves and so that which is worldly. Indeed they turn the Word into something earthly, for they do not know or even care about anything heavenly within it. If the state of a people is like this, no good can exist in them when their own semblance of religion holds sway over them. Instead evil is present, for nothing heavenly enters into them because they will annihilate it.

[3] There was a law, also known in the Ancient Church, according to which anyone who ravished a virgin had to provide her with a dowry and take her to be his wife, as the following words in Moses laid down,

If a man persuades a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall endow her with a dowry to be his wife; if her father utterly refuses to give her to him he shall weigh silver according to the dowry of virgins. Exodus 22:16-17.

And elsewhere,

If a man finds a young woman, a virgin, who is not betrothed, and he seizes her and lies with her, and they are discovered, the man who lay with her shall give to the young woman's father fifty pieces of silver, and she shall become his wife, because he ravished her; and he will not be able to divorce her all his days. Deuteronomy 22:28-29.

The fact that this same law was known to the Ancients is quite evident from Shechem's words to the young woman's father and brothers,

Shechem said to her father and to her brothers, Let me find grace in your eyes, and I will give that which you tell me. Increase the dowry and gift to any size and I will give you whatever you tell me, and give me the young woman for a wife. Verses 11-12.

Also, because Shechem was willing to fulfill this law and Dinah's brothers gave their consent provided he became as they themselves were, by circumcising every male, according to the words that follow

Only on this [condition] will we consent to you: If you will be as we are, by circumcising every male among you, then we will give our daughters to you, and your daughters we will take to ourselves, and we will dwell with you, and we wit be one people. Verses 15-16

- it is therefore evident that they did not act in conformity with the law, thus were not motivated by good, but acted contrary to the law, and consequently were motivated by evil.

[4] The law forbade them, it is true, to enter into marriages with the gentile nations, as laid down in Moses,

Lest you take their daughters for your sons, and their daughters go whoring after their gods, and they cause your sons to go whoring after their gods. Exodus 34:16.

And elsewhere,

You shall not establish a marriage relationship with the nations; you shall not give your daughter to his son, and you shall not take his daughter for your son, for he will turn your son from following Me, to serve other gods. Deuteronomy 7:3-4.

But this law referred to idolatrous nations. It was laid down to prevent their turning away, through such marriages, from truly representative worship to idolatrous worship; for once they became idolaters they were no longer able to represent the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom, only their opposites, namely the things of hell. In fact, once they were idolaters, they summoned from hell a certain devil whom they worshipped and to whom they applied Divine representatives. This accounts for its being said that they were not to go whoring after their gods. That law was also laid down for the further reason that 'the nations' means evils and falsities with which the goods and truths which they represented were not to be mingled, and therefore devilish and hellish things were not to be mingled with celestial and spiritual ones, 3024 (end).

[5] But they were in no way forbidden to contract marriages with nations who willingly adopted their worship and who, after being circumcised, acknowledged Jehovah. These they called sojourners sojourning with them, of whom the following is said in Moses,

If a sojourner sojourns with you and wishes to keep the Passover to Jehovah, every male he has shall be circumcised, and then he shall come near and keep it; and he will be as an inhabitant of the land. There shall be one law for the inhabitant and for the sojourner who sojourns in the midst of you. Exodus 12:48-49.

And elsewhere,

When the sojourner has sojourned with you, he shall keep the Passover to Jehovah according to the statute for the Passover, and according to the regulations ¹ for it. There shall be one statute for you, both for the sojourner and for the native of the land. Numbers 9:14.

The reason why they were called sojourners sojourning in the midst of them and with them was that 'sojourning' meant receiving instruction, and so 'a sojourner' those who allowed themselves to receive instruction in statutes and matters of doctrine, see 1463, 2025, 3672. In the same author,

If a sojourner should sojourn with you who would make a fire-offering of an odour of rest to Jehovah, he shall do as you do. As for the assembly, one statute shall there be for you and for the sojourner who sojourns, an eternal statute throughout your generations. As you are, so shall the sojourner be before Jehovah. There shall be one law and one judgement for you and for the sojourner sojourning with you. Numbers 15:14-16.

And elsewhere,

As the native among you shall the sojourner sojourning with you be to you.

Leviticus 19:34.

One judgement shall there be for you; it shall be for the sojourner as for the native. Leviticus 24:22.

[6] The fact that this statute was known not only to Jacob and his sons but also to Shechem and Hamor is evident from the words spoken by them. For the statutes, judgements, and laws which were given to the Israelite and Jewish nation were not new but such as existed previously in the Ancient Church and in the second Ancient Church which, from Eber, was called the Hebrew, as has been shown in various places. The consequent knowledge of this law is evident from the words of Jacob's sons,

Jacob's sons said to Hamor and Shechem, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to a man who has a foreskin; for that would be a reproach to us. Only on this [condition] will we consent to you: If you will be as we are, by circumcising every male among you, then we will give our daughters to you, and your daughters we will take to ourselves, and we will dwell with you, and we will be one people. Verses 14-16.

That knowledge is also evident from Hamor and Shechem's words, in that they not only consented but also did cause themselves and every male of their city to be circumcised, verses 18-24.

[7] This shows that Shechem became a sojourner such as is referred to in the Law, and so could take Jacob's daughter as a wife; and that their killing them was accordingly an unmentionable deed, as Jacob also bore witness before his death, Genesis 49:5-7. The fact that not only Judah but also Moses, as well as the kings of the Jews and Israelites, and many of the people too, married wives from gentile nations is clear from the historical sections of the Word; and one should not doubt that those wives accepted their statutes, judgements, and laws and were acknowledged as sojourners.

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