314. 就屬靈之義而言, "行淫"是指玷污聖言教導的良善,歪曲聖言教導的真理。"行淫"的這層含義至今不為人知, 因為聖言的屬靈含義一直被隱藏至今。下列經文中"行淫","妓女"所指皆是此意:

你們當在耶路撒冷的街上跑來跑去, 在寬闊處尋找, 看看有一人行公義,求誠實沒有？我使他們飽足, 他們就行姦淫(耶利米書5:1, 7)。我在耶路撒冷的先知中曾見可憎惡的事, 他們行姦淫, 作事虛妄(耶利米書23:14)。這二人是在以色列中行了醜事, 與鄰舍的妻行淫, 又假託我名說我未曾吩咐他們的話(耶利米書29:23)。他們行淫, 因為他們離棄耶和華不遵他的命(何西阿書4:10)。人偏向交鬼的和行巫術的, 隨他們行邪淫, 我要向那人變臉, 把他從民中剪除(利未記20:6)。只怕你與那地的居民立約, 百姓隨從他們的神, 就行邪淫, 祭祀他們的神(出埃及記34:15)。

因為巴比倫比誰都更加玷污和歪曲聖言, 因此被稱為"大淫婦"; 『啟示錄』的下列經句就是如此論到它:叫萬民喝邪淫,大怒之酒的巴比倫(啟示錄14:8)。有一位天人前來對我說:"我將坐在眾水上的大淫婦所要受的刑罰指給你看"(啟示錄17:1-2)。祂審判了那用淫行敗壞世界的大淫婦(啟示錄19:2)。

因為猶太民族歪曲聖言, 主稱之為"淫亂的世代"(馬太福音12:39; 16:4;馬可福音8:38)和"通姦者的種子"(以賽亞書57:3)。還有其它許多章節中, 行邪淫與妓女被理解成對聖言的玷污與歪曲, 例如耶利米書3:6, 8; 13:27;以西結書16:15-16, 26, 28-29, 32-33; 23:2-3, 5, 7, 11, 14, 17;何西阿書5:3; 6:10; 那鴻書3:4。

5013. 'See, he has brought us a Hebrew man' means something servile. This is clear from the meaning of 'a Hebrew man', an expression that is used to refer to servitude, dealt with in 1703. The meaning is also plain from what follows below, for there Joseph is called 'a Hebrew slave' and also simply 'a slave' - 'The Hebrew slave whom you have brought to us came to me' verse 17, and 'this is what your slave did to me' verse 19. The principal reason why 'a Hebrew man' here means something servile is that those governed by unspiritual natural truth and good, represented here by 'Potiphar and his wife', do not regard spiritual truth and good, represented here by 'Joseph', as anything other than their slave. So far as both the life and the doctrine of these people are concerned, order is upside down, for with them the natural is lord and the spiritual is slave, whereas, when true order exists, the spiritual is lord and the natural is slave. For the spiritual is prior, more internal and higher, also closer to the Divine, while the natural is posterior, more external and lower, and further removed from the Divine. For this reason both with the individual person and within the Church the spiritual is compared to heaven and also actually called heaven, and the natural is compared to the earth and also actually called the earth. This also explains why, when spiritual people - that is, those with whom the spiritual is lord - are seen in the next life in the light of heaven, they have their heads pointing upwards towards the Lord and their feet downwards towards hell. But when natural people - that is, those with whom the natural is lord - are seen in the light of heaven, they have their feet pointing upwards and their heads downwards; and this is so, even though they are seen differently in their own light, which is a feeble light produced by the evil desires and consequent false notions they are steeped in, 1528, 3340, 4214, 4418, 4531, 4532.

[2] The way natural people look upon spiritual things as so to speak a body of slaves was also represented by the way the Egyptians regarded the Hebrews as nothing else than their slaves; for the Egyptians represented those who are preoccupied with natural knowledge, and so are natural people, whereas the Hebrews represented those who belong to the Church and so are spiritual when considered in relation to the Egyptians. Furthermore the Egyptians thought the Hebrews were of so low or slave-like a degree that it was an abomination to them to eat with Hebrews, Genesis 43:32; also the sacrifices which Hebrews offered were an abomination to them, Exodus 8:26.