4500. 'And came with confidence upon the city, and killed every male' means that they utterly destroyed the truths of doctrine of the Church among the Ancients. This is clear from the meaning of 'the city' as the doctrine of the Church, dealt with in 402, 2449, 2943, 3216, 4478, in this case of the Church among the Ancients, for that Church is represented by Hamor and Shechem whose city it was; from the meaning of 'with confidence' as with trust, in this case with trust in falsity and evil; and from the meaning of 'a male' as truth, dealt with in 749, 2046, 4005. From these meanings it is evident that 'they came with confidence upon the city, and killed every male' means that with a trust in falsity and evil they utterly destroyed the truths of doctrine of the Church among the Ancients.

[2] It was the Church among the Ancients, a descendant of the Most Ancient Church, that was going to be established among the descendants from Jacob, because the Ancient Church had begun to perish. But the fact that they utterly destroyed every truth of faith and good of charity, and thus every internal aspect of worship among them, and so the fact that no Church could be established among Jacob's descendants, is described at this point in the internal sense. This explains how it came about that, because of their stubborn insistence, that which was merely a representative of the Church was established among them 4281, 4288-4290, 4293, 4307, 4314, 4316, 4317, 4429, 4433, 4444.

4282. Verses 26-28 And he' said, Let me go, for the dawn is coming up. And he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me. And he ¹ said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob. And he' said, Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed.

'He said, Let me go, for the dawn is coming up' means that the temptation came to an end when the joining together was at hand. 'And he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me' means that a joining together was to take place. 'And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob' means the essential nature of good done from truth. 'And he said, Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel' means the Divine celestial-spiritual at this point, for 'Israel' is the celestial-spiritual man within the natural, and so is the natural man, whereas the celestial-spiritual man proper - that is, the rational man - is 'Joseph'. 'For as a prince you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed' means repeated victories in conflicts over truths and goods.

[2] In the internal historical sense in which Jacob and his descendants are the subject the same words have the following meaning: 'Let me go, for the dawn is coming up' means that the genuine representative role would depart from the descendants of Jacob before they entered into the representatives connected with the land of Canaan. 'And he said, I will not let you go unless you bless me' means that they insisted on being representative. 'And he said to him, What is your name? And he said, Jacob' means that they were the descendants of Jacob - together with their essential nature. 'And he said, Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel' means that they could not as [the descendants of] Jacob play the representative part, except by virtue of the new nature that was imparted to them. 'For as a prince you have contended with God and with men, and have prevailed' means on account of the stubborn perverseness which was a product of their evil desires and of false delusions.

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