2049. From every son that is a stranger who is not of thy seed. That this signifies those who are outside the church, is evident from the signification of “son that is a stranger,” as being those who are not born within the church, thus are not in the goods and truths of faith, because not in the knowledges of them. “Sons that are strangers” also signify those who are in external worship (concerning whom, n. 1097); but where this is the meaning, those who are within the church are treated of, whereas in the passage before us the Lord’s church in the universal is treated of, and therefore “sons that are strangers” signify those who are not born within the church, as is the case with the Gentiles. Gentiles, who are outside the church, may be in truths, but not in the truths of faith. Their truths, like the precepts of the Decalogue, are that parents are to be honored, that men are not to kill, steal, commit adultery, or covet things that belong to others; also that the Deity is to be worshiped. But the truths of faith are all doctrinal things concerning eternal life, the Lord’s kingdom, and the Lord Himself, which cannot be known to the Gentiles because they have not the Word.

[2] These are they who are signified by “sons that are strangers who are not of thy seed,” and yet were to be circumcised, that is purified, together with them. This shows that they can be purified, equally with those within the church; as was represented by their being circumcised. They are purified when they reject filthy loves, and live with one another in charity; for then they live in truths, since all truths are of charity; but in the truths already mentioned. They who live in these truths readily imbibe the truths of faith, if not in the life of the body, yet in the other life, because the truths of faith are the interior truths of charity, and they then love nothing more than to be admitted into the interior truths of charity. The interior truths of charity are those in which the Lord’s kingdom consists (see n. 932, 1032, 1059, 1327, 1328, 1366)

[3] In the other life a memory-knowledge of the knowledges of faith is of no avail, for the worst, nay, the infernals, can be in the memory-knowledge of them, sometimes more than others; but that which avails is a life according to the knowledges, for all knowledges have life as their end. Unless knowledges were learned for the sake of life, they would be of no use except that men might talk about them, and thereby be esteemed learned in the world, be exalted to honors, and gain reputation and wealth. From this it is evident that a life of the knowledges of faith is no other than a life of charity; for the Law and the Prophets, that is, the universal doctrine of faith together with all its knowledges, consists in love to the Lord and in love toward the neighbor; as is manifest to all from the Lord’s words in Matthew 22:34-39 and Mark 12:28-35

[4] But still doctrinal things, that is, the knowledges of faith, are most necessary for forming the life of charity, which cannot be formed without them. This is the life that saves after death, and by no means any life of faith without it; for without charity there cannot be any life of faith. They who are in the life of love and charity are in the Lord’s life, and by no other life can anyone be conjoined with Him. Hence also it is evident that the truths of faith can never be acknowledged as truths, that is, the acknowledgment of them so much talked of is impossible, except outwardly, and by the mouth, unless they are implanted in charity; for inwardly or in the heart they are denied, since, as already said, they all have charity as their end; and if this is not within them they are inwardly rejected. When the exteriors are taken away-as is done in the other life-the interiors are manifest in their true character, in that they are utterly contrary to all the truths of faith. When men have had no life of charity-that is, no mutual love-during their bodily life, it is utterly impossible to receive it in the other life, because they are averse to and hate it, for after death the same life remains with us that we have lived here. When such persons merely approach a society where there is the life of mutual love, they tremble, shudder, and feel torture.

[5] Such persons, although born within the church, are called “sons that are strangers, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh,” who are not to be admitted into the sanctuary, that is, into the Lord’s kingdom; and who are also meant in Ezekiel:

No son that is a stranger, uncircumcised in heart and uncircumcised in flesh, shall enter into My sanctuary (Ezekiel 44:7, 9).

Again:

To whom art thou thus become like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? and thou shalt be brought down with the trees of Eden into the lower earth, thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised with them that are slain by the sword (Ezekiel 31:18); where Pharaoh is treated of, by whom are signified memory-knowledges in general (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462); by “the trees of Eden” with which they should go down into the lower earth, are also signified memory-knowledges, but those of the knowledges of faith. All this shows what “the uncircumcised” is in the internal sense, namely, one who is in filthy loves and the life of them.

1186. That “Asshur” is reasoning, is evident from the signification of Asshur or Assyria in the Word, where it is constantly taken for the things which pertain to reason, in both senses; namely, for what is of reason, and for reasonings. By reason and rational things are properly meant things that are true; and by reasoning and reasonings, those which are false. Because “Asshur” signifies reason and reasoning, it is very frequently connected with “Egypt,” which signifies memory-knowledges; for reason and reasoning are from such knowledges. That “Asshur” signifies reasoning is evident in Isaiah:

Woe unto Asshur, the rod of Mine anger, he thinketh not right, neither doth his heart meditate right, he hath said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, because I am intelligent (Isaiah 10:5, 7, 13), where “Asshur” denotes reasoning, of whom it is therefore predicated that he neither thinketh nor doth meditate right; and it is said, “by his own wisdom, because he is intelligent.”

[2] In Ezekiel:

Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt; they committed whoredom in their youth. The one committed whoredom, and doted on her lovers, on Asshur (the Assyrians) her neighbors, who were clothed in blue, captains and rulers, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding upon horses. The sons of Babel came to her, and they defiled her with their whoredom (Ezekiel 23:2-3, 5-6, 17).

Here “Egypt” denotes memory-knowledges; “Asshur,” reasoning; and “the sons of Babel,” falsities from cupidities.

[3] In the same:

O Jerusalem, thou hast also committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, thou hast committed whoredom also with the sons of Asshur, and thou hast multiplied thy whoredom even into the land of Canaan unto Chaldea (Ezekiel 16:26, 28-29), where “Egypt” in like manner denotes memory-knowledges; “Asshur,” reasoning. Reasoning from memory-knowledges concerning spiritual and celestial things is called “whoredom,” both here and elsewhere in the Word. That whoredom with the Egyptians and the Assyrians is not meant, anyone can see.

[4] In Jeremiah:

Israel, what hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? and what hast thou to do with the way of Asshur, to drink the waters of the river [Euphrates]? (Jeremiah 2:18, 36).

Here likewise “Egypt” denotes memory-knowledges; and “Asshur,” reasoning. In the same:

Israel is a scattered sheep, the lions have driven him away, first the king of Asshur hath devoured him, and after that this king of Babel hath broken his bones (Jeremiah 50:17-18).

“Asshur” here is reasoning concerning spiritual things.

[5] In Micah:

This shall be the peace, when Asshur shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces, we will even set over him seven shepherds, and eight princes of men, and they shall feed down the land of Asshur with the sword, and the land of Nimrod, In the gates thereof, and he shall deliver from Asshur, when he shall come into our land, and when he shall tread upon our border (Micah 5:5-6).

The subject here is Israel, or the spiritual church, of which it is said that “Asshur shall not enter in,” that is, that reasoning shall not; “the land of Nimrod” denotes such worship as is signified by Nimrod, in which the interiors are evil and false.

[6] That “Asshur” in the Word is also reason, which is in the man of the church, whereby he discerns truth and good, is evident in Hosea:

They shall tremble as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Asshur (Hosea 11:11).

“Egypt” here denotes the memory-knowledge of the man of the church; and “Asshur,” his reason. That a “bird” is the intellectual of the memory [scientificum intellectuale], and “a dove” rational good, has been shown before.

[7] In Isaiah:

In that day shall there be a path from Egypt to Asshur, and Asshur shall come into Egypt, and Egypt into Asshur, and the Egyptians shall serve Asshur. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Asshur, a blessing in the midst of the land, which Jehovah Zebaoth shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Asshur the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance (Isaiah 19:23-25).

The subject here is the spiritual church, which is “Israel,” whose reason is “Asshur,” and memory-knowledge “Egypt.” These three constitute the intellectual things of the man of the spiritual church, which follow one another in this order. In other places also where Asshur is named, it signifies the rational, either true or false, as in:

Isaiah 20:1, 3; 23:13; 27:13; 30:31; 31:8, 36, 37; 52:4,

Ezekiel 27:23-24; 31:3-18; 32:22;

Micah 7:12;

Zephaniah 2:13;

Zechariah 10:11;

Psalms 83:8.

“Asshur” denotes reasoning in Hosea 5:13; 7:11; 10:6; 11:5; 12:1; 14:3; and in Zechariah 10:10, where Ephraim is spoken of, by whom is signified the intellectual, but here, perverted.