9156. Upon every word of transgression. That this signifies whatsoever injury and whatsoever loss, is evident from the signification of “transgression,” as being everything that is contrary to the truth of faith, thus that injures or extinguishes it, consequently all injury and loss thereof whatsoever. In the Word, evils are sometimes called “sins,” sometimes “iniquities,” and sometimes “transgressions;” but what is meant specifically by these several terms is not clear except from the internal sense. Those evils are called “transgressions” which are done contrary to the truths of faith; those are called “iniquities,” which are done contrary to the goods of faith; and those are called “sins,” which are done contrary to the goods of charity and of love. The first two proceed from a perverted understanding, but the last from a depraved will. As in David:

Wash me from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin; for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me (Psalms 51:2-3);

“iniquity” denotes evil contrary to the goods of faith; “sin,” evil contrary to the goods of charity and love; and “transgressions,” evil contrary to the truths of faith. As the latter is evil proceeding from a perverted understanding, and thus is known from the truths of faith, it is said, “I acknowledge my transgressions.”

[2] Again:

Remember, O Jehovah, Thy mercies, and Thy compassions; remember not the sins of my youth, and my transgressions (Psalms 25:6-7);

sins” denote evils from a depraved will; and “transgressions,” evils from a perverted understanding.

In Isaiah:

Behold for iniquities were ye sold, and for transgressions was your mother put away (Isaiah 50:1);

“iniquities” denote evils contrary to goods, and “transgressions,” evils contrary to the truths of faith of the church; the “mother” denotes the church, which is said to be “put away” when it departs from faith.

In Micah:

For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sin of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee (Micah 1:5, 13);

here in like manner “sin” denotes what is contrary to the good of charity and love; and “transgression” what is contrary to the truth of faith; for “Samaria” denotes the church of perverted faith, and so does “Israel” in this passage.

[3] As “transgressions” denote evils that are contrary to the truths of faith, they are also “trespasses” and “revolts,” which moreover, in the original tongue are signified by the same expression, as is evident in David:

For the multitude of their transgressions thrust out those who rebel against Thee (Psalms 5:10);

“to rebel” is said when there are both revolt and trespass. And in Isaiah:

Are ye not children of transgression, the seed of a lie; who have heated yourselves with gods under every green tree; who slay the children in the rivers? (Isaiah 57:4-5).

That “transgression” denotes evil contrary to the truths of faith is very evident from these passages, for the “children of transgression” denote the falsities which destroy the truths of faith; and therefore they are also called “the seed of a lie,” for “a lie” denotes falsity (n. 8908); and therefore it is said of them that they “heat themselves with gods under every green tree,” by which in the internal sense is meant worship from falsities; for “gods” denote falsities (n. 4402, 4544, 7873, 8867); and a “green tree,” the perception of falsity from a perverted understanding (n. 2722, 4552); and therefore it is also said “ye slay the children in the rivers,” by which is meant the extinction of the truths of faith by means of falsities; for “to slay” denotes to extinguish; “children” or “sons” denote the truths of faith (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2813, 3373); and “rivers” denote falsities (n. 6693).

4552. And Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. That this signifies eternal rejection, is evident from the signification of “hiding,” as being to reject and bury as dead; and from the signification of “under the oak,” as being to eternity; for as the oak is a very long-lived tree, when anything was hidden under it, it signified what is perpetual; and it also signified what is entangled, and moreover what is fallacious and false, because the lowest of the natural is relatively entangled and fallacious insofar as it derives its knowledge and its pleasure from the sensuous things of the body, and thus from fallacies. For by the “oak” is specifically signified the lowest of the natural, consequently in a good sense the truths and goods which are therein, and in the opposite sense the evils and falsities which are therein.

[2] Moreover, when falsities are removed in a regenerate man, they are rejected to the lowest of the natural; and therefore when a man becomes mature in judgment and clearsighted, and especially when he becomes intelligent and wise, they appear still further removed from his interior sight. For with the regenerate man truths are in the inmost of his natural near good, which is like a little sun there; and the truths which depend on these are distant therefrom according to the degrees of-so to speak-their consanguinity and affinity with good. Fallacious truths are in the more outward circumferences, and falsities are rejected to the outermost ones. The latter remain with man forever, but are in this order when the man suffers himself to be led by the Lord, for this order is heavenly order, inasmuch as heaven itself is in such an order. But when a man does not suffer himself to be led by the Lord, but by evil, these things are then in the opposite order, evil with falsities then being in the middle, truths being rejected to the circumferences, and the veriest Divine truths to the outermost circumferences, which order is infernal, for in such an order is hell, the outermost circumferences being the lowest things of the natural.

[3] That “oaks” denote the falsities which are the lowest things of the natural, is because in the Ancient Church, when there was external worship representative of the Lord’s kingdom, all trees of whatever kind signified something spiritual or celestial; for instance the olive and the oil from it signified the things which are of celestial love; the vine and the wine from it, the things which are of charity and its derivative faith; and so with the other trees, as the cedar, the fig, the poplar, the beech, and the oak, the signification of which has been occasionally shown in the explications. It is for this reason that they are so often mentioned in the Word, and also in general gardens, groves, and forests, and that men had their worship in these under certain trees. But as this worship became idolatrous, and the posterity of Jacob, with whom the representative of a church was instituted, was prone to idolatry, and consequently set up so many idols therein, they were forbidden to hold worship in gardens and groves, and under the trees therein; nevertheless the trees retained their signification, and therefore not only the more noble, as the olive, the vine, and the cedar, but also the poplar, the beech, and the oak, where mentioned in the Word, are each significative as in the Ancient Church.

[4] That “oaks” in a good sense signify the truths and goods which are lowest of the natural, and in the opposite sense falsities and evils, is evident from the passages in the Word where they are mentioned, when understood in the internal sense, as in Isaiah:

They who forsake Jehovah shall be consumed, for they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired; and ye shall be as an oak that casteth its leaves, and as a garden that hath no water (Isaiah 1:28-30).

The day of Jehovah Zebaoth shall be upon everyone lifted up and low, and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, and upon all the oaks of Bashan (Isaiah 2:12-13).

That the day of Jehovah will not be upon the cedars and the oaks, everyone may know, but upon those who are signified by them. Again:

He who formeth a god heweth him down cedars, and taketh the beech and the oak, and strengtheneth for himself in the trees of the forest (Isaiah 44:14).

[5] In Ezekiel:

Ye shall acknowledge that I am Jehovah when their pierced ones shall be in the midst of the idols round about their altars, upon every high hill, in all the heads of the mountains, and under every green tree, and under every tangled oak, the place where they have given an odor of rest to all their idols (Ezekiel 6:13).

Moreover the ancients had worship upon hills and mountains because hills and mountains signified celestial love; but when the worship was performed by idolaters, as here, they signify the love of self and of the world (n. 795, 796, 1430, 2722, 4210); and they held it under trees, because as before said these were significative according to their species. “Under the tangled oak” here denotes that the worship was from falsities, which are the lowest things of the natural, for these are in an entangled state (n. 2831).

In Hosea:

They sacrifice upon the heads of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, under the oak, the poplar, and the hard oak, because the shade thereof is good; therefore your daughters commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery (Hos. 4:13).

That “to commit whoredom” is to falsify truths, and “to commit adultery” is to pervert goods, may be seen in n. 2466, 2729, 3399.

In Zechariah:

Open thy doors, O Lebanon, and let the fire devour the cedars, because the magnificent ones are laid waste; howl, ye oaks of Bashan, for the forest of Bazar is come down (Zech. 11:1-2).