3542. 'And on the smooth of his neck' means so that truth which disjoined was not apparent. This is clear from 'smooth' or 'the smooth' having reference to truth, dealt with in 3527, and from the meaning of 'the neck' as that which joins together, dealt with below. Here therefore, since the appearance was 'on the smooth of his neck' it means so that truth which disjoins was not apparent. The implications of all this may be seen from what has been stated and shown above in 3539, to the effect that the good and the truths which flow from the understanding but not at the same time from the will are neither good nor truths, no matter how much they seem to be so to outward appearance. And if the will is bent on evil, good and truths are disjoined and do not join together. But if the will is in some measure desirous of good, they do not in that case disjoin but join together, even though the order in which they stand is the reverse of proper order; for it is by means of such good and truths that a person is regenerated. And because such good and truths standing thus serve first in the regeneration of man it is said that truth which disjoined would not be apparent. But more of this in what follows below.

[2] The reason why 'the neck' means that which joins together is that higher things with man which belong to the head communicate with lower that belong to the body by means of the neck between. Consequently both influx and communication, and therefore conjunction, are meant by that which lies between. This will be seen far more clearly from the correspondences of the Grand Man with the parts of the human body, to be dealt with at the ends of chapters. The same is consequently meant in the Word by 'the neck', as in Isaiah,

His spirit, like an overflowing stream, will divide even at the neck. Isaiah 30:28.

Here 'an overflowing stream' stands for falsity flowing over in this fashion. 'Dividing at the neck' stands for blocking and cutting off the communication and consequent joining together of higher things with lower ones, which are blocked and cut off when spiritual good and truth are not being received.

[3] In Habakkuk,

You crushed the head from the house of the wicked, laying bare the foundation even at the neck. Habakkuk 3:13.

'Crushing the head from the house of the wicked' stands for destroying false assumptions. 'Laying bare the foundation even at the neck' stands for preventing thereby any joining together. In Jeremiah,

Entangled transgressions have risen up above my neck. He has struck at my strength; the Lord has given me into [their] hands; I am unable to rise up again. Lamentations 1:14.

'Entangled transgressions have risen up above my neck' stands for falsities coming up towards interior or rational things.

[4] Because 'the neck' meant that communication and joining together, 'bands around the neck' therefore meant the cutting off and so the destruction of truth, which occurs when spiritual things that are flowing in constantly from the Lord are no longer allowed to pass into the rational part of a person's mind, nor as a consequence into the natural part. It is this cutting off or destruction that is represented by Jeremiah's being told to make bands and bars for himself and put them on his neck; to send them to different peoples and say that they would be serving Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babel; and to say that those who did not place their necks under his yoke would be visited by sword, famine, and pestilence; but those who did bring their necks under it would be left in the land, Jeremiah 27:2-3, 8, 11. 'Placing the neck under the yoke of the king of Babel and serving him' stands for being made desolate as regards truth and vastated as regards good. For 'Babel' means one who lays waste, see 1327 (end); and people undergo vastation to prevent holy things from being profaned, 301-303, 1327, 1328, 2426, 3398, 3399, 3402. And since evil and falsity come to be served once the influx of good and truth has been cut off, 'placing the neck under the yoke' also means serving. In the same prophet,

Jehovah said, I will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel from over the neck of all nations within two years. Jeremiah 28:11.

This stands for their being delivered from vastation. In Isaiah,

Shake yourself from the dust, arise, sit, O Jerusalem; loose the bonds from your neck, O captive daughter of Zion. Isaiah 52:2.

'Loosing the bonds from the neck' stands for letting in and receiving good and truth In Micah,

Behold, against this family I am devising this evil from which you will not remove your necks nor go erect, for that will be a time of evil. Micah 2:3.

'Not removing necks from evil' stands for not letting truth in. 'Not going erect' stands for not looking up to higher things, that is, to those of heaven, 248.

1327. 'Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth' means the state of this Ancient Church, that internal worship started to perish. This is clear from the fact that the phrase used is 'the lip of the whole earth' and not, as previously in verse 7, the lip of those who started to build a city and a tower. 'The face of the whole earth' means the state of the Church since 'the earth' is the Church, as shown already in 662, 1066. The story of the Churches after the Flood is as follows: There were three Churches which receive specific mention in the Word - the first Ancient Church which took its name from Noah, the second Ancient Church which took its name from Eber, and the third Ancient Church which took its name from Jacob, and subsequently from Judah and Israel.

[2] As regards the first Ancient Church, that called Noah, this was the parent so to speak of those that followed, and as is usually the case with Churches in their earliest phases, it was more untarnished and innocent, as is also clear from verse 1 of this chapter which says that it had one lip, that is, one doctrine. That is to say, everyone regarded charity as the essential. But in the course of time, as usually happens to Churches, that Church also started to decline, chiefly because many people started to divert worship to themselves so as to set themselves above others, as is clear from verse 4 above - 'they said, Let us build ourselves a city and a tower, and its head in heaven, and let us make a name for ourselves'. In the Church such people were inevitably like some fermenting agent, or like firebrands that start a fire. When the danger of profaning what is holy was consequently near at hand, referred to in 571, 582, the state of this Church was, in the Lord's Providence, altered. That is to say, its internal worship perished but its external worship remained, which here is meant by the statement that 'Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth'. From this it is also clear that the kind of worship called Babel was not prevalent in the first Ancient Church but in those that followed when people started to be worshipped in place of gods, especially after they had died. This was the origin of so many pagan deities.

[3] The reason internal worship was allowed to perish and external remain was to prevent what is holy being profaned. The profanation of what is holy carries eternal condemnation with it. Nobody is able to profane what is holy unless he possesses cognitions of faith and also acknowledges them. Anyone who does not possess them cannot acknowledge them, still less profane them. It is internal things which may be profaned, for it is in internal things, not external, that holiness resides. The situation is similar with someone who does evil but does not have evil in mind. The evil he does cannot be attributed to him any more than to someone who does not deliberately intend evil, or to anyone devoid of rationality. Thus anyone who does not believe in the existence of a life after death, but who nevertheless has external worship, cannot profane the things that belong to eternal life because he does not believe that they exist. The situation is different with those who do know and acknowledge them.

[4] This too is why a person is allowed rather to live engrossed in lusts and pleasures, and so to isolate himself from internal things, than to enter into a knowledge and acknowledgement of internal things and so profane them. The Jews of today therefore are allowed to immerse themselves in avarice so that in this way they may be removed from an acknowledgement of internal things, for they are the kind of people who, if they acknowledged them, would inevitably profane them. Nothing does more to isolate a person from internal things than avarice, for this is the lowest of all earthly desires. The same applies to many inside the Church, and to gentiles outside, though gentiles, least of all people, are able to profane anything. This then is the reason for the statement here that 'Jehovah confounded the lip of the whole earth', and the reason why these words mean that the state of the Church was altered, that is to say, its worship became external, having no internal worship within it.

[5] The same situation was represented and meant by the Babylonish captivity into which the Israelites, and later on the Jews, were carried away. This is spoken of in Jeremiah as follows,

And there will be a nation and a kingdom that will not serve the king of Babel, and who will not put its neck in the yoke of the king of Babel. With the sword and famine and pestilence I will visit this people, until I have consumed it by his hand. Jeremiah 27:8 and following verses.

'Serving the king of Babel and putting its neck in his yoke' is being utterly deprived of the knowledge and acknowledgement of the good and the truth of faith, and so of internal worship.

[6] The point is clearer still in the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah to all the people in this city, your brethren who did not go out with you into captivity, thus said Jehovah Zebaoth, Behold, I am sending on them the sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like rotten figs. Jeremiah 29:16-17.

'Remaining in the city and not going out to the king of Babel' represented and meant people who possessed the cognitions of internal things, that is, of the truths of faith, and who profaned them - people on whom, it is said, He was sending 'the sword, famine, and pestilence', which are forms of punishment for profanation, and whom He was making 'like rotten figs'.

[7] That 'Babel' means people who deprive others of all knowledge and acknowledgement of truth was also represented and meant by the following words in the same prophet,

I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babel, and he will carry them off to Babel, and will smite them with the sword. And I will give over all the wealth of this city, and all its labour, and all its precious things; and I will give all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, and they will plunder them and seize them. Jeremiah 20:4-5.

Here 'all its wealth, all its lab our, all its precious things, all the treasures of the kings of Judah' means in the internal sense cognitions of faith.

[8] In the same prophet,

With the families of the north I will bring the king of Babel against this land and against its inhabitants, and against all those nations round about, and I will utterly destroy them and make them into a ruin, a hissing, and everlasting wastes. And this whole land will be a waste. Jeremiah 25:9, 11.

Here 'Babel' is used to describe the vastation of the interior things of faith, that is, of internal worship. Indeed, as shown already, anyone whose worship is worship of self possesses no truth of faith. He destroys and lays waste, and leads off into captivity, everything that is true. This is why Babel is also called 'a destroying mountain' in Jeremiah 51:25.

For more concerning Babel, see what has been stated already in 1182.