8904. Thou shalt not commit adultery. That this signifies that those things which are of the doctrine of faith and of charity are not to be perverted, thus that the Word is not to be applied to confirm falsities and evils, also that the laws of order are not to be upset, is evident from the signification of “committing adultery,” “debauching,” and “whoredom,” as being in the spiritual or internal sense, to pervert the goods, and falsify the truths, which are of the doctrine of faith and of charity. And as these things are signified by “committing adultery,” there is also signified to apply the Word to confirm evils and falsities; for the Word is the very doctrine itself of faith and charity, and the perversion of the truth and good of the Word is its application to falsities and evils. That these things are signified by “committing adultery” and “debauching” in the spiritual sense, is known to scarcely anyone at this day, for the reason that within the church few now know what the spiritual is, and in what respect it differs from the natural. And scarcely anyone knows that there is a correspondence between the two, and indeed of such a nature that the image of the one is presented in the other, that is, the spiritual is represented in the natural, consequently that the spiritual is like a soul, and the natural is like its body; and thus that through influx and the consequent conjunction they constitute a one; as in the regenerate man do his internal man which is also called spiritual, and his external man which is also called natural.

[2] Such things being at this day unknown, it therefore cannot be known what is signified by “committing adultery,” further than being unlawfully conjoined as to the body. These things, as has been said, being at this day unknown, the reason may be told why “committing adultery” in the spiritual sense signifies to pervert those things which are of the doctrine of faith and charity, thus to adulterate goods and falsify truths. The reason, which at this day is a secret one, is that conjugial love descends from the marriage of good and truth, which is called “the heavenly marriage.” The love which flows in from the Lord and which exists between good and truth in heaven, is turned into conjugial love on the earth, and this by correspondence. Hence it is that the falsification of truth is “whoredom,” and the perversion of good is “adulteration,” in the internal sense. Hence also it is that they who are not in the good and truth of faith cannot be in genuine conjugial love; and also that those who find the delight of life in adulteries can no longer receive anything of faith. I have heard it said by the angels that as soon as anyone commits adultery on the earth and takes delight in it, heaven is closed to him, that is, he refuses any longer to receive from heaven anything of faith and charity. That at this day in the kingdoms where the church is, adulteries are made light of by very many persons, is because the church is at its end, and thus there is no longer any faith, because there is no charity; for the one corresponds to the other. Where there is no faith, falsity is in the place of truth, and evil is in the place of good, and from this there flows the result that adulteries are no longer accounted as criminal; for when heaven is closed with a man, such things flow in from hell. (See what has been said and shown before on this subject, n. 2727-2759, 4434, 4835, 4837)

[3] That “to debauch,” and “to commit adultery,” in the internal or spiritual sense denote to falsify and to pervert the truths and goods of faith and charity, consequently also to confirm falsity and evil by wrong applications from the Word, can be seen from the several passages in the Word where mention is made of “committing adultery,” of “debauching,” and of “committing whoredom;” as will plainly appear from the following passages; as in Ezekiel:

Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations. Thou didst commit whoredom because of thy name, and didst pour out thy whoredoms on everyone that passed by. Thou didst take of thy garments, and didst make for thee high places of various colors, and didst commit whoredom upon them. Thou didst take the vessels of thine adornment of My gold and of My silver, which I had given thee, and madest for thee images of a male; thou didst commit whoredom with them. Thou hast taken thy sons and thy daughters, whom thou hast borne unto Me, and these hast thou sacrificed. Was there little of thy whoredoms? Thou hast committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt, thy neighbors, great of flesh; and hast multiplied thy whoredom to provoke Me. And thou hast committed whoredom with the sons of Asshur, when thou wast insatiable; yea, thou hast committed whoredom with them, and yet thou wast not sated. And thou hast multiplied thy whoredom, even unto the land of traffic, unto Chaldea; and yet in this thou wast not sated. A woman, an adulteress under her man, taketh strangers. They give hire to all harlots; but thou hast given hirings to all thy lovers, and hast recompensed them, that they may come unto thee from every side for thy whoredoms. Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah. I will judge thee with the judgments of adulteresses, and of the shedders of blood (Ezekiel 16:2, and following verses).

[4] Who cannot see that by “whoredoms” here are signified falsifications of truth and adulterations of good? And who can understand a syllable of the passage unless he knows that “whoredom” has such a signification; also unless he knows what is meant by “the sons of Egypt,” by “the sons of Asshur,” and by “Chaldea,” with whom Jerusalem is said to have “committed whoredom?” That she did not do this with those peoples themselves is manifest. It must therefore be told what these things signify in the internal sense. By “Jerusalem” is meant the church perverted; her “garments” here denote truths which are perverted; consequently the falsities which are acknowledged are “the high places of various colors;” “the sons of Egypt” denote memory-knowledges; “the sons of Asshur,” reasonings; “Chaldea,” the profanation of truth (that “garments” denote truths, see n. 1073, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 5319, 5954, 6914, 6918; that “high places” denote worship, and “the high places of various colors,” here, the worship of falsity, n. 796); “vessels of adornment of gold and of silver” denote the knowledges of good and truth (that “vessels” denote knowledges, see n. 3068, 3079; that “gold” denotes good, n. 113, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917; and “silver,” the truth of good, n. 1551, 2048, 2954, 5658); “images of a male” signify appearances and likenesses of truth (n. 2046); “the sons and daughters whom they bare” denote the truths and goods which they have perverted. (That “sons” denote truths, see n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373; and that “daughters” denote goods, see n. 489, 2362, 3024; that “the sons of Egypt” denote the memory-knowledges through which is perversion, see n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462, 2588, 4749, 4964, 4966, 5700, 5702, 6004, 6015, 6125, 6651, 6679, 6683, 6692, 6750, 7296, 7779, 7926; that “Asshur” denotes the reasoning through which by means of memory-knowledges the truths of faith are perverted, and the goods thereof adulterated, see n. 119, 1186; and that “multiplying whoredom even unto the land of Chaldea” denotes even to the profanation of truth; also that “Chaldea” denotes the profanation of truth, n. 1368); from this it is plain why she is called “a woman an adulteress,” and also “a harlot.”

[5] In like manner we read of Babylon in Revelation:

There came one of the seven angels that had the seven vials, and spake with me, saying to me, Come, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters; with whom the kings of the earth have committed whoredom, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunken with the wine of her whoredom. It was Babylon the great, the mother of the harlots and of the abominations of the earth (Revelation 17:1-2, 5; 14:8; 18:3).

That “Babylon” denotes those who pervert the truths and goods of the church for the sake of self-dominion and of self-gain, and this even to profanation, is evident from the signification of “Babel” (n. 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304, 1306-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326, 1327). Hence it is that Babylon is called “a harlot” and “the mother of harlots.” They who know nothing of the internal sense will believe that the kings of the earth who committed whoredom with her signified kings upon the earth, or kingdoms. Yet they do not signify kings, or kingdoms, but the truths of faith of the church, to “commit whoredom” with which denotes to pervert them. (That “kings” denote the truths of faith, see n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148; and that “the earth” denotes the church, n. 566, 662, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577, 8011, 8732.) “The inhabitants of the earth made drunk with the wine of whoredom” denotes that they who were within the church were brought into errors and ravings through the falsities of evil; for to be “made drunken” denotes to be led into errors through false reasonings and wrong interpretations of the Word (n. 1072). “Wine” denotes falsity from evil (n. 6377); consequently “the wine of whoredom” denotes falsity from the perversion of truth. That “earth” denotes the church has just been shown; she is said to “sit upon many waters,” because upon falsities, for in the genuine sense “waters” denote truths, and in the opposite sense, falsities (n. 729, 790, 8137, 8138, 8568).

[6] That “to commit adultery and whoredom” denotes to pervert the goods and the truths of the church, is plainly evident also from another passage in Ezekiel:

Two women, the daughters of one mother, committed whoredom in Egypt; they committed whoredom in their youth. Oholah is Samaria, and Oholibah is Jerusalem. Oholah committed whoredom under Me; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbors, clothed in blue, governors and leaders, all of them desirable young men, horsemen riding on horses. She bestowed her whoredoms upon them, the choice of all the sons of Asshur. Yet she forsook not her whoredoms from Egypt; for they lay with her in her youth. Oholibah was more corrupt in her love than she, and in her whoredoms above the whoredoms of her sister. She doted on the sons of Asshur. She added to her whoredoms, when she saw men portrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion, and she loved them at the look of her eyes. The sons of Babel also came to her unto the copulation of loves; they defiled her with their whoredom. Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, while she remembered the days of her youth, wherein she had committed whoredom in the land of Egypt. She doted on them more than their courtesans (Ezekiel 23:2 and following verses).

In this passage also no one can fail to see that by “whoredoms” are meant spiritual whoredoms, that is, perversions of the good, and falsifications of the truth, which are of the church; also that the things here contained in the internal sense are not manifest unless it is known what is signified by “the sons of Egypt,” by “the Assyrians” or “the sons of Asshur,” by “Chaldea,” and by “Babel;” for it is clear that these nations are not meant, but such things as are of falsity; because the inhabitants of Samaria and Jerusalem did not commit whoredom with them. But what is signified by “Egypt,” “Asshur,” “Chaldea,” and “Babylon” can be seen shown just above.

[7] From the following passages also it is evident that “whoredoms” and “adulteries” in the internal sense denote falsifications and perversions of good and truth, thus adulterations of these; as in Hosea:

Strive ye with your mother, strive ye, because she is not My wife, and I am not her husband; that she may remove her whoredoms from her faces, and her adulteries from between her breasts. I will not have mercy on her sons; because they are sons of whoredoms. For their mother hath committed whoredom, saying, I will go after my lovers, that give me my bread and my water, my wool and my flax, mine oil and my drinks. But I will lay waste her vine and her fig-tree, whereof she hath said, These are my harlot-hire that my lovers have given me (Hos. 2:2, 4-5, 12).

By “mother” in the internal sense is here meant the church (n. 289, 2691, 2717, 4257, 5581, 8897); in like manner by “wife” (n. 252, 253, 409, 749, 770), who is said “not to be a wife,” because in truths perverted, that is, in falsities; by “sons” are meant the truths of the church, here falsities, because they are called “sons of whoredoms” (n. 489, 491, 533, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257). What is meant by “bread,” what by “water,” what by “wool and flax,” also by “oil and drink,” and likewise by “vine and fig-tree,” has been shown in their places; namely, that they are the goods of love and of charity, also the goods and truths of faith interior and exterior; but in the opposite sense evils and falsities; for goods become evils, and truths become falsities, when they are perverted. (What is meant by “bread,” see n. 276, 680, 2165, 2177, 3464, 3478, 3735, 3813, 4217, 4735, 4976, 5915, 6118, 6409; also what by “waters,” n. 739, 790, 8137, 8138, 8568; what by “flax,” n. 7601; and what by “oil,” n. 886, 3728, 4582; what by “drink,” n. 3069, 3168, 3772, 8562; what by “vine,” n. 1069, 5113, 6376; and what by “fig-tree,” n. 4231, 5113.) “Harlot-hire” denotes the falsity of doctrine which they vaunt as truth.

[8] In the same:

My people asketh wood, and their staff answereth to it, because the spirit of whoredom hath led them astray, and they have committed whoredom from under their god. They sacrifice upon the tops of the mountains, and burn incense upon the hills, therefore your daughters commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. If thou, Israel, committest whoredom, let not Judah become guilty. Shall I not visit upon your daughters, because they commit whoredom, and upon your daughters-in-law, because they commit adultery? for they divide with whores, and they sacrifice with prostitutes (Hosea 4:12-16).

“To commit whoredom from under their god” denotes to pervert truth, for by “god” in the internal sense is signified truth, and in the opposite sense, falsity (n. 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 4295, 4402, 4544, 7010, 7268, 7873, 8301, 8867); “mountains and hills” denotes loves, here the loves of self and of the world (n. 795, 796, 1691, 2722, 6435); “the wood of which counsel is asked” denotes the good of the delight of some cupidity (n. 643); “the staff which answereth” denotes imaginary power from one’s own intellectual (n. 4013, 4015, 4876, 4936, 7011, 7026). As “gods” in the genuine sense signify truths, and in the opposite sense falsities, therefore falsifying truths and adulterating goods is signified by:

They have gone a whoring after strange gods, as after Baal, after Molech, after idols (Ezekiel 6:9; Leviticus 20:5 elsewhere).

[9] From all this it can now he seen what is meant by “adulteries” and “whoredoms” in the following passages:

Come hither, ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the adulterer, and she hath committed whoredom; against whom do ye delight yourselves? against whom make ye wide the mouth, and thrust out the tongue? are ye not born of transgression, a seed of a lie, who have been heated among gods under every green tree? (Isaiah 57:3-5).

It shall come to pass at the end of seventy years, Jehovah will visit Tyre, that it may return to its harlot-hire, and commit whoredom with all the kingdoms of the earth upon the faces of the world (Isaiah 23:17).

And a man put away his wife, and she went from him, and was another man’s; she committed whoredom with many companions. Thou hast profaned the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. Hast thou seen what backsliding Israel hath done? She goeth away upon every high mountain, and under every green tree, and thou committest whoredom there. Moreover her treacherous sister Judah went away, and she also committed whoredom, insomuch that she hath profaned the land by the voice of her whoredom; she hath committed debauchery with stone and with wood (Jeremiah 3:1-2, 6, 8-9).

This is thy lot, because thou hast forgotten Me, and trusted in a lie; thine adulteries, and thy neighings, the wickedness of thy whoredom, on the hills in the field I have seen thine abominations. Woe to thee, O Jerusalem (Jeremiah 13:25, 27).

Against the prophets: The land is full of adulterers; for because of the curse the land mourneth; the pastures of the wilderness have dried up, because both prophet and priest practice hypocrisy. In the prophets of Jerusalem also I have seen a horrible stubbornness, in committing adultery and walking in a lie; they have strengthened the hands of the evil; they speak a vision of their heart, not out of the mouth of Jehovah (Jeremiah 23:9-11, 14, 16).

They have wrought folly in Israel, and have committed debauchery with the wives of their companions, and have spoken a word in My name falsely, which I commanded them not (Jeremiah 29:23).

[10] From these passages it is very manifest that “to commit adultery,” and “to debauch,” denote to explain and pervert the truths of the Word from one’s own heart, that is, from one’s own, in such a manner as the loves of self and of the world persuade one to do; consequently it is to speak lies, that is, falsities, as is openly said. Again:

Be not glad, O Israel, because thou hast committed whoredom from under thy God, thou hast loved harlot-hire upon all the cornfloors (Hos. 9:1).

Jehovah spake unto Hosea, Go, take unto thee a woman of whoredoms and children of whoredoms; because in whoring the land doth commit whoredom from behind Jehovah (Hos. 1:2).

Woe to the city of bloods! Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the well-favored harlot, the mistress of sorceries, that selleth nations through her whoredoms, and families through her sorceries (Nah. 3:1, 4).

Your sons shall be feeders in the wilderness forty years, and they shall bear your whoredoms forty years; according to the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, for every day a year, shall ye bear your iniquities (Numbers 14:33-34).

[11] Inasmuch as falsifications of truth and adulterations of good corresponded to whoredoms on the earth, therefore the penalty of death was for adulterers (Leviticus 20:10); and the daughter of a man who was a priest, if she profaned herself by committing whoredom, was to be burnt with fire (Leviticus 21:9); also no daughter in Israel was to be exposed to whoredom (Leviticus 19:19). In like manner a bastard was not to come into the congregation of Jehovah, not even his tenth generation (Deuteronomy 23:2); and the hire of a harlot was not to be brought into the house of Jehovah, because it is an abomination (Deuteronomy 23:18).

[12] From these passages it can now be fully seen what is signified by “committing adultery,” namely, that in the external sense it is to commit adulteries; in the internal representative sense it is to worship idols and other gods by means of such things as are of the church, consequently idolatry external and internal; but in the internal spiritual sense are signified adulterations of good and perversions of truth. From all this it is plainly evident whence it is that adulteries are in themselves so wicked, and are called “abominations,” namely, from the fact that they correspond to the marriage of falsity and evil, which is the infernal marriage; and on the other hand, why genuine marriages are holy, namely, from the fact that they correspond to the marriage of good and truth, which is the heavenly marriage. Nay, genuine conjugial love descends from the marriage of good and truth, thus out of heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord; whereas the love of adultery is from the marriage of falsity and evil, thus from hell, that is, from the devil.

3703. And He said, I am Jehovah the God of Abraham thy father. That this signifies the Lord, that from Him that good comes, is evident from the fact that Jehovah is the Divine being itself of the Lord, who from the Divine good is called “the God of Abraham.” (That Abraham represents the Lord as to the Divine good, may be seen above, n. 2172, 2198.) And because the Divine good is that from which are all celestial and spiritual goods, and derivatively all truths also, it is here said “Abraham the father,” and indeed, “thy father,” that is, the father of Jacob, when yet Isaac was his father. That in the internal sense “father” signifies good, is because good is that from which all things are in both general and particular, and truth is that through which they all come into manifestation; thus from the marriage of good and truth. Heaven itself, which consists of nothing else than the Divine marriage of good and truth, is from the Divine marriage of good and truth and of truth and good in the Lord.

[2] In universal nature also all things both in general and in particular have relation to good and truth; for there are represented in nature the celestial and spiritual goods and truths of heaven; and in heaven are represented the Divine goods and truths of the Lord. From this it is evident that good is like a father, and truth is like a mother; and that therefore in the internal sense of the Word by “father” is signified good, and by “mother,” truth, and indeed the good and truth from which the lower or derived goods and truths have their birth, which are relatively as daughters and sons, and therefore in the Word are also called “daughters” and “sons” (n. 489-491, 2362). They are also relatively as brothers and sisters, as grandchildren and great-grandchildren, as sons-in-law, mothers-in-law, and daughters-in-law; in a word, as kinships and connections in every degree, and this from the marriage of good, which is the father, with truth which is the mother. (That in the heavens all things in general and particular are circumstanced according to the relationships of love and faith in the Lord, or what is the same, of good and truth, may be seen above, n. 685, 917, 2739, 3612; and that on this account the most ancient people compared each and all things to marriage, n. 54, 55; see also n. 718, 747, 1432, 2508, 2516, 2524, 2556)

[3] That in the internal sense of the Word “father” signifies good, may be seen from many passages, as from the following.

In Isaiah:

Hearken to Me ye that regard righteousness, ye that seek Jehovah; look unto the rock whence ye were hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye were digged; look unto Abraham your father, and unto Sarah that bare you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and I will multiply him. For Jehovah will comfort Zion; He will comfort all her waste places, and will make her wilderness like Eden, and her solitude like the garden of Jehovah (Isaiah 51:1-3); where the subject is the Lord and His advent, as is evident from each particular; and who as to Divine truth is called a “rock” and a “pit”; and as to Divine good, “Abraham the father.” And as the Divine marriage of good and truth is represented by Abraham and Sarah (see n. 1468, 1901, 1965, 1989, 2011, 2063, 2065, 2172, 2173, 2198, 2507, 2833, 2836, 2904, 3245, 3251, 3305), it is said, “Abraham your father and Sarah who bare you.” For this reason also it is said that they should “look unto the rock and unto the pit,” and also “to Abraham their father and unto Sarah”; and this is why there at once follow the words, “Jehovah will comfort Zion,” whereby is meant the celestial church (n. 2362), and “He will comfort her waste places, and make her wilderness like Eden, and her solitude like the garden of Jehovah.”

[4] The same is signified by “Abraham” in other passages of the Word where he is called “father,” as in John:

Jesus said, I speak that which I have seen with My father; and ye do the things which ye have seen with your father. They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s sons ye would do the works of Abraham; Ye do the works of your father (John 8:38-39, (John 8:30, 41).

And in Matthew:

Think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father; for I say unto you that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And lo the axe is laid unto the root of the trees; therefore every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit shall be hewn down, and cast into the fire (Matthew 3:9-10).

And in Luke:

When the poor man Lazarus died, he was carried up by the angels into Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died, and was buried; and when he was in hell he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom; and he cried and said, Father Abraham have mercy on me; I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house (Luke 16:22-24, 27).

In these passages it is evident that Abraham is not meant, but the Lord as to Divine good. (That Abraham is unknown in heaven, and that when mention is made of him from the Word, the Lord is understood, may be seen above, n. 1834, 1876, 1989, 3305)

[5] That in the internal sense “father” signifies good, may be seen from the following passages.

In Moses:

Honor thy father and thy mother; that thy days may be long upon the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee (Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16).

That this precept, like the other precepts of the Decalogue, is true in both senses; and that in the internal sense “honoring father and mother” is to love good and truth, and in good and truth the Lord, may be seen above (n. 2609, 3690). That “days upon the land” are the consequent states of good in the Lord’s kingdom, is evident from the signification of “days,” as being states (n. 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788); and from the signification of “Canaan,” which is here “the land,” as being the Lord’s kingdom (see n. 1607, 3038, 3481); and that “to belong” is predicated of good (n. 1613).

[6] Because of this signification of “father and mother,” in the representative Jewish Church many laws were enacted concerning parents and sons, in all of which in the internal sense is signified good and truth, and in the supreme sense the Lord as to Divine good and Divine truth. As in Moses:

And he that smiteth his father, or his mother, dying he shall die. And he that curseth his father or his mother, dying he shall die (Exodus 21:15, 17).

Again:

Every man that hath cursed his father, or his mother, killing he shall be killed; he that hath cursed his father or his mother, his bloods shall be upon him (Leviticus 20:9).

And again:

Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother: and all the people shall say Amen (Deuteronomy 27:16).

In Ezekiel:

Behold the princes of Israel, every man according to his arm, have been in thee to shed blood; in thee have they set light by father and mother (Ezekiel 22:6-7).

In Moses:

If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, who will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not obey them; then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of the city, and unto the gate of his place; and all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die (Deuteronomy 21:18-19, 21).

[7] In all these passages, in the sense of the letter, by “father and mother” are meant father and mother; but in the internal sense good and truth; and in the supreme sense the Lord as to Divine good and Divine truth; as also the Lord Himself teaches in Matthew:

Jesus stretched forth His hand upon His disciples, and said, Behold My mother and My brethren; for whosoever shall do the will of My Father who is in the heavens, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother (Matthew 12:49).

And again:

Be not ye called Master; for one is your Master, Christ; but all ye are brethren. And call ye not your father on earth; for one is your Father, who is in the heavens (Matthew 23:8-9

it is not here forbidden to be called master, and to be called father on earth; but what is forbidden is to acknowledge at heart any other father than the Lord; that is, when mention is made of “master” and “father,” the Lord is to be understood, who in the supreme sense is represented by them; according to what was said above (n. 3702) concerning the most ancient people who were celestial men-that whatever they perceived on earth was to them a means of thinking concerning the Lord.

[8] The like is implied in what the Lord spake to one of His disciples, who said:

Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father; but Jesus said unto him, Follow Me, and let the dead bury their dead (Matthew 8:21-22);

for relatively to the Father in heaven, or to the Lord, a father on earth is as the dead to the living. Thus the very law concerning honoring parents is as it were dead, unless in it there are honor, worship, and love to the Lord; for that law descends from this Divine law; and hence comes that which is really living in that law; wherefore the Lord said, “Follow Me, and let the dead bury their dead.” The same is also signified by what Elijah said to Elisha:

Elijah passed by Elisha, and cast his mantle upon him. And he left the oxen, and ran after Elijah, and said, Let me, I pray thee, kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow thee. And he said unto him, Go back again; for what have I done to thee? (1 Kings 19:19-20).

That by Elijah was represented the Lord, may be seen above

(preface to chapter 18 and n. 2762).

[9] In Malachi:

Behold I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah come; and he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the sons, and the heart of the sons to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse (Malachi 4:5-6).

In Luke, the angel said to Zacharias concerning his son John:

And he shall go before His face, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the sons (Luke 1:17);

Here it is manifest that by “fathers” and “sons” are not meant fathers and sons, but the goods and truths of the church, which the Lord was about to restore.

[10] In Malachi:

Jehovah will be magnified from over the border of Israel. A son shall honor his father, and a servant his master. If then I be a father, where is Mine honor? If I be a master, where is My fear? (Malachi 1:5-6); where “father” denotes those who are in the good of the church; and “master,” those who are in the truth of the church; “father” manifestly denoting the Lord as to Divine good; and “master,” or “lord,” as to Divine truth.

[11] In David:

My father and my mother have forsaken me, but Jehovah taketh me up (Psalms 27:10); where “father and mother” denote good and truth, which are said to have “forsaken” man when he takes note that of himself he is not able to do anything good, or to know anything true: that it is not to be understood as if David was forsaken by his father and mother is manifest.

[12] Again:

Thou art far fairer than the sons of men; the king’s daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is inwrought with gold. Instead of thy fathers shall be thy sons, whom thou shalt make princes in all the earth (Psalms 45:2, 13, 16); where the Lord is treated of; “instead of thy fathers shall be thy sons,” denotes that Divine truths shall be as Divine goods; the “king’s daughter” signifies the love of truth; the “clothing inwrought with gold” signifies the quality of this truth derived from good. Inasmuch as the subject here is the Lord and His Divine Human, as is evident from the whole psalm and the particulars in it, it is evident that each and all things therein have a like predication; thus that by the “king’s daughter” is not meant a king’s daughter, nor that her clothing was inwrought with gold, nor that instead of fathers should be her sons, nor that these should be princes in all the earth; but that Divine celestial and spiritual things are what are signified by each expression. (That “daughter” is affection or love, may be seen above, n. 490, 491, 2362; that “king” is Divine truth,, n. 1672, 1728, 2015, 2069, 3009; that “gold” is good, n. 113, 1551, 1552; that “inwrought” is predicated of natural memory-knowledge, n. 2831; here therefore of Divine natural truth; that “clothing” is such truths as invest good, n. 297, 2576; that “sons who are instead of fathers” signify truths of good, in this case Divine truths as Divine goods, n. 264, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 1729, 1733, 2159, 2623, 2803, 2813; that “princes in the whole earth” are the primary things of the Lord’s kingdom and church; that “princes” are primary things, n. 1482, 2089; that “earth” is the Lord’s kingdom and church, n. 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355)

[13] In Moses:

Jehovah had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and He chose their seed after them, even you out of all peoples, as at this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and no longer harden your neck (Deuteronomy 10:15-16); where in the internal sense “fathers” denote the Ancient and Most Ancient Churches, which were so called from the love of good and truth in which they were; from the love of good the most ancient people who were celestial men, and from the love of truth the ancient, who were spiritual men. Their goods and truths in the church are what are called the “seed which God chose.” That Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and his twelve sons are not the fathers here meant, and that the Israelitish and Jewish people are not the seed, is very evident; but this is said of them and to them in order that the internal sense may have some outward form intelligible to man.

[14] In Isaiah:

The child shall behave himself proudly against the old man, and the base against the honorable. When a man shall take hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying, Thou hast raiment, thou shalt be a prince unto us, he shall say, In my house is neither bread nor raiment, ye shall not make me a prince of the people (Isaiah 3:5-7); where in the internal sense the perverted state of the church is treated of, when truth is no longer acknowledged as truth, and it is not known what good is. A “man taking hold of his brother in the house of his father” denotes the acknowledging of everything to be good; “raiment” denotes truth (n. 1073, 2576); “prince,” the primary of doctrine therefrom (n. 1482, 2089); “there is no bread nor raiment in my house” denotes that there was neither good nor truth (that “bread” signifies good, see above, n. 276, 680, 3478; that “raiment” signifies truth, n. 297, 2576).

[15] From the representation of good and truth by father and mother, and also by daughters and sons, there were in the representative churches numerous laws which had from this what was Divine in them; as these which follow:

And the daughter of a priest, if she profane herself by committing whoredom, she profaneth her father, she shall be burned with fire (Leviticus 21:9); where the “daughter of a priest” denotes the affection of good; “father,” the good from which this affection is; “committing whoredom” denotes to profane good. (What is meant by “committing whoredom” may be seen above, n. 2466, 2729, 3399; and what by “profaning,” n. 1008, 1010, 1059, 2051, 3398, 3399.) Also, that if the daughter of a priest be a widow, or be divorced, and she has no seed, she shall return to the house of her father, as in her youth, and shall eat of the bread of her father; there shall no stranger eat thereof (Leviticus 22:13).

[16] Likewise this law:

When thou shalt see among the captives a wife of beautiful form, and thou hast a desire unto her, to take her to thee for a woman, then thou shalt bring her into the midst of thine house, and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails, and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall sit in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a month of days; and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and shalt know her, and she shall be to thee for a woman (Deuteronomy 21:11-13).

All things in this law in both general and particular are representative of natural truth, in that after it has been purified from falsities it is adopted by good; such truth is signified by a “wife in captivity, beautiful in form”; purification from falsities is signified by “bringing her into the midst of the house, shaving her head, paring her nails, putting off the raiment of her captivity, and bewailing her father and mother”; adoption is signified by “afterwards going in unto her, knowing her, and taking her for a woman.”

[17] The laws we read of in the Word relating to marriages, that these were to be contracted within the tribe and the family; and also the laws of inheritances, that these were not to pass from tribe to tribe, also had their origin from the same source, namely, from the celestial and spiritual marriage in the Lord’s kingdom, or from the marriage of good and truth, which two are signified by “father and mother”; and in like manner the laws enacted concerning the degrees of consanguinity allowed and forbidden: each law in the Word that bears on these matters has reference inwardly to the law of consociation and conjunction of good and truth in heaven, and to the consociations of evil and falsity in hell, which are separate from the former. (Concerning the degrees allowed and forbidden see Leviticus 20; concerning inheritances, that they should not pass from tribe to tribe, and concerning marriages that they should be contracted within the tribe, see Numbers 27, verses 7-9; and in other places; that in the heavens all things in general and particular are disposed according to the consanguinities and affinities of good and truth, see above, n. 685, 917, 2739, 3612)

[18] Because the Israelitish people represented the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, and thus the heavenly order there, it was also commanded that they should be distinguished according to tribes, and according to families, and according to the houses of their fathers (Numbers 26); and also that according to this order they should measure out the camp around the tent of the congregation, and likewise that they should journey according to the same order, as is written in Moses:

Every man by his own standard, with the ensigns of their fathers’ houses, over against the tent of the congregation shall the sons of Israel measure out the camp; and so also were they to go forward (Numbers 2:2, 34).

And therefore:

When Balaam saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes, the spirit of God came upon him, and he uttered an enunciation, saying, How goodly are thy tabernacles, O Jacob, thy habitations, O Israel; as the valleys are they planted; as gardens by the river’s side (Numbers 24:5-6, etc.).

In this prophecy neither Jacob nor Israel is meant, but the Lord’s kingdom in the heavens, and His church in the lands, which were represented by that order in which Balaam then saw them, as is manifest from the words therein.

[19] From what has been said it may also be known what is signified in the internal sense of the Word by “orphans,” that is by those who are without a father; namely, those who are in a state of innocence and charity, and desire to know and to do what is good, and are not able. In such a state especially are those out of the church, of whom the Lord takes care, and in the other life adopts as sons; and because these are signified by “orphans,” therefore when these are mentioned in the Word, in many passages there are also mentioned “sojourners” and “widows;” for by “sojourners” are signified those who are being instructed in goods and truths (n. 1463); and by “widows” those who are in a state of good and not so much in truth, and those who are in a state of truth and not so much in good, and yet desire to be therein. Inasmuch as by these three terms— “orphans,” “sojourners,” and “widows”—somewhat similar is signified in a series, therefore as before said, in many passages they are mentioned together (see Deuteronomy 14:29; 16:14; 24:17, 19; Jeremiah 7:6; 22:3; Ezekiel 22:7; Zech. 7:10; Psalms 9 4:6; 146:9). From what has been said it may now be seen what is signified in the genuine sense by “father,” namely, good; and that in the supreme sense it signifies the Lord.

[20] But as most expressions in the Word have also an opposite sense, so also has “father;” and in this sense it signifies evil; and in like manner “mother,” which in the genuine sense signifies truth, but in the opposite sense falsity. That this is so, may be seen from the following passages.

In David:

The iniquity of his fathers shall be remembered with Jehovah; and the sin of his mother shall not be blotted out (Psalms 109:14).

Again:

They turned back and dealt treacherously, like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow (Psalms 78:57).

In Moses:

And they that are left of you shall pine away in their iniquity, in your enemies’ lands; and also in the iniquities of their fathers shall they pine away with them (Leviticus 26:39).

In Isaiah:

Prepare ye slaughter for his sons, for the iniquity of their fathers, that they rise not up and possess the earth, and fill the face of the earth with cities (Isaiah 14:21).

Again:

I will recompense your own iniquities, and the iniquities of your fathers together (Isaiah 65:6-7).

[21] In Jeremiah:

The houses of Israel are ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets; who say to wood, Thou art my father; and to stone, Thou hast begotten me; for they have turned their neck unto Me, and not the face (Jeremiah 2:26-27).

Again:

I will lay stumbling-blocks before this people; and the fathers and the sons together shall stumble against them; the neighbor and his companion; and they shall perish (Jeremiah 6:21).

Again:

The sons gather wood, and the fathers kindle a fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven (Jeremiah 7:18).

And in Ezekiel:

I will do in thee that which I have not done, and whereunto I will not do any more the like, because of all thine abominations. Therefore the fathers shall eat their sons, and the sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments in thee, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter unto all the winds (Ezekiel 5:9-10);

speaking of the profanation of what is holy. Again:

Thus saith the Lord Jehovah unto Jerusalem, Thy tradings and thy nativity are of the land of the Canaanite; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite (Ezekiel 16:3).

[22] In Matthew:

The brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father his son; and the children shall rise up against parents, and shall put them to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake. I came to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes shall be they of his own household. He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me (Matthew 10:21-22, 35-37; Luke 12:49, 52-53).

Everyone that hath left houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or fields, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and shall inherit eternal life (Matthew 19:29; Luke 18:29-30; Mark 10:29-30).

In Luke:

If any man cometh unto Me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own soul also, he cannot be My disciple (Luke 14:26).

[23] In Mark:

And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father his children; and the children shall rise up against their parents, and shall put them to death; for ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake (Mark 13:12-13; Luke 21:16-17);where the consummation of the age, and the state of the church, perverted as to good and truth, is described; in that evil will rise up against truth, and falsity against good. That in the opposite sense by “father” is signified evil, is manifest from the passages already adduced, and also from this in John:

Jesus said unto them, If God were your father, ye would love Me; for I went forth and am come from God. Ye are of your father the devil, and the desire of your father it is your will to do; he was a murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the truth, because the truth is not in him; when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a liar, and the father thereof (John 8:42, 44).