5536. 'You have bereaved me [of my children]' means that thus no Church existed any longer. This is clear from the representation of Jacob, the one who says this about himself, as the good of truth, dealt with in 3659, 3669, 3677, 3775, 4234, 4273, 4538 (and as the good of truth is represented, so also is the Church because good is the essential element of the Church. It therefore amounts to the same whether you say the good of truth or the Church, for the person who has the good of truth present with him has the Church present with him. 'Jacob' represents the Church, see 4286, 4520, and that being so his sons represent the truths known to the Church, 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5512); and from the meaning of 'bereaving' as depriving the Church of its truths and forms of good, such as those here which are represented by Joseph, Benjamin, and Simeon, to whom reference is made directly after the words 'you have bereaved me'.

[2] 'Bereaving' is depriving the Church of its truths for the reason that the Church is likened to a marriage. Good is likened to the husband and truth to the wife, while the truths born from that marriage are likened to 'the sons' and the forms of good to 'the daughters', and so on. When therefore a state of bereavement or an action causing this is mentioned, the meaning is that the Church has been deprived of its truths and as a consequence ceases to be a Church. The expressions 'bereft' and 'bereavement' are also used in various other places in the Word, as in

Ezekiel,

I will send famine and evil wild animals upon you, and I will make you bereft. Ezekiel 5:17.

In the same prophet,

When I cause evil wild animals to pass through the land and they leave it bereft so that it becomes a desolation, with the result that no one passes through on account of the wild animals. Ezekiel 14:15.

In Leviticus,

I will send into you the wild animals of the field, which will leave you bereft and will cut off your beasts, ¹ and make you few in number, so that your roads are laid waste. Leviticus 26:22.

[3] In these quotations 'famine' stands for an absence of cognitions of good and truth and the consequent desolation, 'evil wild animals' for falsities derived from evils, and 'the land' for the Church. 'Sending famine and evil wild animals, and leaving the land bereft' stands for destroying the Church by means of falsities derived from evils and so depriving it completely of truths. In Jeremiah,

I will winnow them with a winnowing-fork in the gates of the land; I will bereave, I will destroy My people. Jeremiah 15:7.

Here also 'bereaving' stands for depriving of truths. In the same prophet,

Give their children over to the famine, and cause them to be wiped out by the power of the sword, ² so that their wives become bereaved [of children] and widows. Jeremiah 18:11.

'So that their wives become bereaved and widows' stands for their being left without truths or good.

[4] In Hosea,

As for the Ephraimites, their glory will fly away like a bird, away from birth, and from the belly, and from conception. Even if they bring up their sons, I will make them bereft of human beings. Hosea 9:11-12.

Here the meaning is similar. In Ezekiel,

I will cause human beings to walk upon you, even My people; and those human beings will by inheritance take possession of you and you will be an inheritance to them; no more will you bereave them [of their children]. Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Because they say to you, You have been one devouring human beings and one bereaving your peoples [of children]. Ezekiel 36:12-13.

Here also 'bereaving' stands for depriving of truths.

[5] In Isaiah,

Now hear this, you lover of pleasures, sitting securely, saying in her ³ heart, I am, and there is no one else like me; a widow I shall not sit, nor shall I know bereavement [of children]. But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day-bereavement and widowhood. Isaiah 47:8-9.

This refers to the daughter of Babel and to Chaldea, that is, to those who are outwardly holy but inwardly unholy and who call themselves the Church by virtue of that outward holiness. 'Bereavement and widowhood' stands for a deprivation of truth and good. In the same prophet,

Lift up your eyes round about, and see; they all gather together, they come to you. The children of your bereavements will say again in your ears, The place is too narrow for me; yield me a place to dwell in. But you will say in your heart, Who has begotten these for me, when yet I am bereft [of children] and alone, an exile and one who has been displaced? Who therefore has brought these up? I was left, alone. These, where were they? Isaiah 49:18, 20-21.

This refers to Zion, which is the celestial Church, and to its fruitfulness after it had been laid waste. 'The sons of bereavements' stands for the truths of which it was deprived when laid waste, but which were restored and underwent enormous increase.

Bilješke:

4279. The explanations given so far to these two verses present what they contain in the highest sense and in the internal sense. But in the lower sense they have a different meaning. There the essential nature of Jacob and his future descendants is the subject. Because the Word originates in the Lord and comes down from Him by way of heaven to man its nature is therefore such that it is Divine in every detail. And as it has come down from the Lord so it goes up, that is, is raised up to Him, returning by way of the heavens. It is well known that there are three heavens, and that the inmost is termed the third heaven, that the middle one is called the second heaven, while the lowest is referred to as the first heaven. Consequently since it goes up by the same path as it comes down the Word as it exists in the Lord is Divine, celestial as it exists in the third heaven since that heaven is the celestial heaven, spiritual as it exists in the second heaven since that heaven is the spiritual heaven, but celestial-natural and spiritual-natural as it exists in the first heaven, which is also given the names celestial-natural and spiritual-natural. As it exists in the Church with man however, the Word in the sense of the letter is natural, that is, worldly and earthly.

[2] From this one may see the nature of the Word and what happens to it when a person reads it with a holy mind, that is, one in whom good and truth are present. For when he reads it, it is seen by him as something existing in this world or as a historical document, but which nevertheless is inwardly holy. But in the first heaven it is seen as something celestial-natural and spiritual-natural, which however is inwardly Divine. In the second heaven it is spiritual, and in the third celestial; and in the Lord it is Divine. The sense in the Word varies according to whatever heaven it may be. The highest sense of the Word, whose subject is the Lord, exists for the inmost or third heaven; the internal sense, whose subject is the Lord's kingdom, exists for the middle or second heaven; the lower sense, in which the internal sense is narrowed down to the nation referred to there, exists for the lower or first heaven. But the lowest or literal sense exists for man while he is still living in the world. Yet man's nature is such that the more interior sense, and also the internal and highest sense, can be communicated to him. For man has communication with the three heavens; indeed he is created on the pattern of the three heavens, so much so that when love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour constitute his life he is heaven in miniature. Consequently such a person has the Lord's kingdom within him, as the Lord Himself teaches in Luke,

Behold, the kingdom of God is within you. Luke 17:21.

[3] These things have been stated so that people may know that the Word contains not only a highest sense and an internal sense but also a lower sense, and that in this sense, that is to say, in the lower, the internal sense is narrowed down to the nation referred to there; and when this is done that sense is plain to see from the train of thought. At present it is self-evident that the man's wrestling with Jacob and the disjointing and displacing of his thigh also has reference to Jacob and his descendants. That being so, let these same words be explained according to that sense. In what follows below this sense will be termed the INTERNAL HISTORICAL SENSE. It will be called this for the added reason that it is quite usual for this sense to be represented from time to time in the first heaven as something animate and taking visible form, as also I have been allowed to see several times. See the explanation given already in the latter part of 4272.