3870. 'That I was hated' means the state of faith if there is no will corresponding to it. This is clear from the meaning of 'hated' as not loved, for this is the state of faith if the will does not correspond to it. The subject in the internal sense is the advance of a person's regeneration from what is external to what is internal, that is, from the truth of faith towards the good of charity. Truth which is the truth of faith is external, and good which is the good of charity is internal. So that it may be living, truth which is the truth of faith must be introduced into the will so as to receive life there. For truth which issues from knowledge is not living, only truth which issues from the will. Through the new will which the Lord creates in man life flows in from Him. The life which comes first manifests itself in obedience, this being the first degree of the will. The life which comes second manifests itself in the affection for doing what is true, this being a more advanced degree of the will, which is arrived at when delight and blessing are felt in the doing of what is true. Unless faith advances in this way truth does not become truth but something separated from life. Sometimes it becomes the corroboration of falsity, sometimes persuasive belief, and so something debased, for it couples itself to man's evil affection or desire, that is, to the will that is properly his own and the reverse of charity. Such is the faith which is believed to be true faith by many at the present day; they believe that this faith is able - of itself, without the works of charity - to save a person.

[2] But this faith - that is to say, faith separated from charity and therefore contrary to charity - is represented later on by Reuben's lying with Bilhah his father's concubine, Genesis 35:22, and by the expression of disgust by Jacob, who by then was named Israel, in the following words,

Reuben, my firstborn, you are my strength and the beginning of my power. Unstable as water, may you not excel, for you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it. He went up to my couch. Genesis 49:3-4.

Also described in that chapter, by means of Simeon and Levi, is the contrariety to charity of the will and affection that go with this faith, namely faith separated from charity, in the following words,

Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. Into their secret place let my soul not come; in their assembly let not my glory be united; for in their fury they killed a man, and in their wilfulness they hamstrung an ox. Cursed be their fury, for it is fierce, and their anger, for it is severe. I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel. Genesis 49:5-7.

That faith separated from charity is described in this case by Simeon and Levi will in the Lord's Divine mercy be shown later on.

7231. Since these verses consist of mere names detailed explanation can be dispensed with, especially as it has been shown already what Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Aaron, and Moses represent, and their sons and grandsons who are named here are simply further generations descending from those things they represent.

'Reuben' represents faith present in the understanding, see 3861, 3866, 4731, 4734, 4761.

'Simeon' represents faith present in the will and expressed in action, 3869-3872, 4497, 4502, 4503, 5482, 5626, 5630.

'Levi' represents charity, 3875, 3877, 4497, 4503.

'Aaron' represents the teachings of the Church, 6998, 7009, 7089.

'Moses' represents the law from God, 6771, 6827.

The reason why Reuben, Simeon, Levi and their sons are mentioned here, and not the remaining fathers of the tribes together with their sons in their proper order, cannot be known except from the internal sense. One can see that the list of names has been provided in this chapter to make known the matter of Aaron and Moses' parentage and birth. Yet the genealogy of Levi would have been sufficient to do this, for nothing whatever about Reuben and Simeon, or about their sons, helps to make that matter known. But the reason why these are mentioned, which is evident only from the internal sense, is that the spiritual Church, which is represented by 'the children of Israel', is the subject.

[2] That Church is brought into being with a person through faith present within what he knows and then within his understanding, the kind of faith that is represented by 'Reuben and his sons'. After this, when the Church with the person grows, that faith passes into his will, and from will into action. At this point the person has the truth of faith in his will and puts it into practice because it is what has been commanded in the Word. This phase of faith is represented by 'Simeon'. Finally within his will, that is, his new will, an affection characteristic of charity is perceptible, so that his wish to do what is good is motivated not by faith, as it was previously, but by charity towards the neighbour. For when a person's regeneration has come that far he is a member of the spiritual Church, since he now has that Church within him. This charity and the affection belonging to it is what' Levi' represents.

This then explains why the families of Reuben and also of Simeon are listed, and finally the family of Levi, who, as has been stated, represents charity, which is what gives the Church its spiritual character. 'Aaron' represents the external dimension of that Church, and 'Moses' the internal dimension. The internal dimension of the Church is referred to as the law from God, the external dimension as teachings derived from it. The law from God - the internal dimension of the Church - is also the Word in its internal sense, and the teachings derived from it are the Word in its external sense. For Moses and Aaron's representation of these, see 7089.