9093. And they shall divide the silver of it. That this signifies that the truth thereof shall be dissipated, is evident from the signification of “dividing,” as being to banish and dissipate (see n. 6360, 6361); and from the signification of “silver,” as being truth (n. 1551, 2048, 5658, 6112, 6914, 6917, 7999). That “to divide” denotes to dissipate, is because if those things which have been associated together are divided, they are also scattered, as he who divides his mind destroys it. For the mind of man is an association of two parts, one part being called the understanding, the other the will. He who divides these two parts scatters the things which belong to one part, for one part must live from the other; consequently the other also perishes. It is the same with him who divides truth from good, or what is the same, faith from charity. He who does this destroys both. In a word, all things which ought to be united in a one, if divided perish.

[2] This division is meant by the Lord’s words in Luke:

No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will prefer the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon (Luke 16:13).

That is, by faith serve the Lord, and by love the world; thus acknowledge truth, and do evil. He who does this has a divided mind, from which comes its destruction. From all this it is evident whence it is that “to divide” denotes to dissipate; as is also evident in Matthew:

The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, and shall divide him, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites (Matthew 24:50-51); where “to divide” denotes to separate and remove from goods and truths (n. 4424), thus to dissipate.

[3] In Moses:

Cursed be their anger, for it was vehement; and their wrath, for it was hard. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel (Genesis 49:7); where Israel speaks prophetically of Simeon and Levi. By Simeon and Leviticus are there represented those who are in faith separate from charity (n. 6352), by Jacob and Israel the church external and internal, and also the external and internal man (n. 4286, 4598, 5973, 6360, 6361). “To divide them in Jacob” denotes to expel them from the external church; and “to scatter them in Israel” denotes from the internal church; thus to dissipate the goods and the truths of the church appertaining to them.

[4] That “dividing” has this signification is also plain from the words written on the wall when Belshazzar king of Babel, together with his lords, his wives, and his concubines, drank wine from the vessels of gold and of silver which belonged to the temple that was at Jerusalem. The writing was:

Numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided (Daniel 5:2-4, 25-28); where “divided” means separated from the kingdom. In this passage it is plain how all things were at that time representative. In it is described the profanation of good and truth, which is signified by “Babel” (that Babel” denotes profanation, see n. 1182, 1283, 1295, 1304-1308, 1321, 1322, 1326); “vessels of gold and of silver” denote the goods of love and the truths of faith from the the Lord, (n. 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917). Profanation is signified by “drinking therefrom, and at the same time praising the gods of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone,” as we read in the fourth verse of the chapter, which denote evils and falsities in a series (n. 4402, 4544, 7873, 8941). By the “temple at Jerusalem” from which the vessels came, is signified in the supreme sense the Lord, in the representative sense His kingdom and church (n. 3720). The kingdom of Belshazzar being “divided” signified the dissipation of good and truth, and he himself being “slain that night” signified the loss of the life of truth and good, thus damnation; for “to be divided” denotes to be dissipated; “a king” denotes the truth of good (n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 5068, 6148); the like is signified by “kingdom” (n. 1672, 2547, 4691); “to be slain” denotes to be deprived of the life of truth and good (n. 3607, 6767, 8902); and the “night” in which he was slain denotes a state of evil and falsity (n. 2353, 7776, 7851, 7870, 7947). From this it is plain that all things there were representative.

[5] It says in David:

They divided My garments among them, and upon My vesture did they cast a lot (Psalms 22:18).

They divided His garments, casting a lot; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet (Matthew 27:35).

The soldiers took His garments, and made four parts; and the tunic, the tunic was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore, Let us not divide it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the Scripture might be fulfilled (John 19:23-24).

He who reads these words and knows nothing of the internal sense of the Word, is not aware that anything secret lies hidden in them, when yet in each word there is a Divine secret. The secret was that Divine truths had been dissipated by the Jews, for the Lord was the Divine truth; and hence He is called “the Word” (John 1). “The Word” denotes Divine truth; His garments represented truths in the external form; and His tunic, truths in the internal form; the division of the garments represented the dissipation of the truths of faith by the Jews. (That “garments” denote truths in the external form, see n. 2576, 5248, 5954, 6918; also that “a tunic” denotes truth in the internal form, n. 4677.) Truths in the external form are such as are those of the Word in the literal sense; but truths in the internal form are such as are those of the Word in the spiritual sense. The division of the garments into four parts signified total dissipation, in like manner as the division in Zechariah 14:4, and in other passages; likewise the division into two parts, as we read of the veil of the temple (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38). The rending of the rocks also at that time (Matthew 27:51) represented the dissipation of all things of faith, for a “rock” denotes the Lord as to faith, consequently it denotes faith from the Lord.

4424. What the Lord’s words quoted above involve in the internal sense may be seen without explication; for the Lord spoke them not so much by representatives and significatives, as by comparatives. There shall be stated merely what is signified by the words of the last verse, namely: “He shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

He shall cut him asunder;

signifies separation and removal from goods and truths; for they who are in knowledges of good and truth, as are those who are within the church and yet in a life of evil, are said to be “cut asunder” when they are removed from these knowledges. For the knowledges of good and truth are separated from them in the other life, and they are kept in evils, and therefore also in falsities; which is done in order to prevent them from communicating with heaven by the knowledges of truth, and with hell by evils and the derivative falsities, and thus hanging between the two; and also to prevent them from profaning goods and truths, which is done when these are commingled with falsities and evils. The same is also signified by the Lord’s words to him who hid the talent in the earth: “Take therefore the talent from him; and give it unto him that hath ten talents; for unto everyone that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away” (Matthew 25:28-29); also by what the Lord says in another place in Matthew 13:12; and in Mark 4:25; and in Luke 8:18.

[2] And appoint his portion with the hypocrites;

signifies his lot (which is his “portion”) with those who outwardly appear to be in truth as to doctrine and in good as to life, but inwardly believe nothing of truth and will nothing of good, who are the “hypocrites.” In this manner they are “cut asunder.” Therefore when their externals are taken away from them, as takes place with all in the other life, they appear such as they are as to their internals, namely, devoid of faith and charity, of which they nevertheless have made a show in order to win others and acquire honors, gain, and reputation. Those within a vastated church are almost all of this character, for they have externals, but no internals. This is the origin of that inundation of their interiors which has been already spoken of (n. 4423).

[3] There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth;

signifies their state in the other life, “wailing,” their state as to evils, and “gnashing of teeth,” their state as to falsities. For in the Word the “teeth” signify the lowest natural things, in the genuine sense the truths of these natural things, and in the opposite sense their falsities. The teeth moreover correspond to these things, and therefore the “gnashing of teeth” is the collision of falsities with truths. They who are in mere natural things, and who are in these from the fallacies of the senses, and who believe nothing but what they see thereby, are said to be in the “gnashing of teeth,” and also in the other life appear to themselves to be so when they draw conclusions from their fallacies concerning the truths of faith. In a church vastated as to good and truth such persons abound. The like is signified elsewhere also by the “gnashing of teeth,” as in Matthew:

The sons of the kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 8:12).

The “sons of the kingdom” are those who are in a vastated church; the “darkness” is falsities (n. 4418), for they are in darkness when they are in the thick cloud mentioned above; the “gnashing of teeth” is the collision of falsities therein with truths. In like manner elsewhere, as in Matthew 13:42, 50; 22:13; 25:30; and Luke 13:28.