9320. For destroying thou shalt destroy them. That this signifies that evils must be wholly removed, is evident from the signification of “destroying,” when said of the evils and falsities which are signified by the nations of the land of Canaan and by their gods, as being to remove. That “to destroy” denotes to remove, is because those who are in good and truth never destroy those who are in evil and falsity, but only remove them; for the reason that they act from good, and not from evil; and good is from the Lord, who never destroys anyone. But those who are in evil and from it in falsity endeavor to destroy, and as far as they are able do destroy, those who are in good, for the reason that they act from evil. But because they then run counter to the good which is from the Lord, thus counter to the Divine, they destroy themselves, that is, they cast themselves headlong into damnation and into hell. Such is the law of order, as may be seen above (n. 4299, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7926, 7989, 8137, 8146, 8265, 8945, 8946).

[2] That the Israelites and the Jews destroyed the nations of the land of Canaan, was because the former represented spiritual and heavenly things, and the nations infernal and diabolical things, which cannot possibly be together; for they are opposites. The reason why the Israelites were permitted to destroy the nations, was that there was no church among the Israelites, but only the representative of a church, and consequently the Lord was not present with them except representatively (n. 4307); for they were in external things without anything internal; that is, they were in a worship representative of good and truth, but not in good and truth. Such people are permitted to destroy, to kill, to exterminate, and to devote to destruction; but this is not permitted to those who are in external things and at the same time in internal things, because these people must act from good, and good is from the Lord.

[3] That the Jews and Israelites were of such a character is openly declared by Moses:

Speak not thou in thine heart, after that Jehovah thy God hath thrust the nations out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness Jehovah hath brought me in to possess this land. Not for thy righteousness, and for the uprightness of thine heart; for thou art a stiffnecked people (Deuteronomy 9:4-6).

They are a nation ruined in counsels, neither is there any understanding in them. Their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes are grapes of gall; their clusters of bitterness; their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel gall of asps. Is not this hidden away with Me, sealed up in My treasuries (Deuteronomy 32:28, 32-34);

in the internal sense “a vine” signifies the church (n. 1069, 5113, 6375, 6376, 9277); “grapes,” and “clusters,” signify the internal and external goods of that church (n. 1071, 5117, 6378); and “wine” signifies the internal truth of that church (n. 1071, 1798, 6377). From this it is plain what is signified by “their vine being of the vine of Sodom and of the fields of Gomorrah,” “their grapes, grapes of gall, and their clusters of bitterness,” and “their wine the poison of dragons and the cruel gall of asps.” That these things are known to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, is signified by its being “hidden away with Him, and sealed up in His treasuries.”

[4] In John:

Jesus said to the Jews, Ye are of your father the devil, and the desire of your father ye will to do. He was a murderer from the beginning (John 8:44).

Consequently they are called “a depraved and adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:39); and also “an offspring of vipers” (Matthew 3:7; 12:34; 23:33; Luke 3:7). That such was their nature was also described by the Lord in parables (Matthew 21:33-45; Mark 12:1-9; Luke 14:16-24; 20:9-19). (That that nation was the worst of all; that when in worship they were in external things without any internal; that there was no church among them, but only the representative of a church; and that nevertheless they could represent the internal things of the church, see n. 3398, 3479, 3480, 3732, 3881, 4208, 4281, 4288-4290, 4293, 4307, 4314, 4316, 4317, 4429, 4433, 4444, 4500, 4503, 4680, 4815, 4818, 4820, 4825, 4832, 4837, 4844, 4847, 4865, 4868, 4874, 4899, 4903, 4911-4913, 5057, 5998, 6304, 6832, 6877, 7048, 7051, 7248, 7401, 7439, 8301, 8588, 8788, 8806, 8814, 8819, 8871, 8882, 9284)

4899. Behold I sent this kid. That this signifies that it is enough that there is a pledge, is evident from the signification of a “kid of the goats,” as being a pledge of conjugial love, or of conjunction (n. 4871), here only a pledge, because the kid was not accepted, for the reason (of which above) that there was nothing conjugial; and as this was the reason, therefore by thou hast not found her is signified if there is not anything conjugial; this also flows from indifference, of which above (n. 4897). It is needless to explain these things any further, for the reason stated above (n. 4893), that they would fall into the shade of the understanding; and whatever falls into this shade, falls into unbelief, as for instance that there must be what is conjugial in order that there may be a church, namely, the conjugial between truth and good; and also that there must be an internal in the external; and that without the two there is nothing of a church. In the present words the internal and external in the Jewish Church are described in the internal sense, and it is shown that as to that nation there was not any internal in the external; but that in respect to the statutes and laws abstracted from the nation, there was.

[2] Who at this day has any other belief than that there was a church with the Jewish nation, and that it was chosen and loved above all others, the reason for this belief being chiefly that miracles so many and so great were wrought among them, and that so many prophets were sent to them, and also that they had the Word. And yet that nation in itself had nothing of the church, for it was not in any charity, did not know even what genuine charity is, and also had no faith in the Lord. They indeed knew that He was to come, but supposed that it was to exalt them above all in the whole world; and because this was not done they entirely rejected Him, being unwilling to know anything about His heavenly kingdom. These things, which are the internals of the church, that nation did not acknowledge even in doctrine and still less in life. From all this alone it may be concluded that there was nothing of the church in that nation.

[3] It is one thing for the church to be with a people, and another for the church to be in a people—as for example, the Christian Church is with those who have the Word, and from doctrine preach the Lord; but still there is nothing of the church in them unless they are in the marriage of good and truth, that is, unless they are in charity toward the neighbor, and thence in faith; thus unless the internals of the church are in the externals. The church is not in those who are solely in externals separate from internals; neither is it in those who are in faith separate from charity, nor in those who acknowledge the Lord from doctrine and not life. Hence it is plain that it is one thing for the church to be with a nation, and quite another to be in the nation.

[4] In the internal sense of this chapter is described the church as it was with the Jewish nation, and as it was in that nation. The quality of the church with that nation is described by the conjunction of Tamar with Judah under the pretext of the duty of a husband’s brother, and the quality of the church in that nation is described by the conjunction of Judah with Tamar as with a harlot. But a more particular description of these things is omitted for the reason spoken of above, for as there stated they would fall into the shade of the understanding. That the shade of the understanding is in these things may be seen from the fact that at this day scarcely anyone knows what the internal of the church is. And who knows that charity toward the neighbor consists in willing, and from willing in acting, and hence that faith consists in perceiving? When this is unknown, and especially when it is denied, as it is by those who make faith saving without the works of charity, into what shade must those things fall which are here said in the internal sense concerning the conjunction of what is internal with the external of the church with the Jewish nation and in that nation. They who do not know that charity is the internal and thus the essential of the church, stand very remote from the first step toward the understanding of such things, and therefore very far from the innumerable and ineffable things that are in heaven, where the things relating to love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor are the all of life, and consequently the all of wisdom and of intelligence.