4874. 'And she said, Your seal' means a token of consent. This is clear from the meaning of 'a seal' as a token of consent. The reason 'a seal' means a token of consent is that in ancient times decrees were authenticated by means of one, and therefore 'a seal' strictly speaking means authentication itself, and so a witness to the truth of the matter. Tamar's demand for his seal, cord, and rod as a pledge that the kid of the she-goats (which subsequently she did not accept) would be sent holds an arcanum which cannot in any way be known without the internal sense. The arcanum is this: 'A kid of the she-goats' meant that which belonged to genuine marriage, and consequently meant everything internal, for everything genuine is at the same time something internal. But nothing like this existed on Judah's side, and therefore, as is evident from what follows, Tamar did not accept the kid of the she-goats, but instead took something external with which the internal aspect of the Church, meant by 'Tamar', could be joined. The external aspect of the Church is meant by the seal, cord, and rod - actual consent by 'the seal', external truth by 'the cord', and the power of that truth by 'the rod'. These are also pledges assuring a joining to the external or natural man.

[2] The joining of internal truth to something external, that is, to the semblance of religion existing among the Jewish nation, is represented by Tamar's being joined to Judah as a daughter-in-law joined to her father-in-law under the pretext that the duty of a near kinsman was being performed. But the joining of the semblance of religion existing among the Jewish nation to the internal aspect of the Church is represented by Judah's being joined to Tamar as to a prostitute. This is exactly what these joinings together are like, but it is not so easy to give an intelligible explanation of the essential nature of them. Their essential nature is laid quite bare before the eyes of angels and good spirits, for it is set before them in the light of heaven. In this light the arcana of the Word are laid bare in broad daylight so to speak, quite unlike their appearance in the light of the world which man sees by. Let just a brief word be said about this. The representatives which had been established among the descendants of Jacob were not exactly the same as those which existed in the Ancient Church. For the most part they were like those in the Church established by Eber, which was called the Hebrew Church. Within this Church many new forms of worship existed, such as burnt offerings and sacrifices, which had been unknown in the Ancient Church, and other forms besides these. To these representatives the internal aspect of the Church was not linked in the way it had been to the representatives of the Ancient Church. But in what way the internal aspect of the Church was linked to the representatives among the Jewish nation, and these representatives to that internal aspect, is described in the internal sense by Tamar's being joined to Judah as a daughter-in-law to her father-in-law under the pretext that the duty of a near kinsman was being performed, and by Judah's being joined to Tamar as to a prostitute. Regarding the Hebrew Church, see 1238, 1241, 1327, 1343, 3031, 4516, 4517; and for information about the sacrifices offered in this Church not being a feature of the Ancient Church, 923, 1128, 1343, 2180, 2818.

1238. As for Eber meaning a nation as well, whose father was thus named Eber, the position is this: Those named so far were nations with whom the Ancient Church existed. All of them were called sons of Shem, Ham, Japheth, or Canaan, because 'Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Canaan' meant differing types of worship in the Church. Noah, Shem, Ham, Japheth, and Canaan never were actual people, but because the Ancient Church in particular was such, and every Church in general is such, that it includes a true internal, a corrupted internal, a true external, and a corrupted external, these names were therefore adopted so that all differences in general could be related to those characters and their sons as to their heads. The nations named here also at first possessed such worship, for which reason they are called the sons of one of Noah's sons, and also such forms of worship themselves are meant by the names of these nations in the Word.

[2] This first Ancient Church meant by Noah and his sons was not confined to a few people but was spread throughout many kingdoms, as is clear from the nations mentioned - throughout Assyria, Mesopotamia, Syria, Ethiopia, Arabia, Libya, Egypt, Philistia up to Tyre and Sidon, and throughout the whole of the land of Canaan, on this side of the Jordan and on the other side. Subsequently however a certain type of external worship started in Syria which spread far and wide from there and through many countries, particularly Canaan. It was a different form of worship from the worship of the Ancient Church. And because something of a Church arose in this way that was separate from the Ancient Church, a new Church so to speak rose up from it which may therefore be called the second Ancient Church. Eber was its first founder, and therefore this Church took its name from Eber. As stated already, everybody at that time was distinguished into separate houses, families, and nations. One nation recognized one father from whom it also took its name, as is clear throughout the Word, the nation which recognized Eber as its father thus being called the Hebrew nation.