10402. 'Pull away the ear-jewels of gold from the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters' means drawing out of the literal sense of the Word such things as are favourable to external forms of love and to the immediate offspring of these loves. This is clear from the meaning of 'pulling away' as drawing out, at this point out of the literal sense of the Word since that sense is the subject; from the meaning of 'the ear-jewels of gold which are on the ears' as symbols representative of obedience to the delights belonging to external kinds of love and discernment of them, for obedience and discernment are meant by 'the ears', and the good of love - at this point the delight belonging to external kinds of love - is meant by 'gold', so that 'the ear-jewels of gold' are symbols representative of that obedience and discernment (for the meaning of 'the ears' as obedience and discernment, see 2542, 4652-4660, 8990, 9397, 10061; for that of 'gold' as the good of love, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914, 6917, 9510, 9874, 9881, so that when it has reference to external kinds of love, which are self-love and love of the world, 'gold' means the delight belonging to them, thus that which is evil, 8932; and the fact that 'ear-jewels' consequently are symbols representative of obedience and discernment, 4551); from the meaning of 'wives' as forms of good in the Church, dealt with in 3160, 4823, 6014, 7022, 8337, and therefore in the contrary sense as forms of evil there, 409; from the meaning of 'sons' as truths, and in the contrary sense as falsities, dealt with in 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257, 6583, 6584, 9807; and from the meaning of 'daughters' as affections for truth and good, and therefore in the contrary sense as affections for falsity and evil, dealt with in 2362, 3963, 6729. From all this it is evident that 'pull away the ear-jewels of gold from the ears of your wives, of your sons, and of your daughters' means drawing out of the literal sense of the Word such things as are discerned to be obedient or favourable to the delights belonging to external forms of love and favourable to the major ideas resulting from these.

[2] The fact that 'ear-jewels' are symbols of obedience and discernment is clear in Hosea,

Contend with your mother, since she is not My wife, in order that she may remove her whoredoms from her sight ¹ , lest perhaps I strip her naked, and make her like a wilderness, and do not have mercy on her children, since she has said, I will go after my lovers, those giving me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen. And she did not know that it was I who gave her the grain and the new wine and the oil, and who multiplied the silver for her, and the gold they made for baal. And I will lay waste her vine and her fig tree. And I will visit on her ² the days of the baals to whom she burned incense and decked herself with her ear-jewels and her other jewellery, and went after her lovers and forgot Me. Hosea 2:1-13.

'Burning incense to and decking herself with ear-jewels for the baals' denotes worshipping the baals as gods and being obedient to them.

[3] Earlier parts of that chapter have also been quoted to allow it to be seen what the outward sense of the Word is like without the inward, and what it is like together with the inward, and so how the Word is understood by those who see its outward statements in isolation from what is inward, and how it is understood by those who see the outward statements from the point of view of that which is inward. Those who see the outward statements in isolation from what is inward inevitably take them literally. That is, they take them to mean that they should literally contend with the mother of the children of Israel; that she was literally no longer loved by Jehovah as a wife; that if she did not remove the whoredoms from herself she would literally be stripped naked and made like a wilderness, and Jehovah would not have mercy on her children, since she had said that she was going to go after her lovers who gave her bread, water, wool, and linen; that she did not know it was Jehovah who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil, and multiplied the silver; that they made the gold for baal; that for this reason her vine and her fig tree would be laid waste; and that there would literally be a visitation on her because she burned incense to the baals, decked herself with ear-jewels and other jewellery for them, and went after her adulterous lovers, forgetful of Jehovah.

[4] All this is the literal meaning, and so it is how those who see the outward statements in isolation from their inward meaning understand the Word, for it is how the Jews at the present day and also some Christians understand it. But that is not the real meaning of the Word, as all who have any degree of enlightenment may see. By 'mother', regarding whom all those things are stated, they do not understand a mother but the kind of Church that existed among that nation. They take each of the things stated regarding her to mean something that has to do with the Church; for all those things are such as follow in order from what is put forward or laid down first. That is how they take 'whoredoms', 'lovers', and 'children' or 'sons', then 'bread, water, wool, linen, grain, new wine, oil, silver, gold', after that 'vine and fig', and also 'incense' and 'ear-jewels'.

[5] What each of these serves to mean can be known from no other source than the internal sense. In this sense 'mother' and 'wife' mean the Church; 'making her naked, and like a wilderness' means leaving it without any good of love or truth of faith, truths of faith and forms of the good of love, of which it will be bereft, being meant by 'sons', 'bread and water', 'wool and linen', 'grain, new wine, oil, silver, and gold', and finally 'vine and fig'. The actual worship springing from obedience to falsities and evils, which take over for truths and forms of good, is meant by 'burning incense to the baals and being decked out with ear-jewels and other jewellery for them'.

'Mother' means the Church, see 289, 2691, 2717, 4257, 5581.

So does 'wife', 252, 253, 409, 749, 770, 7022.

'Her being made naked' means being deprived of forms of the good of love and the truths of faith, 9960.

'A wilderness' means a state devoid of the Church's truth and good, 2708, 3900, 4736, 7055.

'Whoredoms' means falsifications of truth, 2466, 2729, 4865, 8904, so that 'lovers' means those who falsify.

'Sons' means truths, and in the contrary sense falsities, 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257, 6583, 6584, 9807.

'Bread and water' means the good of love and truth of faith, 9323.

'Wool' means the good in the external man, 9470.

'Linen' means the truth there, 7601, 9959.

'Grain' means good from which truth may be obtained, 5295, 5410, 5959.

'New wine' means truth derived from good, 3580.

'Oil' means celestial good, 9780, 10261.

'Silver' means truth and 'gold' good in general, 1551, 1552, 5658, 6914,

6917, 9881.

'Vine' means the internal spiritual Church, 1069, 6376, 9277.

'Fig' means the external good of that Church, 217, 4231, 5113.

'Burning incense' means worship, 10177, 10298.

'Ear-jewel' is a symbol representative of obedience, 4551, so that 'being decked out with it' means offering obedience.

[6] When all the entities listed immediately above are understood instead of or in conjunction with the people or things that serve to mean them, the nature of the Word discerned on a spiritual level, thus the nature of the spirit within it, becomes apparent. All who read the Word are sustained by the Lord on that level of meaning; but none receive and accept it apart from those whose interiors are open. And since these receive it within the cognitions or knowledge they possess, they accept it so far as they can understand it, that is, in the measure and manner that their power of understanding can be enlightened through the cognitions or knowledge in their possession. In addition to this, they are affected in a general way by the holiness that radiates from the Word.

Footnotes:

3993. 'Removing from it every speckled and spotted member of the flock' means that everything good and true that is meant by 'Laban' and which - when mingled with evil, meant by 'speckled', or mingled with falsity, meant by 'spotted' - will be separated. This is clear from the meaning of 'removing' as separating, and from the meaning of 'member of the flock', in this case she-goats and lambs, as goods and truths, dealt with in 1824, 3519. The fact that these details and those that follow in this chapter hold arcana within them may be recognized from the consideration that for the most part they would not be worth mentioning in the Divine Word if they did not include any deeper arcana than those to be seen in the letter, such as the following: For his wages Jacob asked for the speckled and the spotted among the she-goats and for the black among the lambs; and after this, in the runners he placed rods - which he had peeled down to the white and which were of hazel and of plane - in front of Laban's flocks when these came on heat, and in the case of the lambs he set the faces of the flock towards the variegated and the black in Laban's flock, thereby making himself rich not by the use of a good skill but of an evil one. These details do not seem to hold anything Divine within them, and yet the Word is Divine in every single part, even to the smallest part of a letter. And what is more, knowing all these details does not contribute one tiny bit to a person's salvation, yet being Divine the Word does not contain within itself anything else than such things as lead to salvation and eternal life.

[2] From these details and others like them elsewhere anyone may come to the conclusion that some arcanum is concealed within them, and that although in the literal sense they are the kind of facts that are not worth mentioning, those details - every single one - are pregnant with ideas much more Divine. But what exactly these ideas may be cannot possibly be seen by anyone except from the internal sense, that is, unless he knows the way in which angels perceive these matters; for they perceive the spiritual sense when man sees the historical natural sense. How remote these two senses seem to be from each other when in fact they are closely linked to one another may become quite evident from the historical details explained above and from all other such details. The actual arcanum present within the details here and in those after them in this chapter may, it is true, be known to some extent from what has been stated already about Laban and Jacob - about 'Laban' meaning the kind of good by means of which genuine goods and truths are able to be introduced, while 'Jacob' means the good of truth. Yet few know what natural good corresponding to spiritual good is, even fewer what spiritual good is and that a correspondence ought to exist between the two, and fewer still that a type of good which merely looks like good is the means for introducing genuine goods and truths. This being so, the arcana which describe these matters cannot be explained easily and intelligibly since they fall within the poorly lit parts of the understanding. It is rather like someone talking in a foreign language, in that no matter how clearly the thing is explained in that language the hearer does not understand. Even so, because what is concealed in the internal sense of the Word is to be made known, the actual arcanum within the details here has to be discussed.

[3] In the highest sense the subject at this point is how the Lord made His own Natural Divine, and in the representative sense how the Lord regenerates the natural as it exists with man and brings it into correspondence with his interior man, that is, with that which is going to live after the death of the body. At that point it is called man's spirit which, when released from the body, takes with it every part of the external man except the flesh and bones. If the correspondence of the internal man with the external has not been effected in the temporal state, that is, during a person's life in the body, it is not effected after that. The Lord's joining of the two together through regeneration is the subject in the internal sense here.

[4] Previous sections have dealt with the general truths which a person ought to receive and acknowledge before he can be regenerated, those truths being meant by Jacob's ten sons by Leah and the servant-girls; then they deal - after he has received and acknowledged them - with the joining of the external man to the interior, that is, of the natural man to the spiritual, which was meant by 'Joseph'. Now in the sequence of ideas the subject is the fruitfulness of good and the multiplication of truth which begin to occur once the rational man has been joined to the spiritual, and in the measure that they are so joined. These are the considerations meant by the flock which Jacob acquired to himself by means of Laban's flock. 'Flock' here means good and truth, as it does many times elsewhere in the Word. 'Laban's flock' means the good that is represented by 'Laban', the nature of which has been stated above; 'Jacob's flock' means the genuine good and truth which is acquired by means of that good represented by Laban.

[5] It is the way in which genuine goods and truths are acquired that is described here. Yet this cannot by any means be comprehended unless one knows what is meant in the internal sense by 'speckled', 'spotted', 'black' and 'white', and therefore these must first be dealt with here. That which is speckled or that which is spotted consists of black and of white. In general 'black' means that which is evil, in particular man's proprium since this is nothing but evil. 'Dark' however means that which is false, and in particular false assumptions. 'White' in the internal sense means truth; strictly speaking it means the Lord's Righteousness and Merit, and from this the Lord's righteousness and merit as these exist with man. This whiteness is called bright because it shines from the light that radiates from the Lord. But 'white' in the contrary sense means self-righteousness or one's own merit. Indeed truth devoid of good has such merit within it, for when any good action performed by a person does not stem from the good of truth that person always desires something in return since he acts for the sake of himself. But when good lies behind the truth that a person carries into effect, that truth is enlightened by the light which radiates from the Lord. From this one may see what is meant by 'spotted', namely truth with which falsity has been mingled, and what by 'speckled', namely good with which evil has been mingled.

[6] Actually visible in the next life are colours so beautiful and bright that they defy description, 1053, 1624. They are the product of the variegation of light and shade within white and black. But although it appears before the eyes as light, the light there is unlike the light in the world. The light in heaven includes intelligence and wisdom, for Divine Intelligence and Wisdom from the Lord manifest themselves there as light and also light up the whole of heaven, 2776, 3138, 3167, 3190, 3195, 3222, 3223, 3225, 3339-3341, 3485, 3636, 3643, 3862. Shade likewise in the next life, although it appears as shade, is unlike shade in the world, since the shade in that life is the absence of light and as a consequence the lack of intelligence and wisdom. So because the white and the black are in the next life a product of light which has intelligence and wisdom within it, and a product of the shade which is the lack of these, it is evident that white and black mean such things as have been stated above. Consequently, since colours are the modifications of light and shade within surfaces consisting of white and black, it is the variegations produced by those modifications that are called colours, 1042, 1043, 1053.

[7] From all this one may see what is meant by speckled, or marked and dotted with black and white specks, namely good with which evil has been mingled, and also what is meant by spotted, namely truth with which falsity has been mingled. These are the things that were taken from 'Laban good' to serve in the introducing of genuine goods and truths. But in what way they are able to serve is an arcanum which can indeed be presented clearly to those who see in the light of heaven because this light, as has been stated, holds intelligence within it, but not to those who see in the light of the world unless their light of the world is lit up by the light of heaven, as it is with those who are regenerate. For every regenerate person sees goods and truths within his own natural light from the light of heaven, because the light of heaven brings sight to his understanding even as the inferior light of the world gives him natural sight.

[8] But all this needs to be taken a little further. No pure good, or good with which evil is not mingled, exists with anyone. Neither does any pure truth, or truth with which falsity is not mingled, exist with him. This is because man's will is nothing but evil, from which falsity is constantly passing into his understanding; for as is well known, he possesses by inheritance the evil that has been accumulated consecutively by his forefathers. From this inheritance he brings out evil into his own actions and makes it his own, adding further evil from himself to the inheritance. But the evils residing with man are of various kinds. There are evils with which goods cannot be mingled and there are evils with which they can. And the same applies to falsities. If this were not so nobody could ever have been regenerated. The evils and falsities with which goods and truths cannot be mingled are ones that are contrary to love to God and love towards the neighbour - forms of hatred, revenge, and cruelty, and consequent contempt for others in comparison with oneself, and also consequent false persuasions. But the evils and falsities with which goods and truths can be mingled are ones that are not contrary to love to God and love towards the neighbour.

[9] Take for example anyone who loves himself more than others and because of that love strives to excel others in private life and in public life, to excel them in knowledge and doctrine, and to be promoted to positions of greater importance than others, and also to greater affluence than others. If at the same time he acknowledges and adores the Lord, from the heart performs acts of kindness to the neighbour, and from conscience behaves justly and fairly, the evil that belongs to his self-love is such that good and truth can be mingled with it. For this is an evil which belongs to a person as his own and into which he is born by heredity. And to take that away from him suddenly would be to put out the fire of life that burns in him at first. But in the case of someone who loves himself more than others and because of that love despises others in comparison with himself, hates those who do not hold him in esteem and so to speak adore him, and therefore enjoys the feelings of hatred that are present in revenge and cruelty, the evil of that love is such that good and truth cannot be mingled with it because they are contraries.

[10] Take as another example anyone who believes that he is pure from sins, and so is cleansed like somebody from whom dirt has been washed away by means of much water, once he has repented and carried out the prescribed penances, or after he has made his confession and heard the confessor declare him free from sins, or after he has been to the Holy Supper. If he leads a new life, being stirred by an affection for good and truth, that falsity is such that good can be mingled with it. But if he goes on leading a carnal and worldly life as before, it is in that case a falsity with which good cannot be mingled. Also, with anyone who believes that man is saved by virtue of believing what is good and not of willing it, and yet who does will what is good and therefore does it, that falsity is such that good and truth can be attached to it. But not so if he does not will what is good and therefore does not do it.

[11] Take yet another example. If anyone does not know that man rises again after death and consequently does not believe in the resurrection, or else if anyone who does know but nevertheless doubts or practically denies it, and yet each one leads a life of truth and goodness, good and truth can be mingled with that falsity also. But if a person leads a life of falsity and evil they cannot be mingled with that same falsity because they are contraries. The falsity destroys the truth, and the evil destroys the good.

[12] And still another example. Pretence and shrewdness which have a good end in view, whether the good of the neighbour, or of one's country, or of the Church, constitute prudence. The evils that are mixed up with them can be mingled with good by reason of and for the sake of the end in view. But presence and shrewdness which have an evil end in view do not constitute prudence but trickery and deceit. Good cannot possibly be joined to these, for deceit which goes with an evil end in view brings what is of hell into every single part of a person, sets evil in the middle, and casts good away to the circumferences. This order is the order itself of hell. And so with countless other examples that could be taken.

[13] The fact that there are some evils and falsities to which goods and truths can be attached may be seen merely from the consideration that so many different dogmas and teachings exist, many of them totally heretical, and yet subscribing to each one there are people who are saved. The same may also be seen from the consideration that among gentiles outside of the Church there is another Church that is the Lord's, and that those are saved who lead charitable lives, even though falsities exist with them, 2589 2604. This could by no means be the case if there were no evils with which goods can be mingled, and no falsities with which truths can be mingled. For the evils with which goods are mingled, and the falsities with which truths are mingled, are wonderfully arranged into order by the Lord. For they are not combined with one another, still less are they made into one, but lie adjacent to and touch one another, so that in fact the goods together with the truths occupy the middle, at the central point so to speak, while the evils and falsities occupy positions radiating outwards to the surrounding areas or circumferences. Consequently the evils and falsities receive light from the goods and truths, and are variegated like patches of white and black created by light radiating from the middle or centre. This constitutes heavenly order. These are the things meant in the internal sense by 'speckled' and 'spotted'.