4504. 'Because they had defiled their sister' means that they had violated the truth of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'defiling' as violating, and from the meaning of 'a sister' as truth, dealt with in 1495, 2508, 2524, 2556, 3386, in this case the truth of faith because Dinah, to whom 'their sister' refers here, means the affection for all things of faith, 4427. The reason why Shechem's defilement of their sister means that they befouled the truth of faith is that she represents the affection for all truths, and so means the Church itself, 3963, 3964. And because she was not given by her brothers to Shechem as a wife but remained with them as one defiled, therefore like her brothers she subsequently had a contrary representation. That is to say, she represented the affection for all falsities, and so represented the corrupted Church. Consequently the statement that they defiled their sister means that they had violated the truth of faith.

3386. 'And he said, She is my sister' means rational truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'a sister' as rational truth, dealt with in 1495, 2508, 2524, 2556. By rational truth is meant, as stated just above, that which is seen as the truth, in whatever form people grasp it mentally or see it rationally. Isaac's saying that Rebekah was his sister, as Abraham on a previous occasion in Egypt had said that Sarah was his sister, Genesis 12:11-13, 19, and after that in Gerar, Genesis 20:2, 5, 12, embodies a similar arcanum, as may be seen from the explanation given at those two points. And because a like event took place on three occasions, and also these are recorded in the Word, it is clear that it holds an arcanum of supreme importance within it which cannot possibly be known to anyone except from the internal sense. What this arcanum is however is evident from what follows.