5536. 'You have bereaved me [of my children]' means that thus no Church existed any longer. This is clear from the representation of Jacob, the one who says this about himself, as the good of truth, dealt with in 3659, 3669, 3677, 3775, 4234, 4273, 4538 (and as the good of truth is represented, so also is the Church because good is the essential element of the Church. It therefore amounts to the same whether you say the good of truth or the Church, for the person who has the good of truth present with him has the Church present with him. 'Jacob' represents the Church, see 4286, 4520, and that being so his sons represent the truths known to the Church, 5403, 5419, 5427, 5458, 5512); and from the meaning of 'bereaving' as depriving the Church of its truths and forms of good, such as those here which are represented by Joseph, Benjamin, and Simeon, to whom reference is made directly after the words 'you have bereaved me'.

[2] 'Bereaving' is depriving the Church of its truths for the reason that the Church is likened to a marriage. Good is likened to the husband and truth to the wife, while the truths born from that marriage are likened to 'the sons' and the forms of good to 'the daughters', and so on. When therefore a state of bereavement or an action causing this is mentioned, the meaning is that the Church has been deprived of its truths and as a consequence ceases to be a Church. The expressions 'bereft' and 'bereavement' are also used in various other places in the Word, as in

Ezekiel,

I will send famine and evil wild animals upon you, and I will make you bereft. Ezekiel 5:17.

In the same prophet,

When I cause evil wild animals to pass through the land and they leave it bereft so that it becomes a desolation, with the result that no one passes through on account of the wild animals. Ezekiel 14:15.

In Leviticus,

I will send into you the wild animals of the field, which will leave you bereft and will cut off your beasts, ¹ and make you few in number, so that your roads are laid waste. Leviticus 26:22.

[3] In these quotations 'famine' stands for an absence of cognitions of good and truth and the consequent desolation, 'evil wild animals' for falsities derived from evils, and 'the land' for the Church. 'Sending famine and evil wild animals, and leaving the land bereft' stands for destroying the Church by means of falsities derived from evils and so depriving it completely of truths. In Jeremiah,

I will winnow them with a winnowing-fork in the gates of the land; I will bereave, I will destroy My people. Jeremiah 15:7.

Here also 'bereaving' stands for depriving of truths. In the same prophet,

Give their children over to the famine, and cause them to be wiped out by the power of the sword, ² so that their wives become bereaved [of children] and widows. Jeremiah 18:11.

'So that their wives become bereaved and widows' stands for their being left without truths or good.

[4] In Hosea,

As for the Ephraimites, their glory will fly away like a bird, away from birth, and from the belly, and from conception. Even if they bring up their sons, I will make them bereft of human beings. Hosea 9:11-12.

Here the meaning is similar. In Ezekiel,

I will cause human beings to walk upon you, even My people; and those human beings will by inheritance take possession of you and you will be an inheritance to them; no more will you bereave them [of their children]. Thus said the Lord Jehovih, Because they say to you, You have been one devouring human beings and one bereaving your peoples [of children]. Ezekiel 36:12-13.

Here also 'bereaving' stands for depriving of truths.

[5] In Isaiah,

Now hear this, you lover of pleasures, sitting securely, saying in her ³ heart, I am, and there is no one else like me; a widow I shall not sit, nor shall I know bereavement [of children]. But these two things will come to you in a moment in one day-bereavement and widowhood. Isaiah 47:8-9.

This refers to the daughter of Babel and to Chaldea, that is, to those who are outwardly holy but inwardly unholy and who call themselves the Church by virtue of that outward holiness. 'Bereavement and widowhood' stands for a deprivation of truth and good. In the same prophet,

Lift up your eyes round about, and see; they all gather together, they come to you. The children of your bereavements will say again in your ears, The place is too narrow for me; yield me a place to dwell in. But you will say in your heart, Who has begotten these for me, when yet I am bereft [of children] and alone, an exile and one who has been displaced? Who therefore has brought these up? I was left, alone. These, where were they? Isaiah 49:18, 20-21.

This refers to Zion, which is the celestial Church, and to its fruitfulness after it had been laid waste. 'The sons of bereavements' stands for the truths of which it was deprived when laid waste, but which were restored and underwent enormous increase.

Footnotes:

4536. Genesis 35

1. And God said to Jacob, Rise up, go up to Bethel and settle there, and make there an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from before Esau your brother.

2. And Jacob said to his household, and to all who were with him, Remove the gods of the foreigner which are in the midst of you, and be purified, and change your garments.

3. And let us rise up and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar to the God who answered me on the day of my distress, and was with me in the way that I went. ¹

4. And they gave to Jacob all the gods of the foreigner which were in their hand, and the jewels which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem.

5. And they travelled on; and the terror of God was on the cities which were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob.

6. And Jacob came to Luz which is in the land of Canaan - that is, Bethel - he and all the people who were with him.

7. And he built an altar there, and called the place El Bethel, for there the gods were revealed to him, when he was fleeing from before his brother.

8. And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and was buried below Bethel under an oak; and its name was called Allon Bacuth.

9. And God was seen by Jacob again, when he was coming from Paddan Aram; and He blessed him.

10. And God said to him, Your name is Jacob; your name will no longer be called Jacob, but indeed Israel will be your name; and He called his name Israel.

11. And God said to him, I am God Shaddai, be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations will be from you, and kings will go out from your loins.

12. And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and to your seed after you I will give the land.

13. And God went up from over him in the place where He talked to him.

14. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where He talked to him, a stone pillar, and poured out a drink-offering onto it, and poured oil onto it.

15. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke to him, Bethel.

16. And they travelled on from Bethel, and there was still a stretch of land to go to Ephrath; and Rachel gave birth, and suffered severely' in giving birth.

17. And it happened in her suffering severely, ² in giving birth, that the midwife said to her, Do not be afraid, for this also is a son for you.

18. And it happened as her soul was departing, when she was about to die, that she called his name Ben-oni; and his father called him Benjamin.

19. And Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.

20. And Jacob set up a pillar over her grave; this is the pillar of Rachel's grave even to this day.

21. And Israel travelled on and pitched his tent beyond the tower of Eder.

22. And it happened while Israel was residing in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine; and Israel heard of it. And the sons of Jacob were twelve.

23. The sons of Leah: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun.

24. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

25. And the sons of Bilhah, Rachel's servant-girl: Dan and Naphtali.

26. And the sons of Zilpah, Leah's servant-girl: Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

27. And Jacob came to Isaac his father, to Mamre, Kiriath Arba, which is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

28. And the days of Issac were a hundred and eighty years.

29. And Isaac breathed his last, and died, and was gathered to his peoples, old and full of days. And Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.

CONTENTS

This chapter deals in the internal sense with how all else in the Lord's Natural was made Divine, the interior aspects of the Natural which were made Divine being meant by 'Israel' now. Progress towards aspects even more interior, where the Rational is situated, is described by the birth of Benjamin, and after that by Jacob's sons when they came to Isaac.

Footnotes: