2868. His concubine, whose name was Reumah. That this signifies Gentiles who are in idolatrous worship and in good, is evident from the things which precede; for in the former place are the Gentiles who are signified by the sons who were born to Nahor from his wife, and in this place are the Gentiles signified by those born from his concubine. By those from the wife were signified (as before shown) the Gentiles out of the church who are in brotherhood from good (n. 2863); those now signified are those out of the church who are in idolatrous worship and in good; thus these are not from so legitimate a stock as the former. Nevertheless they are as if legitimate; for at that time children who were born of maidservants were adopted as legitimate (as is evident from the sons of Jacob who were born of the maidservants Bilhah and Zilpah, Genesis 30:4-12; from whom tribes were derived equally as from those who were born of Leah and Rachel, and indeed without any difference). But that still there was a difference is evident from Genesis 33:1-2, 6-7. The maidservants who were at that time given to the husband by the wife for the sake of procreating children were called concubines; as is manifest from Bilhah, Rachel’s maidservant, who is also called Jacob’s concubine (Genesis 35:22).

That men should procreate children from maidservants or concubines was tolerated at that time, in order that those who are out of the church might thus be represented, and also those who are in a lower degree within the church. The name of this concubine being said to be “Reumah” involves her quality (n. 1896, 2009); which here is exaltation, this being the meaning of the word “Reumah.” (Concerning the state and lot of the nations and peoples who are out of the church, see above, n. 593, 932, 1032, 1059, 1327, 1328, 1366, 2049, 2051, 2284, 2589-2604)

576. That the number “ten” and also “tenths” signify remains, is evident from the following passages of the Word:

Many houses shall be a desolation, great and fair, without an inhabitant; for ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and the seed of a homer shall yield an ephah (Isaiah 5:9-10),

speaking of the vastation of things spiritual and celestial: “ten acres of vineyard making a bath” signifies that the remains of things spiritual were so few; and “the seed of a homer yielding an ephah” signifies that there were so few remains of things celestial. In the same:

And many things are forsaken in the midst of the land, yet in it shall be a tenth part, and it shall return, and nevertheless it shall be consumed (Isaiah 6:12-13); where the “midst of the land” signifies the internal man; a “tenth part” signifies the smallness of the remains.

In Ezekiel:

Ye shall have balances of justice, and an ephah of justice, and a bath of justice: the ephah and the bath shall be of one measure, the bath to contain the tenth of a homer, and an ephah the tenth of a homer; the measure thereof shall be after the homer; and the ordinance of oil, a bath of oil, the tenth of a bath out of a kor, ten baths to the homer, for ten baths are a homer (Ezekiel 45:10-11, 14);

in this passage the holy things of Jehovah are treated of by measures, whereby are signified the kinds of the holy things; by “ten” are here signified the remains of celestial and of the derivative spiritual things; for unless such holy arcana were contained herein, what could be the use or intent of describing so many measures determined by numbers, as is done in this and the former chapters in the same Prophet, where the subject is the heavenly Jerusalem and the New Temple?

[2] In Amos:

The virgin Israel is fallen, she shall no more rise. Thus saith the Lord Jehovih, The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred remaining, and that which went out a hundred, shall have ten remaining to the house of Israel (Amos 5:2-3),

where, speaking of remains, it is said that very little would be left, being only a “tenth part” or remains of remains. Again:

I abhor the pride of Jacob and his palaces, and will shut up the city, and its fullness, and it shall come to pass if there shall be left ten men in one house they shall even die (Amos 6:8-9),

speaking of remains which should scarcely remain.

In Moses:

An Ammonite or Moabite shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah, even the tenth generation of them shall not come into the congregation of Jehovah to eternity (Deuteronomy 23:3);

“an Ammonite and a Moabite” signify the profanation of the celestial and spiritual things of faith, the “remains” of which are spoken of in what precedes.

[3] Hence it appears also that “tenths” represent remains. And so in Malachi:

Bring ye all the tithes [tenths] into the treasure-house, that there may be booty in My house, and let them prove Me, bestir ye in this, if I will not open for you the cataracts of heaven, and pour you out a blessing (Malachi 3:10);

“that there may be booty in My house” signifies remains in the internal man, which are compared to “booty” because they are insinuated as by stealth among so many evils and falsities; and it is by these remains that all blessing comes. That all man’s charity comes by the remains which are in the internal man, was also represented in the Jewish Church by this statute: that when they had made an end of tithing all the tithes, they should give to the Levite, to the stranger, to the fatherless, and to the widow (Deuteronomy 26:12).

[4] Inasmuch as remains are of the Lord alone, therefore the tenths are called “holiness to Jehovah”; as in Moses:

All the tenths of the land, of the seed of the land, of the fruit of the tree, they are Jehovah’s, holiness to Jehovah: all the tenths of the herd and of the flock, whatsoever passeth under the (pastoral) rod, the tenth shall be holiness to Jehovah (Leviticus 27:30-31).

That the Decalogue consisted of “ten” precepts, or “ten” words, and that Jehovah wrote them on tables (Deuteronomy 10:4), signifies remains, and their being written by the hand of Jehovah signifies that remains are of the Lord alone; their being in the internal man was represented by the tables.