1672. And the kings that were with him. That this signifies the apparent truth which is of that good, is evident from the signification of “kings” in the Word. “Kings,” “kingdoms,” and “peoples,” in the historical and the prophetical parts of the Word, signify truths and the things which are of truths, as may be abundantly confirmed. In the Word an accurate distinction is made between a “people” and a “nation;” by a “people” are signified truths, and by a “nation” goods, as before shown (n. 1259, 1260). “Kings” are predicated of peoples, but not so much of nations. Before the sons of Israel sought for kings, they were a nation, and represented good, or the celestial; but after they desired a king, and received one, they became a people, and did not represent good or the celestial, but truth or the spiritual; which was the reason why this was imputed to them as a fault (see 1 Samuel 8:7-22, concerning which subject, of the Lord’s Divine mercy elsewhere). As Chedorlaomer is named here, and it is added, “the kings that were with him,” both good and truth are signified; by “Chedorlaomer,” good, and by “the kings,” truth. But what was the quality of the good and truth at the beginning of the Lord’s temptations has already been stated.

10461. 'And threw the tablets out of his hand and broke them beneath the mountain' means that the outward sense of the Word was altered and made different on account of that nation. This is clear from the meaning of 'the tablets', on which the Law had been written, as the outward sense of the Word or its literal sense, dealt with above in 10453; from the meaning of 'throwing them out of his hand and breaking them' as destroying the true outward sense, and so also changing it and making it different (that the outward sense of the Word was altered and made different on account of the Israelite nation, see above in 10453); and from the meaning of 'Mount Sinai' as heaven, from which Divine Truth comes, dealt with in 9420, the expression 'beneath the mountain' being used because the outward sense of the Word exists beneath heaven, whereas the inward sense exists in heaven.