1868. It would take too long to prove from the Word at this point that these nations symbolize such things, and there is no need to do it here, since the nations are merely named. Some of them have been discussed before. It was noted at §§567, 581, 1673, for instance, that the Rephaim symbolize persuasive lies; at §1680 that an Amorite symbolizes evil; above at verse 16 that a Canaanite symbolizes evil [§1857:1]; and at §1574 that a Perizzite symbolizes falsity. The specific symbolism of the other nations will be described later, by the Lord's divine mercy, where they come up. ¹

[2] In regard to the "nations" that need to be banished from the Lord's kingdom, the case is this: In the other world, evil, diabolical spirits crave nothing more than to go up into the world of spirits and plague good spirits. But every time they do, they are thrown out. It is the same as in people who are regenerating: the falsity and evil that have taken possession of them are subdued and scattered and are replaced with the truth and goodness that belong to the Lord's kingdom. These evil influences were represented by the nations that the children of Jacob expelled from the land of Canaan, and likewise by the Jews themselves, who were driven out later. ²

[3] The same thing happened at one time to many other nations that represented similar influences. These included the Horites, driven from Mount Seir by Esau's descendants (as told in Deuteronomy 2:12, 22); the Avvim, driven off by the Caphtorim (as told in Deuteronomy 2:23); the Emim or Rephaim, driven off by the Moabites (as told in Deuteronomy 2:9, 10, 11); the Zamzummim, by the Ammonites (as told in Deuteronomy 2:19, 20, 21); and many others mentioned in the prophets. ³

Sacred Scripture, or the Word (Continued)

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581. The symbolism of the Nephilim as those who placed no value on anything holy or true because of delusions about their own importance and superiority can be seen from what appears above and just below. Specifically, it says that they merged doctrinal teachings with their appetites — the symbolic meaning of the two statements that the sons of God went in to the daughters of humankind and that they bore children to them.

People's delusions about themselves and their fantasies grow as they amass more and more contributing arguments, until finally those delusions become permanent. And when they drag religious teachings in, they develop the most rigid point of view, which causes them to completely discount the value of anything holy or true, making themselves into Nephilim.

That tribe of people, who lived before the Flood, is such as described above [§§562-563]; every spirit they meet, no matter who, they choke to death with the most horrendous delusions, which flood out from them like a poisonous, suffocating fog. They strangle those spirits so effectively that the spirits forget how to think, and seem to themselves to be half dead.

Had the Lord by his coming into the world not freed the world of spirits from such a venomous tribe as that, not a single spirit could have survived there. This would have meant the end of the human race, which the Lord governs through spirits. As a result, they now are kept in a hell below a kind of boulder, massive and shrouded in mist, under the heel of the left foot. ¹ They make no attempt to rise up out of the place, leaving the world of spirits free of their extremely hostile crowd. This crowd and the toxic effect of their persuasions will be spoken of in another place [§§1265-1272], the Lord in his divine mercy allowing.

These are the ones called Nephilim, who place no value on anything holy or true.

[2] Though the Word does call them Nephilim, it refers to their descendants as Anakim and Rephaim. ² The following passage in Moses shows that they are called Anakim:

Those who scouted out the land of Canaan said, "There we saw the Nephilim, the children of Anak from among the Nephilim, and in our eyes we were like locusts, and we were the same in their eyes." (Numbers 13:33)

Moses also shows that they were called Rephaim:

The Emim previously lived in the land of Moab, a people large and numerous and tall, like the Anakim. They themselves were accounted as Rephaim, like the Anakim, and the Moabites call them Emim. (Deuteronomy 2:10-11)

The Nephilim are not mentioned anywhere else, but the Rephaim are, and the prophets describe them in the same way. Isaiah says:

Hell was disquieted below for you, coming to meet you; it stirred up the Rephaim for you. (Isaiah 14:9)

This is about hell, where such people are. In the same author:

The dead will not live, the Rephaim will not rise, because you inflicted punishment on them and destroyed them and wiped out all memory of them. (Isaiah 26:14)

Here too the subject is their hell, from which they will no longer arise. Again in the same author:

Your dead will live, my corpse; they will rise again. Wake up and sing, you who live in the dirt, because your dew is the dew on the vegetation. But the land of the Rephaim you will cast out. (Isaiah 26:19)

The land of the Rephaim is hell, which is what this verse describes. In David:

Will you do a miracle for the dead? Will the Rephaim arise, will they acclaim you? (Psalms 88:10)

This likewise deals with their hell and the fact that they cannot rise up to poison the atmosphere in the world of spirits with their dreadful persuasions.

The Lord, however, provided that the human race would no longer steep itself in such appalling fantasies and delusions. The people who lived before the Flood had a nature and psyche that enabled them to absorb such twisted thinking. The reason is not yet known to anyone but will be divulged below [§927], by the Lord's divine mercy.

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