9259. 'You shall surely remove [it] with him' means nevertheless exhorting and striving hard to correct. This is clear from the meaning of 'removing', when used in reference to falsity which is not in accord with the Church's good, as correcting, as above in 9258, at this point striving hard to correct and exhorting since such falsity is not easily corrected. The falsities which are not in accord with the Church's good are all those that are contrary to the Lord, and to the good of love to Him and to the good of charity towards the neighbour. Something else which shows that the kinds of things which have now been explained lie concealed within these two laws or judgements is the fact that people hardly ever find themselves in the situations described in the literal sense. That is to say, they hardly ever meet an enemy's ox or ass going astray, or see the ass of one who hates them lying under its burden. These situations would not therefore have been important enough for them to be included among the laws and judgements declared from Mount Sinai; but the truths they hold within themselves place them among the chief judgements. For they hold within them the truth that even the gentiles were to be loved, taught the truths of faith, and led to correct their life. But these truths within these laws could not be disclosed to the Israelite and Jewish people because they were interested only in things of an external nature and not in anything internal, and because they had received it from their fathers that they should hate and therefore regard as enemies and adversaries all who were not related to them as brothers, that is, who were not born from Jacob. Regarding what the Jews were like, see 4307, 4314, 4316, 4317, 4429, 4433, 4444, 4825, 4903, 6304, 8588, 8788, 8806, 8871.

4429. 'To see the daughters of the land' means to get to know the affections for truth, and the Churches which arise from these. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' as getting to know, dealt with frequently already; from the meaning of 'the daughters' as affections, and consequently Churches, dealt with in 2362, 3024, 3963; and from the meaning of 'the land', in this case the land of Canaan, as that area where the Church is, and therefore also the Church itself, dealt with in 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, 3355, 3686, 3705.

[2] The meaning of these things contained in this verse becomes clear from those that follow, for the subject is the representative of the Church which was to be established among the descendants of Jacob. This representative among them could not be established until they had undergone complete vastation so far as interior truths were concerned, that is, until they no longer had any knowledge of them; see 4289. Interior truths are all those which are represented and meant by the religious observances which they were commanded to keep; for every religious observance represented, and was a sign meaning, something in the Lord's kingdom in heaven, and consequently something in the Lord's kingdom on earth, that is, in the Church. The things which they meant and represented are in this instance interior truths. The fact that all the things, each one, which the descendants of Jacob were commanded to observe when a representative of the Church was established among them - which things are laid down in the books of Moses, especially in Exodus and Leviticus - were representatives and meaningful signs of the celestial and spiritual things of the Lord's kingdom has been shown throughout the explanatory sections. None of these spiritual and celestial things were known to the descendants of Jacob, for the character of those descendants was such that if they had known them they would have profaned them, 301-303, 2520, 3398, 3479, 3769, 4281, 4293. For that reason they did not enter into those representatives until they had undergone complete vastation so far as interior things were concerned. The subject in this chapter therefore is those truths and that people's annihilation of them.

[3] The representatives which the descendants of Jacob were commanded to observe were not new, the majority being like those that had been in use formerly among the Ancients. Unlike the descendants of Jacob however, that is, unlike the Jews and Israelites, the Ancients did not worship external things but internal ones. Through internal things they acknowledged the Lord Himself. Remnants of the Church from ancient times still existed in the land of Canaan, especially among those who were called Hittites and Hivites. This is why those nations represent the truths of the Church. From all this one may now have some idea of what is meant by Dinah, the daughter of Jacob by Leah, going out to see the daughters of the land. For 'Dinah' represents the external Church such as was established among the descendants of Jacob, while 'the daughters of the land' means Churches existing among the Ancients. Everywhere in the Word Churches are meant in its internal sense by 'daughters', see 2362, 3024, where this meaning has been shown; and 'land' means an area and a nation where the Church exists, and so means the Church, 662, 1066, 1067, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, 3355, 3686, 3705.