9262. And the innocent and the righteous slay thou not. That this signifies an aversion for destroying interior and exterior good, is evident from the signification of “the innocent,” as being one who is in interior good, thus in the abstract sense, interior good (of which below); from the signification of “the righteous,” as being one in exterior good, and in the abstract sense, exterior good, for “righteous” is predicated of the good of love toward the neighbor, and “innocent” of the good of love to the Lord. The good of love toward the neighbor is exterior good, and the good of love to the Lord is interior good. And from the signification of “slaying,” as being to destroy. That “righteous” denotes the good of love toward the neighbor, will also be seen below. But that “innocent” denotes the good of love to the Lord, is because those are in innocence who love the Lord. For innocence is to acknowledge in the heart that of ourselves we desire nothing but evil, and perceive nothing but falsity, and also that all the good which is of love, and all the truth which is of faith, are from the Lord alone. None can at heart acknowledge these things except those who are conjoined with the Lord by love. Such are they who are in the inmost heaven, which from this is called the “heaven of innocence.” Wherefore the good they have is interior good; for it is the Divine good of love that proceeds from the Lord which is received by those who are in the heaven of innocence. Hence also they appear naked, and likewise as little children, from which it is that innocence is represented by nakedness, and also by infancy. (That it is represented by nakedness, see n. 165, 213, 214, 8375; and by infancy, n. 430, 1616, 2280, 2305, 2306, 3183, 3494, 4563, 4797, 5608.)

[2] From what has just been said about innocence it can be seen that the Lord’s Divine cannot be received except in innocence, from which it follows that good is not good, unless innocence is within it (n. 2526, 2780, 3994, 6765, 7840, 7887), that is, the acknowledgment that from one’s own proceeds nothing but what is evil and false, and that from the Lord is everything that is good and true. To believe the former, and to believe and also to will the latter, is innocence. Therefore the good of innocence is good Divine itself from the Lord with man. Consequently “the innocent” signifies one who is in interior good, and in the abstract sense, interior good.

[3] As Divine good which is from the Lord is signified by “the innocent,” or by “innocence,” it was a most heinous crime to shed innocent blood; and when it was committed, the whole land was under condemnation until it was expiated, as can be seen from the procedure of inquiry and purgation that took place if anyone was found stabbed in the land; of which it is thus written in Moses:

When one who has been stabbed is found in the land, lying in the field, and it is not known who hath smitten him; then the elders of the city shall come forth unto the cities which are round about him that is stabbed; and it shall be, that the city which is nearest unto him that is stabbed, the elders of that city shall take a female calf of an ox by which labor hath not been done, and which hath not drawn in the yoke; and the elders of that city shall bring down the calf unto a barren valley, which is neither cultivated nor sown, and shall cut off the calf’s neck there in the valley; and the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near; and all the elders of that city, standing near him that is stabbed, shall wash their hands over the calf whose neck was cut off in the valley; and they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, and our eyes have not seen it; expiate Thy people Israel whom Thou hast redeemed, O Jehovah, and put not innocent blood in the midst of Thy people Israel. So shall the blood be expiated for them. And thou shalt put away the innocent blood from the midst of thee, if thou shalt do that which is right in the eyes of Jehovah (Deuteronomy 21:1-9);

everyone can see that this procedure of inquiry and of purgation in respect to innocent blood shed in the land, involves arcana of heaven, which cannot possibly be known unless it is known what is signified by “one stabbed in the field,” by “a female calf of an ox by which labor hath not been done and which hath not drawn in the yoke,” by “a barren valley which is neither cultivated nor sown,” by “cutting off the calf’s neck there in the valley,” by “washing the hands over the calf,” and by all the other particulars. That these things should have been commanded unless they signified secret things, would by no means be consistent with a Word that has been dictated by the Divine, and inspired in respect to every word and jot; for without some deeper meaning such a procedure would have been a ceremonial of no sanctity, and scarcely of any account.

[4] Nevertheless it is evident from the internal sense what arcana are hidden within it. Thus if it is known that by “one stabbed in the land lying in the field” is signified truth and good extinguished in a church where there is good, that by “the city which is nearest unto him that is stabbed” is signified the truth of doctrine of the church whose good has been extinguished; that by “a female calf of an ox by which work hath not been done and which hath not drawn in the yoke” is signified the good of the external or natural man, that has not as yet, through subjection to cupidities, drawn to itself any falsities of faith and evils of love; that by “a barren valley which is neither cultivated nor sown” is signified the natural mind which through ignorance is not improved with the truths and goods of faith; that by “cutting off the calf’s neck there in the valley” is signified expiation on account of the absence of guilt, because it was the result of ignorance; and that by “washing the hands” is signified purification from this heinous crime; then from the knowledge of all these things it is evident that by the “shedding of innocent blood” is signified the extinction with the man of the church of the Divine truth and good which are from the Lord, and thus of the Lord Himself.

[5] Be it known that by this whole procedure there was represented in heaven a crime of this nature done without guilt, because done from ignorance in which there is innocence, consequently as not evil. Every detail of this procedure, even the smallest, represented some essential thing in this matter; and what it represented is evident from the internal sense. (That “one who has been stabbed” denotes truth and good extinguished, see n. 4503; that “the land” denotes the church, n. 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, 3355, 4447, 4535, 5577, 8011, 8732; that “a field” denotes the church as to good, thus the good of the church, n. 2971, 3310, 3766, 4982, 7502, 7571, 9139; that “a city” denotes the doctrine of truth, thus the truth of the doctrine of the church, n. 402, 2268, 2449, 2712, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493; that “an ox” denotes the good of the external or natural man, n. 2180, 2566, 2781, 9134; consequently that “a calf” denotes infantile good, n. 1824, 1825.)

[6] That it “hath not done labor, and hath not drawn in the yoke” denotes that this good has not yet, through ignorance, been enslaved to falsities and evils, is evident, for “laboring and drawing in a yoke” denotes to serve. That “a valley” denotes the lower mind, which is called the natural mind, see n. 3417, 4715; that “barren” denotes a mind devoid of truths and goods, n. 3908; thus that “a valley which is neither cultivated nor sown” denotes the natural mind not as yet improved with truths and goods, thus which is as yet in ignorance; that the “seed” with which it is sown denotes the truth of faith, n. 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3373, 3671, 6158. That “cutting off the neck” denotes expiation, is because by the slaying of various beasts, as well as by sacrifices, were signified expiations. That “washing the hand” denotes purification from falsities and evils, see n. 3147; here therefore it denotes purification from that heinous crime; for “to shed blood” signifies in general to do violence to good and truth (n. 9127); thus to “shed innocent blood” signifies to extinguish in a man what is Divine from the Lord, thus the Lord Himself in him; for the truth and good in a man are the Lord Himself, because they are from Him.

[7] The like is signified by “the shedding of innocent blood” in Deuteronomy 19:10; 27:25; Isaiah 59:3, 7; Jeremiah 2:34; 7:6; 19:4; 22:3, 17; Joel 3:19; Psalms 94:21. In the proximate sense “the innocent” signifies one who is without guilt and without evil, which in olden times was attested by the washing of the hands (Psalms 26:6; 73:13; Matthew 27:24; John 18:38; 19:4). The reason of this was that the good which is from the Lord with man is devoid of guilt and of evil. This good, as has been shown, is in the internal sense the good of innocence. But the good in the external man, that is, exterior good which is devoid of guilt and of evil, is called “the righteous,” as also in David:

The throne of perditions shall not have fellowship with Thee; who gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood (Psalms 94:20-21).

1616. And Abram pitched his tent, and came and dwelt in the oak-groves of Mamre that are in Hebron. That this signifies that the Lord attained to a perception still more internal, is evident from the signification of “pitching a tent,” that is, of moving and fixing a tent, as being to be conjoined,—for a “tent” is the holy of worship (as shown before, n. 414, 1452), by which the external man is conjoined with the internal-and from the signification of an “oak-grove,” as being perception, as explained above (n. 1442, 1443), where it was “the oak-grove of Moreh,” which is the first perception; but here, “the oak-groves of Mamre,” in the plural, which signify more perception, that is, perception more internal. This perception is called “the oak-groves of Mamre that are in Hebron.” “Mamre” is also mentioned elsewhere (as in Genesis 14:13; 18:1; 23:17-19; 35:27), and Hebron likewise (as in Genesis 35:27; 37:14; Josh. 10:36, 39; 14:13-14, 15; 15:13, 54; 20:7; 21:11, 13; Judges 1:10, 20; and in other places); but with what signification, will of the Lord’s Divine mercy be seen where these passages are explained.

[2] As to “the oak-groves of Mamre that are in Hebron” signifying a still more internal perception, the case is as follows. As the things that are of the external man are conjoined with the celestial things of the internal man, so perception increases and becomes more internal. Conjunction with celestial things gives perception; for in the celestial things that are of love to Jehovah is the very life of the internal man; or what is the same, in the celestial things that are of love, that is, in celestial love, Jehovah is present, which presence is not perceived in the external man until conjunction has been effected, all perception being from conjunction.

[3] From the internal sense it is here evident how the case was with the Lord, namely, that His external man, or the Human Essence, was conjoined with the Divine Essence by degrees, according to the multiplication and fructification of knowledges. In no way can anyone, as a man, be conjoined with Jehovah or the Lord, except by means of knowledges, for by means of knowledges a man becomes a man; and so the Lord, because born as are other men, was also instructed as they are, but into His knowledges as receptacles celestial things were constantly being insinuated, so that the knowledges continually became the recipient vessels of celestial things, and themselves also became celestial.

[4] He continually advanced in this way to the celestial things of infancy for, as before said, the celestial things that are of love are insinuated from the earliest infancy up to childhood, and also to youth, when being a man he is then and afterwards imbued with knowledges [scientiae et cognitiones]. If the man is such that he can be regenerated, these knowledges are then filled with the celestial things that are of love and charity, and are thus implanted in the celestial things with which he has been gifted from infancy up to childhood and youth; and thus his external man is conjoined with his internal man.

They are first implanted in the celestial things with which he was gifted in youth, next in those with which he was gifted in childhood, and finally in those with which he was gifted in infancy; and then he is a “little child,” of whom the Lord said that “of such is the kingdom of God.” This implantation is effected by the Lord alone; and for this reason nothing celestial is possible with man, nor can be, that is not from the Lord, and that is not the Lord’s.

[5] But the Lord from His own power conjoined His external man with His internal man, and filled His knowledges with celestial things, and implanted them in the celestial things, and this in fact according to Divine order; first in the celestial things of His childhood, next in the celestial things of the age between childhood and infancy; and finally in the celestial things of His infancy; and thus at the same time became, as to the Human Essence, innocence itself and love itself, from which are all innocence and all love in the heavens and on earth. Such innocence is true infancy, because it is at the same time wisdom. But the innocence of infancy, unless by means of knowledges it becomes the innocence of wisdom, is of no use; and therefore in the other life infants are imbued with knowledges. As the Lord implanted knowledges in celestial things, so had He perception, for, as before said, all perception is from conjunction. He had His first perception when He implanted the memory-knowledges of childhood, which perception is signified by “the oak-grove of Moreh;” and His second, treated of here, which is more internal, when He implanted knowledges, which perception is signified by “the oak-groves of Mamre that are in Hebron.”